12405 results for ""non-traditional+communal+storytelling+approach"+novel+segment+noted+in+critical+commentary"

in 38.55 milliseconds.

• Neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade in mismatch-repair proficient colon cancers

  Immune checkpoint blockade has led to paradigm shifts in the treatment of various tumour types, yet limited efficacy has been observed in patients with metastatic mismatch-repair proficient (pMMR) colorectal cancer. Here we report an in-depth analysis of patients with early-stage pMMR colon cancer from the phase II NICHE study (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03026140). A total of 31 patients received neoadjuvant treatment of nivolumab plus ipilimumab followed by surgery. The response rate was 26% and included six patients with a major pathological response (≤10% residual viable tumour). One patient with an ongoing clinical complete response did not undergo surgery. Responses were observed despite a low tumour mutational burden in all tumours, while chromosomal genomic instability scores were significantly higher in responders compared to non-responders. Responding tumours were more likely to be TP53 mutant, KRASG12 wildtype and had significantly higher baseline expression of proliferation signatures and TCF1. Imaging mass cytometry also revealed a higher percentage of Ki-67+ cancer and Ki-67+ CD8+ T cells in responders compared to non-responders. Meanwhile, in non-responders, we observed an enrichment for an inflamed-fibrotic microenvironment associated with TGF-β expression, hinting towards possible resistance mechanisms. These results provide a comprehensive analysis of response to neoadjuvant ICB in early-stage pMMR colon cancers and identify potential biomarkers for patient selection.

  Study EGAS50000000856

• Extracellular transcriptome in seminal plasma for non-invasive prostate cancer diagnosis

  A diagnostic non-invasive biomarker test for prostate cancer at an early stage, with high sensitivity and specificity, would improve diagnostic decision making. Extracellular RNAs present in seminal plasma might contain biomarker potential for the accurate detection of clinically significant prostate cancer. So far, the extracellular messenger RNA (mRNA) profile of seminal plasma has not been interrogated for its biomarker potential in the context of prostate cancer. Here, we investigate the mRNA transcriptome in seminal plasma samples obtained from prostate cancer patients (n=25), patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (n=26) and individuals without prostatic disease (n=6). Seminal plasma harbors a complex mRNA repertoire that reflects prostate as its tissue of origin. The endogenous RNA content is higher in the prostate cancer samples compared to the control samples. Prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3), a long non-coding RNA with prostate cancer-specific overexpression, and ATP-binding cassette transporter 1 (ABCA1), known to be involved in the prostate cancer pathogenesis, were more abundant in the prostate cancer group. In addition, twelve high confidence fusion transcripts could be detected in prostate cancer samples, including the bona-fide prostate cancer fusion transcript TMPRSS2-ERG. Our findings provide proof-of-principle that the extracellular transcriptome of seminal plasma can reveal information of an underlying prostate cancer.

  Study EGAS00001005277

• Patient-derived tumor organoids for personalized medicine in a rare case of hepatocellular carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation.

  We report the case of a 74-year-old man with a very rare subtype of hepatocellular carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation (HCC-NED). The patient presented with two independent tumors, a gastrointestinal stromal tumor in the stomach and a hepatocellular carcinoma in the liver. Both tumors were surgically removed in curative intent. Histopathological work-up of the liver tumor revealed poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (Edmondson-Steiner grade IV) with diffuse expression of neuroendocrine markers synaptophysin (SYP) and chromogranin (CHGA). Three months after resection, multifocal recurrence of the HCC with neuroendocrine differentiation (HCC-NED) was observed. In the meantime, tumor organoids have been generated from the resected HCC-NED and extensively characterized. Sensitivity to a number of drugs approved for the treatment of HCC or neuroendocrine carcinomas was tested in vitro. Based on their in vitro efficacy, etoposide and carboplatin were used as first line palliative combination treatment. Because genomic analysis revealed a NTRK1-mutation (kinase domain) and tumor organoids were sensitive to entrectinib, a pan-TRK inhibitor, the patient received entrectinib as second line therapy. After only two weeks, treatment had to be discontinued due to deterioration of the patient’s general condition. In conclusion, we demonstrate for the first time that preclinical drug testing using organoids is feasible in selected HCC cases.

  Study EGAS00001005887

• Genomics of drug sensitivity in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

  Genomics of drug sensitivity in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

  Study EGAS00001006336

• RNA Sequencing of Pulmonary Arterial Endothelial Cells in Pulmonary Hypertensive Patients and Controls

  The transcriptome of pulmonary arterial endothelial cells from healthy lungs and from lungs of patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension have been analyzed and specific differences in disease-relevant pathways were identified. The genes identified as altered in these patients have direct effects on pulmonary arterial endothelial cell function. This finding may underlie the inability of the pulmonary vasculature to respond to and repair the damage observed in pulmonary hypertension.

  Study phs000998

• Discovery, Biology, and Risk of Inherited Variants in Breast Cancer (DRIVE) - germline whole genome sequencing

  This study consists of whole genome sequencing (target: average 30x coverage) of 110 European-ancestry (EA), early-onset, family-history-positive breast cancer cases, 21 Asian cases, 25 African-American cases, and 24 controls from six studies participating in the Discovery, Biology, and Risk of Inherited Variants in Breast Cancer (DRIVE) consortium, part of the NCI's Genetic Associations and Mechanisms in Oncology (GAME-ON) initiative ( http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/gameon/ )

  Study phs001483

• Targeting Heterochromatin Eliminates Malignant Stem Cells in Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia Through Reactivation of Retroelements and Innate Immune pathways

  Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) aging involves heterochromatin reorganization. These repressive marks together with DNA methylation are essential for suppressing transposable elements (TEs). In this study we analyze heterochromatin and transcriptomic changes occurring at genes and TEs in HSCs from chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, a severe myeloid malignancy affecting the elderly, compared to age-matched cells, and in the presence or absence of a combination of epidrugs.

  Study EGAS50000000367

• Targeting Heterochromatin Eliminates Malignant Stem Cells in Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia Through Reactivation of Retroelements and Innate Immune pathways

  Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) aging involves heterochromatin reorganization. These repressive marks together with DNA methylation are essential for suppressing transposable elements (TEs). In this study we analyze heterochromatin and transcriptomic changes occurring at genes and TEs in HSCs from chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, a severe myeloid malignancy affecting the elderly, compared to age-matched cells, and in the presence or absence of a combination of epidrugs.

  Study EGAS50000000688

• RNA sequencing of serial samples from patients enrolled in the NA-PHER2 trial

  Improved outcomes in HER2+ breast cancer have resulted from chemotherapy and anti-HER2 therapies. However, HER2+ER+ cancers exhibit lower response rates. The NA-PHER2 trial investigated chemo-free preoperative HER2 and CDK4/6 blockade with or without endocrine therapy in HER2+ER+ breast cancer. Through RNA sequencing and tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) assessment in serial biopsies we identified predictive biomarkers of pCR, Day 14 Ki67 response, and unveiled treatment-induced molecular changes.

  Study EGAS50000000248

• Multi-omics analysis reveals immune programs delineating disease severity in extrapulmonary tuberculosis

  This study investigates the immune response in extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) using a combination of bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing. Hierarchical clustering of patient transcriptomes identified three distinct levels of disease severity, uncovering immunological pathways involved in disease progression, including interferon and IL-1β-mediated signaling. The findings also led to the development of a diagnostic gene expression signature for both EPTB and pulmonary TB, offering potential improvements in TB diagnosis and treatment.

  Study EGAS50000000668

• Multi-omics analysis reveals immune programs delineating disease severity in extrapulmonary tuberculosis

  This study investigates the immune response in extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) using single-cell RNA sequencing. Hierarchical clustering of patient transcriptomes identified three distinct levels of disease severity, uncovering immunological pathways involved in disease progression, including interferon and IL-1β-mediated signaling. The findings also led to the development of a diagnostic gene expression signature for both EPTB and pulmonary TB, offering potential improvements in TB diagnosis and treatment.

  Study EGAS50000000758

• Genomic profiling identified ERCC2 helicase domain mutations respond to platinum-based neoadjuvant therapy in urothelial bladder cancer

  Genomic profiling of tumours enables therapeutic decisions, and identifying drug-matched mutations will prolong survival and prognosis. Here, we generated a custom panel for detecting genetic alterations in 19 patients with urothelial bladder cancer. This panel targeted 71 genes associated with urological cancer. Targeted sequencing was performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour tissues. In this study, we revealed genome profiles and actionable mutations in patients with urothelial bladder cancer.

  Study JGAS000241

• PTEN homozygous deletion is a negative prognostic factor in Tumor Treating Fields-treated glioblastoma, IDH wildtype patients

  This study investigates genomic determinants of outcome in glioblastoma, IDH-wildtype patients treated with Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) in addition to standard radiochemotherapy. Tumor tissue from primary glioblastoma at initial diagnosis was profiled using the Illumina TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO500) targeted sequencing panel to characterise somatic alterations. The overarching goal is to provide exploration of genomic determinants of survival and treatment response in TTFields-treated glioblastoma, IDH-wildtype.

  Study EGAS50000001469

• Rare Germline Variants in CDKN2A-Negative Children and Adolescents with Cutaneous Melanoma

  Cutaneous melanoma is a complex disease influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Inherited susceptibility plays a significant role, involving a combination of high-, intermediate-, and low-penetrance genes. Melanoma in children and adolescents has been speculated to have a stronger genetic component due to the early onset. This study investigates germline variants in early-onset melanoma through exome sequencing of 154 patients in Australia diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma before the age of 20.

  Study EGAS50000001311

• Detection of clinically relevant genetic and transcriptomic landscape in DLBCL uniformly treated by R-CHOP

  Recent studies using next-generation sequencing strategies have described the landscape of genetic alterations in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). However, little is known about the clinical relevance of recurrent mutations and copy number alterations and their transcriptional footprints. This study examines the frequency, interaction and clinical impact of recurrent genetic aberrations in DLBCL using high-resolution technologies in a large population-based cohort.

  Study EGAS00001002657

• Spatial Heterogeneity in CLL

  A whole-genome/exome sequencing (WGS/WES) characterization of the spatial heterogeneity found in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at diagnosis. Fifteen synchronous peripheral blood and lymph node samples were analyzed by WGS (n=2) or WES (n=13). Subtle differences in the global architecture of the tumor at peripheral blood and lymph node were observed only in a fraction of patients. Spatial heterogeneity was not found among the well-established CLL driver alterations.

  Study EGAS00001003803

• Whole exome sequencing in patients with ALS and concomitant FTD lacking the C9orf72 repeat expansion

  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are part of a clinical, pathological and genetic continuum. The purpose of the present study was to assess the mutation burden that is present in ALS and/or FTD known disease-causing genes in 54 patients (16 with available postmortem neuropathological diagnosis) with concurrent ALS and FTD (ALS/FTD) not-carrying the C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion, the most important genetic cause in both diseases.

  Study EGAS00001002439

• Preservation of stemness in high-grade serous ovarian cancer organoids requires low Wnt environment

  High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) likely originates from the fallopian tube (FT) epithelium, but advanced stages are mostly found outside the FT. We used ex-vivo cultures of HGSOC and knock-out of tumor suppressors in FT organoids to study changes in epithelial cells and niche requirements for normal and transformed FT cells. We found that transformed cells require BMP signaling and are growth arrested in Wnt rich medium.

  Study EGAS00001003821

• Pediatric Investigation for Genetic Factors Linked with Renal Progression (PediGFR)

  The Pediatric Investigation for Genetic Factors Associated with Renal Progression (PediGFR) (RO1-DK082394) is an international collaborative study among three large prospective cohort studies of children with chronic kidney disease. The participating parent cohort studies are the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD), the Effect of Strict Blood Pressure Control and ACE Inhibition on CRF Progression in Pediatric Patients (ESCAPE), and the Cardiovascular Comorbidity in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease (4C) study. In these cohorts, pediatric subjects with CKD have been prospectively followed with standardized measurements for renal progression. The dbGaP data upload will utilize the structure of sub-studies to include the genotype and baseline phenotype for the three cohorts, as well as the RBC trait and anemia data for a sub-study under PI Susan Furth: Role of Genetic Variation in the Anemia of Chronic Kidney Disease (K24DK078737). In brief PediGFR is a prospective study of children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) to determine genetic factors associated with kidney function measured by the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by Schwartz equation. The PediGFR_v2 Cohort is utilized in the following dbGaP sub-studies. To view genotypes, other molecular data, and derived variables collected in these sub-studies, please click on the following sub-studies below or in the "Sub-studies" box located on the right hand side of this top-level study page phs000842 PediGFR_v2 Cohort. phs000843 4C phs000650 CKiD phs000844 ESCAPE

  Study phs000842

• Identification of the mutational consequences of precancerous liver disease (including alcohol abuse) on the genomes of human adult stem cells.

  Stem cells are believed to be the cells-of-origin cancer. Nevertheless, their genome remains remarkably stable during life. To increase insight into how these cells can drive tumorigenesis, we set out to determine the genomic integrity of human adult stem cells from patients with liver disease associated with increased cancer risk. To this end, we characterized genome-wide mutation profiles of single ASCs from livers of patients with alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic liver disease and primary sclerosing cholangitis. The patients included in our study received a liver transplant due to their liver disease. Strikingly, we found that ASCs in these livers maintain a stable genome and have comparable mutation rates as healthy human liver ASCs. We did observe more nonsense and nonsynonymous mutations in COSMIC cancer genes that are hit by dominant mutations in tumors in comparison to healthy ASCs (n.s.), including two ASCs in alcoholic liver disease patients with a nonsense mutation in PTPRK. Next, we sequenced 5 biopsies of an alcoholic tumour to identify the mutational patterns in the tumour-initiating ASC. We found that the mutational patterns are, again, similar to healthy liver, but the mutational load is slightly higher. This suggests that the increased cancer risk in the liver disease patients is not caused by an increased mutational load, but rather that the precancerous liver environment promotes outgrowth of cells that would normally be selected against.

  Study EGAS00001002983

• Targeting the p53 pathway to treat Malignant Rhabdoid and High-Risk Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumors

  Rhabdoid tumors (RTs) predominantly affect young children and are among the deadliest pediatric solid tumors. Despite multimodal therapy consisting of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, children with these tumors have median survival of less than one year. RTs can arise throughout the body, including the central nervous system (CNS) where they are called atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors (AT/RTs), and in extra-CNS locations such as the kidneys and other soft tissues where they are designated malignant RTs (MRTs). We previously identified MDM2 and MDM4 as therapeutic vulnerabilities in RTs and showed that treatment with the MDM2 inhibitor idasanutlin increased survival in mice bearing MRT xenografts. However, the therapeutic potential of idasanutlin in CNS RT tumors is unknown. Single agent therapies are prone to resistance and show limited clinical benefit on their own. Therefore, we sought to identify combination strategies incorporating idasanutlin that would be effective in both CNS and extra-CNS RTs. Here, we show that the XPO1 inhibitor selinexor increased nuclear retention of p53 and potentiated idasanutlin-induced p53 pathway activation and cytotoxicity in AT/RT and MRT cell lines in vitro. Importantly, combination therapy limited acquired resistance through TP53 mutation. In vivo, combination therapy was well-tolerated, reduced tumor burden, and increased survival in orthotopic models of both AT/RT and MRT. Our results demonstrate that combining idasanutlin with selinexor is a promising therapeutic strategy for children with rhabdoid tumors.

  Study EGAS00001007680

• Differentially methylated CpGs in response to growth hormone administration in children with idiopathic short stature

  Background: Recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) has shown a great growth-promoting potential in children with idiopathic short stature (ISS). However, the response to rhGH differs across individuals, largely due to genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity. Since epigenetic marks on the methylome can be dynamically influenced by GH, we performed a comprehensive pharmaco-epigenomics analysis of DNA methylation changes associated with long-term rhGH administration in children with ISS. Results: We measured DNA methylation profiles before and after GH treatment (with a duration of ~18 months in average) on 47 healthy children using customized methylC-seq capture sequencing. Their changes were compared and associated with changes in plasma IGF1 by adjusting sex, age, treatment duration, and estimated blood proportions. We observed a considerable inter-individual heterogeneity of DNA methylation changes responding to GH treatment. We identified 267 response-associated differentially methylated cytosines (DMC) that were enriched in promoter regions, CpG islands and blood cell-type specific regulatory elements. Furthermore, the genes associated with these DMCs were enriched in the biology process of "cell development", "neuron differentiation" and "developmental growth", and in the TGF-beta signaling pathway, PPAR Alpha pathway, endoderm differentiation pathway, adipocytokine signaling pathway as well as PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and cAMP signaling pathway. Conclusion: Our study provides a first insight in DNA methylation changes associated with rhGH administration, which may help understand mechanisms of epigenetic regulation on GH-responsive genes.

  Study EGAS00001006115

• Circumventing intratumoral heterogeneity to identify potential therapeutic targets in hepatocellular carcinoma. Details please contact lifuqiang@genomics and zhaoxin@genomics.cn.

  Background and aims: Intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) challenges identifying mutations with target therapy potential whereas circulating cell-free DNAs (cfDNAs) could reflect nearly the entire mutation spectrum in given tumors. We investigated how to minimize the limit of ITH for profiling hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods: Thirty-two multi-regional HCC samples from five patients were subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES) and targeted deep sequencing (TDS). ITH extent was measured by the average percentage of non-ubiquitous mutations (present in parts of tumor regions). Matched cfDNAs were also analyzed by WES and TDS. Profiling efficiencies of single tumor specimen and cfDNA were compared and the one better depicted mutational landscape was selected to screen therapeutic targets.Results: We found variable extents of ITH in HCCs and observed branched and parallel evolution patterns. ITH level decreased at higher sequencing depth of TDS than that measured by WES (28.1% vs 34.9%, P < 0.01) but it remained unchanged upon additional samples analyzed. TDS of single tumor specimen detected an average of 70% the total mutations in HCC. Although more mutations were detected in cfDNA under TDS than WES, an average of 47.2% total HCC mutations uncovered by cfDNA suggested tissue outperform cfDNA and the latter may serve as alternative in profiling HCC genome. Consequently, TDS of single tumor tissue in 66 patients and cfDNAs in four unresectable HCCs identified 38.6% (26/66 and 1/4) patients bearing therapeutic targets.Conclusions: TDS of single tumor specimen could largely circumvent ITH to uncover mutations indicative of target therapy in HCC.

  Study EGAS00001002207

• Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis exome sequencing in a consanguineous family

  Identify the causative gene defect in three affected patients with JIA.

  Study EGAS00001003510

• PROGRESS/ELEMENT DNA Methylation Study

  An extension to the Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) birth cohort of Mexico City, the Programming Research in Obesity, GRowth, Environment and Social Stress (PROGRESS) Cohort is an ongoing longitudinal pre-birth cohort, established in 2006 in Mexico City, partnering Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai with Harvard University and the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, which was designed to study the effects of prenatal exposure to toxic metals, air pollution, phthalates, and stress on childhood development. Pregnant women of 18 years of age and older, pregnant for less than 20 weeks of gestation, had no documentation of heart or kidney disease, no use of steroids or anti-epilepsy drugs, no daily alcohol consumption, had telephone access, and planned to live in Mexico city for the following 3 years, and receiving care through the Mexican Social Security System were initially enrolled (n=1,054). In addition to clinical, demographic and exposure data collected, cord blood was collected to interrogate DNA methylation across the genome for over 300 mother-child dyads. Clinical assessments and exposures were captured during several life stages, including prenatal, infant (0-1 year), youth (1-18 years), and adulthood (mother). The PROGRESS cohort added well-documented phenotyping of children for obesity, metabolic dysfunction, respiratory outcomes, and cardiovascular outcomes, as well as measures of air pollutant, personal care/consumer product, non-chemical stress, and metal mixture exposures. No clinical trials were conducted in this cohort. The data collected in this study should provide a unique resource to investigate DNA methylation as it relates to several environmental exposures and adverse cardiometabolic and neurocognitive health in mothers and children from a prospective birthing cohort. For access to demographic, clinical, and exposure data please directly contact study principal investigators.

  Study phs002754

• Peripheral Blood Transcriptome Analysis of ALS Patients

  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are neurodegenerative disorders which overlap in their clinical presentation, pathology, and genetic origin. An over-representation of autoimmune disorders exists in both ALS and FTD, but this remains an unexplained epidemiologic observation. Expansions of a hexanucleotide repeat (GGGGCC) in the C9orf72 gene (GeneID:203228) are the most common cause of familial ALS and FTD (C9-ALS/FTD), leading to both repeat containing RNA and dipeptide accumulation coupled with decreased C9orf72 protein expression in brain and peripheral blood cells. Here we show that loss of C9orf72 in myeloid cells is sufficient to recapitulate the age dependent lymphoid hypertrophy and autoinflammation seen in complete C9orf72-/- mice. Dendritic cells isolated from C9orf72-/- mice showed marked early activation of the type I interferon response, and C9orf72-/- myeloid cells were primarily hyperresponsive to activators of stimulator of interferon gene (STING1 GeneID:340061), a key regulator of the innate immune response to cytosolic DNA. STING degradation through the autolysosomal pathway was diminished in C9orf72-/- mice myeloid cells, and blocking STING suppressed hyperactive type I interferon responses in C9orf72-/- myeloid cells and splenomegaly and inflammation in C9orf72-/- mice. Additionally, mice lacking one or both copies of C9orf72 were more susceptible to experimental autoimmune encephalitis, mirroring the susceptibility to autoimmune diseases seen in C9-ALS/FTD patients. Finally, we found that blood derived macrophages, peripheral blood monocytes, and brain tissue from C9-ALS/FTD patients all showed a hyperactive type I interferon signature compared to sporadic ALS/FTD subjects. Collectively, our results indicate that C9-ALS/FTD patients have an altered immunophenotype due to loss of C9orf72 regulation of STING mediated type I interferon activation.

  Study phs002055

• Low mutation burden and frequent loss of CDKN2A/B and SMARCA2, but not PRC2, define pre-malignant neurofibromatosis type 1-associated atypical neurofibromas

  Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a tumor-predisposition disorder caused by germline mutations in NF1. NF1 patients have an 8-16% lifetime risk of developing a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST), a highly aggressive soft-tissue sarcoma, often arising from pre-existing benign plexiform neurofibromas (PN) and atypical neurofibromas (ANF). ANF are distinct from both PN and MPNST, representing an intermediate step in malignant transformation. In the first comprehensive genomic analysis of ANF, we performed tumor/normal exome sequencing (ES) of 16 ANFs. In addition, we conducted ES of three MPNSTs, copy-number meta-analysis of 26 ANF and 28 MPNST, and whole transcriptome RNA-seq analysis of five ANF and five MPNST. We identified low mutation burden (median 1, range 0-5) in the exomes of ANF (only NF1 somatic mutations were recurrent), and frequent deletions of CDKN2A/CDKN2B (69%) and SMARCA2(42%) loci. We determined that polycomb repressor complex 2 (PRC2) genes EED or SUZ12 were frequently mutated, deleted or downregulated in MPNST but not in ANF. Our gene expression study revealed upregulated NRAS, MDM2, CCND1/CCND2/CCND3 and CDK4/CDK6 in both ANF and MPNST, and overexpression of EZH2 in MPNST only. We conclude that the PN-ANF transition is primarily driven by the deletion of CDKN2A/CDKN2B in addition to already present inactivated NF1. Further progression from ANF to MPNST likely involves broad chromosomal rearrangements and frequent inactivation of the PRC2 genes, loss of the DNA repair genes, and copy-number increase of signal transduction, cell cycle and pluripotency self-renewal genes.

  Study phs001993

• Bladder cancer subtyping study across 4 atezo clinical trials

  Checkpoint inhibitors targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction have revolutionized cancer therapy across many indications. In urothelial carcinoma (UC), several PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have been approved for treatment in localized and metastatic disease. While these agents provide durable clinical benefit in a number of patients, the majority do not respond. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying response and resistance is needed to tailor existing treatments and develop new therapeutics in UC. We profiled tumors from 2803 patients from four late-stage randomized clinical trials evaluating the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab in metastatic UC and muscle-invasive bladder cancer by RNA-seq, a targeted DNA panel, immunohistochemistry, and digital pathology. A machine learning algorithm identified four UC transcriptional subtypes, representing luminal desert, stromal, immune, and basal tumors. Overall survival benefit from atezolizumab over standard-of-care was observed in immune and basal tumors (45% of patients). Digital pathology showed enrichment of human interpretable features in specific molecular subtypes, and a self-supervised approach could classify molecular subtypes from H&E slides with high accuracy, suggesting that machine-based image interpretation could accelerate tumor molecular profiling. Somatic alterations showed limited capacity to identify responders. Finally, mechanisms of benefit with PD-L1 blockade appeared different in immune and basal tumors, with immune tumors benefiting from B/plasma cell enrichment, while basal tumors benefited from granulocyte enrichment. This study represents the largest integration of UC molecular and curated clinical data in randomized clinical trials to date, paving the way for prospective clinical studies tailoring treatment regimens to specific tumor molecular subtypes in UC and other indications.

  Study EGAS50000000497

• Effects of Metformin on Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Profiles in Breast Cancer Survivors Enrolled in the Randomized Placebo-Controlled MetBreCS Trial

  Metformin reduces the incidence of breast cancer in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, our knowledge of the effects of metformin on breast cancer recurrence is limited. Within the randomized double-blind placebo-controlled phase II trial MetBreCS, we examined changes in breast tissue from breast cancer survivors with BMI >25 kg/m2 after treatment with metformin. To identify metformin-regulated signaling pathways, we integrated the transcriptomic, metabolomic and steroid hormone profiles using bivariate and functional analyses. We identified MS4A1, HBA2, MT-RNR1 and MT-RNR2 expression to be differentially expressed in breast tissues from metformin-treated women. We also found metformin-associated down-regulation of EGFL6 and FDCSP in postmenopausal women. The integration of transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles revealed down-regulation of immune response genes associated with reduced levels of arginine and citrulline in the metformin-treated group. The integration of transcriptomic and steroid hormone profiles showed an enrichment of steroid hormone biosynthesis and metabolism pathways with highly negatively correlated CYP11A1 and CYP1B1 expression in breast tissue from postmenopausal metformin-treated women. Our results indicate that breast cancer survivors treated with metformin have specific changes in breast tissue gene expression that may prevent the development of new tumors. Within the randomized double-blind placebo-controlled phase II trial MetBreCS, we examined changes in breast tissue from breast cancer survivors with BMI >25 kg/m2 after treatment with metformin using bulk RNAseq (total mRNA sequencing), that is deposited in Federated EGA. The steroid hormones, and metabolomics and the insulin sensitivity serum biomarker data underlying this article may be shared upon reasonable request to the PI of the MetBreCS study (Dr. Bernardo Bonanni), following approval by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board at IEO, Milan.

  Study EGAS50000000874

• Genomic and epigenomic characterization of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML)

  Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is an aggressive myeloproliferative disorder of early childhood. While some cases show spontaneous remission, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the only curative treatment option for the majority of patients, however, the 5-year event-free survival reaches only about 50%. Hyperactive RAS signaling is assumed to be the main driving event in JMML. It is caused by genetic alterations in CBL, KRAS, NF1, NRAS, or PTPN11 in about 90% of patients. So far, there is no clear understanding of how RAS pathway mutations relate to the heterogeneous disease biology and variable clinical outcome seen in JMML patients. As a consequence, established clinical and genetic markers fail to fully represent the observed disease heterogeneity. We hypothesized that DNA methylation profiling, either alone or in combination with genetic alterations, might provide a molecular basis for disease classification. Genome wide DNA methylation analysis using the HumanMethylation450 Bead Chip array was performed in a discovery cohort of 20 patients (19 JMML, 1 Noonan syndrome). The clinical relevance of our findings was assessed in an unselected sample set consisting of 147 consecutive patients with JMML (n=129) or Noonan syndrome (n=18) associated myeloproliferative disorder (n=18) registered in the EWOG-MDS 1998 & 2006 trials. Data integration was performed in a subset of patients with available exome sequencing (n=50) and expression profiling (n=15) data. This integrated approach identified three JMML subgroups characterized by distinct clinical and biological features. This analysis further suggested a molecular mechanism by which additional genetic events, presumably further activating the RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK pathway, mediate DNA hypermethylation via up-regulation of DNMTs in more aggressive JMML cases.

  Study EGAS00001002511

• Distinct evolutionary trajectories of primary high grade serous ovarian cancers revealed through spatial mutational profiling

  High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) is characterized by poor outcome, often attributed to emergence of treatment-resistant sub-clones. We sought to measure the degree of genomic diversity within primary, untreated HGSC to examine the natural state of tumor evolution prior to therapy. We performed exome sequencing, copy number analysis, targeted amplicon deep sequencing and gene expression profiling on thirty-one spatially and temporally separated HGSC tumor specimens (six patients) including ovarian masses, distant metastases, and fallopian tube lesions. We found widespread intra-tumoral variation in mutation, copy number, and gene expression profiles, with key driver alterations in genes present in only a subset of samples (e.g. PIK3CA, CTNNB1, NF1). On average, only 51.5% of mutations were present in every sample of a given case (range: 10.2% to 91.4%), with TP53 as the only somatic mutation consistently present in all samples. Complex segmental aneuploidies, such as whole genome doubling, were present in a subset of samples from the same individual, with divergent copy number changes segregating independently of point mutation acquisition. Reconstruction of evolutionary histories showed one patient with mixed HGSC and endometrioid histology with common etiologic origin in the fallopian tube and subsequent selection of different driver mutations in the histologically distinct samples. In this patient, we observed mixed cell populations in the early fallopian tube lesion, indicating diversity arises at early stages of tumorigenesis. Our results reveal that HGSC exhibit highly individual evolutionary trajectories and diverse genomic tapestries prior to therapy, exposing an essential biological characteristic to inform future design of personalized therapeutic solutions and investigation of drug resistance mechanisms.

  Study EGAS00001000547

• The Genetic Landscape of BCL2 Break Negative Follicular Lymphoma

  Background: 15% of high and 50% of low stage FL lack the t(14;18). Nevertheless, most of these cases express BCL2 by so far unknown mechanisms. Principals/Methodology: To find molecular mechanisms, triggering FL-pathogenesis in t(14;18)-negative FL, the exonic SNV-profiles of 33 FL with and 16 FL without t(14;18) were assessed by whole exome-sequencing and external SNV-data integration. The SNV-profile of the whole exome-sequenced FL was correlated with copy number, LOH and gene-expression data. Finally, the N-glycosylation status was assessed (LympTrack assay) in a separate validation cohort. Results: SNVs in FL with and without t(14;18) affected different genes, but accumulated in similar pathways, e.g. apoptosis, epigenetic processes and cell cycle/proliferation. Mutations in genes associated with immune-response were more prominently and those associated with NFkB and N-glycosylation selectively enriched in t(14;18)-negative FL. ~50% of mutated genes showed BCL2-asociation at high confidence in FL with and without t(14;18). Moreover, among the genes mutated in t(14;18)-negative FL 555 (~1/3) were affected by copy number alterations and/or copy-neutral LOH, 125 were differently expressed between FL with and without t(14;18) (p<0.01) and 62 were differentially expressed and affected by copy number alterations and/or copy-neutral LOH. N-glycosylation was strongly reduced in t(14;18)-negative FL as compared to results reported for historical FL cohorts. Conclusion: These results suggest a stronger crosstalk with the microenvironment that may compensate for the lack of N-glycosylation and a diverse portfolio of SNVs that may contribute to the upregulation of BCL2 and FL pathogenesis in t(14;18)-negative FL.

  Study EGAS00001002164

• European BestAgeing Study on microRNA candidates for cardiovascular disease

  Background: Circulating miRNAs have emerged as promising biomarker candidates due to their stability and their role in regulating key pathological pathways in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Yet, large-scale, multicenter studies examining their diagnostic and prognostic potential are scarce. This study evaluates the potential of miRNA expression profiles to inform disease classification and risk stratification across major CVD phenotypes, including acute coronary syndrome (ACS), chronic coronary artery disease (CAD), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM), in a large, multicenter European cohort. Methods: We assessed genome-wide miRNA expression profiles in a total of 1,209 cardiovascular patients and 848 controls in a uniform, standardized fashion, which renders this study one of the largest prospective miRNA studies. To focus on only the most biologically plausible miRNAs for clinical translation, we mined all original studies of miRNA candidates in CVD and performed differential miRNA expression and enrichment analysis. We then trained disease-specific binary classification models to evaluate the diagnostic potential of miRNA signatures. Finally, we evaluated prognosis and disease severity based on distinct miRNA levels. Results: 634 original abstracts were identified, detailing 166 ACS, 181 CAD, 56 DCM, and 182 ICM miRNAs. Without further optimization, the signatures of a priori miRNAs already yielded very good diagnostic performance with ROC AUC of 0.83 – 0.95. There was an improvement when considering additional miRNAs in a discovery setting. Interestingly, in ACS, CAD and DCM we observed a significantly worse prognosis in probands with higher scores in the miRNA signatures, indicating additional prognostic information. Conclusions: The European BestAgeing miRNA study reveals emerging associations of several miRNA signatures with cardiovascular disease discrimination and prognostication, providing a foundation for future external validation and potential clinical translation of this class of markers.

  Study EGAS00001008346

• Genomic Characterization of Meningiomas

  Meningiomas are the most common primary brain tumor in the US. Although the tumor suppressor gene NF2 is disrupted in approximately half of meningiomas, the complete spectrum of genetic changes in meningiomas remains poorly understood, particularly in the large subset of tumors without NF2 alterations. Therefore we performed whole-genome sequencing from 11 Grade I meningioma tumor-normal pairs and whole-exome sequencing from an additional 6 tumor-normal pairs to identify somatic mutations, insertions-deletions, copy-number alterations and rearrangements. We validated our results by performing focused sequencing across 48 additional meningiomas.

  Study phs000552

• Pharmacogenomic Analysis of Microtubule Targeting Agent Response and Toxicity

  Microtubule targeting agents are commonly prescribed for early and metastatic breast cancer and other solid tumors. However, interindividual variability in microtubule targeting drug response and toxicity can cause limited therapeutic benefit and impact quality of life. In the present study, genome-wide analyses were performed to investigate how genetic factors can be used to increase prediction of treatment response and toxicity, identify genes or gene pathways associated with chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity, and inform further in vitro studies that may help isolate differences in response and toxicity of microtubule targeting agents.

  Study phs002060

• Alterations in the gut microbiome in inflammatory arthritis implicate key taxa and metabolic pathways across arthritis phenotypes

  The gut microbiome has been implicated in several inflammatory conditions, but large-scale metagenomic evaluations have not yet traced the routes by which immunity in the gut affects systemic inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory arthritis. To characterize the community structure and associated functional processes driving gut microbial involvement in arthritis, we investigated a total of 440 stool shotgun metagenomes comprising 275 adults diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, or psoriatic arthritis, along with 165 healthy control individuals and individuals with joint pain without an underlying inflammatory cause.

  Study EGAS00001005525

• Splicing signature analysis of RNU4-2, RNU5A-1 and RNU5B-1

  Pathogenic variants in the snRNA RNU4-2 were recently described as a frequent cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. In our study we further delineate the phenotype associated with RNU4-2 and we also identify pathogenic variants in RNU5A-A and RNU5B-1. Capture-based RNA-Seq were performed to compare splicing pattern between affected and control individuals. A strong signature based on alternative 5' splice site usage was found for RNU4-2 patients, and we suggest an either 5' or 3' signature depending on the variant's localiztion in U5 genes.

  Study EGAS50000000889

• Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children produces endogenous T-cells targeting tumor associated antigens and neoantigens in peripheral blood

  In this study we investigated the presence of endogenous T-cells recognizing private tumor-associated antigens and predicted neoantigens. To this end, HLA-I and HLA-II restricted tumor associated antigens (TAAs) and neoantigens were respectively identified and predicted from matched tumor and germline (PBMCs) in three acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients. Circulating T-cells targeting both Mass spectrometry (MS)-identified TAAs and predicted neoantigens were identified in virtually all pediatric BCP-ALL patients, extending up to two years on remission.

  Study EGAS50000000925

• Whole-genome sequencing analysis for understanding of the stepwise progression of lung adenocarcinoma

  In this study, we performed long and short read whole-genome sequencing analysis of lung adenocarcinoma from early to advanced stages to identify molecular events associated with the stepwise progression of lung adenocarcinoma. We particularly focused on very early stage of lung adenocarcinoma, such as adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA). In addition to the whole-genome sequencing analysis, we conducted transcriptome and epigenome analysis, multiplex fluorescence immunostaining. This study would enable us to understand important molecular events of pathogenesis in detail during lung adenocarcinoma progression.

  Study JGAS000570

• Metastatic Adult Pancreatoblastoma: Multimodal Treatment and Molecular Characterization of a Very Rare Disease (NCT MASTER)

  Pancreatoblastoma is a rare malignant tumor that occurs predominantly in children. We identified four adult patients with metastasizing pancreatoblastoma at a high-volume German university cancer center which were treated with multimodal therapies between 2013 and 2018. In three cases, we performed a comprehensive molecular analysis that included whole-genome sequencing (WGS) or whole-exome sequencing (WES); transcriptome sequencing was performed in two cases, respectively. Subsequent recommendations of molecularly stratified treatment options were discussed within a dedicated molecular tumor board (MTB) embedded in a precision oncology program (NCT MASTER).

  Study EGAS00001004157

• ChIP-seq of GOF p53 mutants

  Gain-of-function TP53 mutations were detected in 41.3% of cases, in which co-occurring del(17p) underscored a dominant effect in >25%. Missense mutations of TP53 clustered within the core DNA-binding domain, where R249S was most common. To explore the transcriptional effect of mutant p53(R249S), we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing in the HCC cell line HKCI-11, which has a p53(R249S) mutation, and the human hepatocyte line MIHA, which is p53(WT). The results revealed distinct binding profiles between wildtype p53 and p53 mutant.

  Study EGAS00001002463

• RNAseq data from human colon organoid infected by KP

  The aim of this study is to identify the specific bacteria that are responsible for pathological bacterial translocation and subsequent Th17 priming in the liver in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). To clarify the mechanism of how microbiota interacts with the intestinal epithelial barrier, monolayered human intestinal organoids were cultured with the specific bacteria. Gene expression analysis using RNA sequencing in epithelial cells cultured with Klebsiella pneumoniae derived from a PSC patient (KP-P1) or commercially obtained Klebsiella pneumoniae strain (KP JCM1662) was performed in this study.

  Study EGAS00001003332

• The effect of freezing delay of cell-type specific transcriptome responses in human brain via snRNA-seq

  In other analysis in the current manuscript, we find a similar gene signature (to dissociation based artifacts in mouse and human tissue) is present in post-mortem microglia and astrocytes, across all snRNA-seq datasets analyzed, although it is highly variable between subjects. ​ Using acutely-resected neurosurgical tissue, we performed single-nucleus RNA-seq and reveal that a similar signature can be detected in microglia following prolonged exposure to room temperature. Tissue handling and methods details, as well as sequencing and analysis details) can be found in the methods section of related manuscript (Marsh et al., 2022). Together, these results suggest that the presence of this signature in post-mortem brain samples may be the result of a combination of acute pre-mortem (agonal state, cause of death, comorbidities, etc.) and post-mortem (post-mortem interval (PMI), storage time, RNA quality, etc.) variables and may not represent normally present cell state.

  Dataset EGAD00001008541

• WGS dataset of Characterization of UV DNA damage in B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia

  We characterized B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) patients that present with the mutational signature SBS7a. We found clear subtype specificity, but presence of SBS7a did not seem linked to heterogeneity within subtypes. To further distinguish the incidence of SBS7a in pediatric cancer we analyzed a pan-cancer WGS cohort and identified frequent SBS7a in anaplastic large cell lymphomas. As SBS7a is commonly found in skin cancers and has been linked to UV-light induced DNA damage, we compared the features of UV-light induced DNA damage in skin cancer and SBS7a in ALL, and found high similarity. We found no defects in UV damage response pathways in SBS7a-positive samples, indicating no additional UV vulnerability. Additionally, transcriptomic data showed no differences between samples with and without SBS7a. Finally we looked into the moment of exposure to the source of SBS7a by deep sequencing of diagnosis-relapse pairs and single cell whole genome sequencing of diagnosis samples with high SBS7a.

  Dataset EGAD00001015600

• WGS data for ctDNA monitoring for NSCLC in TRACERx

  Ultrasensitive circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) detection can stratify clinical risk in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here, we applied a whole-genome, tumour-informed approach to study ctDNA in more than 400 NSCLC of the TRACERx project

  Study EGAS50000001187

• Elevated circulating tumor cells reflect high proliferation and genomic complexity in multiple myeloma - RNA validation cohort

  This reposiroty contains bulk RNA data generated by Blood Cancer Research Group (Ostrava, Czech Republic) as a part of publication named "Elevated circulating tumor cells reflect high proliferation and genomic complexity in multiple myeloma" published in Hemapshere.

  Study EGAS50000001212

• Elevated circulating tumor cells reflect high proliferation and genomic complexity in multiple myeloma - WGS validation cohort

  This reposiroty contains bulk WGS data generated by Blood Cancer Research Group (Ostrava, Czech Republic) as a part of publication named "Elevated circulating tumor cells reflect high proliferation and genomic complexity in multiple myeloma" published in Hemapshere.

  Study EGAS50000001211

• Transcriptome sequencing, DNA methylation analysis, and SNP array analysis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Down syndrome

  Pathogenesis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Down syndrome (DS-ALL) is poorly understood. To investigate molecular basis of DS-ALL, we performed whole transcriptome sequencing, DNA methylation array, and SNP array analysis in 43 cases of DS-ALL.

  Study JGAS000147

• Target sequencing of 8 hereditary prostate cancer genes in Japanese

  We performed a case control association study for variants in coding regions of 8 hereditary prostate cancer genes in 7,636 male unselected prostate cancer patients, 12,366 male controls of Japanese ancestry. The 8 genes were ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, BRIP1, CHEK2, HOXB13, NBN, and PALB2.

  Study JGAS000203

• intratumor heterogeneity in colorectal adenoma and carcinoma

  To investigate intratumor heterogeneity in precancerous lesions of colorectal cancers (PCRCs), we performed whole-exome sequencing of 53 tumor and 10 matched-normal samples from 10 laterally spreading tumors in the colon and rectum, which were histologically diagnosed as adenoma with/without adenocarcinoma.

  Study JGAS000092

• Mutations in PNPLA6 are linked to photoreceptor degeneration and various forms of childhood blindness

  In this work, using exome sequencing, we identified biallelic PNLPA6 mutations in patients with childhood blindness due to severe photoreceptor death and clinical features of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and, interestingly, also of the rare Oliver McFarlane Syndrome

  Study EGAS00001001013

• Mutational context and diverse clonal development in early and late bladder cancer

  Bladder cancer shows multiple recurrences probably originating from a malignant field disease in the mucosa. Deep sequencing was used on a series of tumors to look into the clonal composition, mutational spectrum in non-aggressive tumors, and mutational context.

  Study EGAS00001000641

• A living biobank of patient-derived ductal carcinoma in situ Mouse-INtraDuctal xenografts identifies factors associated with risk of invasive progression

  Create a living biobank of patient-derived ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) Mouse-INtraDuctal (MIND) xenografts to find factors explaining invasive growth. Samples exist of both primary and pdx samples. Invasive growth was scored in the pdx.

  Study EGAS00001006554

• Defining T cell States Associated with Response to Checkpoint Immunotherapy in Melanoma

  Checkpoint blockade therapy using antibodies targeting CTLA4, PD1 or PDL1 have changed the way cancer patients with advanced disease are being treated, as evident by their FDA approval in a wide variety of malignancies, and their ability to induce high response rates when compared to conventional therapies (e.g. chemotherapy). However, even in melanoma, despite the high response rate, most patients are refractory to therapy or acquire resistance in 10-12 months. To identify key immunological elements coupled with response or resistance to checkpoint immunotherapy, we performed an unbiased analysis on 16,291 CD45+ immune cells from 32 patients (48 samples) treated with checkpoint therapy (anti-PD1=37; anti-PD1/CTLA4=11), using single cell transcriptomics. Initial unsupervised clustering of all CD45+ cells identified 11 clusters. When examining the association of these clusters with clinical outcome, we found that two clusters (B-cells, p=0.005; memory T-cells, p=0.03) were significantly enriched in responder lesions while 4 clusters (monocytes/macrophages, p=0.003; dendritic cells, p=0.015; exhausted CD8+ T-cells, p=0.005; and exhausted/cell-cycle lymphocytes, 1.3x10-5) are enriched in non-responder lesions. Next, by leveraging our unbiased single cell approach, we identified not only clusters but also specific markers associated with either responder lesions (PLAC8, LTB, LY9, SELL, TCF7, IGKC and CCR7) or non-responder ones (CCL3, CD38, HAVCR2, ENTPD1 and WARS), many of which were not previously reported to be associated with clinical outcome to checkpoint therapy. Due to the importance of CD8+ T-cells in controlling tumors, the significant association of T-cell states with clinical outcome, and their high abundance in melanoma tumors, we next focused our analysis on CD8+ T-cells and identified 2 main clusters CD8_G (with increased expression of genes linked to memory) and CD8_B (enriched for genes linked to cell dysfunction), that were significantly enriched in responder (CD8_G, p=1.4x10-6) and non-responder (CD8_B, p=0.005) lesions, respectively. Since cells with both states coexist in each of the responder and non-responder lesions, we decided to calculate the ratio between the number of cells in these 2 clusters and observed a significant separation between responders (CD8_G/CD8_B>1) and non-responders (CD8_G/CD8_B<1) when looking at all samples, baseline or post samples separately. Similar results were detected when looking at the expression of a single transcription factor, TCF7, in CD8 T-cells in an independent cohort (n=43) using a simple immunofluorescence assay. Additionally, we validated the identity and function of some of the newly identified cell states as well as their epigenetic landscape, and found that cells expressing the inhibitory molecules CD39 and TIM3, on top of being enriched in non-responder lesions, are likely to play a crucial role in T-cell exhaustion in melanoma. Collectively, our study provides extensive unbiased data in human tumors for discovery of predictors and therapeutic targets to checkpoint immunotherapy.

  Study phs001680

• Mutant p53 confers gain-of-function transcriptional activity in liver cancer

  Mutant p53 confers gain-of-function transcriptional activity in liver cancer

  Study EGAS00001005779

• Monocyte Spike-in RNASeq

  Please see our related publication, 'Tumor monocyte content predicts immunochemotherapy outcomes in esophageal adenocarcinoma'.

  Study EGAS00001007197

• Identification of intronic sequences promoting natural skipping of ABCA4 exon 15 using long-read transcriptomics and midigene assays

  Stargardt disease is an inherited retinal disease that leads to progressive loss of vision, and is caused by biallelic variants in the ABCA4 gene. A significant proportion of ABCA4 variants of variable penetrance affect pre-mRNA splicing. Previously, we observed the exclusion of certain ABCA4 exons into the final transcript in the absence of any disease-causing variants. In this study, we explored this phenomenon that we coined natural exon skipping (NES) for the entire ABCA4 transcript, using targeted RT-PCR analysis as well as long-read transcriptome sequencing of control retina samples. For the most abundant NES event, which is skipping of ABCA4 exon 15, overlapping ABCA4 deletion constructs were employed to identify responsible cis-regulatory sequence motifs. Subsequently, antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) were designed and tested to reverse NES and restore fully-spliced ABCA4 mRNA. We identified intronic regions on each side of exon 15 that, when deleted, increased the inclusion of exon 15 in the final transcripts. Interestingly, these motifs appear to work in a synergistic manner. Further fine-mapping of these regions revealed several cis-regulatory motifs that may be responsible for inducing NES, on each side of the exon. AONs targeting these motifs unfortunately did not decrease the skipping of exon 15. In conclusion, we discovered an intriguing phenomenon that, in the absence of disease-causing variants, results in the skipping of one or more exons in the ABCA4 transcript. These NES events appear to be regulated by cis-regulatory motifs within the flanking introns. This work captured the extend of NES throughout ABCA4 transcript and the role of cis-regulatory motifs in pre-mRNA splicing.. The use of AONs targeting cis-regulatory motifs is an innovative strategy for splicing modulation, suitable for complementing future variant-specific splicing modulation therapies in ABCA4 retinopathies.

  Study EGAS50000000071

• Genomic Profiling of Pediatric Tumors by Cell Free DNA Sequencing

  BACKGROUND Analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from peripheral blood has been studied extensively for detection and monitoring therapy response in adult cancers, but utility in pediatric tumors is unclear. METHODS We studied 233 children with hematologic, solid and brain tumors. cfDNA was extracted from 1 mL of plasma collected at diagnosis. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in cfDNA was quantified and diverse classes of somatic genomic variants were detected using PeCan-Seq. PeCan-Seq findings were compared with matched tumor whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing data. Minimal residual disease (MRD) status was evaluated by cfDNA PeCan-Seq in 14 patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. RESULTS Plasma cfDNA yields at diagnosis were higher for hematologic malignancies than for solid and brain tumors. Patients with hematologic malignancy were 100% ctDNA-positive, the median ctDNA fraction in cfDNA was 0.77. We detected 97% variants that were present in tumors and covered by the capture panel, and 50 subclonal variants that were present in cfDNA only. Our approach enabled detection of sequence and structural variants in B-ALL ctDNA at varying levels of MRD. Nineteen of 38 patients with solid tumors were ctDNA-positive, with high prevalence in Ewing Sarcoma, liver tumors and osteosarcoma. One of 19 brain tumor patients was ct-DNA positive, indicating lack of utility for plasma-derived cfDNA in this disease. Notably, cfDNA analysis of a single plasma sample identified genomic features in ctDNA derived from B-ALL, concurrent primary neuroblastoma, and a later neuroblastoma relapse, indicating that genomic variations from multiple tumors could be detected simultaneously. CONCLUSIONS Pediatric patients with hematologic malignancy had an abundance of plasma ctDNA at diagnosis. Plasma ctDNA levels varied between different solid tumor types, more studies are needed to determine utility. Panel-based cfDNA sequencing could serve as a non-invasive approach for pediatric cancer diagnosis and disease monitoring.

  Study EGAS50000000072

• Intra-tumor heterogeneity of localized lung adenocarcinomas defined by multi-region sequencing

  Background: Intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) may have profound impacts on biopsy strategy, characterization of actionable targets, treatment planning, and drug resistance. ITH of lung cancers has not been well studied. Methods: We performed multi-region whole exome sequencing (average sequencing depth 277x) on 48 tumor regions from 11 resected lung adenocarcinomas (8 stage I, 2 stage II and one stage III tumors) followed by deep sequencing validation (average sequencing depth 863x). Results: All tumors showed clear evidence of spatial ITH. On average, 76% of all mutations and 20/21 known cancer gene mutations were present in all regions of individual tumors (trunk mutations). Copy number analysis did not show substantial difference in large-scale chromosome aberrations. A canonical KRAS p.G12C mutation was detected in only 1 of 4 tumor regions (branch mutations) at exome depth but detected in all four tumor regions (trunk mutations) at increased sequencing depth. In addition, many heterogeneous branch mutations defined by exome sequencing were detectable in all regions of individual tumors with increasing sequencing depth. Significant differences in mutational spectrum were observed in 6 tumors indicating that specific mutational processes were likely operative at different times during development of these tumors. With a median follow up of 21 months post surgery, 3 patients have relapsed and all 3 patients presented with significantly larger fractions of subclonal mutations in their primary tumors. Conclusions: Although multi-region sampling is still required to fully assess ITH complexity, single biopsy analysis at appropriate depth might be sufficient to identify the majority of known cancer gene mutations in localized lung adenocarcinomas. Larger subclonal mutation fractions may be associated with increased likelihood of postsurgical relapse in patients with localized lung adenocarcinomas. Studies on larger cohort, ideally with comprehensive clinical annotation and repeat biopsy at relapse are needed to fully understand the clinical impact of ITH.

  Study EGAS00001000930

• A circulating biomarker for severity of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

  Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a prevalent, incurable skeletal myopathy. Clinical trials for FSHD are hindered by heterogeneous biomarkers poorly associated with clinical severity, requiring invasive muscle biopsy. Macroscopically FSHD presents with slow fatty replacement of muscle, rapidly accelerated by inflammation. Mis-expression of the transcription factor DUX4 is currently accepted to underlie FSHD pathogenesis and mechanisms including PAX7 target gene repression have been proposed. Here we perform RNA-sequencing on MRI guided inflamed (n=24) and isogenic non-inflamed (n=24) muscle biopsies from the same clinically characterised FSHD patients, alongside isogenic peripheral blood mononucleated cells from a subset of patients (n=13), and unaffected controls. We employ multivariate models to evaluate the clinical associations of 5 published FSHD transcriptomic biomarkers. We demonstrate that PAX7 target gene repression can discriminate control, inflamed and non-inflamed FSHD muscle independently of age and sex (p<0.013), while the discriminatory power of DUX4 target genes is limited to distinguishing FSHD muscle from control. Importantly, the level of PAX7 target gene repression in non-inflamed muscle associates with clinical assessments of FSHD severity (p=0.04). DUX4 target gene biomarkers in FSHD muscle show associations with lower limb fat fraction and D4Z4 array length, but not clinical assessment. Lastly, PAX7 target gene repression in FSHD muscle correlates with the level in isogenic peripheral blood mononucleated cells (p=0.002). A refined PAX7 target gene biomarker comprising 143/601 PAX7 target genes computed in peripheral blood (the FSHD muscle-blood biomarker) associates with clinical severity in FSHD patients (p<0.036). Our new circulating biomarker validates as a classifier of clinical severity in an independent data set of 54 FSHD patient blood samples, with improved power in older patients (p=0.03). In summary, we present the minimally invasive FSHD muscle-blood biomarker of FSHD clinical severity valid in patient muscle and blood, with potential utility in routine disease monitoring and clinical trials.

  Study EGAS00001007350

• Lysosomal Disease Network (LDN6719) Immune Response to Intrathecal Enzyme Therapy in Mucopolysaccharidosis 1 Patients

  In this study we characterized the immune response to intrathecal (IT) recombinant human alpha-L-iduronidase (rhIDU) in mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS I) subjects with spinal cord compression who had been previously treated with intravenous rhIDU. Concentrations of specific antibodies and cytokines were measured in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collected before monthly IT rhIDU infusions. These serologic findings were compared with clinical adverse event (AE) reports to establish temporal correlations with clinical symptoms. We found that IT rhIDU was generally well tolerated in the subjects studied although one subject had moderate to severe clinical symptoms and serologic abnormalities consistent with an immune response.

  Study phs000862

• Genome-Wide Environment Interaction Study on Neurodevelopment in Children from Mexico and Bangladesh

  Cognitive development is known to be highly heritable, but various genome wide association studies (GWAS) have failed to find common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which can explain a large proportion of the variance in cognitive ability. We hypothesized that an interaction between genes and exposure to potentially toxic metals may account for some proportion of this missing heritability. We genotyped 749 infants in Mexico and 636 infants in Bangladesh. Criteria for inclusion into the study are given below. We then performed a Genome Wide Environmental Interaction Study (GWEIS) with neurodevelopment outcomes. There were 552,487 SNPs in common between the two cohorts.

  Study phs000996

• The Genetics of Food Cue Reactivity in Children

  This study aimed to investigate genetic factors related to appetite, eating in the absence of hunger and brain reward response to food cues in a convenience sample of pre-adolescent children taken through two studies (A and B). The study involved genome-wide genotyping using the Illumina Global Screening Array. The study found an obesity polygenic risk score related to parent-reported appetitive traits in children, The study also found that FTO was related to eating in the absence of hunger and brain reward response to food cues. Available data include genotypes, measured height and weight, appetitive traits, consumption, brain reward response to food cues, and sociodemographic variables.

  Study phs003550

• Mitochondrial DNA mosaicism in human somatic cells

  Genomic alterations accumulate in the somatic cells throughout an individual’s lifetime. Recent sequencing studies have documented widespread mutations in the nuclear genome and the frequent clonal competition of normal cells carrying mutations. However, the landscape of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) heteroplasmy in normal human tissues is poorly understood. This study investigated the whole genome sequences (WGSs) of 2,096 clones established from non-neoplastic healthy single cells obtained from 31 donors. In addition, we analyzed 31 WGSs of neoplastic cells, including 12 clones established from adenomatous polyps from one individual with MUTYH-associated polyposis and 19 matched colorectal carcinomas from individuals who donated normal colorectal clones.

  Study EGAS50000000254

• Whole Exome Sequencing and RNA Sequencing of High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer in Black and White Patients

  In this study, we generated new RNA and whole exome sequencing data from high-grade serous ovarian cancer tumor samples of self-identified Black and White individuals. Our RNA-Seq analysis revealed that, while the prevalence of subtypes varied across racial groups, the cluster-specific gene expression patterns were consistent. Despite these differences in subtype prevalence, the subtype-specific survival rates were similar across racial groups. Additionally, we used the WES-Seq data to characterize mutational signatures and their underlying causes in Black high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) cases, and compared the prevalence and distribution of these signatures with those in White TCGA cases.

  Study phs003632

• COVID-19-Induced Immune Alterations in Infants

  Although previous studies have described some overlap between COVID-19-induced immune alterations in adults and children, no systematic immune profiling studies have been reported in infants. We applied a multidimensional approach to decipher the immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infected infants (n=26; 10 mild, 11 moderate and 5 severe) and healthy matched controls (n=14). Single-cell RNA-seq profiling (scRNA-seq) of PBMCs revealed alterations in cell composition upon infection, with most cell types demonstrating an interferon-stimulated gene (ISGhi) state. Our findings shed insight into the immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in the first year of life.

  Study phs002655

• Transcriptomic Profiling after B-Cell Depletion Reveals Central and Peripheral Immune Cell Changes in Multiple Sclerosis

  We investigated the immunological effects of B cell depletion therapy using ocrelizumab in treatment-naïve relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients. Our primary aim was to delineate transcriptomic alterations in immune cell populations in peripheral blood before and after therapy, using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq). This study included 18 newly diagnosed, treatment-naïve RRMS patients who provided matched pre- and 6-month post-treatment peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). A secondary cohort of five patients also contributed paired cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. All RRMS patients were treated with ocrelizumab, except one patient in the CSF cohort who received rituximab.

  Study phs003938

• Tracing the molecular route to progression in miRNA biogenesis-defective thyroid lesions

  Alterations in the DICER1 and DGCR8 microprocessor genes confer risk to the development of benign and malignant thyroid lesions. The involvement of 2 miRNA biogenesis genes in benign and malignant thyroid tumors highlights the key role of miRNAs in the thyroid gland. We traced the progression from benignity to malignancy in DICER1- and DGCR8-mutated thyroid lesions by performing a multiomic characterization of these lesions aiming to uncover unique features characterizing either form for potential use as biomarkers. This multiomic characterization included whole exome sequencing (WES) (N=18), miRNA profiling (N=38), spatial transcriptomics (N=2) and/or methylome (N=281).

  Study EGAS50000001577

• Identification of cis-regulatory mutations generating de novo edges in personalized cancer gene regulatory networks

  The identification of functional non-coding mutations is a key challenge in the field of genomics. Here we introduce μ-cisTarget to filter, annotate and prioritize cis-regulatory mutations based on their putative effect on the underlying ‘personal’ gene regulatory network. We validated μ-cisTarget by re-analyzing the TAL1 and LMO1 enhancer mutations in T-ALL, and the TERT promoter mutation in melanoma. Next, we re-sequenced the full genome of ten cancer cell lines and used matched transcriptome data and motif discovery to identify master regulators with de novo binding sites that result in the up-regulation of nearby oncogenic drivers.

  Study EGAS00001002571

• Exome-wide analysis identifies three low-frequency missense variants associated with pancreatic cancer risk in Chinese populations

  Germline coding variants have not been systematically investigated for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Here, we report an exome-wide investigation using the Illumina Human Exome Beadchip with 943 PDAC cases and 3,908 controls in the Chinese population, followed by two independent replicate samples including 2,142 cases and 4,697 controls. We identify three low-frequency missense variants associated with the PDAC risk: rs34309238 in PKN1 (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.48-2.12, P = 5.35 X 10-10), rs2242241 in DOK2 (OR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.50-2.27, P = 4.34 X 10-9) and rs183117027 in APOB (OR = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.72-3.16, P = 4.21 X 10-8).

  Study EGAS00001003040

• A Study to Evaluate Denosumab in Young Patients With Primary Breast Cancer (D-Beyond)

  This is a prospective, single arm phase IIa trial in which patients with early breast cancer will receive pre-operatively two doses of denosumab 120mg subcutaneously one week apart (maximum 12 days) followed by surgery. Tumor, normal breast tissue and blood samples will be collected at baseline and at surgery. Post-operative treatment will be at the discretion of the investigator.Primary objective: to determine if a short course of RANKL inhibition with denosumab can induce a decrease in tumor proliferation rates as determined by Ki67 immunohistochemistry (IHC) in newly diagnosed, early stage breast cancer in pre-menopausal women.

  Study EGAS00001003252

• THE GENOMIC LANDSCAPE OF ACTINIC KERATOSIS

  Actinic keratoses (AK) are lesions of epidermal keratinocyte dysplasia and are precursors for invasive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). Identifying the specific genomic alterations driving progression from normal skin-AK-invasive CSCC is challenging due to the massive ultraviolet radiation-induced mutational burden characteristic at all stages of this progression. Here, we report the largest AK whole exome sequencing study to date and perform mutational signature and candidate driver gene analysis on these lesions. We demonstrate in 37 AK, from both immunosuppressed and immunocompetent patients, that there are significant similarities to CSCC in terms of mutational burden, copy number alterations, mutational signatures and patterns of driver gene mutations. We identify 44 significantly mutated AK driver genes and confirm that these genes are similarly altered in CSCC. We identify the azathioprine mutational signature in all AK from patients exposed to the drug, providing further evidence for its role in keratinocyte carcinogenesis. CSCC differ from AK in having higher levels of intra-sample heterogeneity. Alterations in signaling pathways also differ, with immune-related signaling and TGF-β signaling significantly more mutated in CSCC. Integrating our findings with independent gene expression datasets confirms that dysregulated TGF-β signaling may represent an important event in AK-CSCC progression.

  Dataset EGAD00001006894

• Somatic mutant selection is altered by prior NOTCH1 mutation in ageing esophageal epithelium

  Authors: Charlotte King1, Emilie Abbie1, Joanna C. Fowler1, Irina Abnizova1, Roshan K. Sood1, Swee Hoe Ong1, Michael W. J. Hall1,2, Faye Lynch-Williams3, Benjamin A. Hall4, Philip H. Jones1,2,5 Abstract: In cancer evolution, genome alterations often occur in a specific order, implying selection depends on the prior clonal genotype 1-3. It is unknown if similar constraints operate in normal epithelia. Here, we mapped mutations in normal mid-esophagus of aged UK subjects. Mutant NOTCH1 clones colonized most of the epithelium by age 60 and above 70 tissue was saturated with mutants under strong competitive selection. Mutant TP53 was more strongly selected in donors over 60 years of age. Samples predominantly mutant for NOTCH1 showed increased selection of NOTCH2 mutants and weaker selection of mutant TP53 compared with samples that were mostly NOTCH1 wild type. In mouse esophagus lacking Notch1 we observed strong selection of mutant Notch2 and other genes not selected in wild type esophagus. In normal ageing esophagus, the first driver mutation may change the trajectory of subsequent somatic evolution by altering mutant selection.

  Dataset EGAD00001015261

• PRADO trial - Personalized response-directed surgery and adjuvant therapy after neoadjuvant ipilimumab plus nivolumab in stage III melanoma

  The PRADO trial tested a personalized response-directed treatment approach based on the pathologic response after neoadjuvant ipilimumab plus nivolumab in stage III melanoma patients. In patients achieving a major pathologic response, in their index lymph node (the largest lymph node metastasis at baseline), therapeutic lymph node dissection (TLND) and adjuvant therapy were omitted. Patients with partial response underwent TLND only, whereas patients with pathologic non-response underwent TLND and adjuvant systemic therapy ± synchronous radiotherapy. Biomarker analyses based on baseline RNA sequencing data were performed in order to find features that are associated with major pathologic response.

  Study EGAS00001007601

• Field Studies of Human Immunity to Amebiasis in Bangladesh (NIH Birth Cohort) and Exploration of the Biologic Basis for Underperformance of Oral Polio and Rotavirus Vaccines in Bangladesh (PROVIDE)

  NIH birth cohort study Amebiasis is a common cause of diarrhea and is associated with malnutrition in grade-school aged children in an urban slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Field Studies of Human Immunity to Amebiasis in Bangladesh was designed to determine the contribution of amebiasis to illness in the first 2 years of life when most deaths due to diarrhea occur, and understand the immunologic and genetic factors that protect children from amebiasis. The hypothesis underlying the study is that susceptibility to amebiasis is determined by host innate and acquired immune responses that vary between individuals in part due to: human genetic polymorphisms; environmental influences including malnutrition and concurrent geohelminth infection; and virulence differences among Entamoeba histolytica genotypes. Specific aims proposed in the design of the study were to: a) Measure the incidence of amebiasis and correlate it with human and parasite genetic polymorphisms, immune responses, and environmental factors such as geohelminth infection and malnutrition; b) Test the hypothesis that protective immunity is mediated both by innate immune responses initiated via TLR stimulation as well as by mucosal IgA against the Gal/GalNAc lectin and systemic IFN-γ; c) Test for the association of common genetic polymorphisms in host innate and acquired immune genes with incidence of amebiasis. 629 newborn babies were enrolled and followed regularly through bi-weekly surveillance for diarrheal episodes, anthropometry at 3-month interval until 60 months of age. The infants that were consented for GWAS analysis were genotyped in 3 separate batches at different times, on 3 different arrays. Quality control was performed on the 3 separate data sets and then jointly after merging. Genetic data available on 447 infants together with their phenotype data is made available in this submission PROVIDE (Performance of Rotavirus and Oral Polio Vaccines in Developing Countries) Study Oral polio and rotavirus vaccines are significantly less effective in children living in the developing world. Environmental enteropathy, which is associated with intestinal inflammation, decreased absorption and increased permeability, may contribute substantially to oral vaccine failure in developing country settings. The primary objective of the study was to determine the association of environmental enteropathy with the efficacy of oral polio and rotavirus vaccines in children in Bangladesh. Secondary and exploratory objectives were designed to address other possible causes of oral vaccine underperformance including malnutrition, interference with maternal or breastmilk antibodies, changes in gut microbiota, and genetic susceptibility. The PROVIDE study was structured as a 2x2 clinical trial with a prospective birth cohort enrollment of 700 infants and their mothers in the urban slum of Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. All children received the full series of Bangladesh's Expanded Program on Immunization vaccines, including oral polio vaccine (OPV) and followed for their first 2 years of life. Half the children were randomized to receive an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) for their 4th dose at 39 weeks instead of the standard OPV dose. In the other trial, half the infants received the 2-dose rotavirus vaccine (Rotarix) with delayed dosing at 10 and 17 weeks of age. A detailed description of the study design and procedures can be obtained from PROVIDE methods publication: Kirkpatrick B.D., Colgate R.E., Mychaleckyj J.C., Haque R., Dorothy D.M., Carmolli M.P., et al. (2015) Am J Trop Med Hyg 92, 744-751 The Poliovirus trial and results are described in Mychaleckyj et al, Vaccine 2016 The Rotavirus trial and results are described in Colgate et al, Clin Infect Dis 2016 The PROVIDE infants were genotyped on a custom Affymetrix Axiom array (30K SNPs) at the University of Virginia Center for Public Health Genomics; and on a pre-production version of the Illumina MEGA v2 chip at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK. The latter genotyping was performed under the auspices of the VaccGene Consortium. Analyses are ongoing to identify variants associated with the included phenotypes. A manuscript describing the genotyping methods and analysis is in preparation for the initial phenotypes. The Infection Malnutrition Bangladesh Cohort is utilized in the following dbGaP sub-studies. To view genotypes, other molecular data, and derived variables collected in these sub-studies, please click on the following sub-studies below or in the "Sub-studies" box located on the right hand side of this top-level study page phs001475 Infection Malnutrition Bangladesh Cohort. phs001476 Amebiasis Immunity phs001478 Polio Rotavirus Vaccines phs001665 Cryptosporidiosis Enteropathogens

  Study phs001475

• Tanzania dietary intervention study 2019-2020

  We performed a dietary intervention study comparing western diet, traditional diet and the supplementation of fermented banana beverage in a cohort of 66 individuals (22 in each study arm)

  Study EGAS50000000317

• The elucidation of molecular mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cells focusing on paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH)-type cells

  To elucidate the pathogenicity of aplastic anemia, we conducted exome seqence analysis in 5 patients with aplastic anemia with uniparental disomy in 6p.

  Study JGAS000094

• CLL_targeted_exome_sequencing

  Aim to characterise cancer gene landscape in CLL, particularly in cases with mutated POT1 gene. Treatment-naïve CLL cases will be interrogated by targeted exome sequencing using a cancer gene panel.

  Study EGAS00001001963

• Role_of_HPV_and_Interferon_in_APOBEC_mutational_signature

  The aim of this project is to test whether HPV oncogenes and /or interferon induce the APOBEC mutational signature in vitro, and to test the role of APOBEC3A in this process.

  Study EGAS00001002988

• Drug screen in iPSC-Neurons identifies nucleoside analogs as inhibitors of (G4C2)n expression in C9orf72 ALS/FTD

  To investigate the mode of action and potential side-effects we analyzed differential gene expression in post-mitotic C9orf72 iPSC-Neurons by RNAseq

  Study EGAS00001006138

• Targeted_NanoSeq___TwinsUK_Blood

  Utilising Targeted NanoSeq, we hope to explore the driver landscape in unprecedented detail in donors from TwinsUK. These donors have paired buccal swabs and data from this will help contextualise that work.

  Study EGAS00001007595

• Dataset with genome-wide array data from Algerian Amazigh (Chaoui and Mozabite) and non-Amazigh individuals

  In this study we perform a genetic characterization of different Amazigh populations in Algeria and assess the impact of recent demography on their genomes.

  Study EGAS00001007235

• Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics - Underserved Populations (RADx-UP): COVID-19 Testing and Prevention in Correctional Settings

  This study will work with diverse correctional facilities across MN, RI, WA, and FL to characterize the incidence of COVID-19 disease progression and related outcomes. The goal is to identify barriers and facilitators to develop strategies to improve testing in these under-served populations by: Increasing the reach, access, uptake, and impact of COVID-19 testing among incarcerated people and staff in prison and jails. Individuals in congregate settings have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, with correctional settings accounting for 39 of the 50 largest cluster outbreaks in the country to date. Schema of Correctional Facilities: Correctional facilities are amplifiers of infectious diseases for structural reasons: 1) Dormitory-style living and overcrowded conditions make social distancing nearly impossible 2) They have a focus primarily on security not health 3) Their medical departments are under-resourced and often disconnected from local public health agencies. Correctional facilities must be the focus of urgent intervention to understand the incidence of COVID-19, how it spreads in correctional facilities, and durable long-term strategies to reduce transmission, including testing and vaccines. However, our work from the COVID Prison Project shows that correctional systems have implemented a range of testing strategies, without coordination, such that synthesizing the information on COVID-19 incidence, outcomes and optimal testing strategies (including repeat testing and contact tracing) has been challenging. Incarcerated people decline testing due to concerns about confidentiality, implications for release, and fear of placement in solitary confinement. Through interviews we will identify ethical concerns and potential solutions for COVID-19 testing and vaccine strategies in correctional facilities using a community-engaged strategy. The project's work from the COVID Prison Project shows that correctional systems have implemented a range of testing strategies, without coordination, such that synthesizing the information on COVID-19 incidence, outcomes and optimal testing strategies (including repeat testing and contact tracing) has been challenging. Incarcerated people decline testing due to concerns about confidentiality, implications for release, and fear of placement in solitary confinement. Through interviews we will Identify ethical concerns and potential solutions for COVID-19 testing and vaccine strategies in correctional facilities using a community-engaged strategy. Goals: 1. Identify ethical concerns and potential solutions for COVID-19 testing and vaccine strategies in correctional facilities using a community-engaged strategy. 2. Characterize incidence of COVID-19, disease progression, and related-outcomes and effectiveness of testing and contact tracing in correctional facilities. Participant Selection: a. Potential subjects must be currently incarcerated at key facilities in Washington, Rhode Island, Minnesota, and Florida. These facilities are Everglades Correctional Institution and Homestead Correctional Institution in Florida, Shakopee and Stillwater correctional facilities in Minnesota, the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, and Yakima County Jail in Washington. b. Participating correctional facilities in Florida, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Washington will provide de-identified data on approximately 16,859 incarcerated adults and correctional staff. Data sources include deidentified data from medical records, administrative data, and policy documents pertaining to COVID-19. c. 3 series of focus groups (6, 12, 18 months) x 3 distinct groups (incarcerated people, medical providers, and correctional leaders) x 4 sites=36 total focus groups over the study period. d. Will utilize 74,812 COVID-19 tests to test and re-test a total of 16,859 incarcerated people and correctional staff for active infection over a six-month period in the FL, MN, and RI state prison systems and the Yakima County Jail in WA.

  Study phs003361

• Adipose Tissue Omics In Obesity

  This project used a multi-omics approach to study the adipose tissue transcriptome in humans with and without obesity. Our human cohort included males and females between the ages of 18-80 who underwent elective abdominal surgery at the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.Patients with advanced cancer or immuncompromised status were excluded. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT/omental) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT/abdominal wall) were collected from subjects with obesity (BMI>=35) at the beginning of elective surgical procedures, placed on ice, and transported back to the laboratory for immediate processing. For adipose tissue stromal cells (ASC) isolation, adipose tissue was digested with Type II collagenase (2 mg/mL in PBS/2% BSA) at 37oC, 60min, centrifuged at 250 rcf, and the stromal-vascular cell pellet was retrieved, plated overnight, and the adherent cells passaged three times to enrich for ASC, which were then frozen in DMEM/F12, 15% fetal calf serum, and 10% DMSO in liquid nitrogen until use. Single nuclear sequencing was performed on preparations from intact adipose tissue. Bulk RNA sequencing and single cell sequencing were performed on ASC isolated from intact adipose tissue and cultured in 2D and 3D culture systems. We currently apply bulk, single cell, and single nuclear sequencing analyses to these tissues. One component of this project studies single nuclear sequencing in nuclei isolated from intact adipose tissues from human subjects with obesity, focusing on depot comparisons (VAT vs. SAT). This cohort also permits comparisons of adipose tissue transcriptomes between male and female subjects, controlling for age and BMI. Primary findings to date include identification of multiple ASC, adipocyte, and endothelial cell (EC) subpopulations, T-cell, and macrophage (MAC) populations that are in concordance with and expand upon other published datasets. Of two dominant ASC subpopulations, one (inflammatory-mesothelial, IM- ASC) is present in VAT, but absent in SAT, while the other (fibroadipogenic, FA-ASC) is present in both VAT and SAT. We identified multiple EC subtypes with features of lymphatic, venous, and arterial EC, and a PRDM16 expressing population with features of an EC progenitor. Immune cell populations match recent experimental validation of lipid-activated macrophage (LAM) phenotypes, TIM4 macrophages, and a prominent population of MRC1/CD206+ resident AT macrophages with expression signatures related to glucocorticoid activation. These data support depot-specific differences in ASC subpopulations and previously unrecognized EC heterogeneity within human AT, with the potential to shed light on functional differences in AT depot and disease state. Planned future studies include ATAC-Seq and other omics analyses. Another component of this project studies transcriptional responses of ASC in vitro to various stimuli, including different matrix environments. Current data includes bulk RNA Sequencing of human ASC from VAT and SAT differentiated into mature adipocytes in hydrogels of differing stiffness (3%, 5%, 10%) to define transcriptional responses to matrix environments of different stiffness. Primary findings to date include enrichment of adipogenesis and lipid and oxidative metabolic gene pathways in adipocytes in 5% relative to 3% hydrogels, while fibrotic gene pathways have been enriched in 3% hydrogels. These data demonstrate that intermediate density matrix promotes a more adipogenic, less fibrotic adipocyte phenotype geared towards increased lipid and aerobic metabolism. Planned future studies include expansion of intact tissues from our cohort studied with single nuclear sequencing, as well as further study of ASC responses in vitro to different biologic stimuli, including different matrix environments.

  Study phs003390

• Development and Validation of a Disability Severity Index for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT)

  In Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT) or inherited neuropathy research studies, it is the researcher who has selected what they believe to be important markers of impairment in function in patients. For example, it has been inferred that the wearing of ankle-foot-orthosis (AFOs), the use of walking aids such as canes, or the use of wheelchairs, are appropriate markers for “mild”, “moderate” or “severe” disability, respectively. Whether patients agree with this classification is unknown. By understanding what patients classify as mild, moderate and severe disability in CMT, we will know what our treatments need to target, to have a meaningful impact on the patients' functional status. Primary objective: The purpose of this study is to compare patient and healthcare provider impressions of what constitutes mild, moderate and severe disability in CMT. Target population: 200 patients who have self-registered at the Inherited Neuropathy Consortium Contact Registry, a web-based contact registry developed and supported by the Data Management and Coordinating Center (DMCC) for the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (RDCRN), located at the University of South Florida, and 200 health care professionals attending conferences about CMT, such as the 4th International CMT Consortium to be held in Potomac, Maryland, June 29-July 1, 2011 and the MDA Clinic Directors meeting in Las Vegas, NV March 4-7, 2012. Methods: A brief, anonymous, 20-item survey, in which we measure what the physician and the patient think are important indicators of disability in CMT, will be distributed by paper to 200 health care professionals, and via an online link to 200 patients self-registered with the RDCRN contact registry. Out of the 200 patients, approximately 25 patients will be requested to take the survey twice in a 2 to 4 week period. Analysis: We will measure the agreement between items in the physician and patient groups, and use items with high agreement in a Disability Severity Index.

  Study phs001295

• Ulcerative Colitis Human Microbiome Project (UCHMP)

  The aims of the multi-center Ulcerative Colitis Human Microbiome Project (UCHMP) are to examine the role of the enteric microbiome in causing human ulcerative colitis, specifically the development of pouchitis. Pouchitis is an inflammatory condition of the surgically-created ileoanal pouch that serves as a pseudo-rectum in patients with ulcerative colitis who have undergone a total colectomy. It is a condition unique to ulcerative colitis (UC), as it rarely occurs in non-UC patients who have the same procedure. Within one year, about 50% of patients will develop pouchitis. The condition is almost certainly due to aspects of the pouch microbiota on a background of genetic susceptibility, as most patients respond to treatment with antibiotics. While there have been reports on the microbiota in pouchitis patients, all have been performed after the inflammatory process is initiated, rendering interpretation of the results difficult, as the inflammatory process itself will change the microbiota. Our project is therefore unique and possibly the only opportunity in the role of the enteric microbiome in IBD in a prospective manner, thereby establishing potentially important causal relationships between microbiota structure or function and development of UC.The studies also offer two additional advantages. First, the development of the pouch microbiota can be observed prospectively. Second, the cause of antibiotic treatment failure in some patients with pouchitis may be revealed. The two aims are (1) to identify causal factors in the structure and/or function of the enteric microbiota in the development of pouchitis, and (2) to determine the basis of treatment failure in UC pouchitis patients. Our analyses will include serial measurements of enteric microbial structure (16S rRNA gene-based), function (metagenomics and functional candidate genes), and cultivation, the latter to enhance interpretation of gene sequences derived from metagenomes and targeted gene surveys (either functional or 16S genes). The insights gained from these studies will help us understand the fundamental and causative roles of the enteric microbiome in human inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). This information will be the basis for developing strategies to restore host-microbial relationships to prevent and treat IBD.

  Study phs000262

• NHLBI and NIDDK Sponsored GWAS in Benign Ethnic Neutropenia/Leukopenia (BEN) in African-Americans (age >45 yrs old) from the REGARDS

  Benign ethnic neutropenia (BEN) is a clinical condition more commonly observed in African-Americans. It is characterized by a relative reduction in neutrophil count by about 1000 cells per microliter, leading to a decrease in total leukocyte count by similar decrement. Previous reports of this condition showed that there was neither higher frequency nor increased severity of infections in affected individuals. Bone marrow examinations showed normal white cell maturation; and ex vivo culture of marrow cells showed low normal or slightly reduced number of myeloid colonies. Under physiologic stress, the increases in neutrophil and leukocyte counts of BEN individuals are slightly lower, compared to normal African-Americans or Caucasians. These clinical observations suggest that BEN results from a lower 'set point' for cell number in the marrow. Additionally, case reports of familial BEN, the persistence of BEN over many decades in the US, UK, and Africa, and the recent report of Duffy antigen and chemokine receptor (DARC) being associated with neutropenia, all suggest a strong genetic association to neutropenia/leukopenia. Our initial look into microarray analyses in a pilot trial of subjects showed that there were no significant differences in mRNA signals between BEN and normal subjects. Therefore, we are now proposing a larger study, utilizing Illumina Omni Express chips, to look for genetic associations. We have partnered with the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study (REGARDS), where nearly half of the cohort are African-Americans. This will be one of the few GWAS being performed in only African-Americans, and will provide valuable genetic information to link with neutropenia and possibly other conditions/diseases. Genotyping was performed by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Quality control of the genotypic and phenotypic data was performed through a collaboration between CIDR and the Genetics Coordinating Center, Department of Biostatistics at the University of Washington, which is funded by a federal contract supported by 14 NIH Institutes (HHSN268200782096C).

  Study phs000507

• OpACIN-neo – A Multicenter Phase 2 Study to identify the Optimal neo-Adjuvant Combination scheme of Ipilimumab and Nivolumab – Whole exome sequencing

  The outcome of patients with macroscopic stage III melanoma is poor. Neoadjuvant treatment with ipilimumab plus nivolumab at the standard dosing schedule induced pathological responses in a high proportion of patients in two small independent early-phase trials. However, toxicity of the standard ipilimumab plus nivolumab dosing schedule was high, preventing its broader clinical use. The aim of the OpACIN-neo study (NCT02977052) to identify a dosing schedule of ipilimumab plus nivolumab that is less toxic but equally effective. 86 patients with macroscopic stage III melanoma were randomised to one of three dosing schedules: arm A, two cycles of ipilimumab 3 mg/kg plus nivolumab 1 mg/kg once every 3 weeks; arm B, two cycles of ipilimumab 1 mg/kg plus nivolumab 3 mg/kg once every 3 weeks; or arm C, two cycles of ipilimumab 3 mg/kg once every 3 weeks directly followed by two cycles of nivolumab 3mg/kg once every 2 weeks. Within the first 12 weeks, grade 3–4 immune-related adverse events were observed in 12 (40%) of 30 patients in group A, six (20%) of 30 in group B, and 13 (50%) of 26 in group C. Pathological responses occurred in 24 (80%) patients in group A, 23 (77%) in group B, and 17 (65%) in group C. The 2-year estimated relapse-free survival was 84% for all patients, 97% for patients achieving a pathologic response and 36% for nonresponders (p<0.001). High tumor mutational burden (TMB) and high interferon-gamma-related gene expression signature score (IFN-γ score) were associated with pathologic response and low risk of relapse; pathologic response rate (pRR) was 100% in patients with high IFN-γ score/high TMB, patients with high IFN-γ score/low TMB or low IFN-γ score/high TMB had pRRs of 91% and 88%; while patients with low IFN-γ score/low TMB had a pRR of only 39%. These data demonstrate long-term benefit in patients with a pathologic response and show the predictive potential of TMB and IFN-γ score.

  Study EGAS00001004832

• OpACIN-neo – A Multicenter Phase 2 Study to identify the Optimal neo-Adjuvant Combination scheme of Ipilimumab and Nivolumab – RNA sequencing

  The outcome of patients with macroscopic stage III melanoma is poor. Neoadjuvant treatment with ipilimumab plus nivolumab at the standard dosing schedule induced pathological responses in a high proportion of patients in two small independent early-phase trials. However, toxicity of the standard ipilimumab plus nivolumab dosing schedule was high, preventing its broader clinical use. The aim of the OpACIN-neo study (NCT02977052) to identify a dosing schedule of ipilimumab plus nivolumab that is less toxic but equally effective. 86 patients with macroscopic stage III melanoma were randomised to one of three dosing schedules: arm A, two cycles of ipilimumab 3 mg/kg plus nivolumab 1 mg/kg once every 3 weeks; arm B, two cycles of ipilimumab 1 mg/kg plus nivolumab 3 mg/kg once every 3 weeks; or arm C, two cycles of ipilimumab 3 mg/kg once every 3 weeks directly followed by two cycles of nivolumab 3mg/kg once every 2 weeks. Within the first 12 weeks, grade 3–4 immune-related adverse events were observed in 12 (40%) of 30 patients in group A, six (20%) of 30 in group B, and 13 (50%) of 26 in group C. Pathological responses occurred in 24 (80%) patients in group A, 23 (77%) in group B, and 17 (65%) in group C. The 2-year estimated relapse-free survival was 84% for all patients, 97% for patients achieving a pathologic response and 36% for nonresponders (p<0.001). High tumor mutational burden (TMB) and high interferon-gamma-related gene expression signature score (IFN-γ score) were associated with pathologic response and low risk of relapse; pathologic response rate (pRR) was 100% in patients with high IFN-γ score/high TMB, patients with high IFN-γ score/low TMB or low IFN-γ score/high TMB had pRRs of 91% and 88%; while patients with low IFN-γ score/low TMB had a pRR of only 39%. These data demonstrate long-term benefit in patients with a pathologic response and show the predictive potential of TMB and IFN-γ score.

  Study EGAS00001004833

• Molecular Analysis of Alliance A031201 Study

  This is the first study examining the relationship between clonal hematopoiesis and clinical outcomes in prostate cancer patients. We used a targeted gene sequencing panel to identify patients in the A031201 clinical trial with and without clonal hematopoiesis. We found that clonal hematopoiesis did not affect overall or progression free survival in A031201 but was associated more adverse cardiac events.

  Study phs003717

• Circulating RNAs prior to endometrial cancer diagnosis

  We analyzed circulating RNA levels using small RNA sequencing, targeting RNA in the size range 17 to 47 nucleotides, in samples collected prior to endometrial cancer diagnosis compared to cancer-free controls. The analysis included 316 cases with samples collected 1-11 years prior to diagnosis , and 316 matched controls, both from the Janus Serum Bank Cohort in Norway.

  Study EGAS50000000267

• Transcriptomic analysis of the response of AC16 cardiomyocytes with the rs1136201 variant to trastuzumab

  This study investigates the implication of the rs1136201 variant in cardiotoxicity in in vitro models of human cardiomyocytes exposed to trastuzumab. Methods: We generated AC16 ventricular cardiomyocyte cell models representing the three genotypes of the rs1136201 variant and performed transcriptomic analysis following trastuzumab exposure on cells expressing increasing levels of expression of HER2 (i.e. low, medium, high)

  Study EGAS50000001197

• Sputum fungal microbiota in an overall healthy population in Guangdong province, China

  This repository contains raw sequencing data for sputum fungal microbiota in an overall healthy population in Guangdong province, China. The aim of the study is to provide a comprehensive insight on the multi-kingdom airway microbiome, how it may underlie the interplay between exposure and healthy outcomes, and whether it can be employed to inform airway health and diseases.

  Study EGAS00001006720

• Sputum bacterial microbiota in an overall healthy population in Guangdong province, China

  This repository contains raw sequencing data for sputum fungal microbiota in an overall healthy population in Guangdong province, China. The aim of the study is to provide a comprehensive insight on the multi-kingdom airway microbiome, how it may underlie the interplay between exposure and healthy outcomes, and whether it can be employed to inform airway health and diseases.

  Study EGAS00001006721

• Low_depth_whole_genome_sequencing_across_multiple_isolated_populations

  Isolated populations have unique population genetics characteristics that can help boost power in genetic association studies for complex traits. Leveraging these advantageous characteristics requires an in-depth understanding of parameters that have shaped sequence variation in isolates. This study performs a comprehensive investigation of these parameters using low-depth whole genome sequencing (WGS) across multiple isolates.

  Study EGAS00001001597

• Capture Hi-C on MM

  In situ promoter capture Hi-C on multiple myeloma cell line KMS11 in experimental triplicates. Hi-C libraries were prepared as previously described (Rao et al., 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.11.021). Promoter capture was based on 32,313 biotinylated 120-mer RNA baits (Agilent). Hi-C libraries were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq 2000 technology. The files are in FASTQ format.

  Study EGAS00001002614

• Functional_characterisation_of_CpG_islands_in_human_and_mouse_tissues

  Tissue-specific methylation patterns suggest a role for CpG island (CGI) methylation in differentiation and cell-type-specific gene regulation. We have applied CXXC affinity purification (CAP), MBD affinity purification (MAP) and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) in combination with solexa sequencing to investigate the extent and functional significance of CGI methylation in sperm, blood, cerebellum and ES cells for both human and mouse.

  Study EGAS00001000075

• The Genetic History of Greenlandic-European contact

  The Inuit ancestors of the Greenlandic people arrived in Greenland close to 1000 years ago. Since then, Europeans from many different countries have been present in Greenland. Consequently, the present-day Greenlandic population has ~25% of its genetic ancestry from Europe. In this study, we investigated to what extent different European countries have contributed to this genetic ancestry.

  Study EGAS00001004933

• Genetic_vulnerability_of_knockout_cancer_lines

  Genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 library screen was performed in isogenic cell lines. Three biological replicates were used. Cells were harvested at initiation of screen and at specific time points following cell culture. Using this approach we aim to identify genes specifically important in cell survival in engineered cell lines. Please perform 72, instead of 36, PCR reactions as the screen performed at 200x coverage.

  Study EGAS00001002253

• FAM50A_Disruption_in_TOV21G_Cells___RNAseq

  In this project we aimed to assess the transcriptional consequences of disrupting FAM50A in TOV21G cells in vivo. To do this we generated a dox inducible FAM50A gRNA allele such that we could conditionally inactivate FAM50A by feeding mice a diet containing doxycycline. Tumour masses were harvested from mice when they reached the ethical limit and RNA was extracted for RNA-Seq analysis.

  Study EGAS00001004156