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

in 53.01 milliseconds.

• Circulating Genomic Determinants of Treatment Failure in Hodgkin Lymphoma

  In this study, we show that the plasma representation of mutations exceeds the bulk tumor representation in most cases, making classic Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL) particularly amenable to noninvasive profiling. Leveraging single-cell transcriptional profiles of cHL tumors, we demonstrate hazard ratios (HRs) circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) shedding to be shaped by DNASE1L3, whose increased tumor microenvironment-derived expression drives high ctDNA concentrations. Using this insight, we comprehensively profile 366 patients, revealing two distinct cHL genomic subtypes with characteristic clinical and prognostic correlates, as well as distinct transcriptional and immunological profiles. Furthermore, we identify a novel class of truncating IL4R-mutations that are dependent on IL13 signaling and therapeutically targetable with IL4R blocking antibodies. Finally, we demonstrate the clinical value of pre- and on-treatment ctDNA levels for longitudinally refining cHL risk prediction, and for detection of radiographically occult minimal residual disease. Collectively, these results support the utility of noninvasive strategies for genotyping and dynamic monitoring of cHL as well as capturing molecularly distinct subtypes with diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic potential.Methods utilized include a) targeted genotyping of baseline plasma samples, b) whole exome sequencing (WES) of baseline plasma samples, c) epigenetic expression inference from cell-free DNA-sequencing (EPIC-Seq) to infer gene expression from cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentation profiles, d) ctDNA tracking in on-treatment samples, e) RNA-Sequencing, and f) Phased variant Enrichment and Detection Sequencing (PhasED-Seq).All patients were treated at cancer centers across Europe and North America between 2011 and 2020. The following 3 cancer centers, Stanford (CA, USA), Bellinzona [Confoederatio Helvetica (CH) or Switzerland], and Leuven (Belgium), were included. The 6 clinical trial collectives included in this study are the Phase III trial AHOD1331 trial (NCT02166463) and the Phase II cHOD17 study (NCT03755804) for enrolled pediatric patients, the Phase III AHL2011 (NCT01358747), the Phase II BREACH trial (NCT02292979), a pilot study evaluating concurrent Pembrolizumab with AVD (Doxorubicin, also known as Adriamycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine; NCT03331341), and a Phase II study evaluating PVAB (Prednisone, Vinblastine, Doxorubicin and Bendamustine; NCT02414568) in older patients (61 years and older). In addition, lymph node specimens from a biorepository at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (TN, USA) were included.

  Study phs003435

• Using Genomics to Reduce Breast Cancer Disparities in the African Diaspora

  Differences in breast cancer incidence and mortality rates between North American Caucasian and African American women are well-described and transcend socioeconomic issues. Black women are diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger median age; have more clinically aggressive disease and stage-for-stage; and have higher mortality rates than age-matched Caucasian women. Black women in West Africa, the origin of the slave trade in the US in the 19th century and thus the founder population for most African Americans, have even higher rates of early-onset, poor-prognosis breast cancer than African American women. Racial difference in the distribution of intrinsic molecular subtypes has been well characterized in the US and throughout the African Diaspora as well. Despite the large efforts on characterizing racial/ethnic differences, however, the reasons women of African ancestry are disproportionately affected by breast cancer incidence and mortality remain poorly understood - largely due to paucity of data on inherent genomic differences that contribute to the disparities in incidence and progression of breast cancer across populations. West Africa Breast Cancer Study (WABCS) is an initiative that aims to comprehensively understand the genetic architecture of breast cancer in West Africans, the founder population of a large proportion of black women in the United States. The objective of the study was to provide a better understanding of the molecular genetic factors that influence prognosis in Nigerian breast cancer patients, and determine which of these alterations may be amenable to available therapy. To that end, we examined the molecular features of breast cancers of indigenous African women using a combination of whole-genome, whole-exome, and transcriptome sequencing (WGS, WES, and RNA-seq) on 194 tumors from Nigerian patients. The goal of this project was to obtain answers to two related research questions using an unscreened population without genetic admixture in Nigeria: 1) why are women of African ancestry more likely to develop aggressive young onset breast cancer? 2) What are the associated genomic and non-genomic risk factors? We hypothesize that the genomic determinants of breast cancer molecular subtypes in women of African ancestry are also molecular drivers of tumor progression and represent targets for interventions to improve clinical outcomes and close the mortality gap. By identifying causal links between genetic variants that promote aggressive tumor progression in Nigerian women in comparison to women from different population found in TCGA and ICGC, the present dataset will have significant public health impact on millions of women in the African Diaspora. The potential to identify novel pathways for interventions to reduce the increasing mortality gap between women of African and European ancestry is huge

  Study phs001687

• FEGA FAQs: a summary of the Q+A session from the FEGA workshop at ELIXIR AHM 2024

  The ELIXIR All Hands Meeting (AHM) was held in Uppsala, Sweden this June. We at EGA always look forward to this meeting as a chance to see many of our partners and colleagues face-to-face. The Federated EGA (FEGA) is one initiative that always benefits from the AHM, and this year FEGA was in the spotlight, with several questions related to the advances we've made recently. We held this year's FEGA workshop a little differently, with most time for discussions on various “hot topics”. Organised in different breakouts, over 2 rounds, participants could choose which session they wanted to attend. One breakout was a general Q+A about FEGA and the path to join. We had a diverse range of participants, including experts from Central EGA (CEGA) and FEGA inaugural nodes, people from up and coming nodes at various stages of readiness, as well as participants not directly a part of FEGA but curious to learn more. It made for a great discussion! In this blog post, we highlight some of the questions for those who didn’t have a chance to be there. What is the FEGA Collaboration Agreement? It is a legal agreement between the node and Central EGA (CEGA) where both parties agree to certain responsibilities, like what services will be provided, sharing of public metadata with CEGA, interoperable technologies and more. The agreement is for 4 years, with the expectation of long-term sustainability. If a node is made up of multiple institutes, one institute must be the signatory. This could require a legal agreement within the node. CEGA is composed of CRG and EMBL-EBI (EGA itself has its own legal agreement between these institutes) Check the FEGA Collaboration Agreement What about purely medical data? Is this accepted in FEGA? CEGA only accepts data approved for secondary research use. We do accept medical data collected in this context, as do some nodes. Nodes are able to accept any data they like, as long as it is sensitive, thus in need of controlled access. What about other data types other than genomics? Like proteomics or images? They can be accepted, although CEGA is currently not designed with those formats in mind, so they might not fit with precision in the data model. The FEGA nodes are welcome to accept any data they want. Proteomic studies generating sensitive data are increasing, and specific work will likely be developed in the near future to adress this need. Does CEGA require a certain amount or type of data to be shared by the node? No, we do not and it's up to each node to decide what specific data types they accept and in what format. Nonetheless, a FEGA node has the duty to be open to data submission from any institution of their country, and can't be limited by design to a single or limited data source. Does CEGA and FEGA require a certain amount or type of details and description on the data to be submitted to the node? Data description (technical and biological), usually called metadata in this field, is crucial for the findability of the submitted data. Thus, we highly recommend including as much information as available to maximise the discoverability of the data. Specifical minimal metadata is defined in the submission schema, and thresholds are specified by the nodes. We are currently working towards a unified FEGA metadata model. What are the geographical borders of FEGA? FEGA should make the E for Everyone, because any institute worldwide could join and we indeed do have countries and use-cases worldwide. Some of them are very close to officially joining the federation. What are the main differences between FEGA and GDI? The two networks have a lot in common and also some critical differences. You can read all about this in one of our latest blog post. If you have more questions, please consider having a look at the FEGA onboarding webpage and, of course, don't miss our workshop at the ELIXIR AHM next year!

  Blog fega-faqs-elixir-ahm-2024

• Genomic Characterization of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cell Lines

  Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth leading cancer by incidence worldwide(1). Various chemical carcinogens (tobacco, alcohol and betel nut), human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, and genetic predisposition contribute to the etiology of HNSCC, and to the complex genetic alterations in tumor subsets that differ in prognosis and response to therapies (2). Recently, a comprehensive landscape of genomic and transcriptomic alterations in HNSCC tumors has emerged from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Network (3). TCGA revealed novel and previously recognized gene and chromosomal region copy number alterations (CNAs), mutations, and expression clusters, and defined their frequency, co-occurrence, and relationship to common and rare subtypes of HPV(-) and (+) tumors that vary in prognosis. To identify cell line models for determining the functional role and therapeutic importance of these alterations, we are performing whole exome and RNA sequencing and bioinformatic analysis of an expanded panel of 15 HPV(-) and 11 HPV(+) HNSCC cell lines and primary oral keratinocytes. We find that the recurrent genomic alterations in cell lines are remarkably consistent with those found in more aggressive tumors, from which cell lines have traditionally been most readily adapted to culture (4). Genome-wide correlation of CN (copy number) with expression identified a suite of potential drivers or modifier genes that differ by HPV status, and are of potential biologic and therapeutic relevance. Further, our findings elucidate and validate genomic alterations underpinning numerous discoveries made with these widely-used and recently derived HNSCC lines, and provide a roadmap for their potential use as models for future studies of tumor subtypes with worse prognosis. References Torre LA, Bray F, Siegel RL, Ferlay J, Lortet-Tieulent J, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics, 2012. CA Cancer J Clin. 2015;65(2):87-108. Van Waes C, Musbahi O. Genomics and advances towards precision medicine for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol. 2017;2(5):310-9. Cancer Genome Atlas N. Comprehensive genomic characterization of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. Nature. 2015;517(7536):576-82. White JS, Weissfeld JL, Ragin CC, Rossie KM, Martin CL, Shuster M, et al. The influence of clinical and demographic risk factors on the establishment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. Oral Oncol. 2007;43(7):701-12.

  Study phs001581

• International Consortium to Identify Genes and Interactions Controlling Oral Clefts

  Oral clefts represent the most common group of craniofacial birth defects in humans, and include cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) and cleft palate (CP). Oral clefts have a complex and heterogeneous etiology, with strong evidence for both genetic and environmental causal factors. Candidate gene studies and genome wide linkage studies have yielded compelling but inconsistent evidence that multiple genes control risk, and several studies have shown evidence for interaction between genes and environmental exposures, especially maternal smoking and nutrient intake. This consortium pulls together a very large collection of cases and their parents from multiple populations, and offers a unique opportunity to expand the search for genes controlling risk to the genome wide level. The specific aims are: To conduct a genome wide analysis on 2000+ case-parent trios ascertained through a case with isolated, non-syndromic CL/P or CP to test for linkage and disequilibrium. Initial analysis will consist of individual tests for gene effects while simultaneously testing for GxE interaction with common maternal exposures including vitamin supplementation, cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption (which have all been implicated as environmental risk factors for oral clefts). To use haplotypes in tests for GxE interaction incorporating population specific estimates. Since haplotype frequencies vary among populations, trios will be assigned haplotypes in a stratified estimation and then a pooled test statistic will be constructed. To test for interaction between SNPs in different genes showing evidence of influencing risk in a test for GxG interaction. To test for interaction between genes and maternal biomarkers using trios from Utah where measures of plasma folate, vitamin B-6, homocysteine and zinc in mothers are available. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org), which was developed through the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to oral clefts through large-scale genome-wide association studies of well-characterized cases and their parents from multiple populations. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). The study was supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000094

• Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) Study - Maternal Glycemia and Birthweight GEI Study

  Low and high birth weight are not only major causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality, but epidemiological data have established an association between birth weight and later life risk of adult metabolic diseases. Fetal growth is determined by complex interactions between fetal genes and the maternal uterine environment. Subtle or overt variation in maternal glucose tolerance, which is, in part, genetically determined, is related to fetal size at birth. Moreover, new emerging data suggest that genetic variation in the fetus can impact maternal metabolism (e.g., blood pressure and glucose tolerance). Given the above, we are addressing the hypothesis that, during pregnancy, gene-environment interactions in the context of the maternal-fetal unit impact fetal size at birth and maternal metabolism. Genes that control fetal growth or maternal metabolism during pregnancy are largely unknown, so the first step to address our hypothesis will be to identify genetic variation that impacts fetal growth and maternal metabolism and to determine the interaction of that variation with the intrauterine and fetal environment. To accomplish this, we are performing genome wide association (GWA) mapping on a subset of ~37,000 DNA samples that were collected from mothers and their offspring as part of the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) Study. HAPO is a multicenter, international study in which high quality phenotypic data related to fetal growth and maternal glucose metabolism has been collected from 25,000 pregnant women of varied racial and socio-demographic backgrounds using standardized protocols that were uniform across centers. For these studies, we are genotyping 1,500 infants and their mothers of European descent, 1,250 Afro-Caribbean infants and mothers, 800 Hispanic (Mexican-American) infants and mothers, and 1200 Thai infants and mothers. Genotyping is being performed using the Illumina Human610 Quad (European ancestry participants), Human1M Duo (Afro-Caribbean and Hispanic participants), and Omni1-Quad_v1-0_B (Thai participants). The specific aims for the project are as follows: (1) To apply analytic approaches for conducting GWA mapping studies on quantitative phenotypes related to offspring size at birth (birth weight, ponderal index, head circumference and adiposity) allowing for other known influences such as gestational age, parity, and maternal weight gain. (2) To apply the above approaches to identify genetic variation that impacts maternal glucose tolerance at ~28 weeks of gestation (fasting glucose, glucose during an oral glucose tolerance test, and insulin sensitivity expressed as quantitative traits) allowing for other known influences such as maternal weight gain, parity and age. (3) To examine the interaction between maternal genes, the intrauterine environment, and fetal genes to identify interactions that modulate genetic regulation of size at birth and fetal genetic variation that impacts on maternal glucose tolerance. GWA mapping will provide initial evidence for association of specific SNPs with the quantitative traits outlined above. As low and high birth weight are not only major causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality but have also been associated with increased risk of metabolic diseases in adults, identification of genes that regulate fetal growth and maternal metabolism will provide novel information about the pathways that regulate these processes as well as important insight into susceptibility genes for chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes. The Version 1 (v1) dbGaP release will include data only from the Hispanic study participants. The Version 2 (v2) dbGaP release will include data from the Hispanic and European ancestry study participants. The Version 3 (v3) dbGaP release will include data from the Afro-Caribbean, Hispanic and European ancestry participants. The Version 4 (v4) dbGaP release will include data from all participants (i.e., Afro-Caribbean, Hispanic, European ancestry, and Thai participants). This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to maternal metabolism and birthweight through large-scale genome-wide association studies of infants and their mothers at multiple international sites. Genotyping was performed at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and at CIDR of Johns Hopkins University, GENEVA genotyping centers. Data cleaning and harmonization was performed at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000096

• Molecular Biomarkers Predicting Lung Cancer Response Phenotypes

  We have used a "chemistry first" approach to discover druggable acquired vulnerabilities that arised in the pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We screened chemical libraries (~200,000 compounds) for chemical toxins that killed subsets of NSCLC but not normal human lung epithelial cells (HBECs). We first screened a panel of 12 NSCLC lines that represented a variety of known oncogenotypes and identified chemicals with large Z scores and appropriate properties including re-supply, chemistry, and reproducible drug response phenotypes. This was then narrowed down to a list of 202 chemicals and 18 drugs with known targeting (henceforth called "Precision Oncology Probe Set", or POPS). These, and a panel of 30 clinically available drugs, targeted therapies, and drug combinations, already in use or in trials for NSCLC treatment, were then tested on a panel of 96 NSCLC lines for their drug response phenotypes in 12-point dose response curves. This information was analyzed using scanning ranked KS (Kolmogorov-Smirnov) and elastic net biostatistics approaches to identify molecular biomarkers (mutations, mRNA expression, copy number variation, protein expression, and metabolomics) which could predict for sensitivity or resistance to a particular chemical toxin or treatment regimen. From this we have discovered that: our approach identifies already known molecular biomarker of drug sensitivities (e.g. EGFR mutations and EGFR TK inhibitors); many clinically available chemotherapy agents have molecular biomarkers predicting preclinical model drug responses; the POP set of chemical toxins provides novel drug response phenotype patterns in the large NSCLC panel different from those found with clinically available agents including a therapeutic window; many of the POP toxins only hit a small percentage (~5%) of the NSCLC panel but the POP set as a whole provides "coverage" of the entire NSCLC panel; there are simple, one or 2 component molecular biomarkers (mutations, mRNA expression) that predict responses to the different chemical toxins in the NSCLC panel; and that the molecular biomarkers provide some information on the targets and pathways involved in response to the chemical toxins. Thus, we have identified a group of chemical toxins with selectivity for subsets of NSCLC and associated tumor molecular biomarkers to facilitate their development for precision medicine, and also, in some cases, information on the targets and pathways interdicted by these chemical compounds. In addition, we have discovered NSCLC predictive biomarkers for clinically available agents.

  Study phs001823

• Genome-Wide associations of Lung Health Study (LHS)

  The 'Genome-Wide Associations Environmental Interactions in the Lung Health Study' at Johns Hopkins University aims to test for association between lung function decline as a primary outcome associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using banked DNA and phenotype data on 4,287 European Americans from the longitudinal, multicenter Lung Health Study (LHS). The broad goals of the LungGO/ESP-GO falls into two general categories: (i) discovery of all variants (i.e., common and rare) in all protein-coding regions of the human genome (i.e., the exome) conferring risk to complex pulmonary diseases including COPD, in a subset of the LHS cohort. The Johns Hopkins University LHS cohort offers a unique opportunity to elucidate genetic variants that cause COPD. The Lung Health Study I was a randomized multicenter clinical trial with 5887 participants carried out from October 1986 to April 1994, designed to test the effectiveness of smoking cessation and bronchodilator administration in smokers aged 35 to 60 with mild lung function impairment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: usual care, who received no intervention smoking intervention with the inhaled bronchodilator ipratroprium bromide smoking intervention with an inhaled placebo. The effect of intervention was evaluated by the rate of decline of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). For the GWAS, only the subset of European American LHS participants for whom lung function data from three time points or more are available. Thus, the GWAS represents 73% of the 5,887 volunteers who participated in the LHS study. Importantly, LHS subjects included had similar demographics (including age, gender and BMI) and rates of lung function decline (mean annual change in FEV1% predicted: -0.96 %/yr vs. -0.99 %/yr, p=0.57) compared with those not included in the GWAS, reflecting little selection bias for our primary outcome. They were, however, more likely to have quit smoking after 5 years. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to lung function through large-scale genome-wide association studies of smokers enrolled in a multicenter clinical trial. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000335

• MP2PRT: Genomic and Molecular Characterization of Biomarkers Associated with Tumor Angiogenesis, DNA Repair, and Immunologic Tolerance using Samples from the NRG Oncology Phase 3 Randomized Trial, GOG-0240 (NCT00803062)

  The Molecular Profiling to Predict Response to Treatment (MP2PRT) program is part of the NCI's Cancer Moonshot Initiative. The aim of this program is the retrospective characterization and analysis of biospecimens collected from completed NCI-sponsored trials of the National Clinical Trials Network and the NCI Community Oncology Research Program. This study is one of the selected studies under this program. For this study, genomic characterization (WGS, WXS, Total RNAseq, miRNAseq) has been performed on cervical tumor tissue from patients with advanced disease (persistent, recurrent, and metastatic) and matching germline samples. It is hypothesized that the characterization of these tissues using next generation sequencing will lead to the identification of relevant novel genetic aberrations within the immunologic, DNA repair, and tumor angiogenesis domains that dichotomize the study population into exceptional responders and non-responders to systemic therapy, with a spectrum of response manifesting between the two extremes.

  Study phs002293

• Pooled Mutant KRAS-Targeted Long Peptide Vaccine Combined with Nivolumab and Ipilimumab for Patients with Resected MMR-p Colorectal and Pancreatic Cancer

  We developed INtraCEllular Reverse Transcription with Sorting and sequencing (INCERTS), an approach to combine molecular indexing of receptor repertoires within intact cells and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). We demonstrate that INCERTS enables efficient processing of millions of cells from pooled human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples while retaining robust association between T cell receptor (TCR) sequences and cellular phenotypes. We used INCERTS to discover antigen-specific TCRs from patients with cancer immunized with a novel mutant KRAS peptide vaccine. After ex vivo stimulation, 28 uniquely barcoded samples were pooled prior to FACS into peptide-reactive and non-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ populations. Combining complementary patient-matched single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data enabled retrieval of full-length, paired TCR alpha and beta chain sequences for future validation of therapeutic utility. Data available through dbGaP include scRNA-seq with matched TCR-seq.

  Study phs003425

• HCA_Gonads_Foetal_EU_H2020_HUGODECA_RNA

  Cell Atlas of human fetal gonads The HUGODECA consortium brings together leading European academic and industrial experts (from 5 different EU countries). It includes active contributors and executives of the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) which will ensure complementarity with other ongoing HCA efforts. The overall HUGODECA concept is grounded on the integration of multiple synergistic expertise and technologies: Single cell profiling, spatial transcriptomic, 2D Mass cytometry and cyclic immunofluorescence and 3D imaging of optically cleared gonads. HUGODECA will implement novel tools, analytical and computational methods to process and integrate multidimensional OMICS and image data across different platforms. It will evaluate the accuracy of ex vivo culture models of human gonadal development and assess consequences of altering key signalling pathways. This data is part of a pre-publication release. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/

  Study EGAS00001004723

• Rna-Seq Leiomyosarcoma subtypes

  Leiomyosarcomas (LMS) are genetically heterogeneous tumors differentiating along smooth muscle lines. Currently, LMS treatment is not informed by molecular subtyping and is associated with highly variable survival. While disease site continues to dictate clinical management, the contribution of genetic factors to LMS subtype, origins, and timing are unknown. Here we analyzed 70 genomes and 130 transcriptomes of LMS, including multiple tumor regions and paired metastases. Molecular profiling highlighted the extremely early origins of LMS. Three specific subtypes of LMS develop from distinct lineages of smooth muscle cells. Of these, dedifferentiated LMS with high immune infiltration and tumors primarily of gynaecological origin acquired the highest burden of genomic mutation and are associated with worse survival. Homologous recombination defects lead to genome-wide mutational signatures, and a corresponding sensitivity to PARP and other DNA damage response inhibitors, suggesting a novel therapeutic strategy for LMS. Finally, by phylogenetic reconstruction, we present evidence that clones seeding lethal metastases arise decades prior to LMS diagnosis.

  Study EGAS00001004783

• Exome sequencing of a novel cervical cancer cell line

  Human cancer cell lines are largely used in the searching for new antineoplastic agents. However, due to the artifacts of a long-term in culture, cell lines do not always represent the realistic tumor cell behavior. This has motivated the development of models that better mimetics the tumor tissue, among them, the establishment of primary cell cultures. In this work, we establish and characterized a low-passage cervix cancer cell line from a Brazilian patient with squamous cell carcinoma. The phenotype confirms the epithelial and tumor origin, through cytokeratins, EpCAM, and p16 staining. Whole exome sequencing showed relevant somatic mutations in several genes including BRCA2, TGFBR1, and IRX2 genes. CNV analysis by nanostring and WGS revealed amplification in genes related mainly with kinases proteins, involved in proliferation, migration and cell differentiation, such as EGFR, PIK3CA, and MAPK7. Overexpression of EGFR was confirmed by phospho RTK-array and western blot analysis. Furthermore, the cell was sensitivity to cisplatin, with IC50 13 times lower than SiHa cell line. In conclusion, this cervical cancer cell line presents molecular alterations that are an important tool for leading pre-clinical studies of new drugs that target one or more of the altered pathways.

  Study EGAS00001003343

• T2D-GENES Consortium: San Antonio Mexican American Family Studies (SAMAFS)

  The Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) Genetic Exploration by Next-generation sequencing in Ethnic Samples (T2D-GENES) Consortium is a collaborative international effort to identify genes influencing susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in multiple ethnic groups using next generation sequencing. To fulfill this objective, T2D-GENES Consortium undertook two large sequencing studies, called T2D-GENES Projects 1 and 2. Project 1 has carried out whole exome sequencing of 12,940 individuals, 6,504 with T2D and 6,436 non-diabetic controls, equally divided among five continental ancestry groups: Europeans, East Asians, South Asians, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans. The goal of Project 1 is to identify all genetic variants in the complete coding regions of the genomes (i.e., whole exome) by sequencing, including rare variants. Project 2 (i.e., SAMAFS substudy 2) is a pedigree-based study designed to identify low frequency or rare variants influencing susceptibility to T2D, using whole genome sequence information from approximately 600 individuals in 20 Mexican American T2D-enriched pedigrees from San Antonio, Texas, augmented with family-based imputation into approximately 440 additional family members. The major objectives of Project 2 are to identify low frequency or rare variants in and around known common variant signals for T2D, as well as to find novel low frequency or rare variants influencing susceptibility to T2D. Both T2D-GENES Projects 1 and 2 involve the San Antonio Mexican American Family Studies (SAMAFS), which are composed of four San Antonio, Texas-based family studies: the San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS), San Antonio Family Diabetes/Gallbladder Study (SAFDGS), Veterans Administration Genetic Epidemiology Study (VAGES), and Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes - San Antonio (FIND-SA) Component and its extension called the Extended FIND [E-FIND]. The SAFHS and SAFDGS began in 1991 and have followed participants with extensive clinical phenotyping related to T2D for over 20 years. The VAGES was initiated in 1994 and a large battery of T2D-related phenotypic data has been obtained from its participants. The FIND-SA began in 2000, a part of the multicenter FIND study which was designed to identify genetic determinants of diabetic kidney disease; data from its participants related to T2D were used for this project. Non-overlapping subsets of SAMAFS participants are part of the T2D-GENES Projects 1 and 2, henceforth referred to as SAMAFS substudies 1 and 2, respectively. The SAMAFS substudies 1 and 2 are part of one of the five awards funded by NIDDK under a cooperative agreement award mechanism, which is governed by the Steering Committee of the T2D-GENES Consortium. Since Project 1 relies on population based subsets of cases and controls, 491 unrelated participants are drawn from the four SAMAFS as part of the T2D-GENES Project 1 Mexican American sample (i.e., SAMAFS substudy 1). The whole exome sequencing was performed at the Broad Institute. For Project 2, 1048 individuals are drawn from two SAMAFS (SAFHS and SAFDGS), representing 20 large families for substudy 2. The substudy 2 strategy is to sequence approximately 600 individuals at an average of 50x coverage across the entire genome, then impute genome wide genotypes for about 440 additional family members. The 600 sequenced individuals are specifically chosen for their value in imputing sequence information into other family members. By studying large pedigrees, we expect to find multiple individuals carrying each genetic variant, even if this variant is very rare in the population at large. Thus, a pedigree-based approach provides an excellent opportunity for identifying rare novel variants influencing risk of T2D and quantitative variation in T2D-related phenotypes. The whole genome sequencing has been done commercially by Complete Genomics, Inc. (CGI). The available sample of 1,048 includes 5 sequenced individuals who do not belong to any of the 20 large pedigrees. The final family data of 1,043 individuals includes whole genome sequence data for 607 individuals. After quality control, 590 sequenced individuals provide data for family based imputation using Merlin linkage analysis software into approximately 440 additional family members for whom chip based genotypes are available to indicate which parental haplotype is transmitted. The complete SAMAFS data including phenotype, genotype, sequence, other T2D-related trait data utilized for Projects 1 and 2 are available. These data can readily be viewed by clicking on the substudy title shown below or in the box: "Substudies", located on the right hand side of this parent or top study page phs000847.v1.p1, titled T2D-GENES Consortium: San Antonio Mexican American Family Studies (SAMAFS). phs000849 T2D-GENES Project 1: San Antonio Mexican American Family Studies (SAMAFS), Substudy 1: Whole Exome Sequencing phs000462 T2D-GENES Project 2: San Antonio Mexican American Family Studies (SAMAFS), Substudy 2: Whole Genome Sequencing in Pedigrees

  Study phs000847

• Patient-derived organoids as a novel tool to study cervical cancer

  Cervical cancer is the most prevalent gynecological malignancy worldwide, often caused by infection with a high-risk human papillomavirus. Currently, there are only limited number of human-derived culture systems available that enable to study the viral infection for short-term. Here, we report on establishment of long-term human-derived organoid cultures from both healthy ecto- and endocervical epithelia that closely recapitulate the tissues of origin by maintaining the authentic histological and tissue-specific gene expression profiles. Additionally, using material from patients’ Pap-brush material, a successful panel of long-term patient-derived cancer organoids was established that maintain the causative viral infection in vitro and show differential response to common chemotherapy regimens. This study provides a promising platform for cervical cancer research and studying direct virus-host interactions.

  Study EGAS00001004439

• GENEVA Genes and Environment Initiatives in Type 2 Diabetes (Nurses' Health Study/Health Professionals Follow-up Study)

  Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) affects approximately 21 million individuals in the U.S., or almost 10% of the U.S. adult population. Because diabetes is determined by both genetic and environmental factors, a better understanding of the etiology of diabetes requires a careful investigation of gene-environment interactions. The Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals' Follow-up Study (HPFS) are well-characterized cohort studies of women and men for whom stored blood and DNA samples are available as well as detailed information on dietary and lifestyle variables. The major goals of the project include: 1. To conduct a GWA analysis among 3,000 cases of T2D and 3,000 healthy controls in NHS/HPFS cohorts. 2. To use information on the joint effects of genes and a list of carefully selected environmental exposures at the initial screening stage to test gene-environment interactions. This approach optimizes our power to detect variants that have a sizeable marginal effect and those with a small marginal effect but a sizeable effect in a stratum defined by an environmental exposure. For this analysis, we have developed a joint test of genetic marginal effect and gene-environment interaction. This flexible two-degree-of-freedom test generally provides greater power than standard methods and has the potential to uncover both marginal genetic effects and stratum-specific effects. The Version 1 (v1) dbGaP release of data from the GENEVA Diabetes Study (NHS/HPFS) includes data from the NHS only. The Version 2 (v2) dbGaP release includes data from both the NHS and HPFS. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to type 2 diabetes mellitus through large-scale genome-wide association studies of well-characterized cohorts of nurses and health professionals. Genotyping was performed at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a GENEVA genotyping center. Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000091

• The Finland-United States Investigation of NIDDM Genetics (FUSION) Tissue Biopsy Study

  The Finland-United States Investigation of NIDDM Genetics (FUSION) study is a long-term effort to identify genetic variants that predispose to type 2 diabetes (T2D) or that impact the variability of T2D-related quantitative traits (QTs). Most of the variants associated with T2D and related traits (glucose and insulin, anthropometrics, lipids) through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) occur in non-coding regions, suggesting a strong regulatory component to disease susceptibility. Regulatory element activity is often tissue-specific, which further complicates discovery of the causal/functional variation. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify the appropriate cell type, regulatory elements, target genes, and causal variants(s) in T2D-relevant tissues. We hypothesize that a subset of T2D and related variants alter gene expression regulation in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue - two major insulin target tissues and play key roles in insulin resistance. To that end, our study contains a comprehensive survey of genomics, epigenomics and transcriptomics in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue from individuals with glucose tolerance categories ranging from normal to T2D.For this FUSION Tissue Biopsy Study, we obtained RNA-Seq, microRNA (miRNA)-Seq, and DNA methylation (methyl)-Seq data on biopsy samples from 331 individuals from across the range of glucose tolerance: 124 normal glucose tolerance (NGT), 77 impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), 44 impaired fasting glucose (IFG), and 86 newly-diagnosed T2Ds. Participants completed two study visits, two weeks apart. First visits comprised most of the clinical phenotyping, including four-point OGTT (fasting, and 30, 60, and 120 minute post-load); BMI, WHR; lipids; blood pressure; and many other variables. Participants also completed FUSION health history, medication, and lifestyle questionnaires. On the second visit, we obtained ~250mg vastus lateralis skeletal muscle, ~750mg abdominal subcutaneous adipose, and a ~5x15mm section of abdominal skin. Visits were completed in March 2013. RNA isolation is ongoing in the Collins laboratory at the NIH, RNA and miRNA sequencing at the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center (NISC), and genotyping at the Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Individual-level data is available here for the 306 individuals who consented to data deposit. To focus on evaluation of gene expression and its regulation in skeletal muscle, we analyzed mRNA extracted from vastus lateralis skeletal muscle obtained from 271 of the 331 individual subjects from Finland, along with genome-wide genotypes. Individual-level data is available here for the 250 subjects who consented to the use of their data.Release phs001048.v2.p1 adds muscle data for an additional 42 subjects and data from adipose tissue for 276 subjects. Total RNA was isolated using Trizol extraction in the Collins laboratory at the NIH. The mRNA was poly-A selected, 24-plex libraries were generated using the Illumina TruSeq directional mRNA-seq library protocol and RNA sequencing was performed on HiSeq2000 sequencers using 101bp paired-end reads at NISC. miRNA libraries were prepared from total RNA from 296 muscle and 270 adipose samples, pooled and sequenced 50bp single-end reads on Illumina HiSeq2500. Data for 272 muscle and 251 adipose samples are available here for individuals with consent for data deposit. DNA was extracted from blood in the Collins laboratory, and genotyping on the Illumina Omni2.5M array was performed at CIDR. Genotypes were imputed using the HRC 2016 reference panel. In order to assess regions of open chromatin in skeletal muscle, we obtained muscle tissue from a commercial provider to perform ATAC-seq; these samples were sequenced at the University of Michigan DNA Sequencing Core.Release phs001048.v3.p1 adds single-nucleus (sn) RNA-seq and ATAC-seq data in 287 skeletal muscle samples out of the original 331 individuals. Individual-level data is available here for the 265 subjects who consented to the use of their data. The frozen tissue biopsy samples were processed in ten batches, each consisting of 40-41 samples. These batches were organized using a randomized block design to protect against experimental contrasts of interest including cohort, age, sex, BMI among others. Samples in each batch were pulverized, pooled together followed by nuclei isolation. The nuclei were processed on the 10X Genomics Chromium platform separately for snATAC-seq and snRNA-seq (v. 3.1 chemistry for snRNA-seq).Release phs001048.v4.p1 adds additional phenotypes and provides some corrections to several previous phenotypes.

  Study phs001048

• Novel immunodeficiency caused by homozygous mutations of SLC19A1

  The male proband suffered from infancy oral lesions, recurrent fever, diarrhea, vomiting, atopic dermatitis, dark discoloration patches on his skin and lip fissures; he suffered from anemia (megaloblastic), thrombocytopenia, hypogammaglobulinemia and lymphopenia; his growth and development are delayed. Whole exome sequencing identified only one variant predicted to have high impact and to potentially explain the patient’s phenotype, a homozygous missense chr21:46950793:C:T (hg19) SLC19A1 NM_194255:c.1042G>A (p.G348R). Sanger sequencing and segregation analysis confirmed the presence of the homozygous SLC19A1 c.1042G>A (G348R) missense variant in the proband, with a heterozygous state in his family. The same homozygous SLC19A1 variant was identified in a distantly-related male patient with a similar phenotype presentation, while his healthy family members were heterozygous. SLC19A1 is a folate transporter, and thus folic acid supplementation was performed for the proband: platelet counts normalized rapidly and anemia improved; hair and skin discoloration, mouth lesions and chronic diarrhea improved. In contrast, neurological and developmental issues remained unchanged and treatment had only a partial effect on the immune system. This further confirmed the causal role of SLC19A1 for the proband's condition.

  Study EGAS50000000356

• Center for Common Disease Genomics [CCDG] - Cardiovascular: Cardiology Biobanking for Biomarker Discovery

  This study is a part of NHGRI's Center for Common Disease Genomics, which is a collaborative large-scale genome sequencing effort to comprehensively identify rare risk and protective variants contributing to multiple common disease phenotypes. Current estimates anticipate that the CCDG program will sequence approximately 140K whole genomes and 225K whole exomes during the life of the project. The Cardiovascular Disease working group of the CCDG considered five diseases: early-onset coronary artery disease (EOCAD), stroke, atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure and type 2 diabetes. Atrial fibrillation will affect between 6-12 million individuals in the US by 2050. AF also is associated with increased risks of stroke, dementia, heart failure, death, and high health care costs. Many risk factors for AF have been identified, including advancing age, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and CVD risk factors. However, there is little knowledge how to prevent AF. Furthermore, therapies for AF are only partially effective, and are themselves associated with substantial morbidity. Previously, heritable forms of AF have been considered rare; yet in the last decade, it has been established that AF, and in particular early-onset forms of AF, are heritable. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provide a powerful tool to identify common variants underlying disease risk. The AFGen Consortium currently consists of investigators from more than 25 studies with >20,000 individuals with AF and >100,000 without AF. In the latest analyses, 14 loci have been identified for AF1. Broadly, the loci implicate genes related to cardiopulmonary development, cardiac-expressed ion channels, and cell signaling molecules.Source: https://ccdg.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/CCDG_CVD_EOAF_FINAL_w_link.pdfThe BioHEART study is a multi-center, prospective, observational cohort study to identify new biomarkers in stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and acute myocardial infarction (MI) (ACTRN12618001322224). Participants are recruited at time of clinically indicated computed tomography (CT) coronary angiogram (CTCA). 1,950 of 5,000 planned participants have been recruited and serum/plasma/erythrocytes/monocytes stored, with follow-up ongoing. CTCA imaging studies provides volumetric quantification of total calcified and non-calcified plaque, which is assessed using established and novel scoring systems. Comprehensive molecular phenotyping is performed on blood samples using state-of-the-art genomic, transcriptomic, proteomics, metabolomic, lipidomic, and immunophenotyping. Outcome data will be used to build improved risk models for CAD.Reference: http://www.anzctr.org.au/ - ACTRN12618001322224

  Study phs002726

• Analyzing Somatic Mutagenesis in Systemic Sclerosis

  The study was undertaken with the aim of estimating differences in the mutational burden in lung tissues from healthy vs systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients. SSc is an auto-immune disease, with patients often developing cancer. However, the etiology of this phenomenon is poorly understood. As such we sought to uncover potential molecular mechanisms prevalent within SSc tissues that might be potentiating cancer. Samples were randomly collected from individuals from two broad ethnic groups, European (EA) and African American (AA). In total, samples were obtained from 7 individuals belonging to the EA group and 4 individuals from the AA group. For this study, ethnicity was not included as a confounding variable, given that the data set has roughly comparable number of individuals from both ethnicities for the healthy and SSc cohorts. Study participants ranged in age from 37-63 years old. Median age (52 years old) of healthy individuals was comparable to the SSc cohort (~48 years old). Participants were self-described as current/former smokers or non-smokers. Lung tissues were obtained under a protocol approved by the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board. Written informed consent statements were provided to the University of Pittsburgh IRB by the study participants/patients. Sample sizes were determined by the ability of bulk lung fibroblast tissues to stably propagate in culture until single cell clones could be obtained. Samples for which sufficient cell density could not be achieved for downstream high-depth sequencing analysis were excluded from the study and are not reported. Five or greater than 5 samples are collected from each cohort including healthy and SSc patients. Subjects were allocated to two basic cohorts based on diagnosis at the time of explant. Participants with no reported lung anomalies were allocated to the "healthy" cohort, whereas individuals with reported lung abnormalities, primarily SSc with pulmonary fibrosis and/or hypertension were allocated to the "SSc" cohort. All tissue samples were cultured, propagated and processed in identical fashion without requiring individual-specific protocols. Additionally, equivalent amounts of DNA were used for preparing sequencing libraries from both cohorts, and all samples were sequenced using Illumina whole genome sequencing (WGS) and analyzed using identical computational pipelines. Our study primarily discovered that there is a significantly higher burden of somatic mutations in SSc samples, compared to healthy samples. We observed an overall increase in a range of mutations in genomes of SSc patients, including single base substitutions, indels, structural variants and copy number alterations. Additionally, we uncovered a novel mutation signature associated with SSc samples, hinting at the activity of POLH in these samples, and highlighting the potential nexus between inflammation, DNA damage, and cancer.

  Study phs003700

• Robust detection of translocations in lymphoma FFPE samples using Targeted Locus Capture-based sequencing

  Chromosomal translocations with immunoglobin (IG) loci are the classic drivers in a large subset of B-cell lymphomas. Detection of these translocations is important for confirmation of diagnosis and for prognosis and therapy decisions. Currently, molecular diagnosis of translocations in lymphomas is not addressed well by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). The standard method for detection of translocations is Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH), which is labor-intensive, and can be difficult to interpret. There is a need for a robust technology that can be standardized. Targeted Locus Capture (TLC) selectively enriches and sequences entire genes based on the crosslinking of physically proximal sequences, and thereby enables complete sequencing of genes of interest, including detection of large structural variants. Because the technology is based on the crosslinking and fragmenting of DNA, it has particular advantages in the analysis of Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) samples, in which DNA is inherently crosslinked and fragmented. In order to validate the FFPE-TLC technology as a novel approach for translocation detection in lymphoma samples, we have developed a panel assay containing genes with frequent translocations (MYC, BCL2, BCL6, IG loci). With this assay we have analyzed >140 lymphoma and control FFPE samples of variable input amounts and qualities that had previously been analyzed with FISH, and a subset also with standard targeted NGS. Good concordance with FISH results was observed for both translocation positive and negative samples. In 10 cases for which FFPE-TLC detected a relevant fusion and FISH had been called negative, discordance could be explained by higher sensitivity of FFPE-TLC or by inconclusive FISH results. In a specific case, FFPE-TLC detected a small-distance rearrangement on chromosome 3 that caused a BCL6 fusion but led to insufficient and therefore undetectable break-apart with FISH. Secondly, the FFPE-TLC approach was tested on a set of 19 B-cell lymphoma FFPE samples that had previously been analyzed using standard targeted NGS and FISH and was enriched for discordant results between these methods. FFPE-TLC-based NGS enables more robust translocation calling as the detection relies on broad sequencing coverage across the translocation partner rather than on breakpoint sequences only. In 3 cases, FFPE-TLC could proof false negative calls in standard targeted NGS due to breakpoints located in regions difficult to capture or to sequence. In 1 case, standard targeted NGS had made a false positive call on a breakpoint sequence that was shown to be caused by a small insertion rather than a genuine translocation. This study shows that FFPE-TLC promises to be a robust alternative for FISH analysis and standard targeted NGS procedures in lymphoma diagnostics and possibly in other cancers with frequent structural variants. The FFPE-TLC approach enables a single, DNA-based NGS test detecting both small mutations and translocations.

  Study EGAS00001004760

• Brain Arteriovenous Malformation Genetics Study

  The Predictors of Spontaneous Cerebral AVM Hemorrhage study was designed to identify genetic markers that predict adverse outcomes in brain arteriovenous malformation (BAVM) patients, examine race-ethnicity influences on BAVM hemorrhage risk, and use genome-wide association analysis to identify novel genetic predictors of AVM and hemorrhage using the Affymetrix GeneChip. We performed the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) (PMID: 26818729) of sporadic BAVM to investigate association of common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with risk of sporadic BAVM in the international, multicenter Genetics of Arteriovenous Malformation (GEN-AVM) consortium. The study included a Caucasian discovery cohort of 515 BAVM cases and 1,191 controls genotyped using Affymetrix genome-wide SNP arrays. The Phase 1 discovery cohort comprised of 338 BAVM cases (154 male) and 504 controls genotyped using the Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 6.0. The molecular data (individual genetic data) for the Phase 1 discovery cohort 338 BAVM cases (self-reported Caucasian) recruited at University of California, San Francisco, or Kaiser Permanente of Northern California (KPNC) are included in the dbGaP Study Report: Brain Arteriovenous Malformation Genetics Study, with the additional BAVM case phenotypic and sample attribute characteristics: sex, race, age at BAVM diagnosis, hemorrhagic presentation, BAVM size. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and the study was approved by the respective Institutional Review Boards. The molecular dataset for this study in dbGaP is based on the genotypes obtained for the initial set of 906,600 SNPs for cases and controls called together using Birdseed v2 algorithm in Affymetrix Genotyping Console Software. The final QC'd dataset includes 717,335 markers as SNPs with MAF<0.01 or deviating from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P<0.00001) in controls were excluded. After QC, the average genotyping call rate was 99%. The discovery phase GWAS identified 57 top BAVM-associated SNPs which were tested in a replication cohort including 608 BAVM cases and 744 controls. The molecular dataset for these 338 BAVM cases was also included in a report investigating common and rare genome-wide copy number variation for association with BAVM (PMID: 24098321), which included a total sample size of 371 sporadic Caucasian BAVM cases and 563 Caucasian controls. This study identified a CNV region on 1p36.13 (NBPF1 locus) that was significantly enriched with duplications in BAVM cases compared to controls, although this association did not replicate in an independent cohort of 184 sporadic BAVM cases and 182 controls. This resource will help researchers to better understand the genetic risk factors for BAVM and/or hemorrhage. These data may be applied to examine the genetic contributions to arteriovenous malformation, stroke, and related vascular disorders and may help generate hypotheses regarding the genetics of cerebrovascular disease.

  Study phs002069

• Genome-Wide Association Studies of Prematurity and Its Complications (African American)

  Preterm delivery resulting in the birth of a premature infant is a complex problem with a devastating impact on individuals, families and society. The prevalence of preterm birth has increased steadily in developed countries over the last 20 years and more than three million children die of preterm birth worldwide each year. Despite the importance of the problem and its disproportionate occurrence in poor and minority populations, the underlying causes have been difficult to identify. Spontaneous preterm labor has as its suspected triggers infection, stress, poor nutrition and inherited factors. The single best predictor for preterm delivery is a previous preterm birth. Studies of twins and of recurrences within families provide evidence that genetic factors underlie a substantive component of the risk for prematurity. One major challenge in studying genetic factors in prematurity is that the risk case is not truly established. The genetic risk could reside either in the mother and her uterus or in the infant/placenta. Identification of genetic factors in the mother and/or infant could provide insights into identifying relevant environmental covariates that may be more amenable to rapid interventions but difficult to find using standard epidemiology alone. A comprehensive genome-wide association study (GWAS) is the ideal way to identify those genes that would not be suspected based on our current understanding of the biology of parturition. We are using 2200 African American samples with term or preterm labor. A subset of these (~800) are infant samples recruited by the Neonatal Research Network as part of a study on cytokines and infection in extremely low birth weight infants (Schelonka RL, et al., 2011. PMID: 21145756). Therefore, this group consists of infants <1,000 grams with clinical outcome data for the infant allowing study of the genetic contributors for not only preterm birth but also the complications that often accompany preterm birth. The result will enable a better understanding of the biology of parturition and suggest environmental modifications that can prolong gestations to improve neonatal and adult outcomes. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to preterm birth through large-scale genome-wide association studies of African-American cases and controls from multiple sites in the United States. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000353

• eIMPACT Trial: Modernized Collaborative Care to Reduce the Excess CVD Risk of Older Depressed Patients

  Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the #1 killer of American men and women, and its economic burden is substantial and on the rise. Adults with depression are at elevated risk of CVD events and poor CVD prognosis. Unfortunately, past clinical trials of depression treatments have not observed the anticipated cardiovascular benefits. A novel explanation for these null results is that the depression interventions in these trials, which all involved patients with preexisting CVD, were delivered too late in the natural history of CVD. Accordingly, the objective of this single-center, parallel-group, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial was to determine whether successful depression treatment before, versus after, the onset of clinical CVD reduces CVD risk in depression. Primary care patients with depression and elevated CVD risk from a safety net healthcare system (N = 216, Mage = 59 years, 78% female, 50% Black, 46% with income <$10,000/year) were randomized 1:1 to 12 months of the eIMPACT intervention (a modernized collaborative stepped care program involving internet cognitive-behavioral therapy [CBT], telephonic CBT, and/or select antidepressants) or usual primary care for depression (primary care providers supported by embedded behavioral health clinicians and psychiatrists). The primary outcome was endothelial dysfunction (brachial flow-mediated dilation) at 12 months, and the secondary outcomes were self-reported depressive symptoms (Hopkins Symptom Checklist-20), autonomic dysfunction (high-frequency heart rate variability), systemic inflammation (interleukin-6 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), and platelet activation (β-thromboglobulin and platelet factor 4) at 12 months. The central hypothesis was that the eIMPACT intervention would improve endothelial dysfunction in depressed adults by decreasing depressive symptoms, autonomic dysfunction, systemic inflammation, and platelet activation. Primary results are posted to ClinicalTrials.gov at NCT02458690. The de-identified limited dataset available on BDC consists of only the individual phenotypic data needed to confirm this trial’s primary results – i.e., randomization status, primary and secondary outcome variables, and participant characteristics utilized in the hypothesis-testing models (age, sex, race, education, income, and systolic blood pressure). We also provide the SAS code to replicate the results of the hypothesis-testing models reported in Table 4 and Supplemental Tables 1-3 in the main outcomes paper (#2 in Selected Publications). Of note, the user will need to specify the file path for the dataset to run the SAS code. Instructions for requesting individual-level data are available on BDC at https://biodatacatalyst.nhlbi.nih.gov/resources/data/. Apply for data access in dbGaP. Upon approval, users may begin accessing requested data in BDC. For questions about availability, you may contact the BDC team at https://biodatacatalyst.nhlbi.nih.gov/contact.

  Study phs003283

• Liver biopsy derived induced pluripotent stem cells provide an unlimited supply for the generation of patient-specific hepatocyte-like cells

  Background: Hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have emerged as a promising cell culture model to study metabolism, biotransformation, viral infections and genetic liver diseases. However the derivation of iPSCs is restricted by ethical and procedural constraints. Furthermore, incomplete HLC differentiation remains a major challenge. iPSC may carry-on a tissue of origin dependent expression memory influencing iPSC differentiation into different cell types. If liver derived iPSCs (Li-iPSCs) maintain a liver specific gene expression profile is not known. It is also not known, if Li-iPSCs would allow the generation of more fully differentiated HLCs.Methods: Primary liver cells (PLCs) were expanded from liver needle biopsies and reprogrammed into Li-iPSCs using a non-integrative Sendai virus-based system. Li-iPSCs were differentiated into HLCs using established differentiation protocols. The HLC phenotype was characterized at the protein, functional and transcriptional level. RNA sequencing data were generated from the originating liver biopsies, the Li-iPSCs, fibroblast derived iPSCs, and differentiated HLCs, and used to characterize and compare their transcriptome profiles.Results: PLCs were obtained from small pieces of liver biopsies and could be reprogrammed into Li-iPSCs. Li-iPSCs indeed retain a liver specific transcriptional footprint. Li-iPSCs can be propagated to provide an unlimited supply of cells for differentiation into Li-HLCs. Similar to HLCs derived from fibroblasts, Li-HLCs could not be fully differentiated into hepatocytes. Relative to the originating liver, Li-HLCs showed lower expression of liver specific transcription factors and increased expression of genes involved in the differentiation of other tissues.Conclusions: PLCs and Li-iPSCs obtained from small pieces of human needle liver biopsies constitute a novel unlimited source for the production of HLCs. Despite the preservation of a liver specific gene expression footprint in Li-iPSCs, the generation of fully differentiated hepatocytes cannot be achieved with the current differentiation protocols.

  Study EGAS00001002676

• TOPDECC-Trans-omics for Precision Dentistry and Early Childhood Caries: Genome-Wide Genotyping (CIDR) and Microbiome in the ZOE 2.0 Study

  The ZOE 2.0 study is a cross-sectional genetic epidemiologic investigation of early childhood oral health, conducted in a state-wide, community-based, multi-ethnic sample of 3-5-year-old preschool-age children in North Carolina, United States. Between 2016-2019, 8,059 children were enrolled and 6,404 of them underwent comprehensive oral-clinical examinations that provided usable data on dental caries (i.e., early childhood caries; ECC) phenotypes. Saliva samples and supragingival biofilm samples were collected by 10 trained and calibrated examiners during the clinical encounters that took place in enrolled children's preschool (Head Start) centers. Specifically, the study enrolled participants and conducted clinical examinations in 260 Head Start centers that belonged to 34 Head Start programs in NC. 6,262 participants provided clinical data and had extracted DNA that met quantity and quality criteria for high-density genotyping and 6,144 of them were retained in the genome-wide association study (GWAS). Additional information on oral health-related behaviors, risk factors and self-reported outcomes was collected prior to the conduct of the clinical exam using self-administered questionnaires completed by children's guardians. Height and weight measurements were used to derive measures of adiposity. A domestic water sample for fluoride concentration measurement was obtained after the clinical examination for approximately 25% of study participants, to provide a measure of environmental exposure to this known caries-preventive agent and this information was subsequently imputed to the entire cohort using a novel GIS-informed method. Supragingival biofilm samples for microbiome analyses were collected from all participating children. Biofilm samples from a pilot 5% (n=300) of the cohort were carried forward to WGS (metagenomics; MTG) and RNAseq (metatranscriptomics; MTX) analyses, and these sequence data are being released via the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) in this dbGaP accession: 300 participants with MTG, 297 of those with MTX. Of note, the 17 participants with MTG data did not have genotypes produced, therefore the study's released participant total count is 6161, including 6144 (with genotypes released) plus 17 (with no genotypes released but with MTG data in the SRA).The study's primary objective is to identify risk loci and gene sets/pathways for ECC and related traits (e.g., caries prevalence and severity) by conducting a trans-ethnic GWAS. Genotyping is based on the Infinium™ Global Diversity Array and the TOPMed panel is used for imputation via the University of Michigan Imputation server. Secondarily, the ZOE 2.0 seeks to determine prevalence and severity of dental caries, other oral disease outcomes, and putative risk factors for dental caries in this low-income population-based sample of European-, African-, and Hispanic/Latino-American preschool-age children.

  Study phs002232

• Whole-Genome Sequencing in Multiplex Epilepsy Families

  Epilepsy is one of the most common neurologic disorders, affecting approximately 4% of individuals at some time in their lives. More than 30% of people with epilepsy continue to have seizures despite treatment, and improved approaches to treatment and prevention are sorely needed. In the search for new strategies to reduce the burden of disease, the discovery of specific genes that influence risk offers a novel opportunity to clarify pathogenic mechanisms, identify susceptible individuals prior to seizure onset, and treat and prevent seizures in people at risk. Despite clear evidence of the importance of genetics in susceptibility to epilepsy, only limited progress has been made in identifying the specific genes that influence risk. One of the greatest challenges for genetic research on this disorder is its extreme clinical and genetic heterogeneity. Although epilepsy is broadly defined by recurrent unprovoked seizures, it is so variable in its clinical manifestations, natural history, and treatment response that most epileptologists view it as a collection of different syndromes ("epilepsies") with distinct etiologies. The genetic effects on susceptibility are also likely to be extremely variable, ranging from rare variants with high penetrance (some of which produce Mendelian patterns of inheritance) to common variants with low penetrance. Recent findings strongly suggest that rare gene variants play a major role in the genetic architecture of the epilepsies. The purpose of this study was to discover new genetic risk factors for epilepsy. The primary approach was to use whole-genome sequencing to interrogate classes of genetic variants, including very rare variants, in multiplex families. Our main hypothesis was that, in at least some proportion of these families, a single variant would explain all instances of epilepsy. Variants identified within the families could then be tested for cosegregation within the family and also validated by seeing enrichment in sporadic epilepsy cases. Furthermore, understanding the impact of rare variation in epilepsy also has the potential to provide insight into the genetic architecture of other complex human diseases. Our analysis focused on families containing multiple individuals with non-acquired (idiopathic or unknown cause) epilepsy under the hypothesis that these would be enriched for genetic control. The families studied had been previously collected and phenotyped in detail, and contain an average of 3.8 individuals per family with a range of different types of epilepsy. We selected one or two affected individuals from each family for sequencing. This work has generated NGS data on 60 samples from 29 multiplex epilepsy families. We have established that, under a monogenic model of inheritance, sequencing pairs of distantly related relatives is an effective method for reducing the number of candidate variants. Critically, we have found that no single variant can explain a large proportion of these epilepsy families. This work emphasizes that identifying causal variants among the many genetic candidates found in this work will require very large sample sizes and gene-based analyses.

  Study phs000690

• The Genomics and Randomized Trials Network (GARNET) Vitamin Intervention Stroke Prevention (VISP) Trial

  The VISP trial (PI Jim Toole, M.D., Wake Forest University School of Medicine) was a multi-center, double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial that enrolled patients aged 35 or older with homocysteine (Hcy) levels above the 25th percentile at screening and a non-disabling cerebral infarction (NDCI) within 120 days of randomization (Toole, 2002, PMID: 12417369). The trial was designed to determine if daily intake of a multivitamin tablet with high dose folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 reduced recurrent cerebral infarction (primary endpoint), and nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) or mortality (secondary endpoints). Subjects were randomly assigned to receive daily doses of the high-dose formulation (n=1,827), containing 25mg pyridoxine (B6), 0.4mg cobalamin (B12), and 2.5mg folic acid; or the low-dose formulation (n=1,853), containing 200mcg pyridoxine, 6mcg cobalamin and 20mcg folic acid. Enrollment in VISP began in August 1997, and was completed in December 2001, with 3,680 participants enrolled. Within the trial, 2,164 participants from 46 clinic sites provided DNA and agreed for it to be shared for use in a genetic subset study of VISP. This study is part of Genomics and Randomized Trials Network (GARNET), funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to stroke through large-scale genome-wide association studies of treatment response in randomized clinical trials. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were performed at the GARNET Coordinating Center at the University of Washington. The data of the VISP trial have been released to dbGaP users in several segments: Version 1 (phs000343.v1.p1), consisted of n=4 phenotype datasets, and all raw, cleaned and imputed genotype data. Version 2 (phs000343.v2.p1) included n=14 additional phenotype datasets (plus pedigree, consent, and sample-mapping data), and increased the available data to a total of n=970 phenotype variables. Version 3 (phs000343.v3.p1) included all n=36 phenotype datasets (plus pedigree, consent, and sample-mapping data), and increased the available data to a total of n=1918 phenotype variables.Version 4 (phs000343.v4.p1), the current release, includes all previous phenotypic datasets, includes one new phenotypic dataset for the untargeted metabolomics data of 50 individuals, includes DNA methylation profiles for n=180 individuals, and sequencing data for n=179 individuals.

  Study phs000343

• NHLBI TOPMed: San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS)

  The San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS) is a complex pedigree-based mixed longitudinal study designed to identify low frequency or rare variants influencing susceptibility to cardiovascular disease, using whole genome sequence (WGS) information from 2,590 individuals in large Mexican American pedigrees from San Antonio, Texas. The major objectives of this study are to identify low frequency or rare variants in and around known common variant signals for CVD, as well as to find novel low frequency or rare variants influencing susceptibility to CVD. WGS of the SAFHS cohort has been obtained through three efforts. Approximately 540 WGS were performed commercially at 50X by Complete Genomics, Inc (CGI) as part of the large T2D-GENES Project. The phenotype and genotype data for this group is available at dbGaP under accession number phs000462. An additional ~900 WGS at 30X were obtained through Illumina as part of the R01HL113322 "Whole Genome Sequencing to Identify Causal Genetic Variants Influencing CVD Risk" project. Finally, ~1,150 WGS at 30X WGS were obtained through Illumina funded by a supplement as part of the NHLBI's TOPMed program. Extensive phenotype data are provided for sequenced individuals primarily obtained from the P01HL45522 "Genetics of Atherosclerosis in Mexican Americans" for adults and R01HD049051 for children in these same families. Phenotype information was collected between 1991 and 2016. For this dataset, the SAFHS appellation represents an amalgamation of the original SAFHS participants and an expansion that reexamined families previously recruited for the San Antonio Family Diabetes Study (R01DK042273) and the San Antonio Family Gall Bladder Study (R01DK053889). Due to this substantial examination history, participants may have information from up to five visits. The clinical variables reported are coordinated with TOPMed and include major adverse cardiac events (MACE), T2D status and age at diagnosis, glycemic traits (fasting glucose and insulin), blood pressure, blood lipids (total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, calculated LDL cholesterol and triglycerides). Additional phenotype data include the medication status at each visit, classified in four categories as any current use of diabetes, hypertension or lipid-lowering medications, and, for females, current use of female hormones. Anthropometric measurements include age, sex, height, weight, hip circumference, waist circumference and derived ratios. PBMC derived gene expression assays for a subset of ~1,060 individuals obtained using the Illumina Sentrix-6 chip is also available from the baseline examination. The WGS data have been jointly called and are available in the current TOPMed accession (phs001215).

  Study phs001215

• Single cell transcriptomes of of primary tumors and normal endometrial derived organoids treated with DBZ

  Endometrial carcinoma, the most common gynecologic cancer, develops from endometrial epithelium which is composed of secretory and ciliated cells. Pathologic classification is unreliable and there is a need for prognostic tools. We used single cell sequencing to study organoid model systems derived from normal endometrial endometrium to discover novel markers specific for endometrial ciliated or secretory cells. We performed single cell sequencing on endometrial and ovarian tumours, and on organoids both treated with DBZ and normal and found both secretory-like and ciliated-like tumour cells.

  Dataset EGAD00001006280

• Metagenomic Analysis of the Structure and Function of the Human Gut Microbiota in Crohn's Disease

  Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn's disease, are chronic, immunologically mediated disorders that have severe medical consequences. The current hypothesis is that these diseases are due to an overly aggressive immune response to a subset of commensal enteric bacteria. Studies to date on IBD have suggested that the disorder may be caused by a combination of bacteria and host susceptibility; however the etiologies of these diseases remain an enigma. In this application, we propose to develop and demonstrate the ability to profile Crohn's disease at an unprecedented molecular level by elucidation of specific biomarkers (bacterial strains, genes, or proteins) that correlate to disease symptoms. To achieve this goal, we will employ a multidisciplinary approach based on metagenomic and metaproteomic molecular tools to elucidate the composition of the commensal microbiota in monozygotic twins that are either healthy or exhibit Crohn's disease (for concordant, both are diseased; for discordant, one is healthy and one is diseased). The central hypotheses of this proposal are (1) that specific members and/or functional activities of the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota differ in patients with Crohn's disease as compared to healthy individuals, and (2) that it will be possible to elucidate microbial signatures which correlate with the occurrence and progression of this disease by integration of data obtained from 16S rRNA-based molecular fingerprinting, metagenomics, and metaproteomics approaches. To address these hypotheses, three specific aims are proposed: 1) Obtain data on community gene content (metagenome) in a subset of healthy twins and twins with Crohn's Disease to assess potential differences in the metabolic capabilities of the gut microbiota associated with CD, 2) Obtain data on community protein content (metaproteome) in a subset of healthy twins and twins with Crohn's Disease to assess the state of expressed proteins associated with CD, 3) Apply various statistical clustering and classification methods to correlate/associate microbial community composition, gene and protein content with patient metadata, including metabolite profiles and clinical phenotype. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to identify novel biomarkers for non-invasive diagnostics of CD and to eventually identify drug targets (i.e. bacterial strains) for cure or suppression of disease symptoms. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study aims to unravel the contribution of the bacteria that normally inhabit the human gastrointestinal tract to Crohn's disease by using a multidisciplinary approach to study changes in the structure and function of gut microbial communities in three sets of patient cohorts who have Crohn's disease. These results will be compared with those obtained from the study of healthy individuals and have the potential to identify new biomarkers of disease severity, location, and progression.

  Study phs000257

• dbGaP Collection: NHLBI Heart Failure Related dbGaP Data (No IRB requirement)

  The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Big Data Analysis Challenge: Creating New Paradigms for Heart Failure Research has concluded. The NHLBI will continue to make this collection of data available to the research community.Past information regarding the Data Collection for the NHLBI Big Data Analysis Challenge: Creating New Paradigms for Heart Failure Research is below.The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is inviting novel Solutions for the NHLBI Big Data Analysis Challenge: Creating New Paradigms for Heart Failure Research. The goal of the challenge is to foster innovation in computational analysis and machine learning approaches utilizing large-scale NHLBI-funded datasets to identify new paradigms in heart failure research. The challenge aims to address the need for new open source disease models that can define sub-categorizations of adult heart failure to serve as a springboard for new research hypotheses and tool development in areas of heart failure research from basic to clinical settings. NHLBI has a history of making considerable investments in the creation of deep data resources including: long-standing, deeply-phenotyped epidemiological cohorts, innovative clinical trials, and large-scale precision medicine efforts that have generated whole genome sequencing and "other omics" data for more than one-hundred thousand individuals. To provide challenge participants with streamlined access to data across NHLBI's numerous studies containing heart failure data, the NHLBI has created this dbGaP study collection. Data access for this collection is controlled by NHLBI's Data Access Committee. Challenge participants are required to follow the use restrictions and acknowledgement instructions from the original dataset(s). Please note that the data in this collection are not harmonized across studies or otherwise altered from the original study. The NHLBI Big Data Analysis Challenge: Heart Failure Data Collection contains all NHLBI studies currently in dbGaP that contain data that may be relevant to research on heart failure. The studies in this collection are approved for General Research Use (GRU), Health/Medical/Biomedical Use (HMB), or Disease-Specific Use (DS) that permits research on heart failure. These studies span a variety of study designs, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sample sizes, and provide a wide breadth and depth of phenotype data on study participants. The available genomic data in these studies also varies, including genotyping arrays, sequencing (targeted, exome, whole genome), and additional -omic data (e.g., RNA or metabolite profiles). Please refer to each study's individual accession page to learn more about how study data were collected. Challenge participants are reminded that in addition to dbGaP, NHLBI's Biologic Specimen and Data Repository Information Coordinating Center (BioLINCC) contains other studies that have collected data relevant to heart failure and may wish to utilize BioLINCC data in the development of their Solution. Please refer to the individual accession page for each study in this collection to learn more about the history of each study.

  Study phs001991

• NHLBI TOPMed: Novel Risk Factors for the Development of Atrial Fibrillation in Women

  The Women's Genome Health Study (WGHS) is a prospective cohort comprised of over 25,000 initially healthy female health professionals enrolled in the Women's Health Study, which began in 1992-1994. All participants in WGHS provided baseline blood samples and extensive survey data. Women who reported atrial fibrillation during the course of the study were asked to report diagnoses of AF at baseline, 48 months, and then annually thereafter. Participants enrolled in the continued observational follow-up who reported an incident AF event on at least one yearly questionnaire were sent an additional questionnaire to confirm the episode and to collect additional information. They were also asked for permission to review their medical records, particularly available ECGs, rhythm strips, 24-hour ECGs, and information on cardiac structure and function. For all deceased participants who reported AF during the trial and extended follow-up period, family members were contacted to obtain consent and additional relevant information. An end-point committee of physicians reviewed medical records for reported events according to predefined criteria. An incident AF event was confirmed if there was ECG evidence of AF or if a medical report clearly indicated a personal history of AF. The earliest date in the medical records when documentation was believed to have occurred was set as the date of onset of AF.

  Study phs001040

• Genomic Profiling Reveals Spatial Intra-tumour Heterogeneity in Follicular Lymphoma

  Follicular lymphoma (FL) is an incurable indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) that behaves heterogeneously and is synonymous with the reciprocal translocation t(14;18)(q32;q21), leading to aberrant constitutive over-expression of BCL2 [ref]. High risk groups with poor overall survival include patients that transform to a high grade lymphoma, most commonly diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) or progress early (within 2 years) of receiving treatment. Recently several studies have shed light on the diverse genomic landscape of FL, with frequently mutated genes including those involved in chromatin remodelling, (CREBBP, KMT2D, EZH2, EP300), immune modulation (TNFRSF14), JAK-STAT (STAT6, SOCS1), NF-ĸB (CARD11, MYD88, TNFAIP3) and mTORC1 signalling (RRAGC) [ref]. To date, the majority of these studies have either focussed on inter-patient genetic heterogeneity or established the extent of clonal heterogeneity as a patient’s tumour evolves over time. Furthermore, these temporal studies have alluded to the existence of a tumour-repopulating population (referred to as the common progenitor cell (CPC)) that evades treatment and acts as a reservoir, seeding each subsequent relapse and transformation event. Although these previous studies have illuminated the longitudinal clonal dynamics that occur in FL, our understanding of the degree of spatial or intra-tumour heterogeneity (ITH) that exists within an individual patient thus far remains limited. Earlier studies have predominantly focused on differences in cytological grade and immunophenotype between spatially separated lymph nodes and bone marrow, the most common site of extra-nodal involvement in FL, with genomic profiling restricted to examining somatic hypermutation patterns in IgVH genes [ref]. In contrast next generation sequencing has been increasingly utilised in solid organ malignancies to derive comprehensive genomic profiles from spatially separated sites. The seminal study by Gerlinger et al revealed profound differences in the genetic make-up between individual primary and metastatic sites of renal cell carcinoma [ref]. Significant heterogeneity has since been demonstrated both between and within lesions in the same patient in lung, pancreas and breast cancer with presumed driver mutations distributed within the “branches” of the evolutionary phylogenetic tree, suggesting that a single biopsy is incapable of capturing the full genomic heterogeneity of an individual’s malignancy [ref]. This geographical heterogeneity not only adds to the diverse pool of tumour subclones that may contribute to drug resistance mechanisms but importantly, presents a major obstacle for precision-based approaches focussed on targeting specific lesions within a single biopsy. In FL, the exponential increase in clinical trials using novel agents such as EZH2, PI3K and BTK inhibitors reflects this shift in cancer care and along with the development of molecular prognostic scores such as the m7-FLIPI highlights the clinical need to accurately define genomic alterations with clinical relevance. As the majority of FL patients manifest disseminated tumour involvement, we sought to uncover the extent and clinical importance of spatial heterogeneity in FL by comprehensively genetically profiling 22 synchronously removed spatially separated biopsies from 9 patients. Using a combination of whole exome and targeted deep sequencing, our results inferred the complex subclonal architecture within these tumours and the mutational differences between anatomical sites, demonstrating cases with significant intrinsic genetic diversity.

  Study EGAS00001002492

• Multi-omics profiling identifies two epithelioid sarcoma molecular subtypes with distinct signaling and immune characteristics

  Epithelioid sarcoma (EpS) is an aggressive sarcoma, characterized by the loss of SMARCB1 expression. EpS is traditionally classified as distal or proximal according to clinicopathological features, but its molecular characteristics remain largely unknown. To establish an EpS molecular classification and uncover determinants of inter- and intra-patient heterogeneity in EpS, we used multi-omics profiling and integrated the genomic, transcriptional and methylome landscapes with single-cell RNA sequencing on fresh samples as well as spatial transcriptomics. We identified two molecular subtypes of EpS: “distal-like” and “proximal-like”, which were distinct from the histological subtypes. Distal-like tumors include all morphological distal subtypes and a subset of proximal and hybrid EpS. They express a specific molecular single-cell derived epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition signature, which associates with improved patient survival and includes Desmoglein 2 (DSG2), which we identify as a potential routine immunohistochemical biomarker to improve diagnosis. Distal-like EpS also display increased peri-tumoral CD8+ T cell infiltrates and specific tumor-immune cell interactions. Conversely, proximal-like EpS harbor a higher inter-tumoral molecular heterogeneity with some cases resembling other SMARCB1-deficient tumors by DNA methylation profiling, and increased intra-tumoral pro-tumoral macrophage infiltrates. Our study introduces a novel molecular classification of EpS with prognostic value, associated diagnostic biomarkers and distinct tumor immune microenvironments, which extends beyond traditional clinicopathological classification. This paves the way for precision medicine-based therapeutic strategies for patients with EpS.

  Dac EGAC50000000552

• Targeted next-generation sequencing detects novel gene-phenotype associations and expands the mutational spectrum in cardiomyopathie

  Cardiomyopathies are a heterogeneous group of primary diseases of the myocardium,including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), andarrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), with higher morbidity andmortality. These diseases are genetically diverse and associated with rare mutations ina large number of genes, many of which overlap among the phenotypes. To betterinvestigate the genetic overlap between these three phenotypes and to identify newgenotype-phenotype correlations, we designed a custom gene panel consisting of 115genes known to be associated with cardiomyopathic phenotypes and channelopathies.A cohort of 38 unrelated patients, 16 affected by DCM, 14 by HCM and 8 by ARVC,was recruited for the study on the basis of more severe phenotypes and family historyof cardiomyopathy and/or sudden death.

  Study EGAS00001002506

• Clinical significance of novel subtypes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the context of minimal residual disease-directed therapy

  We evaluate clinical significance of recently identified subtypes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 598 children treated with minimal residual disease (MRD)-directed therapy. Among the 16 B-ALL and 8 T-ALL subtypes identified by next generation sequencing, ETV6-RUNX1, high-hyperdiploid and DUX4-rearranged B-ALL had the best five-year event-free survival rates (95% to 98.4%); TCF3-PBX1, PAX5alt, T-cell, ETP, iAMP21, and hypodiploid ALL intermediate rates (80.0% to 88.2%); and BCR-ABL1, BCR-ABL1-like and ETV6-RUNX1-like and KMT2A-rearranged ALL the worst rates (64.1% to 76.2%). All but three of the 142 patients with day-8 blood MRD <0.01% remained in remission. Among new subtypes, intensified therapy based on day-15 MRD≥1% improved outcome of DUX4-rearranged, BCR-ABL1-like, and ZNF384-rearranged ALL, and achievement of day-42 MRD<0.01% did not preclude relapse of PAX5alt, MEF2D-rearranged and ETV6-RUNX1-like ALL. Thus, new subtypes including DUX4-rearranged, PAX5alt, BCR-ABL1-like, ETV6-RUNX1-like, MEF2D-rearranged and ZNF384-rearranged ALL have important prognostic and therapeutic implications.

  Study EGAS00001005084

• Integrative Single-Cell Analysis of Transcriptome, Epigenome, and Lineage in HIV Latency and Activation

  With the development of triple combination antiretroviral therapy, routine HIV treatment eliminates nearly all actively infected cells. Nevertheless, the small reservoir of latently infected cells, which can remain dormant for long periods of time before becoming active and producing new virus particles, represents a crucial barrier to completely curing the disease. Identifying markers that identify latently infected cells or the biochemical factors that control latency activation could enable the effective use of a “shock and kill” strategy, where specific targeting or activation of latently infected cells eliminates the viral reservoir. Our recent work suggests that the global transcriptomic and epigenomic changes during hematopoietic differentiation affect viral latency and activation. Additionally, we recently found that global inhibition of histone deacetylase activity increases viral activation in these cells, further implicating epigenomic changes during activation. These results raise fundamental questions: What are the markers of latently infected cells? How do the transcriptomic and epigenomic states of a cell affect latency and activation? How does the differentiation state relate to viral latency? Here, we leverage our experimental platform for identifying latently and actively infected cells, single-cell transcriptome and epigenome sequencing, and our recently developed computational integration methods to investigate these questions. Our interdisciplinary team combines expertise in HIV basic science, HIV clinical treatment, and bioinformatics to develop an experimental and computational framework for integrated gene expression, chromatin accessibility, and lineage into a single picture of viral latency and activation. Specifically, this project will (1) use single-cell RNA-seq and single-cell ATAC-seq to map the diversity of infected cells, (2) investigate the relationship between hematopoietic differentiation state and viral activation, (3) determine viral integration sites through single-cell RNA-seq, (4) computationally integrate single-cell transcriptome and epigenome profiles, and (5) computationally infer cell lineage relationships among viral genomes and infected cells. To accomplish these goals, we will carry out the following aims: (1) Characterize lineage, transcriptomic and epigenomic diversity of single latently and actively infected primary cells. (2) Investigate latency and activation during in vitro differentiation. (3) Survey single cell diversity of re-activated and in vitro infected cells from cART-suppressed patients. Together, these aims will produce a comprehensive, integrated transcriptomic and epigenomic atlas of the HIV reservoir, identify DNA and RNA biomarkers of latency, and characterize clonal expansion patterns. Our work also develops a broadly applicable experimental and computational framework, laying a foundation for the discovery of novel insights into HIV latency and activation.

  Study phs002915

• Novel optineurin frameshift insertion causing familial frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism without amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

  Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) is a common cause of Young Onset Dementia and has diverse clinical manifestations involving behaviour, executive function, language and motor function, including parkinsonism. Up to 50% of FTD patients report a positive family history, supporting a strong genetic basis, particularly in cases with both FTD and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD-ALS). Mutations in three genes are associated with the majority of familial FTD (fFTD) cases - microtubule associated protein tau gene (MAPT), progranulin gene (PGRN), and hexanucleotide repeat expansions in chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72), whilst mutations in other genes such as optineurin (OPTN) have rarely been reported. Mutations in OPTN have been reported mostly in familial and sporadic cases of ALS, or in rare cases of FTD-ALS, but not in association with pure or predominant FTD and/or parkinsonian phenotype. Here, we report for the first time, a family from the Philippines with 4 affected members harbouring the same OPTN frameshift insertion, presenting with FTD-related phenotypes, including one sibling with predominant parkinsonism resembling corticobasal syndrome. Notably, none of the affected members showed any evidence of motor neuron disease or ALS at the time of writing, both clinically and on electrophysiological testing, expanding the phenotypic spectrum of OPTN mutations. Close follow-up of mutation carriers for the development of new clinical features and wider investigation of additional family members with further genetic analyses will be conducted to investigate the possibility of other genetic modifiers in this family which could explain phenotypic heterogeneity.

  Study EGAS00001005220

• Better Outcomes for Children: GWAS from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) - eMERGE Phase II data - (dbGaP Deposit 1)

  This submission includes genotyping data from 6 separate cohorts (named A-E here), each is described in separate paragraphs below. Cohort A) Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 1.5 million people in the United States, at an estimated lifetime cost of $4 million. It is part of Pervasive Developmental Disorder characterized by impairments in communication, language and reciprocal social interaction, and by unusual patterns of restricted and repetitive interests or behaviors. Autism, or autistic disorder, is the most severe form of the disease which has a wide range of symptom severity encompassed by the more inclusive term, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The prevalence of Autistic Disorder is currently estimated to be 4 per 1000, affecting 4 times more boys than girls. Susceptibility to autism is clearly attributable to genetic factors but the extensive clinical and genetic heterogeneity within the disorder have hindered efforts at genetic dissection. Identifying the genetic variants that contribute to this highly heritable disease is crucial to advancing research on autism. Reported concordance rates among monozygotic twins range from 60% − 90% and heritability of autism has been estimated to be 90% or greater. Identifying genetic variants that contribute to this highly heritable disease is crucial to advancing research on autism. Cohort B) The long-term objective of this research is to determine the molecular genetic basis of Cardiovascular (CV) disease in the young; this study seeks to identify gene mutations that cause "structural heart defects". Every year in the USA, 32,000 individuals are born with CV malformations; approximately 20% die during the first year of life. Another 30,000 young people develop a disturbance of cardiac rhythm or conduction. In addition, the life expectancy of another 40,000 young people is shortened by other forms of CV disease. It is becoming more apparent that in spite of the success in diagnosis and treatment, very little is known about the causes of CV disease in the young; understanding the causes will permit insight into the pathophysiologic basis of disease and allow definition of disease risk - two critical elements for disease prevention. Disease prevention and/or risk modification promises to be the new frontier in the management of CV disease in the young. Cohort C) Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE) is one of the manifestations of eosinophilic gastrointestinal inflammation which have profound effects on a patient's health and development. Results of epidemiologic studies performed through our center demonstrate that eosinophil-associated gastrointestinal disease is not an uncommon entity. While the epidemiology of eosinophilic esophagitis has not been thoroughly studied until recently, there appears to be a significant increase in the diagnosis of EE in the last decade. Based on our research, this mainly reflects increased disease recognition, but there is also a bona-fide increase in disease incidence which coincides with the increasing incidence of asthma and allergic diseases in the industrialized world. In addition, many patients with intractable symptoms thought in the past to represent atypical GERD or other disorders are now being recognized as having EE. Diagnosis of EE requires endoscopy and biopsies to document the characteristic histologic findings of esophageal eosinophilia. In general, this study proposed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying eosinophil growth, survival, migration, and function, and to investigate and further characterize the pathophysiology of, clinical manifestations of, and spectrum of disease severity of eosinophilic esophagitis in humans. Cohort D) Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a debilitating complex genetic disorder characterized by inflammation of the joints and other tissues and shares histopathological features with other autoimmune diseases. It is considered a complex genetic disorder. There are more than 50,000 children with JIA in the USA, approximately 1 per 1000 births, which is about the same incidence as juvenile diabetes. It is believed that genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play a role in defining genetic risk, and it can be hypothesized that loci in other chromosomal regions are involved in conferring risk in JIA. These candidate chromosomal regions can be identified using genome wide association analyses. The long-term goal is a comprehensive understanding of the genetic basis of these disabling arthropathies for which the molecular basis is not presently understood. The results of recent GWAS for Caucasian JIA were recently published in Arthritis Rheum. 2012 Feb 21 (Published online, PMID=22354554). Cohort E) Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE) is characterized by very frequent (several to many per day) absence seizures in an otherwise normal child with an EEG usually demonstrating 3 Hz bilateral, synchronous, symmetrical spikewaves pattern with normal background activity. CAE occurs in 10% to 15% of all children with epilepsy with an annual incidence of 6.3 to 8/100,000 in children <15 years of age. Females are more affected than males. Epilepsy onset is typically between the ages of 4 to 8 years with a peak incidence of 6 to 7 years. CAE does not start after age 13 years. The primary objective of this study is: To identify the optimal anticonvulsant (i.e. the antiepileptic drug (AED) with highest rate of seizure control and lowest incidence of treatment limiting toxicity) used for the initial treatment of children with Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE). The secondary objectives are: To determine the pharmacogenetic and other non-heritable factors underlying the interindividual variation in anticonvulsant response efficacy and toxicity. To define and contrast the effects of ethosuximide, lamotrigine, and valproic acid monotherapy on cognition (attention), behavior and quality of life in children with Childhood Absence Epilepsy. Cohort F) Cincinnati Controls. These are local healthy children selected to be representative of the population of Cincinnati with respect to gender and ancestry. Cohort G) Cytogenetics cases are ascertained by the clinical request to obtain cytogenetic analysis. The platform used included genotyping data which are then available for genome wide association analysis

  Study phs000494

• Genome-Wide Association Study of Leprosy and Dapsone Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DHS) in Chinese population

  Leprosy GWAS (1) Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae). Due to M. leprae's narrow host range and an inability to be cultured in vitro, the biological investigation of this disease has been difficult. Host genetic factors have been suggested to play an important role in disease development, but few have been identified. In this study, we attempted to identify the host genetic factors by performing a two-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) in Chinese population. The initial genome-wide scan was done by genotyping 706 patients and 1225 controls using the Illumina HumanHap610 BeadChip, and the follow-up study was performed by genotyping 93 SNPs in three independent samples consisting of 3254 cases and 5955 controls. We identified significant association (P < 10-10) within six genes CCDC122 (13q14), C13orf31 (13q14), NOD2(16q12), TNFSF15 (9q32), HLA-DR (6p21) and RIPK2 (8q21), and suggestive association (P = 5.68x10-6) within LRRK2 (12q12). We also revealed suggestive evidence for C13orf31, LRRK2, NOD2 and RIPK2 to show stronger association in the multibacillary form than the paucibacillary form of leprosy. Our findings highlight the importance of the innate immune response, particularly NOD2-mediated signaling, in leprosy and suggests a new therapeutic target for leprosy. DHS GWAS Dapsone (DDS), as both an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory agent, has been widely used for preventing and treating pathogen-caused infectious diseases and chronic inflammatory diseases. Currently, about 0.5-3.6% of individuals treated with DDS develop severe dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome (DHS) and the mortality rate is up to about 11-13%. However, until now, no tests are available to predict the risk of DHS. To identify the genetic risk factors of DHS, we performed a two-stage GWAS in Chinese population. In this study, the initial genome-wide scan was done by genotyping 39 DHS cases and 833 controls using Illumina Human 660W-Quad Beadchips and imputed human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules. Validation was performed by genotyping 24 SNPs using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform in additional 31 DHS cases and 1,089 controls through genotyping and 32 four-digit HLA-B alleles in an independent series of 37 DHS cases and 201 controls through Roche 454 sequencing. We identified significant association (OR =6.18, P = 3.84x10-13) with SNP rs2844573, which located between the HLA-B and MICA loci. HLA-B*13:01 was confirmed to be a strong risk factor for DHS (OR = 20.53, P = 6.84x10-25) and responsible for the association at rs2844573. The presence of HLA-B*13:01 had a sensitivity of 85.5% and specificity of 85.7% as a predictor for DHS, and its absence can reduce the risk by 7 fold (from 1.4% to 0.2%). HLA-B*13:01 is strongly associated with the development of DHS and can be used as a risk predictor of DHS in the individuals of Chinese and other Asian populations. Leprosy GWAS (2) This is a three-stage GWAS of leprosy in the Chinese population. The genome-wide discovery analysis involved two independent data sets: the new unpublished data set by genotyping 842 leprosy patients and 925 controls from northern and southern China using the Human660w-quad beadchips and a previously published GWAS data set of 706 leprosy cases, 1,225 healthy controls and 4,362 individuals with immune-related diseases as population controls from northern China of Chinese Han descent. Further validation studies were performed in two stages in a total of 6,765 cases and 9,505 controls from Chinese Han and minority descent in multiple areas of China, similar to the discovery stage. From this study, we discovered six new susceptibility loci with a combined P-value from discovery and validation stage surpassing genome-wide significance, including BATF3 at 1q32.3, CDH18 at 5p14.3, DEC1 at 9q32, EGR2 at 10q21.3, CCDC88B at 11q13.1 and CIITA at 16p13.13. Our current study has advanced the genetic understanding of leprosy by substantially increasing the number of confirmed genetic susceptibility loci. Leprosy GWAS (3) To discover additional leprosy susceptibility loci, we carried out a large-scale three-stage GWAS analysis of leprosy in Chinese population. The genome-wide discovery analysis (Stage 1) involved a new GWAS data set of 1,197 leprosy cases and 1,426 controls from northern and southern China conducted by using Illumina Omni Zhonghua chips with 900,015 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), two published GWAS dataset (GWAS2 data set including 706 leprosy cases, 1,225 healthy controls genotyped by Illumina HumanHap610 beadchips, GWAS3 data set including 842 leprosy patients and 925 controls from northern and southern China genotyped by the Human660w-quad beadchips). Further validation studies were performed in two stages in a total of 5,413 cases and 9,771 controls from Chinese Han descent in multiple areas of China. In this study, we identified four novel associations at genome-wide significance (P < 5 x 10-8), all of which can indicate candidate genes within the susceptibility loci, SYN2 (3p25.2), BBS9 (7p14.3), CTSB (8p23.1) and MED30 (8q24.11), through a differential gene expression and eQTL analysis. Altogether, these findings have provided new insight and significantly expanded our understanding of the genetic basis of leprosy. Leprosy GWAS (4) In this study, we attempted to systematically investigate the contribution of protein-coding variants to leprosy susceptibility by performing a three-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) of protein-coding variants in Chinese population. The initial genome-wide scan was done by genotyping 1,670 persons affected by leprosy and 2,321 controls using the Illumina Infinium Human Exome Beadchips (v1.0).The validation study was performed by genotyping 39 SNPs in an additional 3,169 leprosy patients and 9,814 healthy controls from the northern region of China, and the replication study was performed by genotyping eight SNPs in three independent samples from the southern regions of China consisting of 2,231 cases and 2,266 controls. We identified significant association (P < 1.23 x 10-6) within seven genes FLG (Gene ID: 2312), IL23R (Gene ID: 149233), CARD9 (Gene ID: 64170), NCKIPSD (Gene ID: 51517), TYK2 (Gene ID: 7297), SLC29A3 (Gene ID: 55315), IL27 (Gene ID: 246778). Our findings discover novel involvement of skin barrier and endocytosis/phagocytosis/autophagy, besides known innate and adaptive immunity, in the pathogenesis of leprosy, highlight the merits of protein coding variant studies for complex diseases. Here, the summary statistics from the five genome-wide association analyses were published.

  Study phs000217

• Genome-Wide Association Studies of Prematurity and Its Complications

  Preterm labor resulting in the delivery of a premature child is a complex problem with an enormous impact on individuals, families and society. An estimated 500,000 children are born prematurely in the U.S. each year, and 5 million worldwide die annually of prematurity and its complications. Prematurity is also the single largest contributor to disability-adjusted life years, a measure of the lifetime impact of a disease. Despite the importance of the problem and its disproportionate occurrence in poor and minority populations, its underlying etiology (or etiologies) remains unknown; the single best predictor for preterm delivery is a previous preterm birth. The largest single cause of prematurity is spontaneous preterm labor, and suspected triggers for this include infection, stress, poor nutrition and genetic factors. Family and twin studies provide strong evidence that genetic factors underlie about 40% of the risk for prematurity. A major challenge in studying genetic factors in prematurity is maternal/uterine factors, fetal/placental factors, or both may influence risk. Thus, any approach to studying preterm birth should account for both infant and maternal risk, environmental covariates and interactions. The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) is a well-established, prospective cohort that enrolled women early in pregnancy, prior to any adverse pregnancy outcomes, to minimize bias in data collection and sampling. See details at: http://www.ssi.dk/English. The DNBC followed over 100,000 pregnancies beginning in the first trimester and has extensive biological material and epidemiologic data on health outcomes in both mother and child. The current study posted on dbGaP contains data from a genome-wide case/control study using approximately 1,000 preterm mother-child pairs from the DNBC most with spontaneous onset of labor or preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), along with 1,000 control pairs where the child was born at ~40 weeks' gestation. After data cleaning some small changes in case/control status and other variables resulted in minor changes in numbers of cases or controls in certain categories. Environmental variables are being used as covariates in the analysis. To replicate positive findings, we are using additional mother-child pairs from the DNBC and from the general Danish population, as well as 2200 samples coming primarily from an African-American population known to have high rates of preterm labor and delivery. This group includes over 1000 mostly very low birthweight infants, over 500 infant term controls, 326 term mother/baby pairs and 180 preterm mother/baby pairs. The data from these additional cohorts will be available in separate dbGaP postings. The study is expected to yield a better understanding of the biology of parturition, identify common genetic factors that play a role in preterm birth and its complications and suggest environmental modifications that can prolong gestation, with the goal of improving both neonatal and adult outcomes. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to prematurity and its complications through large-scale genome-wide association studies of a well-characterized cohort of Danish mothers and babies. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000103

• Integration of Clinical and Molecular Biomarkers for Melanoma Survival (Berwick)

  The long-term goal of the InterMEL Program Project: Integration of Clinical and Molecular Biomarkers for Melanoma Survival is to identify molecular and clinical factors that predict survival of melanoma patients. Our overarching hypothesis is that we can identify factors in the primary melanoma tumor that will lead to more aggressive disease. Melanoma patients diagnosed at American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumor, lymph nodes, and metastases (TNM) stages IIA/IIB/IIC/IIIA/IIIB/IIIC/IIID display highly variable clinical outcomes and responses to therapy. We wish to identify robust and reproducible biomarkers or sets of classifiers that distinguish patients likely to have poor prognosis. These biomarkers will help establish targets for adjuvant therapies for this set of patients before the tumors metastasize. Aim 1. Classify actionable somatic mutations, and copy number variations (CNVs) in relationship to melanoma survival. In Project 1, Targeted Sequencing and Clinicopathology to Evaluate Primary Melanoma Molecular Subtypes and Outcomes, we will profile 468 genes using the MSKIMPACT ™ assay and identify somatic mutations and CNVs associated with melanoma-specific survival, as well as their co-occurrence with other mutations, in 1,000 tumors from patients at AJCC TNM stages IIA-IIID: approximately 500 from patients who died with melanoma within five years and approximately 500 from individuals who have lived at least five years. We will also evaluate the joint effects of somatic mutations, CNVs and pathologic characteristics associated with good and poor outcomes. Aim 2. Identify primary melanoma DNA methylation profiles to evaluate subtypes and survival. Although it has been established that melanomas frequently have aberrant DNA methylation, it is unknown if DNA methylation in primary melanomas predicts outcome. In Project 2, Primary Melanoma DNA Methylation Profiling for Evaluating Subtypes and Survival, we will profile the same primary melanomas as in Project 1 with Illumina Infinium 850K methylation arrays. We expect to: identify and characterize DNA methylation-based melanoma subclasses; train, test and validate a CpG signature prognostic for survival from melanoma; determine whether this profile adds information to outcome prediction beyond AJCC TNM staging. This project is based on the hypothesis that DNA methylation in primary melanoma will define subgroups (including a poor-prognosis CIMP – ‘CpG island methylator phenotype' subtype) and that a CpG signature will be prognostic for melanoma survival. Aim 3. Define microRNA expression changes in relation to melanoma survival. MicroRNAs have been associated with poor prognosis in melanoma, as well as in other cancers. In Project 3, Prognostic and Functional Role of a Gene Expression Signature in Melanoma Patients, we hypothesize that altered miRNA expression, captured at the time of diagnosis, may contribute to the aggressive behavior of a subset of early stage primary melanomas. We will profile the same primary melanomas as in Projects 1 and 2 with a Nanostring assay. This project will define and validate a tissue-based microRNA signature in conducted to determine whether the prognostic miRNA signature, as well as other candidate genes emerging from other projects, contribute to melanoma survival. Aim 4. Integrate data from multiple platforms to identify melanoma subtypes and survival. Despite substantial literature on gene tumor mutation-, methylation- and gene expression-based prognostic and predictive signatures for melanoma, few such signatures are used in clinical practice. Project 4, Multiplatform Analysis of Melanoma Molecular Subtypes and Patient Survival Outcome, will use novel integrative clustering methods to identify molecular subtypes of melanoma jointly defined across these platforms.

  Study phs003099

• The genomic complexity of early T-cell progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia

  CREST The accurate identification of structural variations using whole-genome DNA sequencing data generated by next-generation sequencing technology is extremely difficult. To address this challenge, we have developed CREST, an algorithm that uses sequencing reads with partial alignments to the reference human genome (so-called soft-clipped reads) to directly map the breakpoints of somatic structural variations. We applied CREST to paired tumor/normal whole genome sequencing data from five cases of T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). A total of 110 somatic structural variants were identified, >80% of which were validated by genomic PCR and Sanger sequencing. The validated structural variants included 31 inter-chromosomal translocations, 19 intra-chromosomal translocations, one inversion, 22 deletions and 16 insertions. A comparison of the results generated with CREST to those obtained using the traditional paired-end discordant mapping methods demonstrate CREST to have a much higher sensitivity and specificity. In addition, application of CREST to publicly available whole-genome sequencing data from the human melanoma cancer cell line COLO-829 demonstrated the identification of 50 novel structural variations not detected using the standard methods, 20 of which were selected for validation with a 90% success rate. These data demonstrate that direct mapping of soft-clipped reads offers an improved method for detecting structural variants at the nucleotide level of resolution. T-ALL Early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ETP ALL) is an aggressive malignancy of unknown genetic basis. We performed whole-genome sequencing of 12 ETP ALL cases and assessed the frequency of the identified somatic mutations in 94 T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cases. ETP ALL was characterized by activating mutations in genes regulating cytokine receptor and RAS signalling (67% of cases; NRAS, KRAS, FLT3, IL7R, JAK3, JAK1, SH2B3 and BRAF), inactivating lesions disrupting haematopoietic development (58%; GATA3, ETV6, RUNX1, IKZF1 and EP300) and histone-modifying genes (48%; EZH2, EED, SUZ12, SETD2 and EP300). We also identified new targets of recurrent mutation including DNM2, ECT2L and RELN. The mutational spectrum is similar to myeloid tumours, and moreover, the global transcriptional profile of ETP ALL was similar to that of normal and myeloid leukaemia haematopoietic stem cells. These findings suggest that addition of myeloid-directed therapies might improve the poor outcome of ETP ALL.

  Study phs000340

• A novel orthotopic patient-derived xenograft model of radiation-induced glioma following medulloblastoma

  Radiation-induced glioma (RIG) is a highly aggressive brain cancer arising as a consequence of radiation therapy. We report a case of RIG that arose in the brain stem following treatment for paediatric medulloblastoma, and the development and characterisation of a matched orthotopic patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model (TK-RIG915). Patient and PDX tumours were analysed using DNA methylation profiling, whole genome sequencing (WGS) and RNA sequencing. While initially thought to be a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) based on disease location, results from methylation profiling and WGS were not consistent with this diagnosis. Furthermore, clustering analyses based on RNA expression suggested the tumours were distinct from primary DIPG. Additional gene expression analysis demonstrated concordance with a published RIG expression profile. Multiple genetic alterations that enhance PI3K/AKT and Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signalling were discovered in TK-RIG915 including an activating mutation in PIK3CA, upregulation of PDGFRA and AKT2, inactivating mutations in NF1, and a gain-of-function mutation in PTPN11. Additionally, deletion of CDKN2A/B, increased IDH1 expression, and decreased ARID1A expression were observed. Detection of phospho-S6, -4EBP1 and -ERK via immunohistochemistry confirmed PI3K pathway and ERK activation. Here, we report one of the first PDX models for RIG, which recapitulates the patient disease and is molecularly distinct from primary brain stem glioma. Genetic interrogation of this model has enabled the identification of potential therapeutic vulnerabilities in this currently incurable disease.

  Study EGAS00001004709

• Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics: Study of Dental Caries and Cleft Lip/Palate in Guatemala

  This study provides an opportunity to investigate the genetics of both dental caries and orofacial clefts (OFCs) in one set of families ascertained in Guatemala. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org), which was developed through the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). Furthermore this study brings together multiple research priorities of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics (www.ccdg.pitt.edu). A genome-wide panel of 610,000 SNPs was genotyped at the Broad Institute to be comparable to our other pertinent GENEVA studies that are also part of dbGaP (dbGaP accession number phs000095, "Dental Caries: Whole Genome Association and Gene x Environment Studies" and dbGaP accession number phs000094, "International Consortium to Identify Genes and Interactions Controlling Oral Clefts"). The goal of this study is to investigate genetic determinants to dental caries and to OFCs in a novel study population. To date, most genetic studies of dental caries have been conducted in Caucasians, and of OFCs in Caucasians and Asians. The Guatemalan population under study is rural and ethnically mixed with a high proportion of Native-South-Americans. Thirty-six Guatemalans from this dataset were also part of the recent GWAS studies of cleft lip and cleft palate (Beaty et al., 2010 and 2011, dbGaP Study Accession: phs000094, "International Consortium to Identify Genes and Interactions Controlling Oral Clefts"). In addition to the families ascertained in Guatemala, some subjects were genotyped with this cohort to augment the data in the parent GENEVA study (Dental Caries: Whole Genome Association and Gene x Environment Studies, dbGaP accession number phs000095), in particular individuals from the IOWA and PITT GENEVA study sites. Their data are available with the parent study. Dental caries (also known as tooth decay) remains the most common chronic disease of childhood, five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than environmental allergies, with more than 40% of children exhibiting caries when they enter kindergarten. In 2005, it was estimated that dental health care costs were approximately $84 billion, of which 60% or about $50 billion were related to treatment of dental caries. The etiology of dental caries has been studied for many years. Multiple factors contribute to a person's risk for caries, including: 1) environmental factors such as diet, oral hygiene, fluoride exposure and the level of colonization of cariogenic bacteria and 2) host factors such as salivary flow, salivary buffering capacity, position of teeth relative to each other, surface characteristics of tooth enamel and depth of occlusal fissures on posterior teeth. In spite of all that is known about this disease, there are still individuals who appear to be more susceptible to caries and those who are extremely resistant, regardless of the environmental risk factors to which they are exposed, implying that genetic factors also play an important role in caries etiology. This conclusion is supported by studies in both humans and animals, with the most compelling evidence coming from studies of twins reared apart in which investigators found significant resemblance within monozygotic (MZ) but not dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs for percentage of teeth and surfaces restored or carious and estimated the genetic contribution to caries as 40%. Other recent studies of twins reared together estimated the heritability for caries, adjusted for age and gender, as ranging from 45-64%. In our study populations of families, we also estimated caries heritability as approximately 54%-70% of variation in primary dentition caries scores and 35%-55% in the permanent dentition (Wang et al., 2010). Orofacial clefts (OFCs), particularly cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) and isolated cleft palate (CP) are a major public health problem, affecting one in every 500-1000 births worldwide thus representing the most common facial birth defect and one of the most common of all congenital anomalies. CL/P is a major structural birth defect that is notable for significant lifelong morbidity and complex etiology. The extensive psychological, surgical, speech and dental involvement emphasize the importance of understanding the underlying causes of CL/P. Therefore, many research groups have attempted to elucidate the etiology of CL/P, with some recent success by our research group and others (see Beaty et al., 2010, 2011; Dixon et al., 2011). It is clear that CL/P can occur as part of Mendelian syndromes, that certain chromosomal abnormalities include CL/P in the phenotype, and that certain teratogens can increase the risk of having an offspring with CL/P. However, phenotypes of known etiology comprise only a small portion of all individuals with a CL/P or CP, and the major focus of research into OFCs is to develop an understanding of the etiology of nonsyndromic (NS) forms of clefting. A major focus of the University of Pittsburgh CCDG has been to study additional phenotypes within nonsyndromic OFC families in order to identify sub-clinical expressions of OFC risk genes or risk variants, e.g. SNPs (see Weinberg et al., 2006). A detailed oral exam is conducted as part of these extended phenotypic studies, including a dental caries exam. Note that although there are some reports in the literature of higher caries experience in individuals with clefts, the most recent meta-analysis of those literature reports concluded that individuals born with these defects do not have a higher frequency of caries (Hasslöf and Twetman, 2007). Notably, we investigated the association of CL/P and caries in three of our study populations (including part of the Guatemalan population in this GWAS study) and also found no increase in caries rates of CL/P cases versus controls (Jindal et al., 2011). This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org), which was developed through the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to dental caries and oral clefts through large-scale genome-wide association studies of well-characterized Guatemalan families and individuals. Genotyping was performed at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The study was supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR, U01-DE018903). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000440

• National Cancer Institute (NCI) Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) of Lung Cancer in Never Smokers

  A genomewide study of lung cancer in never smokers Abstract and specific aims In the United States, lung cancer incidence and mortality rates have been steadily declining over the past decade, following decline in the prevalence of tobacco smoking. However, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death, killing more patients than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined. Although tobacco smoke is the predominant risk factor for development of lung cancer, some patients develop the disease without a history of tobacco smoking. About 10 - 15% of all lung cancers occur in lilfetime never smokers. This figure will increase as the proportion of never smokers increases in the population. Even at present rates, lung cancer in never smokers, if considered a separate disease, is 6th to 8th top cause of cancer death. The growing number of never smokers in the USA and other countries emphasizes the importance of understanding the epidemiology and biology underlying lung cancer in this group. Genetic polymorphisms associated with the risk of lung cancer in never smokers are expected to overlap with those associated with the risk of lung cancer in ever smokers only partially. Epidemiological, molecular and clinical data suggest that molecular mechanisms of LC may differ in smokers and non-smokers, implying that lung cancer in never smokers is a different disease compared to the lung cancer in smokers. One can expect that there should be stronger genetic component in the control lung cancer in never smokers because effects of the genetic factors in never smokers are unmasked by the lack of tobacco smoke exposure. The genetic epidemiology of lung cancer in never smokers has not been well explored, largely because of difficulties in accruing the needed sample size for association studies. We propose a multicenter (total 14 sites from the US and Europe) genomewide association study of lung cancer in never smokers with the following specific aims: Aim 1: To identify candidate SNPs influencing risk for lung cancer in never smokers using Discovery sample. In the Discovery phase we will genotype 1256 Caucasian cases and 1365 age- and gender-matched never smoker controls using the Illumina Human660W-Quad platform. In addition, we will include in the analysis 284 cases and 175 matched controls already genotyped on the 610Quad platform. In this phase we will only include the study sites that have collected blood specimens (MDACC, Mayo Clinic, Karmanos Cancer Institute, The University of Liverpool Cancer research Centre, Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, and Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto, Canada). All the samples will be sent to the independent lab for genotyping, to reduce site-specific technical artifacts. The final sample will consist of 1540 cases and 1540 controls matched by study site. Aim 2: To perform the second phase (validation) analysis of significant SNPs identified in aim 1 using an independent set of cases and controls. SNPs associated with risk at the significance level of 0.01 or below in the discovery set will be included in the replication phase. The proposed threshold guarantees an adequate power to retain SNPs with the typical effect size of 1.3. We plan to carry 6000-7000 SNPs for validation. The independent replication set will include 800 cases and 800 controls, mostly from sites that collected tissue (Mayo Clinic, Karmanos Cancer Institute, UT Southwestern) or buccal specimens (UCLA), but also blood samples (Imperial College London, University of Pennsylvana, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, National Research Center for Environment and Health, Neuherberg, Carmel Medical Center, Haifa). We will then perform a joint analysis to test the significance of the SNPs identified in the first stage using a stringent critical p-value of 10-7. There will be 2340 cases and 2340 controls in the joint set. Based on our experience with GWAS in smokers and assuming that genetic component in lung cancer risk in never smokers can be higher than genetic component in smokers, we expect to identify about 5-10 candidate regions associated with lung cancer risk in never smokers. Aim 3: To identify and explore pathways associated with the risk of lung cancer in never smokers. Results of the number of studies on the molecular mechanisms and drug response suggest that lung cancer in never smokers is a different disease and different pathways will be associated with lung cancer risk in non-smokers and smokers. To identify pathways and molecular functions associated with lung cancer risk in never smokers we will apply Ingenuity and DAVID bioinformatics tools. We will use at least 300 top candidate genes identified in joint and discovery analysis. The reason why we select rather large number of candidate genes for functional annotation is two-fold: 1. Both algorithms are looking for enrichment of pathways and function by most significant genes and they produce statistically robust results only when number of genes is relatively high. 2. Despite the fact that this study will be largest possible for never smokers we still are underpowered to detect SNPs with relatively small effect size. But though those SNPs will not reach genome wide level of significance they will tend to be on the top of the list. In other words genes from the gray zone (significant on individual level and non-significant for genome wide level) are expected to be enriched by true discoveries. True discoveries are likely to be associated with limited number of pathways / functions while false positives are expected to be uniformly distributed across functions and pathways. Therefore significant clustering of the gene to a given function will suggest that that those genes are true discoveries. This is the first GWAS aiming at identifying the genetic control of susceptibility to lung cancer in Caucasian never smokers. We will combine the available resources from the multiple sites to achieve the sample size sufficient for this study. The study will identify genetic architecture of the predisposition to the lung cancer in never smokers.

  Study phs000634

• Study on the proliferation history of colorectal adenomas

  Mismatch repair (MMR) deficient colorectal adenomas are composed of transformed cells that descend from a common founder and progressively accumulate genomic alterations but their proliferation history is still largely unknown. Here we rebuilt the proliferation history of four MMR deficient colorectal adenomas from male individuals by deep sequencing the X chromosome and mapping the somatic mutations that were progressively acquired during tumor growth. We developed a novel method to call high and low frequency mutations, to cluster them according to their frequencies and rebuild the proliferation trees directly from these mutation clusters using a recursive algorithm. The trees of all four lesions were formed of a dominant subclone that coexisted with other genetically heterogeneous subpopulations of cells. Despite this similar hierarchical organization, however, the growth dynamics varied among and within tumors, likely depending on a combination of tumor-specific genetic and environmental factors. Our study provides insights into the biological properties of individual MMR deficient colorectal adenomas that may influence their growth and also the response to therapy. Extended to other solid tumors, our approach could inform on the mechanisms of cancer progression, thus providing insight into the best choice of cancer treatment methods.

  Study EGAS00001000883

• Molecular evolution and clinical trajectories of prostate cancer identifies novel markers for risk stratification

  Prostate cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease that is thought to develop over many years. Identifying the earliest somatic changes can give important insights into the tumour evolution and aid in stratifying high- from low-risk diseases. Here we pursued integrative whole-genome, transcriptome and methylome-based analysis of early-onset prostate cancer patients. Characterisation of genomic alterations across 270 PCa tumours revealed age-related genomic alterations and mutation signatures including BRCAness and APOBEC. We used methylation- and expression-data to identify four molecular subgroups, which included a highly aggressive tumour subgroup that frequently involved recurrent duplications and increased expression of ESRP1. Analysis of 12,000 tissue-microarray tumour samples demonstrated that ESRP1 is a candidate biomarker associated with faster proliferation rate and shorter time to relapse. We combine the patterns of molecular co-occurrence, risk-stratification and subgroup information to deconvolute tumor heterogeneity, which reveal complex but recurrent clinical trajectories of prostate cancer.

  Study EGAS00001002923

• Whole-genome methylation profiling of menstrual stem cells identifies novel biomarkers for endometriosis

  Endometriosis is a highly prevalent condition that remains underdiagnosed and poorly managed due to the lack of clinically validated biomarkers and limited understanding of its underlying pathophysiology. Although menstrual blood–derived stem cells (MenSCs) have been implicated in disease pathogenesis, their potential as a diagnostic source has not been systematically explored. We conducted a clinical study including 42 women (19 with endometriosis and 23 controls) to evaluate whether DNA methylation profiles from freshly isolated MenSCs could identify disease-specific biomarkers. Whole-genome DNA methylation sequencing identified differentially methylated regions (DMRs) enriched in genes associated with key features of endometriosis, including inflammation, tissue remodelling, and developmental processes. These DMRs robustly discriminated cases from controls, independently of technical and clinical confounders. Machine learning models trained and validated on these regions demonstrated strong diagnostic performance (specificity 83%, sensitivity 79%). Integration with an independent single-cell RNA sequencing dataset suggested that the identified DMRs may influence gene expression, supporting their biological relevance. Collectively, these findings highlight MenSC DNA methylation profiling as a promising, non-invasive strategy for early diagnosis and personalised management of endometriosis. (PubMed IDs will be provided once the manuscript is published.)

  Study EGAS50000001640