12443 results for ""non-traditional+communal+storytelling+approach"+novel+segment+noted+in+critical+commentary"

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• Khoe-San genomes reveal unique variation and confirm deepest population divergence in Homo sapiens

  The southern African indigenous Khoe-San populations harbor the most divergent lineages of all living peoples. Exploring their genomes is key to understanding deep human history. We sequenced 25 full genomes from five Khoe-San populations, revealing many novel variants, that 25% of variants are unique to the Khoe-San, and that the Khoe-San group harbors the greatest level of diversity across the globe. In line with previous studies, we found several gene-regions with extreme values in genome-wide distributions, potentially caused by natural selection early in the modern human lineage and more recent in time. These gene-regions included immunity-, sperm-, brain-, diet- and muscle-related genes. When accounting for recent admixture, all Khoe-San groups display genetic diversity approaching the levels in other African groups and a reduction in effective population size starting around 100,000 years ago. Hence, all human groups show a reduction in effective population size commencing around the time of the Out-of-Africa migrations, which coincides with changes in the paleoclimate records, changes that potentially impacted all humans at the time.

  Study EGAS00001004459

• Phosphoproteomics adds value to treatment recommendations in molecular tumor boards

  Precision oncology approaches employing genomics-guided targeted therapies for individual patients have provided significant survival benefits in several cancer types. However, low response rates in most solid malignancies, many patients without actionable genomic lesions, and increasing evidence that non-genomic mechanisms may play an important role in tumors indicate that genomics alone is often insufficient to inform and guide the clinical care of patients. Here, we show for the first time that comprehensive (phospho)proteome profiling is feasible and informative in a real-world prospective precision oncology setting. We developed a novel tumor pathway activity (TUPAC) scoring methodology that provides a holistic perspective on dysregulated receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling in individual patients. Based on 919 tumor tissue profiles of patients enrolled in the national NCT/DKTK MASTER study and the INFORM registry trial, we illustrate how TUPAC scoring can be used to uncover individual tumor biology in rare cancers and demonstrate that TUPAC methodology identifies EGFR-driven sarcomas despite the absence of genetic EGFR alterations. Overall, our work demonstrates the utility of the additional phosphoproteome data layer to enhance therapeutic recommendations in molecular tumor boards.

  Study EGAS00001007891

• reChIP-seq reveals widespread bivalency of H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 in CD4+ memory T-Cells

  Identification of genomic loci exhibiting the physical co-localization of two distinct DNA-associated proteins remains a technical challenge. To tackle this challenge we have developed a novel reChIP-seq approach that enriches for two distinct DNA-associated proteins in an unbiased and genome-wide manner. We illustrate the utility of our approach by identifying nucleosomes bivalently modified by H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 in primary human CD4+ central memory T-cells (TCMs). We unravel widespread bivalency of many unmethylated CpG-rich regions in TCMs overlapping with transcriptional start sites of developmental regulators. Furthermore, reChIP-seq uncovers two yet unobserved classes of bivalency, where either H3K4me3 or H3K27me3 is mixed with low but detectable bivalency. We provide evidence that bivalency is established by an interplay between genome and epigenome and thus attains stability. Our described reChIP-seq approach augments conventional ChIP-seq and is broadly applicable in the study of co-localization of DNA-associated proteins to unravel the intricate possibilities of combinatorial action.

  Study EGAS00001001568

• Genome-wide mutational consequences of nucleotide excision repair-deficiency through XPC deletion in a human adult stem cell culture

  Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is one of the main DNA repair pathways that protect cells against genomic damage. Deficiency in this pathway can contribute to the development of cancer and accelerate aging. NER-deficiency is an important determinant for cancer treatment outcome, as NER-deficient tumors are selectively sensitive to cisplatin treatment. While NER-deficiency has been linked to mutational Signature 5, not all NER-deficient tumors are characterized by a high Signature 5 contribution, illustrating the importance to further characterize the mutational consequences of NER-deficiency. Here, we analyzed the mutational profile of a human adult stem cell (organoid) culture that is deficient in NER through XPC deletion by CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing, and subsequent whole-genome sequencing analysis of a clonally derived organoid. We found that XPC deletion results in an increase in base substitution load and specifically induces Signature 8 mutations, a mutational signature with previously unknown etiology. Presence of Signature 8 may, therefore, serve as a novel biomarker for NER-deficient tumors and could improve personalized treatment strategies.

  Study EGAS00001002681

• Residual ANTXR1+ myofibroblasts after chemotherapy inhibit anti-tumor immunity via YAP1 signaling pathway

  Although cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) heterogeneity is well-established, the impact of chemotherapy on CAF populations remains poorly understood. We address this question in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC), in which we previously identified 4 CAF populations. While the global content in stroma increases in HGSOC after chemotherapy, the proportion of FAP+ CAF (also called CAF-S1) decreases. Still, maintenance of high residual CAF-S1 content after chemotherapy is associated with reduced CD8+ T lymphocyte density and poor patient prognosis, emphasizing the importance of CAF-S1 reduction upon treatment. Single cell analysis, spatial transcriptomics and immunohistochemistry reveal that the content in the ECM-producing ANTXR1+ CAF-S1 cluster (ECM-myCAF) is the most affected by chemotherapy. Moreover, functional assays demonstrate that ECM-myCAF isolated from HGSOC reduce CD8+ T-cell cytotoxicity through a Yes Associated Protein 1 (YAP1)-dependent mechanism. Thus, efficient inhibition after treatment of YAP1-signaling pathway in the ECM-myCAF cluster is required to enhance CD8+ T-cell cytotoxicity. Altogether, these data pave the way for novel therapy targeting YAP1 in ECM-myCAF in HGSOC.

  Study EGAS50000000136

• Molecular Biomarkers in Glioma (Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications of Hypermutation in Gliomas)

  This study seeks to genomically and mechanistically examine the basis for resistance of glioblastoma to chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted therapy including immunotherapies. The study design addresses two Aims. In Aim 1, we will test the hypothesis that treatment with radiation and temozolomide or other therapies leads to consistent genetic changes in human tumors using whole exome sequencing of paired pre- and post-treatment tumor samples to determine large-scale changes in population structures and single cell whole genome sequencing to evaluate the effects of these treatments on microheterogeneity. In Aim 2, we will test the hypothesis that genetic changes identified in post-treatment glioblastomas (GBMs) functionally contribute to various forms of resistance in GBM using patient derived cell lines (PDCL) and patient derived xenografts (PDX). These studies will create a comprehensive understanding of genetic evolution during standard-of-care therapy for GBM. They will inform diagnostic approaches for assignment of targeted therapeutics in the recurrent setting and identify genetic changes driving resistance. Therapeutic targeting of these novel resistance drivers could represent a rational approach to substantially improve our existing standard of care for GBM patients.

  Study phs001967

• HiDEF-seq single-molecule sequencing of single-strand mismatches and damage

  Our study sought to resolve, with single-molecule fidelity, the mismatches and damage events that precede DNA mutations. Using a novel single-molecule, long-read sequencing method (HiDEF-seq) we detect base substitutions when present in either one or both DNA strands. We also detect cytosine deamination, a common type of DNA damage, with single-molecule fidelity. This study profiled 134 samples from diverse tissues, including from individuals with cancer predisposition syndromes. These samples revealed single-strand mismatch and damage signatures. Since double-strand DNA mutations are only the endpoint of the mutation process, our approach enables new studies of how mutations arise in a variety of contexts, especially in cancer and aging.

  Dataset EGAD50000000460

• Effect of Crohn's Disease Risk Alleles on Enteric Microbiota

  This UH2/UH3 demonstration project entitled "Effects of Crohn's disease risk alleles on enteric microbiota" is focused on characterizing intestinal associated microbiota in patients with ileal Crohn's disease (ileal CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and control patients without inflammatory bowel diseases (non-IBD). We hypothesize that genetic factors that affect Paneth cell function, contribute to compositional changes in intestinal microbiota. These changes in microbiota may lead to reduction of protective commensal organisms and increased numbers of aggressive organisms that incite intestinal inflammation. This hypothesis is being tested by high throughput 16S rRNA sequence analysis of de-identified ileal and colonic tissues that have been archived at Washington University St. Louis, University of North Carolina, Mount Sinai Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic. Multivariate analysis of the metagenomic data will be conducted with genotyping metadata (highly reproducible CD risk alleles, including NOD2 and ATG16L1) and phenotyping metadata (e.g. age, gender, race, body mass index, medications and smoking.) Shotgun sequencing will be performed on selected fecal specimens linked to ileal tissues to identify additional, or auxiliary, or synergistic pathogenic factors or other functional changes in the microbiome. Because members of this research team have observed that a chronic viral infection is required for the Paneth cell defect in Atg16l1 hypomorphic mice, a major focus of these studies will be towards identifying potential viral triggers for the defective Paneth cell phenotype in individuals harboring the ATG16L1 risk allele. Novel genetic probes for protective and aggressive organisms will be developed by mining bacterial genome and shotgun sequencing data. Genomic sequences will be produced for candidate protective and aggressive strains (e.g. adherent-invasive strains of E. coli) isolated from human intestinal tissues where there is limited existing genome information. Quantitative qPCR assays using the novel as well as established genetic probes will be conducted to test the hypothesis that an imbalance between protective and aggressive organisms is associated with genetic factors that affect Paneth cell function. Our combined expertise in multiple disciplines across multiple institutions, our demonstrated ability to collect a large number of well-phenotyped samples with longitudinal clinical information that will be linked to host response and morphologic studies, and our consortium's capacity for high-throughput sequencing will be used to investigate how alterations in human microbiome relate to CD risk alleles and CD pathogenesis.

  Study phs000255

• UK10K RARE COLOBOMA

  In the UK10K project we propose a series of complementary genetic approaches to find new low frequency/rare variants contributing to disease phenotypes. These will be based on obtaining the genome wide sequence of 4000 samples from the TwinsUK and ALSPAC cohorts (at 6x sequence coverage), and the exome sequence (protein coding regions and related conserved sequence) of 6000 samples selected for extreme phenotypes. Our studies will focus primarily on cardiovascular-related quantitative traits, obesity and related metabolic traits, neurodevelopmental disorders and a limited number of extreme clinical phenotypes that will provide proof-of-concept for future familial trait sequencing. We will analyse directly quantitative traits in the cohorts and the selected traits in the extreme samples, and also use imputation down to 0.1% allele frequency to extend the analyses to further sample sets with genome wide genotype data. In each case we will investigate indels and larger structural variants as well as SNPs, and use statistical methods that combine rare variants in a locus or pathway as well as single-variant approaches. Ocular coloboma is the most common significant developmental eye defect with an incidence of ~1 in 5,000 live births. It results from failure of optic fissure closure during embryogenesis. The position and extent of the fusion failure dictates the clinical appearance and functional effect. ~30% of coloboma cases are associated with other systemic malformations. These UK10K samples will mostly comprise isolated coloboma cases without systemic involvement (aka non-syndromal coloboma). There is strong evidence from family studies that coloboma has a major genetic component with autosomal dominance being the most common pattern of inheritance. However, many cases are isolated or show complex patterns of familial clustering. The genes responsible for isolated coloboma are largely unknown, but in a small number of families mutations in SHH, CHX10, and PAX6 have been identified indicating marked genetic heterogeneity. Thus in addition to the clinical benefits of achieving a molecular diagnosis there are also major scientific advantages to identifying coloboma genes, as these are likely to provide insights into the complex process of optic fissure closure, that is critical to normal eye development. In the longer term, understanding the molecular basis of the disease may provide clues to therapeutic strategies.For further information with regard to this cohort please contact David Fitzpatrick (david.fitzpatrick@ed.ac.uk).

  Study EGAS00001000127

• Case Report: Rare IKZF1 gene fusions identified in neonate with congenital KMT2A-rearranged Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

  Here we describe a rare case of congenital KMT2Ar ALL presenting with co-occurring IKZF1 gene fusions and a predictably aggressive disease trajectory. We report for the first time, the novel IKZF1::TUT1 and KDM2A::IKZF1 gene fusions. Rearrangements in-volving KMT2A are commonly retained in relapsed infant ALL, however, in this case the KMT2A::AFF1 gene fusion did not appear to be the lesion driving leukemic relapse. Instead, our data suggest that relapse was driven by IKZF1::TUT1. This gene fusion remained in all samples investigated, including the on-blinatumomab therapy sample taken immediately prior to relapse. Conversely, the KMT2A::AFF1 gene fusion was only detected in the diagnosis and refractory post-induction samples highlighting a key role for IKZF1::TUT1 in disease pathogenesis. Intriguingly, both IKZF1 gene fusions are predicted to be out-of-frame, however, our data demonstrate the IKZF1 gene is still expressed. This is not unprecedented and it has previously been observed that out-of-frame fusions can cause transcriptional activation/repression of genes involved in the fusions leading to increases or decreases of their expression and the as-sociated functional outcomes.

  Study EGAS00001006947