13380 results for ""pdc"+"heritage+language"+census+study"

in 89.89 milliseconds.

• Sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma case report

  Sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma (SEF) is a rare and aggressive soft tissue sarcomathought to originate in fibroblasts of the tissues surrounding tendons, ligaments and muscles. Minimally responsive to conventional cytotoxic chemotherapies, greater than 50% of SEF patients experience relapse and/or metastatic disease. SEF is most commonly discovered in middle-aged and elderly adults, but also rarely in children. A common gene fusion occurring between the EWSR1 and CREB3L1 genes has been observed in 80-90% of SEF cases. We describe here the youngest SEF patient reported to date (a 3-year-old Caucasian male) who presented with numerous bony and lung metastases. Additionally, we perform a comprehensive literature review of all SEF-related articles published since the disease was first characterized. The patient described in this report experienced persistent disease progression despite being heavily treated with multiple surgeries, radiation, numerous chemotherapies and targeted therapeutics. Primary tumor, metastatic and relapse sites were sequenced by whole genome, whole exome, and deep transcriptome next generation sequencing with comparison to a patient-matched normal blood sample. Consistent across all sequencing analyses was the disease-defining EWSR1-CREB3L1 fusion as a single feature consensus. We provide an analysis of our genomic findings and a discussion as to potential therapeutic strategies for SEF.

  Study EGAS00001005214

• Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 1 causes impaired anti-microbial immunity through a pathogenic lipid metabolism-mTOR circuit

  Mendelian diseases that present with immune-mediated disorders can provide insights into the molecular mechanisms that drive inflammation. Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) types 1 and 4 are caused by defective vesicle trafficking involving the BLOC-3 complex. The presence of inflammatory complications such as Crohn’s disease-like inflammation and lung fibrosis in these patients remains enigmatic. Using mass cytometry we observe an augmented inflammatory monocyte compartment in HPS1 patient peripheral blood that may be associated with a TNF - and IL-1α-dominated cytokine dysregulation. HPS1 patient monocyte-derived macrophages express an inflammatory TNF-OSM mRNA gene signature and changes in lipid metabolism. Using stimulation experiments and lysosomal proteomics we show that defective lipid metabolism drives RAB32-dependent mTOR signaling, facilitated by the accumulation of mTOR on lysosomes. This pathogenic circuit translates into aberrant bacterial clearance, which can be rescued with mTORC1 inhibition. We reveal that a pathogenic lipid-mTOR signaling circuit acts as a metabolic checkpoint for defective anti-microbial activity. This mechanism may be relevant to the complex pathology of HPS1 patients featuring macrophage lipid accumulation, granuloma formation, defective anti-microbial activity and tissue inflammation. Lastly, this circuit may be present in a wider group of disorders with defective lipid metabolism and cholesterol accumulation.

  Study EGAS00001005053

• Hypoxia acts as an environmental cue for the human TRM differentiation program

  Tissue-resident memory T-cells (TRM) provide frontline defense against infectious diseases and contribute to anti-tumor immunity; however, aside from the necessity of TGF-β, knowledge regarding TRM-inductive cues remains incomplete, particularly for human cells. Oxygen tension is an environmental cue that distinguishes peripheral tissues from the circulation and here, we demonstrate that differentiation of human CD8+ T-cells in the presence of hypoxia and TGF-β1 led to the development of a TRM phenotype, characterized by a greater than five-fold increase in CD69+CD103+ cells expressing human TRM hallmarks and enrichment for endogenous human TRM gene signatures, including increased adhesion molecule expression and decreased expression of genes involved in recirculation. Hypoxia and TGF-β1 synergized to produce a significantly larger population of TRM phenotype cells than either condition alone, and comparison of these cells from the individual and combination conditions revealed distinct phenotypic and transcriptional profiles, indicating a programming response to milieu rather than a mere expansion. Our findings identify a previously unreported cue for the TRM differentiation program and can enable facile generation of human TRM phenotype cells in vitro for basic studies and translational applications such as adoptive cellular therapy.

  Study EGAS00001005286

• Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 1 causes impaired anti-microbial immunity through a pathogenic lipid metabolism-mTOR circuit - 10x Genomics scRNAseq

  Mendelian diseases that present with immune-mediated disorders can provide insights into the molecular mechanisms that drive inflammation. Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) types 1 and 4 are caused by defective vesicle trafficking involving the BLOC-3 complex. The presence of inflammatory complications such as Crohn’s disease-like inflammation and lung fibrosis in these patients remains enigmatic. Using mass cytometry we observe an augmented inflammatory monocyte compartment in HPS1 patient peripheral blood that may be associated with a TNF - and IL-1α-dominated cytokine dysregulation. HPS1 patient monocyte-derived macrophages express an inflammatory TNF-OSM mRNA gene signature and changes in lipid metabolism. Using stimulation experiments and lysosomal proteomics we show that defective lipid metabolism drives RAB32-dependent mTOR signaling, facilitated by the accumulation of mTOR on lysosomes. This pathogenic circuit translates into aberrant bacterial clearance, which can be rescued with mTORC1 inhibition. We reveal that a pathogenic lipid-mTOR signaling circuit acts as a metabolic checkpoint for defective anti-microbial activity. This mechanism may be relevant to the complex pathology of HPS1 patients featuring macrophage lipid accumulation, granuloma formation, defective anti-microbial activity and tissue inflammation. Lastly, this circuit may be present in a wider group of disorders with defective lipid metabolism and cholesterol accumulation.

  Study EGAS00001005098

• Variation and transmission of the human gut microbiota across generations - shotgun data

  Although composition and functional potential of the human gut microbiota evolve over lifespan, kinship has been identified as a key covariate of microbial community diversification. To date, sharing of microbiota features within families has however mostly been assessed between parents and their direct offspring. Here, we investigate potential transmission and persistence of familial microbiome patterns and microbial genotypes in a family cohort (N=102) spanning three to five generations over the same female bloodline. We observe microbiome community composition to be associated with kinship, with seven (low-abundant) genera displaying familial distribution patterns. While kinship and current cohabitation emerged as closely entangled variables, our explorative analyses of microbial genotype distribution and transmission estimates point at the latter as a key covariate of strain dissemination. Highest potential transmission rates are estimated between sisters and mother-daughter pairs, decreasing with increasing daughter’s age, and being higher among cohabiting pairs than those living apart. Although rare, we do detect potential transmission events spanning three and four generations, primarily involving species of the genera Alistipes and Bacteroides. Overall, while our analyses confirm the existence of family-bound microbiome community profiles, transmission or co-acquisition of bacterial strains appears to be strongly linked to cohabitation.

  Study EGAS00001005649

• Variation and transmission of the human gut microbiota across generations - 16S data

  Although composition and functional potential of the human gut microbiota evolve over lifespan, kinship has been identified as a key covariate of microbial community diversification. To date, sharing of microbiota features within families has however mostly been assessed between parents and their direct offspring. Here, we investigate potential transmission and persistence of familial microbiome patterns and microbial genotypes in a family cohort (N=102) spanning three to five generations over the same female bloodline. We observe microbiome community composition to be associated with kinship, with seven (low-abundant) genera displaying familial distribution patterns. While kinship and current cohabitation emerged as closely entangled variables, our explorative analyses of microbial genotype distribution and transmission estimates point at the latter as a key covariate of strain dissemination. Highest potential transmission rates are estimated between sisters and mother-daughter pairs, decreasing with increasing daughter’s age, and being higher among cohabiting pairs than those living apart. Although rare, we do detect potential transmission events spanning three and four generations, primarily involving species of the genera Alistipes and Bacteroides. Overall, while our analyses confirm the existence of family-bound microbiome community profiles, transmission or co-acquisition of bacterial strains appears to be strongly linked to cohabitation.

  Study EGAS00001005651

• A recessive PRDM13 mutation results in congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and cerebellar hypoplasia

  The PRDM13 (PR Domain containing 13) putative chromatin modifier and transcriptional regulator functions downstream of the transcription factor PTF1A, which controls GABAergic fate in the spinal cord and neurogenesis in the hypothalamus. Here, we report a novel, recessive syndrome associated with PRDM13 mutation. Patients exhibited intellectual disability, ataxia with cerebellar hypoplasia, scoliosis and delayed puberty with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH). Expression studies revealed Prdm13/PRDM13 transcripts in the developing hypothalamus and cerebellum in mouse and human. An analysis of hypothalamus and cerebellum development in mice homozygous for a Prdm13 mutant allele revealed a significant reduction in the number of Kisspeptin (Kiss1) neurons in the hypothalamus and PAX2+ progenitors emerging from the cerebellar ventricular zone. The latter was accompanied by ectopic expression of the glutamatergic lineage marker TLX3. Prdm13-deficient mice displayed cerebellar hypoplasia, normal gonadal structure, but delayed pubertal onset. Together, these findings identify PRDM13 as a critical regulator of GABAergic cell fate in the cerebellum and of hypothalamic kisspeptin neuron development, providing a mechanistic explanation for the co-occurrence of CHH and cerebellar hypoplasia in this syndrome. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence linking disrupted PRDM13-mediated regulation of Kiss1 neurons to CHH in humans.

  Study EGAS00001005878

• Sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma case report

  Sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma (SEF) is a rare and aggressive soft tissue sarcomathought to originate in fibroblasts of the tissues surrounding tendons, ligaments and muscles. Minimally responsive to conventional cytotoxic chemotherapies, greater than 50% of SEF patients experience relapse and/or metastatic disease. SEF is most commonly discovered in middle-aged and elderly adults, but also rarely in children. A common gene fusion occurring between the EWSR1 and CREB3L1 genes has been observed in 80-90% of SEF cases. We describe here the youngest SEF patient reported to date (a 3-year-old Caucasian male) who presented with numerous bony and lung metastases. Additionally, we perform a comprehensive literature review of all SEF-related articles published since the disease was first characterized. The patient described in this report experienced persistent disease progression despite being heavily treated with multiple surgeries, radiation, numerous chemotherapies and targeted therapeutics. Primary tumor, metastatic and relapse sites were sequenced by whole genome, whole exome, and deep transcriptome next generation sequencing with comparison to a patient-matched normal blood sample. Consistent across all sequencing analyses was the disease-defining EWSR1-CREB3L1 fusion as a single feature consensus. We provide an analysis of our genomic findings and a discussion as to potential therapeutic strategies for SEF.

  Study EGAS00001005215

• tFL with a PMBL GE signature

  We investigated the clinicopathologic features of 5 follicular lymphomas (FL) that transformed to morphologic diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL) and had a primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBL)-like gene expression profile. None of the transformed FL (tFL) arose in the mediastinum, all cases tested had a germinal center B-cell immunophenotype, 20% were CD30+, 60% CD23+, 80% MAL+, 20% CD200+, and 0% CD273/PDL2+. Whole exome sequencing detected alterations in genes associated with both FL/DLBCL (CREBBP, KMT2C, KMT2D, ARID1A, HIST1 members, and TNFRSF14) and PMBL (JAK-STAT pathway genes, B2M, and CD58). Copy number (CN) analysis detected gains/amplification of REL in 60% and STAT6 in 40%, gains of chromosome 16, including IL4R, in 40%, and both deletions and gains of 11q in 20%. This cohort, although limited in size, supports a subset of tFL that has blended features between FL/DLBCL and PMBL. Despite having some features that are less common in DLBCL (MAL and CD23 expression, JAK-STAT activation), these cases lack the most characteristic CN alteration seen in PMBL (9p24.1 gain/amplification). This cohort expands the biologic heterogeneity of tFL, illustrating a subset with blended FL/DLBCL and PMBL features, with potential treatment implications that include the use of novel PMBL-targeted therapies.

  Study EGAS00001005870

• Stereotyped B-cell responses are linked to IgG constant region polymorphisms in multiple sclerosis

  Clonally related B cells infiltrate the brain, meninges, and cerebrospinal fluid of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, but the mechanisms driving the B-cell response and shaping the immunoglobulin repertoires remain unclear. Here, we used single-cell full-length RNA-seq and B-cell receptor reconstruction to simultaneously assess the phenotypes, isotypes, constant region polymorphisms, and the paired heavy- and light-chain repertoires in intrathecal B cells. We detected extensive clonal connections between the memory B cell and antibody-secreting cell compartments and observed clonally related cells of different isotypes, including IgM/IgG1, IgG1/IgA1, IgG1/IgG2, and IgM/IgA1. There was a strong dominance of the G1m1 allotype constant region polymorphisms in antibody-secreting cells, but not in memory B cells. Tightly linked to the G1m1 allotype, we found a preferential pairing of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable (IGHV)4 gene family with the κ variable (IGKV)1 gene family. The IGHV4-39 gene was most used and showed the highest frequency of pairing with IGKV1-5 and IGKV1(D)-33. These results link IgG constant region polymorphisms to stereotyped B-cell responses in MS and indicate that the intrathecal B-cell response in these patients could be directed against structurally similar epitopes.

  Study EGAS00001005745

• Proteogenomics of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

  Cancer heterogeneity at the proteome level may explain differences in therapy response and prognosis beyond the currently established genomic and transcriptomic based diagnostics. The relevance of proteomics for disease classifications remains to be established in clinically heterogeneous cancer entities such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Here, we characterized the proteome and transcriptome in-depth alongside genetic and ex-vivo drug response profiling in a clinically well annotated CLL discovery cohort (n= 68). Unsupervised clustering of the proteome data revealed six subgroups. Five of these proteomic groups were associated with genetic features, while one group was only detectable at the proteome level. This new group was characterized by accelerated disease progression, high spliceosomal protein abundances associated with aberrant splicing, and low B cell receptor signaling protein abundances (ASB-CLL). We developed classifiers to identify ASB-CLL based on its characteristic proteome or splicing signature in two independent cohorts (n= 165, n= 169) and confirmed that ASB-CLL comprises about 20 % of CLL patients. The inferior overall survival observed in ASB-CLL was independent of both TP53- and IGHV mutation status. Our multi-omics analysis refines the classification of CLL and highlights the potential of proteomics to improve cancer patient stratification beyond genetic and transcriptomic profiling. This is the transcriptomics data of the discovery cohort.

  Study EGAS00001005746

• Androgen receptor blockade promotes response to BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy

  We studied a group of melanoma patients treated with neoadjuvant BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy (NCT02231775, n=51), and observed significantly higher rates of major pathologic response (MPR= <10% viable tumor at resection) and improved recurrence-free survival (RFS) in females versus males (MPR-66% versus 14%, p=0.001; RFS-64% versus 32% at 2 years, p=0.021). Findings were validated in a several additional cohorts 2-4 patients with unresectable metastatic melanoma treated with BRAF and/or MEK-targeted therapy (n=664 patients in total), demonstrating improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in females versus males in several of these studies. Studies in pre-clinical models demonstrated significantly impaired anti-tumor activity in male versus female BRAF/MEK-treated mice (p=0.006), with significantly higher expression of androgen receptor (AR) in tumors of male and female BRAF/MEK-treated mice versus control (p=0.0006 and 0.0025). Pharmacologic inhibition of AR signaling improved responses to BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy in male and female mice (p=0.018 and p=0.003), whereas induction of AR signaling (via testosterone administration) was associated with significantly impaired response to BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy in males and females (p=0.021 and p<0.0001).

  Study EGAS00001006196

• WXS and RNA-seq for 22 patients treated with radiation + immunotherapy

  Over 500 active clinical trials are investigating combination radiation (RT) and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) as a cancer treatment; however, the majority of trials have found no positive interaction. We performed a comprehensive molecular analysis of a randomized phase I clinical trial of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with concurrent or sequential ablative RT and ICB. Concurrent treatment was superior to sequential treatment in augmenting local and distant tumor responses and improving overall survival in a subset of patients with highly aneuploid tumors, but not in those with less aneuploid tumors. Our analysis suggested that concurrent treatment eliminated immunologically cold aneuploid tumors better than sequential treatment and improved patient outcomes. In addition, we report that RT alone decreased intratumoral cytotoxic effector T cell and adaptive immune gene expression signatures, in contrast to upregulation of key immune pathways after concurrent administration of RT and ICB. Our findings distinguish the differential genomic and transcriptomic effects of RT versus RT and ICB and challenge the prevailing paradigm that local ablative RT beneficially stimulates the immune response. We propose the use of tumor aneuploidy as a novel biomarker and therapeutic target in personalizing treatment approaches for patients with NSCLC treated with RT and ICB.

  Study EGAS00001006212

• Sex chromosome aneuploidies give rise to changes in the circular RNA profile

  Purpose The landscape of circular RNAs (circRNAs), an important class of non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression, has never been described in human disorders of sex chromosome aneuploidies. We profiled circRNAs in Turner syndrome females (45,X;TS) and Klinefelter syndrome males (47,XXY; KS) to investigate how circRNAs respond to a missing or an extra X chromosome. Methods Samples of blood, muscle and fat were collected from individuals with TS (n = 33) and KS (n = 22) and from male (n = 16) and female (n = 44) controls. CircRNAs were identified using a combination of circRNA identification pipelines (CIRI2, CIRCexplorer2 and circRNA_finder). Results Differential expression of circRNAs was observed throughout the genome in TS and KS, in all tissues. The host-genes from which several of these circRNAs were derived, were associated with known phenotypic traits. Furthermore, several differentially expressed circRNAs had the potential to capture micro RNAs that targeted protein-coding genes with altered expression in TS and KS. Conclusion Sex chromosome aneuploidies introduce pervasive changes in the circRNA transcriptome, demonstrating that the genomic changes in these syndromes are more complex than hitherto thought. CircRNAs may help explain some of the genomic and phenotypic traits observed in these syndromes.

  Study EGAS00001006404

• Whole genome sequencing delineates regulatory, structural, and cryptic splice variants in early onset cardiomyopathy

  Cardiomyopathy (CMP) is a heritable disorder. Over 50% cases are gene-elusive on clinical gene panel testing. The contribution of variants in non-coding DNA elements that result in cryptic splicing and regulate gene expression has not been explored. We analyzed whole genome sequencing (WGS) data in a discovery cohort of 209 pediatric CMP patients and 1,953 independent replication genomes and exomes. We searched for protein-coding variants, and non-coding variants predicted to affect the function or expression of genes. Thirty-nine % cases harbored pathogenic coding variants in known CMP genes, and 5% harbored high-risk loss-of-function (LoF) variants in additional candidate CMP genes. Fifteen % harbored high-risk regulatory variants in promoters and enhancers of CMP genes (Odds ratio 2.25, p=6.70×10-7 versus controls). Genes involved in α-dystroglycan glycosylation (FKTN, DTNA) and desmosomal signaling (DSC2, DSG2) were most highly enriched for regulatory variants (Odds ratio 6.7-58.1). Functional effects were confirmed in patient myocardium and reporter assays in human cardiomyocytes, and in zebrafish CRISPR knockouts. We provide strong evidence for the genomic contribution of functionally active variants in new genes and in regulatory elements of known CMP genes to early-onset CMP.

  Study EGAS00001004929

• Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals the mesangial identity and species diversity of glomerular cell transcriptomes

  Molecular characterization of the individual cell types in human kidney as well as model organisms are critical in defining organ function and understanding translational aspects of biomedical research. Previous studies have uncovered gene expression profiles of several kidney glomerular cell types, however, important cells, including mesangial (MCs) and glomerular parietal epithelial cells (PECs), were missing or incompletely described, and a systematic comparison between mouse and human kidney is lacking. To this end, we used Smart-seq2 to profile 4332 individual glomerulus-associated cells isolated from human living donor renal biopsies and mouse kidney. The analysis revealed genetic programs for all four glomerular cell types (podocytes, glomerular endothelial cells, MCs and PECs) as well as rare glomerulus-associated macula densa cells (MDCs). Importantly, we detected heterogeneity in glomerulus-associated Pdgfrb-expressing cells, including bona fide intraglomerular MCs with the functionally active phagocytic molecular machinery, as well as a unique mural cell type located in the central stalk region of the glomerulus tuft. Furthermore, we observed remarkable species differences in the individual gene expression profiles of defined glomerular cell types that highlight translational challenges in the field and provide a guide to design translational studies.

  Study EGAS00001004943

• Significant and pervasive effects of RNA degradation on Nanopore direct RNA sequencing

  Abstract Oxford Nanopore direct RNA sequencing (DRS) is capable of sequencing complete RNA molecules and accurately measuring gene and isoform expression. However, as DRS is designed to profile intact RNA, expression quantification may be more heavily dependent upon RNA integrity than alternate RNA-seq methodologies. It is currently unclear how RNA degradation impacts DRS or if it can be corrected for. To assess the impact of RNA integrity on DRS we performed a degradation time-series using SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Our results demonstrate that degradation is a significant and pervasive factor that can bias DRS measurements, including a reduction in library complexity resulting in an overrepresentation of short genes and isoforms. Degradation also biases differential expression analyses; however, we find explicit correction can almost fully recover meaningful biological signal. In addition, DRS provided less biased profiling of partially degraded samples than nanopore cDNA-PCR sequencing. Overall, we find samples with RIN > 9.5 can be treated as undegraded and samples with RIN > 7 can be utilised for DRS with appropriate correction. These results establish the suitability of DRS for a wide range of samples, including partially degraded in-vivo clinical and post-mortem samples, whilst limiting the confounding effect of degradation on expression quantification.

  Study EGAS00001006542

• Host pathogen interaction long read transcriptome

  Our incomplete knowledge of the human transcriptome impairs the detection of disease-causing variants, in particular in transcripts only expressed under certain conditions. These transcripts are often lacking from reference transcript sets, such as Ensembl/GENCODE and RefSeq, and could be relevant for establishing genetic diagnoses. We present SUsPECT (Solving Unsolved Patient Exomes/gEnomes using Custom Transcriptomes), a pipeline based on the Ensembl Variant Effect Predictor (VEP) to predict variant impact on custom transcript sets, such as those generated by long-read RNA-sequencing, for downstream prioritization. Our pipeline predicts the functional consequence and likely deleteriousness scores for missense variants in the context of novel open reading frames predicted from any transcriptome. We demonstrate the utility of SUsPECT by uncovering potential mutational mechanisms of pathogenic variants in ClinVar that are predicted to be benign using the reference transcript annotation. In further support of SUsPECT’s utility, we identified an enrichment of immune-related variants predicted to have a more severe molecular consequence when annotating with a newly generated transcriptome from stimulated immune cells instead of the reference transcriptome. Our pipeline outputs crucial information for further prioritization of potentially disease-causing variants for any disease and will become increasingly useful as more long-read RNA sequencing datasets become available.

  Study EGAS00001006779

• T cell responses of ALS patients

  In this project, we aimed to understand how T cell responses contribute to the disease progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The present data is on single-cell sequencing isolated from human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cells from both ALS patients (n=5) and controls (n=4). This analysis was conducted as part of a bigger project which is summarized in the section below. We used flow cytometry to define T cell subsets and phenotypes in blood and CSF samples collected at the time of diagnosis on a cohort of 89 newly diagnosed ALS patients in Stockholm, Sweden. High frequency of CD4+FOXP3- effector T cells in blood and CSF was associated with poor survival whereas high frequency of activated regulatory T (Treg) cells and high ratio between activated and resting Treg cells in blood was associated with better survival. T cell profiles also predicted disease progression rate. On an independent cohort of cases and controls, we used single cell transcriptomics data to demonstrate that ALS patients had altered T cell gene expression patterns and clonally expanded CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in CSF. In summary, T cell responses contribute to disease progression of ALS, supporting modulation of adaptive immunity as a viable therapeutic option.

  Study EGAS00001006675

• Hexanucleotide repeat expansions in C9orf72 alter microglial responses and prevent a coordinated glial reaction in ALS

  Neuroinflammation is an important hallmark in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Experimental evidence has highlighted a role of microglia in the modulation of motor neuron degeneration. However, the exact contribution of microglia to both sporadic and genetic forms of ALS is still unclear. We generated single nuclei profiles of spinal cord and motor cortex from sporadic and C9orf72 ALS patients, as well as controls. We particularly focused on the transcriptomic responses of both microglia and astrocytes. We confirmed that C9orf72 is highly expressed in microglia and shows a diminished expression in carriers of the hexanucleotide repeat expansion (HRE). This resulted in an impaired response to disease, with specific deficits in phagocytic and lysosomal transcriptional pathways. Astrocytes also displayed a dysregulated response in C9orf72 ALS patients, remaining in a homeostatic state. This suggests that C9orf72 HRE alters a coordinated glial response, which ultimately would increase the risk for developing ALS. Our results indicate that C9orf72 HRE results in a selective microglial loss-of-function, likely impairing microglial-astrocyte communication and preventing a global glial response. This is relevant as it indicates that sporadic and familial forms of ALS may present a different cellular substrate, which is of great importance for patient stratification and treatment.

  Study EGAS00001006711

• T cell landscape definition by multi-omics identifies galectin-9 as novel immunotherapy target in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)

  Failure of immunotherapy after applying checkpoint inhibitors or CAR-T cells is linked to T cell exhaustion. Here, we explored the T cell landscape in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) by single-cell omics analyses of blood, bone marrow and lymph node samples of patients and spleen samples of a CLL mouse model. By single-cell RNA- sequencing, mass cytometry (CyTOF), and multiplex image analysis of tissue microarrays, we defined the spectrum of phenotypes and transcriptional programs of T cells and and their differentiation state trajectories. We identified disease-specific accumulation of distinct regulatory T cell subsets and T cells harboring an exhausted phenotype exclusively in the CLL lymph node tissue. Integration of TCR data revealed a clonal expansion of CD8+ precursor exhausted T cells, suggesting their reactivity for CLL cells. Interactome analyses identified the TIM3 ligand Galectin-9 as novel immunoregulatory molecule in CLL. Blocking of Galectin-9 in CLL-bearing mice slowed down disease development and reduced the number of TIM3 expressing T cells. Galectin-9 expression correlated with shorter survival of CLL patients. Thus, Galectin-9 contributes to immune escape in CLL and represents a novel target for immunotherapy.

  Study EGAS00001006864

• Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumoroids reveal subgroup-specific drug vulnerabilities WGS

  Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (ATRTs) represent a rare, but aggressive pediatric brain tumor entity. They are genetically uniquely defined by alterations in the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex members SMARCB1 or SMARCA4. ATRTs can be further classified in different molecular subgroups based on their epigenetic profiles. Although recent studies suggest that the different subgroups have distinct clinical features, subgroup-specific treatment regimens have not been developed thus far. This is hampered by the lack of pre-clinical in vitro models representative of the different molecular subgroups. Here, we describe the establishment of ATRT tumoroid models from the ATRT-MYC and ATRT-SHH subgroups. We demonstrate that ATRT tumoroids retain subgroup-specific epigenetic and gene expression profiles. High throughput drug screens on our ATRT tumoroids revealed distinct drug sensitivities between and within ATRT-MYC and ATRT-SHH subgroups. Whereas ATRT-MYC universally displayed high sensitivity to multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors, ATRT-SHH showed a more heterogeneous response with a subset showing high sensitivity to Notch inhibitors, which corresponded to high expression of Notch receptors. Our ATRT tumoroids represent the first pediatric brain tumor organoid model, providing a representative pre-clinical model which enables the development of subgroup-specific therapies.

  Study EGAS00001006865

• Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumoroids reveal subgroup-specific drug vulnerabilities RNA-Seq

  Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (ATRTs) represent a rare, but aggressive pediatric brain tumor entity. They are genetically uniquely defined by alterations in the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex members SMARCB1 or SMARCA4. ATRTs can be further classified in different molecular subgroups based on their epigenetic profiles. Although recent studies suggest that the different subgroups have distinct clinical features, subgroup-specific treatment regimens have not been developed thus far. This is hampered by the lack of pre-clinical in vitro models representative of the different molecular subgroups. Here, we describe the establishment of ATRT tumoroid models from the ATRT-MYC and ATRT-SHH subgroups. We demonstrate that ATRT tumoroids retain subgroup-specific epigenetic and gene expression profiles. High throughput drug screens on our ATRT tumoroids revealed distinct drug sensitivities between and within ATRT-MYC and ATRT-SHH subgroups. Whereas ATRT-MYC universally displayed high sensitivity to multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors, ATRT-SHH showed a more heterogeneous response with a subset showing high sensitivity to Notch inhibitors, which corresponded to high expression of Notch receptors. Our ATRT tumoroids represent the first pediatric brain tumor organoid model, providing a representative pre-clinical model which enables the development of subgroup-specific therapies.

  Study EGAS00001006866

• Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumoroids reveal subgroup-specific drug vulnerabilities DNA-Methylation

  Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (ATRTs) represent a rare, but aggressive pediatric brain tumor entity. They are genetically uniquely defined by alterations in the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex members SMARCB1 or SMARCA4. ATRTs can be further classified in different molecular subgroups based on their epigenetic profiles. Although recent studies suggest that the different subgroups have distinct clinical features, subgroup-specific treatment regimens have not been developed thus far. This is hampered by the lack of pre-clinical in vitro models representative of the different molecular subgroups. Here, we describe the establishment of ATRT tumoroid models from the ATRT-MYC and ATRT-SHH subgroups. We demonstrate that ATRT tumoroids retain subgroup-specific epigenetic and gene expression profiles. High throughput drug screens on our ATRT tumoroids revealed distinct drug sensitivities between and within ATRT-MYC and ATRT-SHH subgroups. Whereas ATRT-MYC universally displayed high sensitivity to multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors, ATRT-SHH showed a more heterogeneous response with a subset showing high sensitivity to Notch inhibitors, which corresponded to high expression of Notch receptors. Our ATRT tumoroids represent the first pediatric brain tumor organoid model, providing a representative pre-clinical model which enables the development of subgroup-specific therapies.

  Study EGAS00001006881

• Human leukocyte antigen alleles associate with COVID-19 vaccine immunogenicity and risk of breakthrough infection

  SARS-CoV-2 vaccine immunogenicity varies between individuals, and immune responses correlate with vaccine efficacy. Using data from 1,076 participants enrolled in ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine efficacy trials in the United Kingdom, we find that inter-individual variation in normalised antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) and its receptor binding domain (RBD) at 28 days following first vaccination shows genome-wide significant association with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II alleles. The most statistically significant association with higher levels of anti-RBD antibody was HLA-DQB1*06 (P=3.2 x 10-9), which we replicate in 1,677 additional vaccinees. Individuals carrying HLA-DQB1*06 alleles were less likely to experience PCR-confirmed breakthrough infection during the Wuhan and Alpha-variant waves compared to non-carriers (HR 0.63, 0.42-0.93, P=0.02). We identify a distinct S-derived peptide that is predicted to bind effectively to HLA-DQB1*06 compared to other equivalent alleles, and find evidence of increased spike-specific memory B-cell responses in HLA-DQB1*06 carriers at 84 days post first vaccination. Our results demonstrate association of HLA type with COVID-19 vaccine antibody response and risk of breakthrough infection, with implications for future vaccine design and implementation.

  Study EGAS00001006909

• Long-term organoid culture of a small intestinal neuroendocrine tumor

  Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) are rare and highly heterogeneous neoplasms whose incidence has markedly increased over the last decades. A grading system based on the tumor cells' proliferation index predicts high-risk for G3 NETs. However, low-to-intermediate grade (G1/G2) NETs have an unpredictable clinical course that varies from indolent to highly malignant. Cultures of human cancer cells enable to perform functional perturbation analyses that are instrumental to enhance our understanding of cancer biology. To date, no tractable and reliable long-term culture of G1/G2 NET has been reported to permit disease modeling and pharmacological screens. Here, we report of the first long-term culture of a G2 metastatic small intestinal NET that preserves the main genetic drivers of the tumor and retains expression patterns of the endocrine cell lineage. Replicating the tissue, this long-term culture showed a low proliferation index, and yet it could be propagated continuously without dramatic changes in the karyotype. The model was readily available for pharmacological screens using targeted agents and as expected, showed low tumorigenic capacity in vivo. Overall, this is the first long-term culture of NETs to faithfully recapitulate many aspects of the original neuroendocrine tumor.

  Study EGAS00001007093

• Transcriptomics identifies blunted immunomodulatory effects of vitamin D in people with multiple sclerosis

  Vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for developing multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the immune effects of vitamin D in people with MS are not well understood. We analyzed transcriptomic datasets generated by RNA sequencing of immune cell subsets (CD4+, CD8+ T cells, B cells, monocytes) from 33 healthy controls and 33 untreated MS cases. We utilized a traditional bioinformatic pipeline and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to determine genes and pathways correlated with endogenous vitamin D. In controls, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells had 1079 and 1188 genes, respectively, whose expressions were correlated with plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D level (P<0.05). Functional enrichment analysis identified association with TNF-alpha and MAPK signaling. In CD4+ T cells of controls, vitamin D level was associated with expression levels of several genes proximal to multiple sclerosis risk loci (P=0.01). Genes differentially associated with endogenous vitamin D by case-control status were enriched in TNF-alpha signaling via NF-κB. WGCNA suggested a blunted response to vitamin D in cases relative to controls. Collectively, our findings provide further evidence for the immune effects of vitamin D, and demonstrate a differential immune response to vitamin D in cases relative to controls, highlighting a possible mechanism contributing to MS pathophysiology.

  Study EGAS00001007254

• Targeting TRIP13 in Wilms Tumor with Nuclear Export Inhibitors

  Wilms tumor (WT) is the most common renal malignancy of childhood. Despite improvements in the overall survival, relapse occurs in ~15% of patients with favorable histology WT (FHWT). Half of these patients will succumb to their disease. Identifying novel targeted therapies in a systematic manner remains challenging in part due to the lack of faithful preclinical in vitro models. We established ten short-term patient-derived WT cell lines and characterized these models using low-coverage whole genome sequencing, whole exome sequencing and RNA-sequencing, which demonstrated that these ex-vivo models faithfully recapitulate WT biology. We then performed targeted RNAi and CRISPR-Cas9 loss-of-function screens and identified the nuclear export genes (XPO1 and KPNB1) as strong vulnerabilities. We observed that these models are sensitive to nuclear export inhibition using the FDA approved therapeutic agent, selinexor (KPT-330). Selinexor treatment of FHWT suppressed TRIP13 expression, which was required for survival. We further identified in vitro and in vivo synergy between selinexor and doxorubicin, a chemotherapy used in high risk FHWT. Taken together, we identified XPO1 inhibition with selinexor as a potential therapeutic option to treat FHWTs and in combination with doxorubicin, leads to durable remissions in vivo.

  Study EGAS00001007389

• Genomic evolution and transcriptional changes in the evolution of prostate cancer into neuroendocrine and ductal carcinoma types

  Prostate cancer is typically of acinar adenocarcinoma type but can occasionally present as neuro-endocrine and/or ductal type carcinoma. These are associated with clinically aggressive disease and the former often arises on a background of androgen deprivation therapy, although it can al-so arise de novo. Two prostate cancer cases were sequenced by exome capture from archival tis-sue. Case 1 was de novo small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and ductal adenocarcinoma with 3 longitudinal samples over 5 years. Case 2 was a single time point after development of treatment related neuroendocrine prostate carcinoma. Case 1 showed whole genome doubling in all sam-ples and focal amplification of AR in all samples except the first time point. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a common ancestry for the ductal and small cell carcinoma. Case 2 showed 13q loss (involving RB1) in both adenocarcinoma and small cell carcinoma regions, and 3p gain, 4p loss, 17p loss (involving TP53) in the latter. By using highly curated samples, we demonstrate for the first time that small cell neuroendocrine and ductal prostatic carcinoma can have a common an-cestry and the process of evolution over time. We highlight whole genome doubling in a patient with prostate cancer relapse, reinforcing its poor prognostic nature.

  Study EGAS00001007412

• Integrative Multi-Omics and Drug Sensitivity Profiling Reveals Potential Predictive Biomarkers in Pediatric Solid Tumors from the INFORM Registry

  Cure rates for childhood malignancies using established therapy protocols have increased to an average of 80% but have reached a plateau. Moreover, survival rates are particularly low for some pediatric tumors (such as high-risk Group3 medulloblastomas, osteosarcomas, Ewing sarcomas, high-risk neuroblastomas and high-grade gliomas) and dismal for patients with relapsed malignancies. A functional drug response profiling platform for pediatric solid and brain tumors has been established within the INFORM program to identify patient-specific vulnerabilities, biomarkers and unravel molecular mechanisms associated with drug response profiles for clinical translation. Here, we perform a multi-omics analysis using drug sensitivity profiles, genomic, and transcriptomic data of 81 pediatric solid tumor samples. The integrative analysis revealed two multi-omics signatures with high drug sensitivity predictivity. One signature highlighted neuroblastoma samples with sensitivity to navitoclax (a BCL-2 family inhibitor). A second signature was significantly specific to a subset of Wilms tumors harboring the SIX1 (Q177R) hotspot mutation, which had high expression of MGAM, PTPN14, STAT4 and KDM2B and high sensitivity to MEK inhibitors. A patient-specific causal interaction network analysis elucidated the potential biological mechanism of action between MEK inhibitors and the SIX1 mutation in n = 6 Wilms tumor samples.

  Study EGAS00001008249

• MutWP1: CRUK Grand Challenge Mutographs of Cancer: Oesophageal adenocarcinoma

  The Mutographs project aims to advance our understanding of the causes of cancer through studies of mutational signatures. Led by Mike Stratton, together with Paul Brennan, Ludmil Alexandrov, Allan Balmain, David Phillips and Peter Campbell, this large-scale international research endeavour was awarded a Cancer Research UK Grand Challenge. Different patterns of somatic mutation are generated by the different environmental, lifestyle and genetic factors that cause cancer, many of them are still unknown. Within Mutographs, the International Agency for Research on Cancer is coordinating the recruitment of 5000 individuals with cancer (colorectal, renal, pancreatic, oesophageal adenocarcinoma or oesophageal squamous cancers) across 5 continents to explore whether different mutational signatures explain marked variation in incidence. In brief, through an international network of collaborators around the world, biological materials are collected, along with demographic, histological, clinical and questionnaire data. Whole genome sequences of tumour-germline DNA pairs are generated at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (40X and 20X depth respectively). Somatic mutational signatures are subsequently extracted by non-negative matrix factorisation methods and correlated with risk factors data. Through an enhanced understanding of cancer aetiology, Mutographs unprecedented effort is anticipated to outline modifiable risk factors, lead to new approaches to prevent cancer, and provide opportunities to empower early detection, refine high-risk groups and contribute to further therapeutic development. This dataset contains all the data available for this study on 2021-09-27.

  Dataset EGAD00001006083

• Mutational landscape of normal epithelial cells in Lynch Syndrome patients

  Lynch Syndrome (LS) is an autosomal dominant disease conferring a high risk of colorectal cancer due to germline heterozygous mutations in a DNA mismatch repair (MMR) gene. Although cancers in LS patients show elevated somatic mutation burdens, information on mutation rates in normal tissues and understanding of the trajectory from normal to cancer cell is limited. Here we whole-genome sequenced 152 crypts from normal and neoplastic epithelial tissues from LS patients. In normal tissues the repertoire of mutational processes and mutation rates were similar to those found in wild type individuals. A morphologically normal colonic crypt with an increased mutation burden and mutational signatures consistent with MMR deficiency was identified, which may represent a very early stage of LS pathogenesis. Phylogenetic tress of tumour crypts indicated that the most recent ancestor cell of each tumour was already MMR deficient and had experienced multiple clonal evolution cycles. This study demonstrates the genomic stability of epithelial cells with heterozygous germline MMR gene mutations and highlights important differences in the pathogenesis of LS from other colorectal cancer predisposition syndromes.

  Dataset EGAD00001008092

• A somatic reference standard for cancer genome sequencing with COLO829

  Identification of somatic alterations in cancer has become feasible with the massive adoption of next generation sequencing. However, due to variability in sequencing and informatics pipelines, a common somatic reference is needed. We thus performed paired whole genome sequencing of a metastatic melanoma cell line (COLO829) and a matched lymphoblastoid line (COLO829BL) across three institutions (TGen, Illumina, Genome Sciences Centre at the British Columbia Cancer Agency). We performed a meta-analysis of all data, in combination with the originally reported analysis of these cell lines by Pleasance et al (PMID: 20016485), and report a somatic reference standard based on consensus events. DNA extractions, library preparation, sequencing, and analysis were separately performed at each site. Results were compiled with sequence data previously generated for the cell lines to identify true positive variants, collectively representing a somatic reference standard. Overall, common somatic events include point mutations, small insertion/deletions, and genes affected by concurrent copy number changes. We additionally show divergence of somatic mutations in COLO829 associated with differences in cell line lineage. We present this reference to the community as a standard for enabling interpretation and identification of somatic mutations across institutions and analytical pipelines.

  Study EGAS00001001385

• Stratifying and Targeting Pediatric Medulloblastoma through Genomics

  In this project, genomic analyses of pediatric medulloblastoma samples, obtained through the international medulloblastoma consortium, will be performed. RNA and miRNA expression profiles of 1000 samples, representing all four subgroups (Wnt, Shh, Group C, and D), will be studied to identify novel subtypes within each subgroup. The resulting subtype-specific expression profiles will support the development of reliable and robust biomarkers to more accurately and reliably classify medulloblastomas for treatment in clinical trials. For that purpose, two assays will be developed: an antibody-based immunohistochemical assay and an orthogonal nucleic acid-based hybridization assay. Additional genomic DNA analysis of the 300 high risk subgroup cases will support the discovery of subgroup specific somatic mutations in order to inform current clinical trials of targeted therapies, and to identify genes and pathways already targeted in other diseases. Such therapies could be rapidly transitioned to Phase II trials in medulloblastoma. Furthermore, the discovery of somatic mutations could be used for developing as well as validating specific biomarkers. The project team will also try to identify risk factors that predispose children to this type of cancer.

  Study EGAS00001000273

• MutWP1__CRUK_Grand_Challenge_Mutographs_of_Cancer__clear_cell_renal_cell_carcinoma

  The Mutographs project aims to advance our understanding of the causes of cancer through studies of mutational signatures. Led by Mike Stratton, together with Paul Brennan, Ludmil Alexandrov, Allan Balmain, David Phillips and Peter Campbell, this large-scale international research endeavour was awarded a Cancer Research UK Grand Challenge. Different patterns of somatic mutation are generated by the different environmental, lifestyle and genetic factors that cause cancer, many of them are still unknown. Within Mutographs, the International Agency for Research on Cancer is coordinating the recruitment of 5000 individuals with cancer (colorectal, renal, pancreatic, oesophageal adenocarcinoma or oesophageal squamous cancers) across 5 continents to explore whether different mutational signatures explain marked variation in incidence. In brief, through an international network of collaborators around the world, biological materials are collected, along with demographic, histological, clinical and questionnaire data. Whole genome sequences of tumour-germline DNA pairs are generated at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Somatic mutational signatures are subsequently extracted by non-negative matrix factorisation methods and correlated with risk factors data. Through an enhanced understanding of cancer aetiology, Mutographs unprecedented effort is anticipated to outline modifiable risk factors, lead to new approaches to prevent cancer, and provide opportunities to empower early detection, refine high-risk groups and contribute to further therapeutic development.

  Study EGAS00001002608

• Diverse_outcomes_of_controlled_human_malaria_infection_originate_from_host_intrinsic_immune_variation_and_not_var_gene_switching

  Falciparum malaria is clinically heterogeneous and the relative contribution of parasite and host factors in shaping disease severity remains unclear. We set out to explore the interaction between host inflammation and parasite variant surface antigen (VSA) expression, asking whether this relationship underpins the variation observed in controlled human malaria infection. We uncovered marked heterogeneity in the response of naive hosts to blood challenge with some volunteers maintaining a state of immune quiescence, others triggering interferon-stimulated inflammation and a small group showing transcriptional evidence of myeloid cell suppression. Significantly, only inflammatory volunteers experienced hallmark symptoms of clinical malaria. When we then tracked temporal changes in parasite VSA expression to ask whether variants associated with severe disease preferentially expand in naive hosts (as predicted by current theory) we found that var gene profiles were essentially unchanged after 10-days of blood-stage infection. These data therefore show that the diverse clinical outcomes of CHMI largely originate from host-intrinsic variation and there is no evidence for switching or selection of var genes in naïve hosts. 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 EGAS00001003766

• Identification of biomarkers of response to preoperative talazoparib monotherapy in treatment naïve gBRCA+ breast cancers

  Germline mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 exist in ~2-7% of breast cancer patients, which has led to the approval of PARP inhibitors in the advanced setting. We have previously reported a phase II neoadjuvant trial of single agent talazoparib for patients with germline BRCA pathogenic variants with a pathologic complete response (pCR) rate of 53%. As nearly half of the patients treated did not have pCR, better strategies are needed to overcome treatment resistance. To this end, we conducted multi-omic analysis of 13 treatment naïve breast cancer tumors from patients that went on to receive single-agent neoadjuvant talazoparib. We looked for biomarkers that were predictive of response (assessed by residual cancer burden) after 6 months of therapy. We found that all resistant tumors exhibited either the loss of SHLD2, expression of a hypoxia signature, or expression of a stem cell signature. These results indicate that the deep analysis of pre-treatment tumors can identify biomarkers that are predictive of response to talazoparib and potentially other PARP inhibitors, and provides a framework that will allow for better selection of patients for treatment, as well as a roadmap for the development of novel combination therapies to prevent emergence of resistance.

  Study EGAS00001005676

• Multi-organ landscape of therapy-resistant melanoma

  Metastasis and failure of present-day therapies represent the most common causes of mortality in patients with cutaneous melanoma. To identify the underlying genetic and transcriptomic landscapes, here we analyzed multi-organ metastases and tumor-adjacent tissues from eleven rapid autopsies after treatment with MAPK inhibitor (MAPKi) and/or immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and death due to acquired resistance. Either treatment elicits shared genetic alterations that suggest immune-evasive, cross-therapy resistance mechanisms. Large, non-clustered deletions, inversions, and inter-chromosomal translocations dominate rearrangements. Using 345 therapy-naïve TCGA melanoma and 131 patient-matched melanoma pre-and-post acquired resistance to only either treatment, we performed cross-cohort analyses to identify MAPKi and ICB as respective contributors to gene amplifications and deletions enriched in autopsy versus therapy-naïve tumors. Private/late mutations and structural variants display shifted mutational and rearrangement signatures, with MAPKi specifically selecting for signatures of defective homologous-recombination, mismatch, and base-excision repair. Transcriptomic signatures and cross-talks with tumor-adjacent macroenvironments nominate organ-specific adaptive pathways. An immune-desert, CD8+-macrophage-biased archetype, T-cell exhaustion, and type-2 immunity characterize the immune contexture. This multi-organ analysis of lethal, therapy-resistant melanoma presents preliminary insights with potential to improve therapeutic strategies.

  Study EGAS00001006644

• Institut Curie Neuroblastoma Whole Genome Sequencing Diagnosis Relapse

  Neuroblastoma, a clinically heterogeneous pediatric cancer, is characterized by distinct genomic profiles but few recurrent mutations. As neuroblastoma is expected to have high degree of genetic heterogeneity, study of neuroblastoma's clonal evolution with deep coverage whole-genome sequencing of diagnosis and relapse samples will lead to a better understanding of the molecular events associated with relapse. Samples were included in this study if sufficient DNA from constitutional, diagnosis and relapse tumors was available for WGS. Whole genome sequencing was performed on trios (constitutional, diagnose and relapse DNA) from eight patients using Illumina Hi-seq2500 leading to paired-ends (PE) 90x90 for 6 of them and 100x100 for two. Expected coverage for sample NB0175 100x100bp was 30X for tumor and constitutional samples. For the seven other patients expected coverage was 80X for tumor samples with PE 100x100, 100X in the other tumor samples and 50X for all constitutional samples (see table 1). Following alignment with BWA (Li et al., Oxford J, 2009 Jul) allowing up to 4% of mismatches, bam files were cleaned up according to the Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK) recommendations (Van der Auwera et al., Current Protocols in Bioinformatics, 2013, picard-1.45, GenomeAnalysisTK-2.2-16). Variant calling was performed in parallel using 3 variant callers: GenomeAnalysisTK-2.2-16, Samtools-0.1.18 and MuTect-1.1.4 (McKenna et al., Genome Res, 2010; Li et al., Oxford J, 2009 Aug; Cibulskis et al., Nature, 2013). Annovar-v2012-10-23 with cosmic-v64 and dbsnp-v137 were used for the annotation and RefSeq for the structural annotation. For GATK and Samtools, single nucleotide variants (SNVs) with a quality under 30, a depth of coverage under 6 or with less than 2 reads supporting the variant were filter out. MuTect with parameters following GATK and Samtools thresholds have been used to filter our irrelevant variants. .SNVs within and around exons of coding genes overlapping splice sites.. Then,variants reported in more than 1% of the population in the 1000 genomes (1000gAprl_2012) or Exome Sequencing Project (ESP6500) have been discarded in order to filter polymorphisms. Finally, synonymous variants were filtered out. MuTect focuses on somatic by filtering with constitutional sample. Mpileup comparison between constitutional and somatic DNAs allowed us to focus also on tumor specific SNVs with GATK and Samtools. Finally, every SNV called by our pipeline and also supported in any constitutional samples were filtered our in order to prevent putative constitutional DNA coverage deficiency. Then we analyzed CNVs (copy number variants) with HMMcopy-v0.1.1 (Gavin et al., Genome Res, 2012) and control-FREEC-v6.7 (Boeva et al., Bioinformatics 2011) with a respective window of 2000bp and 1000 bp, and auto-correction of normal contamination of tumor samples for Control-FREEC. Finally we explored Structural variants (SVs) including deletions, inversions, tandem duplications and translocations using DELLY-v0.5.5 with standard parameters (Rausch et al., Oxford J, 2012). In tumors, at least 10 supporting reads were required to make a call and 5 supporting reads for the sample NB0175 with a coverage of only 40X (see table 2). To predict SVs in constitutional samples for subsequent somatic filtering, only 2 supporting reads were required in order not to miss one. To identify somatic events, all the SVs in each normal sample were first flanked by 500 bp in both directions and any SVs called in a tumor sample which was in the combined flanked regions of respective normal sample was removed (see graph 1). Deletions with more than 5 genes impacted or larger than 1Mb and inversions or tandem duplications covering more than 4 genes, were removed. We focused on exonic and splicing events for deletions, inversions, and tandem duplications. For translocation, we keep all SVs that occurred in intronic, exonic, 5'UTR, upstream or splicing regions. Bioinformatics detection of variations with Deep sequencing approach Once PE reads merged and adaptors trimmed by SeqPrep with default parameters, merged reads were aligned via the BWA (Li H. and Durbin R. 2009 PMID 19451168) allowing up to 1 differences in the 22-base-long seeds and reporting only unique alignments. Only reads having a mapping quality 20 or more have been further analysed. Variant calling software was not used, since we aimed to predict variations at low frequencies, observed in less than 1% of reads. Such variants require a custom approach. Using DepthOfCoverage functions of the Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK) v2.13.2 (McKenna A, et al., 2010 Genome Research PMID: 20644199), we focused on high quality coverage of bases A, C, G and T at the targeted variant position. Depth of coverage of each base following a mapping quality higher than 20 and a base quality higher than 10 have been taken into account in order to focus only on high quality data. Aiming to determine the background level of variability at the studied regions, 10 control samples were included in the analysis. The same approach and filtering criteria have been applied as introduced above over the entire amplicons. In order to highlight variants, for each sample the frequencies of each bases at each amplicon position were then compared to those observed in the set of controls. Statistical analyses were performed with the R statistical software (http://www.R-project.org). Fisher’s exact two-sided tests with a Bonferroni correction were performed to compare percentages of bases between the data sets, i.e. for a given base between a case and the controls. Finally, significant variations were filtered-in once (i) a significant increase in the percentage of avariant base and (ii) a significant decrease in the percentage of it's reference base following our p.values criteria was observed (p.val < 0.05).

  Dataset EGAD00001001356

• Oncogenic Ectodomain deletion of FGFR1 caused by Breakage-Fusion-Bridges in Squamous Cell lung Cancer

  The identification of recurrent 8p11.23 amplifications including FGFR1 raised the hope of a treatable target in squamous cell lung cancer (SQLC). However, only a minority of patients with FGFR1-amplified tumors respond to single agent inhibitor therapy targeting FGFR. To understand the underlying mechanism of FGFR1 dependency, we performed whole genome and transcriptome sequencing of 25 FGFR1-amplified primary tumors with unknown response upon FGFR inhibition. In addition, we performed deep sequencing of 26 FGFR1-amplified samples whereof the response upon FGFR inhibition was known for 25 samples. In both cohorts we identified intra-chromosomal tail-to-tail breaks close to the FGFR1 transcription start site, being responsible for focal amplification of FGFR1. These specific breaks are caused by a Breakage-Fusion-Bridge-like (BFB-like) mechanism. Here, we associate these breaks with FGFR inhibitor sensitivity. Moreover, in some cases these breaks are located within the open reading frame of FGFR1, which leads to the expression of an ΔEC-FGFR1 transcript that lacks the ecto-domain. Overexpression of ΔEC-FGFR1 transforms Baf3 cells and lead to an FGFR1-dependent phenotype. Our results demonstrate that the truncation of the FGFR1 ectodomain is a frequent event in 8p11.23-amplified squamous cell lung cancer caused by tail-to-tail breaks. These breaks might be used as a predictive therapeutic marker to stratify patients for FGFR-inhibitor therapy.

  Study EGAS00001005059

• Detection of rare mutations, copy number variation, and DNA methylation in the same template DNA molecules

  The analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from plasma offers great promise for the earlier detection of cancer. At present, changes in DNA sequence, methylation, or copy number are the most sensitive ways to detect the presence of cancer. To further increase the sensitivity of such assays with limited amounts of sample, it would be useful to be able to evaluate the same template molecules for all these changes. Here we report an approach, called MethylSaferSeqS, that achieves this goal, and can be applied to any standard library preparation method suitable for massively parallel sequencing. The innovative step was to copy both strands of each DNA-barcoded molecule with a primer that allows the subsequent separation of the original strands (retaining their 5-methylcytosine residues) from the copied strands (in which the 5-methylcytosine residues are replaced with unmodified cytosine residues). The epigenetic and genetic alterations present in the DNA molecules can then be obtained from the original and copied strands, respectively. We applied this approach to plasma from 265 individuals, including 198 with cancers of the pancreas, ovary, lung and colon, and found the expected patterns of mutations, copy number alterations, and methylation. Furthermore, we could determine which original template DNA molecules were methylated and/or mutated. MethylSaferSeqS should be useful for addressing a variety of questions relating genetics and epigenetics in the future.

  Study EGAS00001006839

• Genetic and Phenotypic Analysis of Multiple Sclerosis in Hispanics

  We sought to identify MS susceptibility variants specific to the Major Histocompatibility Complex and to assess the effect of ancestral risk modification within 2652 Latinx and Hispanic individuals, as well as 2435 Black and African American individuals ascertained in collaboration with the Alliance for Research in Hispanic MS (ARHMS). All DNA samples were obtained through whole blood extraction and were genotyped on the MS Chip, an Illumina Infinium custom genotyping array that contains targeted and dense coverage of the extended MHC, specifically designed for imputation. Classical HLA alleles, SNPs, and amino acid residues were imputed simultaneously from genotyped SNPs using HLA-TAPAS and a multi-ethnic reference panel of 2504 samples from the 1000 Genomes Project. We have identified several novel susceptibility alleles which are rare in European populations including HLA-B*53:01, and we have identified an independent role for HLA-DRB1*15:01 and HLA-DQB1*06:02 on MS risk. We found a decrease in Native American ancestry in MS cases vs controls across the MHC, peaking near the previously identified MICB locus; and we have identified several susceptibility variants for which MS risk is modified by global or local ancestry. We are making data on all genotyped and imputed SNPs, classical HLA alleles, and amino acid residues available through dbGaP for the Hispanic and African American samples utilized in these analyses.

  Study phs003105

• Whole Exome Sequencing and RNA-Seq to Characterize the Somatic Breast Cancer Landscape Among Latinas in California

  Somatic mutational profiles are increasingly being used to guide treatment. However, there is a dearth of data from non-European populations. To address this gap, we conducted paired tumor/normal whole exome paired-end sequencing and tumor RNA-Seq on 146 breast tumors from 140 Hispanic/Latina (H/L) women with breast cancer. We characterized somatic mutations, copy number alterations, tumor subtypes [Prediction Analysis of Microarray 50 (PAM50)], Catalogue Of Somatic Mutations In Cancer (COSMIC) mutation signatures and expression profiles, and compared them to breast tumors from non-Hispanic White (White) women in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Using MutSigCV, we found that the most commonly mutated genes, including TP53, RUNX1, PTEN, PIK3CA, MAP3K1, GATA3, CDH1 and CBFB, were similar to those in breast tumors from non-Hispanic white women. Novel findings were that outliers of BLTP2 (aka KIAA0100) over-expression and COSMIC mutational signature 16 were more common in tumors from H/L women than White women. We also identified that the known germline APOBEC3A/B deletion variant was significantly more common in H/L women and was associated with indigenous American ancestry. Data available through dbGaP will be whole-exome sequencing (WES) and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data, as well as phenotypic data, including estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2 receptor status, tumor histology, stage, and grade, and age at diagnosis.

  Study phs003218

• BRAIN Cell EncyclOpeDia of Transcribed Elements (BRAINcode)

  BRAINCODE: How Does the Human Genome Function in Specific Brain Neurons? The human brain comprises about 86 billion neurons whose function is central to human biology. How does the human genome program high performing neurons and neural networks in response to experience? What subprograms does the genome express in physiologically and morphologically distinct brain cells? The goal of the BRAIN Cell encyclOpeDia of transcribed Elements Consortium (BRAINcode) is to provide a map of gene expression - both protein-coding and non-coding - in specific cell types, not in culture, but in situ in brains of people. Going beyond traditional mRNA sequencing, polyadenylated and non-polyadenylated transcripts were ultra deeply sequenced using ribo-depleted RNA from neurons laser-captured from human post-mortem brains. Three prototypical neuron types, dopamine neurons, pyramidal neurons, and Betz cells, were prioritized because of their key biologic roles and differential vulnerability to important neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease. Genetic variation between individuals was examined for correlation with differences in transcribed sequences to identify regions of the genome that influence whether, how, and how much a transcript is expressed in specific cell types in human brains. Our results indicate a vast universe of annotated and novel non-coding RNAs expressed in brain cells and suggest a more diverse and much more complex transcriptional architecture than previously imagined.

  Study phs001556

• Drug screening of patient-derived organoids from colorectal peritoneal metastases

  Colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with peritoneal metastases (CRPM) have limited treatment options and the lowest CRC survival rates. We trialed the possibility of organoid directed precision treatment for CRPM patients. CRPM organoids (peritonoids) isolated from patients underwent next-generation sequencing and medium-throughput drug panel testing ex vivo to identify specific drug sensitivities for each patient. We measured the utility of such a service including: success of peritonoid generation, time to cultivate peritonoids, reproducibility of the medium-throughput drug testing, and documented changes to clinical therapy as a result of the testing. Peritonoids were successfully generated and validated from 68% (19/28) of patients undergoing standard care. Genomic and drug profiling was completed within 8 weeks and a formal report ranking drug sensitivities was provided to the medical oncology team upon failure of standard care treatment. This resulted in a treatment change for 2 patients, one of whom had a partial response despite previously progressing on multiple rounds of standard care chemotherapy. The barrier to implementing this technology in Australia is the need for drug access and funding for off-label indications. In conclusion, our approach is feasible, reproducible and can guide novel therapeutic choices in this poor prognosis cohort, where new treatment options are urgently needed. This platform is relevant to many solid organ malignancies.

  Study phs002023

• eMERGE Geisinger eGenomic Medicine (GeM) - MyCode Project Controls

  A research cohort of adult Geisinger Clinic patients was enrolled from community-based primary care clinics of the Geisinger Health System. Patients were eligible for enrollment if they were a primary care patient of a Geisinger Clinic physician and were scheduled for a non-emergent clinic visit. All participants provided written informed consent and HIPAA authorization. Consenting patient agreed to provide blood samples for broad biomedical research use, and permission to access data in their Geisinger electronic medical record for research. The enrollment rate was 90% of patients approached. The demographics of the cohort approximate those of the Geisinger Clinic outpatient population. Research blood samples were collected during an outpatient clinical phlebotomy encounter. Research blood samples are coded and stored in a central biorepository. Samples are linkable to clinical data in a de-identified manner for research via an IRB-approved data broker process. For genomic analysis, DNA is extracted from EDTA-anticoagulated whole blood. For the initial eMERGE Geisinger eGenomic Medicine (GeM) genotyping project, a subset of 1,232 unique samples were genotyped using Illumina HumanOmniExpress-12 v1.0 arrays, and used as population controls for other Geisinger Clinic case cohorts, including abdominal aortic aneurysm and gastric bypass surgery cases. These samples were selected from a larger subset of approximately 6,000 MyCode DNA samples using a partial matching algorithm that included age, sex, and body mass index as variables.

  Study phs000381

• Genomic Analyses in Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy-Treated Head and Neck Cancers

  This is a phase 2 multicenter interventional trial involving the preoperative (neoadjuvant) administration of pembrolizumab, an anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (anti-PD-1) agent, to patients with pathologically confirmed, surgically resectable advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Participating centers were Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The trial (NCT02296684) consisted of two cohorts: Cohort 1 enrolled and treated patients received one dose of pembrolizumab prior to surgical resection with curative intent, and adjuvant pembrolizumab was planned for patients with high risk pathological features (positive margins and/or extranodal extension) in the surgical specimen. Cohort 2 enrolled and treated patients received 2 doses of pembrolizumab prior to surgical resection with curative intent. Adjuvant treatment was not dictated by the trial protocol for Cohort 2. The primary endpoint was rate of at least 50% pathological tumor response (pTR), defined as the presence of tumor necrosis/keratinous debris in the tumor bed following neoadjuvant pembrolizumab. pTR was graded as follows: pTR0 (<10%), pTR1 (10-49%) and pTR2 (≥50%). Baseline, pre-treatment tumor biopsy and post-neoadjuvant pembrolizumab surgically resected tumor specimens were dissociated, and CD3+CD45+ cells were analyzed for T cell receptor (TCR) expression and 5' gene expression analysis using single cell sequencing technologies for a subset of patients.

  Study phs002864

• Epigenomics of Human CD8 T cell Differentiation and Aging

  The efficacy of the adaptive immune response declines dramatically with age, but the cell-intrinsic mechanisms driving the changes characteristic of immune aging in humans remain poorly understood. One hallmark of immune aging is the loss of self-renewing naive cells and the accumulation of differentiated but dysfunctional cells within the CD8 T cell compartment. Using ATAC-seq, we first inferred the transcription factor binding activities that maintain the naive and central and effector memory CD8 T cell states in young adults. Integrating our results with RNA-seq, we determined that BATF, ETS1, Eomes, and Sp1 govern transcription networks associated with specific CD8 T cell subset properties, including activation and proliferative potential. Extending our analysis to aged humans, we found that the differences between memory and naive CD8 T cells were largely preserved across age, but that naive and central memory cells from older individuals exhibited a shift toward a more differentiated pattern of chromatin openness. Additionally, aged naive cells displayed a loss in chromatin openness at gene promoters, a phenomenon that appears to be due largely to a loss in binding by NRF1, leading to a marked drop-off in the ability of the naive cell to initiate transcription of mitochondrial genes. Our findings identify BATF- and NRF1-driven gene regulation as targets for delaying CD8 T cell aging and restoring T cell function.

  Study phs001187

• The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital Genetics of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD)

  Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of birth defect, but the cause for the majority of cardiac birth defects remains unknown. Numerous epidemiologic studies have demonstrated evidence that genetic factors likely play a contributory, if not causative, role in CHD. A few genes have been identified by us and other investigators using traditional genetic approaches, but these genes only account for a small portion of the non-syndromic CHDs. Therefore, we are now utilizing whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), with the addition of more traditional genetic techniques such as chromosomal microarray or traditional linkage analysis, to identify genetic causes of familial and isolated CHD. With WES/WGS, we are able to sequence all of the genes of an individual and apply different data analysis techniques based on whether we are analyzing a multiplex family or a cohort of trios (mother, father and child with CHD) with a specific isolated CHD. Therefore, WES/WGS is a robust method for identification of novel genetic causes of CHD, which will have important diagnostic and therapeutic consequences for these children. Subjects provided blood samples, skin biopsy, or saliva samples for DNA extraction and creation of cell lines. Tissue remaining after surgical procedures was also collected. Medical records were searched for detailed phenotype data and subjects were followed longitudinally for outcome.

  Study phs002010

• Genomics of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

  Despite the growing incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) due to increased hepatitis C virus infection and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in Western populations, the genetic determinants of this cancer have yet to be established. A minority (15-20%) of HCC occurs in livers without cirrhosis or other chronic disease. Because the liver is functionally preserved in these patients and surgical resection of the tumor may be performed safely, and because of the scarcity of livers available for transplantation, non-cirrhotic patients undergo surgical resection for HCC treatment. These resected tumors present investigatory opportunities in two ways: First, they provide tumor specimen which have not been treated with chemotherapy and embolization. Second, the absence of cirrhosis may provide an unconfounded background from which to investigate the genetic tumorigenesis of HCC. In livers with cirrhosis, genetic instability is prevalent as assessed by assays for microsatellite instability, loss of heterozygosity and aberrant DNA methylation. In contrast, in livers without cirrhosis, the non-tumor tissue surrounding HCC have been found to have fewer genetic aberrations. It has been postulated that the pathologic process of cirrhosis may result in the accumulation of many "passenger"; as well as "driver" mutations, and that the examination of the HCC cancer genome may be facilitated in non-cirrhotic livers because of the absence of an accumulated background noise of mutations.

  Study phs001106