14669 results for "PLOS+ONE+Pennsylvania+German+ACS+language+code+pdc+open+access+study"

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• Analyzing the expression profiles of genes in ureters with and without indwelling stents using RNAseq 

  The objective of the work is to explore the pathways and mechanisms driving inflammation and fibrosis in stented ureters. In total, 6 pigs underwent cystoscopic unilateral ureteral stent insertion for 14 days. Ureteral tissue was harvested in 3 pigs, while the remaining 3 pigs had their stents removed, and were recovered for 7 days. Three separate pigs served as controls. Stents cause significant inflammation and fibrosis of ureters. Gene set enrichment analysis confirmed fibrotic changes and tissue proliferation and suggests that epithelial-mesenchymal transition is a driver of fibrosis.

  Study EGAS00001006855

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

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

  Study phs001295

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK): Identification of VUR genes by exome sequencing

  Primary vesicoureteric reflux (PVUR), or non-syndromic VUR, is the most common type of congenital anomaly of the kidney and the urinary tract (CAKUT). PVUR is the single most important risk factor for pyelonephritis and renal parenchymal scarring in the pediatric age group. Renal parenchymal scarring due to PVUR is referred to as reflux nephropathy and is a major cause of end stage kidney disease requiring dialysis and kidney transplantation in children. PVUR shows familial aggregation; however, the specific genetic cause(s) of PVUR is unknown despite a number of linkage studies. Reasons for this include: variable expression of the disease, difficulty with case ascertainment, genetic heterogeneity and lack of large pedigrees that can facilitate locus identification. We have ascertained a large 97 member PVUR kindred spanning five generations. We performed a genome-wide linkage study (GWLS) on this family and obtained a significant genome-wide LOD score of 3.3 on chromosome 6p. We performed exome sequencing on affected individuals in the family and identified mutations in tenascin XB (TNXB) as a cause of familial VUR. The proposed studies have the following specific objectives: a) to define the role of tenascin genes in the etiology of PVUR, and b) to identify new PVUR causative genes. Our specific aims are (1) To perform mutation analysis in TNXB and other tenascins in a cohort of 200 individuals with familial and sporadic PVUR and define genotype/phenotype correlations. (2) To perform sequential genome wide linkage studies (GWLS) and whole exome/targeted sequencing in families with PVUR. Impact on public health: Identification of PVUR genes may provide a novel non-invasive diagnostic tool for a subset of children with PVUR. Furthermore, this research will provide insights into the pathogenesis of PVUR and further elucidate the pathways involved in the development of the kidney and genitourinary tract. Future studies will define the role of the genes in the etiology of other malformations of the kidney and urinary tract and also seek to unravel the mechanisms by which the identified gene causes PVUR and other malformations of the kidney and the urinary tract.

  Study phs000778

• Exome Sequencing of Statin-Induced Myopathy Cases

  Severe myopathic events occur in 0.1-0.5% of patients taking statins. Although genetic association studies have identified some possibly associated gene loci, these have not been reproducible in additional studies with independent patient cohorts. A more reasonable explanation for susceptibility to statin-induced myopathy is the presence of rare pathogenic variants in genes important for skeletal muscle structure and function. In support of this, we have previously reported an increased incidence of pathogenic variants in genes causing metabolic myopathies in patients with statin-induced myopathy (Vladutiu et al.,2006). We also reported a patient with statin myopathy who had an RYR1 variant known to be causative of malignant hyperthermia susceptibility (MHS) (Vladutiu et al., 2011). There are a number of genes associated with metabolic myopathies triggered by various factors such as extreme exercise, fasting, extremes in temperature, viral infection and exposure to volatile anesthetics. In addition, many of the genes causing congenital myopathies, myofibrillar myopathies and muscular dystrophies have overlapping phenotypes with these genes. We propose that statins act as an additional trigger inducing myopathic symptoms and many patients with severe statin-induced myopathy have causative genetic variants within similar genes associated with MHS and congenital myopathy. We have analyzed the resultant data using a disease model in which rare pathogenic variants, possibly within multiple genes, are causative of statin-induced myopathy. In this study, we have identified potentially causative genetic variants in greater than 50% of the statin-induced myopathy cases and in particular, rare and possibly pathogenic in the RYR1 and CACNA1S genes were present in 25% of the patient samples studied. Vladutiu, G. D., Simmons, Z., Isackson, P.J., Tarnopolsky, M., Peltier, W.L., Barboi, A.C., Sripathi, N., Wortmann, R.L., Phillips, P.S., (2006). "Genetic risk factors associated with lipid-lowering drug-induced myopathies." Muscle Nerve 34: 153-162. Vladutiu, G. D., Isackson, P.J., Kaufman, K., Harley, J.B., Cobb, B., Christopher-Stine, L., Wortmann, R.L, (2011). "Genetic risk for malignant hyperthermia in non-anesthesia-induced myopathies." Mol Genet Metab 104: 167-173.

  Study phs001342

• Effect of Breast Feeding on Immunologic Priming in Young Infants

  The mechanisms generating immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) biodiversity result in over potentially unique immunoglobulin sequences within an individual. However, over the course of B cell development, B cell receptor (BCR) selection constrains the repertoire significantly. In newborn infants compared to adults, developmental regulation of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) activity in the bone marrow, selective use of V, D and J gene segments in the IgH locus during fetal life, and immaturity of somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR) mechanisms are likely to contribute to a less diverse IgH repertoire, although the extent of repertoire biodiversity in newborns has not been extensively examined. Furthermore, the fetal IgH repertoire is tightly controlled and for the most part independent of environmental antigenic influences. As a result, the neonatal repertoire, in contrast to older children and adults, is less impacted by the selective pressures of the microbiome, pathogen exposure, and environmental antigens. Evidence for developmental differences in TdT activity is seen in shorter CDR3 lengths and decreased junctional diversity in BCR in both term and preterm newborns. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is a sensitive approach to evaluate the neonatal IgH repertoire and assess the relative contribution of each aspect of IgH rearrangement and affinity maturation to overall IgH biodiversity prior to and following isotype class switch. NGS and bioinformatics accurately assess biodiversity by determining the number of unique sequences within the IgH repertoire. Combined with novel analytic tools, NGS provides an approach to compare the extent of somatic hypermutation (SHM), N insertions, V/D/J gene segment usage, and CDR3 length between newborns and adults. Taken together, these measures can be used to assess the earliest events in B cell development using the newborn Ig transcriptome to evaluate the IgM, IgG, and IgA IgH repertoires. The goal of this study was to define the extent of IgH biodiversity in newborns and examine the factors that contribute to the generation of biodiversity during early life. Establishment of the bioinformatics pipeline can be applied to examine the immune deficiency, response to vaccine and infection at molecular population level.

  Study phs002073

• Centers for Common Disease Genomics (CCDG) - Whole Genome Sequencing in Type 1 Diabetes (T1DGC)

  The Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium (T1DGC) was established to collect resources (biological samples and data) and conduct research to better understand the genetic basis of type 1 diabetes (T1D). Collection was initiated by ascertaining affected sib-pair families (both parents, two affected siblings and, when available, an unaffected sibling), collected from five geographic regions through four recruitment networks (Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, United Kingdom). In addition, the T1DGC collected trio families (both parents and affected child) and cases and controls from low-prevalence populations (African-American, with four grandparents self-reporting as African ancestry; Mexican-American, with four grandparents self-reporting as ancestry from Mexico). The T1DGC also served as a repository for contributed collections from other studies, all meeting the broad data-sharing policy of the T1DGC, for inclusion in the genetic studies. These collections include T1D case samples ascertained from the UK Genetic Resource Investigating Diabetes (UK GRID) cohort, SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth (SEARCH), The Genetics of Kidneys in Diabetes (GoKinD), and control samples obtained from the British 1958 Birth Cohort, the UK National Blood Services collection, CLEAR (Consortium for the Longitudinal Evaluation of African-Americans with Early Rheumatoid Arthritis), the New York Cancer Project (NYCP), and other cohorts. For the NHGRI-funded Centers for Common Disease Genomics (CCDG) project, participants with T1D and ancestry-matched controls were identified through the T1DGC, either through direct ascertainment or by contribution from other sources to the T1DGC. As the CCDG has focused initially on non-Caucasian populations for whole genome sequencing, T1DGC participants of African, Mexican and Asian ancestry (targeting ~1200 cases and ~1200 controls in each ancestral group) and a small group of participants of Northern European ancestry (~100 cases, ~100 controls) were to be contributed to the study. Whole genome sequencing of T1DGC samples would be conducted at Washington University McDonnell Genome Institute and based upon matching case-control status within an ancestry group and prioritization by the CCDG.

  Study phs001222

• Genetics and Functional Studies of Autosomal Recessive Neurological Disorders

  Neurological conditions account for over 6% of the global disease burden. There are more than 600 neurological disorders, and cognitive dysfunction, also referred to as intellectual disability (ID), occupies a prominent position in this list. Cognitive dysfunction arises from the failure of neuronal cells to organize into a complex network and remodel this network in response to learning and experience. It is manifested by deficits in adaptive behaviors in everyday social and practical skills. Due to its high prevalence and the lifetime cost of care per individual, in the range of $1-2 million in United Sates (CDC), it presents a significant health burden. Genetic and functional studies of the genes and protein determinants of ID have helped to elucidate the molecular pathways of human brain development in health and disease. However, the identity of a large number of essential molecular and cellular components still remain elusive. The objectives of our study are to expand the genetic repertoire of causal ID genes and characterize their role in neuronal structure and cognitive function. The rationale is that identification and functional elucidation of causative gene variants that lead to cognitive dysfunction will be essential for understanding brain function and for developing improved diagnostic tools and efficacious preventive and therapeutic agents for neurological disorders, including ID. There are 3 aims of our comprehensive research program: 1) Ascertain and clinically phenotype members of extended families segregating autosomal recessive intellectual disability (ARID); 2) identify new ARID genes and gene products; and 3) determine the functions of prioritized novel ARID genes using multifaceted approaches, including analysis of spatiotemporal expression patterns in mouse brain, targeting in cultured rat hippocampal neurons, effects on cell morphology and synapse abundance, synaptic transmission and plasticity in neuronal cells by electrophysiology and live-cell imaging assays. The project will advantageously combine human clinical assessment, genetic and functional analyses relevant to brain development and function. Impact: Execution of the proposed studies will generate new knowledge that is clinically relevant, with high potential to impact ID molecular diagnosis, prognoses, and identify novel therapeutic targets to slow progression, delay onset, and possibly devising precision medicine approaches for ID.

  Study phs003298

• Integrating Genomic and Transcriptomic Data to Identify Breast Cancer Susceptibility Genes

  Genetic factors play an important role in the etiology of both sporadic and familial breast cancer. Since 2007, common genetic variants in ~200 loci have been identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in relation to breast cancer risk. However, it is often difficult to translate GWAS findings to disease prevention and treatment since causal genes in the large majority of GWAS-identified loci are unknown. Furthermore, a large fraction of breast cancer heritability remains unexplained. Recent studies suggest that nearly 80% of disease heritability can be explained by genetic variants regulating gene expression. Herein, we propose three well-powered transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) to systematically investigate the association of breast cancer risk with gene expression across the transcriptome of African, Asian and European descendants. In Aim 1, we will perform RNA sequencing and high-density genotyping assays using normal breast tissue samples, and build race-specific gene expression prediction models using data from 1000 women of African, Asian and European descent. These models will be applied to the GWAS data generated from approximately 320,000 breast cancer patients and controls to impute gene expression for association analyses of predicted gene expression with risk of breast cancer overall, and by estrogen receptor and HER2 status. In Aim 2, we will select the top 50 genes identified in Aim 1 for in vitro functional assays to assess their influence on major cell functions related to cancer biology. In Aim 3, we will evaluate whether TWAS-identified genes may express differently in normal breast tissues and breast cancer tissues collected from African, Asian, and European descendants to assess whether these genes may contribute to racial differences in breast cancer risk by molecular subtypes. With strong methodology and a large sample size, we believe that this proposed study should be able to identify and characterize a large number of novel genes related to breast cancer risk. Uncovering breast cancer susceptibility genes will greatly improve the understanding of the genetic and biological basis for breast cancer and accelerate the translation of genetic findings to disease prevention and patient care.

  Study phs003535

• B cell receptor silencing reveals origin and dependencies of high-grade B cell lymphomas with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements

  High-grade B cell lymphomas with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements (HGBCL-DH-BCL2) represent highly aggressive Germinal center (GC) derived B cell malignancies with dismal prognosis and limited therapeutic options. In the present study, we investigated the expression of BCR complex components, including immunoglobulin (IG) heavy (H) and light (L) chains, and CD79A and CD79B signaling subunits in HGBCL-DH-BCL2, scoring 65% of cases with undetectable IGH immunoreactivity (IGHUND). Transcriptomics (bulk RNA-seq) and genetic (whole exome/genome sequencing) analyses indicated that IGHUND and IGH+ HGBCL-DH-BCL2 lymphomas represent distinct biological entities. Specifically, IGHUND HGBCL-DH-BCL2 exhibit a GC DZ-like molecular program, and select subset-specific gene mutations pointing to distinct evolutionary trajectories respect to the IGH+ counterparts. IG profiling revealed that IGHUND HGBCL-DH-BCL2 preserved potentially productive, hypermutated IGH variable (V) gene rearrangements, indicating a selective advantage conferred to the malignant B cells by residual IGH molecules. Accordingly, disruption of the productively rearranged IGHG1 gene in BCRnull HGBCL-DH-BCL2 cell line model confirmed the dependency on IGH expression for optimal fitness. Using transcriptomics and in situ RNA-scope analysis, we reported that IGHUND HGBCL-DH-BCL2 originated from IG-class switched GC B cells, while IGH-expressing tumors were selected for continuous IGM expression. Moreover, while IGH+ HGBCL-DH-BCL2 favor IGM/IG-Kappa expression, IGHUND counterparts complete IG-Lambda light chain rearrangements. Notably, BCR silencing, caused by accelerated IGH turnover and reduced IGH expression, precedes HGBCL-DH-BCL2 onset, inducing RAG1/2-dependent IG light chain editing and eventually facilitating t(8;22)/IGL::MYC translocations. Finally, IGH silencing observed in HGBCL-DH-BCL2 cell models, which leads to intracellular retention/silencing of CD79B, results in reduced sensitivity to the CD79B-targeting antibody-drug conjugate Polatuzumab-vedotin. Collectively, HGBCL-DH-BCL2 originates from isotype-switched t(14;18)+ GC B cells that undergo IG light chain editing fuelling intra-clonal diversification, BCR silencing, and the acquisition of t(8;22) translocation, while preserving IGH dependency.

  Study EGAS50000001047

• Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program in Pediatric T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

  The outcome for patients with relapsed T-ALL is dismal with 3-year event free survival of AALL0434 was a Children's Oncology Group-initiated phase 3 randomized clinical trial comparing Capizzi-style escalating methotrexate plus pegaspargase (CMTX) vs. high dose methotrexate (HDMTX), with/without six 5-day courses of nelarabine. Survival on this study was superior to any prior trial for de novo T-ALL, changing the standard of care. Yet, a substantial minority (~15%) of patients had relapsed or refractory (r/r) disease. Through the TARGET initiative, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), DNA copy number analysis, and whole-exome sequencing (WES) were performed on 264 T-ALL patients treated on AALL0434, demonstrating recurrent alterations could be grouped into 10 different potentially targetable functional pathways. This analysis was not powered to examine associations between genetic lesions with outcome, because too few patients with r/r disease were included. This project is dedicated to testing the hypothesis that comprehensive genomic profiling of the entire AALL0434 cohort will identify recurrent genetic alterations that can be segregated into biologically relevant deregulated pathways that can be combined with MRD to identify patients at risk for poor outcomes before they relapse and provide rationale for treatment with alternative therapies. In addition, a number of small recent studies demonstrated that many of the biologically relevant alterations in T-ALL occur in non-coding regions of the genome, but no large studies have performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) in T-ALL. This project also tests the hypothesis that WGS of a large cohort of patients with T-ALL will identify novel lesions in coding and non-coding regions that will be highly impactful in the understanding of T-ALL pathogenesis.These hypotheses are tested by performing comprehensive genomic profiling (WGS, WES, RNA-Seq, and copy number analysis) of the entire AALL0434 cohort with available samples with the following specific aims: (1) identify recurrent genetic alterations that predict poor outcome in T-ALL; (2) identify novel alterations, including non-coding alterations in T-ALL; and (3) identify germline genetic variants that predispose to T-ALL and to increased toxicity to chemotherapy.

  Study phs002276