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

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• Scottish High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer

  Scottish HGSOC samples were collected via local Bioresource facilities at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen and stored in liquid Nitrogen until required. HGSOC patients were determined from pathology records and were included in the study where there was matched tumour and whole blood samples. On receipt of tumour material the tumour was processed as follows: firstly, the tumour sample was divided into two for DNA and RNA extraction. Slivers of tissue were cut from the front and rear faces of the DNA sample, then fixed in formalin and embedded in paraffin wax. Sections from the front and rear tissues from all samples were examined by H&E staining supplemented by WT1/p53 immunohistochemistry if required. Following pathology review, samples were only included if they met the following criteria: they were confirmed as HGSOC and there was greater than 40% tumour cellularity throughout the tumour, determined using the H&E sections. Somatic DNA was extracted using the Qiagen DNeasy Blood and tissue kit (cat no 69504). The tissue was initially homogenised using a Qiagen Bioruptor, followed by the manufacturers recommended protocol (including RNase digestion step). Germline DNA was extracted from 1-3ml whole blood using the Qiagen FlexiGene kit (cat no 51206) following the manufacturers recommended protocol. The resulting DNA underwent quality control as follows: firstly, A260 and A280nm were measured on a Denovix DS-11 Fx to qualitatively illustrate A260/280nm and A260/230nm ratios as surrogate measures of DNA purity. A260/280 had to be 1.8 or greater and A260/230 had to be 2.0 or greater. Then, DNA was quantified using LifeTechnologies Qubit dsDNA BR kit (cat no Q32850) and we required a minimum of 50ul at 25ng/ul for WGS. Thirdly, DNA was diluted to 25ng/ul and a representative sample was loaded onto a 0.8% TAE gel, ran at 100v for 60mins and then imaged using a BioRad ChemiDoc imaging system to visualise the DNA quality. Only when all 4 quality control requirements were satisfied was the DNA sequenced. The DNA was sequenced at the Glasgow Precision Oncology Laboratories.

  Study EGAS00001004410

• Evolution and clinical impact of genetic epistasis within EGFR-mutant lung cancers

  The current understanding of tumorigenesis is largely centered on a monogenic driver oncogene model. This paradigm is incompatible with the prevailing clinical experience in most solid malignancies: monotherapy with a drug directed against an individual oncogenic driver typically results in incomplete clinical responses and eventual tumor progression1-7. By profiling the somatic genetic alterations present in over 2,000 cases of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, we show that combinations of functional genetic alterations, i.e. genetic collectives dominate the landscape of advanced-stage disease. We highlight this polygenic landscape and evolution of advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through the spatial-temporal genomic profiling of 7 distinct tumor biopsy specimens and 6 plasma specimens obtained from an EGFR-mutant NSCLC patient at (1) initial diagnosis of early-stage disease, (2) metastatic progression, (3) sequential treatment and resistance to 2 EGFR inhibitors, (4) death. The comprehensive genomic analysis of this case, coupled with circulating free (cf) tumor DNA profiling of additional advanced-stage EGFR-mutant NSCLC clinical cohorts with associated treatment responses uncovered features of evolutionary selection for multiple concurrent gene alterations: including the presence of EGFR inhibitor-sensitive (EGFRL858R;EGFRexon19del) or inhibitor-resistant (EGFRT790M;EGFRC797S) forms of oncogenic EGFR along with cell cycle gene alterations (e.g. in CDK4/6, CCNE1, RB1) and activating alterations in WNT/β-catenin and PI3K pathway genes, which our data suggest can cooperatively impart non-redundant functions to limit EGFR targeted therapy response and/or promote tumor progression. Moreover, evidence of an unanticipated parallel evolution of both EGFR T790M and two distinct forms of oncogenic PIK3CA was observed. Our study provides a large-scale clinical and genetic dataset of advanced-stage EGFR-mutant NSCLC, a rationale for specific polytherapy strategies such as EGFR and CDK4/6 inhibitor co-treatment to potentially enhance clinical outcomes, and prompts a re-evaluation of the prevailing paradigm of monogenic-based molecular stratification for targeted therapy. Instead, our findings highlight an alternative model of genetic collectives that operate through epistasis to drive lung cancer progression and therapy resistance.

  Study EGAS00001002604

• Chromatin profiles classify castration-resistant prostate cancers suggesting therapeutic targets

  Untreated prostate cancers rely on androgen receptor (AR) signaling for growth and survival, forming the basis for the initial efficacy of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Yet, the disease can relapse and progress to a lethal stage termed castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Reactivation of AR signaling represents the most common driver of CRPC growth and next generation AR signaling inhibitors (ARSIs) are now used in combination with ADT as a first line therapy. However, ARSIs can result in selective pressure generating AR-independent tumors. The transition from AR-dependence frequently accompanies a change in phenotype resembling developmental trans-differentiation or ‘lineage plasticity’. Neuroendocrine prostate cancer, which lacks a defined pathologic classification, is the most studied type of lineage plasticity. However, most AR-null tumors do not exhibit neuroendocrine features and are classified as ‘double-negative prostate cancer’, the drivers of which are poorly defined. Lineage plasticity studies in CRPC are limited by the lack of genetically defined patient-derived models that recapitulate the disease spectrum. To address this, we developed a biobank of organoids generated from patient biopsies to study the landscape of metastatic CRPC and allow for functional validation assays. Proteins called transcription factors (TFs) are drivers of tumor lineage plasticity. To identify the key TFs that drive the growth of AR-independent tumors, we integrated epigenetic and transcriptomic data generated from CRPC models. By presenting a map of the chromatin accessibility and transcriptomic landscape of CRPC using a diverse biobank of organoids, PDXs and cell lines that recapitulate the heterogeneity of metastatic prostate cancer, we validate CRPC-AR and CRPC-NE subtypes and reveal two subtypes of AR-negative/low samples as well as their respective masterTFs. Additional analysis revealed a model in which YAP, TAZ, TEAD and AP-1 function together and drive oncogenic growth in CRPC-SCL samples. Overall, we show here how an approach to stratify CRPC patients into four subtypes using their transcriptomic signatures can potentially inform upon appropriate clinical decisions.

  Study EGAS00001006059

• Influence of Genomic Landscape on Cancer Immunotherapy for Newly Diagnosed Ovarian Cancer: Biomarker Analyses from the IMagyn050 Randomized Clinical Trial

  The IMagyn050 trial (NCT03038100), which evaluated the efficacy of Atezo vs placebo (Pla) with carboplatin, paclitaxel and bevacizumab (CPB) in front line ovarian cancer patient (pts), did not meet its co-primary endpoints of PFS in ITT or PD-L1+ (Moore et al. JCO 2021). The aim of this exploratory study was to evaluate whether patients with BRCA1/2-mutated or homologous recombination-deficient (HRD) ovarian cancers benefitted from atezolizumab in the phase III IMagyn050 (NCT03038100) trial. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer were randomized to either atezolizumab or placebo with standard chemotherapy and bevacizumab. PD-L1 status of tumor-infiltrating immune cells was determined centrally (VENTANA SP142 assay). Genomic alterations, including deleterious BRCA1/2 alterations, genomic loss of heterozygosity (gLOH), tumor mutation burden (TMB), and microsatellite instability (MSI), were evaluated using the FoundationOne assay. HRD was defined as gLOH ≥16%, regardless of BRCA1/2 mutation status. Potential associations between progression-free survival (PFS) and genomic biomarkers were evaluated using standard correlation analyses and log-rank of Kaplan-Meier estimates. Results Among biomarker-evaluable samples, 22% (234/1050) harbored BRCA1/2 mutations and 46% (446/980) were HRD. Median TMB was low irrespective of BRCA1/2 or HRD. Only 3% (29/1024) had TMB ≥10 mut/Mb and 0.3% (3/1022) were MSI-high. PFS was better in BRCA2-mutated versus BRCA2-non-mutated tumors and in HRD versus proficient tumors. PD-L1 positivity (≥1% expression on immune cells) was associated with HRD but not BRCA1/2 mutations. PFS was not improved by adding atezolizumab in BRCA2-mutated or HRD tumors; there was a trend toward enhanced PFS with atezolizumab in BRCA1-mutated tumors. Conclusion Most ovarian tumors have low TMB despite BRCA1/2 mutations or HRD. Neither BRCA1/2 mutation nor HRD predicted enhanced benefit from atezolizumab. This is the first randomized double-blind trial in ovarian cancer demonstrating that genomic instability triggered by BRCA1/2 mutation or HRD is not associated with improved sensitivity to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

  Study EGAS00001006838

• Multi-omic and functional analysis for classification and treatment of sarcomas with FUS-TFCP2 or EWSR1-TFCP2 fusions(H021/INF)

  Many rare cancers are not well understood, and pathogenesis-directed therapies are often lacking, resulting in poor patient outcomes. Leveraging two (inter)national precision oncology trials that enroll large numbers of rare cancers, we investigated the clinical, histopathologic, molecular, and functional characteristics of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) with fusions of FUS or EWSR1 to the TFCP2 transcription factor, a recently discovered ultra-rare entity whose classification, pathogenesis, and optimal treatment are unclear. Unusually for fusion-driven sarcomas, most cases had highly rearranged genomes, including chromothripsis, and signs of defective homologous recombination DNA repair. All tumors showed extreme expression of a truncated TERT variant and the ALK receptor tyrosine kinase, which was additionally affected by intragenic deletions and aberrant splicing, resulting in the expression of shortened variants in 58% of cases. Three ALK variants were oncogenic in immortalized cells, and patient-derived tumor cells expressing two variants responded to certain ALK inhibitors. Other recurrent alterations included CDKN2A/MTAP co-deletions and mutations in PAPPA2, encoding an IGFBP5-specific proteinase, in 67% and 25% of cases, respectively. DNA methylation analysis, along with 19 other soft-tissue sarcoma classes, revealed a close relationship with undifferentiated sarcoma but not other RMS subtypes, suggesting that TFCP2-rearranged RMS is a separate entity, possibly arising from a distinct cell of origin. Expression of TFCP2 fusions in immortalized human cells blocked late myogenic differentiation and significantly induced genes that were also highly expressed in patient tumors, including ALK, TERT, and two known regulators of skeletal muscle cells, IGFBP5 and PTH1R. Genome-wide chromatin profiling demonstrated direct binding of FUS-TFCP2 to the ALK and TERT loci outside their regular promoters, which correlated with the expression of alternative transcript variants. Finally, FUS-TFCP2 inhibited the repair of DNA double-strand breaks in immortalized cells, rendering them sensitive to treatment with cisplatin. This study provides insight into the pathogenesis and therapeutic vulnerabilities of a new RMS subtype and illustrates the value of linking comprehensive molecular diagnostics and functional annotation within multicenter consortia to improve the understanding and clinical management of rare cancers.

  Study EGAS00001006939

• ACT-Discover: identifying karyotype heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer evolution using ctDNA

  Background Liquid biopsies, and the dynamic tracking of somatic mutations within circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) can provide insight into the dynamics of cancer evolution and the intra-tumour heterogeneity that fuels treatment resistance. However, identifying and tracking dynamic changes in somatic copy-number alterations (SCNAs), which have been associated with poor outcome and metastasis, using ctDNA is challenging. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is a disease which has been considered to harbour early punctuated events in its evolution, leading to an early fitness peak, with minimal further subclonal evolution. Methods To interrogate the role of SCNAs in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cancer evolution, we applied whole-exome sequencing of 55 longitudinal cell-free DNA (cfDNA) samples taken from 24 patients (including 8 from whom a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) was derived) with metastatic disease prospectively recruited into a clinical trial. We developed a method, Aneuploidy in Circulating Tumour DNA (ACT-Discover), that leverages haplotype phasing of paired tumour biopsies or PDXs to identify SCNAs in cfDNA with greater sensitivity. Results SCNAs were observed within 28 of 47 evaluable cfDNA samples. Of these events, 30% could only be identified by harnessing the haplotype-aware approach leveraged in ACT-Discover. The exceptional purity of PDX tumours enabled near-complete phasing of genomic regions in allelic imbalance, highlighting an important auxiliary function of PDXs. Finally, although the classical model of pancreatic cancer evolution emphasises the importance of early, homogenous somatic events as a key requirement for cancer development, ACT-Discover identified substantial heterogeneity of SCNAs, including parallel focal and arm-level events, affecting different parental alleles within individual tumours. Indeed, ongoing acquisition of SCNAs was identified within tumours throughout the disease course, including within an untreated metastatic tumour. Conclusions This work demonstrates the power of haplotype phasing to study genomic variation in cfDNA samples and reveals undiscovered intra-tumour heterogeneity with important scientific and clinical implications. Implementation of ACT-Discover could lead to important insights from existing cohorts, or underpin future prospective studies seeking to characterise the landscape of tumour evolution through liquid biopsy.

  Study EGAS00001007077

• PAK4 inhibition improves PD-1 blockade immunotherapy

  Introduction with rationale and aims for study Immune checkpoint blockade therapies have significantly altered the current landscape of cancer treatment. However, this immunotherapy still fails more often than it succeeds. There are now evidences that the lack of tumour infiltration by immune cells is the main mechanism of primary resistance to PD‐1 blockade therapies for cancer. It has been postulated that cancer cell‐intrinsic mechanisms may actively exclude T cells from tumours, suggesting that the finding of actionable molecules that could be inhibited to increase T cell infiltration may synergize with checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy. With the idea of finding potential drivers of immune exclusion, we performed RNA sequencing analysis of biopsies from melanoma patients and compared the transcriptomic differences of samples that where infiltrated with those that did not have immune infiltration. Methods RNAseq analysis of gene expressions on biopsies from melanoma patients treated with checkpoint blockade were analysed. We focused on the variable of "infiltration: yes or no,", e.g. tumors that were well infiltrated by immune cells with those that kept immune cells out. Sequencing revealed a list of genes whose expression differed between the infiltrated and noninfiltrated tumors. The kinase PAK4 stood out as a good candidate for inhibition treatment in the future as it was consistently enriched in the samples without immune infiltration. To test whether immunotherapy would work better if we deleted PAK4, we first knocked out PAK4, using CRISPR‐Cas9, in the ‐resistant melanoma cell line, B16. Then they injected the melanoma cells into mice and observed that PAK4 KO tumours now responded to PD‐1 blockade. In order to elucidate whether pharmacological inhibition of PAK4 could recapitulate the results observed in the B16 PAK4 KO tumours, we obtained the PAK4 inhibitor, KPT-9274, from Karyopharm Therapeutics. Indeed, inhibiting PAK4 in combination with anti‐PD‐1 immunotherapy significantly slowed the growth of the B16 melanomas more than either drug alone. Results and Conclusions Transcriptomic analysis of melanoma tumors that were well infiltrated by immune cells with those that kept immune cells out revealed a list of genes whose expression differed between the infiltrated and non-infiltrated tumours. The result suggests that p21 activated kinase 4 (PAK4) is enriched in non-responding tumour biopsies with low T cell and dendritic cell infiltration. In addition, PAK4 decreased WNT activity, a signalling pathway that has previously been involved in immune exclusion. In mouse models, genetic deletion of PAK4 increased T cell infiltration and reversed resistance to PD‐1 blockade in a CD8 T cell-dependent manner. Furthermore, combination of with the PAK4 inhibitor, KPT-9274, improved anti‐tumour responses compared to anti‐PD‐1 alone. Therefore, high PAK4 expression is correlated with low T cell and dendritic cell infiltration and lack of response to PD‐1 blockade, which could be reversed with PAK4 inhibition. The data establish a rationale for targeting this kinase with inhibitors in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors for patients. Future work and data that we can anticipate for this study Oncogenic signalling pathways and specially the WNT signalling pathway, have been associated with lack of immune infiltration and resistance to PD‐1 blockade therapies. Here, we show that PAK4 overcome resistance to PD‐1 blockade while significantly decreases WNT signalling activity. Therefore, it constitutes the first potential druggable target that is able to reverse oncogenic driven immune cell exclusion. However, the fully mechanism whereby PAK4 sensitizes tumours to immunotherapy remains to be fully elucidated. It is necessary to address whether PAK4 inhibition overcomes resistance through WNT signalling inhibition or if other signalling pathways are involved in the observed phenotype.

  Study phs001919

• Transcriptome of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells in glioblastoma multiforme

  Patients included in this study were over 18 years of age and had a histology-confirmed diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Exclusion criteria were the previous administration of any anti-tumor therapy including radiation therapy. All patients gave written informed consent. The study was approved by the local ethics committee (TUM Medical school) and conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki. During resection of the tumors, tumor tissue and tissue from normal appearing brain within the operative channel was collected. Blood was drawn during the surgical procedure. Single cell suspensions were prepared from the tumor tissue, the normal appearing brain, and the blood. CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells were sorted by flow cytometry. Only patients with a complete set of specimens (CD4+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), CD8+ TIL, CD4+ T cells from normal appearing brain, CD8+ T cells from normal appearing brain, blood-derived CD4+ and CD8+ T cells) containing a minimum of 1000 cells in each sorted sample were further analyzed (n=9). Total RNA was isolated from sorted cell populations using the RNAeasy Plus micro kit (Qiagen, 74034). Quality and integrity of total RNA was controlled on a Bioanalyzer 2100 (Agilent Technologies). Library preparation for bulk-sequencing of poly(A)-RNA was done as described previously (Parekh et al., 2016). Briefly, barcoded cDNA of each sample was generated with a Maxima RT polymerase (ThermoFisher Scientific, EP0742) using oligo-dT primer containing barcodes, unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) and an adaptor. Ends of the cDNAs were extended by a template switch oligo (TSO) and full-length cDNA was amplified with primers binding to the TSO-site and the adaptor. NEB UltraII FS kit was used to fragment cDNA. After end repair and A-tailing, a TruSeq adapter was ligated and 3'-end-fragments were finally amplified using primers with Illumina P5 and P7 overhangs. In comparison to previous descriptions (Parekh et al., 2016), the P5 and P7 sites were exchanged to allow sequencing of the cDNA in read 1 and barcodes and UMIs in read 2 to achieve a better cluster recognition. The library was sequenced on a NextSeq 500 (Illumina) with 59 cycles for the cDNA in read 1 and 16 cycles for the barcodes and UMIs in read 2. Data were processed using the published Drop-seq pipeline (v1.0) to generate sample- and gene-wise UMI tables (Macosko et al., 2015). Reference genome (GRCh38) was used for alignment. Transcript and gene definitions were used according to the Genecode Annotation Version 35.

  Dataset EGAD50000000226

• Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) Genome Wide Association Study -NIA Alzheimer's Disease Centers Cohort

  The National Institute on Aging (NIA) Alzheimer's Disease Centers (ADCs) cohort includes subjects ascertained and evaluated by the clinical and neuropathology cores of the 29 NIA-funded ADCs. Data collection is coordinated by the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC). NACC coordinates collection of phenotype data from the 29 ADCs, cleans all data, coordinates implementation of definitions of AD cases and controls, and coordinates collection of samples. The ADC cohort consists of autopsy-confirmed and clinically-confirmed AD cases, and cognitively normal elders (CNEs) with complete neuropathology data who were older than 60 years at age of death, and living CNEs evaluated using the Uniform dataset (UDS) protocol who were documented to not have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and were between 60 and 100 years of age at assessment. ADCs sent frozen tissue from autopsied subjects and DNA samples from some autopsied subjects and from living subjects to the National Cell Repository for Alzheimer's Disease (NCRAD). DNA was prepared by NCRAD for genotyping and sent to the genotyping site at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. ADC samples were genotyped and analyzed in separate batches. [Reprinted from AC Naj et al. Common variants at MS4A4/MS4A6E, CD2AP, CD33 and EPHA1 are associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Nature Genetics 43, 436-441 (2011). doi:10.1038/ng.801. PMID: 21460841.]

  Study phs000372

• Nala TAS-LRS PGx Study

  Pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing improves medication safety and efficacy by identifying genetic variants that affect drug response. However, current technologies often fail to resolve complex loci, detect structural variants, or phase alleles accurately. Here, we present an end-to-end PGx workflow based on Targeted Adaptive Sampling-Long Read Sequencing (TAS-LRS), integrating a streamlined laboratory protocol with a bioinformatics pipeline that includes a novel CYP2D6 caller. Using 1,000 ng of DNA and three-sample multiplexing on a single PromethION flow cell, the assay achieves consistent on-target (25x) and off-target (3x) coverage, enabling accurate, haplotype-resolved testing of 35 pharmacogenes alongside genome-wide genotyping from off-target reads. We further developed the workflow into a clinically ready service and validated its performance across 17 reference and clinical samples. The assay demonstrated high concordance for small variants (99.9%) and structural variants (>95%), with phased diplotypes and metabolizer phenotypes reaching 97.7% and 98.0% concordance, respectively. Improved calls were observed in 12 genes due to enhanced genotyping, phasing, or novel allele detection. In addition, off-target reads supported accurate genome-wide imputation, comparable to short-read sequencing and superior to microarrays. These results establish the feasibility of long-read sequencing for clinical PGx testing and position TAS-LRS as a scalable solution combining both targeted and genome-wide utility.

  Study EGAS50000001116