Study 1 2R01-NS050375 (PI: DOBYNS, William B.) The genetic basis of mid-hindbrain malformations Our general goal for this project is to advance our understanding of human developmental disorders that involve the brainstem and cerebellum - brain structures derived from the embryonic midbrain and hindbrain - that affect a minimum of 2.4 per 1000 resident births based on data from the CDC. Importantly, this large class of disorders co-occurs with more common developmental disorders such as autism, mental retardation and some forms of infantile epilepsy, and shares some of the same causes. With this renewal, we propose to expand the scope of our work beyond single phenotypes and genes to focus on delineating the critical phenotype spectra to which the most common MHM belong, and defining the underlying biological networks that are disrupted. To pursue these goals, we will use our large and growing cohort of human subjects to map additional MHM loci using SNP microarrays that provide both high-resolution autozygosity and linkage data in informative families as well as detect critical copy number variants in sporadic subjects. The causative genes will be identified using traditional Sanger or new high-throughput sequencing methods as appropriate abased on size of the critical region. We will use these and other known MHM causative genes to construct and revise model biological networks of genes and proteins, and test these genes and networks in additional patients as a candidate gene or more accurately a candidate network approach. These approaches need to be supported by ongoing active subject recruitment, as studies of comparable disorders such as mental retardation and autism have benefited from even larger numbers of subjects that we have so far collected. We need to use new high-throughput sequencing methods to more efficiently test larger critical regions, and to test entire gene networks rather than individual genes in matched cohorts of subjects. At every step; phenotype analysis, CNV analysis, model network construction and high-throughput sequencing, we will need expanded bioinformatics capabilities. Finally, we need to test the biological function of new genes and networks to support our gene identification studies. We expect that these studies will contribute immediately to more accurate diagnosis and counseling, and over time will lead to development of specific treatments for a subset of these disorders. We further expect that studies of mid-hindbrain development will have broad significance for human developmental disorders generally, providing compelling evidence for a connection between cerebellar development and other classes of developmental disorders such as autism, mental retardation and epilepsy. Study 2 R01-NS058721 (PI: DOBYNS, William B.) De novo copy number variation and gene discovery in human brain malformations Project Summary/Abstract The number of recognized brain malformations and syndromes has grown rapidly during the past several decades, yet relatively few causative genes have been identified, especially for three common malformations that have been associated with numerous cytogenetically visible chromosome deletions and duplications, and that often occur together: agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC), cerebellar vermis hypoplasia (CVH) including Dandy-Walker malformation (DWM), and polymicrogyria (PMG). We propose to perform high-resolution array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH), emerging technology able to detect small copy number variants (CNV), in 700 probands with one or more of these three malformations. Our central hypothesis states that more than 10% of patients with ACC, CVH or PMG will have de novo CNV below the resolution of routine cytogenetic analysis, but detectable by current array platforms. We therefore expect to identify 70-100 patients with small CNV. We will distinguish CNV found in normal individuals from potentially disease-associated changes, and will confirm CNV using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and microsatellite (STRP) analysis. We will give highest priority to CNV that are de novo and involve 2 or more BACs, and secondary priority to familial and smaller CNV excluding known polymorphisms. After that, we will evaluate and rank candidate genes in the critical regions using information from public databases and our own expression studies, and perform mutation analysis of the best candidate genes from well-defined critical regions by sequencing in a large panel of subjects with phenotypes that match the phenotypes of the patients whose CNV define the critical regions. Here, we will use more refined criteria to supplement our clinical classification, such as the developmental level and presence of epilepsy or other birth defects. Any abnormalities found will be analyzed using existing data regarding polymorphisms (i.e. dbSNP), cross-species comparisons, and functional assays appropriate for the specific sequence change. Study 2A In 1995, we described a novel multiple congenital anomaly syndrome associated with facial dysmorphism (congenital ptosis, high arched eyebrows, shallow orbits, trigonocephaly), colobomas of the eyes, neuronal migration malformation (frontal predominant lissencephaly) and variable hearing loss. We hypothesized from de novo mutations and used trio-based exome sequencing to identify de novo mutations in the ACTB and ACTG1 genes. Study 2B In 1997 and 2004, we and others defined two novel developmental syndromes associated with markedly enlarged brain size, or megalencephaly, and other highly recognizable features. The megalencephaly-capillary malformation syndrome (MCAP) consists of megalencephaly and associated growth dysregulation with variable asymmetry, developmental vascular anomalies, distal limb malformations, variable cortical malformation, and a mild connective tissue dysplasia. The megalencephaly-polymicrogyria-polydactyly-hydrocephalus syndrome (MPPH) resembles MCAP but lacks vascular malformations and syndactyly. We hypothesized that MCAP and MPPH result from mutations - including postzygotic events - in the same pathway, and studied them together. Using a combination of exome sequencing, Sanger sequencing, restriction-enzyme assays, and targeted ultra-deep sequencing in 50 families with MCAP or MPPH, we identified de novo germline or postzygotic mutations in three core components of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/AKT pathway. These include two mutations in AKT3, a recurrent mutation in PIK3R2, and multiple mostly postzygotic mutations in PIK3CA (Rivière JB, Mirzaa GM, O'Roak BJ, Beddaoui M, Alcantara D, Conway RL, St-Onge J, Schwartzentruber JA, Gripp KW, Nikkel SM, Worthylake T, Sullivan CT, Ward TR, Butler HE, Kramer NA, Albrecht B, Armour CM, Armstrong L, Caluseriu O, Cytrynbaum C, Drolet BA, Innes AM, Lauzon JL, Lin AE, Mancini GMS, Meschino WS, Reggin JD, Saggar AK, Lerman-Sagie T, Uyanik G, Weksberg R, Zirn B, Beaulieu CL, FORGE Canada Consortium, Majewski J, Bulman DE, O'Driscoll M, Shendure J, Graham Jr. JM, Boycott KM, Dobyns WB. De novo germline and postzygotic mutations in AKT3, PIK3R2 and PIK3CA cause a spectrum of related megalencephaly syndromes. Nat. Genet. In press). Study 3 2R01-NS046616 (PI: GOLDEN, Jeffrey A) The role of ARX in normal and abnormal brain development This subcontract from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to the University of Chicago (UC) is intended to support research studies of the ARX and functionally related genes in human subjects with any one of several specific developmental disorders. The Co-investigator at UC (W.B. Dobyns) will identify a series of patients with mental retardation and severe infantile epilepsy, some of whom will have specific brain malformations and others who will have normal brain structure by brain imaging studies, and collect research samples from these subjects with informed consent. The studies to be performed will include mutation analysis of ARX, mutation analysis of specific downstream target genes, X inactivation studies in humans and X inactivation studies in mutant mice. The results will be analyzed to determine the significance of any changes found in the gene.
The Cleveland Family Study (CFS) is a family-based study of sleep apnea, consisting of 2,284 individuals (46% African American) from 361 families studied on up to 4 occasions over a period of 16 years. The study began in 1990 with the initial aims of quantifying the familial aggregation of sleep apnea. National Institutes of Health (NIH) renewals provided expansion of the original cohort, including increased minority recruitment, and longitudinal follow-up, with the last exam occurring in February 2006. The CFS was designed to provide fundamental epidemiological data on risk factors for sleep disordered breathing (SDB). The sample was selected by identifying affected probands who had laboratory diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. All first-degree relatives, spouses and available second-degree relatives of affected probands were studied. In addition, during the first 5 study years, neighborhood control families were identified through a neighborhood proband, and his/her spouses and first-degree relatives. Each exam, occurring at approximately 4-year intervals, included new enrollment as well as follow up exams for previously enrolled subjects. For the first three visits, data, including an overnight sleep study, were collected in participants' homes while the last visit occurred in a general clinical research center (GCRC). Phenotypic characterization of the entire cohort included overnight sleep apnea studies, blood pressure, spirometry, anthropometry and questionnaires. Currently, data of 710 individuals are available for use through BioData Catalyst (with genotype data available through dbGaP).The National Sleep Research Resource (NSRR) is a NIH-supported sleep data repository that offers free access to large collections of de-identified physiological signals and related clinical data from a large range of cohort studies, clinical trials and other data sources from children and adults, including healthy individuals from the community and individuals with known sleep or other health disorders. The goals of NSRR are to facilitate rigorous research that requires access to large or more diverse data sets, including raw physiological signals, to promote a better understanding of risk factors for sleep and circadian disorders and/or the impact of sleep disturbances on health-related outcomes. Data from over 15 data sources and more than 40,000 individual sleep studies, many linked to dozens if not hundreds of clinical data elements, are available (as of Feb. 2022). Query tools are available to identify variables of interest, and their meta-data and provenance.
This is a retrospective study aimed at evaluating concordance between intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) tissue and patient-matched plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) using a targeted sequencing approach. Archival solid tissue genomic DNA was available for 46 patient FFPE blocks patient-matched plasma ctDNA was available from 15 of those patients. All tissues were obtained pre-treatment from patients with an IPMN diagnosis and subjected to Qiagen custom next generation sequencing panel.
This study assessed the variant profiles of 408 samples from 126 breast cancer patients with various survival outcomes, including paired uninvolved mammary gland samples collected at proximal distances from primary lesions. As a reference, control samples from 15 mammoplasty individuals without cancer history were studied. Whole exome sequencing was performed to identify post-zygotic and germline variants present in the studied samples. Variant annotation in known databases, interpretation, and statistical analyses followed to discern the clinical relevance of called variants.
In this study we characterized genomic alterations in two to five metachronous tumors from 29 patients initially diagnosed with early stage disease. Fourteen patients (32 tumors) had non progressive disease (NPD) and 15 patients (34 tumors) had progressive disease (PD). Whole exome sequencing (WES, ~50x mean read depth), Ultra deep targeted sequencing (~6,809x mean read depth) and whole transcriptome RNA-seq was performed for all samples. In addition multiregional WES was performed on 8 adjacent regions from a single tumor.
15 scRNA-seq samples were multiplexed, and 5' 10X Chromium scRNA-seq was performed. This dataset provides the FASTQ files for the multiplexed data, as well as the BAM files for the demultiplexed samples.
Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed on 73 tumors, including 58 colorectal cancers (CRC) and 15 urothelial cancers (UC), derived from 58 individuals with Lynch syndrome (LS). The cohort comprised both primary and metachronous tumors.
Paired 10X 3' single-nucleus RNA sequencing with PacBio Kinnex long-read sequencing in 7 control and 8 Alzheimer's disease human frontal cortex samples.
Single Cell Genome Sequence for Triple negative breast cancer patient-derived xenograft SA609 passage 3 on DLP+ library A95618B
Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples from 19 PSC-IBD-CRCs, 15 adjacent (non-tumour) mucosa samples and 18 non-mucosal DNA samples were collected via the nationwide network and registry of histo- and cytopathology in the Netherlands (PALGA). DNA was extracted for molecular analysis.
