Fusion genes arising from cancer-associated somatic mutations are a potential rich source for highly immunogenic neo-antigens. However, their exploitation as targets for personalized cancer immunotherapy is currently limited by the lack of computational tools allowing transcriptome-wide identification of unique fusion genes in an accurate and sensitive manner. Here, we present EasyFuse, a computational pipeline, to detect individual and cancer-specific fusion genes in next-generation-sequencing transcriptome data obtained from human cancer samples. Using machine learning, EasyFuse predicts personal fusion genes with high precision and sensitivity and outperforms previously described approaches as qualified by an unprecedented ground-truth dataset of >1500 verification experiments in relevant patient samples. By testing immunogenicity with autologous blood lymphocytes from cancer patients we detected pre-established CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses for 10 of 21 (48%), and for 1 of 30 (3%) of identified fusion genes, respectively. In conclusion, we demonstrate accurate detection of cancer-specific fusion genes. The high frequency of T cell responses detected in cancer patients support the relevance of private fusion genes as neo-antigens for personalized immunotherapies, especially for tumors with low point mutation burdens.
Immunotherapy with chimeric antigen receptor T cells for pediatric solid and brain tumors is constrained by available targetable antigens. Cancer-specific exons present a promising reservoir of targets; however, these have not been explored and validated systematically in a pan-cancer fashion. To identify cancer specific exon targets, we analyze 1,532 RNA-seq datasets from 16 types of pediatric solid and brain tumors for comparison with normal tissues using a newly developed workflow. We find 2,933 exons in 157 genes encoding proteins of the surfaceome or matrisome with high cancer specificity either at the gene (n=148) or the alternatively spliced isoform (n=9) level. Expression of selected alternatively spliced targets, including the EDB domain of fibronectin 1, and gene targets, such as COL11A1, are validated in pediatric patient derived xenograft tumors. We generate T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors specific for the EDB domain or COL11A1 and demonstrate that these have antitumor activity. The full target list, explorable via an interactive web portal (https://cseminer.stjude.org/), provides a rich resource for developing immunotherapy of pediatric solid and brain tumors using gene or AS targets with high expression specificity in cancer.
This cohort comprises a subset of pateints enrolled in the Genomic Advances in Sepsis (GAinS) study, an established biobank of adult sepsis patients. Patients with sepsis due to community acquired pneumonia or faecal peritonitis were recruited from 35 hospitals across the UK from 2005-2018, with samples for functional genomics and detailed clinical information collected over the first five days of ICU admission. DNA was extracted from buffy coat or whole blood samples using the Qiagen DNA extraction protocol, the automated Maxwell Blood purification kit (Promega), or the QIAamp Blood Midi kit protocol (Qiagen). Genotyping data were generated using the Illumina HumanOmniExpress BeadChip (295 patients), the Infinium CoreExome BeadChip (655 patients), and the Infinium Global Screening Array BeadChip (307 patients). Genotyping QC and imputation into the Haplotype Reference Consortium was perfomed within each batch. The datasets were combined and following post-imputation filtering data were available on 1168 samples. 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/
Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by poly-Q expansion in the Huntingtin (HTT) protein. Here, we delineate elevated mutant HTT (mHTT) levels in patient-derived cells including fibroblasts and iPSC derived cortical neurons using a GLP approved HTT assay. HD patients’ fibroblasts and cortical neurons recapitulate aberrant alternative splicing as a molecular fingerprint of HD. Branaplam is a splicing modulator currently tested in a phase II study in HD (NCT05111249). The drug lowers total HTT (tHTT) and mHTT levels in fibroblasts, iPSC, cortical progenitors, and neurons in a dose dependent manner at an IC50 consistently below 10nm without inducing cellular toxicity. Branaplam promotes inclusion of non-annotated novel exons. Amongst, a 115bp frameshift-inducing exon in the HTT transcript in Branaplam treated cells from Ctrl and HD patients leading to a profound reduction of HTT RNA and protein levels. Importantly, Branaplam ameliorates aberrant alternative splicing in HD patients’ fibroblasts and cortical neurons. These findings highlight the applicability of splicing modulators in the treatment of CAG repeat disorders and decipher their molecular effects associated with the pharmacokinetic and -dynamic properties in patient-derived cellular models.
We studied the genomic signatures of progression in breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) as it progresses towards triple negative invasive breast cancer (TNBC). Single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) was performed on the C3Tag genetically engineered mouse model that forms human breast-like DCIS and TNBC. Bulk RNA sequencing was performed on RNA harvested from archival formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) pairs comprising of estrogen receptor (ER) positive (ER+) and negative (ER-) subsets of DCIS.
Next generation sequencing (NGS) data analyzed in Rivas-Delgado, López, et al. HemaSphere 2024. Single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and short insertions /deletions (indels) were evaluated in 42 samples using a B-cell malignancy-oriented targeted panel covering 115 genes (SureSelectXT, Agilent Technologies and sequenced in a MiSeq instrument (Illumina; 2x150bp; mean coverage of 599x). The NGS data of 39 samples is provided here. The 3 additional samples were previously published. Please, see the original publication for additional details.
Here, we colonized bronchial epithelial air-liquid interface tissue cultures with 58 different individual microbes. Following 18 and 48 hours of colonization, we performed bulk RNA-seq of the host epithelial cells (n=3). Overall, we found significant microbial species-level and strain-level variation in host gene expression changes for innate immunity and epithelial barrier genes. Of particular interest, we found significant heterogeneity in stimulation of host interferon and antiviral interferon-stimulated genes.Study registered in ImmPort under accession # SDY2281.
Predicting resistance to chemotherapy using chromosomal instability signatures Joe Sneath Thompson1,2,*, Laura Madrid2,*, Barbara Hernando1,*, Carolin M. Sauer3, Maria Vias3, Maria Escobar-Rey1,2, Wing-Kit Leung2,3, Diego Garcia-Lopez2, Jamie Huckstep3, Magdalena Sekowska3, Karen Hosking4,5, Mercedes Jimenez-Linan5,6, Marika A. V. Reinius3,5,6, Abhipsa Roy2, Omar Abdulle2, Justina Pangonyte3, Harry Dobson2, Amy Cullen2,3, Dilrini De Silva2, David Gómez-Sánchez1,7, Marina Torres1, Ángel Fernández-Sanromán1, Deborah Sanders3, Filipe Correia Martins3,5,6, Ionut-Gabriel Funingana3,4,5, Giovanni Codacci-Pisanelli3,4,8, Miguel Quintela-Fandino1, Florian Markowetz2,3,4, Jason Yip2, James D. Brenton2,3,4,5,6, Anna M. Piskorz#,2,3, Geoff Macintyre#,1,2 1 Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid, Spain 2 Tailor Bio Ltd, Cambridge, UK 3 Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 4 Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 5 Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK 6 Cancer Research UK Major Centre - Cambridge, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 7 H12O-CNIO Lung Cancer Clinical Research Unit, Health Research Institute Hospital 12 de Octubre (imas12), Madrid, Spain 8 University of Rome "la Sapienza", Rome, Italy
Tumor evolution is one of the major mechanisms responsible for acquiring therapy resistant and more aggressive cancer clones. Whether the tumor microenvironment through immune-mediated mechanisms might promote the development of more aggressive cancer types is crucial for the identification of additional therapeutical opportunities. Here, we identify a subset of tumor-associated neutrophils, defined as tumor-associated neutrophil precursors (PreNeu). These PreNeu are enriched in highly proliferative hormone-dependent breast cancers and impair DNA repair capacity
Nanopore whole-genome sequencing was performed on DNA from peripheral blood samples of 10 individuals with ASD and 10 sex- and age-matched non-autistic controls (NC). DNA preparation and sequencing was performed according to the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT; Oxford, UK) manual “Ligation Sequencing gDNA V14 - human sample (N50 30 kb) on PromethION (SQK-LSK114)” (version GDH_9174_v114_revF_10Nov2022) using ONT R10.4.1 PromethION flow cells. Sequencing was performed on an ONT PromethION 2 Solo using ONT MinKNOW software. Base and modification calling as well as alignment was performed with the ONT dorado basecalling software v0.5.3 using the model dna_r10.4.1_e8.2_400bps_hac@v4.2.0 and flag --modified-bases 5mCG_5hmCG with GenBank GCA_0000001405.15 (GRCh38) as reference sequence. This dataset contains the resulting modBAMs (.bam file format) sorted and indexed using samtools (Danecek et al., 2021) with indexes in bam.bai file format.
