The WD40-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase RFWD3 has been recently linked to the repair of DNA damage by Homologous Recombination (HR). Here we show that an RFWD3 mutation within the WD40 domain is connected to the genetic disease Fanconi anemia (FA). An individual revealed congenital abnormalities characteristic for FA. Cells from the patient, carrying the compound heterozygous mutations c.205_206dupCC and c.1916T>A in RFWD3, show increased sensitivity to DNA interstrand cross-linking agents in terms of increased chromosomal breakage, reduced survival and cell cycle arrest in G2 phase. The cellular phenotype is mirrored in genetically engineered human and avian cells by inactivation of RFWD3 or by introduction of the patient-derived missense mutation, and is rescued by expression of wildtype RFWD3 protein. HR is disrupted in RFWD3 mutant cells, caused by impaired relocation of mutant RFWD3 to chromatin and defective physical interaction with RPA. Rfwd3 knockout mice exhibit increased embryonic lethality, are sub-fertile, show ovarian and testicular atrophy and have a reduced life span in which they resemble other FA mouse models. Although mutation was detected in a single child with FA yet, we propose RFWD3 as a novel FA gene, FANCW, supported by cellular paradigm systems and an animal model.
Serrated lesions of the colorectum are the precursors of 15-30% of colorectal cancers (CRCs). These lesions have a peculiar morphological appearance, and they are more difficult to detect than conventional adenomatous polyps. In this study we sought to define the genomic landscape of these lesions using high depth targeted sequencing.
North Carolina Clinical Genomic Evaluation by Next-generation Exome Sequencing This study is part of a larger consortium project investigating the validity and best use of next-generation sequencing (in particular, whole exome sequencing, or WES) in clinical care. Participants are patients who were either seen in the UNC Cancer and Adult Genetics Clinic or referred to the study by their physician. They will be approached by their physician or a genetic counselor for recruitment. Once enrolled, a clinical geneticist or genetic counselor will obtain consent and collect blood samples to be analyzed using WES. Results may include information related to a diagnosis and incidental information. Medically actionable incidental findings will be CLIA-certified and returned to participants in a routine genetic counseling session, along with diagnostic findings. Eligible adult participants will be randomized to have the opportunity to choose to get certain types of non-medically actionable incidental findings, as well. Their decisions will be investigated, as will psychosocial and behavioral responses to sequencing and receiving sequencing information. This is a longitudinal, mixed methods study (i.e., multiple assessments pre- and post-return of results, with both quantitative and qualitative methods used to gather data). Because only the quantitative component of the study uses randomization, only measures and procedures associated with that component are included here. The third study release includes data of additional n=189 subjects.
In the UK10K project we propose a series of complementary genetic approaches to find new low frequency/rare variants contributing to disease phenotypes. These will be based on obtaining the genome wide sequence of 4000 samples from the TwinsUK and ALSPAC cohorts (at 6x sequence coverage), and the exome sequence (protein coding regions and related conserved sequence) of 6000 samples selected for extreme phenotypes. Our studies will focus primarily on cardiovascular-related quantitative traits, obesity and related metabolic traits, neurodevelopmental disorders and a limited number of extreme clinical phenotypes that will provide proof-of-concept for future familial trait sequencing. We will analyse directly quantitative traits in the cohorts and the selected traits in the extreme samples, and also use imputation down to 0.1% allele frequency to extend the analyses to further sample sets with genome wide genotype data. In each case we will investigate indels and larger structural variants as well as SNPs, and use statistical methods that combine rare variants in a locus or pathway as well as single-variant approaches. This sample set consists of DNA from multiply affected schizophrenia families. The families have been diagnosed using the SADS-L clinical instrument which gives diagnoses at the probable level of the research diagnostic criteria (RDC). In addition all diagnoses are available using DSMIIIR criteria. These criteria are widely accepted as being valid and reliable for the diagnosis of schizophrenia. All families have been collected to ensure that they are uni-lineal for transmission of schizophrenia, i.e. they have only one affected parent with schizophrenia, or a relative of only one transmitting or obligate carrier parent with schizophrenia. Families with bi-lineal transmission of schizophrenia (i.e. with both parents being affected) were not sampled for this study. All families have multiple cases of schizophrenia and related disorders. The families have been selected to ensure there are no cases of bipolar disorder within them and that they do not contain bipolar disorder in any relatives on either side of the family.For further information on this cohort please contact Hugh Gurling (h.gurling@ucl.ac.uk).
Andersen-Tawil syndrome (ATS) is an ion channel disorder that causes episodes of muscle weakness and potentially life-threatening heart arrhythmias. The majority of ATS cases are caused by a mutation in the KCNJ2 gene, which is linked to potassium channels in the heart, brain, and skeletal muscle; other cases are presumed to be caused by an undetermined gene lesion. To date, the treatment for ATS has been largely anecdotal, and no treatments have been formally assessed in a controlled clinical trial. This study will determine whether potassium supplements and/or acetazolamide, which is a diuretic medication, affect the duration of muscle weakness and heart rhythm abnormalities in people with ATS. Participation in this study will last about 11 months. Participants will first attend a 3-day inpatient visit that will include a medical history, physical examination, blood work, heart rhythm testing by an electrocardiogram (ECG) and Holter monitor, strength testing, a health questionnaire, and daily potassium supplementation. Participants will also track the number and length of weakness episodes that they experience while in the hospital. On the last day of the inpatient visit, participants will be provided with multiple bottles containing either potassium or placebo. Participants will then return home for an 18-week treatment period that will consist of six 3-week-long treatments of either potassium or placebo, with the treatment schedule being randomly determined. Upon completing the first 18-week treatment period, participants will attend a second 3-day inpatient visit that will include the same tests and procedures as the first. The only difference will be that participants will receive acetazolamide along with potassium. This will be followed by a second 18-week treatment period that will consist of six 3-week-long treatments of either acetazolamide or placebo. At the end of the second treatment period, participants will fill out another health questionnaire. Throughout both 18-week treatment periods, participants will phone in daily to track any muscle or heart problems. They will also provide blood samples on a weekly basis. At Weeks 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, and 17 of both treatment periods, participants will wear a Holter monitor for 24 hours and then mail it in. A final outpatient visit will occur 8 weeks after the end of the second treatment period and will include heart rhythm testing, muscle strength testing, and blood work.
The overall goal of the CanSeq U01 project is to study the impact of whole-exome sequencing (WES) on the clinical care of cancer patients and oncology provider practices. The aims of Project 1 are to implement and establish the feasibility of germline and somatic WES in patients with advanced solid tumors (lung and colon); to develop a framework for interpreting and reporting for exome sequencing data; to determine the proportion of patients with "actionable items" compared to existing technologies; and to report on the percentage of patients in whom unique WES findings led to a clinical action. The aims of Project 2 are to implement a production-scale platform for WES from archival (FFPE) material; to identify biologically relevant somatic and germline alterations existing in tumor/normal DNA from individual patients; to produce an evidence-based list of clinically "actionable" genetic alterations; and to develop inferential models that predict the utility of tumor genomic data within the larger clinical context. The goals of Project 3 are to describe the impact of information derived through WES on cancer patients; to test the hypothesis that patients will want to receive information about all potentially informative somatic and germline variants; to study patients' understanding of disclosed genomic information; and to describe the experiences of oncology providers as they implement WES into cancer care delivery.
This study includes samples from two projects: Collaborative Genetic Study of Nicotine Dependence (COGEND; PI: Laura Bierut) and Genetic Study of Nicotine Dependence in African Americans (AAND; PI: Laura Bierut and Eric Johnson). The majority of the COGEND subjects included in the current study overlap with the two datasets already available on dbGaP. GWAS data are available for COGEND subjects through the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (SAGE), dbGaP study accession phs000092. It should be noted that the case definition in the SAGE study is DSM-IV alcohol dependence. GWAS data are available for additional COGEND subjects through The Genetic Architecture of Smoking and Smoking Cessation, dbGaP study accession phs000404. The overall goal of this project is to apply deep sequencing to key genomic regions associated with nicotine dependence in order to accelerate the discovery of variation in molecular pathways that govern the development of nicotine dependence. The sample includes unrelated cases and controls of European American and African American descent. Cases are defined by a commonly used definition of nicotine dependence, a current score of 4 or more (maximum score of 10) on the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Control status is defined as an individual who smoked at least 100 cigarettes during their lifetime, yet never became dependent (lifetime FTND<2). By selecting controls who smoked cigarettes, we focus on those genetic effects that are specific to the development of nicotine dependence. COGEND: COGEND was initiated in 2001 as a three-part program project grant funded through the National Cancer Institute (NCI; PI: Laura Bierut). The three projects included a study of the familial transmission of nicotine dependence, a genetic study of nicotine dependence, and a study of the relationship of nicotine dependence with nicotine metabolism. The primary goal was to detect, localize, and characterize genes that predispose or protect an individual with respect to heavy tobacco consumption, nicotine dependence, and related phenotypes and to integrate these findings with the family transmission and nicotine metabolism findings. The primary design was a community based case-control study. Nicotine dependent cases and non-dependent, smoking controls were identified and recruited from Detroit and St. Louis. More than 54,000 subjects aged 25-44 years were screened by telephone; more than 3,100 subjects were personally interviewed; and more than 2,900 subjects donated blood samples for genetic studies. AAND: AAND was initiated in 2009 to identify and characterize genetic determinants of nicotine dependence in a large African American population. Community-based recruitment of approximately 100,000 people was conducted to ascertain 1,000 African American nicotine dependent cases and 1,000 African American non-dependent, smoking controls. All subjects were between the ages of 25-44. Subjects were screened by telephone; if they qualified as a case or control, they completed the same interview that was used in COGEND and donated a blood sample. Both studies (COGEND and AAND) included measures of basic socio-demographic variables, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, family income, and educational attainment using the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Nicotine Dependence. Information on nicotine dependence, as assessed by the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) is available for all subjects. In addition, participants also completed the Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale (NDSS; Shiffman et al., 2004) and the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (WISDM-68; Piper et al, 2004). All subjects were assessed in person by trained research assistants.
This dataset contains in solution target-enrichment bisulfite sequencing of placental tissue, buffy coat and plasma DNA from pregnant women. Blood samples were taken for cell-free DNA (cfDNA) DNA extraction from 64 women at the time of early-onset preeclampsia (PE) diagnosis, or from 38 controls (uncomplicated pregnancies) at a similar gestational age that did not develop preeclampsia subsequently. Among these subjects, plasma samples from 7 PE patients and 6 controls were also subjected to oxidative bisulfite sequencing. Placental tissues from 11 PE and 26 control subjects after delivery, and buffy coat from 16 PE and 16 control subjects at the same time of cfDNA sampling were profiled. A discovery cohort for early PE assessment in the first trimester was collected. In this cohort, cfDNA from 75 pregnancies that went on to develop early-onset PE and from 124 matched controls were collected and methylome sequencing were carried out. An independent validation cohort to validate early PE assessment with methylome profiling was collected as well. This validation cohort includes cfDNA samples from 61 PE and 136 control pregnancies.
The ELLIPSE Consortium is an international effort to discover risk loci for prostate cancer. It includes the meta-analysis of existing GWAS data as well as novel GWAS, exome, and iCOGS genotyping. The GWAS meta-analysis includes the following cases and controls from studies of European ancestry: UK GWAS stage 1 (Illumina Infinium HumanHap 550 Array: 1854 cases and 1894 controls), UK GWAS stage 2 (Illumina iSELECT: 3706 cases and 3884 controls), CAPS1 (Affymetrix GeneChip 500K: 474 cases and 482 controls), CAPS2 (Affymetrix GeneChip 5.0K: 1458 cases and 512 controls), BPC3 (Illumina Human610 Illumina: 2068 cases and 3011 controls), PEGASUS (HumanOmni2.5: 4600 cases and 2941 controls). The OMNI 2.5M genotyping was conducted for 977 prostate cancer cases from UKGPCS. The Exome SNP array genotyping was conducted for 4741 subjects from UKGPCS. The iCOGs genotyping was conducted for 10366 subjects which includes the Multiethnic Cohort (n=1648) and UKGPCS (n=8718). Below is a description of each study that contributed to the meta-analysis of men of European ancestry. Information about the studies that contributed to the multiethnic meta-analysis can be found on the associated study page and also in Conti et al (Nature Genetics, PMID:33398198). UK GWAS Stage 1 (UK1) and Stage 2 (UK2): The UK Genetic Prostate Cancer Study (UKGPCS) was first established in 1993 and is the largest prostate cancer study of its kind in the UK, involving nearly 189 hospitals. We are based at The Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey, and collaborate with the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Our aim is to find genetic changes which are associated with prostate cancer risk. Our target is to recruit 26,000 gentlemen into the UKGPCS by 2017. Men are eligible to take part if they fit into at least one of the following groups: They have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at 60 years of age or under (up to their 61st birthday). They have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and a first, second or third degree relative where at least one of these men were diagnosed with prostate cancer at 65 years of age or under. They are affected and have 3 or more cases of prostate cancer on one side of their family. They are a prostate cancer patient at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. We have to date recruited around 16,000 men on whom we have germline DNA and clinical data at diagnosis. The UK GWAS is based on genotyping of 541,129 SNPs in 1,854 individuals with clinically detected (non-PSA-screened) prostate cancer (cases) and 1,894 controls. 43,671 SNPs showing strong evidence of association in stage 1 were followed up by genotyping a further 3,268 cases and 3,366 controls from UK and Melbourne in stage2. CAPS1 and CAPS2: The CAPS (Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden) study represents a large Swedish population-based cancer study, comprising 3,161 cases and 2,149 controls, recruited between 2001 and 2003. Biopsy confirmed prostate cancer cases were identified and recruited from four out of six regional cancer registries in Sweden, diagnosed between July 2001 and October 2003. Clinical data including TNM stage, Gleason grade and PSA levels at time for diagnosis were retrieved through record linkage to the National Prostate Cancer Registry. Control subjects, who were recruited concurrently with case subjects, were randomly selected from the Swedish Population Registry and matched according to the expected age distribution of cases (groups of 5-year intervals) and geographic region. Whole blood was collected from all individuals for extraction of genomic DNA. A GWAS was conducted in two parts. In the first phase (CAPS1) 498 cases and 502 controls were genotyped, in the second phase 1,483 cases and 519 controls were genotyped. Genotyping was performed using the GeneChip Human Mapping 500K (CAPS1) and 5.0K (CAPS2) Array Set from Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA). The National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium, BPC3: BPC3 was a consortium of prospective cohort studies investigating genetic and gene-environmental risk factors for breast and prostate cancer. Each study selected cases and controls for this study as described below. The clinical criteria defining advanced prostate cancer (Gleason = 8 or stage C/D) were either obtained from medical records or cancer registries. The Gleason score source was either surgical specimens (radical prostatectomy or autopsy) or the diagnostic biopsy (needle biopsy or TURP). When multiple Gleason scores were available the surgical value was used. PLCO was removed from the analysis as the samples were included in the Pegasus GWAS described below. In total 2,473 advanced prostate cancer cases and 3,534 controls were included in the analysis following QC. ATBC, Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study: ATBC was a randomized, placebo-controlled primary prevention trial to investigate whether α-tocopherol or ß-carotene supplementation reduced the incidence of lung or other cancers in male smokers. Between 1985 and 1988, 29,133 men ages 50 to 69 years were enrolled in the trial from Finland and randomized to supplementation (50 mg α-tocopherol, 20mg ß-carotene, or both) or placebo. Men with a prior history of cancer, other than non-melanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ, were excluded from participating. Incident cancer cases are identified through linkage with the Finnish Cancer Registry, which has ~100% ascertainment of cancer cases nationwide. Cases included 249 men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer (Gleason = 8 or stage C/D) from 1985 to 2003 with DNA available. Controls were 1,271 men selected previously for a GWAS of lung cancer in ATBC without a diagnosis of prostate cancer. CPSII, Cancer Prevention Study II: CPSII is a cohort study started in 1982 to investigate the relationship between dietary, lifestyle and other etiologic factors and cancer mortality. Approximately 1.2 million men and women enrolled in the study from 50 states in the U.S. In 1992, a subset of these participants (n= ~184,000) were enrolled in the CPSII Nutrition Cohort to examine the relationship between dietary and other exposures and cancer incidence. Blood samples were drawn from approximately 39,376 members of the Nutritional Cohort from 1998 to 2001, and buccal cells were collected from 69,467 members from 2001 to 2002. Cancer cases are identified by self-report through follow-up questionnaires followed by verification through medical records and/or linkage to state cancer registries as well as death certificates. A total of 660 advanced prostate cancer cases (Gleason = 8 or stage III/IV) with a source of DNA were identified for this study. Controls were 660 men matched on ethnicity, date of birth, sample collection date and DNA type. EPIC, European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition: EPIC is a prospective study designed to investigate both genetic and non-genetic risk factors for different forms of cancer. Study participants were almost all white Europeans. Approximately 500,000 individuals (150,000 men) in EPIC were recruited between 1992 and 2000, from 23 centers in 10 European countries. Overall approximately 400,000 subjects also provided a blood sample at recruitment. The methods of recruitment and details of the study design are described in detail elsewhere. In brief, study participants completed an extensive questionnaire on both dietary and nondietary data at recruitment. The present study includes subjects from advanced prostate cancer cases (Gleason = 8 or stage III/IV) matched to controls based on study center, length of follow-up, age at enrollment (± 6 months), fasting and time of day of blood collection (± 1 hour). The advanced prostate cancer subjects were from 8 of the 10 participating countries: Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK). France and Norway were not included in the current study because these cohorts only included female subjects. All participants gave written consent for the research and approval for the study was obtained from the ethical review board from all local institutions in the regions where participants had been recruited for the EPIC study. HPFS, Health Professionals Follow-up Study: HPFS began in 1986 and is an ongoing prospective cohort study of 51,529 United States male dentists, optometrists, osteopaths, podiatrists, pharmacists, and veterinarians 40 to 75 years of age. The baseline questionnaire provided information on age, marital status, height and weight, ancestry, medications, smoking history, disease history, physical activity, and diet. At baseline the cohort was 97% white, 2% Asian American, and 1% African American. The median follow-up through 2005 was 10.5 years (range 2-19 years). Self-reported prostate cancer diagnoses were confirmed by obtaining medical and/or pathology records. Prostate cancer deaths are either reported by family members in response to follow-up questionnaires, discovered by the postal system, or the National Death Index. Questionnaires are sent every two years to surviving men to update exposure and medical history. In 1993 and 1994, a blood specimen was collected from 18,018 men without a prior diagnosis of cancer. Prostate cancer cases are matched to controls on birth year (+/-1) and ethnicity. Controls are selected from those who are cancer-free at the time of the case’s diagnosis, and had a prostate-specific antigen test after the date of blood draw. MEC, Multiethnic Cohort: The Multiethnic Cohort Study is a population-based prospective cohort study that was initiated between 1993 and 1996 and includes subjects from various ethnic groups - African Americans and Latinos primarily from Californian (great Los Angeles area) and Native Hawaiians, Japanese-Americans, and European Americans primarily from Hawaii. State drivers’ license files were the primary sources used to identify study subjects in Hawaii and California. Additionally, in Hawaii, state voter’s registration files were used, and, in California, Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) files were used to identify additional African American men. All participants (n=215,251) returned a 26-page self-administered baseline questionnaire that obtained general demographic, medical and risk factor information. In the cohort, incident cancer cases are identified annually through cohort linkage to population-based cancer Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries in Hawaii and Los Angeles County as well as to the California State cancer registry. Information on stage and grade of disease are also obtained through the SEER registries. Blood sample collection in the MEC began in 1994 and targeted incident prostate cancer cases and a random sample of study participants to serve as controls for genetic analyses. PHS, Physicians Health Study:PHS was a randomized trial of aspirin and ß carotene for cardiovascular disease and cancer among 22,071 U.S. male physicians ages 40-84 years at randomization; none had a cancer diagnosis at baseline. The original trial ended, but the men are followed. From 1982 to 1984, blood samples were collected from 14,916 physicians before randomization. Participants are sent yearly questionnaires to ascertain endpoints. Whenever a physician reports cancer, we request permission to obtain the medical records, and cancers are confirmed by pathology report. We obtain death certificates and pertinent medical records for all deaths. Follow-up for nonfatal outcomes in PHS is over 97% complete, and for mortality, over 99%. PLCO, Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial:PLCO is a multicenter, randomized trial to evaluate screening methods for the early detection of prostate, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancer. Between 1993 and 2001, over 150,000 men and women ages 55-74 years were recruited from ten centers in the United States (Birmingham, AL; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Honolulu, HI; Marshfield, WI; Minneapolis, MN; Pittsburgh, PA; Salt Lake City, UT; St. Louis, MO; and Washington, D.C.). Men randomized to the screening arm underwent prostate cancer screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) annually for six years and digital rectal exam annually for four years. Blood specimens were collected from participants randomized to the screening arm of the trial, and buccal cell specimens were obtained from participants randomized to the control arm. Cases included 754 men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer (Gleason = 8 or stage III/IV) from either arm of the trial. Of these cases, 317 were genotyped previously as part of Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS), a GWAS for prostate cancer. Controls included 1,491 men without a diagnosis of prostate cancer from the screening arm of the PLCO trial. All subjects provided informed consent to participate in genetic etiology studies of cancer and other traits. This study was approved by the institutional review boards at the ten centers and the National Cancer Institute. PLCO was removed from the meta-analysis of the BPC3 studies as a consequence of PEGASUS below. PEGASUS, Prostate cancer Genome-wide Association Study of Uncommon Susceptibility loci: Pegasus is a genome-wide association nested within the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. PLCO is a multicenter, randomized trial to evaluate screening methods for the early detection of prostate, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancer. Between 1993 and 2001, over 150,000 men and women ages 55-74 years were recruited from ten centers in the United States (Birmingham, AL; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Honolulu, HI; Marshfield, WI; Minneapolis, MN; Pittsburgh, PA; Salt Lake City, UT; St. Louis, MO; and Washington, D.C.). Men randomized to the screening arm underwent prostate cancer screening with prostate-specific antigen annually for six years and digital rectal exam annually for four years. Blood specimens were collected from participants randomized to the screening arm of the trial, and buccal cell specimens were obtained from participants randomized to the control arm. Cases included 4,598 men of European ancestry diagnosed with prostate cancer from either arm of the trial and controls included 2,941 men of European ancestry without a diagnosis of cancer from the screening arm, matched on age and year of randomization. All subjects provided informed consent, and the study approved by the institutional review board at the National Cancer Institute. Funding:This work was supported by the GAME-ON U19 initiative for prostate cancer (ELLIPSE): U19 CA148537. The BPC3 was supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute (cooperative agreements U01-CA98233, U01-CA98710, U01-CA98216, and U01-CA98758, and Intramural Research Program of NIH/National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics). The ATBC study and PEGASUS was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH and the National Cancer Institute. Additionally, this research was supported by U.S. Public Health Service contracts N01-CN-45165, N01-RC-45035, N01-RC-37004 and HHSN261201000006C from the National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services. CAPS: The Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden was supported by the Cancer Risk Prediction Center (CRisP; www.crispcenter.org), a Linneus Centre (Contract ID 70867902) financed by the Swedish Research Council, Swedish Research Council (grant: K2010-70X-20430-04-3), the Swedish Cancer Foundation (grant: 09-0677), the Hedlund Foundation, the Söderberg Foundation, the Enqvist Foundation, ALF funds from the Stockholm County Council. Stiftelsen Johanna Hagstrand och Sigfrid Linnér’s Minne, Karlsson’s Fund for urological and surgical research. We thank and acknowledge all of the participants in the Stockholm-1 study. We thank Carin Cavalli-Björkman and Ami Rönnberg Karlsson for their dedicated work in the collection of data. Michael Broms is acknowledged for his skillful work with the databases. KI Biobank is acknowledged for handling the samples and for DNA extraction. Hans Wallinder at Aleris Medilab and Sven Gustafsson at Karolinska University Laboratory are thanked for their good cooperation in providing historical laboratory results. UKGPCS would like to acknowledge the NCRN nurses and Consultants for their work in the UKGPCS study. We thank all the patients who took part in this study. This work was supported by Cancer Research UK (grants: C5047/A7357, C1287/A10118, C1287/A5260, C5047/A3354, C5047/A10692, C16913/A6135 and C16913/A6835). We would also like to thank the following for funding support: Prostate Research Campaign UK (now Prostate Cancer UK), The Institute of Cancer Research and The Everyman Campaign, The National Cancer Research Network UK, The National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) UK. We are grateful for support of NIHR funding to the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The MEC was supported by NIH grants CA63464, CA54281 and CA098758.
The purpose of this study is to learn about reproductive health, including fertility and pregnancies, in people with vasculitis. All patients enrolled in the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium's Contact Registry will be invited via email to participate in this study. The Contact Registry includes people who self-identify as having one of 11 vasculities: Behçet's disease, central nervous system vasculitis, drug-induced vasculitis, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss), giant cell arteritis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's), Henoch-Schoenlein purpura, Kawasaki disease, microscopic polyangiitis, polyarteritis nodosa, or Takayasu arteritis. People voluntarily enroll in this Registry with the understanding that they will receive information about clinical studies for which they might be eligible. The introductory email included basic information about the study and all of the required elements for informed consent in a brief format. Once participants agreed to participate in the study, they were directed to an online questionnaire.
