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• INSERM U944 Team Genome and Cancer

  Dac EGAC00001002976

• Cancer Team Data Access Committee

  Dac EGAC00001002982

• Germline Team Data Access Commitee

  Dac EGAC00001003032

• UTHSCSA HCC Team Data Access Commitee

  Dac EGAC00001003351

• How upcycled prostate cancer sequences enabled key findings on telomeres length

  The length of telomeres, the chromosomes’ end tails, as depicted in the figure below, physiologically shorten with aging. This means that younger cells have longer telomeres compared to their aged counterparts; one could say that the length of cells’ telomeres is a measure of their replicative power. Cancer cells are known to be able to turn this into their favour, and expand their replicative immortality through telomere lengthening and maintenance. Despite being a well-studied pan-cancer hallmark, the relation of the telomeres length to specific cancer genomic features is poorly understood. Julia Livingstone and her colleagues from P.C. Boutros' team in Los Angeles focused their work on prostate cancer. To investigate the relations between telomere length and the clinico-genomics of prostate tumours, they used whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 392 published tumour–reference pairs previously deposited at the EGA under accession numbers EGAS00001000400 and EGAS00001000900. Their work was published on Nature Communications in November 2021. They determined the telomere length of the sequencing sample, from both tumour and non-tumour adjacent tissues, and subsequently ran statistical analysis to investigate possible correlation between the telomeres length with several cancer features. The team discovered that telomeres length does not correlate with any specific driver gene mutation, but it does with the overall frequency of single nucleotides variants in a sample. This finding suggests that tumours with shorter telomeres accumulate more mutations without strong selective pressures for specific ones. While proliferation rate did not correlate directly with telomere length, methylation of almost half of all genes strongly did. The team’s results are massive and reveal a complicated and fascinating relation of different clinical and genomic features of prostate cancer with telomere length. In the paper discussion, they smartly consider different possibilities. As noted above, all these amazing results have been obtained analysing previously sequenced samples. Remarkably, the researchers who generated the samples did not focus at all on telomeres length. They indeed studied specific genes mutations and the features of early and late-onset prostate cancer. This proves, once again, the power of sequencing data re-use. This data is tremendously rich in information, and can hardly be exhausted with any number of analyses. Generating sequencing data, especially Whole Genome Sequencing, even better if tumor-reference paired, is like shopping every last article at the grocery store. You can then cook several recipes, or prepare a seven-course dinner, and still have ingredients left for someone else to borrow and cook something you have not thought about, a recipe that is just not in your cookbook. Noteworthy, the data retrieved from the EGA for this paper is associated with rich and complete metadata, meaning pheno-clinical information regarding the sample donors. As Julia Livingstone and her team wrote, using rich clinical annotations enabled them to assess the relationship between telomere length and patients outcome. This highlights once again the importance of reporting and annotating metadata correctly; It might feel like extra work for the researchers depositing their data, but it really has a huge value. Our team at the EGA is currently working to improve the metadata annotation process, with the aim to maximize the benefits for the scientific community.

  Blog prostate-cancer-sequences-enabled-key-findings-on-telomeres-length

• The Institute of Cancer Research - Endocrinology Team

  Dac EGAC00001000532

• KEIO-PSC team Data Access Commitee

  Dac EGAC00001001070

• Brainstem Glioma Team Data Access Committee

  Dac EGAC00001001535

• Laboratory of Applied Cancer Genomics team

  Dac EGAC00001002546

• Radboud University Medical Centre FSHD Clinical Team

  Dac EGAC00001003305

• EuCANCan: EUropean-CANadian Cancer network

  The EUropean-CANadian Cancer network (EuCANCan) is a project aiming to develop a federated network of aligned and interoperable infrastructures for the homogeneous analysis, management and sharing of genomic oncology data for Personalized Medicine. This initiative, funded by the European Commission and the Canadian Institutes of Health and coordinated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), is expected to process and provide the scientific community with around 30-35 thousand patient samples from different types of cancer, coming from different nodes involved in this project, during the four years of the project. Data generated as part of primary studies, often in small hospitals or research centers, is hardly reused by other projects or groups. EuCANCan is proposed to foster the homogenisation and discoverability of cancer samples from very different sources for the whole community. These efforts will help paving the way to future standardised and global genomics projects, specially for those participant countries that eventually integrate the methodology and infrastructure generated during the project. “The more data we have access to the more and better discoveries. We attempt to overcome the legal and technical limitations in order to generate, gather and exploit bigger datasets as well as answer more ambitious questions”. These were some of the words Dr. David Torrents, main coordinator of the project, shared with a regional radio during the kick-off meeting of the project, on February 11th, 2019. The EUCANCan network will be composed of reference nodes in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Heidelberg, Paris and Toronto which have established strong research and clinical programs in the field of genomic oncology. The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), specifically the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA), is among the leading institutions. Its exhaustive experience in biomedical data archival and secure distribution is considered key for crucial developments within the project. It is also notable the recent inclusion of EUCANCan in the list of GA4GH driver projects. Further information and details can be found in the following links: InsideHPC BSC official description Techweek (Spanish)

  Blog eucancan

• Whole Exome Sequencing of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

  The somatic genetic basis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a common and clinically heterogenous adult leukemia, remains poorly understood. Massively parallel sequencing technology now provides a method for systematic discovery of genetic alterations that underlie disease, and for uncovering new therapeutic targets and biomarkers. In study version 2 we presented a dataset consisting of DNA sequencing from 169 CLL samples (with matched germline controls). Samples were collected from patients displaying a wide range of characteristics representing the broad clinical spectrum of CLL. Understanding the mutational landscape of CLL provides a starting point for systematic analyses to address fundamental questions in CLL, including how mutated genes alter cellular networks and phenotypes, and thereby contribute to disease heterogeneity. Intratumoral heterogeneity plays a critical role in tumor evolution. To define the contribution of DNA methylation to heterogeneity within tumors, we performed genome-scale bisulfite sequencing of >100 primary chronic lymphocytic leukemias (CLLs; data presented in study version 3). Compared with 26 normal B cell samples, CLLs consistently displayed higher intrasample variability of DNA methylation patterns across the genome, which appears to arise from stochastically disordered methylation in malignant cells. Transcriptome analysis of bulk and single CLL cells revealed that methylationdisorder was linked to low-level expression. Disordered methylation was further associated with adverse clinical outcome. We therefore propose that disordered methylation plays a similar role to that of genetic instability, enhancing the ability of cancer cells to search for superior evolutionary trajectories.

  Study phs000435

• Non-coding mutations reveal cancer driver cistromes in luminal breast cancer

  Whole-genome sequencing of primary breast tumors enabled the identification of cancer driver genes and non-coding cancer driver plexuses from somatic mutations. However, differentiating between driver and passenger events among non-coding genetic variants remains a challenge to understand the etiology of cancer and inform the delivery of personalized cancer medicine. Herein, we reveal enrichment of non-coding mutations in cis-regulatory elements that cover a subset of transcription factors linked to tumor progression in luminal breast cancers. Using a cohort of 26 primary luminal ER+PR+ breast tumors, we compiled a catalogue of ~100,000 unique cis-regulatory elements from ATAC-seq data. Integrating this catalogue with somatic mutations from 350 publicly available breast tumor whole genomes, we identified four recurrently mutated individual cis-regulatory elements. By then partitioning the non-coding genome into cistromes, defined as the sum of binding sites for a transcription factor, we uncovered cancer driver cistromes for ten transcription factors, namely CTCF, ELF1, ESR1, FOSL2, FOXA1, FOXM1 GATA3, JUND, TFAP2A, and TFAP2C in luminal breast cancer. Nine of these ten transcription factors were shown to be essential for growth in breast cancer, with four exclusive to the luminal subtype. Collectively, we present a strategy to find cancer driver cistromes relying on quantifying the enrichment of non-coding mutations over cis-regulatory elements concatenated into a functional unit drawn from an accessible chromatin catalogue derived from primary cancer tissues.

  Study EGAS00001005235

• Single-cell Multiomics Data Team

  Dac EGAC00001003380

• SGI Single-cell team GC Data Access Committee

  Dac EGAC00001001420

• Long-read trio sequencing Team Data Access Commitee

  Dac EGAC00001001532

• UZ Ghent Prostate Cancer Team Data Access Committee

  Dac EGAC00001001608

• Single-cell Omics Glioma Team Data Access Committee

  Dac EGAC00001002256

• CNS Embryonal tumors

  The dataset represents a total of 58 DNA samples from 16 male and 12 female pediatric patients affected with embryonal central nervous system tumors. The samples were subject to whole genome sequencing, WGS, [48 samples, (representing 12 male and 11 female individuals)] and whole exome sequencing, WES, [10 samples, (representing 4 male and 1 female individuals)]. One tumor tissue sample and one peripheral blood sample were analyzed from each of 26 patients, whereas two tumor tissue samples and one peripheral blood sample were analyzed from two patients. The WGS samples were sequenced 2x150 bp paired-end on an Illumina HiSeqX v2.5 instrument, and the WES samples were sequenced 2x100 bp paired-end on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 instrument. The FASTQ files generated were aligned to the human reference genome sequence GRCh38/hg38 using bwa-mem, with the ALT-aware option turned on. Sorting of reads and marking of PCR duplicates was performed with GATK. Base quality score recalibration and joint realignment of reads around insertions and deletions (indels) were conducted using GATK tools. The dataset consists of 58 files in the CRAM format (lossless compression) with a total file size of ~8,8 TB. All CRAM files but one, are derived from one sequence run and one sample. P4551_227N_P4552_112N is a CRAM file where 2 sequence runs (P4551_227N and P4552_112N) from peripheral blood samples from the same individual, P019, were aligned into one single CRAM file. Additional genomic and molecular data (FASTQ, BAM, IDAT, and VCF files) and limited clinical data can be requested by ethically approved projects conducting research in the field of pediatric cancer.

  Dataset EGAD50000000298

• Signal Transduction Team ICR (2011) Data Access Committee

  Dac EGAC00001000040

• INSERM U981 Team : Genomics of Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer

  Dac EGAC00001001644

• Single-cell Multiomics Clonal Hematopoiesis Team Data Access Committee

  Dac EGAC00001002735

• Queen Mary University of London Information Security Management Team

  Dac EGAC00001003071

• Queen Mary University of London Information Security Management Team

  Dac EGAC00001003083

• PROstate Cancer Medically Optimized Genome Enhanced ThErapy (PROMOTE) of Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC) Patients Treated with Abiraterone Acetate

  The Prostate Cancer Medically Optimized Genome-Enhanced Therapy (PROMOTE) study uses genetic clues in castration-resistant prostate cancer that may identify an individualized treatment approach for men with the disease. Understanding the molecular biology behind castration-resistant prostate cancer has led to more treatment options, but there are still no definite conclusions about which specific drug best treats patients - maximum suppression of cancer growth while minimizing side effects. The PROMOTE study explores the genetic characteristics of each tumor to predict these treatment paradigms for the future, resulting in more effective and less toxic options for patients. Our long-term goal is to improve treatments for men with advanced prostate cancer by using genomic sequencing to increase life span and quality of life. We also will uncover novel vulnerable targets in the cancer genome that may provide new drug therapies. PARTICIPATION Eligible participants are men: With castration-resistant prostate cancer or prostate cancer not responding to hormone treatments About to begin abiraterone acetate therapy Agreeable to undergoing two tumor biopsies During the study, participants travel to Mayo Clinic for an initial biopsy (before beginning abiraterone acetate) and a second biopsy approximately three months later. The cell tissue collected is analyzed to identify gene alterations in the tumor that could eventually be targeted with treatments. Tissue is preserved for future research. Participants can continue to be treated by their local cancer care team during this period and beyond. In addition, the Mayo team carefully monitors participants' cancer via follow-up studies and the genetic signature of tumors that were biopsied so that patients may benefit from future treatments.

  Study phs001141

• Evaluation of the ERa binding region activity in breast and endometrial cancer

  Evaluate the activity of ERa binding site activity in breast and endometrial cancer.

  Study EGAS50000000009

• Long-read-transcriptome-sequencing of CLL and MDS patients uncovers common molecular effects of SF3B1 mutations

  Mutations in SF3B1 occur frequently in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and a full-length transcriptome approach can expand our current knowledge on SF3B1 mutation effects on RNA splicing. We applied long-read-transcriptome-sequencing (LRTS) to 44 MDS and CLL patients with and without SF3B1 mutations and found a large fraction (>60%) of novel isoforms. Furthermore, we revealed that mutation effects on alternative splicing were largely common in both cancer types and specifically altered the usage of introns as well as 3’-splice-sites. We combined the LRTS with genome-wide SF3B1-RNA binding maps and show multimodal binding at 3’-splice-sites highlighting a window of 12-21nt upstream of the canonical 3’-splice-site in which a dynamic switch in splice site usage is observable in patients carrying SF3B1 mutations. Our work presents the hitherto most complete LRTS study in CLL and MDS and provides a resource for further research on aberrant splicing in cancer.

  Study EGAS50000000053

• Queen Mary University of London Information Security Management Team

  Dac EGAC00001002266

• Cell-free DNA Methylome Analysis Enables Early Preeclampsia Prediction

  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.

  Dataset EGAD00001010159

• The Longevity Genes Project

  Aging is a complex, universal condition leading to the functional decline of all cells and organisms, and to major national and global public health problems. Although aging is the major risk factor for developing most adult-onset diseases, systematic investigations into the fundamental physiology, biology and genetics of aging are only just beginning. In the Longevity Genes Project at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Nir Barzilai and his team conducted genetic research on more than 500 healthy elderly people between the ages of 95 and 112, and on their children. The identification of longevity genes by Einstein researchers could lead to new drug therapies that might help people live longer, healthier lives and avoid or significantly delay age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

  Study phs000584

• The NCAA-DoD Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium

  Study Description: Established in 2014, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) funded the Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium to inform science, clinical care and public policy related to concussion and repetitive head impact exposure (HIE) in U.S. Military Service Academy (MSA) cadets and collegiate student-athletes. The primary aims of the initial study were to: (1) establish a multisite research consortium to characterize the effects of concussion and repetitive head impact exposure on brain health, (2) characterize the clinical sequelae and natural history of concussion, (3) characterize the effect of concussion and repetitive head impacts on brain structure and brain function. The 30 member institutions of the CARE Consortium (26 civilian universities/colleges and 4 military service academies) agreed to invite all varsity athletes to undergo multimodal clinical assessments at preseason baseline, and at 5 additional timepoints after concussion diagnosis. At the service academies, non-varsity athlete cadets/midshipmen were also studied. Assessment Categories At Each Time Point Baseline: • Demographics • Personal and Family History • Neurocognitive Assessment • Neurological Status • Postural Stability • Symptoms ACUTE POST-INJURY FOLLOW-UP (CARE 1.0) (24 hrs; 48hrs; Asymptomatic; Unrestricted Return to Play (RTP); 6 mos) • Neurocognitive Assessment • Neurological Status • Postural Stability • Symptoms CUMULATIVE & PERSISTENT EFFECTS. (CARE 2.0) In-Person Exit Visit; Post-grad Online • Demographics • Personal and Family History • Neurocognitive Assessment • Neurological Status • Postural Stability • Symptoms • PROs • MROs (at academies only) LONG-TERM EFFECTS (CARE/SALTOS Integrated (CSI))Annual Online Assessment (at MSAs only); In-Person Research Visits • Demographics • Symptoms • Psychological health • PROs • MROs (at academies only)A subset of athletes at 6 of the CARE institutions underwent additional assessments including multimodal MRI, proteomic and genomic biomarker characterization, and head impact quantification (helmet-based sensors). Assessment time points for the ARC/pARC Neurocognitive and Behavioral Testing was done at Baseline, <48hrs Post-Injury, Cleared for Return to Play Progression (Asymptomatic), Unrestricted Return to Play, 7 days following Return to Play, and at >60 days after final game of junior year until end of collegiate career.Blood biomarker collection was done at Baseline, <48hrs Post-Injury, Cleared for Return to Play Progression (Asymptomatic), 7 days following Return to Play, and at >60 days after final game of junior year until end of collegiate career. Multi-modal MRI studies were done at Baseline, <48hrs Post-Injury, Cleared for Return to Play Progression (Asymptomatic), 7 days following Return to Play, and at >60 days after final game of junior year until end of collegiate career. However, please note that only athletes from one study performance site completed a multi-modal MRI study at baseline.

  Study phs002175

• “Human population genetics” team (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France)

  Dac EGAC00001000147

• Cancer Biomarkers team at The ICR DAC

  DAC for Cancer Biomarkers

  Dac EGAC50000000200

• TAKEDA DAC

  Team of TAKEDA DAC: Members: - Amit - Vinu - Jay - Sachin

  Dac EGAC50000000779

• The Dutch retinoblastoma research team from the VU University medical center

  Dac EGAC00001000431

• Spatiotemporal single cell transcriptomic analysis of human gut macrophages team commitee

  Dac EGAC00001002166

• DAC - U1085 Team Physiology and Physiopathology of the urogenital tract (INSERM / IRSET)

  Dac EGAC00001002830

• Molecularly matched targeted therapies plus radiotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma without MGMT promoter hypermethylation (N2M2/NOA-20 phase I/IIa umbrella trial)

  Background: Patients with glioblastoma without MGMT promoter hypermethylation are unlikely to benefit from temozolomide (TMZ). Trials aiming at replacing TMZ with targeted agents in not molecularly selected patient populations have failed. Methods: This phase I/IIa umbrella trial aimed at showing safety, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of targeted compounds in addition to standard radiotherapy initiated within 42 days postoperatively. Molecular diagnostics and bioinformatic evaluation are performed within 28 days after surgery. Stratification for treatment takes place in five subtrials, including alectinib, idasanutlin, palbociclib, vismogedib and temsirolimus, according to the best matching molecular alteration. Patients without matching alterations are randomized between subtrials without strong biomarkers using atezolizumab and asunercept and TMZ as standard of care. Primary objective of the phase I parts of the trial was dose finding or dose validation. In the phase IIa trials, centrally determined progression-free survival at six months (PFS-6) is used as endpoint for efficacy with interim analyses for futility (H0: p=0.231). Results: From May 2018 through July 2022, 301 patients were enrolled and 228 treated in 13 German NOA sites. The alectinib and vismodegib subtrials were closed since no molecularly matching patients were accrued; the idasanutlin subtrial was closed prior to the optimal dose at nine patients at discretion of the company providing the drug. The TMZ subtrial showed a PFS-6 of 18.52% (10/54 patients) (p=0.831) and a median overall survival (OS) of 12.1 months. Asunercept: PFS-6 of 15.4% (4/26) (p=0.8825) and OS of 12.8 months. Atezolizumab: PFS-6 of 21.4% (9/42) (p=0.660) and OS of 11.7 months. Palbociclib with patients demonstrating CDK4 amplification or CDKN2A/B codeletion: PFS-6 of 24.4% (10/41) (p=0.4823) and OS of 12.6 months. Temsirolimus with patients demonstrating mTOR activation: PFS-6 of 39.1% (18/46) (p=0.0109) and OS of 15.4 months. The regimen-limiting toxicity (RLT)-rate is 34.8%, which is insignificantly above the predefined unacceptable rate for RLTs of 30%. Most RLTs had severity grade 3, one RLT had severity grade 4. No RLTs resulted in death. Conclusions: N2M2 allows for elaborate molecular testing being integrated into the treatment decision and efficient determination of treatment activity for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. There is clinical activity of temsirolimus in patients with tumors harboring an activated mTOR pathway although this is not positively prognostic without mTOR inhibition; there is no clinical activity for asunercept and atezolizumab in not molecularly selected patients and also palbociclib in molecularly selected patients.

  Study EGAS00001008033

• Combination_therapies_for_personalized_cancer_medicine

  It is the ambition of the team formed by members of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) to unravel the genomic and phenotypic complexity of human cancers in order to identify optimal drug combinations for personalized cancer therapy. Our integrated approach will entail (i) deep sequencing of human tumours and cognate mouse tumours; (ii) drug screens in a 1000+ fully characterized tumour cell line panel; (iii) high-throughput in vitro and in vivo shRNA and cDNA drug resistance and enhancement screens; (iv) computational analysis of the acquired data, leading to significant response predictions; (v) rigorous validation of these predictions in genetically engineered mouse models and patient-derived xenografts. This integrated effort is expected to yield a number of combination therapies and companion-diagnostics biomarkers that will be further explored in our existing clinical trial networks.

  Study EGAS00001000655

• DAC for Hungarian human exome team (Department of Medical Biology, University of Szeged, Hungary)

  Dac EGAC00001000838

• TRanscriptomic ANalySis of left ventriCulaR gene Expression (TRANSCRibE)

  Myocardial ischemia occurs when there is a mismatch between coronary oxygen delivery and metabolic requirements of the myocardium, which may be clinically manifested during angina, coronary angioplasty or cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Myocardial ischemia may lead to a spectrum of myocardial stunning, hibernating myocardium, and ultimately cell death if the ischemic insult is severe. In the human heart, irreversible damage begins after approximately 20 to 40 minutes of oxygen deprivation. Observed molecular and cellular changes of myocardial ischemia are characteristic of an inflammatory response, but the exact mechanisms that underlie this pathological process are unclear and may not be full emulated by animal models of ischemia or infarction. Thus, we felt it valuable to investigate a human ischemia model. During cardiac surgery, CPB with aortic cross-clamping (AoXC) and cardioplegic arrest is associated with excellent clinical outcomes and suitable operative conditions. However, despite the use of cardioprotective strategies, AoXc during CPB is accompanied by a variable, yet obligate ischemic period lasting 1 to 3 hours, resulting in hypoxia, metabolic substrate depletion, reperfusion injury, apoptosis, and necrosis. Cardiac specific biomarkers of ischemia and infarction, including troponin, are elevated even after routine coronary artery bypass graft surgery and correlate with the duration of ischemia from AoXc.This process of CPB provides us with the ability to examine the transcriptional profile before and after an expected, consistent, and reproducible human ischemic event, albeit induced by cold cardioplegic arrest and not coronary occlusion. In addition, the absence of reperfusion in this time period allows us to examine the transcriptomic response to intermittent ischemia, without having to account for the perturbations of reperfusion injury. Although various animal models have been used to examine the effects of ischemia on cardiac function, no human data exist which examine the early transcriptomic response to a left ventricular (LV) ischemic insult. We therefore characterized the effect of cold cardioplegia induced acute ischemia on the transcriptional profile of the LV by performing whole transcriptome next-generation RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery by sampling human LV tissue prior to, and after, the obligate ischemia during AoXC. We hypothesized that the cold cardioplegia induced ischemic injury will dramatically alter transcription in the human myocardium, and that we would identify genes and pathways, which will identify interventional targets for pharmacological therapy. Methods:We have collected left ventricle tissue samples and blood sample from patients undergoing heart surgery. We obtained punch biopsies (~3-5μg total RNA content) from the site of a routinely placed surgical vent in the anterolateral apical left ventricular wall of patients undergoing elective aortic valve replacement surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. After an average of 79 minutes of aortic cross-clamping with intermittent cold blood cardioplegia for myocardial protection every 20 minutes, a second biopsy was obtained in the same manner. Tissue samples were immediately placed in RNAlater® (Ambion, ThermoFisher Scientific, Waltham, MA), and after 48 hours at +4°C were stored at -80°C until RNA extraction. Total RNA was isolated with Trizol and RNA quality was assessed using the Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100 (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA). Libraries were prepared by poly(A) mRNA isolation and reverse transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), then sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq2000 or HiSeq2500 (Illumina, San Diego, CA). As samples were analyzed at different times, different read lengths were employed, initially using single-end reads (n=20) and then transitioning to paired end reads (n=216), ranging from 36 - 100 base pairs. Raw sequencing files were processed using Sickle, Skewer, and STAR software, and aligned to GrCh37 or UCSC Hg19. DNA was isolated from whole blood using standard methods. SNP genotyping was performed using the Illumina Omni2.5Exome-8 BeadChip array with additional exome content (Illumina, San Diego, CA) chip, version 1.1. We first phased and imputed 93 subjects using a phasing tool called SHAPEIT and an imputation tool called MINIMAC, with 1000 Genomes phase 1 version 3 for the reference panel. We then phased and imputed 26 more subjects using SHAPEIT, an imputation tool called IMPUTE2, and 1000 Genomes phase 3 version 5.

  Study phs001679

• Exome sequencing of uterine leiomyosarcomas

  Uterine leiomyosarcomas (ULMSs) are aggressive smooth muscle tumors associated with poor clinical outcome. Despite previous cytogenetic and molecular studies, their molecular background has remained elusive. To examine somatic variation in ULMS, we performed exome sequencing on 19 tumors. Altogether 43 genes were mutated in at least two ULMSs. Most frequently mutated genes included tumor protein P53 (TP53; 6/19; 33%), alpha thalassemia/mental retardation syndrome X-linked (ATRX; 5/19; 26%), and mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12; 4/19; 21%). Unlike ATRX mutations, both TP53 and MED12 alterations have repeatedly been associated with ULMSs. All the observed ATRX alterations were either nonsense or frameshift mutations. ATRX protein levels were reliably analyzed by immunohistochemistry in altogether 44 ULMSs, and the majority of tumors (23/44; 52%) showed clearly reduced expression. Loss of ATRX expression has been associated with alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), and thus the telomere length was analyzed with telomere-specific fluorescence in situ hybridization. The ALT phenotype was confirmed in all ULMSs showing diminished ATRX expression. Exome data also revealed one nonsense mutation in death-domain associated protein (DAXX), another gene previously associated with ALT, and the tumor showed ALT positivity. Aberrant expression of both TP53 and ATRX were associated with poor overall survival. In conclusion, exome sequencing revealed that TP53, ATRX, and MED12 are frequently mutated in ULMSs. ALT phenotype was commonly seen in tumors, indicating that ATR inhibitors, which were recently suggested as possible new drugs for ATRX-deficient tumors, could provide a potential novel therapeutic option for ULMS.

  Study EGAS00001001612

• Circumventing intratumoral heterogeneity to identify potential therapeutic targets in hepatocellular carcinoma. Details please contact lifuqiang@genomics and zhaoxin@genomics.cn.

  Background and aims: Intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) challenges identifying mutations with target therapy potential whereas circulating cell-free DNAs (cfDNAs) could reflect nearly the entire mutation spectrum in given tumors. We investigated how to minimize the limit of ITH for profiling hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods: Thirty-two multi-regional HCC samples from five patients were subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES) and targeted deep sequencing (TDS). ITH extent was measured by the average percentage of non-ubiquitous mutations (present in parts of tumor regions). Matched cfDNAs were also analyzed by WES and TDS. Profiling efficiencies of single tumor specimen and cfDNA were compared and the one better depicted mutational landscape was selected to screen therapeutic targets.Results: We found variable extents of ITH in HCCs and observed branched and parallel evolution patterns. ITH level decreased at higher sequencing depth of TDS than that measured by WES (28.1% vs 34.9%, P < 0.01) but it remained unchanged upon additional samples analyzed. TDS of single tumor specimen detected an average of 70% the total mutations in HCC. Although more mutations were detected in cfDNA under TDS than WES, an average of 47.2% total HCC mutations uncovered by cfDNA suggested tissue outperform cfDNA and the latter may serve as alternative in profiling HCC genome. Consequently, TDS of single tumor tissue in 66 patients and cfDNAs in four unresectable HCCs identified 38.6% (26/66 and 1/4) patients bearing therapeutic targets.Conclusions: TDS of single tumor specimen could largely circumvent ITH to uncover mutations indicative of target therapy in HCC.

  Study EGAS00001002207

• Genomic consequences of aberrant DNA repair mechanisms stratify ovarian cancer histotypes

  Aberrant DNA repair processes are a hallmark of human tumours. How these deficiencies variously impact the genomes of ovarian cancer between and within histotypes remains unknown. We studied the whole genome pointmutation and structural variation patterns of 133 tumours (59 high grade serous (HGSC), 35 clear cell (CCOC), 29 endometrioid (ENOC), and 10 adult granulosa cell tumours (GCT)) as a substrate for class discovery in ovarian cancer. Ab-initio clustering of integrated point mutation and structural variation signatures revealed seven novel subgroups, comprising between and within histotype stratification. Prevalence of fold-back inversions (FBI) co-localised with high level amplification events divided HGSC into two prognostically significant subgroups. This finding was recapitulated in two additional independent cohorts (total n=576 cases), and transcended gene based mutation status and gene expression as prognostically relevant features of HGSC. CCOC were divided into one group harbouring a signature reflective of active genome editing via APOBEC enzymes (26%) and a complementary group with an age-relatedmutational signature. ENOC were divided intomicrosatellite instable (MSI) cases (28%) with a distinctmismatch repairmutation signature and an outlying mutation rate, with the remainder of cases distributed amongst the remaining six groups. We suggest the FBI, MSI, and APOBEC groups represent biologic strata that could direct treatment strategies. Taken together, our work establishes the efficacy of the somatic genome as a biomarker to stratify ovarian cancers, simultaneously identifying patients that may benefit from emerging therapeutics and distinct subgroups within classic ovarian cancer histotypes.

  Study EGAS00001002390

• Exome-wide mutation analysis of cell-free DNA to simultaneously monitor the full spectrum of cancer treatment outcomes

  Purpose: Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) offers a non-invasive approach to monitor cancer. Here we develop a method using whole-exome sequencing (WES) of cfDNA for simultaneously monitoring the full spectrum of cancer treatment outcomes, including MRD, recurrence, evolution, and second primary cancers. Experimental Design: Three simulation datasets were generated from 26 cancer patients to benchmark the detection performance of MRD/recurrence and second primary cancers. For further validation, cfDNA samples (n=76) from cancer patients (n=35) with six different cancer types were used for performance validation during various treatments.Results: We present a cfDNA-based cancer monitoring method, named cfTrack. Taking advantage of the broad genome coverage of WES data, cfTrack can sensitively detect MRD and cancer recurrence by integrating signals across known clonal tumor mutations of a patient. In addition, cfTrack detects tumor evolution and second primary cancers by de novo identifying emerging tumor mutations. A series of machine learning and statistical denoising techniques are applied to enhance the detection power. On the simulation data, cfTrack achieved an average AUC of 99% on the validation dataset and 100% on the independent dataset in detecting recurrence in samples with tumor fraction ≥0.05%. In addition, cfTrack yielded an average AUC of 88% in detecting second primary cancers in samples with tumor fraction ≥0.2%. On real data, cfTrack accurately monitors tumor evolution during treatment, which cannot be accomplished by previous methods.Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that cfTrack can sensitively and specifically monitor the full spectrum of cancer treatment outcomes using exome-wide mutation analysis of cfDNA.

  Study EGAS00001005906

• Whole-Genome Shotgun Metagenomic Analysis of Rectal Mucus for Colorectal Cancer Detection

  This study evaluates the use of rectal mucus as a minimally invasive biospecimen for colorectal cancer (CRC) detection through whole-genome shotgun metagenomic sequencing. 408 rectal mucus samples were collected from patients suspected to have colorectal cancer and sequenced. These samples were analyzed to characterize microbial community composition and its association with CRC stage and anatomical site. These data provide insights into tumor-proximal microbiome signatures and demonstrate the potential of rectal mucus sampling for early and accurate CRC diagnosis. This is 1 of 4 sequencing experiments on the same sample type.

  Study EGAS50000001310

• HTAN Pilot Project: Single-Cell Transcriptomics Toolbox for Fresh and Frozen Human Tumors (Lung, Breast, Ovarian, Melanoma, Neuroblastoma, Sarcoma, Glioblastoma, Glioma, and Leukemia)

  Single cell transcriptomics is a powerful tool to map the complex tumor microenvironment, providing unprecedented resolution into cell types, cell states, cell interactions, and tumor heterogeneity. Depending on their tissue site and whether processing begins from a fresh or frozen sample, different tumors require different optimizations in order to obtain high quality single cell transcriptomic data. In this study, we profiled a range of tumor types, varying in cell-of-origin, solid and non-solid forms, patient ages, and transitions. The tumors also further varied in their tissue site and in their sample collection method. To enable profiling of such diverse samples, we developed a systematic toolbox for single cell RNA-Seq and single nucleus RNA-Seq of fresh and frozen clinical tumor samples. We validated this toolbox for 216,490 cells and nuclei extracted from 39 samples across 23 tumors (some tumors were split into multiple samples). The 23 tumors represented eight unique tumor types. This toolbox comprises both experimental and computational protocols as well as guidelines for comparing and selecting protocols for the biological problem of interest.

  Study phs001983

• single-cell RNA-Seq samples of CRC patients

  The dataset contains samples of 11 CRC patients (2 samples for each patient, tumor and normal adjacent tissue site, 22 samples in total). Dataset is composed by fastq file (paired end) type from 10x single-cell RNA-Seq.

  Dataset EGAD00001009634

• Epidemiologic Architecture for Genes Linked to Environment (EAGLE) MetaboChip Study

  The Epidemiologic Architecture for Genes Linked to Environment (EAGLE) study is a study site of the larger Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) I study.  EAGLE accessed two data resources during the course of study: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) and BioVU, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center biorepository linked to de-identified electronic health records.The EAGLE MetaboChip Study, also known as EAGLE BioVU in the literature, is a data resource of Illumina MetaboChip genotypes for ~15,000 DNA samples from African American/Black, Hispanic, and Asian patients in BioVU (PMID: 26201699). Several EAGLE BioVU and PAGE I study phenotypes were extracted using structured and unstructured data available in de-identified electronic health records linked to the DNA samples. 

  Study phs002767

• Clonal selection after gene therapy in sickle cell disease

  While gene therapy (GT) provides a potentially curative treatment option for patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), the occurrence of myeloid malignancies in clinical trials has prompted concern. To interrogate potential mechanisms underlying increased cancer risk, we used hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) clonal tracking by whole genome sequencing (WGS) to map the somatic mutation and clonal landscape of 2,592 gene modified as well as unmodified single stem and progenitor cells from six SCD patients undergoing gene therapy (7-26 years old, average 12.7× depth). Pre-GT phylogenetic trees in SCD were highly polyclonal and mutation burdens per cell were elevated in some, but not all, patients. Post-GT, no clonal expansions were identified. However, an increased frequency of driver mutations associated with myeloid neoplasms or clonal hematopoiesis (DNMT3A- and EZH2-mutated clones in particular) were seen in both genetically modified and unmodified cells suggested positive selection of mutant clones during gene therapy. This work sheds light on the mutation landscape and HSC clonal dynamics in gene therapy for SCD and highlights enhanced fitness of some HSCs harboring pre-existing driver mutations following gene therapy. Future studies should define the long-term fate of mutant clones including any contribution to expansions associated with myeloid neoplasms.

  Dataset EGAD00001010914

• All you need to know about the new Submitter Portal

  In September we launched new services for all EGA users, including a new version of the former Submitter Portal. Our main objective with this Portal is to transform the metadata submission in a simplified and user-friendly method. Although it is possible to find documentation about the Submitter Portal on our website, we wanted to highlight the new features in this article. Enjoy! Credentials: who needs to create a new user to access the Submitter Portal and who doesn't? Users with an old submission account (ega-box) can already access the new Submitter Portal. If it is the first time that you want to access, it is time to request a submitter role linked to the EGA User. In the form, it is mandatory to explain which type of data you want to deposit, the size of your submission, add any comment you’d like us to read, and manage the EGA Data Processing Agreement (DPA) document. This document should be checked by the legal department of your institution and signed by a person with authority to sign contracts on behalf of the institution. Note that we provide a DPA template for new Users; it can be found and downloaded in the Submitter Request section. With the DPA signed and the Submitter Request sent, it is time to wait for our Helpdesk team to validate the request. Metadata submission now can be collaborative It is possible to add collaborator(s) to your submissions. Only registered EGA Users will appear on the search bar. When adding a collaborator, it is mandatory to define the permission granted: Read only: collaborators with this permission can check if the information of the submission is correct but cannot modify anything. Read & write: collaborators with this label can register new objects and modify the registered ones. We wanted to save time for submitters that usually rely on the same collaborators. For that, we have implemented the possibility of adding the same collaborators from previous submissions; all you need to do is to search the submission, and the exact set of EGA users will have access to your submission. You can check the collaborators and their permissions at any point of the submission by going to the collaborators section. Even adding more people to complete the submission is allowed by following the same steps: looking for the EGA User and defining the permission granted (please, note that during the submission it is not possible to add collaborators from previous submissions). Use external links to complement the study information When filling the information about the study we recommend users to enrich the submission with complementary fields such as PubMeds IDs, custom tags and external links. External links are used to connect a study to an external repository. We have implemented an external link to Euro-Bioimaging for a European Project (EuCanImage). Now, we are looking forward to keeping increasing the list of external repositories! Choose the expected release date for your metadata to be searchable on our website Once all the metadata objects are registered it is time to finalise the submission so that the Helpdesk team can approve it. In the new version of the Submitter Portal users can choose the expected release date for the metadata to be searchable on the EGA website. Please, note that the selected date will have a minimum of one week margin from the day of finalisation. This time is necessary for your files to be archived and for the submission to be validated by the Helpdesk Team. Are you looking for the Array submission within the Submitter Portal? Our Submitter Portal does not support array submissions. The submission of Array-based metadata must be done using the EGA programmatic submission. You will find our Array-based format template and all the necessary information on our website, and you can find all the steps in our submission quickguide! More information about the submission process at the EGA Our Team has developed an extended documentation related to metadata submission. A good first step is to take a closer look at the Submission FAQ. To have a general overview of all the metadata submission process we recommend taking a glimpse of our take-the-tour or watching the tutorial available on our YouTube Channel. Don't miss our section on EGA Schemas, to learn more about how the EGA is built. It can be useful to fully ensure that your submissions comply with the EGA's standards and contribute to a valuable and accessible genomic resource.

  Blog new-submitter-portal

• ATAC-seq of metastatic prostate tumors

  This dataset includes Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) data, in FASTQ format, from 70 metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer tumor samples from the SU2C/PCF West Coast Dream Team (WCDT) project. The sequencing data is paired-end, 150 bp sequencing data from an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 machine. ATAC-seq libraries were prepared following the protocol described in Buenrostro et al. Nature Methods. 2013 (PMID: 24097267) and Corces et al. Nature Methods. 2017 (PMID: 28846090).

  Dataset EGAD00001009654

• Exome and transcriptome sequencing of Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Sarcoma

  To conduct exome and transcriptome profiling to identify secondary recurrent mutations, multi-site phylogenetic analyse and immune characterization of Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Sarcoma.

  Study EGAS00001004575

• Common Fund (CF) Genotype-Tissue Expression Project (GTEx)

  Lay Description The aim of the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project is to increase our understanding of how changes in our genes affect human health and disease with the ultimate goal of improving health care for future generations. GTEx will create a database that researchers can use to study how inherited changes in genes lead to common diseases. GTEx researchers are studying genes in different tissues obtained from many different people. The GTEx project also includes a study of the GTEx donor consent process - this study will help ensure that the consent process and other aspects of the project effectively address the concerns and expectations of participants in the study. GTEx is a pioneering project that uses state-of-the-art protocols for obtaining and storing a large range of organs and tissues, and for testing them in the lab. Until now, no project has analyzed genetic variation and expression in as many tissues from the same person in such a large population as planned for GTEx. Scientific Description Understanding the role of variation in the human genome is crucial to elucidating genetic contributions to human health and disease. Despite the results of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) documenting strong statistical associations between genetic variation and human traits, the functional role for most of these variants is largely unexplained. Nearly 90% of these GWAS-implicated sites lie outside of protein-coding sequences, suggesting that these variants might regulate gene expression. The goal of the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project is to establish a resource database and tissue biobank in which to study the relationship between genetic variation and gene expression and other molecular phenotypes in reference/non-diseased tissues. The ultimate resource will include approximately 960 post-mortem donors with several dozen tissues from each, a resource large enough to study both cis- and trans- gene expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). Some tissue will also be banked for additional molecular analyses. To request biosamples, please see the Biobank page for more information. GTEx was initially funded as a 2-year pilot project by the NIH Common Fund (CF) in 2010, and has been scaled up after demonstration of feasibility. The project will collect and analyze RNA levels in many different human tissues and each donor will be characterized for germline genetic variation through dense genotyping arrays and sequencing of either whole exomes or whole genomes. By treating RNA expression levels as quantitative traits, eQTLs will be identified as sites containing genetic variation that correlate with changes in RNA expression. Such eQTLs have been associated with 4%-12% of expressed human genes, and with common complex human diseases, including obesity, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, Crohn's disease, and asthma. Additionally, few studies have examined the tissue specificity of eQTLs. A subset of banked tissue samples will also be analyzed for other molecular phenotypes, such as DNA methylation, DNaseI hypersensitivity sites, and proteomics. The GTEx project will thus serve as a resource database and tissue bank for many future studies, especially for understanding the functional basis of inherited susceptibility to disease. All GTEx releases since Version 5 follow the NIH Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy whereby there are no restrictions on use or publication after release. Additional information about the GTEx Data Release and Publication policy can be found on the GTEx Data Portal at www.gtexportal.org.

  Study phs000424

• Investigation_of_mutational_signatures_associated_with_DNMT3A_deficiency_

  Mutational signatures have been shown to be attributable to specific genetic contexts, such as mutations in DNA repair genes. DNMT3A is a DNA methyltransferase that helps maintain the DNA methylation pattern in a site-specific manner and may participate in DNA repair or the stress response. We have identified an adult individual who is a germline mosaic for a DNMT3A mutation. We have obtained clonal lymphoblastoid cells (LCLs) from the subject representing both WT and mutant lines grown in the same individual for >50 years. These clones represent a unique opportunity to examine the mutational impact of the DNMT3A mutation in a well-controlled setting. Our goal is to perform WGS on whole blood, representing the pool, as well as several WT and several mutant clones, in order to investigate the contribution of DNMT3A to mutation rates and signatures.

  Study EGAS00001002329

• Whole genome and transcriptome sequencing of lung cancer patients and cell lines at Genentech

  Version 1 Whole genome sequencing was applied to tumor and adjacent normal lung tissue in an individual non-small-cell lung cancer patient. We present an analysis of somatic changes identified throughout the tumor genome, including single-nucleotide variants, copy number variants, and large-scale chromosomal rearrangements. Over 50,000 high-confidence single-nucleotide variants were identified, revealing evidence of substantial smoking-related DNA damage as well as distinct mutational pressures within the tumor resulting in uneven distribution of somatic mutations across the genome. Version 2 Lung cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease in terms of both underlying genetic lesions and response to therapeutic treatments. We performed deep whole genome sequencing and transcriptome sequencing on 19 lung cancer cell lines and 3 lung tumor/normal pairs. Overall, our data show that cell line models exhibit similar mutation spectra to human tumor samples. Smoker and never-smoker cancer samples exhibit distinguishable patterns of mutations. A number of epigenetic regulators are frequently altered by mutations or copy number changes. A systematic survey of splice-site mutations identified over 100 splice site mutations associated with cancer specific aberrant splicing, including mutations in several known cancer-related genes. Differential usages of splice isoforms were also studied. Taken together, these data present a comprehensive genomic landscape of a large number of lung cancer samples and further demonstrate that cancer specific alternative splicing is a widespread phenomenon that has potential utility as therapeutic biomarkers.

  Study phs000299

• Mutational Signature and Transcriptomic Classification Analyses as the Decisive Diagnostic Tools for a Cancer of Unknown Primary with Neuroendocrine Differentiation

  PURPOSE: Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is a group of metastatic tumors in which the standard diagnostic work-up fails to identify the site of origin of the tumor. The potential impact of precision oncology on this group of patients is large since their tumors might have actionable driver mutations that can provide treatment options otherwise not available for patients with these fatal cancers. This study investigated if comprehensive genomics analyses could inform on the origin of the tumor. PATIENT AND METHODS: Here we describe a patient whose tumor was misdiagnosed at least three times. Next-generation sequencing, a PDX mouse model and bioinformatics was used to identify an actionable mutation, predict resistance development to the targeted therapy, and to correctly diagnose the origin of the tumor. The Cancer Genome Atlas was used to benchmark the bioinformatics workflow. RESULTS: Despite the lack of a known primary tumor site and the absence of diagnostic immunohistochemical markers, the origin of the patient's tumor was established using the novel bioinformatics workflow. This included a mutational signature analysis of the sequenced metastases and comparison of their transcriptomic profiles to a pan-cancer panel of tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We further discuss the strengths and limitations of the latter approaches in the context of three potentially incorrectly diagnosed TCGA lung tumors. CONCLUSION: Comprehensive genomics analyses could inform on the origin of tumors in patients suffering from CUP.

  Study EGAS00001003026

• The EGA joins EUCAIM, the European project powering AI and imaging in cancer research

  EUCAIM (EUropean Federation for CAncer IMages) is the cornerstone of the European Cancer Imaging Initiative, one of the flagships of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP). The European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA), as member of the EUCAIM consortium, attended the kick-off meeting organized this week in Brussels for the launch of the Initiative. The EGA will contribute to the project with the experience gained in the deployment of our federated network, the Federated EGA (FEGA), and the experience gained as partners of EuCanImage (AI4HI initiative) contributing to the definition of common data models, ontologies and data standards. The ultimate goal of the project is to unlock the power of imaging and Artificial Intelligence for the benefit of cancer patients, clinicians and researchers. The consortium will deploy a pan-European digital federated infrastructure hosting cancer-related images, and associated pathology, molecular and laboratory data from Real-World. This endeavour will provide a comprehensive dashboard for imaging data discovery, federated search, metadata harvesting, annotation and distributed data processing. EUCAIM joins 76 partners, gathering the experience and previous effort made by the different repositories of the AI4HI initiative, European Research Infrastructures and national/regional repositories. Find out more information about the EUCAIM launch here

  Blog the-ega-joins-eucaim

• European Genome-phenome Archive 15th Anniversary Celebration

  2023 marks the 15th Anniversary of the EGA, jointly managed by the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG). To mark the occasion, a simultaneous celebration was held in both institutions on the 13th of December 2023. The teams gathered online to play a quiz game and celebrate all the achievements and milestones with two wonderful anniversary cakes. In 2008, the European Genome-phenome Archive was created at the EBI-EMBL in Cambridge to guarantee that human genome and phenome data were available to the international scientific community while data privacy was preserved. The six-person staff at the beginning of the project is now far behind us, with a team that reaches the number of 35 members. Since 2013, the European Bioinformatics Institute and the Centre for Genomic Regulation share responsibility for The European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA). At that time, the EGA had data for about 0,5 petabytes. Currently, the Archive contains more than 12 petabytes. 2023 comes to an end with several good news. The EGA has been renewed as an ELIXIR Core Data Resource. This was announced during the GA4GH 11th Plenary held in San Francisco last September when ELIXIR-Beacon was also confirmed to be a GA4GH Driver Project. Thus, the Beacon API has maintained this title since 2018. What’s more, the first Federated EGA dataset is now live on our website. This year we also launched new services for EGA users in September. By the numbers, in 2023 the EGA counts 2.5 PB archived, 371 studies published, 208 new submitters and 19 active projects in which the team is participating, among others. We look forward to continuing to support your research in 2024!

  Blog 15-anniversary

• Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) - eMERGE Phase IIIA Data

  This submission includes genotyping or sequencing data from separate cohorts, each is described in separate paragraphs below. Extreme early onset obesity Obesity is a serious epidemic condition and on the rise in the United States. Today, nearly one out of three children is overweight or obese in this country. According to the Center for Disease Control, 35.7% of American adults and 17% of American children are obese. The medical costs associated with obesity are estimated to be in the billions. Without a doubt, interplay of additive genetic effects and common environmental effects influence this complex disease. However, despite being exposed to so-called "obesogenic environment", a large proportion of the population remains of normal weight. These observations suggest that innate, non-environmental, factors make some individuals more susceptible to obesity providing support for biological mechanisms, and thus genetic factors, to underlie the individual's response to the obesogenic environment. In young children with severe obesity the relative role of genetics and in utero programming are likely to outweigh the short duration of environmental and lifestyle exposures. This group is therefore an ideal one to study as they are likely enriched for variants that influence the risk of developing obesity. The purpose of this project is to further study and understand obesity in childhood and to develop a repository of samples for future studies into obesity. Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) is one of the manifestations of eosinophilic gastrointestinal inflammation which have profound effects on a patient's health and development. Results of epidemiologic studies performed through our center demonstrate that eosinophil-associated gastrointestinal disease is not an uncommon entity. While the epidemiology of eosinophilic esophagitis has not been thoroughly studied until recently, there appears to be a significant increase in the diagnosis of EoE in the last decade. Based on our research, this mainly reflects increased disease recognition, but there is also a bona-fide increase in disease incidence which coincides with the increasing incidence of asthma and allergic diseases in the industrialized world. In addition, many patients with intractable symptoms thought in the past to represent atypical GERD or other disorders are now being recognized as having EoE. Diagnosis of EoE requires endoscopy and biopsies to document the characteristic histologic findings of esophageal eosinophilia. In general, this study proposed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying eosinophil growth, survival, migration, and function, and to investigate and further characterize the pathophysiology of, clinical manifestations of, and spectrum of disease severity of eosinophilic esophagitis in humans. The de-identified genotyping and genome wide association data generated as part of this research will be used for further genome research. Familial Sample Repository (FSR) and Directed Sample Repository (DSR) De novo mutations could cause many diseases, which has been demonstrated in mental retardation, autism and many rare genetic disorders. Family-based studies have a variety of advantages over case/control studies, including the elimination of analysis artifacts related to population stratification, the detection of genes that act through a recessive mechanism of inheritance and validation that the trait is not transmitted from a parent, something not possible using a case/control design. Additionally, DNA from families can be used to identify de novo mutations suggesting strong candidate causal polymorphisms. For this project, samples will be collected from families on an on-going basis. Families may be recruited because the patient either has a disease which is thought to be of genetic origin or from the general patient population to serve as controls or future identified diseases. Some phenotypes under study include fibroblastic rheumatism, diaphragmatic hernia, polymicrogyria, severe congenital neutropenia, primary sclerosing cholangitis and staph infection. CLRR-Cincinnati Lupus Registry and Repository Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, partially understood autoimmune disorder. Genetic origins for SLE are supported by high heritability (> 66%), familial aggregation, increased monozygotic twin concordance, genetic linkages, and candidate gene genetic association, including HLA genes, Fc receptors, and complement components. Relevant environmental factors likely include infections (Epstein-Barr virus), therapeutics, personal habits (smoking), and diet. To continue a research resource facility for collection of well-characterized pedigrees containing a proband with systemic lupus erythematosus we develop this repository. Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is a debilitating complex genetic disorder characterized by inflammation of the joints and other tissues and shares histopathological features with other autoimmune diseases. It is considered complex genetic traits. There are more than 50,000 children with JIA in the USA, approximately 1 per 1000 births, which is about the same incidence as juvenile diabetes. It is believed that genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play a role in defining genetic risk, and it can be hypothesized that loci in other chromosomal regions are involved in conferring risk in JIA. These candidate chromosomal regions can be identified using genome-wide association analyses. The long-term goal is a comprehensive understanding of the genetic basis of these disabling arthropathies for which the molecular basis is not presently understood. These data will contribute to a national resource for the study of autoimmunity in children. Better Outcomes for Children-Cytogenetics Since 2007, more than 4000 samples, enriched with various rare or common genetic diseases as well as specific chromosomal abnormalities such as deletions and duplications have been genotyped for the purpose of subsequent GWAS and Phewas analyses and uncovering main genetic effects.

  Study phs001011

• Multi-modal spatial characterization of tumor-immune microenvironments in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

  We have leveraged spatial transcriptomics together with proteomic and genomic analysis to investigate the spatial immunology and pathobiology of DLBCL. We define distinct cellular niches that differ in frequency across tumors, related to both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection status and the anatomical site of the tumor, and show that residence within different cellular niches is associated with divergent functional states of T-cells and tumor B-cells due to different patterns of cell-cell communication. This provides a framework for understanding stereotyped patterns of spatial organization in DLBCL and immunological interactions associated with heterogeneity in immune cell infiltration and function across patients.

  Study EGAS50000001146

• Differential Transcription Start Site Usage in Brain-related Samples

  RNA-Seq is an effective method to study the transcriptome, but specialized methods are required to identify 5' ends of transcripts. Several published strategies exist for this specific purpose, but their relative merits have not been systematically analyzed. Here, we directly compare the performance of six such methods - testing five with cellular RNA as well as a novel spike-in RNA assay that helps address interpretation challenges that arise from uncertainties in annotation or RNA processing. Using a single human RNA sample, we constructed and sequenced 18 libraries with these methods and one standard, control RNA-Seq library. We find that the CAGE method performed best for mRNA and that most of its unannotated peaks are supported by evidence from other genomic methods. We then applied CAGE to eight brain-related samples and revealed sample-specific transcription start site (TSS) usage as well as a transcriptome-wide shift in TSS usage between fetal and adult brain.

  Study phs001463

• 10x genomics single cell RNA-seq and ATAC-seq from 10 pre-menopausal patients fimbriae and ampullary part of the fallopian tube

  The fallopian tube, connecting the uterus with the ovary, is a dynamic organ that undergoes cyclical changes and is the site of several diseases, including serous cancer. Here, we use single-cell technologies to construct a comprehensive cell map of healthy pre-menopausal fallopian tubes, capturing the impact of the menstrual cycle and menopause on different fallopian tube cells at the molecular level. The comparative analysis between pre- and post-menopausal fallopian tubes reveals substantial shifts in cellular abundance and gene expression patterns, highlighting the physiological changes associated with menopause. Further investigations into menstrual cycle phases illuminate distinct molecular states in secretory epithelial cells caused by hormonal fluctuations. The markers we identified characterizing secretory epithelial cells provide a valuable tool for classifying ovarian cancer subtypes.

  Study EGAS50000000628

• MSI-Exome-DAC Team Microsatellites Instability and Cancer, INSERM Hospital Saint-Antoine, Paris 12, France Carte d'identité des tumeurs, French league against cancer, Paris France

  Dac EGAC00001000665

• endogene.bio

  The Endogene Bio Data Access Committee oversees and manages access to controlled genomic and clinical datasets deposited by the Endogene Bio research team.

  Dac EGAC50000000786

• Genetics of Neuropsychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Disorders

  Although schizophrenia is a highly heritable disease, relatively little progress had been made in securely identifying the genetic causes of this disorder, and most instances of schizophrenia in the general population remain unexplained. One avenue of explanation for the genetic basis of schizophrenia, however, has been effectively closed by recent research. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have now shown that common variation makes at most a modest contribution to the risk of schizophrenia. At the same time that the role of common variation has been circumscribed by GWAS, however, the analysis of copy number variants that are detectable on a genome-wide scale has revealed and replicated a number of very rare variants that associate with schizophrenia. These rare copy number variants that have been implicated in schizophrenia, however, have one striking feature in common: they are all risk factors for other brain related disorders beyond schizophrenia such as mental retardation, autism and epilepsy. These findings argue that genetic risk factors may confer a highly penetrant vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorder, which is then further modified by interacting genetic or environmental factors to determine the ultimate manifestation. Most schizophrenia collections that are being studied today, however, have been selected precisely for their homogeneity: including only schizophrenia patients with no comorbidities, or schizophrenia patients with relatives who have schizophrenia but no other neuropsychiatric conditions. These selection criteria are inconsistent with what we now know about the bulk of the genetic differences that have been associated with disease. The central hypothesis of this project is that there are rare genetic variants that strongly elevate the risk of various neuropsychiatric diseases, and that these risk factors can be identified most readily in families segregating multiple neuropsychiatric conditions.

  Study phs000682

• Upcycling and merging data to challenge the dogma and identify new therapeutic targets for Glioblastoma

  Glioblastoma is the most common brain tumour. Characterised by a poor prognosis and its recurrence after multimodal treatments, the search for preventable risk factors has been mainly inconclusive up to date. Recently, the data merge from datasetsdeposited at the EGA allowed Aaron Diaz’s team to discover that the glioblastoma cells shift toward a mesenchymal phenotype when the tumour is recurring. Challenges in glioblastoma research As for virtually all cancer types, many efforts have been made to unveil the molecular features responsible of the disease, and several cellular pathways have indeed been identified as being frequently mutated in glioblastoma. Nonetheless, targeted therapies based on identified genes have so far failed to improve outcome, thus survival mostly relies on a standard treatment unchanged since 2005. This is a frustrating situation for both the scientific and medical communities, and above all for the patients, still facing a dreadful path. Some researchers hypothesised that this may be due to the inability to efficiently target cancer stem cells, the originators of the other cell types, thus inducing cancer relapse. In 2019 Charles P. Couturier and colleagues sequenced RNA from single cells of freshly excised glioblastomas of 16 patients, and demonstrated that glioblastoma cells replicate normal brain cell development with a conserved neural cancer cell hierarchy centered around glial progenitor-like cells. In this way, they helped identify the possible target cells to improve efficacy and durability of treatment. Data upcycling at the EGA: the glioblastoma case study Single cell RNA sequencing is generated with a laborious and expensive protocol. The quality of the starting material is crucial (cells sample freshly extracted from the patients) and often several attempts are needed before producing reliable quality sequencing results. Collecting big numbers of patients is also challenging. The sequencing data produced by Kevin Petrecca’s group in Montreal, Canada and deposited at the EGA (EGAS00001004422) was recently upcycled by Lin Wang in San Francisco, California and pooled with their freshly produced ones, and then deposited at the EGA as Dataset EGAS00001004909 The data merge allowed Aaron Diaz’s team to discover that the glioblastoma cells shift toward a mesenchymal phenotype when the tumour is recurring. They profiled 86 primary-recurrent patient-matched paired glioblastoma samples with single-nucleus RNA, among other techniques. These very comprehensive results lead the team to challenge the findings from several other cancer fields where chemotherapy standard chemo-radiation therapy selection pressure at the level of genomic alterations; this is indeed not the case for glioblastoma, where the pressure results in phenotypic transition between cellular states. Several technical controls were made to ensure that the merge of the data was not introducing a bias in the results, and an Inter-table analysis demonstrated nearly equal contribution to overall variance from each of the studies included, indicating that the findings were not due to inter-laboratory technical effect. A novel principal-component analysis showed that the largest contribution to variation in primary glioblastoma neoplastic cells was an axis between MES (mesenchymal) and proneural expression programs. In summary, treating glioblastoma often makes a MES, as commented by Lucy Stead about this remarkable work. Check Aaron Diaz’s team Nature Cancer paper, with strong technical tools, state of the art analysis and data from different sources converging to the same outcomes that made possible a significant step toward a better handling of a frightful cancer. References Couturier, C.P., Ayyadhury, S., Le, P.U. et al. Single-cell RNA-seq reveals that glioblastoma recapitulates a normal neurodevelopmental hierarchy. Nat Commun 11, 3406 (2020). Stead, L.F. Treating glioblastoma often makes a MES. Nat Cancer 3, 1446–1448 (2022). Wang, L., Jung, J., Babikir, H. et al. A single-cell atlas of glioblastoma evolution under therapy reveals cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic therapeutic targets. Nat Cancer 3, 1534–1552 (2022). Related links: Kevin Petrecca’s group dataset deposited at the EGA: EGAS00001004422 Lin Wang dataset deposited at the EGA: EGAS00001004909

  Blog upcycling-and-merging-data-to-challenge-glioblastoma

• Study of Controlled Human Malaria Infections to Evaluate Protection After Intravenous or Intramuscular Administration of PfSPZ Vaccine in Malaria-Naive Adults

  The study was performed to evaluate whole-blood transcriptomic profiles via RNA-seq before, during, and after immunization with the PfSPZ Vaccine in malaria-naïve, health adults enrolled in VRC 314 (NCT02015091). VRC 314 was designed as an open-label evaluation of the safety, tolerability, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy of the PfSPZ Vaccine. This study was designed to substantiate the initial results with the IV vaccination route for protection against CHMI that was observed in VRC 312 (NCT01441167). Based on the potential importance of dose and schedule in optimizing sustained immunity with this vaccine, an increase in PfSPZ IV dosage on schedules of 3 to 5 vaccinations was evaluated for protection against CHMI conducted early (about 3 weeks) and late (about 24 weeks) after completion of vaccinations. To assess if a higher dose given by another route confers protection, one group received PfSPZ IM, with half of the amount administered in each arm on a schedule with 4 vaccination. The primary objectives of the study were related to the safety and tolerability of vaccinations by the IV and IM routes of administration and protection against Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) challenge performed via a well-established CHMI procedure early (2-4 weeks) after completing schedules of 3 to 5 vaccinations. The secondary objective was related to the durability of protection at 20-26 weeks after the last vaccination, and exploratory objectives were related to the immunogenicity of the PfSPZ Vaccine and identifying potential immune correlates of protection. To further determine potential molecular correlates of immunogenicity and/or protection, RNA-seq was performed on whole blood collected from subjects in all dose groups at time points before, during, and after immunization.

  Study phs002423

• Genetic Aberrations and Subclonal Structure Impact Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

  Large-scale whole-exome sequencing (WES) of primary tumor samples enables the unbiased discovery of recurrent putative driver events and patterns of clonal evolution. We report the identification of 44 recurrently mutated genes and 11 recurrent CNVs through the WES of 538 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and matched germline DNAs. These include previously unrecognized cancer drivers (e.g., RPS15, IKZF3), and collectively identify nuclear export, MYC activity and MAPK signaling as central pathways affected by somatic mutation in CLL. A clonality analysis of this large dataset further enabled the reconstruction of temporal relationships between these driver events. Several drivers were associated with shorter progression-free survival (PFS) in 280 samples that were collected prior to uniform treatment with front line chemo-immunotherapy, with mature follow up of greater than 10 years. Direct comparison between matched pretreatment and relapse CLL from 59 samples demonstrated marked clonal evolution occurring in more than 95% of these patients. Distinct patterns of clonal evolution in relationship to specific gene alteration were observed, suggesting a hierarchy of fitness amongst mutations. Thus, large WES datasets of clinically informative samples enable the discovery of novel driver genes as well as the network of relationships between the drivers and their impact on disease relapse and clinical outcome.Additionally, we performed RNA-seq for 268 CLL samples (including 26 follow-up samples) and used them to identify expression subtypes of CLL. RRBS for 30 of these samples was also generated. In an integrative analysis of genetic, transcriptomic, and epigenetic data, incorporating known and newly identified subtypes of CLL, we built new models to improve patient prognostication.

  Study phs000922

• DKTK Berlin partner site data access committee

  Dac EGAC00001000573

• Hi-C analysis of metastatic prostate tumors

  DNA strands have a complex and highly structured three-dimensional shape within the nucleus that has profound but poorly characterized impacts on transcriptional activity. Herein, we performed the first integrated deep Hi-C sequencing on 80 metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer biopsy samples from the West Coast Dream Team consortium.

  Study EGAS00001006604

• Hi-C analysis of metastatic prostate tumors - Part 2

  DNA strands have a complex and highly structured three-dimensional shape within the nucleus that has profound but poorly characterized impacts on transcriptional activity. Herein, we performed the first integrated deep Hi-C sequencing on 80 metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer biopsy samples from the West Coast Dream Team consortium.

  Study EGAS00001006612

• Identifying novel DNA damage response genes in radiosensitive individuals

  Ionizing radiation is an effective therapeutic agent for cancer treatment as well as a potent carcinogen. Sensitivity to the cell-killing effects of radiation can vary across human population with a subset of individuals displaying extreme hypersensitivity. It is usually attributable to inherited defects in DNA damage response pathways. The present study was designed to elucidate the genetic basis of variation in hypersensitivity to radiation exposure through exome sequencing of radiosensitive individuals, with the ultimate goal of identifying genes with the most significant effects on cellular DNA damage responses. The study participants included subjects referred for clinical testing for Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome (NBS) or Ligase IV Syndrome. These are rare, recessive genetic disorders and hypersensitivity to radiation exposure is a common phenotype among individuals affected by all the three disorders. The study participants exhibited phenotypic characteristics similar to individuals with A-T, NBS or Ligase IV Syndrome, but lacked the causative mutations in ATM (GeneID:472) or NBN (GeneID:4683) genes. For further validation of the radiation sensitivity phenotype among the enrolled subjects, B-lymphoblastoid cells lines were established for each subject from peripheral blood lymphocytes. Each cell line was evaluated for displaying impaired survival rates relative to normal controls after exposure to ionizing radiation. 53 subjects with validated phenotype were finally included in the study and DNA extracted from their B-lymphoblastoid cell lines was used for exome sequencing. This sequencing data for radiation sensitive subjects is being made available in the dbGaP. It is hoped that this resource will be beneficial for researchers who wish to further investigate components of human cellular DNA damage response pathways and/or genetic architecture underlying radiation hypersensitivity. This data may also aid in the rational design of new radiosensitizing or radioprotective agents.

  Study phs001911

• Quantitative analysis of a novel DNA hypermethylation panel using bronchial specimen for lung cancer diagnosis

  The dataset includes IDAT raw files for 10 samples and the analyzed DMP file which describes the differential methylation positions based on Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip. All samples (5 lung cancer cases vs. 5 benign lung disease controls) were obtained from bronchial washings at the site of the lesion under bronchoscopy manipulation. The histological type of the five lung cancer cases is adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

  Dataset EGAD00010002465

• RNAseq of 76 samples from Uveal Melanoma tumors

  Hotspot mutations in the spliceosome gene SF3B1 are reported in 20% of uveal melanomas. SF3B1 is involved in 3'-splice site (3'ss) recognition during RNA splicing; however, the molecular mechanisms of its mutation have remained unclear. Here we show, using RNA-Seq analyses of uveal melanoma, that the SF3B1 R625/K666 mutation results in deregulated splicing at a subset of junctions, mostly by the use of alternative 3'ss.

  Dataset EGAD00001004398

• Neurodevelopment_Nantes_hospital

  The neurodevelopmental team in the genetics unit of Nantes hospital focus on the identification on new genes causing neurodevelopmental disorders through whole-genome and transcriptomics sequencing.

  Dac EGAC50000000542

• POT1 splice site mutant analysis

  We are interested in the contribution mutations in the Shelterin complex protein POT1 may have to the development of melanoma. We have identified a patient who carries a splice site mutation in POT1 and as part of our analysis of this gene we aim to sequence the transcriptome of this patient to see how this mutation influences splicing. RNA has been obtained from lymphocytes collected from the patient.

  Dataset EGAD00001000786

• Somatic L1 Retrotransposition in Colorectal Tumors

  The purpose of this study is to ascertain the locations of somatic LINE-1 retrotransposition events in human colon tumor samples by pooling multiple tumor samples from different patients and performing a targeted resequencing assay (Ewing and Kazazian, Genome Research 2010) to sequence the 3' flanking regions of all insertions in the pooled sample. The result is compared to the result of applying the same method to pooled normal samples from the same patients as were used in the pooled tumor sample and selecting sites that show an insertion in the tumor but not in the normaltissue and do not correspond to any known non-reference LINE-1 insertion allele. The selected sites are then validated by site-specific PCR and capillary sequencing to confirm that they represent LINE-1 insertions and to obtain breakpoint sequences.

  Study phs000536

• Center for Common Disease Genomics [CCDG] - Cardiovascular: The Bangladesh Risk of Acute Vascular Events (BRAVE) Study

  The Bangladesh Risk of Acute Vascular Events (BRAVE) study is a hospital-based case-control study in Bangladesh which was established by the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit of Cambridge University in the UK in partnership with the key local cardiology and research centres to examine environmental, genetic, lifestyle and biochemical determinants of myocardial infarction (MI) among this South Asian population. By the end of 2016, this study has recruited ~8000 clinically confirmed first-ever MI cases (with a significant proportion being early-onset MI), and ~8000 healthy controls frequency-matched by age and sex. This site hosts data from ~500 whole genomes and ~1500 whole exomes (50% cases and 50% controls)

  Study phs001398

• SEER Remote Access Pilot Test Data (2018)

  This is a limited use Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) file for use in a pilot test of remote data access. The SEER Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is an authoritative source of information on cancer incidence and survival in the United States. SEER currently collects and publishes cancer incidence and survival data from population-based cancer registries covering approximately 34.6 percent of the U.S. population. The SEER Program registries routinely collect data on patient demographics, primary tumor site, tumor morphology and stage at diagnosis, first course of treatment, and follow-up for vital status. The mortality data reported by SEER are provided by the National Center for Health Statistics. The population data used in calculating cancer rates is obtained periodically from the Census Bureau. The SEER research data files include SEER incidence and population data associated by age, sex, race, year of diagnosis, and geographic areas.

  Study phs002012

• Tracking the origins and drivers of subclonal metastatic expansion in prostate cancer

  Tumour heterogeneity in primary prostate cancer is a well-established phenomenon. However, how the subclonal diversity of tumours changes during metastasis and progression to lethality is poorly understood. Here we reveal the precise direction of metastatic spread across four lethal prostate cancer patients using whole-genome and ultra-deep targeted sequencing of longitudinally collected primary and metastatic tumours. We find one case of metastatic spread to the surgical bed causing local recurrence, and another case of cross-metastatic site seeding combining with dynamic remoulding of subclonal mixtures in response to therapy. By ultra-deep sequencing end-stage blood, we detect both metastatic and primary tumour clones, even years after removal of the prostate. Analysis of mutations associated with metastasis reveals an enrichment of TP53 mutations, and additional sequencing of metastases from 19 patients demonstrates that acquisition of TP53 mutations is linked with the expansion of subclones with metastatic potential which we can detect in the blood.

  Study EGAS00001000942

• Heart Failure Network: Diuretic Optimization Strategies Evaluation in Acute Heart Failure (HFN DOSE-BioLINCC)

  ObjectivesThe DOSE study sought to evaluate the most effective dosing (high vs. low) and administration (continuous infusion vs. intermittent boluses) combination of the diuretic Furosemide in the treatment of patients with acute decompensated heart failure.BackgroundAcute decompensated heart failure is the most common cause of hospital admissions among patients older than 65 years of age and is responsible for more than 1 million hospitalizations annually in the United States. Intravenous loop diuretics are an essential component of current treatment and are administered to approximately 90% of patients who are hospitalized with heart failure. Despite decades of clinical experience with these agents, prospective data to guide the use of loop diuretics are sparse, and current guidelines are based primarily on expert opinion. As a result, clinical practice varies widely with regard to both the mode of administration and the dosing.SubjectsA total of 308 patients were enrolled between March 2008 and November 2009 at 26 clinical sites in the United States and Canada. DesignThe DOSE study was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial with a 2-by-2 factorial design. Patients were randomly assigned to either a low-dose strategy (total intravenous furosemide dose equal to their total daily oral loop diuretic dose in furosemide equivalents) or a high-dose strategy (total daily intravenous furosemide dose 2.5 times their total daily oral loop diuretic dose in furosemide equivalents) and to administration of furosemide either by intravenous bolus every 12 hours or by continuous intravenous infusion.The study treatment, with group assignments concealed, was continued for up to 72 hours. At 48 hours, the treating physician had the option of adjusting the diuretic strategy on the basis of the clinical response. An assessment of biomarkers, including creatinine, cystatin C, and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, was performed at a central core laboratory at baseline, 72 hours, and 60 days. Patients were followed for clinical events to day 60. The coprimary end points were patients' global assessment of symptoms, quantified as the area under the curve (AUC) of the score on a visual-analogue scale over the course of 72 hours, and the change in the serum creatinine level from baseline to 72 hours.ConclusionsAmong patients with acute decompensated heart failure, there were no significant differences in patients' global assessment of symptoms or in the change in renal function when diuretic therapy was administered by bolus as compared with continuous infusion or at a high dose as compared with a low dose. (Felker et. al., 2011, PMID: 21366472)

  Study phs003524

• Characterization of Clonal Evolution in Microsatellite Unstable Metastatic Cancers through Multi-Regional Tumor Sequencing

  Whole exome sequencing was performed on blood and multiple tumor samples from six patients with known microsatellite unstable tumors. Subclones within each tumor site were identified and within each subclone, differing microsatellite instability was characterized.

  Study phs001925

• All you need to know about our new DAC Portal

  With the DAC Portal, it is possible to streamline the process of managing access to sensitive data, ensuring that researchers have the necessary resources to advance scientific discovery while maintaining the highest standards of data protection and privacy. We know that, as a new tool, its first use can be complex. For this reason, in this article we will try to show all the elements of interest. Enjoy! Credentials: who needs to create a new user to access the DAC Portal and who doesn't? Only new users (since September the 12th) need to create an EGA account to access the DAC Portal. The EGA team went one step ahead by creating EGA accounts for former DAC members to login to the DAC Portal. These accounts are linked to the personal email used in the DAC structure: To check the linked email, DAC members can paste the DAC ID right after this link: https://metadata.ega-archive.org/dacs/ (e.g. https://metadata.ega-archive.org/dacs/EGAC00001002543) In case of password oblivion, it is possible to set a new one. All the process is channelled through the personal email. Some DAC members may be interested in updating the DAC email. This action can be done contacting our Helpdesk team. For the correct functioning of the DAC Portal, users must add the missing information of the DAC Profile. For a deeper dive, check out our documentation. The first step: knowing your workspace on the Portal Once logged in to the platform using the EGA User credentials, note the sections available: DACs and Policies. In the first one it is possible to check all user's registered DACs by default. It provides a comprehensive overview of each DAC, including its EGA accessions (EGAC), title, status, and the number of data access requests associated with each DAC. Whereas the Policies section is where users can manage and view all their registered policies, along with their associated EGA accessions, links, and titles. A drop-down menu is available with shortcuts to the most useful pages in the top right corner. It is possible to check DACs and policies, as well as creating new ones. In this menu, users can also contact the Helpdesk team using the “Need Help?” section to make inquiries about DACs and policies. Comprehending the DACs list & making the most of all the features Colours are crucial in the DAC's section as they will indicate the user role and the status in every committee, namely: Yellow: you are the administrator of the DAC and have full control to add other contacts, modify the content, and manage data access requests. Orange: you are a member of the DAC and have the authority to manage data access requests but cannot make any changes to the content. Blue: you have been invited to join the DAC and need to either accept or decline the invitation. Grey: the DAC is currently pending validation by the EGA Helpdesk team. Red: the DAC has been declined by the EGA Helpdesk team. Discover more information on how to view the message from Helpdesk containing the declination reason or how to validate or reject a DAC invitation by taking the tour of the DAC Portal. How to create, register and edit a DAC Creating a DAC is an easy process that only requires users to complete the necessary information. After that, the EGA Helpdesk team will review the proposal and validate the proposal. Once the DAC is validated it is possible for authorised users with admin role to edit it at any time, ensuring that all information and contacts associated with the committee is accurate and up to date. Membership management is controlled by searching for the EGA user looking for their username, email, or organisation. Please, note that for a person's details to appear in this search engine, they must have registered as a EGA user. Data Access Committee administrators manage two types of permissions that apply to contacts: Main contact and Role. Both can be modified at any time: Main contact refers to the primary person we firstly contact for any inquiry about the DAC (please, note that we can contact all DAC members, and this refers to the person we will contact first). Role defines the actions that can be taken by each contact. There are two possible status, admin and member, details of which can be found in the Take the Tour. Keep in mind that, to save the modifications, it is always necessary to click on “Update”. Moreover, it is also possible to delete any contact in a DAC whenever it is needed. The data request process: how to manage access requests The data request process is now channelled through the EGA website. Once a user sends a request access, the petition will go directly to the DAC Portal profile of the DAC members liked to the requested dataset. Whenever a request is received, a sand clock symbol will be displayed next to the DAC responsible for the dataset involved. By clicking on the DAC, it is possible to discover more information about requester(s). In this section, DAC Portal users will also be able to modify the display of the data access requests. It is possible to group requests by dataset accession or username, depending on the user preferences. Additionally, it is possible to isolate specific requests by user or dataset. To accept a request, users must slide the button to the right. Once the button turns green, it signifies that the request is accepted; the requester will be granted access to the requested dataset. To make lives easier, we have implemented a “Select all” button to easily accept or revoke multiple requests at once. To decline requests, it is necessary to slide the button to the left. A red button means the requester will not be granted access to the dataset. The DAC Portal will always ask to submit the reason why the data access was denied. Please, note that any decision, grant or denial, must be confirmed clicking the "Apply" button. This will update the status of the request and notify the requester accordingly. Taking control of the activity in the DAC Portal: checking the requests history The History button is a useful feature that allows users to access a list of all the requests that have been granted. This is especially useful for auditing purposes, as it enables to keep track of who has been granted access to the data and when. To facilitate control for those users with several requests we have included a filtering option. It allows to filter requests by user, mail, dataset, EGA ID, and date (these are combinable to boost the search). Don't forget about policies: creation, management, and update Similarly to the DACs section, in the Policies one users can manage and view all their registered policies. By clicking on any policy, it is possible to view its details as well as making any necessary updates or modifications. The sheets symbol and its adjacent number indicate the quantity of objects using a policy. By clicking in the location symbol users will go directly to the DAC page on the DAC Portal to see more information about that DAC. DAC Portal users can create new policies. The first step requires to link the policy to a registered DAC. After defining the title, users can either add a link to an external URL containing terms & conditions or write the policy content directly on the DAC Portal. Keep in mind that both options can be included. Data Use Ontology (DUO) codes can be added to new policies. These codes are used to specify the permitted and prohibited uses of the data. Please, note that some of them require a modifier to provide additional specificity. Find out more by checking out this specific content on the DAC Portal Tour. Policies can be modified at any given time by clicking on one registered policy, which will display the current information.

  Blog new-dac-portal

• Onco-exaptation of an Endogenous Retroviral LTR Drives IRF5 Expression in Hodgkin Lymphoma

  The transcription factor interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) is upregulated in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and a key regulator of the aberrant transcriptome characteristic of this disease. Here we show that IRF5 upregulation in HL is driven by transcriptional activation of a normally dormant endogenous retroviral LOR1a long terminal repeat (LTR) upstream of IRF5. Specifically, through screening of RNA-seq libraries, we detected LTR-IRF5 chimeric transcripts in multiple HL cell lines but not in normal B-cell controls. In HL, the LTR was in an open and hypomethylated epigenetic state and we further show the LTR is the site of transcriptional initiation. Among HL cell lines, usage of the LTR promoter strongly correlates with overall levels of IRF5 mRNA and protein, indicating that LTR transcriptional awakening is a major contributor to IRF5 upregulation in HL. Taken together, oncogenic IRF5 overexpression in HL is the result of a specific LTR transcriptional activation. We propose that such LTR derepression is a distinct mechanism of oncogene activation (“onco-exaptation”) and that such a mechanism warrants further investigation in molecular and cancer research.

  Study EGAS00001001205

• A Genome-Wide Association Study in Patients Experiencing Breast Events While Receiving Adjuvant Aromatase Inhibitors for Early Breast Cancer on NCIC CTG Trial MA.27

  Source of patients:The source of the patients for this genome-wide case-control study was MA.27, which was conducted as a multi-cooperative group effort under the auspices of the NCI Breast Cancer Intergroup of North America. The NCIC Clinical Trials Group (CTG) serves as the coordinating group, with participation by the NCI-sponsored North Central Cancer Treatment Group, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), Southwest Oncology Group, and Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB). MA.27 involved postmenopausal women with histologically confirmed and completely resected invasive breast cancer with surgical margins clear of invasive carcinoma in the following TMN categories (AJCC Version 6): pT1, pT2, pT3; pNx, pN0, pN1, pN2, pN3 (only when the sole basis is presence of 10 or more involved axillary nodes); MO. The primary tumor must have been estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor positive. Patients were stratified by lymph node status at diagnosis, prior adjuvant chemotherapy, and trastuzumab use and were randomized to 5 years of adjuvant therapy with anastrozole or exemestane. The trial was activated on May 26, 2003, and reached its accrual objectives on July 31, 2008, after the randomization of 6827 North American patients, with the majority (79%) providing DNA and consent for genetic testing. Non-North American patients were also entered by the International Breast Cancer Study Group but they did not contribute DNA. From 2003 to December 21, 2004, patients also underwent a second randomization to celecoxib 400 mg twice daily or placebo but, after the entry of 1,622 patients, this treatment was discontinued because of reports of increased cardiovascular risk associated with celecoxib. The final results of this study have been published, see Goss et al., 2013 (23358971). The patients in this analysis came from three cohorts: Cohort 1 consisted of 870 patients genotyped on the Illumina Human610-Quad BeadChip studied in a GWAS with the phenotype of musculoskeletal adverse event, see Ingle et al., 2010 (20876420), Cohort 2 consisted of 882 patients genotyped on the Illumina OmniExpress platform studied in a GWAS with the phenotype of fragility fractures, see Liu et al., 2014 (25148458), and the remaining 2913 patients were genotyped with the Illumina OmniExpressExome platform.

  Study phs001043

• Urothelial Cancer - Genomic Analysis to Improve Patient Outcomes and Research (UC-GENOME): A Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN)-Led Collaborative Research Pilot Study

  UC-GENOME is a real-world cohort of patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC). The study consisted of two co-equal aims: 1) to provide targeted DNA sequencing for clinical decision making at no cost to patients; and 2) to create a resource for collaborative translational science including a clinically annotated biobank. The submitted data represents the foundational analysis of 218 patients accrued at 7 academic medical centers. The analysis includes 176 patients with both targeted DNA sequencing and RNA sequencing. The genomic data was combined with clinical variables to model response to chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Due to additional sharing restrictions, data from one site can be found in phs003094.

  Study phs003066

• Germline Whole-Exome Sequencing of Lung Cancer in EAGLE

  EAGLE is a large population-based case-control study designed and conducted to investigate the genetic and environmental determinants of lung cancer and smoking persistence using an integrative approach that allows combined analysis of genetic, environmental, clinical, and behavioral data. Here, we applied whole exome sequencing (WES) to EAGLE study, in a group of 2,777 Italian subjects (including 1,461 lung cancer cases and 1,316 healthy controls). We derived gene-level burden tests to explore the cumulative effect of deleterious rare variants within protein-coding genes and the lung cancer risk. Additionally, at this site we include WES datasets of 1259 healthy controls from 1054 PLCO (The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial) subjects and 205 ACS (The American Cancer Society study) subjects.

  Study phs002496

• Cergentis FFPE-TLC

  In this study, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded targeted locus capture (FFPE-TLC) sequencing is used as a novel technology for targeted detection of tumor-specific genomic structural variants (SVs) in the primary tumor of 29 colorectal cancer patients with metastatic disease. The tumor region was macrodissected and sequenced for 29 patients, and the "normal" region of the same slide was macrodissected and sequenced for 8 of these patients. SVs were found in the common fragile site (CFS)-associated genes MACROD2, PRKN, FHIT and WWOX as well as SVs caused by three LINE transposable elements. Tumor-specificity of selected SVs was independently verified by droplet digital PCR of tumor tissue DNA and their applicability as plasma circulating tumor DNA biomarkers was demonstrated.

  Study EGAS50000000427

• Influence of the Microbiome on Epigenetic Mechanisms in IBD

  Live CD4 T cells were sorted from inflamed and non-inflamed tissue samples of IBD patients or from healthy and IBD blood samples. ATAC-Seq libraries were generated from live CD4 T cells sorted from i) inflamed and non-inflamed tissue samples, ii) healthy and IBD blood samples, or from iii) CD4 T cell subsets polarised from healthy blood samples. After isolating crude nuclei, live CD4+ T cells were treated with Tagment DNA buffer and Tagment DNA Enzyme (Nextera DNA Library Prep Kit, Illumina), and then the DNA was purified by MinElute PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen). Transposed DNA fragments were amplified using specific adapters followed by purification with MinElute PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen). Fragments from 240-360pb were selected in the PippinHT system (Sage Science). The quality of the library and its DNA concentration were assessed by Bioanalyzer instruments (Agilent Technologies) and ultimately submitted for sequencing using Illumina HiSeq 2500 sequencer, V4 chemistry. On the other hand, single cell RNA-Seq libraries were generated exclusively from inflamed and non-inflamed tissue samples of Crohn’s disease patients. Briefly, live CD4 T cells were captured and encapsulated before cDNA amplification using the 10X Genomics Chromium Platform. Samples were prepared as outlined by 10x genomics Single Cell 3’ Reagent Kits v2 user guide. Samples were sequenced on a HiSeq 2500 with the following run parameters: Read 1 – 26 cycles, read 2 – 98 cycles, index 1 – 8 cycles.

  Dataset EGAD00001011066

• scRNA-seq of total bone marrow and T cells from multiple myeloma long-term survivors

  scRNA This dataset contains 50 scRNA-seq samples from bone marrow aspirates of 11 multiple myeloma patients experiencing long-term survival and 3 healthy donors. For each donor, total bone marrow and CD3+ T cells were sequenced. For multiple myeloma patients, paired samples were collected at initial diagnosis and between 7-17 years after first-line therapy. Bone marrow mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation. For sorting of total bone marrow cells singlet, live cells were gated and sorted, for sorting of T cells CD45+, CD3+ cells were gated and sorted on either FACSAria Fusion or FACSAria II. Single-cell RNA sequencing were generated using 10x Genomics single-cell RNAseq technology (Chromium Single Cell 3’ Solution v2) according to the manufacturer’s protocol and sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq4000 (paired end, 26 and 74 bp). Bulk RNA Singlet, live CD3+CD4- CXCR3+CD8+ and CD3+CD4- CXCR3-CD8+ cells were sorted from 7 bone marrow and 3 peripheral blood samples of 7 multiple myeloma patients using a FACSAria Fusion machine. Bulk-RNA sequencing libraries were generated using the SMART Seq Stranded Total RNA-Seq kit (Takara) and sequenced using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform (2 x 100 bp).

  Dataset EGAD00001010025

• Integrated Personal omics Processing (iPoP) Longitudinal multi-omics profiling of prediabetes

  Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is a significant health problem. Close to 20 million individuals in the United States have T2D, and 79 million aged 20 years or older are clinically pre-diabetic, with a 5-year conversion rate of 10% to 23% from prediabetes to T2D. In a collaborative effort to systematically understand diabetes and its etiology, the team is comprised of leading experts in research on both the human host as well as the microbiome, as properties of both are likely relevant in T2D development. For a better elucidation of mechanisms of onset and progression of T2D disease, the group is performing a detailed analysis of the biological processes that occur in the microbiome and human host by longitudinal profiling of patients at risk for T2D. Both microbiome and host profiles are being analyzed by state-of-the-art omics platforms, and these large-scale and diverse data sets will be integrated to determine the dynamic pathways that change during the onset and progression of T2D, especially during viral infections and other stresses. This longitudinal study is expected to reveal changes in the microbiome and host at an unprecedented level of detail, and identify molecules and pathways that play important roles in diabetes onset and progression.

  Study phs001719

• A Phase II Trial of High Dose Interleukin-2 and Multi-site Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy for Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

  Immune-based therapies have improved outcomes for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) but there is still a significant margin for improvement. Here, we report the results of a phase II trial combining high dose Interleukin-2 (HD-IL-2) with stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SAbR) for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

  Study EGAS00001003605

• Genetic Modifiers of Huntington's Disease

  Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder typically diagnosed in mid-life that is caused by expansion of an otherwise polymorphic CAG trinucleotide repeat. The mutation causes a gain-of-function of the huntingtin protein to trigger a pathogenic process that produces detectable phenotypic differences many years before the traditional diagnosis, which is based upon characteristic motor symptoms. The prediagnosis phase of pathogenesis is now the subject of intense scrutiny by an NINDS-funded longitudinal study, PREDICT-HD, in which undiagnosed gene carriers are followed longitudinally and subjected to detailed phenotyping (PREDICT-HD Huntington Disease Study -- dbGaP Study Accession: phs000222). This powerful approach, which offers the potential for moving the focus of therapeutic development to the decades prior to neurological disease diagnosis, is enabled by the fact that all individuals with HD have the same type of mutation, which can be determined at any time in life by a single HD CAG repeat PCR amplification assay. The precise length of the HD CAG repeat differs between individuals. There is a strong negative correlation between the number of CAG repeats and the age at onset of diagnostic neurological abnormalities in HD, such that the CAG repeat accounts for ~50% of the variation in age at diagnosis. Analysis of the remaining variance not explained by the length of the CAG repeat has shown that it is highly heritable, being due to genetic variation, elsewhere in the genome. The intent of the Genetic Modifiers of Huntington's Disease study is to identify genetic modifiers of HD pathogenesis by using genomewide association techniques in diagnosed HD individuals to identify genetic factors associated with the residual variance in age at onset not explained by the CAG repeat, and to extend these analyses to pre-diagnosis phenotypes, for example, those defined in the PREDICT-HD study. Identification of modifier genes is a top priority for HD research (and an example of an approach that can be applied in other late-onset genetic disorders), as it could provide clues to developing rational treatments that delay or prevent the pathogenic process from causing the ravages of the disease that ensue in the ~15 years of inexorable decline to ultimate death that now follows clinical diagnosis. To further that goal, the release of study version 2 makes available whole exome sequencing data of n=221 study participants.

  Study phs000371

• NIH RECOVER: A Multi-Site Observational Study of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Adults

  The NIH Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative comprises a set of three combined retrospective and prospective, longitudinal, observational meta-cohort studies with nested case-control studies designed to define and characterize the epidemiology, natural history, clinical spectrum, and underlying mechanisms of post-acute effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC or Post-COVID syndrome) in a diverse study population representative of the general COVID-19 population in the US. Enrolled patients with and without known SARS-CoV-2 infection will be observed for clinical signs and symptoms of PASC and will be assessed for risk and resiliency factors and potential mediating factors associated with the severity and progression of PASC. The objective of the RECOVER initiative is to enhance knowledge of recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infections in order to support development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Overarching scientific objectives are as follows: Characterize the incidence and prevalence of sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Characterize the spectrum of clinical symptoms, subclinical organ dysfunction, natural history, and distinct phenotypes identified as sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Define the biological mechanisms underlying pathogenesis of the sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The RECOVER observational studies comprise three cohorts across the lifespan (adult, pediatric, and tissue pathology (autopsy)). The data collection and data analysis plans for each cohort have been harmonized to use common data elements where feasible. Brief descriptions of each cohort are provided in the following paragraphs:1) NIH RECOVER: A Multi-site Observational Study of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Adults (this study)The RECOVER adult cohort study is a combined retrospective and prospective, longitudinal, observational meta-cohort of individuals who will enter the cohort with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection and at varying stages before and after infection. Individuals with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection and with or without PASC symptoms will be followed to identify risk factors and occurrence of PASC. This study will be conducted in the United States and subjects will be recruited through inpatient, outpatient, and community-based settings. Study data including age, demographics, social determinants of health, medical history, vaccination history, details of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, overall health and physical function, and PASC symptom screen will be reported by subjects or collected from the electronic health record using a case report form at specified intervals. Biologic specimens will be collected at specified intervals, with some tests performed in local clinical laboratories and others performed by centralized research centers or banked in the Biospecimen Repository. Advanced clinical examinations and radiologic examinations will be performed at local study sites with cross-site standardization. A summary of information available by request in the RECOVER Adult Cohort (this study) can be reviewed via the "Adult Cohort Dataset Release Notes" and the "REDCap Codebook for the Adult Cohort" documents.2) The RECOVER Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) Pediatric Cohort Study: A Multi-Center Observational Study (data not yet released)The RECOVER pediatric study is a combined retrospective and prospective, longitudinal, observational meta-cohort of individuals ages newborn-25 years who will enter the cohort with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection at varying stages before and after infection. Individuals with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection and with or without PASC symptoms will be followed to identify risk factors and occurrence of PASC. This study recruit participants inpatient, outpatient, and community-based settings in the United States. Study data including age, demographics, social determinants of health, medical history, vaccination history, details of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, overall health and physical function, and PASC symptoms will be reported by participants or collected from the electronic health record using a case report form at specified intervals. Biologic specimens will be collected at specified intervals, with some tests performed in local clinical laboratories and others performed by centralized research centers or banked in the Biospecimen Repository. Advanced clinical and radiologic examinations will be performed at local study sites with cross-site standardization.3) NIH RECOVER: A Multi-site Pathology Study of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (data not yet released)The RECOVER tissue pathology study is a cross-sectional study designed to define and characterize the epidemiology, natural history, clinical spectrum, and underlying mechanisms of post-acute effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a diverse population representative of the general COVID-19 population in the US. The autopsy study will characterize the pathology of PASC in (i) non-hospitalized patients who die 30 days or later from symptom onset of COVID-19, and (ii) hospitalized patients who die 30 days or later after discharge from a hospitalization for COVID-19. The study will include decedents who had previously fully recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection (i.e., >30 days from onset in non-hospitalized, or >30 days from discharge in hospitalized patients), and decedents who meet clinical criteria of PASC as defined by the recent World Health Organization publication (see Section 5.4 below). The autopsy study will also explore the pathology of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in a smaller subset of patients who died 15-30 days from symptom onset. This protocol defines the common set of clinical data elements, autopsy procedures for tissue collection, core measures, pathology protocols, shared pathology tissues, data elements, and methodology. Each investigator site is expected to perform autopsies on the decedents to address the pathophysiology of the potential long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on human health. The Consortium analysis plan aims to address research questions by incorporating: 1) tissue obtained from autopsies performed at each Phase II participant's site; and 2) tissue available from other pathology investigators/autopsy sites within the Consortium.

  Study phs003463

• Genomic Basis of Phenotypic Variability of Complex Disorders

  The 520-kbp deletion on chromosome 16p12.1 is associated with multiple neurodevelopmental outcomes, including intellectual disability/developmental delay (ID/DD), schizophrenia, autism, and epilepsy. This variant is inherited in >95% of cases from carrier parents manifesting neuropsychiatric features, while affected children with the deletion were more likely to carry another large Copy Number Variation (CNV) or rare deleterious mutation elsewhere in the genome, or "second-hits", compared to carrier parents. Thus, while the 16p12.1 deletion confers significant risk for a range of disorders, the ultimate phenotypic trajectory is determined by "second-hit" variants in the genetic background. However, outstanding questions remain about the genetic background in these disorders, including the functional effects of "second-hit" variants towards gene expression or developmental phenotypes, the full spectrum of "second-hit" variants, and the mechanisms driving accumulation of these variants.In version 1, we performed deep clinical phenotyping, whole-genome sequencing (WGS), SNP microarray analysis, and RNA-sequencing of lymphoblastoid cell lines of 32 individuals in five large families with the 16p12.1 deletion. We found that specific classes of rare single-nucleotide and structural variants in coding and non-coding regions contributed towards expression changes in affected children based on their inheritance patterns, including a subset of variants that acted synergistically with the deletion to alter expression. We further found that rare variant-mediated expression changes contribute to specific developmental phenotypes in the carrier children, suggesting a potential genetic mechanism for variable expressivity of the deletion.In version 2, we additionally analyzed genetic and phenotypic data from individuals with 16p12.1 deletion and their spouses to assess the role of assortative mating modulating phenotypic outcomes of the 16p12.1 deletion. We identified significant within- and cross- disorder phenotypic correlations between spouses, but observed no significant genetic correlations between spouses, in line with expectations.

  Study phs002450

• PanCuRx Translational Research Initiative

  The goal of the PanCuRx TRI is to seek solutions to the high fatality rate of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common type of pancreatic cancer, by generating new knowledge about the genetics and biology of the disease, mechanisms of how tumours grow and tailored treatment options. PDAC is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in Canada and is expected to become the second-leading cause of cancer death within the next decade. The current five-year survival rate of eight per cent is the lowest of all epithelial cancers. There are major clinical challenges to treating the disease, including the fact that PDAC spreads to other parts of the body early so surgical removal of the tumour benefits few patients, that PDAC has proven relatively resistant to systemic therapies such as chemotherapy and that there has been limited benefit from the use of newer molecular targeted agents. The PanCuRx team has created the world’s first resource of tumour-purified PDAC whole genomes; more than 500 PDAC samples, with combined clinical annotation, have been successfully sequenced and analyzed at the Ontario Institute for Cancer research in Toronto. The resulting clinical genomic resource created from this data has led to multiple new findings that have established a framework to better understand PDAC biology and lays the foundation for new genomic approaches to better understanding the disease. The team also launched a clinical trial called COMPASS (Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Advanced Ductal Pancreas Adenocarcinoma for Better Treatment Selection: A Prospective Study), which is recruiting patients with advanced PDAC (both locally advanced and metastatic) at The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM) in Toronto. The study uses the molecular results from individual patient tumours to guide selection of better second line treatment on a case-by-case basis. The primary objective of the initial study was to assess the feasibility of collecting tumour materials from patients with advanced PDAC and delivering results within 56 days of biopsy. Having achieved this objective, the trial has expanded to other cancer centres across Canada. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer and outcomes have not improved in four decades. The PanCuRx initiative is providing a better understanding of the disease and actively applying new knowledge to cancer patients through clinical trials. This knowledge will help to improve quality of life and prolong survival for pancreatic cancer patients worldwide.

  Study EGAS00001002543

• HLA-DR is absent in primitive macrophages through epigenetic silencing of master regulator CIITA

  The earliest macrophages are generated during embryonic development from erythro-myeloid progenitors (EMPs) via primitive haematopoiesis. This process is poorly understood in humans and in the mouse is thought to be spatially restricted to the yolk sac. Human fetal placental macrophages, Hofbauer cells (HBC), arise during the primitive haematopoietic wave at ~18 days post conception. Here we identify a population of placental erythro-myeloid progenitors (PEMPs) in the early human placenta that give rise to HBC. PEMP are fetal CD34+CD43+ progenitors found exclusively at early gestational timepoints. Transcriptomic analyses reveal that PEMP have conserved features of primitive yolk sac EMPs, including the lack of HLF expression. Using in vitro single-cell culture experiments we show that PEMP generate HBC-like cells that completely lack HLA-DR expression  and demonstrate that this is a conserved feature of all macrophages generated by primitive haematopoiesis in humans. Finally, we demonstrate that the class II transactivator, CTIIA, the master regulator HLA-DR expression, is epigenetically silenced during primitive haematopoiesis, leading to HLA-DRneg macrophages. These findings demonstrate that HBC are derived locally from PEMP and establish the human placenta as an additional site of primitive haematopoiesis.

  Study EGAS00001006981

• Exome-seq, RNA-Seq, SNP array profiling of gastric tumor samples and cell lines.

  Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of worldwide cancer mortality, yet the underlying genomic alterations remain poorly understood. Here we performed exome and transcriptome sequencing and SNP array assays to characterize 51 primary gastric tumors and 32 cell lines. Meta-analysis of the exome data and previously published data sets revealed 24 significantly mutated genes in MSS tumors, and 16 in MSI tumors. More than half of the patients in our collection could potentially benefit from targeted therapies. We identified 55 splice-site mutations accompanied by aberrant splicing products, in addition to mutation-independent differential isoform usage in tumors. The ZAK kinase isoform TV1 is preferentially upregulated in gastric tumors and cell lines relative to normal samples. This pattern is also observed in colorectal, bladder, and breast cancers. Overexpression of this particular isoform activated multiple cancer-related transcription factor reporters, while depletion of ZAK in gastric cell lines inhibited proliferation. These results reveal the spectrum of genomic and transcriptomic alterations in gastric cancer, and identify isoform-specific oncogenic properties of ZAK.

  Study EGAS00001000736

• Recursive splicing in long vertebrate genes

  Recent studies have shown that expression of many genes with exceptionally long introns in the mammalian brain can be perturbed by regulatory factors linked to neurodevelopmental or neurodegenerative disorders1-3, suggesting unique regulatory mechanisms. Here we identify functional recursive splice sites (RSS) in long introns of genes expressed in the brain. These RSS are highly conserved in genes with extreme length across diverse vertebrate species and permit step-wise removal of long introns via recursive splicing. Recursive splicing requires initial definition of a “recursive exon” that is located downstream of RSS, and most often contains premature stop codons. Moreover, we show that RSS create a splicing switch driven by splice site competition in order to distinguish primary mRNA isoforms from alternative isoforms that are prevalent in long genes. The recursive exon is not detectable in the dominant mRNA isoform due to recursive splicing, but is completely included when cryptic promoters or other cryptic exons are used. Thus, by coupling inclusion of recursive exons with the use of cryptic elements, RSS act to distinguish new mRNA isoforms emerging from long genes.

  Study EGAS00001001170