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• Genomics and Epigenomics of the Elderly Response to Pneumococcal Vaccines

  Pneumococcal Vaccine Study: This is a study designed to develop a detailed transcriptional and cellular profile of the immune response to pneumococcal vaccination with conjugated and non-conjugated polysaccharide vaccines in the senescent immune system of older adults. In this study, 39 healthy adults ages 60 and older that have never received pneumococcal vaccination, have been randomized to receive Prevnar 13 (Pfizer), a conjugated 13-valent vaccine or Pneumovax 23 (Merck), a non-conjugated 23-valent vaccine. Four (4) study visits occurred over 70 days at Day -7 (baseline), day 1, day 10 and day 60 (± 5d) post vaccination.Bulk RNA-sequencing data are available on the 4 time points for 31 of the participants and 1 replicate. ATAC-Doublet Detector Study: We generated single nucleus ATAC-seq (snATAC-seq) data from PBMCs of 2 baseline blood samples from the pneumococcal study. Generated data was then used to benchmark a novel computational method for detecting multiplets in snATAC-seq data, namely, AMULET (https://github.com/UcarLab/AMULET). Multiplets confound downstream analyses by introducing combined epigenomic profiles from 2 or more cells/nuclei. AMULET detects multiplets by using unique snATAC-seq data features that allow it to reliably use read counts to detect multiplets for their removal from data analyses.

  Study phs002361

• A system-wide approach to monitor responses to synergistic BRAF and EGFR inhibition in colorectal cancer cells

  Molecular heterogeneity of tumors, epigenetic changes and a diverse range of molecular mechanisms are main contributors to drug resistance, which represents one of the great challenges in cancer treatment. A deeper understanding of the molecular biology of cancer has resulted in better targeted therapies, where one or multiple drugs are adopted in novel therapies to tackle resistance. This beneficial effect of using combination treatments has to some extent also been observed in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients harboring the BRAF(V600E) mutation, whereby dual inhibition of BRAF(V600E) and EGFR increases antitumor activity. Notwithstanding this success, it is not clear whether this combination treatment is the only or most effective treatment to block resistance. Here, we investigate molecular responses upon single and multi-target treatments, over time, using BRAF(V600E) mutant CRC cells as a well-define model system. Through integration of transcriptomic, proteomic and phosphoproteomics data we obtain a comprehensive overview, revealing both well-known and novel responses. We primarily observe widespread upregulation of tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and and metabolic pathways. This points to by which the treated cells switch energy sources as a defensive response entering a quiescent like state, while activating signalling to re-activate the MAPK pathway.

  Study EGAS00001002654

• RNA-seq of high grade serous ovarian tumours

  Somatic RNA for 40 samples matched to the WGS was extracted using the Qiagen Qiasymphony RNA protcol (cat no 931636). The tissue was initially homogenised using a Qiagen Bioruptor, followed by the manufacturers recommended protocol (including DNase digestion). The resulting RNA the underwent quality control as follows: firstly, A260 and A280nm were measured on a Denovix DS-11 Fx to qualitatively illustrate A260/280nm and A260/230nm ratios as measures of RNA purity. A260/280 had to be 2.0 and A260/230 had to be 2.0-2.2. Then RNA was quantified using LifeTechnologies Qubit RNA BR kit (cat no Q10210). RNAseq was carried out by the Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility on an Illumina NExtSeq500. Total RNA samples were assessed on the Agilent Bioanalyser (Agilent Technologies, #G2939AA) with the RNA 6000 Nano Kit (#5067-1512) for quality and integrity of total RNA, and then quantified using the Qubit 2.0 Fluorometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, #Q32866) and the Qubit RNA HS assay kit (#Q32855). Libraries were prepared from total-RNA sample using the NEBNext Ultra 2 Directional RNA library prep kit for Illumina (#E7760S) with the NEBNext rRNA Depletion kit (#E6310) according to the provided protocol. 400ng of totalRNA was then added to the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) depletion reaction using the NEBNext rRNA depletion kit (Human/mouse/rat) (#E6310). This step uses specific probes that bind to the rRNA in order to cleave it. rRNA-depleted RNA was then DNase treated and purified using Agencourt RNAClean XP beads (Beckman Coulter Inc, #66514). RNA was then fragmented using random primers before undergoing first strand and second strand synthesis to create cDNA. cDNA was end repaired before ligation of sequencing adapters, and libraries were enriched by PCR using the NEBNext Multiplex oligos for Illumina set 1 and 2 (#E7500). Final libraries had an average peak size of 271bp. Libraries were quantified by fluorometry using the Qubit dsDNA HS assay and assessed for quality and fragment size using the Agilent Bioanalyser with the DNA HS Kit (#5067-4626). Sequencing was performed using the NextSeq 500/550 High-Output v2 (150 cycle) Kit (# FC- 404-2002) on the NextSeq 550 platform (Illumina Inc, #SY-415-1002). Libraries were combined in an equimolar pool based on the library quantification results and run across 5 High-Output Flow Cell v2.5.

  Dataset EGAD00001009048

• RNA-seq of high grade serous ovarian tumours

  Somatic RNA for 37 samples was extracted using the Qiagen Qiasymphony RNA protcol (cat no 931636). The tissue was initially homogenised using a Qiagen Bioruptor, followed by the manufacturers recommended protocol (including DNase digestion). The resulting RNA the underwent quality control as follows: firstly, A260 and A280nm were measured on a Denovix DS-11 Fx to qualitatively illustrate A260/280nm and A260/230nm ratios as measures of RNA purity. A260/280 had to be 2.0 and A260/230 had to be 2.0-2.2. Then RNA was quantified using LifeTechnologies Qubit RNA BR kit (cat no Q10210). RNAseq was carried out by the Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility on an Illumina NExtSeq500. Total RNA samples were assessed on the Agilent Bioanalyser (Agilent Technologies, #G2939AA) with the RNA 6000 Nano Kit (#5067-1512) for quality and integrity of total RNA, and then quantified using the Qubit 2.0 Fluorometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, #Q32866) and the Qubit RNA HS assay kit (#Q32855). Libraries were prepared from total-RNA sample using the NEBNext Ultra 2 Directional RNA library prep kit for Illumina (#E7760S) with the NEBNext rRNA Depletion kit (#E6310) according to the provided protocol. 400ng of totalRNA was then added to the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) depletion reaction using the NEBNext rRNA depletion kit (Human/mouse/rat) (#E6310). This step uses specific probes that bind to the rRNA in order to cleave it. rRNA-depleted RNA was then DNase treated and purified using Agencourt RNAClean XP beads (Beckman Coulter Inc, #66514). RNA was then fragmented using random primers before undergoing first strand and second strand synthesis to create cDNA. cDNA was end repaired before ligation of sequencing adapters, and libraries were enriched by PCR using the NEBNext Multiplex oligos for Illumina set 1 and 2 (#E7500). Final libraries had an average peak size of 271bp. Libraries were quantified by fluorometry using the Qubit dsDNA HS assay and assessed for quality and fragment size using the Agilent Bioanalyser with the DNA HS Kit (#5067-4626). Sequencing was performed using the NextSeq 500/550 High-Output v2 (150 cycle) Kit (# FC- 404-2002) on the NextSeq 550 platform (Illumina Inc, #SY-415-1002). Libraries were combined in an equimolar pool based on the library quantification results and run across 5 High-Output Flow Cell v2.5.

  Dataset EGAD00001010139

• The scRNA dataset for TIGIT in MCL with CART

  We collected longitudinal samples from 15 patients with MCL at various clinical time points before and after CAT-T therapy brexucabtagene autoleucel (BA) infusion. The patients were grouped into three categories based on their clinical responses after BA treatment: 1) responsive (n = 9), 2) relapsed (n = 5), and 3) refractory (n = 1). All patients in category #1 and #2 had initially attained a complete response (CR) after BA therapy. The responsive group maintained CR with no relapse at the time of last follow up, while the relapsed group achieved initial CR but eventually relapsed. The 10x Chromium™ Single-Cell 5′ Reagent Kit v2 (PN-1000190, 10x GENOMICS) and Chromium Single-Cell Human TCR amplification Kit (PN-1000252, 10x GENOMICS) were used to perform single-cell separation, cDNA amplification, and library construction for gene expression and TCR repertoire following the manufacturer’s guidelines. Thirty-nine samples passed quality control and underwent single-cell transcriptome profiling with simultaneous single-cell T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire analysis.

  Dataset EGAD00001010180

• Programmatic submission based on XML

  Programmatic submissions (XML based) For further information please check our Submission FAQs, submission quickguide as well as submission terms! Introduction Besides the Submitter Portal tool, EGA supports programmatic sequence and clinical data metadata submissions. If you are not sure what this means, you may want to explore our brief metadata introduction. Programmatic submissions are recommended for array-based submission. Moreove, it may be of help if your submission is recurrent or it is difficult to manage manually due to its sheer size. Otherwise, we highly recommend using the Submitter Portal to perform submissions. In this page we will guide you through the required steps to programmatically submit data to the EGA. Programmatic submissions require your metadata to be structured for an easy and straightforward validation and archival. It basically consists in formatting your metadata as Extensible markup language (XML) files and submitting them to the EGA using the WEBIN Before submitting metadata to the EGA, it is important to ensure that the information in your XML files is compliant with our standards. You can see further details on how these standards are maintained at EGA at our EGA Schemas documentation page. Using WEBIN, you can validate your XML files against EGA's schemas to ensure that your metadata is compliant before submission. WEBIN services WEBIN production service WEBIN test service We advise you to submit your metadata to the test service when submitting to the production service for the first time. The test service is identical to the production service except that all submissions will be discarded in the following 24 hours. This allows you to learn about the submission process without having to worry about data being submitted. Authentication Authentication is required each time a submission is made. The submission service uses HTTPS protocol for metadata encryption and identification to provide a secure submission environment. Data file upload Both Runs and Analyses reference files (e.g. FASTQ need to be uploaded to the EGA before these metadata objects are submitted. In other words, if you submit a Run that references a file that we cannot find associated with your account, the metadata submission will fail. See further details on how to upload your files in our File Upload documentation. Metadata model of the EGA Our metadata model is formed by multiple metadata objects. Check further details in our documentation at our EGA Schema documentation page. Working with EGA XMLs files Now that the basic concepts of the EGA metadata have been described, you can start preparing your programmatic submission through XML. Here you will find the guidance on how to prepare the XML files. Programmatic Submission Tutorial Video Take a look at the Programmatic Submission Tutorial Video, which explains the workflow of a programmatic submission and goes over an example metadata submission. Programmatic Submission Tutorial Video. When building your XML files, we recommend using text editors (e.g.Sublime Text or VisualStudio) that allow you to visualise the structure of the XML with ease. Furthermore, these editors constantly check the consistency of the XML structure. Alternatively, and if the submission consists of a big number of objects (specially analyses), you may find the tool star2xml handy. This tool allows for a direct conversion between metadata in a tabular format (e.g. a spreadsheet) into XMLs. Identifying objects: Aliases and center names Every EGA object must be uniquely identified within the submission account using their alias attribute. The aliases can be used in submissions to make references between EGA objects. Let us dig into EGA's use of aliases and center names: alias: every object should have a name that is unique within your submission account. Once submitted successfully, every alias will be assigned a unique and permanent accession (EGA ID). refname: when an object references another by its alias, the alias of the referenced object goes into the "refname" attribute of the referencing object. For example, if a sample has the alias "sample1", and an experiment uses this sample, then the experiment's "EXPERIMENT/SAMPLE/refname" attribute should be "sample1". center_name: The "center_name" attribute is required within the submission XML and, if not provided when the object is submitted, it will be automatically filled using your default EGA account center_name. This element is the "controlled vocabulary acronym or abbreviation that is provided to the account holder when the account is first generated". If the submitter is brokering a submission for another institute, the submitter should use their special broker account name in broker_name while the data centre acronym remains in center_name. Log-in details should have been provided when you requested a submission account. Please contact our Helpdesk team if you have any questions. run_center: Many submitting centers contract out the actual sample sequencing to another center. In these cases, the sequencing center should be acknowledged in the run_center attribute. Again, this is controlled vocabulary and the acronym should be sought from EGA helpdesk before submitting. Please contact our Helpdesk team if you have any questions. Prepare your XMLs The goal of this section is to provide sufficient information to be able to create the metadata XML documents required for programmatic submissions. Please note, the EGA utilises the XML schemas maintained at the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA). It is important due to the fact that by using a similar system, some pieces of documentation from the ENA's programmatic submission can also help you with your programmatic submission to the EGA. For example, you can submit programmatically without using a Submission XML by following the steps at Submission actions without submission XML. A submission does not have to contain all different types of XMLs. For example, it is possible to submit only a few samples; or a study that is later to be referenced. You can submit each object one by one, or submit all in a batch: you choose what method of submission works best for you. We do recommend, nevertheless, that you submit the objects to be referenced (e.g. samples or studies) first, and the objects that reference these (e.g. experiments or datasets) afterwards. You can see a graphical view of these objects and their relationships at our EGA Schemas page. Independently of the submission scenario, you will always require a Dataset XML. The entity of a dataset is what is used to control access to the given data, in the form of runs or analyses. In other words, when a requester is granted access, it is through the dataset and the objects (e.g. runs or analyses) that the dataset contains, granting access to them in one go. Given the nature of the EGA, a dataset XML will always be required for the data access. First, we will differentiate between submissions of "raw" and "processed" data: Runs and Analyses, respectively. Run data submissions Raw data derives from instruments "as is". For example, a plain sequence file (e.g. FASTQ or unaligned BAM files) would be considered raw data. A typical raw (unaligned) sequence read submission consists of 8 XMLs: Submission Study Sample Experiment Run DAC Policy Dataset When technical reads (e.g. barcodes, adaptors or linkers) are included in the submitted raw sequences, a spot descriptor must be submitted to describe the position of the technical reads so that they can be removed. The following data files can be submitted without providing spot descriptor information in the experiment/run XML: BAM files (single reads) SFF files (single reads without barcodes) FastQ files (single reads without any technical reads) Complete Genomics files Analysis data submissions Processed data is, in some way, refined raw data. This includes raw data that has been processed by some form of analysis method (e.g. alignment, noise reduction, etc.). For example, an aligned sequence (e.g. BAM file), that was created using raw FASTQ files, would be a processed file. This category includes most types of data: sequence alignment files (e.g. BAM or CRAM), clinical data (e.g. phenopackets), sequence variation files (e.g. VCF), sequence annotation, etc. A typical EGA analysis data submission consists of 7 EGA XML: Submission Study Sample Analysis DAC Policy Dataset We accept three different types of analysis data submissions: BAM files (for multiple read alignments) VCF files (for sequence variations) Phenotype files (in any format) In anycase, keep in mind that samples must be created in order to be referenced in the analyses. In other words, the provenance of the information within the BAM, VCF and phenotype files Example XMLs Below you can find a non-extensive list of example XMLs with descriptive fields (i.e. explaining what to provide in each field). Furthermore, you can also find real examples (i.e. the true value of the provided fields) in our GitHub repository. Submission XML The submission XML is used to validate, submit or update any number of other objects. The submission XML refers to other XMLs. New submissions use the ADD action to submit new objects. Object updates are done using the MODIFY action and objects can be validated using the VERIFY action. Descriptive submission XML example True values submission XML example Study XML The study XML is used to describe the study containing a title, a study type and abstract as it would appear in a publication. Descriptive study XML example True values study XML example Please use the following notation within the property "STUDY_LINKS" when including PubMed citations in the Study XML: <STUDY_LINKS> <STUDY_LINK> <XREF_LINK> <DB>PUBMED</DB> <ID>18987735</ID> </XREF_LINK> </STUDY_LINK> </STUDY_LINKS> Sample XML The sample XML is used to describe the samples used to obtain the data, whether they were sequenced, measured in any other way, or have an associated phenotype. The mandatory fields include information about the taxonomy of the sample, sex, subject ID and phenotype. For example, the mandatory attribute fields for each sample would look like these, within the array of "SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTES": <SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTES> <SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> <TAG>subject_id</TAG> <VALUE>free text!</VALUE> </SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> <SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> <TAG>sex</TAG> <VALUE>female/male/unknown</VALUE> </SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> <SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> <TAG>phenotype</TAG> <VALUE>Free text, EFO terms (e.g. EFO:0000574) are recommended</VALUE> </SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> </SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTES> Sample is one of the most important objects to be described biologically, it is highly recommended that “TAG-VALUE” pairs are generated as SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTES to describe the sample in as much detail as possible. For example, were we to give the population ancestry of the sample, we could add a new attribute to the array, in which, for example, we would indicate that the sample derives from an individual of "Mende in Sierra Leone" (MSL), with an african ancestry: <SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> <TAG>Population</TAG> <VALUE>MSL</VALUE> </SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> Given that VALUE and TAG are free text, the combinations are limitless in order to give you full flexibility on the information you want to provide. We recommend you use the Experimental Factor Ontology (EFO) to describe the phenotypes of your samples. You can provide more than one phenotype by adding more items to the array of SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTES. Phenotypes considered essential for understanding the data submission should be provided. Each phenotype described should be listed as a separate sample attribute <SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE> </SAMPLE_ATTRIBUTE>. There is no limit to the number of phenotypes that can be submitted. If a suitable EFO accession cannot be found for your phenotype attribute, please consider using another controlled ontology database (e.g. HPO, MONDO, etc.) before using free text. Descriptive sample XML example True values sample XML example Experiment XML The experiment XML is used to describe the experimental setup, including instrument platform and model details, library preparation details, and any additional information required to correctly interpret the submitted data. Where any of these values differ between runs, a new experiment object must exist, since runs are grouped by experiments. Each experiment references a study and a sample by alias, or if previously-submitted, by accession. Pooled data must be demultiplexed by barcode for submission. Descriptive experiment ( Illumina paired read ) XML example True values experiment ( Illumina paired read ) XML example Run XML The run XML is used to associate data files with experiments and typically comprises a single data file (e.g. a FASTQ file). Please note that pooled samples should be de-multiplexed prior submission and submitted as different runs. Descriptive run XML example True values run XML example Analysis XML Given that an analysis can be used to submit any type of processed data to the EGA, we will list below an example of each of the three most common types of analysis XMLs submitted to the EGA: sequence alignments (e.g. BAM files); sequence variation (e.g. VCF files); and clinical metadata or phenotypes (e.g. phenopackets). Regardless of the type of processed data submitted in the analysis, the analysis must be associated with a Study and can reference multiple types of other objects, from samples to experiments, if they are available at the EGA. Just like with Runs, whenever a file is submitted to the EGA through an analysis object, the file MD5 checksums must be present, in order for the EGA to validate file integrity upon transfer. This also includes index files when applicable (e.g. .bai.md5 files). Ideally, any analysis that uses a reference sequence for some kind of alignment (e.g. BAM, CRAM or VCF files), would contain metadata about the alignment, such as INSDC reference assemblies and sequences, by either using accessions (e.g. CM000663.1) or common labels (e.g. GRCh37). Read alignment (BAM) Analysis XML The Analysis can be used to submit BAM alignments to EGA. Only one BAM file can be submitted in each analysis and the samples used within the BAM read groups must be associated with Samples. Descriptive bam alignments XML example True values bam alignments XML example Sequence variation (VCF) Analysis XML The Analysis can be used to submit VCF files to EGA. Only one VCF file can be submitted in each analysis and the samples used within the VCF files must be associated with Samples. Download analysis XML (VCF) Phenotype files The Analysis XML can be used to submit phenotype files to the EGA. Only one phenotype file can be submitted in each analysis and the samples used within the phenotype files must be associated with EGA Samples. Download analysis XML (Phenotype) DAC XML The DAC XML describes the Data Access Committee (DAC) affiliated to the data submission. The DAC may consist of a group or a single individual and is responsible for the data access decisions based on the application procedure described in the POLICY.XML. As with any other object, if it was already submitted to the EGA, there is no need to submit it again: you can reference an existing object within the EGA. Hence, A DAC XML does not need to be provided if your submission is affiliated to an existing EGA DAC.. Further information on DACs can be found here, and you can always contact our Helpdesk team if you have further inquiries. Descriptive dac XML example True values dac XML example Policy XML The Policy XML describes the Data Access Agreement (DAA) to be affiliated to the named Data Access Committee. Descriptive policy XML example True values study XML example Dataset XML The dataset XML describes the data files, defined by the Run.XML and Analysis.XML, that make up the dataset and links the collection of data files to a specified Policy. The dataset xml is commonly the last metadata object to be submitted, since it references multiple other entities. Please consider the number of datasets that your submission consists of. For example, a case-control study is likely to consist of at least two datasets. In addition, we suggest that multiple datasets should be described for studies using the same samples but different sequence technologies. Descriptive dataset XML example True values dataset XML example Validating and submitting your EGA Validating EGA's XMLs through Webin After you have ensured that the XMLs are properly formatted and contain all the required information. You can proceed to validate and submit your data. Use the curl command to validate your XML file: Once you have prepared your XML file and asserted you have access to Webin, you can validate your XML file programmatically against EGA's schemas using the curl command. There are multiple ways in which you can validate your XMLs. This variety has to do with the fact that: (1) there are 2 instances of Webin (test and production); and (2) that validation is a default step during submission. In other words, any time that you submit your data through Webin, it will be validated automatically before being accepted. This allows for 4 possible routes of validation, all having the same validation result: validating or submitting to either the production service or the test service of Webin. For example, directly validating a "study" object XML in the testing service (wwwdev…) would look like the following: curl -u <USERNAME>:<PASSWORD> -F "ACTION=VALIDATE" "https://wwwdev.ebi.ac.uk/ena/submit/drop-box/submit/" -F "STUDY=@study.xml" In this command, you would need to replace <USERNAME> and <PASSWORD> with your EGA account username and password, respectively. You would also replace <INPUT_FILE> with the path to your XML file. A mock example would look like the following: curl -u ega-test-data@ebi.ac.uk:egarocks -F "ACTION=VALIDATE" "https://wwwdev.ebi.ac.uk/ena/submit/drop-box/submit/" -F "STUDY=@study.xml" The validation attempt can have different results depending on the given arguments: If your XML file is valid according to EGA's schemas, you will see a message indicating that your XML file is compliant. For example, see below for our mock example, where the "success" was "true" (i.e. no validation errors found). Nevertheless, notice how the "<STUDY accession=" is empty: it is because we were simply validating, so the study did not get an accession or ID. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="receipt.xsl"?> <RECEIPT receiptDate="2023-04-11T15:19:28.850+01:00" submissionFile="submission-EBI-TEST_1681222768850.xml" success="true"> <STUDY accession="" alias="Mock example" status="PRIVATE"/> <SUBMISSION accession="" alias="SUBMISSION-11-04-2023-15:19:28:840"/> <MESSAGES> <INFO>VALIDATE action has been specified.</INFO> <INFO>Submission has been rolled back.</INFO> <INFO>This submission is a TEST submission and will be discarded within 24 hours</INFO> </MESSAGES> <ACTIONS>VALIDATE</ACTIONS> <ACTIONS>PROTECT</ACTIONS> If there are any errors or warnings, the tool will display them, allowing you to correct them before submitting your data to EGA. For example, in the following response, it is said that the object we were trying to submit was already existing, and therefore the "success" was "false". <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="receipt.xsl"?> <RECEIPT receiptDate="2023-04-11T15:12:35.609+01:00" submissionFile="submission-EBI-TEST_1681222355609.xml" success="false"> <STUDY alias="Example!_Human Microbiome Project SP56J" status="PRIVATE" holdUntilDate="2023-03-11Z"/> <SUBMISSION alias="SUBMISSION-11-04-2023-15:12:35:576"/> <MESSAGES> <ERROR>In study, alias: "Example!_Human Microbiome Project SP56J". The object being added already exists in the submission account with accession: "ERP127584".</ERROR> <INFO>VALIDATE action has been specified.</INFO> <INFO>Submission has been rolled back.</INFO> <INFO>This submission is a TEST submission and will be discarded within 24 hours</INFO> </MESSAGES> <ACTIONS>VALIDATE</ACTIONS> <ACTIONS>PROTECT</ACTIONS> If the curl command retrieves no response at all, please double check if your username and password are correctly provided. Also notice the "ACTION=..." argument passed to the Curl command. This specifies the action to take during the call to Webin, so we do not need a "Submission" XML just for a validation attempt. See more at submission actions without submission XML. Furthermore, validation of multiple files or objects (e.g. sample, experiment, study…) can be done in a single command by adding more arguments (i.e. '-F'). For example: curl -u <USERNAME>:<PASSWORD> -F "ACTION=VALIDATE" "https://wwwdev.ebi.ac.uk/ena/submit/drop-box/submit/" -F "STUDY=@study.xml" -F "SAMPLE=@sample.xml" -F "DATASET=@dataset.xml" As mentioned above, beside "validate" action in the test environment, you can also validate your metadata by three other methods: "Validate" in the production server. From our example above, you simply need to take the "dev" away from the URL. curl -u <USERNAME>:<PASSWORD> -F "ACTION=VALIDATE" "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/submit/drop-box/submit/" -F "STUDY=@study.xml" "Add" in the development server. From our example above, you would simply need to replace the action: from "validate" to "add". Whatever is submitted to this service will be discarded in 24h, so whether something gets submitted or not would not matter in the long run. curl -u <USERNAME>:<PASSWORD> -F "ACTION=ADD" "https://wwwdev.ebi.ac.uk/ena/submit/drop-box/submit/" -F "STUDY=@study.xml" "Add" in the productionserver. A combination of the previous two methods, which would render this attempt into a submission. This path is just to be taken when you are sure your metadata is compliant and what you want to submit. curl -u <USERNAME>:<PASSWORD> -F "ACTION=ADD" "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/submit/drop-box/submit/" -F "STUDY=@study.xml" What happens after the submission of a dataset XML? Once you have completed the registration of your dataset/s please contact our Helpdesk Team to provide a release date for your study. Please note that all datasets affiliated to unreleased studies are automatically placed on hold until the authorised submitter or DAC contact contact the EGA Helpdesk for the study to be released. We strongly advise you not to delete your data until EGA Helpdesk confirms that your data has been successfully archived.

  Documentation submission/metadata/submission/programmatic-submission-xml

• Human CD4 Memory T Cell Activation Time Course

  We performed a high-resolution time course RNA-seq experiment on CD4+ memory T cells during activation with anti-CD3/CD28 beads. We performed this in 24 adult individuals of European ancestry with no autoimmune diseases. We used 1 million cells as starting material, per time point (up to 8 time points per individual from 0 to 72 hours). We identified widespread dynamic allele-specific expression (dynASE) across the genome, i.e. ASE that changes with time after activation, which reflects cell state-dependent genetic regulatory effects. DynASE events were enriched in risk loci for multiple autoimmune diseases. This highlights the importance of studying multiple cellular states in order to elucidate the mechanisms of autoimmune disease. It also provides a successful framework to do it in other cellular systems relevant for other traits. We also showed an unprecedented amount of regulatory variation for HLA genes. HLA-DQB1 has 3 distinct regulatory haplotypes with expression profiles that could come from 3 different genes. We performed ATAC-seq in replicate for CD4+ memory T cells stimulated for 72 hours from another healthy individual. These data, together with genetic fine-mapping, CRISPR editing, EMSA and luciferase assays, helped us find a SNP in the promoter of HLA-DQB1 that causes at least part of the large cell state-dependent change in expression, at the RNA and protein levels.

  Study phs002259

• INSIGHT (Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories) Cohort

  This is a study of the biological risk factors for children enrolled in the INSIGHT (Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories) study. INSIGHT is a randomized, controlled trial testing a responsive parenting intervention designed for the primary prevention of childhood obesity against a safety control. These first-born children were deeply studied in this time period with data collected on a wide variety of variables including mode of delivery, gender, weight and height (collected at 7 time points), medication usage, diet information, and maternal health information (gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, smoking during pregnancy). This study includes a survey of the oral and gut microbiota from 226 mother-child dyads. It was designed to investigate the relationship between a cross-sectional view of the child's microbiome (at two years of age) and the patterns of growth between birth and 2 years. Microbiome samples from children (buccal swab and stool sample) and their mothers (buccal swab) are collected at the children's 2-year clinical research visit. Stool metabolites have also been assayed for a subset of the 226 children using 1H-NMR. Additionally, we genotyped the same individuals for SNPs across the genome. For a subset of 48 individuals we have added second-born siblings. For these additional 48 children, we characterized the methylation pattern across the genome using cord blood and placenta samples.

  Study phs001498

• Analysis_of_genomic_integrity_of_disease_corrected_human_induced_pluripotent_stem_cells_by_exome_sequencing

  Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells hold great promise for autologous cell transplantation. In order to apply this therapy to monogenic disorder, disease-causing mutations must be corrected prior to transplantation. We generated iPS cells from patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, which is caused by homozygous non-synonymous mutation in the SERPINA1 gene. In vitro differentiation of patient-derived iPS cells to hepatocytes showed recapitulation of the disease phenotype. We corrected the mutations by gene targeting using zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) and piggyBac transposon technologies. Our mutation correction is highly accurate. There is no exogenous sequence left behind at the targeted site. The corrected iPS cell-derived hepatocytes were indistinguishable from healthy hepatocyte, suggesting that the corrected gene was fully functional. The genomic integrity was also analyzed by CGH and SNP array, showing no genomic alterations. These are important points to ensure clinical safety as well as functional restoration of the corrected gene. One remaining question is if these corrected iPS cells are clinically safe at the single base-pair level. Recent publications suggested that cancer-related mutations are significantly accumulated during iPS cell propagation. We aim to assess the clinical safety of the corrected iPS cells by using exome sequencing. Outcome from this project would bring iPS cell technology one step closer to clinical applications.

  Study EGAS00001000055

• Drug-perturbation-based stratification of blood cancer

  As new generations of targeted therapies emerge and tumor genome sequencing discovers increasingly comprehensive mutation repertoires, the functional relationships of mutations to tumor phenotypes remain largely unknown. Here, we measured ex vivo sensitivity of 246 blood cancers to 63 drugs alongside genome, transcriptome, and DNA methylome analysis to understand determinants of drug response. We assembled a primary blood cancer cell encyclopedia data set that revealed disease-specific sensitivities for each cancer. Within chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), responses to 62% of drugs were associated with 2 or more mutations, and linked the B cell receptor (BCR) pathway to trisomy 12, an important driver of CLL. Based on drug responses, the disease could be organized into phenotypic subgroups characterized by exploitable dependencies on BCR, mTOR, or MEK signaling and associated with mutations, gene expression, and DNA methylation. Fourteen percent of CLLs were driven by mTOR signaling in a non–BCR-dependent manner. Multivariate modeling revealed immunoglobulin heavy chain variable gene (IGHV) mutation status and trisomy 12 as the most important modulators of response to kinase inhibitors in CLL. Ex vivo drug responses were associated with outcome. This study overcomes the perception that most mutations do not influence drug response of cancer, and points to an updated approach to understanding tumor biology, with implications for biomarker discovery and cancer care.

  Study EGAS00001001746

• Federated EGA

  Federated EGA Federated EGA Index Overview Map of FEGA status across the world Current status of the FEGA Network Documentation Overview Federated EGA is a global network of repositories enabling secure discovery and access to sensitive human data. Our vision is to accelerate scientific discovery and healthcare breakthroughs by creating the go-to worldwide sensitive human data resource. Our values are: Privacy & Trust: Ensuring privacy of data subjects, security of services and acting with integrity to build community trust.FAIRness: Driving reuse of data through standardisation of metadata and clear access policies.Diversity: Expanding our network and representing global diversity in the data we host to bring benefits worldwide. Federated EGA - European by name, global by nature Federated EGA collaborates with European and global initiatives (GA4GH, ELIXIR, 1+ Million Genomes Framework, GDI), demonstrating that a network for transnational discovery of and access to human data is possible. By providing a solution to emerging challenges around secure and efficient management of human omics and associated data, the FEGA Network fosters data reuse, enables reproducibility, and accelerates biomedical research. For general enquiries or to request more information about Federated EGA, please send an email to fega-info [at] lists [dot] ega-archive [dot] org. Read more about the Federated EGA in our commentary in Nature Genetics! Learn more about setting up a Federated EGA Node in our onboarding documentation. Map of FEGA status across the world Current status of the FEGA Network Node Description Joined CEGA Central EGA is managed by the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and EMBL-EBI. The EGA has been a trusted repository for sensitive data since 2008. CEGA coordinates the FEGA network, hosts central services and the EGA catalogue. 2022 Finland FEGA Finland is hosted by CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd., which is the national ELIXIR Node in Finland. CSC is a state-owned company specialising in providing high-quality IT infrastructure and services for Finnish higher education and research. 2022 Germany The German Human Genome-Phenome archive (GHGA) is part of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). It is coordinated by the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and includes over 20 academic partners. 2022 Norway FEGA Norway is a service by ELIXIR Norway, the Norwegian node of the European organisation ELIXIR. University of Oslo as a partner institution in ELIXIR Norway is hosting the service relying on the TSD infrastructure for sensitive data. ELIXIR Norway is a consortium of 5 Norwegian universities and is coordinated by University of Bergen. 2022 Spain FEGA Spain is co-hosted by the Barcelona Supercomputer Center (BSC) and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), both part of ELIXIR Spain and the Spanish National Infrastructure for Personalised Medicine associated with Science and Technology (IMPaCT). 2022 Sweden FEGA Sweden is hosted by the National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden (NBIS), which legally is part of Uppsala University. NBIS forms the bioinformatics platform at SciLifeLab and constitutes the Swedish node of the European organisation ELIXIR. 2022 Poland FEGA Poland is hosted by Biobank Lodz, which is part of University of Lodz. Biobank Lodz is an element of the infrastructure of the Regional Digital Medicine Centers established by the Medical Research Agency. 2022 Portugal FEGA Portugal is managed by BioData.pt, the distributed infrastructure for Life and Health data for Portugal. This entity is a non-profit association of 15 life sciences R&I organisations spread across the country, and the home of ELIXIR Node in Portugal. 2023 Canada Canadian Genome-phenome Archive is part of the Pan Canadian Genome Library, with the mandate to allow the secure and responsible sharing and analysis of Canadian genomic information. 2024 Switzerland Swiss FEGA is hosted by SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, which is the national ELIXIR Node in Switzerland, on behalf of the Swiss FEGA Partnership which includes 4 other key partners (ETH Zurich, Health 2030 Genome Center, Swiss Data Science Center and Switch). 2025 Documentation Title Version Description Mission, vision, values Federated EGA Mission, vision, values 1.0 The official Mission-Vision-Values statement for FEGA, produced and formally approved by the FEGA Strategic Committee in September 2025. Structure and Organisation Federated EGA Structure and Organisation 2.0 The structure of the FEGA network and service expectations, responsibilities and commitments. FEGA is organised into three tiers: Central EGA, FEGA Nodes and FEGA Affiliates. Strategic Committee Federated EGA Strategic Committee 1.1 Terms of reference for the FEGA Strategic Committee describe the purpose and objectives of the committee, which is to provide direction and strategic planning for the FEGA network. The committee receives input from, and provides feedback for the EGA Strategic Committee. Operations Committee Federated EGA Operations Committee 1.1 Terms of reference for the FEGA Operations Committee describe the purpose and objectives of the committee, which is to review operational performance and coordinate technical roadmaps of FEGA Nodes and Central EGA. The committee receives advice from, and provides operational reporting to the FEGA Strategic Committee. Guidelines Node Operations guidelines 2.1 An overview of the operational areas which require resources in order to create a FEGA Node. The document is based on more than 15 years' experience of EMBL-EBI and CRG operating the EGA and initial expericences of the inaugural FEGA Nodes. The operational areas of responsability are in line with the FEGA Maturity Model, which guides establishment and operation of FEGA Nodes. Collaboration Federated EGA Node Collaboration Agreement 1.3 Nodes are welcome to make a copy of this current version of the CA to start its review with their legal teams and understand the responsibilities of joining FEGA. Nevertheless, this version (the one with a watermark) shall not be signed: the official version needs to be obtained from FEGA prior signing through its official channels.

  Documentation about/projects-and-funders/federated-ega

• Multiomic Landscape of Multiple Myeloma Precursor and Relapsed Disease

  Multiple myeloma (MM) is a treatable, though incurable, plasma cell malignancy. The molecular mechanisms driving disease onset and the emergence of drug resistance remain elusive. To better characterize the mutational, transcriptional, and epigenetic alterations that accompany MM disease evolution, we accessed molecular data from MM patients treated at Moffitt Cancer Center, with bone marrow biopsies collected between 2011 and 2023.We performed scMultiome (single-cell, paired RNA/ATAC-Seq, 10x Genomics) on 18 CD138+-selected bone marrow aspirate samples, including: 2 healthy donors, 3 patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), 4 with smoldering myeloma (SMM), 3 with newly diagnosed MM (NDMM), 1 with early relapse MM (ERMM, 1 to 3 lines of therapy), and 5 with late relapse MM (LRMM, 4 or more lines of therapy). Our dataset includes a sequential sample: a patient with a premalignant condition ("scMultiome_SMM_4") that progressed to active myeloma ("scMultiome_NDMM_3"). These data allow for the assessment of transcriptional and epigenetic dysregulation at the cellular level. Our findings illustrate the dynamic epigenetic and transcriptional landscapes that accompany MM disease progression.We also conducted CUT&#38;Tag analysis on 4 NDMM and 4 LRMM samples to map histone modifications, specifically H3K27ac, to investigate their role in transcriptional reprogramming observed in advanced stages of MM. This analysis revealed sample heterogeneity in terms of super-enhancer-regulated genes associated with active transcription.This cohort also includes samples from the clinical trial NCT04151667, &#8220;Daratumumab-Based Response-Adaptive Therapy for Older Adults With Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma.&#8221; We performed scRNAseq (single-cell RNA sequencing, 10x Genomics) on 30 CD138+-selected bone marrow aspirate samples and 31 pre-sort samples featuring bone marrow mononuclear cells of various cell types from 5 healthy donors and 11 patients with newly diagnosed MM (NDMM). Our dataset includes sequential samples for all 11 NDMM patients, both prior to induction therapy (denoted by &#8216;a') with Daratumumab and Dexamethasone, and at cycle 2 day 22 (C2D22, i.e., 60 days after induction therapy start, denoted by &#8216;b'). For three NDMM patients, we also have samples at relapse (denoted by &#8216;c'). These data allow for the assessment of transcriptional dysregulation at the single-cell level in both the tumor and immune-tumor microenvironment, associated with Daratumumab treatment in NDMM patients.In addition to the molecular data, demographic, and phenotypic information for all samples is provided.

  Study phs003892

• Evolutionary origin and methylation status of human intronic CpG islands that are not present in mouse

  Imprinting of the human RB1 gene is due to the presence of a differentially methylated CpG island (CGI) in intron 2, which is part of a retrogene derived from the PPP1R26 gene on chromosome 9. The murine Rb1 gene does not have this retrogene and is not imprinted. We have investigated whether the RB1/Rb1 locus is unique with respect to these differences. For this we have compared the CGIs from human and mouse by in silico analyses and found out that there are at least 2033 human intronic CGIs that are not present in the mouse. Among these CGIs, 104 show sequences similarities elsewhere in the human genome, which suggests that they arose by retrotransposition. We could narrow down the time points when most of these CGIs appeared during evolution. Their methylation status was analysed in two monocyte methylome datasets from whole genome bisulfite sequencing and in 18 published methylomes. Five CGIs appear to be differentially methylated, which suggests that they are subject of genomic imprinting. They are located in introns of the following genes: RB1, ASRGL1, PARP11, PDXDC1 and MYO1D. Four of these CGIs are parts of retrogenes. Our study supports the notion that imprinting builds on host defence mechanisms by which the genome protects itself against retrotransposed and foreign DNA and that the epigenetic fate of the retrotransposed DNA depends on selective forces at the integration site.

  Study EGAS00001000719

• Whole Tumor spatial heterogeneity in metastatic melanoma

  Heterogeneous inter-tumoral responses, sustained periods of apparent clinical benefit despite lack of objective response to various therapies, and even spontaneous remission are well known within a subpopulation of advanced melanoma patients. The molecular and cellular dynamics facilitating long-term survival remain poorly defined, particularly in the current era ofexposure to multiple potentially active therapies. We studied an exceptional case of long-term survival in a patient with non-responding metastatic melanoma in order to characterize the clonal and microenvironmental factors.We performed immunogenomic analysis of 3 metachronous tumors, and of 67 intratumor sub-regions of one metastatic lesion, usingwhole exome sequencing, RNA-sequencing, immunohistochemistry, and T cell receptor sequencing. Longitudinal analysesidentified mutations in severalknownresistance genes affecting distinctmetastases. Intra-tumoral immune signatures revealed spatially-distinct pockets of immune activation and suppression throughout the metastasis. A specific T cell VBeta CDR3 rearrangement was identified as both dominant and recurrent not only across multiple spatial points within a single tumor mass, but also across metachronous tumors spanning the patient’s disease course. Immunophenotyping of this T cell population with single-cell sequencingsuggestedrepeatedT-cell priming events leading to the persistence of both activated and exhausted T cells bearing this same TCR-Beta at any given time.Our findings highlight genomic and immune heterogeneityin metastatic disease, extending to the intra-tumoral leveland provide a rationale for integrative spatiotemporal analysis of metastatic lesions in the context of immune checkpoint blockade.

  Study EGAS00001003292

• Probabilistic cell type assignment of single-cell transcriptomic data reveals spatiotemporal microenvironment dynamics in human cancers

  Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has transformed biomedical research, enabling decomposition of complex tissues into disaggregated, functionally distinct cell types. For many applications, investigators wish to identify cell types with known marker genes. Typically, such cell type assignments are performed through unsupervised clustering followed by manual annotation based on these marker genes, or via "mapping" procedures to existing data. However, the manual interpretation required in the former case scales poorly to large datasets, which are also often prone to batch effects, while existing data for purified cell types must be available for the latter. Furthermore, unsupervised clustering can be error-prone, leading to under- and over- clustering of the cell types of interest. To overcome these issues we present CellAssign, a probabilistic model that leverages prior knowledge of cell type marker genes to annotate scRNA-seq data into pre-defined and de novo cell types. CellAssign automates the process of assigning cells in a highly scalable manner across large datasets while simultaneously controlling for batch and patient effects. We demonstrate the analytical advantages of CellAssign through extensive simulations and exemplify real-world utility to profile the spatial dynamics of high-grade serous ovarian cancer and the temporal dynamics of follicular lymphoma. Our analysis reveals subclonal malignant phenotypes and points towards an evolutionary interplay between immune and cancer cell populations with cancer cells escaping immune recognition.

  Study EGAS00001003452

• Genome-Wide Association Studies of Prematurity and Its Complications (African American)

  Preterm delivery resulting in the birth of a premature infant is a complex problem with a devastating impact on individuals, families and society. The prevalence of preterm birth has increased steadily in developed countries over the last 20 years and more than three million children die of preterm birth worldwide each year. Despite the importance of the problem and its disproportionate occurrence in poor and minority populations, the underlying causes have been difficult to identify. Spontaneous preterm labor has as its suspected triggers infection, stress, poor nutrition and inherited factors. The single best predictor for preterm delivery is a previous preterm birth. Studies of twins and of recurrences within families provide evidence that genetic factors underlie a substantive component of the risk for prematurity. One major challenge in studying genetic factors in prematurity is that the risk case is not truly established. The genetic risk could reside either in the mother and her uterus or in the infant/placenta. Identification of genetic factors in the mother and/or infant could provide insights into identifying relevant environmental covariates that may be more amenable to rapid interventions but difficult to find using standard epidemiology alone. A comprehensive genome-wide association study (GWAS) is the ideal way to identify those genes that would not be suspected based on our current understanding of the biology of parturition. We are using 2200 African American samples with term or preterm labor. A subset of these (~800) are infant samples recruited by the Neonatal Research Network as part of a study on cytokines and infection in extremely low birth weight infants (Schelonka RL, et al., 2011. PMID: 21145756). Therefore, this group consists of infants &lt;1,000 grams with clinical outcome data for the infant allowing study of the genetic contributors for not only preterm birth but also the complications that often accompany preterm birth. The result will enable a better understanding of the biology of parturition and suggest environmental modifications that can prolong gestations to improve neonatal and adult outcomes. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to preterm birth through large-scale genome-wide association studies of African-American cases and controls from multiple sites in the United States. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000353

• EGA file encryption types

  EGA file encryption The European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA) stands as a significant initiative in the field of genomics, facilitating the secure storage and sharing of vast amounts of genomic data. Jointly hosted by the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the EGA offers a robust infrastructure for managing encrypted data, ensuring the privacy and integrity of sensitive genomic information. Both CRG and EMBL-EBI play pivotal roles in the EGA, each institution bringing unique expertise in managing different types of encryptions. EMBL-EBI EGACryptor encryption system, while CRG utilises Crypt4GH, resulting in two distinct encryption file types: cip and c4gh, respectively. How can I check the file encryption? To access your dataset of interest on the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA) and determine the corresponding encryption file extension, please follow these step-by-step instructions: Utilise the search or navigation features provided on the EGA website to locate the dataset you are interested in. Once you find the dataset webpage, click on the "Files" tab, typically located on the dataset's webpage. Upon reaching the "Files" tab, you will be presented with a table containing comprehensive information about the files associated with the dataset. This table will include various columns, such as "File Name," "Size," and "Location." The "Location" column is particularly relevant for determining the encryption file extension. Figure 1: File table showing all the information available for the files in a dataset. This table is specific for each dataset. To identify the encryption file extension corresponding to a specific file, locate the "Location" column in the table. If the file is archived in Spain, the file will have the .c4gh extension, indicating that it is encrypted using Crypt4gh. Conversely, if the file is archived in the UK, the encrypted file extension will be .cip, indicating the usage of EGACryptor for encryption. It is worth noting that a file can be available in both locations, meaning it will be accessible with both file extensions (.c4gh and .cip). This allows users to choose the encryption method that aligns with their preferred platform or analysis tools.

  Documentation check-encryption-type

• Heart Failure Network - Nitrate's Effect on Activity Tolerance in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFN NEAT-BioLINCC)

  Data Access NOTE: Please refer to the "Authorized Access" section below for information about how access to the data from this accession differs from many other dbGaP accessions. Related StudiesEcho images are available with HFN-NEAT Imaging.ObjectivesTo determine the effect of isosorbide mononitrate on daily activity in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction.Background Nitrates are commonly prescribed for symptom relief in patients with heart failure. Early studies in patients with heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction concluded that long-acting nitrates improve activity tolerance; however, approximately half of heart failure patients have preserved ejection fraction. The effects of nitrates in patients with heart failure and a preserved ejection fraction have not been extensively studied and the overall effect of nitrates on activity tolerance in such patients is uncertain. ParticipantsThere were a total of 110 participants enrolled with 51 participants assigned to receive isosorbide mono-nitrate first and placebo second, and 59 participants assigned to receive placebo first and isosorbide mononitrate second. Design Enrolled participants underwent baseline assessments, including echocardiography, quality-of-life scores, 6-minute walk test distance, and NT-proBNP levels. participants were also supplied with two kinetic activity monitors containing high-sensitivity triaxis accelerometers, to be worn 24 hours per day. The accelerometer measurements were expressed as arbitrary accelerometer units and stored every 15 minutes equaling 96 data points per day. The 15-minute cumulative accelerometer units were totaled over a 24-hour period to provide daily accelerometer units. Participants were assigned to one of two treatment groups: 6 weeks of placebo first with crossover to 6 weeks of isosorbide mononitrate, or 6 weeks of isosorbide mononitrate first with crossover to 6 weeks of placebo. The study drugs were prepared as 30-mg tablets of isosorbide mononitrate and matching placebo. During each 6-week period, participants were instructed to take no study drug for the first 2 weeks followed by one tablet (30 mg daily) for 1 week, two tablets (60 mg once daily) for 1 week, and four tablets (120 mg once daily) until the next study visit, for a treatment duration of at least 2 weeks and up to 4 weeks. After each 6-week period, participants returned to the study center to repeat end-point assessments. The primary outcome for the study was the comparison of average daily accelerometer units during the period in which participants were receiving the 120-mg dose of isosorbide mononitrate compared to the period in which participants received the placebo. Other secondary end points included the 6-minute walk distance and the post-walk Borg dyspnea score, scores on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, and NT-proBNP levels. In addition, participants completed a questionnaire indicating in which period (first, second, no preference) they felt better. Conclusions Participants were active for fewer hours of the day during the 120-mg phase of receipt of isosorbide mononitrate as compared with placebo. Furthermore, during all study-drug regimens combined (30 mg to 120 mg), participants were less active during receipt of isosorbide mononitrate as compared with placebo. There was no significant effect of isosorbide mononitrate on secondary outcomes.

  Study phs003548

• Heart Failure Network - Imaging from Nitrate's Effect on Activity Tolerance in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFN NEAT-Imaging)

  Data Access NOTE: Please refer to the &#8220;Authorized Access&#8221; section below for information about how access to the data from this accession differs from many other dbGaP accessions.Objectives: To determine the effect of isosorbide mononitrate on daily activity in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction.Background: Nitrates are commonly prescribed for symptom relief in patients with heart failure. Early studies in patients with heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction concluded that long-acting nitrates improves activity tolerance; however, approximately half of heart failure patients have preserved ejection fraction. The effects of nitrates in patients with heart failure and a preserved ejection fraction have not been extensively studied and the overall effect of nitrates on activity tolerance in such patients is uncertain.Subjects: There were a total of 110 patients enrolled with 51 patients assigned to receive isosorbide mono-nitrate first and placebo second, and 59 patients assigned to receive placebo first and isosorbide mononitrate second.Design: Enrolled subjects underwent baseline assessments, including echocardiography, quality-of-life scores, 6-minute walk test distance, and NT-proBNP levels. Subjects were also supplied with two kinetic activity monitors containing high-sensitivity triaxis accelerometers, to be worn 24 hours per day. The accelerometer measurements were expressed as arbitrary accelerometer units and stored every 15 minutes equaling 96 data points per day. The 15-minute cumulative accelerometer units were totaled over a 24-hour period to provide daily accelerometer units.Subjects were assigned to one of two treatment groups: 6 weeks of placebo first with crossover to 6 weeks of isosorbide mononitrate, or 6 weeks of isosorbide mononitrate first with crossover to 6 weeks of placebo. The study drugs were prepared as 30-mg tablets of isosorbide mononitrate and matching placebo. During each 6-week period, patients were instructed to take no study drug for the first 2 weeks followed by one tablet (30 mg daily) for 1 week, two tablets (60 mg once daily) for 1 week, and four tablets (120 mg once daily) until the next study visit, for a treatment duration of at least 2 weeks and up to 4 weeks. After each 6-week period, patients returned to the study center to repeat end-point assessments. The primary outcome for the study was the comparison of average daily accelerometer units during the period in which patients were receiving the 120-mg dose of isosorbide mononitrate compared to the period in which patients received the placebo. Other secondary end points included the 6-minute walk distance and the post-walk Borg dyspnea score, scores on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, and NT-proBNP levels. In addition, subjects completed a questionnaire indicating in which period (first, second, no preference) they felt better. Conclusions: Patients were active for fewer hours of the day during the 120-mg phase of receipt of isosorbide mononitrate as compared with placebo. Furthermore, during all study-drug regimens combined (30 mg to 120 mg), patients were less active during receipt of isosorbide mononitrate as compared with placebo. There was no significant effect of isosorbide mononitrate on secondary outcomes.

  Study phs004254

• Center Common Disease Genomics [CCDG] - CVD - TAICHI

  The TaiChi consortium consists of 6 studies that collaborated initially in a large scale metabochip study, and became an ongoing consortium for studies of cardiometabolic disease in the Chinese population in Taiwan. The six studies included the following: 1) SAPPHIRe (Stanford-Asian Pacific Program in Hypertension and Insulin Resistance), a family based study established in 1995 with an initial goal of identifying major genetic loci underlying hypertension and insulin resistance in East Asian populations, with Taiwan subjects participating in the TaiChi consortium; 2) TCAGEN (Taiwan Coronary Artery Disease GENetic), a cohort study that the enrolled patients undergoing coronary angiography or percutaneous intervention at the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) in the setting of either stable angina pectoris or prior myocardial infarction; 3) TACT (TAiwan Coronary and Transcatheter intervention), a cohort study enrolled patients with angina pectoris and objective documentation of myocardial ischemia who underwent diagnostic coronary angiography and/or revascularization any time after October 2000 at the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) (similar to TCAGEN but recruitment was independent of TCAGEN); 4) Taiwan DRAGON (Taiwan Diabetes and RelAted Genetic COmplicatioN), a cohort study of Type 2 diabetes at Taichung Veterans General Hospital (Taichung VGH) in Taiwan, with participants including individuals with either newly diagnosed or established diabetes (subjects with hyperglycemia who did not meet diagnostic criteria for Type 2 DM were not included); 5) TCAD (Taichung CAD study), includes patients with a variety of cardiovascular diseases who received care at the Taichung Veterans General Hospital (Taichung VGH), i.e. specifically individuals who were hospitalized for diagnostic and interventional coronary angiography examinations and treatment; 6) TUDR (Taiwan US Diabetic Retinopathy) enrolled subjects with Type 2 diabetes who received care at Taichung Veteran General Hospital (Taichung VGH), and a small number of subjects from Taipei Tri-Service General Hospital (TSGH); TUDR subjects underwent a complete ophthalmic and fundus examination to carefully document the presence and extent of retinopathy. From these 6 studies, subjects were selected based on completeness of standard metabolic phenotyping and knowledge of cardiac disease status (early onset coronary disease), to undergo whole genome sequencing at the Broad.

  Study phs001487

• NIH RECOVER-Pediatric: Understanding the Long-Term Impact of COVID on Children and Families

  The NIH Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative comprises a set of three combined retrospective and prospective, longitudinal and 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 (see phs003463)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. 2) A Multi-Center Observational Study: The RECOVER Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) Pediatric Cohort Study (this study)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 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 phs003461

• 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

• Genetic Model of MS Severity Predicts Future Accumulation of Disability

  The goal of "Comprehensive Multimodal Analysis of Neuroimmunological Diseases of the CNS" is to define the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of disability in immune-mediated disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) and to distinguish these from physiological (and often beneficial) responses of the human immune system to CNS injury. The long-term objective of the trial is to acquire knowledge that would allow us to therapeutically inhibit the pathogenic mechanisms and enhance repair mechanisms in immune-mediated CNS diseases, thereby minimizing the extent of CNS tissue damage and promoting recovery. To date, 460 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) have been enrolled into the natural history clinical trial. In addition to standardized clinical, functional, neuroimaging and molecular/immunological data, blood samples were also collected for genetic research. However, only 299 study participants with confirmed MS currently have whole genome sequencing data available. In addition to the genome-wide data available for the 299 MS patients, this dbGaP submission provides demographic and phenotypic information for each subject collected at various points throughout the trial. We include race and family history of MS collected at the baseline visit as well as age and measures of disease severity collected at the most recent visit. As these data were randomized into discovery and validation cohorts, we also indicate the assigned group in the phenotypic data. It is hoped that these data may be applied to the development of clinically-useful tools such as diagnostic tests and new, sensitive scales of neurological disability, disease severity and CNS tissue destruction.

  Study phs001833

• DNA Methylomic Profiling of Preeclampsia Across Pregnancy

  Preeclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive, multi-system disorder of pregnancy that significantly impacts maternal and infant morbidity/mortality across the globe, as it increases risk of cardiovascular disease and remains a leading killer of women and babies. Despite PE&#39;s significant impact on morbidity/mortality, there are no clinically reliable biomarkers that predict PE. DNA methylation, a dynamic regulator of gene expression, represents a mechanism that is known to be impacted by the environment. Because PE stems from a dysfunctional placenta that releases debris into the maternal circulation, we hypothesized that the in-vivo environment created by the dysfunctional placenta will impact DNA methylation in the maternal circulation, and that these blood-based methylation profiles would serve as a systemic biomarker of the maternal response to placental dysfunction. Our overall objective of this pilot study was to longitudinally characterize DNA methylation profiles across the three trimesters of pregnancy in the maternal blood at time points before and after clinically overt PE using a targeted (endoglin and endoglin-related genes) and a discovery-based approach. For this pilot study, 28 normotensive control participants and 28 PE case participants enrolled in the NICHD funded pregnancy study entitled Prenatal Exposures and Preeclampsia Prevention: Mechanisms of Preeclampsia and the Impact of Obesity (PEPP3; P01HD30367) were 1:1 frequency matched on self-reported race, pre-pregnancy BMI, smoking history, and gestational age at sample collection. Methylation data were collected with the Infinium&#174; MethylationEPIC Beadchip. Methylation assay data collection were carried out at Johns Hopkins University Genetic Resources Core Facility, The SNP Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.

  Study phs001937

• Circulating tumor DNA dynamics reveal KRAS G12C mutation heterogeneity and response to treatment with the KRAS G12C inhibitor divarasib in solid tumors

  Purpose: To inform prognosis, treatment response, disease biology, and KRAS G12C mutation heterogeneity, we conducted exploratory circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) profiling on 134 patients with solid tumors harboring a KRAS G12C mutation treated with single-agent divarasib (GDC-6036) in a phase 1 study. Experimental design: Plasma samples were collected for serial ctDNA profiling at baseline (Cycle 1 Day 1 prior to treatment) and multiple on-treatment time points (Cycle 1 Day 15 and Cycle 3 Day 1). Results: KRAS G12C ctDNA was detectable from plasma samples in 72.9% (43/59) and 92.6% (50/54) of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer, respectively, the majority of whom were eligible for study participation based on a local test detecting the KRAS G12C mutation in tumor tissue. Baseline ctDNA tumor fraction was associated with tumor type, disease burden, and metastatic sites. A decline in ctDNA level was observed as early as Cycle 1 Day 15. Serial assessment showed a decline in ctDNA tumor fraction associated with response and progression-free survival. Except for a few cases of KRAS G12C sub-clonality, on-treatment changes in KRAS G12C variant allele frequency mirrored changes in the overall ctDNA tumor fraction. Conclusion: Across tumor types, the KRAS G12C mutation likely represents a truncal mutation in the majority of patients. Rapid and deep decline in ctDNA tumor fraction was observed in patients responding to divarasib treatment. Early on-treatment dynamics of ctDNA were associated with patient outcomes and tumor response to divarasib treatment.

  Study EGAS50000000315

• Spatiotemporal evolution and inter-patient heterogeneity in primary and recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

  Head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are heterogeneous in terms of origin and aetiology. In addition, there is uncertainty about the spatiotemporal genetic evolution from initial diagnosis to recurrence/metastasis (R/M) after primary treatments and further disease progression following systemic treatment. Changes in the genetic profile have implications on the selection of appropriate treatments for patients, especially in the era of targeted therapies and immunotherapies. Here, we analysed a cohort of 11 HNSCC patients with metachronous R/M, among whom nine had paired primary and R/M samples suitable for next-generation sequencing (multiple R/M samples collected at different time points were available for some of the patients). At the genomic level, the R/M samples shared a fraction of the somatic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) with the index primary tumours, but they also acquired many additional mutations, while losing only a few others. A similar behaviour was also observed when examining the changes of mutational signatures between primary and R/M samples. Overall, R/M appeared thus more genetically diverse than the respective primary tumours. The transcriptomic analysis showed that R/M samples had lower immune cell infiltration and several genes related to immune response were significantly downregulated compared to the primary samples. Our results underline the importance of analysing multiple samples per patient to obtain a more complete picture of the patient’s tumour and advocates a re-biopsy in the event of R/M and treatment failure, in order to select the most appropriate therapeutic strategy.

  Study EGAS00001007464

• Longitudinal_profiling_of_the_immune_response_to_Plasmodium_vivax_in_naive_hosts_by_RNA_sequencing

  Plasmodium vivax offers unique challenges for control and elimination, and may prove a tougher hurdle to overcome than Plasmodium falciparum. And yet compared to P. falciparum we know very little about the innate and adaptive immune responses that need to be harnessed to reduce disease and transmission. We recently generated a blood bank of a new clonal field isolate of P. vivax (PvW1) for human challenge studies and used systems immunology tools to track the host response throughout infection and convalescence. As part of this study, RNA-sequencing was used to resolve changes in whole blood gene expression through time in 6 volunteers (7-9 time-points per volunteer). In summary, these data show that P. vivax induces two distinct transcriptional programmes in whole blood during and after infection. During infection, transcriptional profiling reveals the rapid mobilisation of an emergency myeloid response, which leads to systemic inflammation and the recruitment of all major T cell subsets into lymphoid tissues. Six days after infection, this innate response subsides and a transcriptional signature of proliferation is revealed. This most likely represents widespread activation of lymphocytes, which return to the circulation after parasite clearance - transcriptional profiling of T cells at this time-point could therefore reveal the outcomes of critical cell-cell interactions that take place within the spleen during infection. This data is part of a pre-publication release. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/

  Study EGAS00001003847

• Healthspan and lifespan extension by fecal microbiota transplantation in progeroid mice

  The gut microbiome is emerging as a key regulator of several metabolic, immune and neuroendocrine pathways. Gut microbiome deregulation has been implicated in major conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, non-alcoholic fatty acid liver disease or cancer, but its precise role in aging remains to be elucidated. Here, we characterize the gut microbiome profile of accelerated aging and show that its external modulation is sufficient to extend healthspan and lifespan. We found that two different mouse models of progeria present with intestinal dysbiosis, which is characterized, among other alterations, by an increment in proteobacteria, cyanobacteria and a loss in verrucomicrobia, whereas long-lived humans (i.e., centenarians) exhibit a remarkable increase in verrucomicrobia and a reduction in proteobacteria. Fecal microbiota transplantation proved to be effective to enhance healthspan and lifespan in both progeroid mouse models and, more importantly, the solely transplantation with the verrucomicrobia Akkermansia muciniphila was sufficient to exert beneficial effects. Our results demonstrate that intestinal dysbiosis is a phenotype associated with accelerated aging and its correction provides health benefits. Moreover, metabolomic analysis of ileal content points to the restoration of secondary bile acids as a possible mechanism for the beneficial outcome of reestablishing a healthy microbiome. Our results suggest the existence of a link between gut aging and the microbiota, and can help to gain insight into the rationale for microbiome-based interventions against age-related diseases. Mouse sequence data have been deposited in ENA (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena) under accession number PRJEB34214

  Study EGAS00001003656

• Dynamics of genome architecture and chromatin function during human B cell differentiation and neoplastic transformation

  Despite recent advances, the dynamics of genome architecture and chromatin function during human cell differentiation and its potential reorganization upon neoplastic transformation remains poorly characterized. Here, we integrate in situ Hi-C and nine additional omic layers to define and biologically characterize the dynamic changes in three-dimensional (3D) genome architecture across normal B cell differentiation and in neoplastic cells from different subtypes of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) patients. Beyond conventional active (A) and inactive (B) compartments, an integrative analysis of Hi-C data uncovers a highly-dynamic intermediate compartment enriched in poised and polycomb-repressed chromatin. During B cell development, we detect that 28% of the compartments change at defined maturation stages and mostly involve the intermediate compartment. The transition from naive to germinal center B cells is associated with widespread chromatin activation, which mostly reverts into the naive state upon further maturation of germinal center cells into memory B cells. The analysis of CLL and MCL neoplastic cells points both to entity and subtype-specific alterations in chromosome organization. Remarkably, we observe that large chromatin blocks containing key disease-specific genes alter their 3D genome organization. These include the inactivation of a 2Mb region containing the EBF1 gene in CLL and the activation of a 6.1Mb region containing the SOX11 gene in clinically aggressive MCL. This study indicates that 3D genome interactions are extensively modulated during normal B cell differentiation and that the genome of B cell neoplasias acquires a tumor-specific 3D genome architecture.

  Study EGAS00001004763

• A higher ctDNA fraction decreases survival in regorafenib-treated metastatic colorectal cancer patients

  The predictive effect of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment is still highly discussed. The primary objective of this study was to investigate a possible prognostic/predictive value of ctDNA under regorafenib treatment. This prospective multicenter translational biomarker phase II pilot study enrolled 30 metastatic CRC patients (67% men, 33% women) treated with regorafenib. ctDNA was assessed in plasma before treatment start and at defined time points during administration. Measurement of tumor fraction as well as mutation and copy number analysis of CRC driver genes were performed by next generation sequencing approaches. Multivariate analyses for survival and treatment efficacy were adjusted to age, gender and ECOG. Disease control rate was 30%. Median tumor fraction at baseline was 18.5% (0-49.9). Mutations in CRC driver genes or genes involved in angiogenesis were identified in 25 patients (83.3%). KRAS mutations were detected in 13 out of 14 KRAS positive tumors, in three patients without KRAS mutation in the respective tumor acquired mutations as a consequence of prior anti-EGFR treatment were detected. In a subset of patients, novel occurring mutations or focal amplifications were detected. A tumor fraction of 5% and higher at baseline was significantly associated with a decreased OS (p=0.022; HHR 3.110 (95%CI: 1.2-8.2). ctDNA is detectable in a high proportion of mCRC patients. Higher ctDNA levels are associated with survival among regorafenib treatment. Moreover, our data highlight the benefit of a combined evaluation of mutations and somatic copy number alterations (SCNA) in advanced cancer patients.

  Study EGAS00001004491

• Evaluation of EBUS-TBNA Aspirates from Advanced NSCLC for Comprehensive Sequencing Platforms Including Whole Genome Sequencing

  Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is often the only source of tumor tissue from patients with advanced, inoperable lung cancer. EBUS-TBNA aspirates are used for the diagnosis, staging, and genomic testing to inform therapy options. Here we extracted DNA and RNA from 220 EBUS-TBNA aspirates to evaluate their suitability for whole genome (WGS), whole exome (WES), and comprehensive panel sequencing. For a subset of 40 cases, the same nucleic acid extraction was sequenced using WGS, WES, and the TruSight Oncology 500 assay. Genomic features were compared between sequencing platforms and compared with those reported by clinical testing. A total of 204 aspirates (92.7%) had sufficient DNA (100 ng) for comprehensive panel sequencing, and 109 aspirates (49.5%) had sufficient material for WGS. Comprehensive sequencing platforms detected all seven clinically reported tier 1 actionable mutations, an additional three (7%) tier 1 mutations, six (15%) tier 2–3 mutations, and biomarkers of potential immunotherapy benefit (tumor mutation burden and microsatellite instability). As expected, WGS was more suited for the detection and discovery of emerging novel biomarkers of treatment response. WGS could be performed in half of all EBUS-TBNA aspirates, which points to the enormous potential of EBUS-TBNA as source material for large, well-curated discovery-based studies for novel and more effective predictors of treatment response. Comprehensive panel sequencing is possible in the vast majority of fresh EBUS-TBNA aspirates and enhances the detection of actionable mutations over current clinical testing.

  Study EGAS00001007708

• Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health (RPGEH)

  The Kaiser Permanente Research Program on Genes, Environment, and Health (RPGEH) is a resource developed to facilitate research on genetic and environmental factors on common diseases and healthy aging. The RPGEH resource links biospecimens, health surveys, and comprehensive electronic medical records on broadly consented adult members of Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Plan, Northern California Region (KPNC). KPNC is an integrated health care delivery system with a membership of approximately 3.3 million people in northern California. The membership of KPNC is representative of the general population in the 14 county area in which facilities are located, although extremes of income are underrepresented. At the end of 2013, the RPGEH resource included: (1) demographic and behavioral surveys from over 430,000 participants; (2) biospecimens (DNA, serum, plasma, and/or saliva) from over 204,000 participants, including over 13,000 pregnant women; (3) genome-wide genotype data (70 billion SNP genotypes) on over 100,000 participants, including the Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA) cohort; and (4) the longitudinal electronic medical records of the participants. The RPGEH was developed beginning in 2005 at the Division of Research of Kaiser Permanente Northern California by Catherine Schaefer (Director), Neil Risch (Co-Director), Lisa Croen, Eric Jorgenson, Lawrence Kushi, Charles Quesenberry, Sarah Rowell, Carol Somkin, Stephen Van den Eeden, Larry Walter, and Rachel Whitmer. Funding of the RPGEH was provided to C. Schaefer (PI) and N. Risch (co-PI) by the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation, The Ellison Medical Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, and the Kaiser Permanente National and Regional Community Benefit Programs. The GERA cohort was funded by a grant from NIH to RPGEH and UCSF (RC2 AG036607; C. Schaefer and N. Risch, PIs). At the time of the award of the RC2 project in late 2009, the RPGEH had established a cohort of about 140,000 individuals who had answered a detailed survey, provided saliva samples for extraction of DNA, and given broad consent for the use of their data in studies of health and disease. Survey and Cohort Recruitment. Initially, the RPGEH developed electronic disease registries to enable identification of phenotypes, using algorithms applied to EMR data. In 2007, the RPGEH mailed a four page survey to 1.9 million adult (&#8805; 18 years old) members of KPNC who had been members for two years or more, to obtain data on demographic and behavioral factors complementary to the clinical data in the EMR. The survey materials included a cover letter introducing the RPGEH, a two page list of Frequently Asked Questions, and the survey, which included questions on demographic factors such as education, race-ethnicity, income and marital status, dietary factors, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption, as well as reproductive history and reproductive health. Members whose electronic medical records indicated a preference for written communications in Chinese or Spanish received survey materials both in English and a Chinese or Spanish translation. Approximately 400,000 completed surveys were returned. Saliva Sample Collection. Beginning in July 2008, respondents to the survey were asked to sign and return a consent form and authorization for use and disclosure of protected health information. The consent form authorized broad use of biospecimens, survey data, and data from participants&#39; electronic health records for use in studies of genetic and environmental influences on health and disease. Respondents who returned completed consent forms were mailed (Oragene) saliva collection kits; more than 132,000 saliva samples were collected in two years. Completed saliva kits were scanned and archived in a temporary biorepository at the KPNC Division of Research. In late 2009, the RPGEH began collection of saliva samples from the California Men&#39;s Health Study (CMHS), a cohort that had been previously assembled in 2002-2003 and had been excluded from the RPGEH survey mailing with the intent of later adding CMHS participants to the assembled RPGEH cohort. The CMHS was developed to facilitate research on prostate cancer and other conditions in older men; the study protocol is described in Enger, et al., 2006. It enrolled and surveyed more than 40,000 men in KPNC, ages 45-69 years, who were members of KPNC during 2002-2003. CMHS men completed two mailed surveys with demographic and behavioral data similar to that of the RPGEH. The data on analogous variables were reconciled and integrated with the data derived from the RPGEH cohort for use in the RPGEH resource. By 2011, RPGEH collected approximately 15,400 saliva samples from men participating in the CMHS. RPGEH Access and Collaborations Website and Procedures. The RPGEH maintains a web portal for inquiries and applications for collaboration and access to data. The url is: https://rpgehportal.kaiser.org/. RPGEH has an application process and an Access Review Committee that reviews applications for collaboration and use. For more information, please contact RPGEH through the website.

  Study phs000788

• How to encrypt files with EGACryptor

  File preparation Due to the processes used at the EGA for file archival the use of non-alphanumeric characters in a filename will cause issues in archival. By convention whitespaces in filenames are to be avoided and should be replaced with the underscore character (_). Before encrypting your files please make sure that any files that will be uploaded to EGA do not use special characters such as # ? ( ) [ ] / \ = + < > : ; " ' , * ^ | &  Crypt4gh EGACryptor Files encrypted with EGACryptor must be uploaded via FTP EGACryptor The EGACryptor v.2.0.0 is a JAVA-based application which enables submitters to produce EGA compliant encrypted files along with files for the encrypted and unencrypted md5sum for each file to be submitted. The application will generate an output folder that will by default mirror the directory structure containing the original files. This output folder can subsequently be uploaded to the EGA FTP staging area via an FTP or Aspera client. Download EgaCryptor Download EgaCryptor Using the EgaCryptor Using the EgaCryptor Encrypting single file Encrypting multiple files Encrypting all files in folder Points to note Troubleshooting Troubleshooting Download EGACryptor The required jar files can be obtained by downloading EgaCrytptor jar file After the file has been downloaded, extraction of the zipped archive is required. The EGACryptor has been built to work with Java Runtime Environments from version 6 and above and with the OpenJDK Environment. Please refer to the relevant resources for installation guidance. Installing the latest version of the OpenJDK will include the JCE files. If your installation of Java JRE is less than 1.8.0_151 will require the manual installation of the JCE Policy Files. You can verify the version of the Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) installed by using the command: $ java -version If you need to install the JCE please follow the instructions below: Installing the JCE policy files (due to licensing terms and conditions the required policy files must be downloaded direct from the ORACLE website) : Download the unlimited strength JCE policy files (JRE 6 / JRE 7/ JRE 8) Uncompress and extract the downloaded file. This will create a subdirectory called JCE. This directory contains the following files: README.txt, COPYRIGHT.html, local_policy.jar and US_export_policy.jar Install the two policy JAR files by replacing the existing ones in your java home directory. Install the two policy JAR files by replacing the existing ones in your directory. The standard place for JCE jurisdiction policy JAR files is: /lib/security [Unix] or \lib\security [Win32] Notes: refers to the directory where the Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) was installed. Additional performance enhancements that have been included in the EGACryptor V2.0.0: The ability to parallelise the processing of datasets through the use of the resources on a system. Multicore systems will allow the user to specify n-1 cores for an n-core system. The use of this feature on clusters may speed up the processing of datasets that have large file numbers but consult your local cluster guide to ensure that there are not monopolising resources that are needed by other system users. The default for this process remains single threaded. 3 levels of system usage can be specified. Full usage within the limits detailed above. A limited mode that will ensure that 50% of the system resources are available for other tasks. Maximum mode is limited to 75% of system resources, this allows encryption to be prioritised but allows for the system to be usable for light alternate tasks. Finally there is a throttling mode that allows you to specify the exact number of computational threads to be used. the EGACryptor is able to ingest a structured directory and will output a directory with the same structure containing the encrypted files along with the md5checksums for the plain and encrypted files. The entire output directory can then be uploaded to the EGA for archival. as with the input path, it is now possible to specify the output path. the options have been updated inline with the upgraded functionality. The tool can only be used via the command line. The EGACryptor is designed to perform a single task, encrypting your data, for upload of these files please refer to our uploading guide Using the EgaCryptor Below are the three ways on how the EGACryptor tool can be used: Encrypting a single file : java -jar ../EGA-Cryptor_2_0_0.jar -i example1.bam Encrypting multiple files : java -jar ../EGA-Cryptor_2_0_0.jar -i "example1.bam,example2.bam" Encrypting all the files within a folder java -jar ../EGA-Cryptor_2_0_0.jar -i path/to/target/directory By default the EGACryptor v2 will create a new output directory containing all encrypted files and the relevant checksums within the target directory. If a specific directory is desired this can be specified by using the -o flag. This can be achieved in a similar manner to the following example: java -jar ../EGA-Cryptor_2_0_0.jar -i /path/to/target/directory -o /path/to/output/directory The tool will output three files per input file: file.gpg ( encrypted file ) file.md5( file md5 sum value file ) file.gpg.md5 ( encrypted file md5 sum value file ) All output files must then be uploaded to your submission account using Aspera or FTP. Further documentation on how to upload files: FTP and Aspera. Points to note Remember to provide the path to EgaCryptor.jar and run the command from within the directory the file/s are located. ECryptor writes files to the source directory of your local file system, as a result you must have write-access permissions for the source directory. Troubleshooting If in doubt about the function of the EGACryptor it is recommended to first consult the built-in documentation. This can be accessessed by using the -h flag as stated in the following table. Built-in Commands Table: list of the command line options built into EGA-Cryptor v2.0.0. Command line Option Action --------------------- ----------- -f Set this option to allow application to create maximum threads to utilise full capacity of cores/processors available on machine -h Use this option to view the bult-in help menu * -i File(s) to encrypt. Provide file/folder path or comma separated file path if multiple files in double quotes -l Set this option to allow application to create maximum threads equals to 50% capacity of cores/processors available on machine -m Set this option to allow application to create maximum threads equals to 75% capacity of cores/processors available on machine -o Path of the output file. This is optional. If not provided then output files will be generated in the same path as that of source file (default: output- files) -t Set this option if user wants to control application to create maximum threads as specified. Application will calculate no. of cores/processors available on machine & will create threads accordingly Encryption Errors UnixFileSystem.createFileExclusively (Native Method) The error is thrown by UNIX ("UnixFileSystem.createFileExclusively(Native Method)"). It appears that the user does not have write-access to the file system where the file to be uploaded is located. EGACryptor always writes MD5 checksums into files before uploading them to the server, and these files are created in the same location where the uploaded file itself resides.Solution: address your directory permission issue and re-run the command. Install JCE Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy files The JCE policy unlimited strength jurisdiction files should be installed according to your current java version If you are still facing difficulty with the EGACryptor v.2 after having consulted the documentation please contact the EGA Helpdesk.

  Documentation submission/data/file-preparation/egacryptor

• Systems Analysis of the PfSPZ Vaccine in Kenyan Infants

  The PfSPZ vaccine is a candidate vaccine targeting the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which is the cause of the most lethal type of human malaria. This study used de-identified blood samples collected from 316 infants aged 5 to 12 months (inclusive) enrolled in a Phase 2, randomized, placebo-controlled trial (NCT02687373) of the PfSPZ malaria vaccine, conducted in a region of western Kenya where malaria transmission is high and perennial. The study began in July, 2016, after peak malaria transmission, and was completed in August, 2018. In this study, three doses of the PfSPZ Vaccine (4.5x105 PfSPZ, 9.0x105 PfSPZ, and 1.8x106 PfSPZ) were tested against a normal saline placebo comparator. In all four groups, doses were administered in 3 doses at 0, 8, and 16 weeks by direct venous inoculation. Vaccine efficacy was determined at 3, 6, and 12 months of follow-up after the third immunization. RNA was extracted from whole blood collected in PAXgene tubes before PfSPZ immunization, and two weeks after the third (final) dose, from 262 children for which sufficient material was available at both time points (82% of 316 enrolled children; 525 samples). RNA was depleted of globin and ribosome transcripts before library generation and sequencing on the Illumina NovaSeq platform. RNA-seq expression data was analyzed to determine blood transcriptional signatures, before and after PfSPZ vaccine immunization, that predicts sterile protection from naturally occurring P. falciparum infection or delayed parasitemia at 3 months post-immunization. Gene expression data will also be correlated to P. falciparum-specific IgG antibody and cellular responses to identify possible molecular correlates of vaccine-induced immunogenicity

  Study phs002196

• 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-na&#239;ve, 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

• Blood Transcriptome Profiling Following Seizures

  The retrospective diagnosis or confirmation of a seizure, after the event, is very challenging. Many times clinicians can only use a patient's self-reported history. To further complicate the diagnosis, it is known that 20-30% of patients reporting a seizure actually suffer from psychogenic non-epileptic seizure (PNES). The patient has the behavior of a seizure, but does not suffer from brain seizure activity. Considerable time and resources are used to monitor PNES, and many patients undergo unnecessary therapy with anti-epileptic drugs. These resources could be more effectively used if we could confirm a seizure after the event (retrospective diagnosis). Here we propose a novel approach to distinguish seizures from PNES after the seizure event has happened.We have developed an accurate blood biomarker technology to diagnose acute brain injury, and assess chronic progression following brain injury. Previous studies support the premise that seizures affect blood RNA expression; here we assess temporal RNA expression pattern changes following seizure. We present preliminary preclinical data showing the discrimination of electric-stimulation evoked animal seizures. Here, we validate this maturing technology to assist with the discrimination of epileptic seizures from psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. We will analyze blood samples from patients undergoing video EEG monitoring in an epilepsy monitoring unit (Emory University Hospital, Atlanta GA). We expect 20% of these patients will have PNES. Once a patient has an EEG verified seizure, we will collect blood at various time points and identify biomarker RNA molecules in the blood. Blood samples will be collected from patients with non-verified seizures as control. These RNA expression values will be used to develop a predictive test for the occurrence of seizures. A biomarker gene panel will be developed from this exploratory project for validation in a larger patient population.

  Study phs003460

• Stockholm-Tartu Atherosclerosis Reverse Network Engineering Task (STARNET)

  STARNET is a genetics of RNA expression study of multiple disease-relevant tissues obtained from living patients with cardiovascular disease. Tissue samples are obtained from blood, atherosclerotic-lesion-free internal mammary artery (MAM) and atherosclerotic aortic root (AOR), subcutaneous fat (SF), visceral abdominal fat (VAF), skeletal muscle (SKLM), and liver (LIV) during open thorax surgery of 600 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. All patients gave written informed consent. The inclusion criterion was eligibility for coronary artery by-pass graft (CABG) surgery. Patients with other severe systemic diseases, such as active systemic inflammatory disease or cancer, were excluded. The primary clinical end points were the SYNTAX score based on the extent of coronary atherosclerosis assessed from preoperative angiograms. The STARNET patients are Caucasians (31% females); 32% had diabetes, 75% had hypertension, and 67% had hyperlipidemia; and 33% had an MI before age 60. By New York Heart Association criteria, 45% were class I, 42% class II, 9% class III, and 1% class IV. TYPES AND RNA SEQUENCING: 566 DNA genotype and 3577 RNA-seq profiles from seven tissues from 600 STARNET CABG patients passed quality control (on average 511 RNA-seq profiles/tissue). DNA was genotyped with the OmniExpress Exome array (Illumina, ~900k SNPs) and imputed to a total of 14,098,063 DNA variant calls (6,245,505 with minor allele frequency &gt;5%). The STARNET subjects mainly overlap with Caucasian of Northern European (Finnish) descent. RNA sequencing was performed using the HighSeq2000 platform, poly-A (LIV, SKLM, VAF, SF and blood) and ribo-zero (AOR, MAM) protocols with 50-100 bp read lengths, single end to 15-30 million read depth.

  Study phs001203

• Transcriptional_profiling_of_tauopathies_in_human_IPS_derived_neurons

  This project is a pilot study, in collaboration with Maria Grazia Spillantini and Mariangela Iovino (Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair), to investigate the utility of IPS-derived neurons for the study of neurodegenerative disorders. Our aim is to characterise the transcriptional consequences of tauopathies using neurons derived from differentiated IPSCs as a model system. We will use IPS cells derived from six individuals, four with known mutations in the tau protein, 2 without. RNA will be extracted at Day 0 and Day 65 of differentiation by which time the neuronal tauopathy is apparent. RNA will be extracted and the transcriptome of each line characterised using RNAseq. We will then search for genes that are differentially expressed between the transcriptomes of individuals with tau mutations versus those in controls. My lab will analyse the RNAseq data, comparing both affected and controls and both time-points, to establish candidate genes. Darren Logan’s lab, along with our collaborators, will experimentally verify and further investigate these genes in additional lines and animal models. From this analysis we will generate a list of candidate genes that are differentially expressed between cases and controls. This study will not only help us understand the molecular basis of tauopathies, but also identify gene candidates for biomarkers of neurodegenerative disease. It will serve as a proof of principle for future planned studies into generating and transcriptomically analysing an allelic series of Tau mutations in IPSCs with a controlled genetic background.This data is part of a pre-publication release. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/

  Study EGAS00001000382

• Functional Mapping of AKT Signaling and Biomarkers of Response From the FAIRLANE Trial of Neoadjuvant Ipatasertib Plus Paclitaxel for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

  Purpose: Despite extensive genomic and transcriptomic profiling, it remains unknown how signaling pathways are differentially activated and how tumors are differentially sensitized to certain perturbations. Here, we aim to characterize AKT signaling activity and its association with other genomic or immunohistochemistry-based PI3K/AKT pathway biomarkers as well as the clinical activity of ipatasertib (AKT inhibitor) in the FAIRLANE trial. Experimental Design: In FAIRLANE, 151 patients with early triple-negative breast cancer were randomized 1:1 to receive paclitaxel with ipatasertib or placebo for 12 weeks prior to surgery. Adding ipatasertib did not increase pathologic complete response rate and numerically improved overall response rate by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We used reverse-phase protein microarrays (RPPA) to examine the total level and/or phosphorylation states of over 100 proteins in various signaling or cell processes including PI3K/AKT and mTOR signaling. 125 baseline and 127 on-treatment samples were evaluable by RPPA, with 110 paired samples at both time points. Results: Tumors with genomic/protein alterations in PIK3CA/AKT1/PTEN were associated with higher levels of AKT phosphorylation. In addition, phosphorylated(p)AKT levels exhibited a significant association with enriched clinical benefit of ipatasertib, and identified patients who received benefit in the absence of PIK3CA/AKT1/PTEN alterations. Ipatasertib treatment led to a down-regulation of AKT/mTORC1 signaling, which was more pronounced among the tumors with PIK3CA/AKT1/PTEN alterations or among the responders to the treatment. Conclusions: We showed that the high baseline pAKT levels are associated with the alterations of PI3K/AKT pathway components and enriched benefit of ipatasertib in TNBC.

  Study EGAS00001005892

• The clinical utility of genomics in childhood cancer extends beyond targetable mutations

  Survival of children with relapsed cancer remains unacceptably low. Cancer genomic profiling may identify new therapeutic options, enhance diagnostic accuracy, and improve understanding of tumors’ origins and continued evolution. We deeply sequenced 864 cancer-associated genes and the complete genomes and transcriptomes for 300 pediatric and adolescent/young adult (AYA) patients with poor prognosis or rare tumors. Using integrative somatic-germline analyses, we assessed the clinical utility of cancer genomics in this population. We analyzed tumor mutational signatures and burden to interrogate the relevance of germline variants in DNA repair genes and the impact of therapeutic exposures on tumor evolution. We also evaluated the frequency of changes to tumor drivers and therapeutic targets at relapse in those with serial samples. Integrative analysis yielded clinically actionable variants in a majority of patients. Improved diagnostic accuracy led to modified management in a subset. Therapeutically targetable variants were of unanticipated timing and type, with many of these derived from the germline. Enrichment in corroborating mutational signature 3 (‘BRCAness’) in patients with germline homologous recombination defects suggests they are drivers of pediatric cancers and potential targets for PARP inhibition. We show that mutation burden, which may in part be driven by prior therapeutic exposures, was significantly elevated in a minority of patients. Over one-third of patients with sequential samples analyzed showed a change in therapeutically-targetable drivers. Comprehensive somatic-germline cancer genomic profiling is useful at multiple points in the care trajectory for pediatric/AYA patients, supporting its integration into early clinical management. Re-biopsy at the time of relapse should be considered, and specific attention to mutational burden is indicated. Defective DNA repair genes in the germline may represent important targetable drivers.

  Study EGAS00001006034

• Long-term temporal stability of peripheral blood DNA methylation alterations in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

  Introduction There is great current interest in the potential application of DNA methylation alterations in peripheral blood as biomarkers of susceptibility, progression, and treatment response in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To date, the intra-individual stability of peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) methylation in IBD patients, a key consideration in biomarker development, has not been characterised. Here, we studied the long-term stability of all probes located on the Illumina HumanMethylation EPIC BeadChip array. Methods We followed a cohort of 46 adult IBD patients (36 Crohn’s disease (CD), 10 ulcerative colitis (UC), median age 44 (IQR: 27-56), 50% female) that received standard care without any intervention at the Amsterdam UMC. Paired PBL samples were collected at two time points with a median 7 (range: 2-9) years in between. Differential methylation and intra-class correlation (ICC) analyses were used to identify time-associated differences and temporally stable CpGs, respectively. Results Around 60% of all CpG loci on the EPIC array presented poor (ICC &lt;0.50); 119,388 (≈14%) and 41,274 (≈5%) showed good (ICC ≥0.75) or excellent (ICC ≥0.90) intra-individual stability. Functional over-representation analyses of the stable methylated CpGs implicated genes involved in cell-cell signaling, adhesion and neurogenesis. Focusing on previously identified consistently differentially methylated positions indicated that 22 CD-, 11 UC-, and 24 IBD-associated loci demonstrated good stability (ICC ≥0.75) over time, where we observed a marked stability of CpG loci associated to the HLA genes. Conclusion Our data provide insight into the long-term stability of the PBL DNA methylome within an IBD context, facilitating the selection of biologically relevant and robust IBD-associated epigenetic biomarkers with increased potential for independent validation.

  Study EGAS00001006501

• A transcriptomic approach to understand patient susceptibility to pneumonia after abdominal surgery

  Rationale Nosocomial infections are a major healthcare challenge, developing in over 20% of patients aged 45 or over undergoing major-abdominal surgery, with postoperative pneumonia associated with an almost five-fold increase in 30-day mortality. Objectives To describe immune-pathways and gene-networks altered following major-abdominal surgery and identify transcriptomic patterns associated with postoperative pneumonia. Methods and Measurements From a prospective consecutive cohort (n=150) undergoing major-abdominal surgery whole-blood RNA was collected preoperatively and at three time-points postoperatively (2-6, 24 and 48hrs). Twelve patients diagnosed with postoperative pneumonia and 27 matched patients remaining infection-free were identified for analysis with RNA-sequencing. Main Results Compared to preoperative sampling, 3,639 genes were upregulated and 5,043 downregulated at 2-6hrs. Pathway-analysis demonstrated innate-immune activation with neutrophil-degranulation and Toll-like-receptor signalling upregulation alongside adaptive-immune suppression. Cell-type deconvolution of preoperative RNA-sequencing revealed elevated S100A8/9-high neutrophils alongside reduced naïve CD4 T-cells in those later developing pneumonia. Preoperatively, a gene-signature characteristic of neutrophil-degranulation was associated with postoperative pneumonia acquisition (P=0.00092). A previously reported Sepsis Response Signature (SRSq) score, reflecting neutrophil-dysfunction and a more dysregulated host response, at 48hrs postoperatively, differed between patients subsequently developing pneumonia and those remaining infection-free (P=0.045). Analysis of the novel neutrophil gene-signature and SRSq scores in independent major-abdominal surgery and polytrauma cohorts indicated good predictive performance in identifying patients suffering later infection. Conclusions Major-abdominal surgery acutely upregulates innate-immune pathways while simultaneously suppressing adaptive-immune pathways. This is more prominent in patients developing postoperative pneumonia. Preoperative transcriptomic signatures characteristic of neutrophil-degranulation and postoperative SRSq scores may be useful predictors of subsequent pneumonia risk.

  Study EGAS00001007229

• Dynamics of circulating tumor DNA in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients who undergo allogeneic transplantation

  Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) is the only curative option for many patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). With the increasing use of non-myeloablative conditioning regimens, it is widely assumed that the cytotoxic conditioning itself does not eradicate all leukemia cells. Instead, the donor-derived immune cells are believed to eliminate residual leukemia cells over time. This so-called graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) is postulated to be the primary mechanism by which allo-HCT achieves sustained remissions in patients with AML. However, the precise quantification of GvL effects and its contribution to leukemia eradication has not yet been demonstrated by sequential, highly sensitive measurements of residual disease at various time points following allo-HCT. In the current study, we employed a novel, highly sensitive and specific plasma-based assay to track mutations in the leukemia cells of 14 patients before and after allo-HCT. If the primary therapeutic benefit of allo-HCT is truly mediated through a GvL effect, we hypothesized that leukemia cells would persist following cytotoxic conditioning and would often be reduced after post-transplant immunosuppression was discontinued. In the majority of patients (11 of 14, 79%), the conditioning used for allo-HCT did not eradicate the leukemia cells. In seven of these 11 patients, the leukemia cells persisted until immunosuppression was discontinued, at which time the persistent leukemia cells were reduced or eradicated. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a dynamic marker of GvL as well as minimal residual disease for patients with AML undergoing alloHCT, and have substantial implications for their management.

  Study EGAS00001007969

• Tubulointerstitial fibrosis is the histological hallmark of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Hypoxia and inflammation (i.e., interleukin (IL)-1β signalling) are independent mediators of tubulointerstitial fibrosis. However, the physiological response of human kidney tubular cells to IL-1β/IL-1RI signalling under the hypoxic conditions of CKD is poorly understood and remains a clinical imperative for therapeutic targeting. This study reports that hypoxia and IL-1β act in synergy to trigger cell cycle arrest/cellular senescence of ex vivo patient-derived primary proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTECs).

  Hypoxia and interleukin (IL)-1β are independent mediators of tubulointerstitial fibrosis, the histological hallmark of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here, we examine how hypoxia and IL-1β act in synergy to augment maladaptive proximal tubular epithelial cell (PTEC) repair in human CKD. Ex vivo patient-derived PTECs were cultured under normoxic (21% O2) or hypoxic (1% O2) conditions in the absence or presence of IL-1β and examined for maladaptive repair signatures. Hypoxic PTECs incubated with IL-1β displayed a discrete transcriptomic profile distinct from PTECs cultured under hypoxia alone, IL-1β alone or under normoxia. Hypoxia+IL-1β-treated PTECs had 692 ‘unique’ differentially expressed genes (DEGs) compared to normoxic PTECs, with ‘cell cycle’ the most significantly enriched KEGG pathway based on ‘unique’ down-regulated DEGs (including CCNA2, CCNB1 and CCNB2). Hypoxia+IL-1β-treated PTECs displayed signatures of cellular senescence, with reduced proliferation, G2/M cell cycle arrest, elevated senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) activity and increased production of pro-inflammatory/fibrotic senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors compared to normoxic conditions. Treatment of Hypoxia+IL-1β-treated PTECs with either a senolytic drug combination, quercetin+dasatinib, or a type I IL-1 receptor (IL-1RI) neutralizing antibody attenuated senescent cell burden. Our data identify a mechanism whereby hypoxia in combination with IL-1β/IL-1RI signalling trigger PTEC senescence, providing novel therapeutic and diagnostic check-points for restoring tubular regeneration in human CKD.

  Study EGAS00001007904

• Spatial transcriptomic data of breast cancer

  Fastq files from spatial transcriptomic of breast cancer coming from 8 Breast cancer sections. Sample preparation: frozen BC samples were chosen based on tissue structure and RNA quality (RIN > 8). The “Visium Spatial Tissue Optimization Slide and Reagent Kit” (10X Genomics; #PN-1000193) was then used to optimize permeabilization conditions for BC tissues. Briefly, sections were fixed, stained and then permeabilized at different time points to capture mRNA, and the reverse transcription was performed to generate fluorescently labeled cDNA. The permeabilization time that resulted in the highest fluorescence signal with the lowest background diffusion was chosen. The best permeabilization time for BC tissue was 18 min. Cryostat sections of 10 μm of thickness were cut and placed on Visium Spatial Gene Expression slides (10X Genomics, PN-1000184). The slide was incubated for 1 min at 37°C, then fixed with methanol for 30 min at -20°C followed by Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining and images were taken under a high-resolution microscope. After imaging, the coverslip was detached by holding the slide in water and the slide was mounted in a plastic slide cassette. The spatial gene expression process, including tissue permeabilization, second strand synthesis and cDNA amplification, was performed according to the manufacturer’s instructions (10X Genomics; #CG000239). cDNA quality was next assessed using Agilent High sensitivity DNA Kit (Agilent, #5067-4626). The spatial gene libraries were constructed using Visium Spatial Library Construction Kit (10X Genomics, PN-1000184).

  Dataset EGAD50000000322

• Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT-BioLINCC)

  Data Access NOTE: Please refer to the &#8220;Authorized Access&#8221; section below for information about how access to the data from this accession differs from many other dbGaP accessions. Objectives The Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT) was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that amiodarone or a conservatively programmed shock-only, single-lead implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) would decrease the risk of death from any cause in a broad population of patients with mild-to-moderate heart failure. Background Patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) can die suddenly and unpredictably from arrhythmia despite the use of proven medical therapies, such as beta-blockade. Two approaches have been developed to prevent sudden death among patients with CHF: therapy with amiodarone and therapy with an ICD. However, most of the mortality data on amiodarone and ICD therapy at the time of the study had been obtained in clinical trials performed after myocardial infarction in patients without CHF or those with ventricular arrhythmias. Thus, more data was needed to guide these therapies in patients who did not meet these criteria. Participants There were a total of 2521 participants. 847 were randomly assigned to placebo, 845 to amiodarone, and 829 to ICD therapy. Design Before randomization, participants underwent electrocardiography, a 6-minute walk test, 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography, liver and thyroid function studies, and chest radiography. Participants were required, if clinically reasonable, to receive treatment with a beta-blocker and an angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor, as well as an aldosterone antagonist, aspirin, and statins, when appropriate. Participants were randomly assigned in equal proportions to receive placebo, amiodarone, or a single-chamber ICD programmed to shock-only mode. Participants assigned to amiodarone or matching placebo began therapy as outpatients immediately after randomization. Placebo and amiodarone were administered as a loading dose of 800 mg/day for one week, 400 mg/day for three weeks, and then as a daily maintenance dosage according to weight and bradycardia status. Participants assigned to ICD therapy received their device a median of three days after randomization. The goal of ICD therapy was to treat only rapid, sustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Dual-chamber or biventricular devices, or antitachycardia or rate-response pacing therapies were not permitted. The ICD was uniformly programmed to have a detection rate of 187 beats per minute or more. Antibradycardia pacing was initiated only if the intrinsic rate decreased to less than 34 beats per minute. Median follow-up was 45.5 months. The primary end point was death from any cause. Secondary outcome measures included cardiac mortality, arrhythmic mortality, morbidity, quality of life, and incremental cost-effectiveness of the interventions. Each active treatment arm was compared to the placebo drug arm. Conclusions In participants with NYHA class II or III CHF and LVEF of 35% or less, amiodarone had no favorable effect on survival, whereas single-lead, shock-only ICD therapy reduced overall mortality by 23%.

  Study phs003654

• The Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma Genes and Environment (GLAUGEN) Study

  Background Information: Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is an age-related, intraocular pressure (IOP)-dependent progressive optic neuropathy that ultimately leads to irreversible blindness. Vision loss from POAG is a condition of public health significance. Current evidence suggests that POAG is a polygenetic disease modified by environmental influences. Despite the fact that a positive family history of disease is an important risk factor for POAG, conventional linkage and candidate gene approaches have revealed less than 5% of the genetic component of the disease. Furthermore, there is no consensus on environment risk factors for POAG. Elevated IOP is the only modifiable risk factor for POAG; yet, lowering IOP slows, but does not halt the disease process. Study Objectives: The overall goal of our research is to elucidate the pathogenesis of POAG so that cost-effective disease detection and primary prevention strategies can be implemented. The primary aim of the Glaucoma Gene Environment Initiative (GLAUGEN), funded by the Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), is to discover genetic loci associated with POAG. The secondary aim of GLAUGEN, funded by NHGRI and the National Eye Institute, is to discover gene environment interactions in POAG. Methods and study populations: For this study, we have assembled cases and controls from three studies: the Nurses&#39; Health Study (NHS), the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) and the Genetic Etiologies of POAG (GEP) project based at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI). This case-control group includes 1057 unrelated cases and 1272 controls. Members of the NHS and HPFS also have repeated environmental exposure data collected prior to a diagnosis of POAG. NHS - The Nurses Health Study started in 1976 under the direction of Dr. Frank E. Speizer. With funding from the NIH, registered nurses from 11 US states were invited to complete a detailed questionnaire regarding lifestyle and health biennially. Initially, 121,000 women responded to the baseline questionnaire. Currently, Dr. Susan Hankinson serves as the program director for the NHS. HPFS - The Health Professionals Follow-up Study began in 1986 under the direction of Drs. Walter Willett and Meir Stampfer. Under the auspices of the NIH, they enlisted 51,529 male health professionals from throughout the US to complete similarly designed biennial questionnaires. Beginning in 1990, questions regarding ocular health were added to biennial questionaires completed by health professionals participating in the NHS and HPFS. This allowed us to formulate (PI: S. Hankinson; NEI) and maintain (PI: L. Pasquale; NEI) a cohort at risk for POAG derived from the respective general cohorts who were under ophthalmic care. We then developed a definition of POAG that allowed us to identify cases from a population that was geographically dispersed. The centerpiece of this definition is the presence of reproducible visual field loss consistent with nerve fiber layer (NFL) dropout (the NFL contains the axons that comprise the optic nerve) on reliable tests. Reproducible visual field loss occurred in the context of anterior segment findings that did not suggest a secondary cause of elevated IOP and posterior segment findings that did not suggest a secondary cause of visual field loss. We selected controls from the cohort at risk for POAG on the basis of age, gender and time period when cases were identified. GEP - The Genetic Etiologies of POAG was initiated in 1996 with funding from the National Eye Institute under the direction of Dr. Janey Wiggs. The purpose of this work was to discover novel genetic loci associated with POAG. In the GEP, cases were derived predominantly from the Glaucoma Service at MEEI. The majority of cases had an examination by a glaucoma specialist and met the definition for POAG used in NHS and HPFS. Cases with only one reliable visual field consistent with NFL dropout were included if there was a cup-disc ratio of 0.7 or more. The majority of controls were patients who presented to the MEEI comprehensive ophthalmology service for routine eye examination or from spouses of MEEI patients with secondary forms of glaucoma. Other controls were identified from regional glaucoma screenings held throughout Massachusetts. Members of GEP have detailed ocular phenotype data but limited information on environmental exposures. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to primary open-angle glaucoma through large-scale genome-wide association studies of three well-characterized cohorts of cases and controls, some in matched pairs. Genotyping was performed at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a GENEVA genotyping center. Data cleaning and harmonization were performed at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000308

• MATISSE bulk RNA-sequencing data

  Tumor availability: Bulk RNA sequencing was performed on tumor biopsies of 48 patients at baseline and 45 patients across time points (baseline n=48, week 1 n=38, week 2 n=34, week 4 n=37), including lymph node metastasis that were sequenced in addition to the primary tumor. Tumor RNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) primary tumor and lymph node metastasis sections containing at least 10% viable tumor cells present in the sample, except for on-treatment samples with a complete pathological response in which we isolated samples with at least 10% immune-infiltration with no viable tumor cells. A pathologist (LS) scored the tumor percentage and indicated the most tumor-dense region on a hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain slide for subsequent RNA isolation. According to the manufacturer's protocol, five to 10 FFPE slides (10 µm) were used for RNA isolation using the AllPrep DNA/RNA FFPE isolation kit (Qiagen, 80234) and the QIAcube. Genetic Diagnostics and Sequencing Services (CeGaT) performed RNA sequencing in Germany. Data processing: Demultiplexing of the sequencing reads was performed with Illumina bcl2fastq (v2.20). Adapters of the reads (Pico v2 SMART adapter, first three nucleotides of the second sequencing read) were trimmed with Skewer (v0.2.2), without quality trimming. RNA-sequencing data was aligned to GRCh38 (Ensembl v109) using STAR (v2.7.9) in 2-pass mode with default settings. Gene counts were generated with the HTSeq (v2.0.2). FastQC (v0.12.1) and MultiQC (v1.14) were used for assessing data quality, on FASTQ files and intermediate processing steps.

  Dataset EGAD50000001470

• Prediction of Trastuzumab Benefit in Adjuvant Breast Cancer: Gene Expression Profiling in NSABP B31

  Background National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) trial B-31 suggested the efficacy of adjuvant trastuzumab, even in HER2-negative breast cancer. This finding prompted us to develop a predictive model for degree of benefit from trastuzumab using archived tumor blocks from B-31. Methods Case subjects with tumor blocks were randomly divided into discovery (n = 588) and confirmation cohorts (n = 991). A predictive model was built from the discovery cohort through gene expression profiling of 462 genes with nCounter assay. A predefined cut point for the predictive model was tested in the confirmation cohort. Gene-by-treatment interaction was tested with Cox models, and correlations between variables were assessed with Spearman correlation. Principal component analysis was performed on the final set of selected genes. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results Eight predictive genes associated with HER2 (ERBB2, c17orf37, GRB7) or ER (ESR1, NAT1, GATA3, CA12, IGF1R) were selected for model building. Three-dimensional subset treatment effect pattern plot using two principal components of these genes was used to identify a subset with no benefit from trastuzumab, characterized by intermediate-level ERBB2 and high-level ESR1 mRNA expression. In the confirmation set, the predefined cut points for this model classified patients into three subsets with differential benefit from trastuzumab with hazard ratios of 1.58 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.67 to 3.69; P = .29; n = 100), 0.60 (95% CI = 0.41 to 0.89; P = .01; n = 449), and 0.28 (95% CI = 0.20 to 0.41; P &#60; .001; n = 442; P interaction between the model and trastuzumab &#60; .001). Conclusions We developed a gene expression-based predictive model for degree of benefit from trastuzumab and demostrated that HER2-negative tumors belong to the moderate benefit group, thus providing justification for testing trastuzumab in HER2-negative patients (NSABP B-47). ** Reprinted from J Natl Cancer Inst;2013;105:1782-1788 with permission from Oxford University Press.

  Study phs000826

• POPRES: Population Reference Sample

  POPRES version 1 and 2 Technological and scientific advances, stemming in large part from the Human Genome and HapMap projects, have made large-scale, genome-wide investigations feasible and cost-effective. These advances have the potential to dramatically impact drug discovery and development by identifying genetic factors that contribute to variation in disease risk as well as drug pharmacokinetics, treatment efficacy, and adverse drug reactions. In spite of the technological advancements, successful application in biomedical research would be limited without access to suitable sample collections. To facilitate exploratory genetic research, we have assembled a DNA resource from a large number of subjects participating in multiple studies throughout the world. This resource was initially genotyped using the Affymetrix 500K SNP panel. This project includes nearly 6,000 subjects of African American, East Asian, South Asian, Mexican, and European origin. POPRES version 3 The discovery and development of novel drugs is challenging and with high attrition rates. Selection of the right target and optimal indications for novel therapeutics represent key decision points in this process, and are often hampered by our limited understanding of the biology of the target in humans. Building a robust body of knowledge of variation within drug target genes has in several cases increased the probability of success for novel therapeutics. Our knowledge of variation within drug target genes and their influence on traits of medical interest is still very limited. In an effort to fill this gap, we resequenced the exons of 202 known or suspected drug target genes in over 16,000 well-phenotyped individuals. A total of 863,883 bases were targeted, including 351 kb of coding and 323 kb of untranslated exon regions. The sequenced subjects included 3,381 from two studies that were part of the Population Reference Sample (POPRES) project: CoLaus (N = 2,059) and LOLIPOP (N = 1,322). Genotyping data generated through the targeted next generation sequencing is available through the dbGaP.

  Study phs000145

• Heart Failure Network - Effectiveness of Ultrafiltration in Treating People with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure and Cardiorenal Syndrome (HFN CARRESS - BioLINCC)

  ObjectiveThe CARRESS trial examined the effectiveness of ultrafiltration compared with a strategy of diuretic-based stepped pharmacologic therapy on renal function and weight loss in patients with heart failure who have worsening renal function and persistent congestion.BackgroundAcute cardiorenal syndrome is defined as worsening renal function in patients with acute decompensated heart failure. It occurs in 25 to 33% of patients and is associated with poor outcomes. Current heart failure treatments focus on removing excess fluid buildup, however administration of intravenous diuretics may contribute to worsening renal function. Venovenous ultrafiltration is one alternative therapy that may be effective in patients with acute decompensated heart failure complicated by acute cardiorenal syndrome and persistent congestionSubjectsA total of 188 patients were randomized.DesignHospitalized subjects were randomly assigned to receive either ultrafiltration therapy or pharmacologic therapy. Ultrafiltration was performed at a fluid-removal rate of 200 ml per hour and loop diuretics were discontinued for the duration of the intervention. The addition of intravenous vasodilators or positive inotropic agents was prohibited, unless they were deemed to be necessary as rescue therapy. Patients assigned to stepped pharmacologic therapy received intravenous diuretics to manage congestion and maintain a urine output of 3 to 5 liters per day. In both groups, the assigned treatment strategy was to be continued until the signs and symptoms of congestion in the patient were reduced as much as possible. The primary end points were baseline changes in serum creatinine and weight as assessed at 96 hours after treatment assignment.ConclusionsThe use of a stepped pharmacologic-therapy algorithm was superior to a strategy of ultrafiltration for the preservation of renal function, and there was a similar amount of weight loss between the two groups. Ultrafiltration was associated with a higher rate of adverse events (Bart, et al., 2012, PMID: 23131078).

  Study phs003510

• The National Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Study

  Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are the most common cause of adult bone marrow failure in the US and occur predominantly in people over the age of 60. Much of the morbidity and mortality for MDS is due to complications from low blood counts (e.g., infections and bleeding). MDS is caused by acquired DNA mutations that occur in a patient's blood cells as they grow older. Accumulating evidence suggests that MDS patients may traverse through a series of antecedent hematopoietic conditions defined by, i) clonal hematopoiesis (i.e., detectable somatic mutations in a person's blood cells) without low blood counts, a condition that affects up to 10% of individuals 70 years old and is termed Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential (CHIP), or ii) clonal hematopoiesis with low blood counts (i.e., cytopenias) but no evidence of bone marrow dysplasia, termed Clonal Cytopenia of Undetermined Significance (CCUS). Nearly all CCUS patients will develop MDS over a ten year period, highlighting the prognostic importance of this disease. A better understanding of the genetic mutations, including non-coding and structural variants (SVs), occurring in CCUS and MDS could provide valuable insight into the natural history of MDS development. The NHLBI is conducting a longitudinal, observational study to create a standardized clinical dataset linked to a prospectively collected, consistently processed, and well-characterized biospecimen repository derived from approximately 1750 participants with suspected or newly diagnosed MDS or MDS/myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) overlap. These volunteers will donate biological specimens (like bone marrow and blood) and medical information, including details of their symptoms, how they perceive their quality of life, the treatments they receive, and what their doctor says about the severity of their illness over time. This information will be collected at pre-determined time points for the duration of the study. Study participants may be followed for life.

  Study phs002714

• Somatic Mutations and Their Etiological Determinants for Breast Cancer in African American Women (B-CAUSE Study)

  The breast cancer health disparity between women of African ancestry (AA) and European ancestry (EA) remains a major public health challenge in the United States. AA women are afflicted by higher rate of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and bear the highest mortality rate of all populations from the disease. Even within TNBC, some data suggest that AA women have poorer outcomes than EA women. Mounting evidence points to population differences in cancer biology, a fundamental question that remains unsettled. The disparity also manifests in representativeness in tumor sequencing projects, due to the low inclusion of AAs in genomic studies. A recent analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data revealed that the number of AA cases sequenced was sufficient only for studying frequently mutated genes (&#8805;10%), and the power was worse for TNBC as a separate disease entity. As a result, the breast tumor mutational landscape elucidated to date is derived mostly from EA cases, and may not necessarily represent AA cancer genomes. Moreover, as discovery potential for new driver genes has come close to a plateau, cancer in AAs derived from distinct genetic and environmental contexts may provide a powerful venue for discovering mutations that are rare in EA cases. This is showcased in recent studies in colon and prostate cancer. Thus, we carried out a collaborative project, B-CAUSE, to characterize the mutational landscape of AA breast cancer genomes by pooling resources from five established studies, including the Women's Circle of Health Study (WCHS), the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS), the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS), the Nashville Breast Health Study (NBHS), and the Southern Tri-State Breast Health Study (STSBHS). This effort has created the largest AA-specific breast tumor mutation dataset to date in an efficient manner. The data deposited here are from the whole-exome sequencing (WES) of matched tumor-normal pairs of 462 TNBC in AA women from the B-CAUSE Study.

  Study phs003962

• Single cell eQTL map of T cell activation

  We isolated naive and memory CD4+ T cells from 119 healthy individuals and stimulated the cells using anti-CD3/anti-CD28 coated beads. We profiled gene expression using single cell RNA-seq (10X-Genomics 3’ v2 kit) at resting state and three time points of activation (16h, 40h and 5 days post stimulation) and mapped expression quantitative trait loci.

  Dataset EGAD00001008197

• Longitudinal profiling of the immune response to Plasmodium vivax in naive hosts by RNA-sequencing

  Plasmodium vivax offers unique challenges for control and elimination, and may prove a tougher hurdle to overcome than Plasmodium falciparum. And yet compared to P. falciparum we know very little about the innate and adaptive immune responses that need to be harnessed to reduce disease and transmission. We recently generated a blood bank of a new clonal field isolate of P. vivax (PvW1) for human challenge studies and used systems immunology tools to track the host response throughout infection and convalescence. As part of this study, RNA-sequencing was used to resolve changes in whole blood gene expression through time in 6 volunteers (7-9 time-points per volunteer). In summary, these data show that P. vivax induces two distinct transcriptional programmes in whole blood during and after infection. During infection, transcriptional profiling reveals the rapid mobilisation of an emergency myeloid response, which leads to systemic inflammation and the recruitment of all major T cell subsets into lymphoid tissues. Six days after infection, this innate response subsides and a transcriptional signature of proliferation is revealed. This most likely represents widespread activation of lymphocytes, which return to the circulation after parasite clearance - transcriptional profiling of T cells at this time-point could therefore reveal the outcomes of critical cell-cell interactions that take place within the spleen during infection. This data is part of a pre-publication release. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/ .

  Dataset EGAD00001006924

• Federated discovery and sharing of genomic data using Beacons

  The Beacon Project is a Global Alliance for Genomics & Health (GA4GH) initiative that enables genomic and clinical data sharing across federated networks. The project is working toward developing regulatory, ethics and security guidance to ensure proportionate safeguards for distribution of data according to the GA4GH-developed “Framework for Responsible Sharing of Genomic and Health-Related Data”. Within this Nature Biotechnology Correspondence a description of the Beacon protocol and how it can be used as a model for the federated discovery and sharing of genomic data is offered to the community. A Beacon is defined as a web-accessible service that can be queried for information about a specific allele. A user of a Beacon can pose queries of the form “Have you observed this nucleotide (e.g., C) at this genomic location (e.g., position 32,936,732 on chromosome 13)?” to which the Beacon responds with either “yes” or “no.” In this way, a Beacon allows allelic information of interest to be discovered by a remote searcher with no reference to a specific sample or patient, thereby mitigating privacy risks. The Beacon API (represented as a RESTful web application) provides a technical specification that a Beacon server must implement. The specification is open source and available online here. To simplify the process of lighting a Beacon, a free, open-source reference implementation of the latest specification has been developed. GA4GH is promoting different levels of data access (open, registered, and controlled) for convenience and for compatibility across its projects. Each so-called access tier has distinct visibility and requirements for authorization. For example, ‘open access’ Beacons are accessible to anonymous users of the internet, whereas ‘registered access’ Beacons are accessible to registered users (for example, bona fide researchers and clinicians) who have agreed to a set of conditions of data use. Many of the largest genomic archives, such as dbGaP, the European Genome-phenome Archive and the European Variation Archive, have provided access to variation data through Beacons for some or all of their datasets. Beacons can be interconnected through the Beacon Network, a directory and search engine for Beacons. Although individual Beacons answer the question “Have you observed this allele?”, the Beacon Network answers the question “Who has observed this allele?”. Beacons can be freely registered to the Beacon Network and can be searched independently or in aggregate with other connected Beacons.

  Blog federated-discovery-using-beacons

• Genome-Wide Association Studies of Prematurity and Its Complications

  Preterm labor resulting in the delivery of a premature child is a complex problem with an enormous impact on individuals, families and society. An estimated 500,000 children are born prematurely in the U.S. each year, and 5 million worldwide die annually of prematurity and its complications. Prematurity is also the single largest contributor to disability-adjusted life years, a measure of the lifetime impact of a disease. Despite the importance of the problem and its disproportionate occurrence in poor and minority populations, its underlying etiology (or etiologies) remains unknown; the single best predictor for preterm delivery is a previous preterm birth. The largest single cause of prematurity is spontaneous preterm labor, and suspected triggers for this include infection, stress, poor nutrition and genetic factors. Family and twin studies provide strong evidence that genetic factors underlie about 40% of the risk for prematurity. A major challenge in studying genetic factors in prematurity is maternal/uterine factors, fetal/placental factors, or both may influence risk. Thus, any approach to studying preterm birth should account for both infant and maternal risk, environmental covariates and interactions. The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) is a well-established, prospective cohort that enrolled women early in pregnancy, prior to any adverse pregnancy outcomes, to minimize bias in data collection and sampling. See details at: http://www.ssi.dk/English. The DNBC followed over 100,000 pregnancies beginning in the first trimester and has extensive biological material and epidemiologic data on health outcomes in both mother and child. The current study posted on dbGaP contains data from a genome-wide case/control study using approximately 1,000 preterm mother-child pairs from the DNBC most with spontaneous onset of labor or preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), along with 1,000 control pairs where the child was born at ~40 weeks&#39; gestation. After data cleaning some small changes in case/control status and other variables resulted in minor changes in numbers of cases or controls in certain categories. Environmental variables are being used as covariates in the analysis. To replicate positive findings, we are using additional mother-child pairs from the DNBC and from the general Danish population, as well as 2200 samples coming primarily from an African-American population known to have high rates of preterm labor and delivery. This group includes over 1000 mostly very low birthweight infants, over 500 infant term controls, 326 term mother/baby pairs and 180 preterm mother/baby pairs. The data from these additional cohorts will be available in separate dbGaP postings. The study is expected to yield a better understanding of the biology of parturition, identify common genetic factors that play a role in preterm birth and its complications and suggest environmental modifications that can prolong gestation, with the goal of improving both neonatal and adult outcomes. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to prematurity and its complications through large-scale genome-wide association studies of a well-characterized cohort of Danish mothers and babies. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000103

• Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-term Treatment Against Cirrhosis (HALT-C)

  Reprinted from http://www.haltctrial.org/ Purpose The Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-term Treatment against Cirrhosis (HALT-C) Trial is a randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of long-term use of pegylated interferon for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in patients who failed to respond to previous interferon therapy. The HALT-C Trial was developed to determine whether prolonged interferon therapy altered histological and clinical outcomes in a group of patients who had failed to eradicate hepatitis C virus with previous interferon treatment. Study Hypotheses In patients with chronic hepatitis C and bridging fibrosis who failed to eradicate the virus with previous interferon therapy, long-term treatment with interferon is safe and can prevent progression to cirrhosis. In patients with cirrhosis secondary to chronic hepatitis C who failed to eradicate the virus with previous interferon therapy, long-term treatment with interferon is safe and can reduce the risks of hepatic decompensation or of hepatocellular carcinoma. Study Design 1145 patients with chronic HCV and advanced hepatic fibrosis (Ishak stage 3-6) who failed to respond to previous treatment with interferon were enrolled at 10 clinical centers and entered into a Lead-in phase. They were treated with a combination of pegylated interferon (Pegasys&#174;, Hoffmann-La Roche) 180 &#181;g/week and ribavirin (1000-1200 mg/day) for 24 weeks. Patients who had no detectable HCV-RNA at week 20 continued on combination therapy until week 48. 662 patients who did not clear virus were randomly assigned at week 24 to either continue treatment with pegylated interferon alone (90 &#181;g/week) for an additional 42 months, or to have treatment discontinued. All patients were followed at 3-month intervals following randomization. Liver biopsy was performed at baseline and after 1.5 and 3.5 years of treatment. Because of slower than expected enrollment and the approval by the FDA of peginterferon alfa-2b after the start of the trial, we modified the study protocol in three ways. First, criteria for admission to the trial were liberalized to allow patients to enter the trial with lower platelet and white blood cell counts than had been initially considered safe or tolerable. Second, 151 Lead-in patients and those continuing on therapy after 24 weeks who demonstrated return of viremia during or after their 48-week treatment period (called "Breakthrough" or "Relapse" patients, respectively) were allowed to return to enter the randomized trial. Third, 237 patients treated with peginterferon alfa-2b (or with peginterferon alfa-2a in licensing trials) outside the HALT-C Trial who in other respects met all study criteria, having received the equivalent of Trial Lead-in period therapy, were allowed to enter the long-term trial as "Express" patients. A total 1050 patients were randomized. Those patients who completed Month 48 were offered an "extended follow-up (observation only)" until October 2009. These visits will primarily be to identify outcome events, and to provide information to patients concerning the current status of the trial. Some questionnaires, blood tests, and an ultrasonogram will be performed. Quarterly (every 3 months) Interval history of complications, adverse events Current medications Brief physical examination Laboratory tests: liver panel, CBC, INR, AFP Child-Pugh Score Stored serum Annual Complete physical examination Ultrasound of liver 1.5 years (M24 visit, middle of study) Liver biopsy: formalin fixed histology, frozen liver tissue (subset of patients) 3.5 years (M48, end of study) Liver biopsy: formalin fixed histology, frozen liver tissue (subset of patients) Endoscopy: evaluate esophageal varices and portal hypertension After Month 48 Observation only (no treatment) to determine clinical outcomes Clinic visit every 6 months with current medications, brief PE, liver panel, CBC, AFP, stored Serum Ultrasound of liver every 6 months Outcome Variables Primary outcome variables to be assessed in the two groups of patients include: Development of cirrhosis on liver biopsy (progression of Ishak fibrosis score by 2 points or more) Development of hepatic decompensation, as shown by: Sustained increase in the Child-Turcotte-Pugh score to 7 points or higher Variceal hemorrhage Ascites Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis Hepatic encephalopathy Development of hepatocellular carcinoma Death Secondary outcomes include quality of life, serious adverse events, events requiring dose reductions, and development of presumed hepatocellular carcinoma.

  Study phs000430

• GEDI: A Developmental Model of Gene-Environment Interplay in SUDs: Combined Genotype Dataset from the "Great Smoky Mountains Study" and the "Caring for Children in the Community Study".

  1. Great Smoky Mountains Study (GSMS; Costello et al. 1996, 1997) Three cohorts of boys and girls, aged 9, 11, and 13 years at intake in 1993, were selected from a rural population of some 20,000 children using a household equal probability design. A two-phase procedure was used for White and African-American youth to increase power by oversampling children at risk for psychiatric and SUDs. Parents (usually mothers) of the first stage random population sample completed a questionnaire about their child&#39;s behavioral problems. Of 4,195 subjects selected, 95% (N=3,896) of parents completed the screen. All children scoring above a predetermined threshold (the top 25% of the total scores), plus a 10% random sample of the remaining 75%, were recruited for detailed interviews. Results can be back-weighted to population levels for analyses. Half of the sample consists of females, and 6% are African Americans, reflecting the population of the study area. The interviewed sample of white and African-American subjects was 1,070 (80% of those recruited). American Indian youth were oversampled (100%) because they are an understudied group known to be at high risk for stressful events, substance disorders, and mood disorders. Of 431 age-eligible children, 350 (81% boys, 49% girls) participated. Thus, the size of total GSMS sample is 1,070 + 350 = 1,420. Data collection is complete for ages 9-26, and age 30 interviews are in progress. By age 26 a total of 9,858 interviews had been completed; the average number of interviews per subject was seven, and by age 26, 97.3% completed two or more interviews. 2. The Caring for Children in the Community Study (CCC; Angold et al., 2002) This representative study of psychiatric illness and service use in African-American and White youth took place in four rural counties in the southeastern USA. The two-stage sampling design and methods are similar to those used in the GSMS. Of 4,500 youth randomly selected from the 17,117 9- to 17-year-olds in the public school&#39;s database, 3,613 (80.0%) were successfully contacted and agreed to complete the behavioral screen. Of the 1,302 selected to participate in the study, 920 (70.7%) interviews were completed. Because CCC was also the only study in GEDI to contain more than a very few African-American participants, these were omitted from the multi-site analyses. Reprinted with permission from Cambridge University Press from Costello et al., 2013: PMID: 23461817 References: Costello et al., 1996: PMID: 8956679 Costello et al., 1997: PMID: 9184514 Angold et al., 2002: PMID: 12365876

  Study phs000852

• Providing safe access to sensitive human data across borders: Federated EGA becomes a reality

  Enabling discovery and access to sensitive data across national boundaries is vital for improving human health. It enables more powerful and efficient research by increasing the volume and diversity of data available for analysis. It allows us to better understand the causes of diseases – cancer, rare diseases, infectious diseases like COVID-19 – and develop new medicines and treatments. Sensitive human omics data are typically generated by research initiatives and shared using specialist repositories which provide services for data submission, discovery, and access. The EGA is one such repository. Established in 2008 at EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in the UK, since 2012 the EGA (“Central EGA”) has been jointly managed by EMBL-EBI and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Spain. Many countries have emerging personalised medicine programmes which generate data from national initiatives. These programmes are driving a transition in human genomics from being research-driven to receiving funding through healthcare. Data generated in a clinical context are subject to stricter governance than research data and must follow national data protection legislation. To solve these challenges, the Federated EGA provides a network of connected resources to enable transnational discovery of and access to human omics data for research, while also respecting jurisdictional data protection regulations. In this way, the Federated EGA infrastructure supports the goals of European initiatives such as the 1+ Million Genomes initiative (1+MG), the European Health Data Space, and a number of EU-funded 1+MG implementation projects including Beyond 1 Million Genomes. The Federated EGA is made up of “Nodes” – typically nationally funded and operated – which store and manage data locally while allowing global discovery within the Federated EGA network. Since 2016, multiple parallel efforts, supported by ELIXIR and other transnational and national initiatives, have created technical and legal frameworks for establishing the Federated EGA. In 2022, the first five Nodes – Finland, Germany, Norway, Spain, and Sweden – officially joined the Federated EGA by signing Federated EGA Collaboration Agreements with Central EGA. The Finnish FEGA Node is operated by CSC - IT Center for Science and provides data management services according to national laws and the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These services provide tools and support for the whole life-cycle of sensitive research data from collating to analysis, publication, and authorised re-use. The development of the services has been a joint effort with the other Nordic nodes within NeIC's Tryggve and Heilsa projects, and funded by Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture and projects coordinated by ELIXIR Finland. Read more about Finnish FEGA signing. The German Human Genome-Phenome Archive (GHGA) strives to provide a national infrastructure as well as an ethical and legal framework that balances FAIR omics data usage and data protection needs for Germany. As a Germany-wide consortium funded by the German Research Foundation under the umbrella of the NFDI association, GHGA combines the expertise of 21 universities and research institutions to form a federated national infrastructure. Read more about GHGA signing. The German Human Genome-Phenome Archive (GHGA) strives to provide a national infrastructure as well as an ethical and legal framework that balances FAIR omics data usage and data protection needs for Germany. As a Germany-wide consortium funded by the German Research Foundation under the umbrella of the NFDI association, GHGA combines the expertise of 21 universities and research institutions to form a federated national infrastructure. Read more about GHGA signing. In Norway, a key component of the infrastructure is the services of The Sensitive Data Service (TSD) offered by USIT at University of Oslo. The Federated EGA Norway Node is developed by ELIXIR Norway and operated by the University of Oslo as the responsible legal entity. Core software modules are developed jointly with the other Nordic nodes in the NeIC Tryggve and Heilsa projects. Read more about FEGA Norway signing. The Spanish FEGA (es-FEGA) is a national service for storing sensitive biomedical data in Spain. Supported by the Spanish Institute of Bioinformatics (INB) in collaboration with Central EGA, sensitive research datasets are primarily hosted at the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre facilities. The Swedish Sensitive Data Archive is a secure data archive and sharing platform for sensitive datasets. It was developed by the National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden (NBIS) in collaboration with other Nordic ELIXIR Nodes through the Tryggve and Heilsa projects funded by NeIC and coordinated with Central EGA through ELIXIR. Read more about the Swedish Node signing. The Swedish Sensitive Data Archive is a secure data archive and sharing platform for sensitive datasets. It was developed by the National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden (NBIS) in collaboration with other Nordic ELIXIR Nodes through the Tryggve and Heilsa projects funded by NeIC and coordinated with Central EGA through ELIXIR. Read more about the Swedish Node signing. By providing a solution for secure and efficient management of human omics data, the Federated EGA aims to foster data reuse, enable reproducibility, accelerate biomedical research, and improve human health. Find out more Interested in setting up your own Federated EGA Node? Check out the FEGA Onboarding Knowledge Base for more information. The ELIXIR Federated Human Data Community is a great entry point for anyone interested in learning more about the Federated EGA. You can: Join the ELIXIR Federated Human Data Community mailing list (select “Human Data”) Attend the ELIXIR Federated Human Data Community calls

  Blog safe-access-to-sensitive-human-data-federated-ega

• Contextual and Health Behavior Effects on Epigenetic Aging Among Africans in the Family and Community Health Studies

  The Family and Community Health Studies (FACHS) is a longitudinal examination of health and health related behaviors in African American families. The original study cohort consisted of 867 African American parent-child dyads from Georgia and Iowa who were ascertained in cooperation with local school districts. The key inclusion criteria for participating in the study were the presence of an adolescent in the 5th grade (approximately 10-11 years old) who self-identified as African American (i.e., the Target) and the participation of a primary caretaker (PC) for the Target. The clinical and biological data included in this collection are from the Target (i.e., FACHS-T) portion of these studies of these African American parent-child dyads. The initial wave of behavioral assessments of the FACHS-T subjects was conducted in 1997-98 (Wave 1), with seven subsequent ascertainments, Wave 2 (1999&#8211;2000), Wave 3 (2002&#8211;2003), Wave 4 (2005&#8211;2006), Wave 5 (2007&#8211;2009), Wave 6 (2010&#8211;2011), Wave 7 (2014&#8211;2016) and Wave 8 (2019-2021). Full interviews were obtained at each wave of the study with the exact content of the wave varying as a function of developmental age. These interviews of the FACHS-T subjects collected a wide variety of data including the following: perceived discrimination; socioeconomic status; substance use exposure; common internalizing and externalizing disorders such as depression, substance use, and conduct disorder; school efficacy; peer support and perceived parenting practices. Biological sampling of the FACHS-T subjects was conducted at three time points. Saliva DNA was collected at Wave 5 while full phlebotomy was conducted at Waves 7 and 8. The genome wide methylation data listed below is derived from the whole blood DNA samples collected at Wave 8 and Wave 9. The genome wide genotyping data was determined using DNA from the Wave 7 samples. The clinical and biological data available herein are those from 309 FACHS-T subjects who participated in both Wave 7 and Wave 8, and who consented for deposition of their data in dbGAP.

  Study phs003723

• Effectiveness and Safety of Intermittent Antimicrobial Therapy for the Treatment of New Onset Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Airway Infection in Young Patients With Cystic Fibrosis (EPIC-BioLINCC)

  Data Access NOTE: Please refer to the &#8220;Authorized Access&#8221; section below for information about how access to the data from this accession differs from many other dbGaP accessions. Objectives: To investigate the efficacy and safety of 4 antipseudomonal treatments in children with cystic fibrosis (CF) with recently acquired Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection.Background: CF is an inherited disease that causes mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive tract, which can cause lung infections and digestive problems. It is the most common type of chronic lung disease in children and young adults and may result in early death. There is no cure for this disease. The primary cause of death in individuals with CF is progressive obstructive pulmonary disease associated with chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection. PA infection can occur early in life and can become highly resistant to antibiotics. Once an individual has been diagnosed with chronic PA infection, it is almost impossible to manage effectively. The need exists for an effective treatment to control and eliminate PA infection. Past research has shown that if PA infection is treated early, there is a greater likelihood that it may be eliminated completely.Participants: There were 304 participants.Design: Participants were randomized to 1 of 4 antibiotic regimens for 18 months (six 12-week quarters) between December 2004 and June 2009. Participants randomized to cycled therapy received tobramycin inhalation solution (300 mg twice a day) for 28 days, with oral ciprofloxacin (15-20 mg/kg twice a day) or oral placebo for 14 days every quarter, while participants randomized to culture-based therapy received the same treatments only during quarters with positive P aeruginosa cultures. The primary end points were time to pulmonary exacerbation requiring intravenous antibiotics and proportion of PA - positive cultures.Conclusions: No difference in the rate of exacerbation or prevalence of PA positivity was detected between cycled and culture-based therapies. Adding ciprofloxacin produced no benefits (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2011; 165(9):847-856).

  Study phs004067

• Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Clinical Network: Fluid and Catheter Treatment Trial (ARDSNet FACTT-BioLINCC)

  Data Access NOTE: Please refer to the &#8220;Authorized Access&#8221; section below for information about how access to the data from this accession differs from many other dbGaP accessions.Biospecimens: Access to Biospecimens is through the NHLBI Biologic Specimen and Data Repository Information Coordinating Center (BioLINCC). Biospecimens from ARDSNet-FACTT include plasma, DNA, and serum. Please note that use of biospecimens in genetic research is subject to a tiered consent. Objectives: This study evaluated the benefits and risks of Pulmonary Artery Catheters (PACs) in patients with established acute lung injury in a trial comparing hemodynamic management guided by a PAC with hemodynamic management guided by a central venous catheter (CVC) using an explicit management protocol.Background: Optimal fluid management in patients with acute lung injury is unknown. Diuresis or fluid restriction may improve lung function but could jeopardize extrapulmonary organ perfusion.Participants: This randomized study compared a conservative and a liberal strategy of fluid management using explicit protocols applied for seven days in 1000 patients with acute lung injury. The primary end point was death at 60 days. Secondary end points included the number of ventilator-free days and organ-failure-free days and measures of lung physiology. Design: Participants were randomly assigned to a strategy involving either conservative or liberal use of fluids with concealed allocation in permuted blocks of eight with the use of an automated system. Participants were simultaneously and randomly assigned to receive either a pulmonary-artery catheter or a central venous catheter in a two-by-two factorial design.Conclusions: There was no significant difference in the primary outcome of 60-day mortality; however, the conservative strategy of fluid management was associated with improved lung function and shortened the duration of mechanical ventilation and intensive care without increasing non-pulmonary organ failures. These results support the use of a conservative strategy of fluid management in patients with acute lung injury. (NEJM June 15, 2006; Vol 354, No. 24, pp 2564-75; NEJM May 25, 2006; Vol 354, No. 21, pp 2213-24)

  Study phs004165

• Histological Transformation and Progression in Follicular Lymphoma: a Clonal Evolution Study

  Background: Follicular lymphoma (FL) is an indolent, yet incurable B-cell malignancy. A subset of patients experience increased mortality rate driven by two distinct clinical end points: histological transformation and early progression after immuno-chemotherapy. The nature of tumor clonal dynamics leading to these clinical endpoints is poorly understood and previously determined genetic alterations do not explain the majority of transformed cases or accurately predict early progressive disease. We contend that detailed knowledge of the expansion patterns of specific cell populations plus their associated mutations would provide insight into therapeutic strategies and disease biology over the timecourse of FL clinical histories. Methods and Findings: Using a combination of whole genome sequencing, targeted deep sequencing and digital droplet PCR on matched diagnostic and relapse specimens, we deciphered the constituent clonal populations in n=15 transformation patients and n=6 progressors, and measured their change in abundance over time. We observed widely divergent patterns of clonal dynamics in transformed cases relative to progressed cases. Transformation specimens were generally composed of clones that were rare or absent in diagnostic specimens, consistent with dramatic clonal expansions that came to dominate the transformation specimen. This pattern was independent of time to transformation and treatment modality. By contrast, progression specimens were composed of clones that were already present in the diagnostic specimens and exhibited only moderate clonal dynamics, even in the presence of immuno-chemotherapy. Analysis of somatic mutations impacting 94 genes was undertaken in a validation cohort consisting of 395 samples from 277 patients in order to decipher disrupted biology in the two clinical endpoints. We found 12 genes were more commonly mutated in transformed samples than in preceding FL, including TP53, B2M, CCND3, GNA13, S1PR2 and P2RY8. Moreover, 10 genes were more commonly mutated in diagnostic specimens of early progressors including TP53, BTG1, MKI67 and XBP1. Conclusions: Our results illuminate contrasting modes of evolution shaping the clinical histories of transformation and progression. They have implication for interpretation of evolutionary dynamics in the context of treatment-induced selective pressures, and indicate that transformation and progression will require different clinical management strategies.

  Study EGAS00001001709

• The last addition to the list of clonal evolution studies in the EGA

  Tumours of different types may arise from a single cell with at least one malignant mutation. Accumulation of subsequent hits generates lineages of cells with different cancer transformation power; thus, every clone follows an autonomous evolution, and several clones may co-exist into the same solid or liquid tumour. Clonal evolution studies are not new: the conceptual power of this approach has been recognized since the early ’80, especially in leukaemia patients. Nonetheless, these studies greatly benefit from recent technological improvements -machineries and protocols-, which enable ever-increasing sequencing depth, allowing the detection of low frequency variants and consequently more tumour clones. Note: the figure belongs to the original paper and is owned by the authors. Researchers at the University of Kyoto in Japan, have indeed used state of the art knowledge to investigate the clonal evolution of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in a large panel of patients. CML progresses from a majoritarian benign chronic phase into an often fatal blast crisis phase. It is nowadays known that blast crisis are triggered by genetic instability and disrupted DNA repair, which lead to accumulation of DNA mutations. The use of thyrosine kinase inhibitors targeting the Philadelphia chromosome have enormously improved the treatment of blast crisis, nonetheless resistant patients are still a medical challenge. Yotaro Ochi and collegues used Whole Exome Sequencing of paired chronic phase and blast crisis samples to depict the genetic landscape of progression from the first to the second stage of the disease (as illustrated in their figure). Their results were published in Nature Communication on this May 2021. They used a dataset previously deposited at the EGA (EGAS00001003071) and their new generated data have been made available under accession number EGAS00001005075. Their analysis of the occurring mutations contribute to understanding the mechanisms of CML evolution and therefore develop a protocol for early management of patients with a TKI resistance signature. Up to date, the EGA hosts 99 clonal evolution studies, developed in several cancer types, including myeloma, renal carcinomas and ovarian cancer, in addition to various leukaemia subtypes, where this approach has been more widely applied and produced important results and seminal papers. From a pan-cancer point of view, the definition of tumour architecture through clonal evolution studies is instrumental to unravel the mechanisms of disease progression and treatment-resistance insource. At the EGA, we are honoured to contribute to exciting and important science advances with our service!

  Blog the-last-addition-to-the-list-of-clonal-evolution-studies-in-the-ega

• Bulk RNA sequencing of day 2 and day 7 biopsies from the tuberculin skin test in people with latent tuberculosis, and of day 2 biopsies from saline controls

  We used the tuberculin skin test (TST) as human challenge model to study the temporal evolution of the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) antigens in vivo. Study participants comprised healthy HIV seronegative adults, 18-60 years of age. Latent tuberculosis (TB) infection was defined as immune memory for Mtb-specific antigens identified by positive peripheral blood IFNg release assays, but no clinical or radiological evidence of active TB. Two units tuberculin each were injected intradermally into the contralateral forearms of participants. After 2 days (n=216) or 7 days (n=158), 3 mm skin punch biopsies were taken from the injection sites and processed for whole genome transcriptional profiling by bulk RNA sequencing. The time points reflect maximum clinical inflammation (day 2) and maximum T cell infiltration (day 7) of the TST. TST samples were compared to skin biopsies taken two days after control injection of saline in a separate group of individuals (n=33), comprising healthy volunteers as well as patients with active or latent TB, ranging from 18-75 years of age. This dataset includes 407 samples from 256 individuals (n=33 saline, n=223 with Day 2 and/or Day 7 TST). Skin biopsies were collected into RNAlater (Qiagen) for RNA extraction. Total RNA was obtained with the Precellys Evolution homogenizer (Bertin Instruments) and Qiagen RNeasy mini kit. RNA was subjected to DNase treatment to remove contaminating genomic DNA using a TURBO DNA-free kit (Ambion, Life Technologies). The KAPA mRNA HyperPrep Kit (Roche Diagnostics) was used to construct stranded mRNA-Seq libraries from up to 500 ng intact total RNA. Paired-end sequencing was performed on the Illumina Nextseq using the Nextseq 500/550 High Output 75 cycle kit (Illumina). Runs were demultiplexed using bcl2fastq by Illumina.

  Dataset EGAD50000001208

• Transcriptional profiling of tauopathies in human IPS-derived neurons (2019-08-21)

  This project is a pilot study, in collaboration with Maria Grazia Spillantini and Mariangela Iovino (Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair), to investigate the utility of IPS-derived neurons for the study of neurodegenerative disorders. Our aim is to characterise the transcriptional consequences of tauopathies using neurons derived from differentiated IPSCs as a model system. We will use IPS cells derived from six individuals, four with known mutations in the tau protein, 2 without. RNA will be extracted at Day 0 and Day 65 of differentiation by which time the neuronal tauopathy is apparent. RNA will be extracted and the transcriptome of each line characterised using RNAseq. We will then search for genes that are differentially expressed between the transcriptomes of individuals with tau mutations versus those in controls. My lab will analyse the RNAseq data, comparing both affected and controls and both time-points, to establish candidate genes. Darren Logan’s lab, along with our collaborators, will experimentally verify and further investigate these genes in additional lines and animal models. From this analysis we will generate a list of candidate genes that are differentially expressed between cases and controls. This study will not only help us understand the molecular basis of tauopathies, but also identify gene candidates for biomarkers of neurodegenerative disease. It will serve as a proof of principle for future planned studies into generating and transcriptomically analysing an allelic series of Tau mutations in IPSCs with a controlled genetic background. This data is part of a pre-publication release. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/ . This dataset contains all the data available for this study on 2019-08-21.

  Dataset EGAD00001005277

• CIDR: NINDS High Throughput Genotyping Resource Access for Structural Hindbrain Disorders

  Recessive forms for many structural brain disorders (SBDs), including cerebellar hypoplasia (CBH), corpus callosum hypoplasia (CCH), cobblestone lissencephaly (COB), classical lissencephaly (LIS), microcephaly (MIC), and pontocerebellar hypoplasia (PCH), have been described. Patients usually present to the clinic with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism, epilepsy, intellectual disability, and cerebral palsy. Subsequent brain MRI usually leads to the diagnosis of an SBD. While a handful of genes that cause these diseases have been identified, most patients do not have mutations in these genes, suggesting that there is still much work to be done in identifying the genetic causes of these disorders. We have recruited a cohort of families with inherited SBDs, most from families with documented parental consanguinity with more than one affected member. Current approaches utilizing exome sequencing of SBD affected members still leave most cases unsolved, in part because there are too many possible variants to consider. Linkage analysis will allow us to extract all the useful genetic information from the family, taking advantage of each genetically informative meiosis in each family. We propose to analyze up to 100 SBD families for 500 samples per year for 4 years, through the CIDR SNP Genotyping Service, in parallel with already-funded exome sequencing of affects, leveraging off an already funded Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) effort to identify new causes of SBDs. Understanding the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying recessive pediatric SBDs will lead to better diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities for patients, and may shed light on complex NDDs. Ultimately, this work will identify new genetic disease loci to provide insight into pediatric SBD, with the hope to mitigate the impact of SBD worldwide.Public Health Significance: NDDs affect approximately 4-&#173;6% of the general population, most notably children, and are evident in disorders, such as intellectual disability, epilepsy, and autism, with estimated yearly costs of $51.2B for intellectual disability, $11.5B for cerebral palsy, and $2.5B for visual impairment, making up >5% of total health care costs. Recessive NDDs impose enormous personal, social, and economic costs because of the early onset and the lifetime of medical dependence that often ensues. Genetic testing is critical to the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. Many of the diseases under study have no treatment or cure. Structural brain diseases (SBDs) underlie a large percentage of these diseases, and are defined loosely as any condition in which defects in the structure or volume of a key brain component. SBDs are divided into major categories based upon the anatomical brain location. The major types involve the anatomical structures of the developing neural tube, forebrain, hindbrain, cerebral cortex, and those affecting overall brain size. For the purposes of this application, we have excluded SBDs resulting from environmental causes (i.e. prematurity-&#173;induced), those below the brainstem, or those unlikely to be due to a germline or de novo mutation (i.e. focal SBDs or simplex disease).

  Study phs002621

• Genome-Wide Association of Type 2 Diabetes in Africans: The AADM Study

  The Africa America Diabetes Mellitus (AADM) study is a genetic epidemiological study of type 2 diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Study participants were enrolled through university medical centers in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of each participating institution. All subjects provided written informed consent for the collection of samples and subsequent analysis. The case definition of type 2 diabetes was based on the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria. After providing informed consent, participants underwent the same enrollment procedures, which included collection of demographic information, medical history, clinical examination and a blood draw. Genome-wide SNP genotyping was done on either the Axiom&#8482; PanAFR SNP array (n=1,808) or the Multi-Ethnic Global Array (MEGA) (n=3,423). After appropriate quality control, in silico imputation was done using the African Genome Resources Haplotype Reference Panel (at the Sanger Imputation Service). Imputed genotypes were filtered for variants with minor allele frequency (MAF)&#8805; 0.01 and information score (info) &#8805; 0.3 for genetic association analysis. Genome-wide association analysis between type 2 diabetes and the imputed genotype dosages was done using a generalized linear mixed model, which adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, the genetic relatedness matrix and the first three principal components (PCs) of the genotypes.Metabolomics profiling of plasma samples of type 2 diabetes (T2D) cases and controls in Nigerians (West Africa) was done in the AADM Study. Plasma metabolites were measured in a total of 580 individuals (N=310 for the discovery phase and N=270 for the replication stage) using the global/untargeted approach on the Metabolon platform and following the manufacturer's standard operation protocols. The analytic methods are described in detail in Doumatey et al. [Genome Med 2024]. The measured metabolites level represented by peak areas are relative values. The peak area data were batch-normalized to remove the instrument batch effects (batch variability) and the batch-normalized data correspond to the median-scaled raw data. For each identified metabolite, the minimum value across all batches in the batch-normalized was imputed for the missing values. The batch-normalized and imputed data are natural log-transformed and consist of 1116 metabolites for the discovery cohort and 1071 metabolites for the replication. Welch's two-sample t-test on the log-transformed data was used to identify metabolites differentially expressed between T2D cases and controls . All other statistical analyses conducted on both the replication and discovery cohorts used the log-transformed data. To merge the discovery and replication, the same quality control samples (bridge samples) were run with each batch of the experimental samples in both cohorts and used to correct for additional variability and uniformize the procedures. The resulting merged data is the QC-normalized and imputed data that contains only metabolites that were common to both cohorts and successfully bridged for all batches (n= 891 metabolites).

  Study phs001844

• Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) Controlled Study of the Clinical Effectiveness of Automated Real-Time Feedback on CPR Process Conducted at a Subset of ROC Sites (CPR) (ROC-CPR-BioLINCC)

  Data Access NOTE: Please refer to the "Authorized Access" section below for information about how access to the data from this accession differs from many other dbGaP accessions.Objectives: A substudy of the ROC PRIMED trial, the ROC CPR trial sought to investigate whether real-time audio and visual feedback during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) outside a hospital increases the proportion of participants who achieved prehospital return of spontaneous circulation.Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is an essential link in the chain of survival for treating cardiac arrest. However, performance of CPR is highly variable both outside hospital and in hospital. Interruptions in chest compression, inadequate depth of chest compression, and high rates of ventilation adversely affect blood flow during chest compressions and can hinder resuscitation. Suboptimal CPR, particularly time spent without chest compressions (low chest compression fraction), can reduce survival of cardiac arrest patients.Current technology incorporated into a monitor-defibrillator can assess core components of CPR through the use of an accelerometer and impedance changes across the defibrillation electrodes. This technology can also provide real-time audiovisual feedback so that the rescuer is prompted to perform according to guideline specifications. Use of such feedback increases the likelihood of performing CPR in accordance with guidelines during training and simulation. Participants: There were 1586 participants: 771 treated without feedback and 815 with feedback.Design: CPR feedback was provided through proprietary Q-CPR software operating in the Philips MRx monitor-defibrillator. The feedback feature of the defibrillator includes audible voice prompts and visual messages on the monitor screen that are triggered when measured chest compressions or ventilation deviate from guidelines or are interrupted.The study was conducted in 21 emergency medical service (EMS) agencies at three ROC regions in the U.S. and Canada. Randomized treatment clusters, which ranged from individual emergency medical vehicles to groups of emergency agencies, were assigned to feedback-on or feedback-off treatments. Each cluster remained in its assigned mode for two to seven months, after which it switched to the opposite treatment arm. At the end of those two treatment periods, each cluster was again randomly assigned to feedback-on or feedback-off. This cycle continued for the duration of the study. Each cluster switched treatment arms at least once, and up to four times, during the study. Conclusions: Real-time visual and audible feedback during CPR altered performance to more closely conform with CPR guidelines. Clusters assigned to feedback were associated with increased proportion of time in which chest compressions were provided, increased compression depth, and decreased proportion of compressions with incomplete release. However, frequency of prehospital return of spontaneous circulation did not differ according to feedback status, nor did the presence of a pulse at hospital arrival, survival to discharge, or awake at hospital discharge (Hostler, et al., 2011, PMID: 21296838).

  Study phs003818

• RNA-sequencing of human skin samples obtained from SSc patients and healthy controls.

  Patient information SSc patients were recruited at the Department of Rheumatology of the Leiden University Medical Center (Leiden, The Netherlands). All patients met the American Rheumatism Association classification criteria for SSc (Subcommittee for scleroderma criteria 1980), and were classified according to LeRoy and Medsger criteria as either limited or diffuse cutaneous disease (LeRoy EC, Black C, Fleischmajer R, Jablonska S, Krieg T, Medsger TA Jr, Rowell N 1988). Institutional review board approval and written informed consent was obtained before patients entered this study. Two 4 mm skin biopsies were taken from a standardized location on the most proximal part of the lower arm, distal from the elbow. In 10 patients the skin biopsy came from a clinically affected area and in 4 patients the skin was locally unaffected. One sample was used for RNA sequencing and one sample was used for immunohistochemistry. Skin biopsies from healthy individuals were commercially sourced (Tissue Solutions, UK) and collected from donors undergoing skin resection surgery and after informed consent. To match the healthy skin with patients as much as possible, skin biopsies from healthy controls were also taken from a similar position (the under-arm (for 4 controls) and leg (for 2 controls)). Healthy skin donors were selected to match the age and sex of the SSc patient cohort. Biopsies from patients and controls were equally treated and were both stored at -80°C until RNA isolation was performed. RNA from frozen skin biopsies was isolated using RNeasy kit from fibrous tissue (Qiagen, the Netherlands). RNA quantity was determined by using SimplyNano 2000 and quality was assessed on Tapestation (Agilent, the Netherlands). All samples included in the study had a RIN score above 7.0. Transcriptome characterisation and analysis RNA sequencing was performed using polyA selection and a stranded protocol using Ion Torrent next generation sequencing technology (Service XS, The Netherlands). The Ion PI Template OT2 200 Kit v3 and Ion PI Sequencing 200 Kit v3 were used according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 20 samples were run on 11 PI chips. PI chip analyses, base calling and quality checks were performed using the Torrent Server Suite. An average of 42 million 100 bp reads was generated per sample. Following quality control, reads were aligned to the human genome (Homo sapiens GRh38.78) using Bowtie2 and STAR (Dobin et al. 2013; Langmead and Salzberg 2012). Reads were first aligned with STAR. For the unmapped reads from STAR, a second alignment step was performed using bowtie2 (local very sensitive options)

  Dataset EGAD00001003832

• Mutational dynamics of triple negative breast cancer over neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment reveal frequent whole genome duplication events

  Background Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with poor survival rate and high genomic instability, generating complex tumour genomes. However, the processes generating this complexity are poorly studied over time. Here, we study the temporal dynamics of TNBC somatic mutations, revealing major transitions in tumour genome evolution, from diagnostic biopsies, through treatment, to cancer remission or recurrence. Methods Deep whole exome sequencing and CUTseq, a reduced representation whole genome sequencing approach, were performed in parallel, to comprehensively identify short nucleotide variants (SNVs), copy number alterations (CNAs) and aneuploidies genome-wide. We profiled (N=74) tumour samples from 22 patients across the course of disease, including spatially diverse samples from many tumours, allowing us to observe the gain and loss of candidate driver variants over time. Results As expected, tumour infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) levels and residual cancer burden (RCB) score were negatively correlated, with good responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) seen in pre-treatment samples with high infiltration. In general, SNV mutational burden remained stable across disease progression and RCB classes. Recurrent SNVs across the cohort implicated several known TNBC driver genes in disease progression and response to treatment, with TP53, MICA, CYP2D6, BRCA1 and BRCA2 frequently altered. However, the presence of candidate driver SNVs in these genes often varied throughout a patient’s treatment, including the loss of those seen in a given driver gene in pre-treatment samples, but gain of novel variants in the same gene at later time points. Dramatic structural dynamics were seen in all tumours, including abundant CNA including chromosome arm aneuploidies seen in pre-treatment samples, followed by frequent loss of these alterations post-treatment, and their re-emergence at recurrence. Whole genome duplication (WGD) events appear to drive these dynamics, with a higher frequency of pre-treatment WGD seen in patients with the best response to NACT. Conclusions Comprehensive longitudinal profiling demonstrates the complex interplay of SNVs and copy number alterations during TNBC progression, leading to diverse evolutionary trajectories and patient outcomes. Complex mutational patterns emerge as important features during progression, with WGD events emerging as potential candidate biomarkers of response at both tumour establishment and recurrence.

  Study EGAS00001008261

• Angelman, Rett, Prader-Willi Syndrome Consortium (ARP) Rett Syndrome Natural History Protocol

  This observational study will involve the comprehensive assessment of the clinical features of Rett syndrome with this Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network. A clinical database of 1350 individuals with Rett syndrome including MECP2 mutation status for the purpose of elaborating phenotype-genotype correlations will be established. Eligible participants will be enrolled in the natural history study for 11 years from the 4 clinic sites currently involved with Rett syndrome (BCM, GGC, and UAB, CHB) as well as from the several thousand registrants in the International Rett Syndrome Foundation registry who will be invited to the nearest consortium site involved in Rett syndrome. Potential participants are expected to have had determination of their MECP2 mutation status, but will not be excluded should no mutation be present. All individuals who meet criteria and are currently receiving care from study sites will be invited to participate (N&#62;600). Additional participants will be invited through the assistance of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF). All individuals with RS registered with IRSF will be invited to participate in this study via the IRSF website and the IRSF newsletter. Potential participants will be apprised of the participating study sites and invited to contact one of the sites based on feasibility of travel. Inasmuch as the enrollment goal of 1350 participants is 40% of the current IRSF registry, we believe this will be a representative sampling. Bias can certainly occur based on travel requirements, level of interest, and other factors. However, inclusion of such a large sample should minimize sampling bias. No travel expenses will be covered, so it is likely that participants will be those with geographic proximity to Houston, Greenwood, Birmingham, or Boston. From the sample pool described above, the aim is to conduct the observational longitudinal (natural history) study on up to 1350 participants with classic Rett syndrome and variant forms of Rett syndrome, that is, participants who fully meet the established clinical criteria for Rett syndrome and those who meet some but not all of these criteria. All participants expressing MECP2 mutations irrespective of phenotype will be eligible for enrollment. For each of the eight common genetic mutations as well as those with large scale deletions, the prevalence of the following RS characteristics will be estimated for each age category and overall: seizure presence and frequency, ambulation status, scoliosis, ECG abnormality, breathing irregularities while awake, feeding difficulties, growth as measured in percentiles from NCHS standards curves, the presence of osteopenia as evidenced by bone fracture, and the presence of gallbladder disease. Both incidence and prevalence estimates will be made using a combination of data obtained at the regularly scheduled clinical visits and that obtained from the medical history. Incidence estimates will be calculated using time-to-event analyses (e.g., Kaplan-Meier survival curves) with appropriate calculations of standard errors and 95% confidence intervals. Cox proportional hazard regression models will be used to allow control for other factors, and t-tests will be calculated on the coefficients themselves. Appropriate transformations on explanatory variables will be used as deemed necessary in Cox models. Prevalence estimates will be calculated from estimates of proportions with exact confidence intervals. For a sample size of 275, the standard error of the estimate will not exceed 0.03 (3%) and for a sample size of 60, the standard error of the estimate will not exceed 0.06 (6%).

  Study phs000574

• Add Health: Longitudinal Study of a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents in Grades 7-12 in the United States during the 1994-95 School Year, Followed into Adulthood with Five Interviews/Surveys in 1995, 1996, 2001-02, 2008, and 2016-18

  The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health [Add Health] is an ongoing longitudinal study of a nationally representative U.S. cohort of more than 20,000 adolescents in grades 7-12 (aged 12-19 years) in 1994 followed into adulthood with five interviews/surveys in 1995, 1996, 2001-02, 2008, and 2016-18. Add Health was designed to understand how social environments and behaviors in adolescence are linked to health and achievement outcomes in young adulthood. Add Health contains unprecedented environmental, behavioral, psychosocial, biological, and genetic data from early adolescence and into adulthood on a large, nationally representative cohort with unprecedented racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity. Add Health has a large, multidisciplinary user base of over 50,000 researchers around the world who have published over 3,400 research articles. Add Health is housed at the Carolina Population Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Add Health datasets are distributed according to a tiered data disclosure plan designed to protect the data from the risk of direct and indirect disclosure of respondent identity. Add Health's large sample size, population diversity and rich longitudinal database of psychosocial, physical, and contextual data will permit investigation of an exceptionally broad range of phenotypes with known genetic variation. Prospective longitudinal measures are available to document change over time in each of these phenotypes, as well as change in the social environment and life experiences, making the Add Health sample ideal for understanding genetic linkages with health and behavior across the life course. The original design of Add Health included important features for understanding biological processes in health and developmental trajectories across the life course of young people, including an embedded genetic sample with more than 3,000 pairs of adolescents with varying biological resemblance (e.g., twins, full sibs, half sibs, and adolescents who grew up in the same household but have no biological relationship), testing of saliva and urine for sexually transmitted infections and HIV, and biomarkers of cardiovascular health, metabolic processes, immune function, renal function, and inflammation. Add Health therefore has critical objective indicators of health status and disease markers in young adulthood, well before chronic illness or its complications emerge in later adulthood. Because DNA has been collected on the full sample at Wave IV, it is possible to link genetic profiles with social, behavioral, and biological measures over time from adolescence into adulthood. Add Health sampled the multiple environments in which young people live their lives, including the family, peers, school, neighborhood, community, and relationship dyads, and provides independent and direct measurement of these environments over time. Add Health contains extensive longitudinal information on health-related behavior, including life histories of physical activity, involvement in risk behavior, substance use, sexual behavior, civic engagement, education, and multiple indicators of health status based on self-report (e.g., general health, chronic illness), direct measurement (e.g., overweight status and obesity), and biomarkers. No other data resource with this expanse of genotype and phenotype data on a large nationally representative longitudinal sample with race, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity exists. A complete reference guide on study design and accomplishments can be found on the Add Health website: https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/articles/6t053j27s.

  Study phs001367

• Bibliography Statistics

  EGA Statistics Bibliography Growth Community Archive Distribution Catalogue Here we expose in a yearly and cumulative manner, the publications, citations, publishers journals and impact factor of EGA related studies. Publications citing data stored at the EGA The studies that use EGA datasets are requested to cite the EGA into their bibliography. This fact allows for a faster spreading of the role and purpose of the EGA, being the availability of their studies for testability and reusability purposes. In order to track the studies we use the unique study accession, provided by the EGA when submitting a new study, and comprised of the keyword EGAS followed by 11 digits such as EGAS00000000001. We use the Europe PMC RESTful Web Service in order to query, and index studies where the EGAS accession was used. Below, you can find a chart showing the journal publishers of the studies citing data stored in the EGA being cited: Publications Citing Data Stored in the EGA pieChart('publishers-citations', 'https://stats.ega-archive.org/publishers/citations', 'Publishers') Number of publications citing data stored in the EGA by year Here, you can find a chart showing the number of publications citing data stored in the EGA by year. These publications could have deposit, or re-used the data. The study acession can be found in the publication. The default values are non-cumulative. You can see cumulative values by clicking "Cumulative". Number of Publications Citing Data Stored in the EGA by Year barChart('publications-by-year', 'https://stats.ega-archive.org/publications/year', ['Number of Publications by Year', 'Publications by Year']) Journal Impact Factor of Publications Citing Data Stored in the EGA Here, you can find a chart showing the journal impact factor of publications citing data stored in the EGA. We have used Scimago Journal Rank for this purpose. Low impact treshold was defined between 0.0 and 5.0 excluding; Medium impact treshold was defined between 5.0 and 10.0 excluding; High impact range was established from values equal to or higher than 10.0; Journal Impact Factor of Publications Citing Data Stored in the EGA pieChart('citations-publication-impact-factor', 'https://stats.ega-archive.org/citations/publication/impact/factor', 'Publication Impact Factor') Publications citing a publication containing a EGA study accession The publications, stating a EGA study accession in the bibliography, can be cited for testibility or reusability purposes. Below, you can find a chart showing the publishers of the publications being cited: Publications Citing a Publication Containing a EGA Study Accession pieChart('publications-citations', 'https://stats.ega-archive.org/publications/citations', 'Publishers') Number of publications citing a publication containing a EGA study accession by year Here, you can find a chart showing the number of publications citing a publication containing a EGA study accession by year by year. The values are non-cumulative: Number of published citations by year barChart('citations-year', 'https://stats.ega-archive.org/citations/year', ['Number of Publications', 'Citations by Year'])

  Documentation about/statistics/bibliography

• Genome-Wide associations of Lung Health Study (LHS)

  The &#39;Genome-Wide Associations Environmental Interactions in the Lung Health Study&#39; at Johns Hopkins University aims to test for association between lung function decline as a primary outcome associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using banked DNA and phenotype data on 4,287 European Americans from the longitudinal, multicenter Lung Health Study (LHS). The broad goals of the LungGO/ESP-GO falls into two general categories: (i) discovery of all variants (i.e., common and rare) in all protein-coding regions of the human genome (i.e., the exome) conferring risk to complex pulmonary diseases including COPD, in a subset of the LHS cohort. The Johns Hopkins University LHS cohort offers a unique opportunity to elucidate genetic variants that cause COPD. The Lung Health Study I was a randomized multicenter clinical trial with 5887 participants carried out from October 1986 to April 1994, designed to test the effectiveness of smoking cessation and bronchodilator administration in smokers aged 35 to 60 with mild lung function impairment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: usual care, who received no intervention smoking intervention with the inhaled bronchodilator ipratroprium bromide smoking intervention with an inhaled placebo. The effect of intervention was evaluated by the rate of decline of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). For the GWAS, only the subset of European American LHS participants for whom lung function data from three time points or more are available. Thus, the GWAS represents 73% of the 5,887 volunteers who participated in the LHS study. Importantly, LHS subjects included had similar demographics (including age, gender and BMI) and rates of lung function decline (mean annual change in FEV1% predicted: -0.96 %/yr vs. -0.99 %/yr, p=0.57) compared with those not included in the GWAS, reflecting little selection bias for our primary outcome. They were, however, more likely to have quit smoking after 5 years. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to lung function through large-scale genome-wide association studies of smokers enrolled in a multicenter clinical trial. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

  Study phs000335

• NSIGHT BabySeq Project

  The Genomic Sequencing for Childhood Risk and Newborn Illness (BabySeq Project) is a research study exploring the use of genomic sequencing in newborns. The National Institutes of Health is funding this study. Investigators enrolled 240 healthy infants and their parents from the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Well Newborn Nursery and 240 sick infants and their parents at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) or the BWH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). A small blood sample was taken from each infant and genome sequencing may have been performed. Whole-exome (WES) was performed at the Broad Institute. Six weeks later, the results were returned and explained. Over 12 months, the investigators studied the experiences of parents and pediatricians of infants who receive sequencing to help understand how best to use genomics in pediatric care. Parents were surveyed at four points over the 12 months after enrollment: baseline, immediately post-disclosure (approximately 6 weeks after enrollment), 3 months post-disclosure, and at 10 months post-disclosure. Primary outcome measures included: (1) downstream health care costs attributable to BabySeq Project disclosure measured as days of inpatient care; (2) Parents' distress using validated scales and a novel item assessing blame; (3) parent-child relationship using validated scales; (4) Parents' relationship using validated and novel measures of marital satisfaction; (5-9) downstream health care utilization attributable to BabySeq project disclosure measured as the number of health care provider visits, per-patient counts for number of medications at 10 months, number of emergency room visits, number of outpatient lab tests, and per-patient means for healthcare costs in U.S. dollars. A secondary outcome was whether there was a change in perceived utility toward genomic sequencing. Findings of BabySeq include: (1) interest in newborn genomic testing is high among parents of healthy children and the majority of couples had similar levels of interest; (2) parents reported several motivations to receive and reasons to decline adult-onset only results from newborn sequencing; (3) 88% of newborns had at least one recessive carrier variant that could be relevant to their parents' future reproductive planning; (4) 5% of babies had an atypical pharmacogenomic variant related to how they might process medications used in childhood; (5) parent surveys using validated measures showed no evidence that newborn genomic sequencing caused increased psychological distress, even if the baby had a disease risk identified; and (6) 11% of newborn babies in the study had unanticipated monogenic disease risks.

  Study phs002093

• 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

• Guiding Evidence Based Therapy Using Biomarker Intensified Treatment in Heart Failure (GUIDE-IT-BioLINCC)

  Accessing Data: Please refer to &#8220;Authorized Access&#8221; below regarding accessing data through the BioData Catalyst ecosystem. The data from this accession is not available for download through dbGaP.Objective: To determine whether an amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP)-guided treatment strategy improves clinical outcomes vs usual care in high-risk patients with heart failure (HF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).Background: Heart failure is a common disorder. Standard treatment for HF includes diuretics to control fluid, and drugs called "neurohormonal antagonists" (such as beta-blockers and ACE-inhibitors) to help the heart work more efficiently. The natriuretic peptides, specifically NT-pro-BNP, are biomarkers that reflect HF severity and are significantly associated with adverse outcomes in HF. Smaller studies have evaluated adjusting HF therapy based on natriuretic peptide levels (&#8220;guided therapy&#8221;) with inconsistent results.Participants: A total of 894 participants were enrolled at 45 sites in the United States and Canada, with 446 randomized to the NT-pro-BNP-guided strategy treatment group and 448 randomized to the usual care treatment group.Design: GUIDE-IT was a multicenter randomized clinical trial with participants randomized to either the NT-pro-BNP-guided therapy strategy or usual care. Given the nature of the study intervention, treatment assignment was not blinded. For participants randomized to the NT-pro-BNP-guided strategy, clinicians were instructed to titrate HF therapy to target an NT-pro-BNP level After an initial visit at 2 and 6 weeks, visits occurred every 3 months throughout the remainder of the study. After therapy adjustment for HF (whether driven by NT-pro-BNP levels or clinical reasons), participants had a 2-week follow-up visit for reassessment. All participants in either group also had blinded NT-pro-BNP concentrations measured in a core laboratory at each study visit. The primary end point was the composite of time-to-first HF hospitalization or cardiovascular mortality. Secondary end points included all-cause mortality, total hospitalizations for HF, days alive and not hospitalized for cardiovascular reasons, the individual components on the primary end point, and adverse events. Conclusions: The guided strategy intervention was stopped in July of 2016 (median follow-up of 15 months) after the study met prespecified inefficacy criteria. Compared to usual care, a strategy of NT-pro-BNP-guided therapy was not more effective in improving time-to-first HF hospitalization or cardiovascular mortality in high-risk participants with HFrEF.

  Study phs003621

• National Cancer Institute (NCI) TARGET: Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments

  The Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET) Initiative seeks to accelerate research in novel marker and drug development, along with understanding the molecular basis of pediatric malignancy, through identification of genomic changes associated with the following childhood cancers: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) - A fast-growing type of blood cancer in which too many immature white blood cells are found in the blood and bone marrow. Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), including AML Induction Failure cases (AML-IF) - Another type of blood cancer marked by too many myeloblasts, an alternate type of immature white blood cell, are found in the blood and bone marrow. Upon diagnosis, AML patients without high-risk genetic markers undergo standard chemotherapy regimen, called the primary induction phase, to eliminate most cancer cells and induce a remission state. Clear Cell Sarcoma of the Kidney (CCSK) - A rare type of kidney cancer, in which the inside of the cells looks clear when viewed under a microscope. Clear cell sarcoma can spread from the kidney to other organs, most commonly the bone, but also including the lungs, brain, and soft tissues of the body. Neuroblastoma (NBL) - Cancer of cells of the sympathetic nervous system. Cancer Model Systems (MDLS), including PPTP - MDLS includes acute leukemia cell lines and xenografts with matched primary and/or relapsed tumor information, NBL cell lines and xenografts with matched controls, kidney tumor cell lines, normal brain tissues, and embryonic stem cell lines that were sequenced for some TARGET disease projects. Osteosarcoma (OS) - A cancer of the bone that primarily affects children and adolescents. Rhabdoid Tumor (RT) - A rare, fast-growing cancer that usually forms in the kidney or central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) but can also form in soft tissues in other areas of the body. Rhabdoid tumors tend to spread quickly, are hard to treat, and have a poor prognosis. Wilms' Tumor (WT) - A cancer of cells in the kidney that can spread to the liver, lung and lymph nodes. More information can be found about each TARGET subproject by following the links on the top of this page. Together these cancers account for the majority of the more than 10,000 childhood cancer cases diagnosed in the United States each year. TARGET has employed a set of advanced and complementary genome analysis technologies, including large scale 2nd and 3rd generation genome sequencing, to strategically characterize alterations in both gene expression and in genomic structure (such as deletions and amplification) that are involved in childhood cancers. The goal of this coordinated effort has been to create a comprehensive genomic and transcriptomic profile of each cancer. Integrated analysis of the TARGET data has identified those genes that are either altered in their expression level or mapped to the chromosome regions of deletion/amplification/translocation, as these genes represent strong candidates for therapeutic targeting. To learn more about the TARGET project, which is now completed, visit the website at https://www.cancer.gov/ccg/research/genome-sequencing/target. TARGET data is accessible at the NCI's Genomic Data Commons (GDC) via the GDC's Data Portal and from each of the TARGET Publication Pages at the GDC (Please see the "Supplemental Links" section of any TARGET publication's "Publication Information and Associated Data Files page" at the GDC.). Available datasets include raw sequencing data, datasets generated by the original TARGET research teams (fully annotated clinical information and higher-level/analyzed molecular characterization data - gene expression, copy number variation, epigenetics, targeted sequencing), as well as higher level data generated by the GDC. Please see the TARGET Use and Publication Guidelines for updated details on the sharing of any TARGET substudy data, including how to cite TARGET.

  Study phs000218

• The UCSD / O'Connor "TSP" (Twin/Sibling/Pedigree) Resource in Hypertension

  Study Design: The UCSD / O'Connor "TSP" (Twin/Sibling/Pedigree) Resource in Hypertension contains N=797 participants. At the time of recruitment individuals ranged from 15-84 years of age and had varying ethnic backgrounds (Whites, African-Americans and Hispanics). The cohort was developed to study the genetic basis of autonomic dysfunction in human essential hypertension (reviewed in Zhang et al. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2011 13: 36-45. PMID: 21104344) and contains cross-sectionally collected phenotypes related to blood pressure regulation.&nbsp; Phenotypes: Phenotype data specifically focuses on the sympathetic branch of the autonomic system, which is a key regulator of blood pressure. Data includes circulating concentrations of the secretory "quantum" (catecholamines, neuropeptides, chromogranins) which influence vascular responses to sympatho-adrenal activation resulting in blood pressure. Other measures on the twins and a subset of family members include a standard urine panel with absolute concentrations of potassium, sodium, uric acid, phosphorous; DynaPulse acquired heart rate and blood pressure measures including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, Left Ventricular (LV) ejection time, LV contractility, cardiac output, stroke volume data including; and absolute concentrations of plasma aldosterone, endothelin, leptin, and insulin. Phenotype data is included for the 697 individuals sequenced here and 100 family members.&nbsp; Whole Genome Sequence Data Generation: Whole genome sequencing (20X coverage) was conducted on plasma-derived DNA. The WGS was generated using the Illumina HiSeq X Ten sequencing platform with variants called by Human Longevity, Inc (HLI; Ref 1). Preparation of sample libraries was conducted by mechanical shearing of gDNA (100-800 bp), isolation of DNA fragments 300-500bp in size, followed by library PCR amplification employing high-fidelity, low-bias PCR to amplify library fragments consisting of appropriate adapter sequences on both ends. BAM files were created by alignment of sequence reads to the reference genome (GRCh38) using iSAAC-01.14.02.06 (Python2.7). Note: The user may want to realign the sequence data and recall variants. In total, the WGS dataset contains 30 monozygotic twin pairs represented by one member of the twin pair, 133 monozygotic twin pairs with both individuals sequenced, 7 dizygotic twin pairs represented by one member of the twin pair, 67 dizygotic twin pairs with both individuals sequenced, 8 twin pairs with undetermined zygosity (both individuals sequenced) and 1 triplet with mother (all individuals sequenced). The dataset also contains sequences of 260 family members of twins including their mother, father, non-twin sibling, and offspring. Table 1 describes the composition of families ("sibling" refers to a non-twin sibling in the cohort). Note: We suggest users check gender and family relatedness. Table 1: Description of the families with sequence data &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Units with:Twin PairsTwin (no pairs)No twinSibshipsMother and Father511Mother only1222Father only113One or more siblings22133Mother and siblings132Father and siblings(s)211Offspring of twins11Non twin siblings2Sib with unknown relative1Only one member of8The UCSD/O'Connor "TSP" (Twin/Sibling/Pedigree) Resource in Hypertension is now being managed at the UCSD School of Medicine's Institute for Genomic Medicine (IGM). The TSP Resource has collected a wide range of information (phenotypic, genotypic, demographic, metabolomic) and reagents (blood, plasma, urine, DNA, human induced pluripotent stem cells). For additional information about the resource, including other data types available as well as references and links to data from studies with previous collaborators, please go to the resource website at IGM [http://igm.ucsd.edu/research/twins-resource.shtml] or contact Dr. Brinda Rana at UCSD [bkrana@ucsd.edu].&nbsp;

  Study phs002230

• How to use EGA Webin?

  EGA Webin EGA Webin serves as a platform for registering metadata for array based submissions, large scale sequence submission as well as for legacy EGA submission accounts (ega-box-XXXX). For large scale submitters of sequence data you have also the option to submit metadata via XMLS programmatic submission, while new submitters are advised to utilise the Submitter Portal for their submissions. You can request a legacy EGA submission account (ega-box-XXXX) by populating this form. Please, allow two business days for our Helpdesk team to contact you after populating this form. WEBIN actions: Register metadata for a sequence submission Register study, samples, experiments, runs, DAC, policy and dataset/s after file upload. Register components for your array-based metadata submission Register study, samples, DAC or policy before uploading files. Edit existing submission metadata Change or update previously submitted metadata. Register metadata for a sequence submission Ensure that all sequence files have been encrypted before uploading them to your submission account using the EgaCryptor. Go to the EGA Webin and log in using your submission account name (ega-box-XXX) and password. Register components of your metadata submission Study Samples Data Access Committee (DAC) Data access policy Dataset For array-base submissions: Study, Samples, Data Access Committee (DAC) and Data access policy may all be registered BEFORE file upload and dataset registration through the array-base template. Register your Study Go to the “Studies (Projects)” box Click on “Register Study” and fill in the information related to your study. Click on “Submit”, this will save the information and generate an EGA study ID. To use the study accession number in a publication, the study has to be previously released on the EGA website, we suggest the following format: "Sequence data has been deposited at the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA), which is hosted by the EBI and the CRG, under accession number EGASXXXXXXXXXXX.Further information about EGA can be found on https://ega-archive.org and “The European Genome-phenome Archive in 202 "(10.1093/nar/gkab1059)" Register your Samples Go to the “Samples” box Click on “Register Samples” Select “Download spreadsheet to register samples” and customise your template, there is a default EGA template (EGA default checklist) but more attributes can be added if required. For the EGA default checklist, there are mandatory,recommended and optional attributes. As well custom fields which can be added if required. Mandatory attributes Field Name Description tax_id Taxonomy ID of the organism as in the NCBI Taxonomy database. Entries in the NCBI Taxonomy database have integer taxon IDs. See our tips for sample taxonomy here scientific_name Scientific name of the organism as in the NCBI Taxonomy database. Scientific names typically follow the binomial nomenclature. For example, the scientific name for humans is Homo sapiens. sample_alias Unique name of the sample. If not selected system will auto generate an unique alias sample_title Title of the sample sample_description Description of the sample phenotype *** Where possible, please use the Experimental Factor Ontology (EFO) to describe your phenotypes. Recommended attributes Field Name Description subject_id Identifier for the subject where the sample has been derived from gender * Sex Optional attributes Field Name Description sex sex of the organism from which the sample was obtained disease_site Affected organ sample type Affected organ donor_id ** Identifier of the donor where the sample has been derived from *Gender should be described as 'male', 'female' or 'unknown'. If 'unknown' due to a known sex chromosome aneuploidy, please create a user defined attribute called 'Sex chromosome karyotype' and add the appropriate value, for example, 'XXY'. **Donor id (Subject id) should be a de-identified subject handle. If unknown, please add 'unknown' to the field. ***Phenotypes should, where possible, be an Experimental Factor Ontology accession. If a term cannot be found to describe your phenotype please use free text. All sample phenotypes considered important for further analysis of the data should be provided (for example, tumour type), additional phenotype attributes can be created by defining your own attributes; use the notion 'phenotype2', 'phenotype3', etc. After you have customised the fields for the sample submission, download the template and fill in the information. Example of the sample template: Finally upload the sample template to get the EGA accession IDs for the samples. Register your Data Access Committee (DAC) Further information on the role of your DAC Go to the “Data Access” box Click on “Register Dacs” Input the information about the DAC and register at least one main DAC contact. Register your Data Access Policy Your Data Access Policy provides the terms and conditions of data use, this is also referred to as the Data Access Agreement (DAA). Completion of a DAA by the applicant/s should form part of the application process to the Data Access Committee (DAC). Go to the “Data Access” box Click on “Register Policies” Select the DAC to which this policy will be linked to and fill in the policy information. Submitting your Runs and Analyses This section is only for sequence data submission, for array-based submission it can be skipped. Please refer to our Submitting array based metadata Runs Registration Go to the “Raw Reads (Experiments and Runs)” box Click on “Submit Reads” Select “Download spreadsheet template for Read submission” Select the template corresponding to your submission type For the templates you have the option to customise the optional fields. To check their description click on “Show Description “ Download the template and fill in the required information. Example of the runs template: We recommend that Fastq, BAM, and CRAM read files are submitted using Webin-CLI When using this interface instead of Webin-CLI, raw sequences must be uploaded in one of the supported data formats before they can be submitted. The files can be uploaded using FTP or Aspera. The study and the sequenced samples must be pre-registered before the raw reads are submitted. Please note that each individual study and sample should be registered only once. You will be asked to provide information about the sequencing libraries and instruments. Submitting your Dataset This section is only for sequence data submissions, for array based submissions it can be skipped. Please refer to our Submitting array based metadata The dataset describes the data files, defined by the run (EGARXXXXXXXXXXX) and analysis (EGAZXXXXXXXXXXX) accessions that make up the dataset and links the collection of data files to a specified Data Access Committee and Data Access Policy. As a result, you must have registered your Reads and experiments, Data Access Committee (DAC) and Data access policy before submitting your Dataset. Please consider the number of datasets that your submission consists of, for example, a case control study is likely to consist of at least two datasets. In addition, we suggest that multiple datasets should be described for studies using the same samples but different sequence technologies. Please contact EGA Helpdesk for further assistance. Go to the “Data Access” box Click on “Register Dataset” Select the Data Access Committee (DAC) and Data access policy Register your dataset After submitting your dataset you should contact the EGA Helpdesk to provide a release date for your dataset. Datasets are automatically held (i.e. not released) unless they are affiliated to a study that has already been released. Edit/update existing submission metadata Go to the “Report” section of the object you would like to edit. Locate the object and click on the arrow under action. An option menu will be displayed. Objects can be edited through their XML or with the WEBIN menu. After an object has been edited, changes would be available on the website until the submission is released again. Please contact the EGA Helpdesk if you require further assistance.

  Documentation submission/metadata/submission/EGA_webin

• Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury Network - Vitamin D to Improve Outcomes by Leveraging Early Treatment (PETAL VIOLET-BioLINCC)

  Data Access NOTE: Please refer to the "Authorized Access" section below regarding accessing data through the BioData Catalyst ecosystem. The data from this accession is not available for download through dbGaP. Biospecimens: Access to Biospecimens is through the NHLBI Biologic Specimen and Data Repository Information Coordinating Center (BioLINCC). Biospecimens from PETAL VIOLET include Plasma and Whole Blood. Please note that use of biospecimens in genetic research is subject to a tiered consent. Specimens may not be used to produce commercial products.Objectives: To evaluate the effect of short-term vitamin D supplementation on mortality among critically ill patients with a vitamin D deficiency.Background: Observational data indicate that vitamin D deficiency is common among critically ill patients and constitutes a potentially modifiable risk factor associated with longer lengths of stay in the hospital and intensive care unit (ICU), lung and other organ injury, prolonged mechanical ventilation, and death. In a previous phase 2 trial, vitamin D supplementation administered to vitamin D-deficient, critically ill patients was associated with lower observed mortality than placebo at 28 days and at 6 months. Because of the need for a larger, phase 3 trial, the PETAL-VIOLET study was initiated to determine if early administration of high-dose vitamin D3 would reduce all-cause mortality among critically ill patients with a vitamin D deficiency.Participants: 1360 patients underwent randomization, 690 were assigned to the vitamin D group and 668 were assigned to the placebo group. Of the 1078 patients confirmed to have a vitamin D deficiency by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS), 538 had been assigned to the vitamin D group and 540 had been assigned to the placebo group.Design: PETAL-VIOLET was a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Patients were enrolled within 12 hours after the clinician's decision to admit the patient to the ICU from the emergency department, hospital ward, operating room, or outside facility. Patients were tested for vitamin D deficiency, with a threshold of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of less than 20 ng per milliliter. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio, stratified according to site, to receive either a single enteral (administered orally or through a nasogastric or orogastric tube) dose of 540,000 IU of vitamin D3 or matched placebo, in liquid form, administered within 2 hours after randomization.Conclusions: After the first interim analysis, the data and safety monitoring board recommended that the trial be stopped for futility.A single 540,000 IU enteral dose of vitamin D3 administered early during critical illness rapidly corrected vitamin D deficiency but did not provide an advantage over placebo with respect to mortality or other clinically important end points.

  Study phs003879

• Exploratory novel biomarker and resistance mechanism of milademetan, an MDM2 inhibitor, in MDM2 amplified intimal sarcoma from an open-label phase 1b/2 trial ���NCCH1806/MK004���

  Amplified Murine double minute 2 (MDM2) is found in > 70% of intimal sarcoma, known as one of the ultra-rare sarcomas. Milademetan (DS3032, RAIN-32) is a novel, specific, small-molecule MDM2 inhibitor that disrupts MDM2 and the tumor suppressor protein p53 interactions in tumor cells. We conducted a phase 1b/2 trial (Trial registration No: JMA-IIA00402) in patients with amplified MDM2 wild-type TP53 intimal sarcoma as a sub-study under the nationwide large registry for rare cancers in Japan (MASTERKEY Project). Eleven patients were enrolled, and ten were included in the efficacy analysis. Two (20%) patients had durable responses for > 15 months. Milademetan provided clinical benefits in patients with amplified MDM2 intimal sarcoma. Predictive biomarkers other than amplified MDM2 and acquired resistance mechanisms for milademetan are unknown. Whole-exome and RNA sequencing analyses of pre-treatment tissue samples were conducted to identify determinants of response. Genomic alterations were analyzed for 10 patients, and gene expression was analyzed for 9 patients using their pre-treatment tissue samples. Targeted sequencing of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) samples (liquid biopsy) was also conducted sequentially at three points [before treatment with milademetan (baseline), at Cycle 2 Day1, and at the time of disease progression] to identify determinants of response and resistance. From whole-exome and RNA sequencing analyses of pre-treatment tissue samples, we could not find any molecular pathways associated with the anti-tumor activity of milademetan. Focusing on 8 genes (CDK4, CDKN2A, CDKN2B, EGFR, ERBB3, MDM2, PDGFRA, TP53) known to be frequently affected in intimal sarcoma and 10 genes (AKT1, ATM, BBC3, CDKN1A, CDKN1C, CHEK2, MDM4, PMAIP1, PPM1D, TWIST1) reported to be associated with MDM2 inhibitor responses; we found that anti-tumor activity correlated with amplified TWIST1 (p-value = 0.028) and negatively with CDKN2A loss (p-value = 0.071). Eight of the 10 patients had their cfDNA collected sequentially at baseline, at Cycle 2 Day1 and disease progression; however, one did not consent to the exploratory analysis study using cfDNA, and one had cfDNA collected at baseline but not at disease progression due to ongoing treatment. Of the eight patients, TP53 mutations in cfDNA were detected in one and five patients at baseline and disease progression, respectively. The cfDNA allele frequency of TP53 mutations increased with disease progression. CDKN2A loss and amplified TWIST1 could be associated with the anti-tumor activity of milademetan in patients with MDM2 amplified intimal sarcoma. Acquired TP53 mutations were detected in sequential liquid biopsies as loss-of-function mutations, and these TP53 mutations might compromise the anti-tumor activity.

  Study JGAS000619

• Best Practices for DACs

  Best Practices Data access committees (DACs) are institutional safeguards responsible for ensuring a balance between data protection and accessibility. However, there are no procedural standards that apply across DACs, which can lead to inconsistencies in their reviews and compromise their quality and effectiveness. Standardising DAC processes can foster trust and mutual recognition, paving the way for greater coordination, collaboration, and delegation between DACs and other oversight bodies to improve the efficiency of data access without sacrificing protection. To provide guidance, the following are suggestions for actions a DAC might take upon receiving a data access request: Aim to respond to all initial requests in less than 2 weeks. Failure to do so may result in follow-up emails from the EGA, journals, and ultimately dataset withdrawal. First, check that the data/EGAD number is consistent with your data submission. In other words, ensure that the requester has contacted the correct DAC. Verify that the user will be using the data within the terms of consent by asking them to sign up to the terms within the DAA. Ensure that data users who are granted access to the data comply with the terms of a Data Access Agreement (DAA) and to use the data only in approved ways. Look for an institutional email address for the requester. Search for evidence that the requester is "appropriately qualified/bona fide" for using the data, for example on PubMed, Research Gate, LinkedIn, etc. Confirm that the affiliated organisation is real and that the requester still works there. Inquire with the requester about who should have accounts created at the EGA under the terms of the agreement. If a negative decision is made, promptly communicate it to the requester and support it with the terms of the Data Access Policy that the requester has not met or cannot meet. Keep the information in the DAC up to date. If you leave your institution and are unable to manage data access requests on their behalf, you should add your replacement as a new contact in the DAC. Assist with data access requests for any further questions related to your data. The EGA can only check information that has been deposited in the repository. If the user has a specific question that the EGA cannot answer, we will redirect the user to the DAC. All the EGA studies and datasets referenced in a publication under your DAC must be publicly searchable on the EGA website before the paper is released. If possible, describe the permitted purposes for subsequent research projects, including associated limits and conditions, for all resources hosted in a repository using a common ontology, such as the GA4GH Data Use Ontology (DUO). It is considered best practice to try and release data only to those with an institutional email address. This gives reassurance to the EGA, research participants, and the general public that an appropriate individual is accessing and using the data. To prevent potential data breaches and ensure adherence to GDPR regulations, it is essential that the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA) is informed via the Helpdesk team of any changes to the Data Access Committee (DAC). This should be done in addition to any changes being made on the DAC portal. Data Controllers (as per the definition in the DPA) are also responsible for notifying the previous DAC of any modifications. Without proper notification, changes might not be automatically updated in our system, leading to the risk of incorrect permissions being applied and potential data access issues. Therefore, it is imperative that all Data Controllers follow this protocol to maintain data integrity and security.

  Documentation access/data-access-committee/best-practices

• Localised colon cancer WES study contaning WBCs, tissue and plasma samples at different time points

  Decision-making based on circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) status following curative-intent surgery in stage II-III colon cancer (CC) is where the strongest clinical evidence lies. Commercial or academic assays are predominantly used to detect ctDNA, aiming to reveal minimal residual disease (MRD) and identify patients at high risk of recurrence. However, while current tests demonstrate exceptional specificity in detecting MRD among patients who later experience recurrence, their sensitivity is notably limited, particularly immediately after surgery when decisions regarding ACT are crucial. Additionally, up to 70% of patients with stage II-III colon cancer fail to clear ctDNA after standard adjuvant treatment (ACT) and subsequently experience recurrence. In this study, we performed whole exome sequencing (WES) of ctDNA at different timepoints in relapsed CC patients using two independent cohorts, alongside transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of metastases to gain a deeper understanding of progression mechanisms. An assay based on a tumor-agnostic approach from WES could enhance sensitivity in detecting MRD disease compared to current assays. Immune evasion appears to be the primary driver of progression in the localized CC setting, facilitated by a functional mutational burden at relapse. This suggests that immunotherapy could extend its efficacy to patients with microsatellite stability, broadening treatment options. Moreover, organoid modeling affirms the promising potential of targeted therapy to surpass conventional treatments in eradicating MRD.

  Study EGAS50000000204

• How to upload Crypt4GH files

  Uploading files Users who hold an ega-box-XXX account can upload files using either INBOX or FTP. Users who have a Submitter role associated with their email will only be able to upload files using INBOX. Before uploading your files, please make sure that any files that will be uploaded to EGA do not use special characters in their naming convention, such as # ? ( ) [ ] / \ = + < > : ; " ' , * ^ | &. This can cause issues with the archiving process, leading to problems for end users. The EGA is a shared, public service with limited storage. To manage the available resources, we enforce a limit of 10TB per submission account at any one time. If you exceed this limit, a “permission denied” message will be displayed. This will prevent you from uploading more files, but connecting to your inbox.For submissions larger than 10TB, please perform uploads in 10TB batches: register all the metadata and then finalise the submission. Upload the next batch of files and repeat the same metadata registration and finalisation process until you have completed the file upload. Further information can be found in the SP documentation. INBOX FTP The INBOX is only compatible with files encrypted using the Crypt4gh tool Before uploading If you are not a registered EGA user, you will first need an EGA user account. Please note that it may take a few days for your account to be activated, as it needs to be vouched for by the EGA Helpdesk. Once your account is validated, you will be able to request a submitter role. [Optional] Meanwhile, you can create and add your public key to your EGA account profile. This option is not available for old submission accounts (e.g., ega-box-NNN). As soon as you have been granted a submitter role, you will be able to connect with your username and password to the EGA inbox using the SFTP protocol. If you have also registered a public key in your profile, you can also connect using this key. To upload files to your account, you can use the graphical user interface (GUI) or the command line. Graphical User Interface (GUI)We recommend using FileZilla, a free, open-source FTP client. However, you can use any other GUI that allows connecting over the SFTP protocol. For FileZilla as your GUI, follow these steps to upload files: Create a new connection in Site Manager (File > Site Manager) and select the following options (Figure 1): Protocol: SFTP - SSH File Transfer ProtocolHost: __EGA_INBOX_DOMAIN__Logon Type: Key fileUser: your EGA usernameKey file: Path/to/your/private_keyFigure 1: Process of establishing a new connection to __EGA_INBOX_DOMAIN__ using a key file as the logon method in FileZilla. The figure showcases the FileZilla version 3.52.2 operating on IOS v11.2.3. By following the depicted steps, users can create a secure and efficient connection to the inbox, ensuring seamless data transfers.Click Connect, and you will log in remotely to your home directory. You can think of this folder as a storage "in the EGA cloud" in which you will add your files for the EGA. The uploading area has three folders:To-encrypt: Files uploaded in this folder will be encrypted automatically on the fly.Encrypted: Files uploaded in this folder must already be encrypted with Crypt4gh. Upload your files here if your connection is unstable or you have problems completing the upload into-encrypt.Etc: This folder contains two files that allow the server to show you your username and group instead of some internal numbers. Please do not upload files here; otherwise, you will obtain a permission denied error. Find the files you want to upload by browsing your local storage (left side of your screen in FileZilla). Select all the files you want to upload, then right-click on them and select Upload (Figure 2). Figure 2: Step-by-step process of manually uploading files to __EGA_INBOX_DOMAIN__ using FileZilla, with FileZilla version 3.52.2 operating on IOS v11.2.3. The figure demonstrates how users can transfer data from their local storage to the "EGA cloud" by following the depicted steps Please note that regardless of which folder you upload your files in, both folders (to-encrypt, encrypted) will point to the same path (/) (Figure 3). Therefore, you will see your files in both folders. Figure 3: Both folders, to-encrypt and encrypted, point to the same path (/)" If your connection is unstable, please encrypt your files first using Crypt4gh. Then upload them to the ‘encrypted’ folder. The example above shows how to connect to __EGA_INBOX_DOMAIN__ using the private key. However, if you prefer to log in using your credentials, you can do so. Please go to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)  for more information. SFTP command line To upload files securely to your private area of the EGA, you can use SFTP(Secure File Transfer Protocol) with your favorite FTP client. Here's what you need to know to get started: Connect to the target host __EGA_INBOX_DOMAIN__. This is the new hostname for the EGA SFTP service. Log in with your EGA username and key files (or password). Upload files to your private EGA inbox to ensure that only you can access the files. By following these steps, you can securely upload your files to the EGA for safe storage and sharing. Using the SFTP command line client in Linux/Unix Open a terminal and type sftp username@hostnameEnter your EGA passwordTo see a list of available SFTP commands, type helpsftp> put – Upload filesftp> get – Download filesftp> cd path – Change remote directory to ‘path’sftp> pwd – Display remote working directorysftp> lcd path – Change the local directory to ‘path’sftp> lpwd – Display local working directorysftp> ls – Display the contents of the remote working directorysftp> lls – Display the contents of the local working directoryType the "put" command to upload files. For example: put *.bamUse the bye command to close the connection (SFTP session). After uploading- Once you have uploaded files to the inbox, please bear in mind that the checksum needs to be calculated, which can take up to two days. You will only be able to link your files to a run/analysis once the encrypted checksum has been calculated.- When linking your files to the 'Run' or 'Analysis', ensure that the file name matches the file path '/name' in the INBOX folder.- Please delete the files from your SFTP INBOX after all the runs/analyses have been registered and files are ingested (SP > Files > Files ingested). This will clear your inbox space an allow you to upload more files. This will also prevent the files from reappearing in your Submitter Portal inbox. Frequently Asked Questions Specific to the inbox What username should I use to log in to my inbox? The authentication process for logging in to the EGA website, as well as accessing your inbox and outbox, requires the use of your username.  If you have forgotten your registered username, please contact our Helpdesk team for assistance. How are checksums calculated in your inbox? If you encrypt the file beforehand and upload it to the "encrypted" folder, the unencrypted checksum will not be calculated until the file is ingested (i.e., until it is used in a run/analysis). If the file is uploaded to the "to-encrypt" folder, then both checksums are calculated.Please bear in mind that after files have been uploaded to the inbox, the checksum must be calculated, which can take from a few hours to two days.  Specific to using keys to authenticate Can I access one EGA account from different devices? Yes, you can access your account from different devices by linking several public keys to your EGA account. Each device can generate a unique public-private key pair, and the corresponding public keys can be linked to the same account. This way, you can use different public keys on different devices and still have access to the same account and data. I have several keys and I don't remember which one is which When generating SSH keys, it's a good practice to add a comment using the -C flag. This will allow you to add a descriptive tag to your key, making it easier to identify later on. Here's an example command that generates an SSH key with a comment: ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C work-pass In this example, we're generating an ed25519 SSH key with the comment work-pass. Once you have multiple keys with different comments, you can use the comments to easily identify each key. To view the comments for your existing SSH keys, you can use the following command: ssh-keygen -l -f /path/to/key This will display the key fingerprint and the associated comment. By checking the comments, you should be able to identify which key is which. What if I can't find my SSH keys for uploading files with a key file, and how can I use new keys? If you can't find your SSH keys, don't worry - you can make new ones. To do this, open your terminal or command prompt and type a command to make a new SSH key. You can pick a name for the key, and choose a password to keep it safe. After making the key, you can add the new key to your account or server where you want to upload files using the key file. This usually involves copying and pasting the key's "public" (e.g. file.pub) part to the right place. If you lose track of the key again, just make a new one and add it again. Keep in mind that SSH keys belong to you and your computer, so if you switch computers or accounts, you'll need to make new keys. I don't want to type the passphrase every time I use the key. What can I do? You can use an ssh-agent to avoid typing the passphrase every time you use the key. An ssh-agent is a program that stores your private keys in memory and provides them to ssh when needed. You can add your key to the ssh-agent using the command ssh-add followed by the path to your key file.Here's an example of the steps to follow: Open a terminal window.Start the ssh-agent by typing the command eval $(ssh-agent).Add your key to the ssh-agent by typing the command ssh-add [key filepath]. For instance, if your key file is located in the home directory with the name mykey, the command will look like this: ssh-add ~/mykey After adding your, key to the ssh-agent, you should be able to use ssh without having to enter your passphrase every time. Can I use my password for authentication (without my private key)? If you prefer to use your username and password for authentication instead of your private key, you can still do so. When using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) such as FileZilla, you can select Ask for password as your Logon Type (Figure 3). This option will prompt you to enter your password when you click Connect, instead of using your private key. Figure 3: This option will prompt you to enter your password when you click "Connect", instead of using your private key. Figure 3: Process of establishing a new connection to __EGA_INBOX_DOMAIN__ using your password as the logon method in FileZilla. The figure showcases the FileZilla version 3.52.2 operating on IOS v11.2.3. By following the depicted steps, users can create a secure and efficient connection to the inbox, ensuring seamless data transfers. It's worth noting that using a password for authentication can be less secure than using an SSH key, as passwords can be more easily compromised through various means. However, if you choose to use your password for authentication, selecting "Ask for password" as your Logon Type is a good way to do so securely via a GUI. Why is it better to use my key and not my password? SSH keys for authentication is generally considered to be more secure and convenient than using passwords. SSH keys are more difficult to crack than passwords, and they can be restricted to specific users and machines, giving you more control over access. Once you set up your SSH keys, you can use them to authenticate quickly and easily, without having to enter a password every time. This makes automation of tasks, such as uploading encrypted files, much simpler. Additionally, SSH keys provide better logging, allowing you to keep track of who is accessing your systems and when. All in all, using SSH keys is a good practice for improving security and convenience in your authentication process.

  Documentation submission/data/uploading-files/inbox

• How to upload GPG files

  Uploading files Users that holds an ega-box-XXX account can upload files using either INBOX or FTP. Users who have a Submitter role associated with their email will only be able to upload files using INBOX. Before uploading your files please make sure that any files that will be uploaded to EGA do not use special characters in their naming convention such as # ? ( ) [ ] / \ = + < > : ; " ' , * ^ | &. This can cause issues with the archiving process, leading to problems for end users. The EGA is a shared, public service with limited storage. In order to manage the available resources, we enforce a limit of 10Tb per submission account at any one time. Please do not exceed this limit. INBOX FTP The FTP is only compatible with files encrypted using the EGACryptor tool Before uploading Once your submission files have been prepared using the EGAryptor, the resulting encrypted files and associated md5sum files can be uploaded to your submission account using Aspera or FTP. The EGA is a shared, public service with limited resources. In order to manage the available resources, EGA submission boxes should not exceed 8Tb in size, and cannot exceed 12Tb. If you are approaching this limit please contact contact EGA Helpdesk so that we can advise on how to register the associated metadata and trigger the archiving of files, so that you can continue with your submission. If we note that your submission account increases above 10Tb on a consistent base your password will be changed until metadata is associated. Aspera Download Aspera Using Aspera FTP FTP windows FTP Linux / Unix FTP client (Filezilla) FTP and TLS Troubleshooting Troubleshooting Aspera Download Aspera is a commercial file transfer protocol that may provide faster transfer speeds than ftp especially over longer distances. The Aspera ascp command line client. Please select Aspera Connect. The ascp command line client is distributed as part of the aspera connect highperformance transfer browser plugin and is free to use, without registration. The minimum required version of the IBM Aspera Cli is V4. Further instructions. Using the Aspera ascp command line program The location of the ascp program in the filesystem: Mac: on the desktop go cd /Applications/Aspera\ Connect.app/Contents/Resources/ there you'll see the command line utilities where you're going to use ascp. Windows: the downloaded files are a bit hidden. For instance, in Windows 7 the ascp.exe is located in the users home directory in: AppData\Local\Programs\Aspera\Aspera Connect\bin\ascp.exe Linux: should be in your user's home directory, cd /home/username/.aspera/connect/bin/ there you'll see the command line utilities where you're going to use ascp. Your command should look similar to this: ascp -P33001 -O33001 -QT -l300M -L- /path/file ega-box-N@fasp.ega.ebi.ac.uk:/path If you wish to upload several files without being requested the password, please use the below command : ASPERA_SCP_PASS=ega-box-password ascp -P33001 -O33001 -QT -l300M /path/file ega-box-N@fasp.ega.ebi.ac.uk:/path/ Explanation of parameters l300M option sets the upload speed limit to 30MB/s. You may wish to lower this value to increase the reliability of the transfer. L option is for printing logs out while transferring files to upload can be a file mask (e.g. '/homes/submitter/*.srf) or a list of files. ega-box-N is your submission account login. Add k2 switch for transfer restarts Check the command line transfer usage for more configuration details. Using FTP to upload your prepared files Use your preferred ftp client. For example, lftp is a popular choice for Linux and Mac users. Use binary mode for file transfers. Use ftp.ega.ebi.ac.uk as the target host. Login with your ega-box username and password. Upload files to your private ega-box upload area. Depending on your network setting you might wish to start FTP in passive or active mode. Using default FTP command line client in Windows Start the command line interpreter: press WinR, type cmd, hit enter Enter ftp ftp.ega.ebi.ac.uk Enter your submission username Enter your submission password Type binary to enter binary mode for transfer To see a list of available ftp commands type help. Type ls command to check the content of your submission account. Type prompt to switch off confirmation for each file uploaded. Use mput command to upload files: mput *.bam* Use bye command to exit the ftp client. Use exit command to exit the command line interpreter. Using default FTP command line client in Linux / Unix Open a terminal and type ftp ftp.ega.ebi.ac.uk Enter your submission username Enter your submission password Type binary to enter binary mode for transfer To see a list of available ftp commands type help. Type ls command to check the content of your submission account. Type prompt to switch off confirmation for each file uploaded. Use mput command to upload files: mput *.bam* Use bye command to exit the ftp client. Using FTP client FileZilla We recommend the use of FileZilla, a free FTP client . FileZilla is open source software distributed free of charge under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Use the following connection details (File - Site Manager) and add yoursubmission account username and password: Using FTP client FileZilla Select the files you wish to upload and then select upload: Using FTP client Filezilla Using LFTP with TLS We recommend the following to force the use of a secure connection. lftp > set ftp:ssl-force yes We also recommend setting the following for not encrypting the bulk data itself for performance reasons (theauthentication will still be encrypted): lftp > ftp:ssl-protect-data no In order to verify the certificate,the recommended way would be to use the CA certificates from your machine. To do that use this command in lftp adjusting the path to your ca-certificates location. lftp > ssl:ca-file "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt" If that is not possible or certificates are old and you can't update them, you can download the certificates needed from Quo Vadis Digital Repository The two certificates to download in PEM format are: QuoVadis Root CA2 G3 QuoVadis EV SSL ICA G3 Then you can concatenate them in a file one after the other and save it as lftp-certificates.pem Once this is done you have to point the ssl:ca-file variable to the path lftp > set ssl:ca-file "/path/to/lftp-certificates.pem" Also note that you can save this configuration at ~/.lftp/rc Another option is to download the certificates and add them to the ca-certificates of your machine. For example: In RHEL7 and cenots and others box the process to add the certificates globally is: Download the two certificates (in PEM or DER format, doesn't matter) and save them to "/etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/" Run "update-ca-trust extract" Another less secure option is to turn off certificate verification with the following command: lftp > set ssl:verify-certificate false Troubleshooting If you are having problems with Aspera connection timeouts, it can be down to either one of the following. Transfers cannot start the connection fails instantly. Ensure that TCP traffic on port 33001 is allowed (open) for outbound connections through your computer's firewall and network's firewall. The connection is made, transfers are started, but 0 bytes (0%) are uploaded for each file. Ensure that UDP traffic on port 33001 is allowed (open) for outbound connections through your computer's firewall and network's firewal

  Documentation submission/data/uploading-files/ftp

• What is a DAC?

  What is a DAC? Given the complexity, scale, and diversity of global submitters and studies, the EGA operates a distributed data access model in which requests are made to the data controller, not to the EGA. The European Commission defines a data controller, in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as the person that determines the purposes for which and the means by which personal data is processed. A Data Access Committees, commonly referred to as DACs, comprise on or more individuals (or data controllers) that review data access requests and make decisions on who can access personally identifiable genetic, phenotypic, and clinical data deposited at the EGA. Therefore, the members of a DAC should be individuals who have the authority to approve data access requests. The animation describes how you can authorise access to your sensitive data with the help of Data Access Committee and Authorisation tool. Acknowledgement to CSC - IT Center for Finland, Elixir Finland, Elixir Europe. Frequently Asked Questions How can I create a Data Access Committee? How can I create a Data Access Committee? The members of a DAC can come from different areas of expertise, such as data management, data analysis, information technology, legal and compliance, subject matter experts, privacy and security, and representatives from the organisations or individuals that provide data to the DAC. The specific members of a DAC can vary depending on the needs of the organisation and the type of data being managed. The EGA strongly suggests checking with your organisation to align with its regulations How should a DAC be named? The chosen name must be informative to the applicant.  For example, internal identifiers, such as grant numbers, should not be used. Individual PI names should also not be used. DAC's are often named after the organisation or department of the data source.  Browse the full list of DAC names currently in the EGA. How can I become an EGA DAC contact? To register a DAC at the EGA you must create first as an EGA user. Once your EGA user has been approved by the Helpdesk team, you will be able to log in to the DAC Portal. How can I register a DAC? To register a DAC, follow the DAC Portal instructions.  You will be required to provide a DAC name, name of the individual(s) that make up your DAC and contact details for your DAC including your Institutional email(s). Wherever possible, the DAC should make sure that all points of contact are readily available and able to answer any initial data requests/queries in < 2 weeks.  Once your DAC is registered, you will have to wait upon the validation from our Helpdesk team. As soon as all the validations have been completed, your DAC will be activated. Alternatively, you can also establish a DAC at the EGA during a programmatic submission through Webin API. Which are the possible roles of a DAC contact? There are two possible roles for DAC contacts: member and admin. An admin has additional privileges compared to a member: An “admin” can manage data requests, create and edit policies, edit the content of the DAC, add or remove contacts, and decide the role of each contact. A “member” can manage data requests and create policies. However, a member does not have permission to modify DAC details, edit information from policies where they are not admins, or add/remove contacts. There is no limit to the number of admins in a DAC, and each admin is responsible for deciding who should have editing privileges. This allows for a more decentralised and democratic approach to managing the DAC. How can I modify the information of a DAC? To modify a DAC, follow the instructions here. Keep in mind that only DAC contact with an admin role can modify the information of a DAC. If your DAC was registered before the lauch of the DAC Portal, and its ID is EGAC0 (not EGAC5), you must use the programmatic submission to modify it. Please, do not hesitate to contact our Helpdesk team if you need help with this! To prevent potential data breaches and ensure adherence to GDPR regulations, it is essential that the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA) is informed via the Helpdesk team of any changes to the Data Access Committee (DAC). This should be done in addition to any changes being made on the DAC portal. Data Controllers (as per the definition in the DPA) are also responsible for notifying the previous DAC of any modifications. Without proper notification, changes might not be automatically updated in our system, leading to the risk of incorrect permissions being applied and potential data access issues. Therefore, it is imperative that all Data Controllers follow this protocol to maintain data integrity and security. What’s the link between DAC, policy and dataset? A dataset is linked to one single policy. At the same time, one policy has a one to one relationship with a DAC. In this example, you can see that in this dataset page, we are only showing the information of one DAC (1 dataset - 1 DAC). However, the ratio of objects does not work the same in the other direction. One DAC can own multiple policy objects. And each policy object can be reused in several datasets. Thus, one DAC can manage one or more datasets. In this example, you can see that in this DAC page, we are showing all the datasets that are managed by one DAC (1 DAC - >400 datasets). EGA Data Access Committee Best Practices Which are the EGA DAC best practices? Refer to DAC Best Practices What happens if a DAC member changes institutions? EGA is committed to the protection and ownership of the data stored in our systems. We respect the institution's ownership of the data, and as such, if a DAC member changes institutions, the ownership of the data will not be transferred to the new institution. Therefore, before changing institutions, we request that the DAC contact add a new member who will replace them once they no longer work at the institution. This ensures that the data remains protected and is accessible to authorised personnel at the institution. To prevent potential data breaches and ensure adherence to GDPR regulations, it is essential that the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA) is informed via the Helpdesk team of any changes to the Data Access Committee (DAC). This should be done in addition to any changes being made on the DAC portal. Data Controllers (as per the definition in the DPA) are also responsible for notifying the previous DAC of any modifications. Without proper notification, changes might not be automatically updated in our system, leading to the risk of incorrect permissions being applied and potential data access issues. Therefore, it is imperative that all Data Controllers follow this protocol to maintain data integrity and security. What happens if EGA detects an unresponsive DAC? EGA defines an unresponsive DAC as a DAC with one or more contacts who do not respond to data access requests. EGA has procedures in place to identify these types of DACs, escalate the issue, and attempt to reassign the DAC to a responsive contact. This is a crucial step in ensuring that data can be accessed and utilised by researchers. If EGA identifies an unresponsive DAC, the organisation will first try to resolve the issue by escalating it to the appropriate parties. This may involve attempting to reassign the DAC to a more responsive contact. Unfortunately, in situations where we cannot reassign the DAC, the dataset will be withdrawn from the public website and the files will be removed from our system. If an EGA ID is referenced in a publication, the EGA will take extra steps to ensure that the public is made aware of the data's unavailability. I don't want to receive an email notification for pending requests. How can I do that? If you are an EGA DAC with pending requests, you will always receive emails for new data access requests. However, the EGA understands that a request resolution can take some time, for this reason, if you add a comment (make sure you save it by clicking the APPLY button!) we will filter those requests at the time of sending the notification! How can I manage data access requests? What documentation does the DAC need to provide? Each dataset that is submitted to the EGA must be linked to a policy object. The policy is a Data Access Agreement (DAA), which defines the terms and conditions of using the dataset, such as how the data files should be stored once downloaded or details of publication embargoes that should be observed by the approved user. As part of the Data Access Agreement, information regarding the application can be captured to help inform the DAC when making its decision. For example, requestors could be asked to provide a proposed title for their research and a proposal of how the data will be used. By asking for provision of such information the DAC can be assured that the requestor fully understands any consents associated with the data. It is important that accounts created at the EGA, are created solely for those individuals that will be downloading the data from the EGA. As part of the data access request, we strongly encourage you to identify individuals that will need an account at the EGA in order to prevent sharing of login details, which is strictly prohibited under EGA user account policy. Such information can easily be captured in the DAA. NOTICE The data access agreement template below is provided for guidance only and should be adapted as you see fit to suit your own purpose. In the interest of promoting data sharing, we suggest that if an agreement cannot be met around clause 19 in this example that both parties should agree to remain silent, and that the clause should be removed from the agreement. Example DAA How can the DAC provide the DAA? The DAC should provide their own DAA when registering a policy. Data requestors will download this document and should fill it in and send it back to the DAC. Data access decisions should be based on such documentation. The DAA can be downloaded through the request data webpage. Once it has been filled in, the signed copy of the DAA can be uploaded back to the request data webpage and sent to the DAC for review. How can I grant access to the data? Once you receive a data access request, you can login to the DAC Portal. In this portal you will see all your pending requests and will be able to grant or decline access to the requestors. I am a member of the Data Access Committee. Could I approve somebody else to deal with the requests on my behalf? If you want to delegate data access decisions to someone else, make sure that the individual's account is officially registered as a member of the DAC. Remember that a DAC contact with an "admin" role can always add new members to an existing DAC, remove members, and modify contact details through the DAC Portal. Can I automatise the process of managing data access requests? The answer is yes! You can use a programmatic approach using our DAC API! Check out the DAC API specification! Data Breach What should a DAC do if they suspect a breach? If a DAC suspects a data breach of one or more of their datasets, they should immediately contact the EGA Helpdesk team at this link. The DAC must provide the following information when contacting the EGA Helpdesk team: A list of affected datasets An estimated date of the data breach (or interval of dates) A list of unauthorised users who accessed the data (if available). Otherwise, they can provide a list of authorised users for the affected datasets Any observations they would like to raise to the EGA team Once the DAC has contacted the EGA team, we will respond within 48 hours (please allow some leeway during peak times) and activate our data breach protocol. What can I expect from the EGA if they detect a breach? Once the EGA determines that a security incident has occurred, we will notify all DAC members that a data breach has been detected, and take steps to contain the incident. Containment approaches may include: Revoking a data provider's access to the EGA resources, such as by changing passwords. Removing affected EGA datasets from distribution, such as by withdrawing a dataset. Disabling certain functions or services, such as the EGA ingestion pipeline. Shutting down the system or disconnecting it from the network. After the incident has been contained, the EGA will determine whether it is necessary to eradicate components related to the incident. Finally, the EGA will enable recovery of the service to normal operation and confirm that all services are functioning normally.

  Documentation access/data-access-committee/what-is-dac

• National Cancer Institute Cancer Genome Characterization Initiative (CGCI)

  The Office of Cancer Genomics at the National Cancer Institute sponsored a series of studies as part of the Cancer Genome Characterization Initiative (CGCI) to assess novel emerging sequencing technologies in cancer. The CGCI program included comprehensive characterization of the genetic aberrations found in different pediatric and/or adult tumors. CGCI characterized a number of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) from patients with and without HIV+ infection, follicular lymphoma (FL), as well as adult and pediatric Burkitt lymphomas), and additional HIV-associated tumors (including DLBCL, lung, and cervical cancers). All data from these projects is available at the NCI Genomic Data Commons. Individual project descriptions are available by disease on the substudy pages (links are included at the top of this page). Brief summaries are as follows: Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) - CGCI investigators probed genomic alterations more deeply than had previously been possible by using state-of-the-art RNA sequencing (mRNA-seq) and whole genome shotgun sequencing (WGS) coupled with leading edge bioinformatics, data management and analysis approaches. The project sequenced tumor DNA and/or RNA from 117 NHL tumor samples and 10 cell lines. This included the genomes or exomes of 1 Follicular Lymphoma (FL) and 13 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cases, all with matched constitutional DNA sequenced to comparable depths, RNA-sequencing (mRNA-seq) of 92 DLBCL, 12 FL and 8 B-cell NHL cases with other histologies and 10 DLBCL-derived cell lines. The DLBCL cases and cell-lines are from the two major subtypes of DLBCL: germinal center B-cell (GCB) and activated B-cell (ABC). HIV+ Tumor Molecular Characterization Project (HTMCP) - This project was a joint effort of the Office of Cancer Genomics (OCG) and the Office of HIV and AIDS Malignancy (OHAM). Its goals were to characterize HIV-associated cancers (obtained from HIV-infected patients) and compare them to the same types of cancers from patients without HIV infection. Investigators performed 30X genome sequencing of 100 cases of paired tumor and germline DNA, along with transcriptome sequencing in each of 3 types of HIV+ tumors (DLBCL, lung and cervical cancers). These platforms allow discovery of mutations both in coding and non-coding genomic regions, gene expression and genomic alterations (including translocations, insertions and deletions). Comparing tumors of cancer patients both with and without HIV-infection provides insight into the potential function of this virus in certain cancers. Burkitt Lymphoma Genome Sequencing Project (BLGSP) - This project was a collaborative effort between the National Cancer Institute and the Foundation for Burkitt Lymphoma Research to develop a databank of the many alterations found in Burkitt lymphoma (BL), an uncommon type of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma that occurs most often in children and young adults. The goal of the BLGSP was to explore potential genetic changes in patients with BL that could lead to better prevention, detection and treatment of the cancer. The project characterized the alterations of the tumors' genomes (with matched normal as control) and transcriptomes by sequencing the DNA and RNA of each case. Using the data generated, the ultimate goals of the project was to discover the molecular changes that are present in BL patients and then determine how those changes correlate with treatment regimen and outcome. CGCI data is accessible at the NCI's Genomic Data Commons (GDC) via the GDC's Data Portal and from each of the CGCI Publication Pages at the GDC (Please see the "Supplemental Links" section of any CGCI publication's "Publication Information and Associated Data Files page" at the GDC.). Available datasets include raw sequencing data, datasets generated by the original CGCI research teams (fully annotated clinical information and higher-level/analyzed molecular characterization data), as well as higher level data generated by the GDC. Please see the CGCI Use and Publication Guidelines for updated details on the sharing of any CGCI substudy data, including how to cite CGCI.To learn more about the CGCI studies, please visit the CGCI Program website.

  Study phs000235

• After the completion of CINECA, EUCANCan, and euCanSHare. What's next?

  CINECA, EUCANCan, and euCanSHare were part of the EUCAN Cluster, made up of six projects that received funding under the same Horizon 2020 call. All EUCAN projects (CINECA, EUCANCan, EUCAN-Connect, euCanSHare, Receptor Plus, and ReCoDID) were aimed at facilitating data reuse and knowledge discovery by enhancing data exchange and long-term collaboration in the health field. Here are some highlights about EGA’s contribution to these projects. CINECA: advances in Federated discovery and infrastructure for cohorts CINECA (Common Infrastructure for National Cohorts in Europe, Canada, and Africa) developed a federated cloud-based infrastructure for making genomic and biomolecular data accessible. The project has assembled a virtual cohort of 1.4 million individuals from sources such as the EGA, CanDIG and H3Africa. The EGA–CRG co-leaded a work package Work Package 1 on Federated Data Discovery and Querying. Beacon v2, championed by Jordi Rambla and Lauren Fromont, has been one of the central elements for the discovery of human genetic and phenotypic data. The EGA-CRG contributed to the development of a model for cohort discovery inside the Beacon v2 model. The team also delivered a Discovery Portal was implemented to explore cohorts and individuals of synthetic data. It is a UI that gathers a network of Beacons, a service for query expansion, and a visualisation tool. Have a look at the Discovery Portal UI, gathering a network of Beacons. You will find entities such as the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), BioData.pt and the European Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI), among others. euCanSHare: facilitation of data access management This joint EU-Canada project aimed to build a European and Canadian FAIR platform for cardiovascular data sharing and analysis. The EGA’s tasks contributed to the development of the data management plan and data flows, main web-portal and interoperability protocols. An important part of the EuCanShare platform is the data access manager, a tool for the data owners to control the access to their sensitive datasets. We built a user-friendly interface for data access committees (data owners) to easily manage their data requests and access credentials. The data access portal facilitates the creation and internal organization of the data access committees as well as the linkage of data usage conditions to specific datasets. The interface includes filters for browsing requests and page to visualize the request history helping with the handling of data access requests. EUCANCan: toward a federation of clinical institutions in oncology The EUropean-CAnadian CANcer Network worked towards building a federated network to advance personalized medicine in oncology, by promoting the standard analysis, management and sharing of harmonized genomic and phenotypic data. The EGA led tasks on defining data flows and preparing an adapted infrastructure for long-term data storage and sharing. One of the key contributions was the conception of the EGA communities, offering standard and interoperable solutions for data discovery, processing, and sharing to projects and institutions that would like to manage and share data in the context of the EGA ecosystem. What's Next? The participation in projects such as CINECA, EUCANCan, and euCanSHare provide us with experience for future projects. We are happy to enhance data sharing and reuse, vital for advancing clinical and genomic research. The Discovery Portal is a wonderful proof of concept for the Beacon network. Next, we will finalise both the network and the user interface, and make sure it can be applied to more clinically-centred settings like hospitals. Most data hosted at the EGA are about cancer research. Currently, we contribute to building tools and infrastructure to empower oncology research in several European projects such as EUCAIM, EUCANIMAGE and EOSC4Cancer. We also do not lose sight of initiatives in the field such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) with the project ARGO, whose data model was adopted in EUCanCan.

  Blog cineca-eucancan-and-eucanshare-were-concluded-in-june

• 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&#39;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&#39;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 (&gt; 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

• Resource for Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA)

  The Resource for Genetic Epidemiology Research on Aging (GERA) Cohort was created by a RC2 "Grand Opportunity" grant that was awarded to the Kaiser Permanente Research Program on Genes, Environment, and Health (RPGEH) and the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics (AG036607; Schaefer/Risch, PIs). The RC2 project enabled genome-wide SNP genotyping (GWAS) to be conducted on a cohort of over 100,000 adults who are members of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Plan, Northern California Region (KPNC), and participating in its RPGEH. The purpose of the RPGEH is to facilitate research on the genetic and environmental factors that affect health and disease by linking together clinical data from electronic health records, survey data on demographic and behavioral factors, and environmental data from various sources, with genetic data derived from biospecimens collected from participants. At the time of the award of the RC2 project in late 2009, the RPGEH had established a cohort of about 140,000 individuals who had answered a detailed survey, provided saliva samples for extraction of DNA, and given broad consent for the use of their data in studies of health and disease. To maximize the diversity of the resulting sample, the GERA cohort was formed by including all racial and ethnic minority participants with saliva samples (N = 20,925; 19%); the remaining participants were drawn sequentially and randomly from white non-Hispanic participants (89,341; 81%). A total of 110,266 participant samples were included to ensure that at least 100,000 were successfully assayed. The resulting GERA cohort is 42% male, 58% female, and ranges in age from 18 to over 100 years old with an average age of 63 years at the time of the RPGEH survey (2007). The sample is ethnically diverse, generally well-educated with above average income. Approximately 69% of the participants are married or living with a partner. Length of membership in KPNC averages 23.5 years. UCSF and RPGEH investigators worked with the genomics company Affymetrix to design four custom microarrays for genotyping each of the four major race-ethnicity groups included in the GERA Cohort, described in detail in Hoffmann et al., 2011a and 2011b. Following genotyping and quality control procedures, and after removal of invalid, discordant, or withdrawn samples, about 103,000 participants were successfully genotyped. The resulting genotypic data were linked to survey data and data abstracted from the electronic medical records. As described below, all RPGEH participants were mailed new consent forms with explicit discussion of the placement of data in the NIH-maintained dbGaP. About 77% of participants returned completed consent forms, resulting in a final sample size of 78,486 participants in the GERA Cohort with data for deposit into dbGaP. Origins of the RPGEH GERA Cohort The goal in creating the RPGEH GERA cohort was to create a large, multiethnic, and comprehensive population-based resource for research into the genetic and environmental basis of common age-related diseases and their treatment, and factors influencing healthy aging and longevity. The GERA Cohort consists of a diverse cohort of more than 100,000 adults who are members of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Plan, Northern California Region (KPNC), and participating in its Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health (RPGEH). KPNC is an integrated health care delivery system with a population of about 3.3 million people in northern California. The membership of KPNC is representative of the general population in the 14 county area in which facilities are located, although the membership is underrepresented for the extremes of income at both ends of the spectrum. The RPGEH utilizes the longitudinal electronic health records (EHR) of KPNC to obtain clinical, laboratory, imaging and pharmacy information on all cohort members, to which personal demographic, behavioral and health characteristics have been added through member surveys. The GERA Cohort comprises a subsample of the RPGEH participant cohort, and was created through the RC2 award from the NIA, NIMH, and NIH Common Fund as described above. GERA Study Design The GERA Cohort is a subsample, as described above, of the longitudinal cohort enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente RPGEH. The RPGEH cohort includes about 400,000 survey participants of whom about 200,000 have provided broad consent and a sample of saliva or blood for use in studies of genetic and environmental factors in health and disease. The GERA Cohort was developed from a mailed survey sent to all adult members of KPNC who had been members for two years or more in 2007. All survey respondents were contacted and asked to complete a consent form; those who completed consent forms were asked to provide a saliva sample. Additional male participants were added to the RPGEH through inclusion of the Northern California sample of the California Men&#39;s Health Study (CMHS) cohort of about 40,000 men from KPNC, ages 45-69 years old at the time of the CMHS survey in 2002-2003. The CMHS participants contributed about 15,400 saliva samples to the RPGEH and were eligible for inclusion in the GERA Cohort. CMHS participants were included according to the same sampling design as for the RPGEH cohort as a whole. Specifically, all minority participants were selected for inclusion in order to maximize representation of minorities in the GERA Cohort, and Non-Hispanic White participants were selected at random to complete the sample of 110,266 GERA Cohort participants. GERA Genotypic Data High-density genotyping was conducted at UCSF using custom designed Affymetrix Axiom arrays, as described in Hoffmann et al. (2011a; 2011b). To maximize genome-wide coverage of common and less common variants, four specific arrays were designed for individuals of Non-Hispanic White (EUR), East Asian (EAS), African-American (AFR), and Latino (LAT) race/ethnicity. There was broad overlap among the SNPs on the arrays, which were designed using a hybrid greedy imputation algorithm (Hoffmann et al., 2011b) applied to genotype information validated by Affymetrix from the 1000 Genomes Project. However, in order to capture low frequency variants specific to particular race-ethnicity groups, SNP content varies between arrays. A more detailed description of the process of genotyping and results is included in Genotyping of DNA Samples. Description of the analyses of population structure and development of principal components for adjustment of population structure is included in Population Structure Analysis. GERA Phenotypic Data RPGEH and CMHS Survey Data. The sources of data on demographic and behavioral factors deposited in dbGaP for the GERA Cohort are the RPGEH and CMHS surveys. Data on common demographic factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, and education and on behavioral factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and body mass index, have been cleaned, edited, reconciled between the two surveys, and compiled into summary indices, where appropriate, for deposition into dbGaP. A more complete description of the survey variables is included in Survey Variables Documentation. Please note that the terms of use of the GERA Cohort Data, as specified in the Data Use Certification (DUC), prohibit the use of survey variables as outcomes in analyses. For example, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of education or smoking is not permitted as specified by the DUC. Only health conditions can be used as outcome variables in analyses. Health Conditions derived from Kaiser Permanente Electronic Medical Records. Data on the occurrence of health conditions in participants in the GERA Cohort have been derived from summarizing ICD-9 coded diagnoses in Kaiser Permanente&#39;s electronic medical records. An algorithm that aggregates specific ICD-9 codes into appropriate diagnostic groups for selected conditions is applied to outpatient and inpatient databases; see Disease and Conditions Definitions Documentation for details. The criterion for including a condition as "present" for a participant is the occurrence of two or more diagnoses within a diagnostic category occurring on separate days. Two or more is used as the criterion in order to reduce false positives due to mistakes or rule-out diagnoses. When compared with validated disease registries, the criterion of 2+ diagnoses yields high specificity and good sensitivity. ICD-9 codes in the electronic records are specified in several ways. For outpatient visits occurring during the period 1995 to 2006, diagnoses were assigned by the treating physician who endorsed specific diagnoses on an optically scanned list that varied by specialty. Beginning in 2006 with the advent of an integrated, fully electronic medical record, outpatient diagnoses are made by physicians/ providers using a pull down menu. Discharge diagnoses from inpatient stays are specified by physicians and coded by specially trained coders. Databases of ICD-9 codes for diagnoses assigned at outpatient visits, or as one of the discharge diagnoses following inpatient stays, are complete and available for all KPNC members dating back to 1995. Although the average length of KPNC membership among GERA cohort members is 23.5 years in 2007, not all have been members since 1995, so the history for some conditions, such as those that are not chronic or recurrent, may not be complete for all cohort members. The year of first membership in KPNC is included as a variable in the list of survey variables, enabling investigators to estimate the number of years of observation of each Cohort member. RPGEH Access and Collaborations Website and Procedures The RPGEH maintains a web portal for inquiries and applications for collaboration and access to data. The url is: https://rpgehportal.kaiser.org/. RPGEH has an application process and an Access Review Committee that reviews applications for collaboration and use. For more details, please contact RPGEH through the website.

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• Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trial and Observational Study

  The Women&#39;s Health Initiative (WHI) is a long-term national health study that has focused on strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women. The original WHI study included 161,808 postmenopausal women enrolled between 1993 and 1998. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA serves as the WHI Clinical Coordinating Center for data collection, management, and analysis of the WHI. The WHI has two major parts: a partial factorial randomized Clinical Trial (CT) and an Observational Study (OS); both were conducted at 40 Clinical Centers nationwide. The CT enrolled 68,132 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50-79 into trials testing three prevention strategies. If eligible, women could choose to enroll in one, two, or all three of the trial components. The components are: Hormone Therapy Trials (HT): This double-blind component examined the effects of combined hormones or estrogen alone on the prevention of coronary heart disease and osteoporotic fractures, and associated risk for breast cancer. Women participating in this component with an intact uterus were randomized to estrogen plus progestin (conjugated equine estrogens [CEE], 0.625 mg/d plus medroxyprogesterone acetate [MPA] 2.5 mg/d] or a matching placebo. Women with prior hysterectomy were randomized to CEE or placebo. Both trials were stopped early, in July 2002 and March 2004, respectively, based on adverse effects. All HT participants continued to be followed without intervention until close-out. Dietary Modification Trial (DM): The Dietary Modification component evaluated the effect of a low-fat and high fruit, vegetable and grain diet on the prevention of breast and colorectal cancers and coronary heart disease. Study participants were randomized to either their usual eating pattern or a low-fat dietary pattern. Calcium/Vitamin D Trial (CaD): This double-blind component began 1 to 2 years after a woman joined one or both of the other clinical trial components. It evaluated the effect of calcium and vitamin D supplementation on the prevention of osteoporotic fractures and colorectal cancer. Women in this component were randomized to calcium (1000 mg/d) and vitamin D (400 IU/d) supplements or a matching placebo. The Observational Study (OS) examines the relationship between lifestyle, environmental, medical and molecular risk factors and specific measures of health or disease outcomes. This component involves tracking the medical history and health habits of 93,676 women not participating in the CT. Recruitment for the observational study was completed in 1998 and participants were followed annually for 8 to 12 years. Extension Studies: The original protocol allowed for follow-up until March 2005, after which participants were invited to enroll in the first WHI Extension Study for follow-up through 2010. Participants were invited again to participate in the second WHI Extension Study with continued follow up from 2010 to at least 2015. As of March 31, 2011 there were 93,122 women enrolled in the second extension. In Extension Study 2, the overall WHI study population was divided into two new subsamples, the Medical Records Cohort (MRC) and the Self-Report Cohort (SRC). The MRC consists of all former hormone trial participants and all African American and Hispanic participants from all study components. The SRC consists of the remaining participants. The extent of outcome information collected differs between the two cohorts, with more extensive outcomes information collection on the MRC. As part of Extension Study 2, selected older WHI participants were invited to participate in an In Person Visit (a.k.a., Long Life Study) at their homes during which additional blood samples were collected and various measurements were taken (such as blood pressure, height, weight, waist circumference, grip strength, etc.). In October 2015, Extension Study 2 was renewed with continued follow-up planned through October 2020, pending annual contract review and renewal. Additional Information: The WHI website, https://www.whi.org/about/SitePages/About%20WHI.aspx has much more information about the study. For WHI data collection forms used over the years, please see https://www.whi.org/researchers/studydoc/SitePages/Forms.aspx. For additional dataset documentation, see https://www.whi.org/researchers/data/Pages/Available%20Data.aspx. For data preparation and use, please refer to &#39;WHI dbGaP Cohort Data Release Data Preparation Guide May 2018&#39; for additional details about the WHI data. The WHI Cohort is utilized in the following dbGaP substudies. To view genotypes, analysis, expression data, other molecular data, and derived variables collected in these substudies, please click on the following substudies below or in the "Substudies" box located on the right hand side of this top-level study page phs000200 WHI Cohort. phs000386 WHI SHARe phs000281 GO-ESP WHISP phs000315 WHI GARNET phs000503 WHISE phs000227 PAGE WHI phs000675 WHIMS+ phs000746 WHI Harmonized and Imputed GWAS phs001334 WHI Metabolomics of CHD phs001335 WHI BA23 phs001614 WHI LLS Phase III GWAS

  Study phs000200

• Health and Retirement Study (HRS)

  Introduction to V2: This data release comprises data from the V1 release combined with approximately 3,000 additional samples, collected during the HRS 2010 field period. The 2010 data include samples from a random half of the new cohort enrolled in 2010 along with a significant expansion of the minority sample. Description: The University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a longitudinal panel study that surveys a representative sample of approximately 20,000 people in America over the age of 50 every two years. Supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740) and the Social Security Administration, the HRS explores the changes in labor force participation and the health transitions that individuals undergo toward the end of their work lives and in the years that follow. The study collects information about income, work, assets, pension plans, health insurance, disability, physical health and functioning, cognitive functioning, and health care expenditures. Through its unique and in-depth interviews, the HRS provides an invaluable and growing body of multidisciplinary data that researchers can use to address important questions about the challenges and opportunities of aging. Because of its innovation and importance, the HRS has become the model and hub for a growing network of harmonized longitudinal aging studies around the world. Origins of the HRS. As the population ages it is increasingly important to obtain reliable data about aging and topics that are relevant to a range of policy issues in aging. To address this need, the National Institutes on Aging (NIA) established a cooperative agreement with the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research to collect such data. The HRS launched data collection in 1992 and has re-interviewed the original sample of respondents every two years since then. By adding new cohorts and refreshing the sample, the HRS has grown to become the largest, most representative longitudinal panel study of Americans 50 years and older. HRS Study Design. The target population for the original HRS cohort includes all adults in the contiguous United States born during the years 1931-1941 who reside in households, with a 2:1 oversample of African-American and Hispanic populations. The original sample is refreshed with new birth cohorts (51-56 years of age) every six years. The sample has been expanded over the years to include a broader range of birth cohorts as well. The target population for the AHEAD survey consists of United States household residents who were born in 1923 or earlier. Children of the Depression (CODA) recruits households born 1924-1930, War Babies 1942-47, Early Boomers 1948-53, and Mid-Boomers 1954-59. Data collection includes a mixed mode design combining in-person, telephone, mail, and Internet. For consenting respondents, HRS data are linked at the individual level to administrative records from Social Security and Medicare claims. Genetic Research in the HRS. The HRS has genotyped 2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on respondents using Illumina&#39;s Human Omni2.5-Quad (Omni2.5) BeadChip. The genotyping was performed by the NIH Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Saliva was collected on half of the HRS sample each wave starting in 2006. In 2006, saliva was collected using a mouthwash collection method. From 2008 onward, the data collection method switched to the Oragene kit. Saliva completion rates were 83% in 2006, 84% in 2008, and 80% in 2010 among new cohort enrollees. HRS Phenotypic data. Phenotypic data are available on a variety of dimensions. Health measures include physical/psychological self-report, various health conditions, disabilities, cognitive performance, health behaviors (smoking, drinking, exercise), physical performance and anthropomorphic measures, and biomarkers (HbA1c, Total Cholesterol, HDL, CRP, Cystatin-C). Data are also available on health services including utilization, insurance and out-of-pocket spending with linkage to Medicare records. Economic measures include employment status/history, earnings, disability, retirement, type of work, income by source, wealth by asset type, capital gains/debt, consumption, linkage to pensions, Social Security earnings/benefit histories. There is also extensive information on family structure, proximity, transfers to/from of money, time, social and psychological characteristics, as well as a wide range of demographics. Performance on a cognitive test combining immediate and delayed word recall was selected as an example trait for the dbGaP data release. In the immediate word recall task the interviewer reads a list of 10 nouns to the respondent and asks the respondent to recall as many words as possible from the list in any order. After approximately five minutes of asking other survey questions, the respondent is asked to recall the nouns previously presented as part of the immediate recall task. The total recall score is the sum of the correct answers to these two tasks, with a range of 0 to 20. Researchers who wish to link to other HRS measures not in dbGaP will be able to apply for access from HRS. A separate Data Use Agreement (DUA) will be required for linkage to the HRS data. See the HRS website (http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/gwas) for details.

  Study phs000428

• A Randomized, Double-Blind, Crossover Study of Sodium Phenylbutyrate (Buphenyl) and Low-Dose Arginine (100 mg/kg/day) Compared to High-Dose Arginine (500 mg/kg/day) Alone on Liver Function, Ureagenesis and Subsequent Nitric Oxide Production in Patients with Argininosuccinic Aciduria (ASA)

  Individuals with Urea Cycle Disorders (UCD) cannot remove ammonia, a waste product, from the blood. At present there is little information on the use of sodium phenylbutyrate (Buphenyl&#8482;) in children with argininosuccinic aciduria (ASA). It is hoped that this drug may help lower ammonia and argininosuccinic acid levels in patients with ASA. Through this study we hope to learn whether the use of sodium phenylbutyrate (Buphenyl&#8482;) in patients with ASA, in addition to diet and arginine therapy, will decrease liver damage and the number of periods during which ammonia levels are high. The primary study objective is to determine if the treatment of ASA patients with sodium phenylbutyrate (Buphenyl&#8482;) in conjunction with lowered doses of arginine improves liver function as measured by short-term assessment of synthetic activity and the use of stable isotope tracers to assess ureagenesis and nitric oxide production. Twelve patients with ASA will be studied using a randomized, cross-over design. Medical records will be reviewed to confirm the diagnosis prior to enrollment. Patients will be on the each arm of the study for one week each preceded by a three day washout period. Patients will come to the Baylor College of Medicine General Clinical Research Center in Texas Children&#39;s Hospital for an inpatient hospitalization. This hospitalization is for diet control, clinical evaluation, and stable isotope infusions for measurement of in vivo rates of ureagenesis and nitric oxide production. During the washout periods Buphenyl&#8482; or other alternative route medications, e.g., benzoate, will be discontinued and arginine will be administered at the standard therapeutic dose of 500 mg/kg/day or 10 grams/m2. Following randomization, subjects will be maintained on either high-dose arginine (500 mg/kg/day or 10 grams/m2) alone, or the alternative of low-dose arginine (100 mg/kg/d or 2 grams/m2) along with sodium phenylbutyrate (500 mg/kg/day or 10 grams/m2). For the second week they will be crossed over to the other arm of the study preceded by another three day washout. Previous medications and dietary protein intake (0.6 g/kg/day or current metabolic diet) will be continued during both arms of the study. The two arms may be performed as separate ten-day admissions. The decision to design the study with two arms, high-dose arginine and low-dose arginine/Buphenyl&#8482;, was reached after weighing several considerations. First, the current accepted practice for treatment of ASA is high-dose arginine. Based on metabolic flux studies, we have quantified the effects of this dose of arginine as compared to standard doses of Buphenyl&#8482;/phenylacetate on ureagenesis. Since the study is not designed or intended to address the independent effects of Buphenyl&#8482; as compared to arginine alone, Buphenyl&#8482; was added for safety reasons to accommodate loss of clearance of nitrogen by decreasing the arginine dose. Moreover, based on our experience with recruiting for previous versions of this study, most ASA patients with liver dysfunction are on an alternative route ammonia scavenger medication in addition to arginine. We found that this has in fact become an accepted practice. Hence, when considering study design from both a safety and recruitment perspective, it was most reasonable to design the study to investigate specifically the hypothesis that the production and presence of argininosuccinic acid leads to liver dysfunction. Since both low-dose arginine with Buphenyl&#8482; and high-dose arginine alone lead to a decreased production of argininosuccinic acid, and both are currently accepted therapies in ASA and UCDs in general, the need to address their effects distinctly is not being investigated at this time. Sodium phenylbutyrate dosage will be 500 mg/kg/day in patients weighing less than 20kg and 10 g/m2/day in larger patients. Daily dosage will be given in equally divided doses 4 times per day. In order to ensure that the study remains double-blind to investigators, study staff and subjects, the Investigational Pharmacy Service at Texas Children&#39;s Hospital will dispense both the Buphenyl&#8482; and arginine in powder form which is compounded into capsules or will be mixed with syrpalta (up to 5 grams will dissolve in 10cc liquid) and administered orally or through nasogastric or gastrostomy tube. No nasogastric tube should be placed or gastrostomy performed solely for the purpose of inclusion in this study. Because the reported adverse effects of sodium phenylbutyrate include gastritis, participants will be started on a standard dose of ranitidine (Zantac&#8482;), or comparable drug, during both arms of the study.

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• Better Outcomes for Children: GWAS from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) - eMERGE Phase II data - (dbGaP Deposit 1)

  This submission includes genotyping data from 6 separate cohorts (named A-E here), each is described in separate paragraphs below. Cohort A) Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 1.5 million people in the United States, at an estimated lifetime cost of $4 million. It is part of Pervasive Developmental Disorder characterized by impairments in communication, language and reciprocal social interaction, and by unusual patterns of restricted and repetitive interests or behaviors. Autism, or autistic disorder, is the most severe form of the disease which has a wide range of symptom severity encompassed by the more inclusive term, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The prevalence of Autistic Disorder is currently estimated to be 4 per 1000, affecting 4 times more boys than girls. Susceptibility to autism is clearly attributable to genetic factors but the extensive clinical and genetic heterogeneity within the disorder have hindered efforts at genetic dissection. Identifying the genetic variants that contribute to this highly heritable disease is crucial to advancing research on autism. Reported concordance rates among monozygotic twins range from 60% &#8722; 90% and heritability of autism has been estimated to be 90% or greater. Identifying genetic variants that contribute to this highly heritable disease is crucial to advancing research on autism. Cohort B) The long-term objective of this research is to determine the molecular genetic basis of Cardiovascular (CV) disease in the young; this study seeks to identify gene mutations that cause "structural heart defects". Every year in the USA, 32,000 individuals are born with CV malformations; approximately 20% die during the first year of life. Another 30,000 young people develop a disturbance of cardiac rhythm or conduction. In addition, the life expectancy of another 40,000 young people is shortened by other forms of CV disease. It is becoming more apparent that in spite of the success in diagnosis and treatment, very little is known about the causes of CV disease in the young; understanding the causes will permit insight into the pathophysiologic basis of disease and allow definition of disease risk - two critical elements for disease prevention. Disease prevention and/or risk modification promises to be the new frontier in the management of CV disease in the young. Cohort C) Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE) is one of the manifestations of eosinophilic gastrointestinal inflammation which have profound effects on a patient&#39;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 EE 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 EE. Diagnosis of EE 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. Cohort D) 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 a complex genetic disorder. 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. The results of recent GWAS for Caucasian JIA were recently published in Arthritis Rheum. 2012 Feb 21 (Published online, PMID=22354554). Cohort E) Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE) is characterized by very frequent (several to many per day) absence seizures in an otherwise normal child with an EEG usually demonstrating 3 Hz bilateral, synchronous, symmetrical spikewaves pattern with normal background activity. CAE occurs in 10% to 15% of all children with epilepsy with an annual incidence of 6.3 to 8/100,000 in children &lt;15 years of age. Females are more affected than males. Epilepsy onset is typically between the ages of 4 to 8 years with a peak incidence of 6 to 7 years. CAE does not start after age 13 years. The primary objective of this study is: To identify the optimal anticonvulsant (i.e. the antiepileptic drug (AED) with highest rate of seizure control and lowest incidence of treatment limiting toxicity) used for the initial treatment of children with Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE). The secondary objectives are: To determine the pharmacogenetic and other non-heritable factors underlying the interindividual variation in anticonvulsant response efficacy and toxicity. To define and contrast the effects of ethosuximide, lamotrigine, and valproic acid monotherapy on cognition (attention), behavior and quality of life in children with Childhood Absence Epilepsy. Cohort F) Cincinnati Controls. These are local healthy children selected to be representative of the population of Cincinnati with respect to gender and ancestry. Cohort G) Cytogenetics cases are ascertained by the clinical request to obtain cytogenetic analysis. The platform used included genotyping data which are then available for genome wide association analysis

  Study phs000494

• CIDR: NCI Genome Wide Predictors of Survival in Colorectal Cancer

  CIDR/Molecular Correlates: This study genotyped archived blood samples from colorectal cancer cases participating in clinical trials. The goals of this project were to identify genetic variants associated with survival outcomes treatment and treatment-related severe adverse events among patients with colorectal cancer. Another goal was to examine the impact of adding information on germline genetic loci to existing prognostic models. MOSAIC: Multicenter International Study of Oxaliplatin/ 5FU-LV in the Adjuvant Treatment of Colon Cancer (MOSAIC). A randomized, open label efficacy trial to evaluate the FOLFOX regimen versus LV5FU2 in the adjuvant treatment of stage II and III colon cancer. The primary end point was disease-free survival. CPT.ES1.604: Randomized phase 3 study of weekly irinotecan plus high-dose 5-fluorouracil (FUIRI) versus biweekly irinotecan plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (FOLFIRI) as first-line chemotherapy for patients with metastatic CRC. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that a regimen without leucovorin (LV) (FUIRI) is not inferior to the standard FOLFIRI (response rate). 03-TTD-01: The purpose of this phase III, multicenter, randomized, open-label study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of combination therapy with capecitabine and oxaliplatin (XELOX) vs. oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil in continous infusion (5-FU CI) as first line treatment in advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer. The primary outcome measure is time to disease progression. Secondary outcome measures are to determine safety of combination, objective response rate, time to onset of response, duration of response, time to treatment failure, one year survival time, and overall survival time. 03-TTD-01: The purpose of this phase III, multicenter, randomized, open-label study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of combination therapy with capecitabine and oxaliplatin (XELOX) vs. oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil in continous infusion (5-FU CI) as first line treatment in advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer. The primary outcome measure is time to disease progression. Secondary outcome measures are to determine safety of combination, objective response rate, time to onset of response, duration of response, time to treatment failure, one year survival time, and overall survival time. N0147: Randomized phase III clinical trial for adjuvant therapy in stage III colon cancer patients enrolled at institutions across North America. Originally designed to compare three different chemotherapy regimens, and then later expanded to evaluate adding cetuximab to each original arm (leading to six total arms). Further modification later added pre-screening for KRAS mutation status, with the resulting goal to assess the potential benefit of cetuximab added to the modified sixth version of the FOLFOX regimen (mFOLFOX6) in patients with resected stage III wild-type KRAS colon cancer. Main outcome of interest is disease-free survival in patients with wild-type KRAS, while secondary end points included overall survival and toxicity. N9741: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of various combination chemotherapy regimens in treating patients who have advanced, recurrent, or metastatic colorectal cancer that cannot be treated with surgery or radiation therapy. C-08: A Phase III Clinical Trial Comparing Infusional 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), Leucovorin, and Oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6) Every Two Weeks With Bevacizumab to the Same Regimen Without Bevacizumab For the Treatment of Patients With Resected Stages II and III Carcinoma of the Colon. The primary aim of the trial was to compare the relative efficacy of mFOLFOX6 + bevacizumab with that of mFOLFOX6 alone in prolonging disease-free survival and the secondary aim was to compare the relative efficacy of mFOLFOX6 + bevacizumab with that of mFOLFOX6 alone in prolonging survival.

  Study phs001290

• T2D-GENES Project 2: San Antonio Mexican American Family Studies

  The Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) Genetic Exploration by Next-generation sequencing in Ethnic Samples (T2D-GENES) Consortium is a collaborative international effort to identify genes influencing susceptibility to T2D in multiple ethnic groups using next generation sequencing. T2D-GENES Project 2 is a complex pedigree-based study designed to identify low frequency or rare variants influencing susceptibility to T2D, using whole genome sequence (WGS) information from 1,043 individuals in 20 Mexican American T2D-enriched pedigrees from San Antonio, Texas. The major objectives of this study are to identify low frequency or rare variants in and around known common variant signals for T2D, as well as to find novel low frequency or rare variants influencing susceptibility to T2D. The sampled individuals are obtained from two studies: the San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS) and the San Antonio Family Diabetes/Gallbladder Study (SAFDGS), collectively referred to as the San Antonio Mexican American Family Studies (SAMAFS). The strategy is to sequence approximately 600 individuals at an average of 50x coverage across the entire genome, then impute genome wide genotypes for about 440 additional family members. The 600 sequenced individuals are specifically chosen for their value in imputing sequence information into other family members. By studying large pedigrees, we expect to find multiple individuals carrying each genetic variant, even if this variant is very rare in the population at large. Thus, a pedigree-based approach provides an excellent opportunity for identifying rare novel variants influencing risk of T2D and quantitative variation in T2D-related phenotypes. The whole genome sequencing has been done commercially by Complete Genomics, Inc. (CGI). The final data set includes whole genome sequence data for 607 individuals. After quality control, 585 sequenced individuals provide data for family based imputation, using Merlin linkage analysis software, into approximately 440 additional family members for whom chip based genotypes are available to indicate which parental haplotype is transmitted. Extensive phenotype data is provided for 1048 individuals. These include 5 sequenced individuals who do not belong to any of the 20 large pedigrees. Phenotype information was collected between 1991 and 2011 in the two contributing longitudinal studies. SAFHS participants may have information from up to 5 visits, and SAFDGS participants may have up to 4 visits. The clinical variables reported are coordinated with T2D-GENES Project 1 (multi-ethnic exome sequencing) and include T2D status and age at diagnosis, glycemic traits (fasting and 2 hour glucose and insulin), blood pressure, blood lipids (total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, calculated LDL cholesterol and triglycerides), clinical chemistry (cystatin c, glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody titer (GadAb), creatinine, adiponectin and leptin). Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was not measured for these individuals and insulin C-peptide is not included in this data set. Additional phenotype data include the medication status at each visit, classified in four categories as any current use of diabetes, hypertension or lipid-lowering medications, and, for females, current use of female hormones. Anthropometric measurements include age, sex, height, weight, hip circumference, waist circumference and derived ratios. Each phenotype variable has an initial summary column containing the most recent non-missing measurement for each individual, followed by the five potential time points for each individual, the number of non-missing measurements, and the age and year for the most recent non-missing measurement. For historical reasons, the order in which variables are presented on the dbGaP web site differs from their order in the data download file. When reading the comment fields for each variable, please note that commas are omitted to support data exchange in .csv format.

  Study phs000462

• Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT-BioLINCC)

  Available DataThe available data include all elements of the previously released SPRINT Primary Outcome Paper (SPRINT-POP) data, the full SPRINT clinical data including the MRI and MIND data, and select ancillary study data (Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring, APOL1, Acute Kidney Injury, ASK, Heart, FAST, PWV, Renal Resistance, Biomarkers, Plasma AD).ObjectiveThe Systolic Blood Pressure Trial (SPRINT) was conducted to test the hypothesis that treating systolic blood pressure to a target of less than 120 mm Hg, as compared to a target of less than 140 mm Hg, would reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease.BackgroundHypertension is a highly prevalent condition among adults and is a leading risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke. Further, isolated systolic hypertension is the most common form of hypertension in adults over 50 years of age. Observational studies have shown a monotonic increase in cardiovascular risk with systolic blood pressures above 115 mm Hg; however, general population clinical trials have only documented the benefits of lowering systolic blood pressure to a target of 150 mm Hg. A 2007 expert panel sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute designated the hypothesis that lowering the systolic blood pressure goal to a level SubjectsA total of 9361 participants were enrolled, with 4,678 randomized to the intensive-treatment group and 4,683 randomized to the standard-treatment group.DesignSPRINT was a randomized, single blinded (outcome adjudicators were blinded to treatment assignment) treatment trial with participants randomized to a systolic blood-pressure target of either less than 140 mm Hg (the standard-treatment group) or less than 120 mm Hg (the intensive-treatment group). Following randomization, baseline hypertensive regimens were adjusted in accordance with study treatment algorithms established for each group. The study formulary included all major classes of antihypertensive agents. Investigators could prescribe other antihypertensive medications, but the use of drug classes with the strongest evidence for reduction in cardiovascular outcomes was encouraged. This included thiazide-type diuretics as the first-line agent, loop diuretics for participants with advanced chronic kidney disease, and beta-adrenergic blockers for participants with coronary artery disease. Medications for participants in the intensive-treatment group were adjusted on a monthly basis to target a systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg. Medications for participants in the standard-treatment group were adjusted to target a systolic blood pressure of 135 to 139 mm Hg, and the dose was reduced if systolic blood pressure was less than 130 mm Hg on a single visit or less than 135 mm Hg on two consecutive visits. Lifestyle modification was encouraged as part of the management strategy.Participants were seen monthly for the first 3 months and every 3 months thereafter. Demographic data were collected at baseline. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained at baseline and every 3 months thereafter. A structured interview was used in both groups every 3 months to obtain self-reported cardiovascular disease outcomes. Medical records and electrocardiograms were obtained for documentation of events. Incidences of hypotension, syncope, injurious falls, electrolyte abnormalities, and bradycardia that were evaluated in an emergency department were included in adverse event reporting. Occurrences of acute kidney injury or acute renal failure requiring hospitalization were also monitored. The primary outcome was a composite outcome of myocardial infarction, other acute coronary syndromes, stroke, heart failure, or death from cardiovascular causes.ConclusionsThe blood pressure intervention was stopped in August of 2015 (median follow-up of 3.26 years) after the cardiovascular outcome results exceeded the boundary for efficacy at two consecutive time points. Compared with a systolic blood pressure target of less than 140 mm Hg, an intensive systolic blood pressure target of 120 mm Hg resulted in lower rates of fatal and nonfatal major cardiovascular events and death from any cause. Significantly higher rates of some adverse events were observed in the intensive-treatment group.

  Study phs003483