3837 results for "*geneti*"

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• Gene-Environment Interactions (GxE) and Complex Traits

  Functional variants associated with complex traits tend to fall in non-coding regions and affect regulatory mechanisms that are not yet well characterized. Furthermore, it is generally difficult to determine in which tissues and conditions they may have a functional impact. This is because the effect of a genetic variant on a molecular pathway, and ultimately on the individual's phenotype, may be modulated by "environmental" factors. We denominate such variants "gene-expression environment-specific quantitative trait nucleotides" GxE-QTNs. Achieving a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying GxE is a critical step in understanding the link between genotype and complex phenotype. It is also crucial to develop computationally efficient and statistically sound methods capable to integrate tissue/condition-specific functional genomics data to predict and validate when a sequence variant is functional. In this study we developed novel experimental and computational approaches to screen, analyze and functionally characterize genetic variants for complex traits modulated by environmental exposures. To identify and characterize genes with GxE, we analyzed allele specific gene expression in a panel of five relevant tissues (e.g. the vascular endothelium for cardiovascular diseases) under 50 controlled environmental conditions (e.g. glucocorticoids treatment, as a proxy for stress exposure). These data should be useful to develop computational tools that integrate different sources of evidence including data collected by ENCODE, RoadMap Epigenome and GTEx projects to functionally annotate GWAS variants. The experimental and computational tools developed by this project have widespread applicability, for example, can be used to tackle the functional basis of complex traits in other environmental contexts (e.g. other types of stress and hormonal levels) and genetic backgrounds. This resource represents the first comprehensive catalog of genetic variants that interact with environmental exposure in determining human complex traits.

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• NIDDK⁄CIDR Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics Consortium (IBDGC) Genome Wide Association Study in Familial Crohn's Disease

  The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics Consortium (NIDDK - IBDGC) conducted a genome wide association study (GWAS) using the Human Omni2.5-Quad beadchip from Illumina to identify disease variants associated with familial Crohn's disease. This study includes a subset of individuals from an original cohort of affected subjects and affected/unaffected relatives from a previous linkage scan which showed increased linkage evidence at three novel risk loci. A total of 708 samples were selected based on various criteria for inclusion from the 6 Genetic Research Centers (GRC) in North America that participate in the IBDGC. This project was supported by an ancillary R01 grant from the NIDDK with resources made available through the IBDGC.

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• Melanoma and Cancer-Associated Fibroblast Short-Term Cultures Derived from Patient Metastases

  The purpose of this study was to obtain tissue specimens derived from patients with melanoma to generate research tools to advance our understanding of the genetics, pathogenesis, and therapeutics of melanoma. Briefly, tissue was obtained from metastatic lesions and used to generate clonal primary cell lines from melanoma cells and fibroblasts from the tumor microenvironment. RNA was extracted from low passage cell lines using Trizol reagent. cDNA libraries were prepared using the TruSeq mRNA sample preparation kit, v2 (Illumina) and sequenced on the HiSeq 2000 platform (Illumina). The submitted files are bam files that contain both unaligned and aligned reads (human genome, build hg19).

  Study phs001115

• Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Consortium GWAS of Familial Lung Cancer

  Familial lung cancer cases were collected by the Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Consortium (GELCC) recruitment sites: University of Cincinnati, Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans, Mayo Clinic, and Medical College of Ohio. Familial cases for this study came from three sources: 1) one case each from families (at least 3 affected lung cancer cases in the family) included in the linkage analysis; 2) one case from linkage-eligible families (at least 3 affected lung cancer cases in the family) but where there were insufficient biospecimens available to make them informative for linkage analysis; and 3) one case from families not eligible for the linkage study with a family history of at least one first or second degree relative affected with lung cancer. Unrelated controls were selected from 1) among the spouses of family members, thus matching on socio-economic status (SES) and ethnicity (typically) of the cases or 2) from case-control studies of lung cancer conducted in the same location in which the linkage families were collected and matched on age, sex, and race. All cases and controls self-reported as European American. Biospecimens used for normal DNA extraction included blood, saliva or mouthwash. Some samples underwent whole genome amplication.

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• OCD Collaborative Genetic Association Study (OCGAS)

  The OCD Collaborative Genetics Association Study Group (OCGAS) was funded by NIMH to conduct a genome-wide association study to identify disease susceptibility loci of early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Collaborators at Johns Hopkins, Brown, Columbia, MGH, UCLA, and NIMH evaluated 2,000 individuals with OCD and collected DNA from these individuals and both their parents. The genotyping and analyses was performed in two stages. In the first stage 1,065 families (comprising 1406 patients with OCD and 2895 individuals in total) were genotyped on the Illumina OmniExpress GWA (SNPs) panel at the JHU SNP Center.

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• Natural History of and Genetic Modifiers in Spinocerebellar Ataxias

  Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA) are genetic neurological diseases that cause imbalance, poor coordination, and speech difficulties. There are different kinds of SCA and this study will focus on types 1, 2, 3, and 6 (SCA 1, SCA 2, SCA 3, also known as Machado-Joseph disease and SCA 6). The diseases are rare, slowly progressive, cause increasingly severe neurological difficulties and are variable across and within genotypes. The purpose of this research study is to bring together a group of experts in the field of SCA for the purpose of learning more about the disease. The research questions are: How does the disease progress over time? What are the best ways to measure disease progression? Do some genes, other than the gene that is abnormal in the SCA disease, have any effect on the way the disease behaves?

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• NHLBI TOPMed: Defining the Time-Dependent Genetic and Transcriptomic Responses to Cardiac Injury Among Patients with Arrhythmias

  The UMMS miRhythm Study is an ongoing study of adult patients undergoing an elective electrophysiology study or arrhythmia ablation procedure for a supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmia, including atrial fibrillation (AF). Atrial fibrillation is a major clinical and public health problem that is related to atrial pathologic remodeling. Few tools are available to quantify the activity or extent of this remodeling, rendering it difficult to identify individuals at risk for AF. Previous studies have suggested an important role for miRNA in cardiovascular disease through gene expression regulation, making this a promising avenue for studying AF mechanisms. The aim of the study is to determine the time-dependent changes to key circulating miRNAs in a model of planned atrial injury and remodeling via ablation. Such knowledge might provide additional insight into the biology and activity of the acute atrial injury response, and furthermore, inform new targets for development of preventative interventions or allow for better AF risk stratification. To assess pathways regulating atrial pathological remodeling, patient blood samples are collected prior to their ablation procedures and also at a regularly scheduled 1-month follow-up appointment. Plasma expression of miRNA is measured using high-throughput quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), providing novel insights into the regulatory processes underlying AF, as well as acute atrial injury in vivo. Additionally, data collected from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is used to supplement miRNA analyses and further explore new relations between genes and abnormal heart rhythm.

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• Genetic analysis of Hirschsprung disease

  Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is a birth defect resulting from the absence of nerve (ganglion) cells in the gastrointestinal tract. Hirschsprung disease has a population incidence of 1/5,000 live births and most often occurs as an isolated condition. However, approximately 30% of HSCR cases are associated with other birth defects such as Down syndrome, deafness, hypopigmentation, and Congenital Central Hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS). Hirschsprung disease is a genetic condition with autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, and multigenic patterns of inheritance described. The goal of the research study is to identify genes harboring causative HSCR mutations and to better understand the complex inheritance of HSCR in families using whole genome mapping and sequencing studies with functional follow-up of candidate genes and variants. We intend to ascertain the frequency with which mutations in any human gene lead to familial and isolated forms of HSCR. Clinical information is collected to allow investigation of possible genotype - phenotype correlations. The subject population consists of individuals diagnosed with HSCR and their unaffected relatives. Individuals/families are ascertained through support groups, web-based listings of research studies and genetic testing services, an educational study website, and referrals from genetic counselors and physicians. Blood, or tissue, samples are requested from affected individuals and their unaffected relatives.

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• Pilot Sequencing Study: DNA Hydroxymethylation and Gene Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Healthy Human Aging

  This study was a pilot analysis of samples of human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMCs) from 10 young (23-30 years) and 10 older (68-76 years) healthy Caucasian female volunteers. Whole genome sequencing was performed to assess multiple epigenetic mechanisms and gene expression, including 5hmC-capture sequencing and RNA-sequencing, followed by integrative analyses to identify regions and genes associated with age.

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• Molecular Evolution of Cancer

  Recently developed methods that utilize partitioning of long genomic DNA fragments, and barcoding of shorter fragments derived from them, have succeeded in retaining long-range information in short sequencing reads. These so-called read cloud approaches represent a powerful, accurate, and cost-effective alternative to single-molecule long-read sequencing. We developed software, GROC-SVs, that takes advantage of read clouds for structural variant detection and assembly. We apply the method to two 10x Genomics data sets, one chromothriptic sarcoma with several spatially separated samples, and one breast cancer cell line, all Illumina-sequenced to high coverage. Comparison to short-fragment data from the same samples, and validation by mate-pair data from a subset of the sarcoma samples, demonstrate substantial improvement in specificity of breakpoint detection compared to short-fragment sequencing, at comparable sensitivity, and vice versa. The embedded long-range information also facilitates sequence assembly of a large fraction of the breakpoints; importantly, consecutive breakpoints that are closer than the average length of the input DNA molecules can be assembled together and their order and arrangement reconstructed, with some events exhibiting remarkable complexity. These features facilitated an analysis of the structural evolution of the sarcoma. In the chromothripsis, rearrangements occurred before copy number amplifications, and using the phylogenetic tree built from point mutation data, we show that single nucleotide variants and structural variants are not correlated. We predict significant future advances in structural variant science using 10x data analyzed with GROC-SVs and other read cloud-specific methods.

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• Blepharospasm in a Multiplex African-American Pedigree

  Blepharospasm (BSP) is a late-onset focal dystonia characterized by involuntary contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscles. Genetics plays an important role on the pathogenesis of BSP, especially in hereditary BSP families. In this project, a large African-American pedigree with BSP was phenotypically characterized and its relationship with known common dystonia genes was investigated with Sanger sequencing on dystonia genes such as THAP1, TOR1A and GNAL. And whole-exome sequencing (EXOME) of the proband was performed to identify all other dystonia-associated genes for potentially pathogenic SVs. A novel THAP1 SV (c.314T>C, p.L105S) was identified in the family, however, this SV did not co-segregate with blepharospasm in the pedigree. No pathogenic or likely pathogenic SVs in other dystonia-associated genes were identified with whole-exome sequencing. The current study makes available phenotype data and summary genotype data of n=12 family members (mutation absent/heterozygous for THAP1); whole exome sequencing data of one (het) subject are available through public SRA.

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• Genetics of Congenital Anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract

  The Genetics of Congenital Anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT) contributes data from unrelated individuals who were recruited at the Columbia University Medical Center (New York, USA), the Polish Registry of Congenital Malformations (Poland), the Universities of Parma, Bari, and Brescia, and the Gaslini Institute (Italy), the University of Skopje (Macedonia), and VUMC of Amsterdam (Netherlands). These individuals consented to share their data for scientific discovery. The purpose of the study is to investigate the genetic architecture of CAKUT.  Additionally, part of the data in this study was generated from 418 DNA samples from the Randomized Intervention for Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux (RIVUR) study, and supplied by the NIDDK Central Repository. The RIVUR study was conducted by the RIVUR study investigators, and supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The Genetics of CAKUT study was not conducted in collaboration with investigators of the RIVUR study and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the RIVUR study, the NIDDK Central Repository, or the NIDDK. Genomic DNA samples were genotyped on Illumina Multi-Ethnic Global Arrays.

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• Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program: An Integrated Clinical and Genomic Analysis of Treatment Failure in Pediatric Osteosarcoma

  The Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) is a trans-NIH effort initiated in response to the 2014 Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act and supported by the NIH Common Fund. This program focuses on gene discovery in childhood cancers and structural birth defects and the development of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Data Resource (Kids First Data Resource). Both childhood cancers and structural birth defects are critical and costly conditions associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Elucidating the underlying genetic etiology of these diseases has the potential to profoundly improve preventative measures, diagnostics, and therapeutic interventions. All of the WGS and phenotypic data from this study are accessible through dbGaP and kidsfirstdrc.org, where other Kids First datasets can also be accessed. Although the survival of children with relapsed osteosarcoma is very poor, little is known about the etiology of treatment failure in this disease. The purpose of this project is to perform whole genome sequencing on serial samples from patients with osteosarcoma obtained before treatment, after treatment, and at relapse/metastasis in order to identify the mutations and pathways that are drivers of drug resistance. If successful, our results may help identify patients at high risk for treatment failure and may yield new treatments for children who cannot currently be cured.

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• Massachusetts General Hospital/Eisai National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Genetics Initiative Alzheimer's Disease GWAS - Affymetrix GeneChip Human Mapping 500K Array Set

  This study cohort was collected as part of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Alzheimer's disease Genetics Initiative Study. Recruitment of families, predominantly sibling, for the cohort was focused on local memory disorder clinics, nursing homes, and the surrounding community. Clinical evaluation was performed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Johns Hopkins University, and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Informed consent was obtained from all study participants, for participants with extensive cognitive impairment, a legal guardian or caregiver with power of attorney provided consent. To determine age of onset, a creditable informer was interviewed and medical records were evaluated.

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• Exome sequencing of autosomal recessive progressive external ophthalmoplegia (arPEO)

  Progressive external ophthalmoplegia (PEO) is an inherited mitochondrial disease that follows either autosomal dominant or recessive forms of inheritance (adPEO or arPEO). AdPEO is a genetically heterogeneous disease and several genes including POLG1 and C10orf2/Twinkle have been identified as responsible genes. On the other hand, POLG1 was the only established gene causing arPEO with mitochondrial DNA deletions. We previously reported a case of PEO with unidentified genetic etiology. The patient was born of a first-cousin marriage. Therefore, the recessive form of inheritance was suspected. To identify the disease causing variant in this patient, we subjected the patient's DNA to whole-exome sequencing and narrowed down the candidate variants using public data and runs of homozygosity analysis.

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• Genetic Effects on miRNA Expression During Mid-Gestation Neocortical Development

  In this study we aimed to find common genetic variants that influence miRNA expression during mid-gestation neocortical development. Small RNA-sequencing from 212 fetal cortical tissue samples between 14 and 21 weeks gestation were used to profile miRNA expression. Combined with donor genotypes, we were able to find miRNA-eQTLs during neocortical development. The dataset provided here includes 212 Small RNA-sequencing files in FASTQ format from cortical wall samples. Also provided here are 212 donor genotypes in PLINK format (hg19).

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• An APOBEC Cytidine Deaminase Mutagenesis in Human Cancers

  Reprinted from Roberts et al. "An APOBEC cytidine deaminase mutagenesis pattern is widespread in human cancers", Nature Genetics, 45:970-976, 2013, with permission of Nature Publishing Group: Recent studies indicate that a subclass of APOBEC cytidine deaminases, which convert cytosine to uracil during RNA editing and retrovirus or retrotransposon restriction, may induce mutation clusters in human tumors. We show here that throughout cancer genomes APOBEC-mediated mutagenesis is pervasive and correlates with APOBEC mRNA levels. Mutation clusters in whole-genome and exome data sets conformed to the stringent criteria indicative of an APOBEC mutation pattern. Applying these criteria to 954,247 mutations in 2,680 exomes from 14 cancer types, mostly from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), showed a significant presence of the APOBEC mutation pattern in bladder, cervical, breast, head and neck, and lung cancers, reaching 68% of all mutations in some samples. Within breast cancer, the HER2-enriched subtype was clearly enriched for tumors with the APOBEC mutation pattern, suggesting that this type of mutagenesis is functionally linked with cancer development. The APOBEC mutation pattern also extended to cancer-associated genes, implying that ubiquitous APOBEC-mediated mutagenesis is carcinogenic.

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• Phenotyping and Therapeutic Approaches for Patients with Sellar/Suprasellar Disorders

  The goal of the study is to phenotype and genotype patients with rare hypothalamic and pituitary disorders and identify biomarkers of disease diagnosis, presentation, and progression. We are investigating genetic mechanisms of pituitary tumorigenesis as well as genomic/transcriptomic markers of disease presentation and severity. Patients with suspected or confirmed hypothalamic and/or pituitary disorders and their family members are recruited. Biospecimens including peripheral blood, urine, tumor tissue (as available), and/or stool are collected. Genetic analysis may include a variety of techniques including peripheral blood or tumor tissue targeted Sanger sequencing of one or few genes, peripheral blood or tumor tissue whole exome sequencing, and other as applicable.

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• Epidemiological study comparing rates and risk factors for dementia in African Americans in Indianapolis and Yoruba living in Ibadan, Nigeria

  In 1991 collaboration between researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine and the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria established the Indianapolis-Ibadan Dementia Project. It is a longitudinal, prospective population-based comparative epidemiological study of the prevalence and incidence rates and risk factors of Alzheimer's disease and other age associated dementias. The project compares samples of community-dwelling elderly (age > 70 years) African Americans living in Indianapolis to Yoruba living in Ibadan, Nigeria, employing the same research design, methods, and investigators. It initially reported significantly lower prevalence rates of disorders in the Yoruba compared to the African Americans. In subsequent waves of the study (1994-1995, 1997-1998) incidence rates, rates of newly diagnosed cases, were also found to be significantly lower in the Yoruba. In genetic studies, the frequency of the APOE 4 allele was about the same in the two groups. APOE 4 was a significant risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and dementia in the Americans, while no association was found for the Yoruba. The APOE 2 allele appears to be protective in the Americans, but not the Yoruba. A constellation of factors often associated with vascular risk including a history of hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol levels is less common in the Yoruba than in the American group. An interaction was observed between cholesterol, APOE genotype and Alzheimer's disease in both study groups. In 2001-2002 survivors of the original cohort were once again evaluated (N~800 in each site) and 2,000 additional individuals age 70 years and older were enrolled in each site. Blood samples were collected from approximately 1,500 study participants in each site for genetic studies and analysis of biochemical risk factors for vascular disease. Subsequent waves of field work were conducted in 2004, 2007, 2009, and 2011. This fieldwork followed the classic two-stage study design. The study design involves an in-home screening interview with the study participant, which includes a cognitive assessment, medical history and current medications, brief neurological examination, height and weight, blood pressure measurement and assessment of social involvement. There is also a screening interview with a close relative of the study participant to assess activities of daily living, personality change, and medical history of the study participant. On the basis of the screening interview a sample of study participants (N~500 in each site) is selected for a full clinical diagnostic dementia work up which includes a neurological test battery, extensive interview with a family member and examination by a clinician. Diagnoses are made in a consensus diagnosis conference using the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition (DSM-III R) and International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) for dementia. The criteria of the National Institute for Neurological and Communicative Disease and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association were used to diagnose possible and probable Alzheimer's disease. The focus of the study is risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer's disease, but also of particular importance is the question of mild cognitive impairment. This refers to the condition of having some decline in cognition but the decline is not sufficient to meet the criteria for dementia. We have studied this over the course of this project. In follow up studies of individuals who have this diagnosis about one third of them are better at follow up, about a third are about the same, and about a third decline more to meet the criteria for dementia. This is a very important issue for researchers because the ultimate goal of the research is to figure out how to identify the individuals who will definitely progress to dementia. If there are clear identifiers, it would be possible to make interventions, while individuals still function well, and possibly prevent the development of dementia altogether or delay the onset significantly. This is crucial because at the moment individuals usually do not enter into the medical care system until the dementia symptoms are quite severe, and the pathological damage to the brain cannot be undone.

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• National Institute on Aging - Late Onset Alzheimer's Disease Family Study: Genome-Wide Association Study for Susceptibility Loci

  Alzheimer disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder of the elderly affecting an estimated five million Americans. Genetic factors contribute to the risk for disease with heritability estimates ranging from 57% to 79%. More than a decade ago, the ε4 variant of APOE was identified and remains the most consistently replicated genetic variant influencing the risk of late onset Alzheimer disease. A segregation analysis suggests there may be four additional genes influencing the age-at-onset of Alzheimer disease. In 2007 there were 968 association studies in 398 candidate genes reported, but none replicated consistently. There are many reasons for the lack of consistency, but one important reason for the lack of progress is the paucity of a sufficient number of well characterized families and patients available to the entire scientific community. The extensive effort and expense required to ascertain such a population has been addressed by the NIA-LOAD Family Study. Its goal is to identify and recruit families with two or more siblings with the late-onset form of Alzheimer's disease and a cohort of unrelated, non-demented controls similar in age and ethnic background, and to make the samples, the clinical and genotyping data and preliminary analyses available to qualified investigators world-wide. Genotyping by the Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) was performed using the Illumina Infinium II assay protocol with hybridization to Illumina Human 610Quadv1_B Beadchips. This genotyping represents the largest collection of families ever assembled with Alzheimer's disease combining the NIA-LOAD Genetics Initiative Multiplex Family Study, the National Cell Repository for Alzheimer's Disease (NCRAD) with additional controls from the University of Kentucky. These genotyping results will serve as a focal point for future research that will identify all of the remaining genetic variants in Alzheimer's disease.

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• Genomics of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

  Despite the growing incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) due to increased hepatitis C virus infection and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in Western populations, the genetic determinants of this cancer have yet to be established. A minority (15-20%) of HCC occurs in livers without cirrhosis or other chronic disease. Because the liver is functionally preserved in these patients and surgical resection of the tumor may be performed safely, and because of the scarcity of livers available for transplantation, non-cirrhotic patients undergo surgical resection for HCC treatment. These resected tumors present investigatory opportunities in two ways: First, they provide tumor specimen which have not been treated with chemotherapy and embolization. Second, the absence of cirrhosis may provide an unconfounded background from which to investigate the genetic tumorigenesis of HCC. In livers with cirrhosis, genetic instability is prevalent as assessed by assays for microsatellite instability, loss of heterozygosity and aberrant DNA methylation. In contrast, in livers without cirrhosis, the non-tumor tissue surrounding HCC have been found to have fewer genetic aberrations. It has been postulated that the pathologic process of cirrhosis may result in the accumulation of many "passenger"; as well as "driver" mutations, and that the examination of the HCC cancer genome may be facilitated in non-cirrhotic livers because of the absence of an accumulated background noise of mutations.

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• Neurogenetic Investigations of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

  Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling early-onset neuropsychiatric disorder with a clear genetic contribution to risk but unclear underlying pathophysiology, which has hindered the development of new treatments and interventions. This study uses high-throughput sequencing approaches to identify OCD risk genes, detect gene expression differences in OCD, and determine epigenetic signatures driving gene expression in OCD brain. These studies will improve our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of OCD and identify points of traction for mechanistic studies in model systems, ultimately leading to novel therapeutics, and reducing the significant morbidity and mortality associated with this disabling illness. Furthermore, insights gained in these studies can inform gene discovery approaches to other complex neuropsychiatric disorders.

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• MP2PRT: Identification of Genetic Changes Associated with Relapse and/or Adaptive Resistance in Patients Registered as Favorable Histology Wilms Tumor on AREN03B2

  The Molecular Profiling to Predict Response to Treatment (MP2PRT) program is part of the NCI's Cancer Moonshot Initiative. The aim of this program is the retrospective characterization and analysis of biospecimens collected from completed NCI-sponsored trials of the National Clinical Trials Network and the NCI Community Oncology Research Program. This study, titled "Identification of Genetic Changes Associated with Relapse and/or Adaptive Resistance in Patients Registered as Favorable Histology Wilms Tumor on AREN03B2", performs genomic characterization (WGS 30X, Total RNAseq, miRNAseq) on a discovery set of 70 trio cases (normal tissue, tumor tissue at time of diagnosis, tumor tissue at time of relapse) from patients who relapsed with Favorable Histology Wilms Tumor. Prioritized findings from the discovery set will be validated using Targeted Sequencing in an independent validation set of 47 relapse samples.

  Study phs001965

• Genetic Epidemiology of Refractive Error in the KORA (Kooperative Gesundheitsforschung in der Region Augsburg) Study

  KORA ("Kooperative Gesundheitsforschung in der Region Augsburg" which translates as "Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg") is a population based study of adults randomly selected from 430,000 inhabitants living in Augsburg and 16 surrounding counties in Germany. The collection was done in 4 separate groups from 1984-2001 (S1-S4). One of the KORA groups, S3/F3, will be utilized for our GWAS because it is the only group with refractive error (RE) measurements. Consequent to informed consent, each of the surveys sampled subjects from ten strata according to age (range 25-74 years) and sex (equal ratio) with a minimum stratum size of > 400 subjects. In the KORA S3 study 4,856 subjects were studied between 1994 and 1995, and 3,006 individuals from S3 returned for follow up between 2003 and 2005 (S3/F3). For this refractive error study, we are including 1,981 subjects from S3/F3 (mean age 55.7, range 35-84). For each subject, eyeglass prescriptions were measured in addition to an evaluation by the Nikon Retinomax. Subjects with predisposing medical conditions, i.e., connective tissue disorders, and ocular conditions i.e., cataract and corneal opacities, that might predispose them to refractive error will not be included for genotyping. Whole genome association genotyping will be performed to determine common alleles that contribute to the variation of the quantitative trait of refractive error.

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• The Role of CDX2 in Controlling ABCB1 Expression and Chemosensitivity in Human Colon Cancer

  This study reports the results of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) experiments performed on two human colon cancer cell lines (HT-29, DLD-1) that were genetically engineered to achieve either the constitutive expression (in HT-29 cells) or the selective inactivation (in DLD-1 cells) of the transcription factor CDX2, a master regulator of embryonic gut development and a key regulator of multi-lineage differentiation in adult colon epithelial cells. Our previous studies had identified lack of CDX2 expression as a prognostic biomarker of poor prognosis and a predictive biomarker of benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in Stage-II and Stage-III colon cancer patients (Dalerba et al., NEJM, 374:211-222, 2016; PMID: 26789870). The molecular basis of these associations, however, remained poorly understood. The present study was designed to identify which genes are under the transcriptional control of CDX2, in order to clarify their role in shaping colon cancer resistance to chemotherapy. Of the two lines included in this study, the first (HT-29) is CDX2-negative at baseline, and was infected with a lentivirus vector encoding for the cDNA of the human CDX2 gene under the control of a constitutive promoter (CMV). The second line (DLD-1) is CDX2-positive at baseline, and was infected with a series of lentivirus vectors encoding for CRISPR/Cas9 constructs designed to selectively inactivate the CDX2 gene. In both cases, infected cells were purified by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), based on the differential expression of a green fluorescent reporter (EGFP) that was also encoded by the lentivirus vectors, and transcribed in tandem with either the CDX2 cDNA (HT-29) or CRISPR/Cas9 gRNAs targeting CDX2 (DLD-1). The experiments were designed to include 3 experimental replicates per condition, and to compare the transcriptional profile of genetically engineered cells with that of autologous controls (i.e., HT-29 cells infected with an "empty" version of the same lentivirus vector used to over-express CDX2, DLD-1 cells engineered with a "non-targeting" CRISPR/Cas9 gRNA). In the specific case of DLD-1 cells engineered with CRIPSR-Cas9 constructs targeting CDX2, infected cells were sorted based on the differential expression of EGFP and then plated as single-cells, in order to sub-culture three isogenic clones, all of which were genetically sequenced to confirm bi-allelic knock-out of the CDX2 gene, and confirmed to lack CDX2 protein expression by Western blot. The results of our experiments demonstrate that, in human colon epithelial cells, CDX2 controls the expression of the ABCB1 efflux pump, by positively regulating the transcription of the corresponding gene.

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