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Sample records for human cancer genome

  1. Human Cancer Models Initiative | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI) is an international consortium that is generating novel human tumor-derived culture models, which are annotated with genomic and clinical data. In an effort to advance cancer research and more fully understand how in vitro findings are related to clinical biology, HCMI-developed models and related data will be available as a community resource for cancer research.

  2. Fenton reaction induced cancer in wild type rats recapitulates genomic alterations observed in human cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shinya Akatsuka

    Full Text Available Iron overload has been associated with carcinogenesis in humans. Intraperitoneal administration of ferric nitrilotriacetate initiates a Fenton reaction in renal proximal tubules of rodents that ultimately leads to a high incidence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC after repeated treatments. We performed high-resolution microarray comparative genomic hybridization to identify characteristics in the genomic profiles of this oxidative stress-induced rat RCCs. The results revealed extensive large-scale genomic alterations with a preference for deletions. Deletions and amplifications were numerous and sometimes fragmented, demonstrating that a Fenton reaction is a cause of such genomic alterations in vivo. Frequency plotting indicated that two of the most commonly altered loci corresponded to a Cdkn2a/2b deletion and a Met amplification. Tumor sizes were proportionally associated with Met expression and/or amplification, and clustering analysis confirmed our results. Furthermore, we developed a procedure to compare whole genomic patterns of the copy number alterations among different species based on chromosomal syntenic relationship. Patterns of the rat RCCs showed the strongest similarity to the human RCCs among five types of human cancers, followed by human malignant mesothelioma, an iron overload-associated cancer. Therefore, an iron-dependent Fenton chemical reaction causes large-scale genomic alterations during carcinogenesis, which may result in distinct genomic profiles. Based on the characteristics of extensive genome alterations in human cancer, our results suggest that this chemical reaction may play a major role during human carcinogenesis.

  3. Distinct p53 genomic binding patterns in normal and cancer-derived human cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Botcheva K.; McCorkle S. R.; McCombie W. R.; Dunn J. J.; Anderson C. W.

    2011-12-15

    We report here genome-wide analysis of the tumor suppressor p53 binding sites in normal human cells. 743 high-confidence ChIP-seq peaks representing putative genomic binding sites were identified in normal IMR90 fibroblasts using a reference chromatin sample. More than 40% were located within 2 kb of a transcription start site (TSS), a distribution similar to that documented for individually studied, functional p53 binding sites and, to date, not observed by previous p53 genome-wide studies. Nearly half of the high-confidence binding sites in the IMR90 cells reside in CpG islands, in marked contrast to sites reported in cancer-derived cells. The distinct genomic features of the IMR90 binding sites do not reflect a distinct preference for specific sequences, since the de novo developed p53 motif based on our study is similar to those reported by genome-wide studies of cancer cells. More likely, the different chromatin landscape in normal, compared with cancer-derived cells, influences p53 binding via modulating availability of the sites. We compared the IMR90 ChIPseq peaks to the recently published IMR90 methylome1 and demonstrated that they are enriched at hypomethylated DNA. Our study represents the first genome-wide, de novo mapping of p53 binding sites in normal human cells and reveals that p53 binding sites reside in distinct genomic landscapes in normal and cancer-derived human cells.

  4. Open reading frames associated with cancer in the dark matter of the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delgado, Ana Paula; Brandao, Pamela; Chapado, Maria Julia; Hamid, Sheilin; Narayanan, Ramaswamy

    2014-01-01

    The uncharacterized proteins (open reading frames, ORFs) in the human genome offer an opportunity to discover novel targets for cancer. A systematic analysis of the dark matter of the human proteome for druggability and biomarker discovery is crucial to mining the genome. Numerous data mining tools are available to mine these ORFs to develop a comprehensive knowledge base for future target discovery and validation. Using the Genetic Association Database, the ORFs of the human dark matter proteome were screened for evidence of association with neoplasms. The Phenome-Genome Integrator tool was used to establish phenotypic association with disease traits including cancer. Batch analysis of the tools for protein expression analysis, gene ontology and motifs and domains was used to characterize the ORFs. Sixty-two ORFs were identified for neoplasm association. The expression Quantitative Trait Loci (eQTL) analysis identified thirteen ORFs related to cancer traits. Protein expression, motifs and domain analysis and genome-wide association studies verified the relevance of these OncoORFs in diverse tumors. The OncoORFs are also associated with a wide variety of human diseases and disorders. Our results link the OncoORFs to diverse diseases and disorders. This suggests a complex landscape of the uncharacterized proteome in human diseases. These results open the dark matter of the proteome to novel cancer target research. Copyright© 2014, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

  5. Human Papillomavirus Genome Integration and Head and Neck Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinatti, L M; Walline, H M; Carey, T E

    2018-06-01

    We conducted a critical review of human papillomavirus (HPV) integration into the host genome in oral/oropharyngeal cancer, reviewed the literature for HPV-induced cancers, and obtained current data for HPV-related oral and oropharyngeal cancers. In addition, we performed studies to identify HPV integration sites and the relationship of integration to viral-host fusion transcripts and whether integration is required for HPV-associated oncogenesis. Viral integration of HPV into the host genome is not required for the viral life cycle and might not be necessary for cellular transformation, yet HPV integration is frequently reported in cervical and head and neck cancer specimens. Studies of large numbers of early cervical lesions revealed frequent viral integration into gene-poor regions of the host genome with comparatively rare integration into cellular genes, suggesting that integration is a stochastic event and that site of integration may be largely a function of chance. However, more recent studies of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) suggest that integration may represent an additional oncogenic mechanism through direct effects on cancer-related gene expression and generation of hybrid viral-host fusion transcripts. In HNSCC cell lines as well as primary tumors, integration into cancer-related genes leading to gene disruption has been reported. The studies have shown that integration-induced altered gene expression may be associated with tumor recurrence. Evidence from several studies indicates that viral integration into genic regions is accompanied by local amplification, increased expression in some cases, interruption of gene expression, and likely additional oncogenic effects. Similarly, reported examples of viral integration near microRNAs suggest that altered expression of these regulatory molecules may also contribute to oncogenesis. Future work is indicated to identify the mechanisms of these events on cancer cell behavior.

  6. Human genetics and genomics a decade after the release of the draft sequence of the human genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Substantial progress has been made in human genetics and genomics research over the past ten years since the publication of the draft sequence of the human genome in 2001. Findings emanating directly from the Human Genome Project, together with those from follow-on studies, have had an enormous impact on our understanding of the architecture and function of the human genome. Major developments have been made in cataloguing genetic variation, the International HapMap Project, and with respect to advances in genotyping technologies. These developments are vital for the emergence of genome-wide association studies in the investigation of complex diseases and traits. In parallel, the advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies has ushered in the 'personal genome sequencing' era for both normal and cancer genomes, and made possible large-scale genome sequencing studies such as the 1000 Genomes Project and the International Cancer Genome Consortium. The high-throughput sequencing and sequence-capture technologies are also providing new opportunities to study Mendelian disorders through exome sequencing and whole-genome sequencing. This paper reviews these major developments in human genetics and genomics over the past decade. PMID:22155605

  7. Modeling the integration of bacterial rRNA fragments into the human cancer genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sieber, Karsten B; Gajer, Pawel; Dunning Hotopp, Julie C

    2016-03-21

    Cancer is a disease driven by the accumulation of genomic alterations, including the integration of exogenous DNA into the human somatic genome. We previously identified in silico evidence of DNA fragments from a Pseudomonas-like bacteria integrating into the 5'-UTR of four proto-oncogenes in stomach cancer sequencing data. The functional and biological consequences of these bacterial DNA integrations remain unknown. Modeling of these integrations suggests that the previously identified sequences cover most of the sequence flanking the junction between the bacterial and human DNA. Further examination of these reads reveals that these integrations are rich in guanine nucleotides and the integrated bacterial DNA may have complex transcript secondary structures. The models presented here lay the foundation for future experiments to test if bacterial DNA integrations alter the transcription of the human genes.

  8. Integrative Annotation of Variants from 1092 Humans: Application to Cancer Genomics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Khurana, Ekta; Fu, Yao; Colonna, Vincenza

    2013-01-01

    Identifying Important Identifiers Each of us has millions of sequence variations in our genomes. Signatures of purifying or negative selection should help identify which of those variations is functionally important. Khurana et al. (1235587) used sequence polymorphisms from 1092 humans across 14...... sites tended to occur in network hub promoters. Many recurrent somatic cancer variants occurred in noncoding regulatory regions and thus might indicate mutations that drive cancer....

  9. The expanding universe of cohesin functions: a new genome stability caretaker involved in human disease and cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mannini, Linda; Menga, Stefania; Musio, Antonio

    2010-06-01

    Cohesin is responsible for sister chromatid cohesion, ensuring the correct chromosome segregation. Beyond this role, cohesin and regulatory cohesin genes seem to play a role in preserving genome stability and gene transcription regulation. DNA damage is thought to be a major culprit for many human diseases, including cancer. Our present knowledge of the molecular basis underlying genome instability is extremely limited. Mutations in cohesin genes cause human diseases such as Cornelia de Lange syndrome and Roberts syndrome/SC phocomelia, and all the cell lines derived from affected patients show genome instability. Cohesin mutations have also been identified in colorectal cancer. Here, we will discuss the human disorders caused by alterations of cohesin function, with emphasis on the emerging role of cohesin as a genome stability caretaker.

  10. Understanding the development of human bladder cancer by using a whole-organ genomic mapping strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majewski, Tadeusz; Lee, Sangkyou; Jeong, Joon; Yoon, Dong-Sup; Kram, Andrzej; Kim, Mi-Sook; Tuziak, Tomasz; Bondaruk, Jolanta; Lee, Sooyong; Park, Weon-Seo; Tang, Kuang S; Chung, Woonbok; Shen, Lanlan; Ahmed, Saira S; Johnston, Dennis A; Grossman, H Barton; Dinney, Colin P; Zhou, Jain-Hua; Harris, R Alan; Snyder, Carrie; Filipek, Slawomir; Narod, Steven A; Watson, Patrice; Lynch, Henry T; Gazdar, Adi; Bar-Eli, Menashe; Wu, Xifeng F; McConkey, David J; Baggerly, Keith; Issa, Jean-Pierre; Benedict, William F; Scherer, Steven E; Czerniak, Bogdan

    2008-07-01

    The search for the genomic sequences involved in human cancers can be greatly facilitated by maps of genomic imbalances identifying the involved chromosomal regions, particularly those that participate in the development of occult preneoplastic conditions that progress to clinically aggressive invasive cancer. The integration of such regions with human genome sequence variation may provide valuable clues about their overall structure and gene content. By extension, such knowledge may help us understand the underlying genetic components involved in the initiation and progression of these cancers. We describe the development of a genome-wide map of human bladder cancer that tracks its progression from in situ precursor conditions to invasive disease. Testing for allelic losses using a genome-wide panel of 787 microsatellite markers was performed on multiple DNA samples, extracted from the entire mucosal surface of the bladder and corresponding to normal urothelium, in situ preneoplastic lesions, and invasive carcinoma. Using this approach, we matched the clonal allelic losses in distinct chromosomal regions to specific phases of bladder neoplasia and produced a detailed genetic map of bladder cancer development. These analyses revealed three major waves of genetic changes associated with growth advantages of successive clones and reflecting a stepwise conversion of normal urothelial cells into cancer cells. The genetic changes map to six regions at 3q22-q24, 5q22-q31, 9q21-q22, 10q26, 13q14, and 17p13, which may represent critical hits driving the development of bladder cancer. Finally, we performed high-resolution mapping using single nucleotide polymorphism markers within one region on chromosome 13q14, containing the model tumor suppressor gene RB1, and defined a minimal deleted region associated with clonal expansion of in situ neoplasia. These analyses provided new insights on the involvement of several non-coding sequences mapping to the region and identified

  11. Genome scale metabolic modeling of cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nilsson, Avlant; Nielsen, Jens

    2017-01-01

    of metabolism which allows simulation and hypotheses testing of metabolic strategies. It has successfully been applied to many microorganisms and is now used to study cancer metabolism. Generic models of human metabolism have been reconstructed based on the existence of metabolic genes in the human genome......Cancer cells reprogram metabolism to support rapid proliferation and survival. Energy metabolism is particularly important for growth and genes encoding enzymes involved in energy metabolism are frequently altered in cancer cells. A genome scale metabolic model (GEM) is a mathematical formalization...

  12. Identifying anti-growth factors for human cancer cell lines through genome-scale metabolic modeling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ghaffari, Pouyan; Mardinoglu, Adil; Asplund, Anna

    2015-01-01

    Human cancer cell lines are used as important model systems to study molecular mechanisms associated with tumor growth, hereunder how genomic and biological heterogeneity found in primary tumors affect cellular phenotypes. We reconstructed Genome scale metabolic models (GEMs) for eleven cell lines...... based on RNA-Seq data and validated the functionality of these models with data from metabolite profiling. We used cell line-specific GEMs to analyze the differences in the metabolism of cancer cell lines, and to explore the heterogeneous expression of the metabolic subsystems. Furthermore, we predicted...... for inhibition of cell growth may provide leads for the development of efficient cancer treatment strategies....

  13. Genomic and Functional Approaches to Understanding Cancer Aneuploidy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Taylor, Alison M.; Shih, Juliann; Ha, Gavin; Gao, Galen F.; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Berger, Ashton C.; Schumacher, Steven E.; Wang, Chen; Hu, Hai; Liu, Jianfang; Lazar, Alexander J.; Caesar-Johnson, Samantha J.; Demchok, John A.; Felau, Ina; Kasapi, Melpomeni; Ferguson, Martin L.; Hutter, Carolyn M.; Sofia, Heidi J.; Tarnuzzer, Roy; Wang, Zhining; Yang, Liming; Zenklusen, Jean C.; Zhang, Jiashan (Julia); Chudamani, Sudha; Liu, Jia; Lolla, Laxmi; Naresh, Rashi; Pihl, Todd; Sun, Qiang; Wan, Yunhu; Wu, Ye; Cho, Juok; DeFreitas, Timothy; Frazer, Scott; Gehlenborg, Nils; Getz, Gad; Heiman, David I.; Kim, Jaegil; Lawrence, Michael S.; Lin, Pei; Meier, Sam; Noble, Michael S.; Saksena, Gordon; Voet, Doug; Zhang, Hailei; Bernard, Brady; Chambwe, Nyasha; Dhankani, Varsha; Knijnenburg, Theo; Kramer, Roger; Leinonen, Kalle; Liu, Yuexin; Miller, Michael; Reynolds, Sheila; Shmulevich, Ilya; Thorsson, Vesteinn; Zhang, Wei; Akbani, Rehan; Broom, Bradley M.; Hegde, Apurva M.; Ju, Zhenlin; Kanchi, Rupa S.; Korkut, Anil; Li, Jun; Liang, Han; Ling, Shiyun; Liu, Wenbin; Lu, Yiling; Mills, Gordon B.; Ng, Kwok Shing; Rao, Arvind; Ryan, Michael; Wang, Jing; Weinstein, John N.; Zhang, Jiexin; Abeshouse, Adam; Armenia, Joshua; Chakravarty, Debyani; Chatila, Walid K.; de Bruijn, Ino; Gao, Jianjiong; Gross, Benjamin E.; Heins, Zachary J.; Kundra, Ritika; La, Konnor; Ladanyi, Marc; Luna, Augustin; Nissan, Moriah G.; Ochoa, Angelica; Phillips, Sarah M.; Reznik, Ed; Sanchez-Vega, Francisco; Sander, Chris; Schultz, Nikolaus; Sheridan, Robert; Sumer, S. Onur; Sun, Yichao; Taylor, Barry S.; Wang, Jioajiao; Zhang, Hongxin; Anur, Pavana; Peto, Myron; Spellman, Paul; Benz, Christopher; Stuart, Joshua M.; Wong, Christopher K.; Yau, Christina; Hayes, D. Neil; Parker, Joel S.; Wilkerson, Matthew D.; Ally, Adrian; Balasundaram, Miruna; Bowlby, Reanne; Brooks, Denise; Carlsen, Rebecca; Chuah, Eric; Dhalla, Noreen; Holt, Robert; Jones, Steven J.M.; Kasaian, Katayoon; Lee, Darlene; Ma, Yussanne; Marra, Marco A.; Mayo, Michael; Moore, Richard A.; Mungall, Andrew J.; Mungall, Karen; Robertson, A. Gordon; Sadeghi, Sara; Schein, Jacqueline E.; Sipahimalani, Payal; Tam, Angela; Thiessen, Nina; Tse, Kane; Wong, Tina; Berger, Ashton C.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Cibulskis, Carrie; Gabriel, Stacey B.; Gao, Galen F.; Ha, Gavin; Meyerson, Matthew; Schumacher, Steven E.; Shih, Juliann; Kucherlapati, Melanie H.; Kucherlapati, Raju S.; Baylin, Stephen; Cope, Leslie; Danilova, Ludmila; Bootwalla, Moiz S.; Lai, Phillip H.; Maglinte, Dennis T.; Van Den Berg, David J.; Weisenberger, Daniel J.; Auman, J. Todd; Balu, Saianand; Bodenheimer, Tom; Fan, Cheng; Hoadley, Katherine A.; Hoyle, Alan P.; Jefferys, Stuart R.; Jones, Corbin D.; Meng, Shaowu; Mieczkowski, Piotr A.; Mose, Lisle E.; Perou, Amy H.; Perou, Charles M.; Roach, Jeffrey; Shi, Yan; Simons, Janae V.; Skelly, Tara; Soloway, Matthew G.; Tan, Donghui; Veluvolu, Umadevi; Fan, Huihui; Hinoue, Toshinori; Laird, Peter W.; Shen, Hui; Zhou, Wanding; Bellair, Michelle; Chang, Kyle; Covington, Kyle; Creighton, Chad J.; Dinh, Huyen; Doddapaneni, Harsha Vardhan; Donehower, Lawrence A.; Drummond, Jennifer; Gibbs, Richard A.; Glenn, Robert; Hale, Walker; Han, Yi; Hu, Jianhong; Korchina, Viktoriya; Lee, Sandra; Lewis, Lora; Li, Wei; Liu, Xiuping; Morgan, Margaret; Morton, Donna; Muzny, Donna; Santibanez, Jireh; Sheth, Margi; Shinbrot, Eve; Wang, Linghua; Wang, Min; Wheeler, David A.; Xi, Liu; Zhao, Fengmei; Hess, Julian; Appelbaum, Elizabeth L.; Bailey, Matthew; Cordes, Matthew G.; Ding, Li; Fronick, Catrina C.; Fulton, Lucinda A.; Fulton, Robert S.; Kandoth, Cyriac; Mardis, Elaine R.; McLellan, Michael D.; Miller, Christopher A.; Schmidt, Heather K.; Wilson, Richard K.; Crain, Daniel; Curley, Erin; Gardner, Johanna; Lau, Kevin; Mallery, David; Morris, Scott; Paulauskis, Joseph; Penny, Robert; Shelton, Candace; Shelton, Troy; Sherman, Mark; Thompson, Eric; Yena, Peggy; Bowen, Jay; Gastier-Foster, Julie M.; Gerken, Mark; Leraas, Kristen M.; Lichtenberg, Tara M.; Ramirez, Nilsa C.; Wise, Lisa; Zmuda, Erik; Corcoran, Niall; Costello, Tony; Hovens, Christopher; Carvalho, Andre L.; de Carvalho, Ana C.; Fregnani, José H.; Longatto-Filho, Adhemar; Reis, Rui M.; Scapulatempo-Neto, Cristovam; Silveira, Henrique C.S.; Vidal, Daniel O.; Burnette, Andrew; Eschbacher, Jennifer; Hermes, Beth; Noss, Ardene; Singh, Rosy; Anderson, Matthew L.; Castro, Patricia D.; Ittmann, Michael; Huntsman, David; Kohl, Bernard; Le, Xuan; Thorp, Richard; Andry, Chris; Duffy, Elizabeth R.; Lyadov, Vladimir; Paklina, Oxana; Setdikova, Galiya; Shabunin, Alexey; Tavobilov, Mikhail; McPherson, Christopher; Warnick, Ronald; Berkowitz, Ross; Cramer, Daniel; Feltmate, Colleen; Horowitz, Neil; Kibel, Adam; Muto, Michael; Raut, Chandrajit P.; Malykh, Andrei; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S.; Barrett, Wendi; Devine, Karen; Fulop, Jordonna; Ostrom, Quinn T.; Shimmel, Kristen; Wolinsky, Yingli; Sloan, Andrew E.; De Rose, Agostino; Giuliante, Felice; Goodman, Marc; Karlan, Beth Y.; Hagedorn, Curt H.; Eckman, John; Harr, Jodi; Myers, Jerome; Tucker, Kelinda; Zach, Leigh Anne; Deyarmin, Brenda; Hu, Hai; Kvecher, Leonid; Larson, Caroline; Mural, Richard J.; Somiari, Stella; Vicha, Ales; Zelinka, Tomas; Bennett, Joseph; Iacocca, Mary; Rabeno, Brenda; Swanson, Patricia; Latour, Mathieu; Lacombe, Louis; Têtu, Bernard; Bergeron, Alain; McGraw, Mary; Staugaitis, Susan M.; Chabot, John; Hibshoosh, Hanina; Sepulveda, Antonia; Su, Tao; Wang, Timothy; Potapova, Olga; Voronina, Olga; Desjardins, Laurence; Mariani, Odette; Roman-Roman, Sergio; Sastre, Xavier; Stern, Marc Henri; Cheng, Feixiong; Signoretti, Sabina; Berchuck, Andrew; Bigner, Darell; Lipp, Eric; Marks, Jeffrey; McCall, Shannon; McLendon, Roger; Secord, Angeles; Sharp, Alexis; Behera, Madhusmita; Brat, Daniel J.; Chen, Amy; Delman, Keith; Force, Seth; Khuri, Fadlo; Magliocca, Kelly; Maithel, Shishir; Olson, Jeffrey J.; Owonikoko, Taofeek; Pickens, Alan; Ramalingam, Suresh; Shin, Dong M.; Sica, Gabriel; Van Meir, Erwin G.; Zhang, Hongzheng; Eijckenboom, Wil; Gillis, Ad; Korpershoek, Esther; Looijenga, Leendert; Oosterhuis, Wolter; Stoop, Hans; van Kessel, Kim E.; Zwarthoff, Ellen C.; Calatozzolo, Chiara; Cuppini, Lucia; Cuzzubbo, Stefania; DiMeco, Francesco; Finocchiaro, Gaetano; Mattei, Luca; Perin, Alessandro; Pollo, Bianca; Chen, Chu; Houck, John; Lohavanichbutr, Pawadee; Hartmann, Arndt; Stoehr, Christine; Stoehr, Robert; Taubert, Helge; Wach, Sven; Wullich, Bernd; Kycler, Witold; Murawa, Dawid; Wiznerowicz, Maciej; Chung, Ki; Edenfield, W. Jeffrey; Martin, Julie; Baudin, Eric; Bubley, Glenn; Bueno, Raphael; De Rienzo, Assunta; Richards, William G.; Kalkanis, Steven; Mikkelsen, Tom; Noushmehr, Houtan; Scarpace, Lisa; Girard, Nicolas; Aymerich, Marta; Campo, Elias; Giné, Eva; Guillermo, Armando López; Van Bang, Nguyen; Hanh, Phan Thi; Phu, Bui Duc; Tang, Yufang; Colman, Howard; Evason, Kimberley; Dottino, Peter R.; Martignetti, John A.; Gabra, Hani; Juhl, Hartmut; Akeredolu, Teniola; Stepa, Serghei; Hoon, Dave; Ahn, Keunsoo; Kang, Koo Jeong; Beuschlein, Felix; Breggia, Anne; Birrer, Michael; Bell, Debra; Borad, Mitesh; Bryce, Alan H.; Castle, Erik; Chandan, Vishal; Cheville, John; Copland, John A.; Farnell, Michael; Flotte, Thomas; Giama, Nasra; Ho, Thai; Kendrick, Michael; Kocher, Jean Pierre; Kopp, Karla; Moser, Catherine; Nagorney, David; O'Brien, Daniel; O'Neill, Brian Patrick; Patel, Tushar; Petersen, Gloria; Que, Florencia; Rivera, Michael; Roberts, Lewis; Smallridge, Robert; Smyrk, Thomas; Stanton, Melissa; Thompson, R. Houston; Torbenson, Michael; Yang, Ju Dong; Zhang, Lizhi; Brimo, Fadi; Ajani, Jaffer A.; Angulo Gonzalez, Ana Maria; Behrens, Carmen; Bondaruk, Jolanta; Broaddus, Russell; Czerniak, Bogdan; Esmaeli, Bita; Fujimoto, Junya; Gershenwald, Jeffrey; Guo, Charles; Lazar, Alexander J.; Logothetis, Christopher; Meric-Bernstam, Funda; Moran, Cesar; Ramondetta, Lois; Rice, David; Sood, Anil; Tamboli, Pheroze; Thompson, Timothy; Troncoso, Patricia; Tsao, Anne; Wistuba, Ignacio; Carter, Candace; Haydu, Lauren; Hersey, Peter; Jakrot, Valerie; Kakavand, Hojabr; Kefford, Richard; Lee, Kenneth; Long, Georgina; Mann, Graham; Quinn, Michael; Saw, Robyn; Scolyer, Richard; Shannon, Kerwin; Spillane, Andrew; Stretch, Jonathan; Synott, Maria; Thompson, John; Wilmott, James; Al-Ahmadie, Hikmat; Chan, Timothy A.; Ghossein, Ronald; Gopalan, Anuradha; Levine, Douglas A.; Reuter, Victor; Singer, Samuel; Singh, Bhuvanesh; Tien, Nguyen Viet; Broudy, Thomas; Mirsaidi, Cyrus; Nair, Praveen; Drwiega, Paul; Miller, Judy; Smith, Jennifer; Zaren, Howard; Park, Joong Won; Hung, Nguyen Phi; Kebebew, Electron; Linehan, W. Marston; Metwalli, Adam R.; Pacak, Karel; Pinto, Peter A.; Schiffman, Mark; Schmidt, Laura S.; Vocke, Cathy D.; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Worrell, Robert; Yang, Hannah; Moncrieff, Marc; Goparaju, Chandra; Melamed, Jonathan; Pass, Harvey; Botnariuc, Natalia; Caraman, Irina; Cernat, Mircea; Chemencedji, Inga; Clipca, Adrian; Doruc, Serghei; Gorincioi, Ghenadie; Mura, Sergiu; Pirtac, Maria; Stancul, Irina; Tcaciuc, Diana; Albert, Monique; Alexopoulou, Iakovina; Arnaout, Angel; Bartlett, John; Engel, Jay; Gilbert, Sebastien; Parfitt, Jeremy; Sekhon, Harman; Thomas, George; Rassl, Doris M.; Rintoul, Robert C.; Bifulco, Carlo; Tamakawa, Raina; Urba, Walter; Hayward, Nicholas; Timmers, Henri; Antenucci, Anna; Facciolo, Francesco; Grazi, Gianluca; Marino, Mirella; Merola, Roberta; de Krijger, Ronald; Gimenez-Roqueplo, Anne Paule; Piché, Alain; Chevalier, Simone; McKercher, Ginette; Birsoy, Kivanc; Barnett, Gene; Brewer, Cathy; Farver, Carol; Naska, Theresa; Pennell, Nathan A.; Raymond, Daniel; Schilero, Cathy; Smolenski, Kathy; Williams, Felicia; Morrison, Carl; Borgia, Jeffrey A.; Liptay, Michael J.; Pool, Mark; Seder, Christopher W.; Junker, Kerstin; Omberg, Larsson; Dinkin, Mikhail; Manikhas, George; Alvaro, Domenico; Bragazzi, Maria Consiglia; Cardinale, Vincenzo; Carpino, Guido; Gaudio, Eugenio; Chesla, David; Cottingham, Sandra; Dubina, Michael; Moiseenko, Fedor; Dhanasekaran, Renumathy; Becker, Karl Friedrich; Janssen, Klaus Peter; Slotta-Huspenina, Julia; Abdel-Rahman, Mohamed H.; Aziz, Dina; Bell, Sue; Cebulla, Colleen M.; Davis, Amy; Duell, Rebecca; Elder, J. Bradley; Hilty, Joe; Kumar, Bahavna; Lang, James; Lehman, Norman L.; Mandt, Randy; Nguyen, Phuong; Pilarski, Robert; Rai, Karan; Schoenfield, Lynn; Senecal, Kelly; Wakely, Paul; Hansen, Paul; Lechan, Ronald; Powers, James; Tischler, Arthur; Grizzle, William E.; Sexton, Katherine C.; Kastl, Alison; Henderson, Joel; Porten, Sima; Waldmann, Jens; Fassnacht, Martin; Asa, Sylvia L.; Schadendorf, Dirk; Couce, Marta; Graefen, Markus; Huland, Hartwig; Sauter, Guido; Schlomm, Thorsten; Simon, Ronald; Tennstedt, Pierre; Olabode, Oluwole; Nelson, Mark; Bathe, Oliver; Carroll, Peter R.; Chan, June M.; Disaia, Philip; Glenn, Pat; Kelley, Robin K.; Landen, Charles N.; Phillips, Joanna; Prados, Michael; Simko, Jeffry; Smith-McCune, Karen; VandenBerg, Scott; Roggin, Kevin; Fehrenbach, Ashley; Kendler, Ady; Sifri, Suzanne; Steele, Ruth; Jimeno, Antonio; Carey, Francis; Forgie, Ian; Mannelli, Massimo; Carney, Michael; Hernandez, Brenda; Campos, Benito; Herold-Mende, Christel; Jungk, Christin; Unterberg, Andreas; von Deimling, Andreas; Bossler, Aaron; Galbraith, Joseph; Jacobus, Laura; Knudson, Michael; Knutson, Tina; Ma, Deqin; Milhem, Mohammed; Sigmund, Rita; Godwin, Andrew K.; Madan, Rashna; Rosenthal, Howard G.; Adebamowo, Clement; Adebamowo, Sally N.; Boussioutas, Alex; Beer, David; Giordano, Thomas; Mes-Masson, Anne Marie; Saad, Fred; Bocklage, Therese; Landrum, Lisa; Mannel, Robert; Moore, Kathleen; Moxley, Katherine; Postier, Russel; Walker, Joan; Zuna, Rosemary; Feldman, Michael; Valdivieso, Federico; Dhir, Rajiv; Luketich, James; Mora Pinero, Edna M.; Quintero-Aguilo, Mario; Carlotti, Carlos Gilberto; Dos Santos, Jose Sebastião; Kemp, Rafael; Sankarankuty, Ajith; Tirapelli, Daniela; Catto, James; Agnew, Kathy; Swisher, Elizabeth; Creaney, Jenette; Robinson, Bruce; Shelley, Carl Simon; Godwin, Eryn M.; Kendall, Sara; Shipman, Cassaundra; Bradford, Carol; Carey, Thomas; Haddad, Andrea; Moyer, Jeffey; Peterson, Lisa; Prince, Mark; Rozek, Laura; Wolf, Gregory; Bowman, Rayleen; Fong, Kwun M.; Yang, Ian; Korst, Robert; Rathmell, W. Kimryn; Fantacone-Campbell, J. Leigh; Hooke, Jeffrey A.; Kovatich, Albert J.; Shriver, Craig D.; DiPersio, John; Drake, Bettina; Govindan, Ramaswamy; Heath, Sharon; Ley, Timothy; Van Tine, Brian; Westervelt, Peter; Rubin, Mark A.; Lee, Jung Il; Aredes, Natália D.; Mariamidze, Armaz; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Meyerson, Matthew

    2018-01-01

    Aneuploidy, whole chromosome or chromosome arm imbalance, is a near-universal characteristic of human cancers. In 10,522 cancer genomes from The Cancer Genome Atlas, aneuploidy was correlated with TP53 mutation, somatic mutation rate, and expression of proliferation genes. Aneuploidy was

  14. Human social genomics.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steven W Cole

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available A growing literature in human social genomics has begun to analyze how everyday life circumstances influence human gene expression. Social-environmental conditions such as urbanity, low socioeconomic status, social isolation, social threat, and low or unstable social status have been found to associate with differential expression of hundreds of gene transcripts in leukocytes and diseased tissues such as metastatic cancers. In leukocytes, diverse types of social adversity evoke a common conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA characterized by increased expression of proinflammatory genes and decreased expression of genes involved in innate antiviral responses and antibody synthesis. Mechanistic analyses have mapped the neural "social signal transduction" pathways that stimulate CTRA gene expression in response to social threat and may contribute to social gradients in health. Research has also begun to analyze the functional genomics of optimal health and thriving. Two emerging opportunities now stand to revolutionize our understanding of the everyday life of the human genome: network genomics analyses examining how systems-level capabilities emerge from groups of individual socially sensitive genomes and near-real-time transcriptional biofeedback to empirically optimize individual well-being in the context of the unique genetic, geographic, historical, developmental, and social contexts that jointly shape the transcriptional realization of our innate human genomic potential for thriving.

  15. The genomic analysis of lactic acidosis and acidosis response in human cancers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Ling-Yu Chen

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The tumor microenvironment has a significant impact on tumor development. Two important determinants in this environment are hypoxia and lactic acidosis. Although lactic acidosis has long been recognized as an important factor in cancer, relatively little is known about how cells respond to lactic acidosis and how that response relates to cancer phenotypes. We develop genome-scale gene expression studies to dissect transcriptional responses of primary human mammary epithelial cells to lactic acidosis and hypoxia in vitro and to explore how they are linked to clinical tumor phenotypes in vivo. The resulting experimental signatures of responses to lactic acidosis and hypoxia are evaluated in a heterogeneous set of breast cancer datasets. A strong lactic acidosis response signature identifies a subgroup of low-risk breast cancer patients having distinct metabolic profiles suggestive of a preference for aerobic respiration. The association of lactic acidosis response with good survival outcomes may relate to the role of lactic acidosis in directing energy generation toward aerobic respiration and utilization of other energy sources via inhibition of glycolysis. This "inhibition of glycolysis" phenotype in tumors is likely caused by the repression of glycolysis gene expression and Akt inhibition. Our study presents a genomic evaluation of the prognostic information of a lactic acidosis response independent of the hypoxic response. Our results identify causal roles of lactic acidosis in metabolic reprogramming, and the direct functional consequence of lactic acidosis pathway activity on cellular responses and tumor development. The study also demonstrates the utility of genomic analysis that maps expression-based findings from in vitro experiments to human samples to assess links to in vivo clinical phenotypes.

  16. Single-molecule optical genome mapping of a human HapMap and a colorectal cancer cell line.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teo, Audrey S M; Verzotto, Davide; Yao, Fei; Nagarajan, Niranjan; Hillmer, Axel M

    2015-01-01

    Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have changed our understanding of the variability of the human genome. However, the identification of genome structural variations based on NGS approaches with read lengths of 35-300 bases remains a challenge. Single-molecule optical mapping technologies allow the analysis of DNA molecules of up to 2 Mb and as such are suitable for the identification of large-scale genome structural variations, and for de novo genome assemblies when combined with short-read NGS data. Here we present optical mapping data for two human genomes: the HapMap cell line GM12878 and the colorectal cancer cell line HCT116. High molecular weight DNA was obtained by embedding GM12878 and HCT116 cells, respectively, in agarose plugs, followed by DNA extraction under mild conditions. Genomic DNA was digested with KpnI and 310,000 and 296,000 DNA molecules (≥ 150 kb and 10 restriction fragments), respectively, were analyzed per cell line using the Argus optical mapping system. Maps were aligned to the human reference by OPTIMA, a new glocal alignment method. Genome coverage of 6.8× and 5.7× was obtained, respectively; 2.9× and 1.7× more than the coverage obtained with previously available software. Optical mapping allows the resolution of large-scale structural variations of the genome, and the scaffold extension of NGS-based de novo assemblies. OPTIMA is an efficient new alignment method; our optical mapping data provide a resource for genome structure analyses of the human HapMap reference cell line GM12878, and the colorectal cancer cell line HCT116.

  17. CMS: a web-based system for visualization and analysis of genome-wide methylation data of human cancers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Fei; Doderer, Mark S; Huang, Yi-Wen; Roa, Juan C; Goodfellow, Paul J; Kizer, E Lynette; Huang, Tim H M; Chen, Yidong

    2013-01-01

    DNA methylation of promoter CpG islands is associated with gene suppression, and its unique genome-wide profiles have been linked to tumor progression. Coupled with high-throughput sequencing technologies, it can now efficiently determine genome-wide methylation profiles in cancer cells. Also, experimental and computational technologies make it possible to find the functional relationship between cancer-specific methylation patterns and their clinicopathological parameters. Cancer methylome system (CMS) is a web-based database application designed for the visualization, comparison and statistical analysis of human cancer-specific DNA methylation. Methylation intensities were obtained from MBDCap-sequencing, pre-processed and stored in the database. 191 patient samples (169 tumor and 22 normal specimen) and 41 breast cancer cell-lines are deposited in the database, comprising about 6.6 billion uniquely mapped sequence reads. This provides comprehensive and genome-wide epigenetic portraits of human breast cancer and endometrial cancer to date. Two views are proposed for users to better understand methylation structure at the genomic level or systemic methylation alteration at the gene level. In addition, a variety of annotation tracks are provided to cover genomic information. CMS includes important analytic functions for interpretation of methylation data, such as the detection of differentially methylated regions, statistical calculation of global methylation intensities, multiple gene sets of biologically significant categories, interactivity with UCSC via custom-track data. We also present examples of discoveries utilizing the framework. CMS provides visualization and analytic functions for cancer methylome datasets. A comprehensive collection of datasets, a variety of embedded analytic functions and extensive applications with biological and translational significance make this system powerful and unique in cancer methylation research. CMS is freely accessible

  18. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas sequencing data reveals novel properties of the human papillomavirus 16 genome in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nulton, Tara J; Olex, Amy L; Dozmorov, Mikhail; Morgan, Iain M; Windle, Brad

    2017-03-14

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA is detected in up to 80% of oropharyngeal carcinomas (OPC) and this HPV positive disease has reached epidemic proportions. To increase our understanding of the disease, we investigated the status of the HPV16 genome in HPV-positive head and neck cancers (HNC). Raw RNA-Seq and Whole Genome Sequence data from The Cancer Genome Atlas HNC samples were analyzed to gain a full understanding of the HPV genome status for these tumors. Several remarkable and novel observations were made following this analysis. Firstly, there are three main HPV genome states in these tumors that are split relatively evenly: An episomal only state, an integrated state, and a state in which the viral genome exists as a hybrid episome with human DNA. Secondly, none of the tumors expressed high levels of E6; E6*I is the dominant variant expressed in all tumors. The most striking conclusion from this study is that around three quarters of HPV16 positive HNC contain episomal versions of the viral genome that are likely replicating in an E1-E2 dependent manner. The clinical and therapeutic implications of these observations are discussed.

  19. Genomic and Functional Approaches to Understanding Cancer Aneuploidy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Alison M; Shih, Juliann; Ha, Gavin; Gao, Galen F; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Berger, Ashton C; Schumacher, Steven E; Wang, Chen; Hu, Hai; Liu, Jianfang; Lazar, Alexander J; Cherniack, Andrew D; Beroukhim, Rameen; Meyerson, Matthew

    2018-04-09

    Aneuploidy, whole chromosome or chromosome arm imbalance, is a near-universal characteristic of human cancers. In 10,522 cancer genomes from The Cancer Genome Atlas, aneuploidy was correlated with TP53 mutation, somatic mutation rate, and expression of proliferation genes. Aneuploidy was anti-correlated with expression of immune signaling genes, due to decreased leukocyte infiltrates in high-aneuploidy samples. Chromosome arm-level alterations show cancer-specific patterns, including loss of chromosome arm 3p in squamous cancers. We applied genome engineering to delete 3p in lung cells, causing decreased proliferation rescued in part by chromosome 3 duplication. This study defines genomic and phenotypic correlates of cancer aneuploidy and provides an experimental approach to study chromosome arm aneuploidy. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Mining genome sequencing data to identify the genomic features linked to breast cancer histopathology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ping, Zheng; Siegal, Gene P.; Almeida, Jonas S.; Schnitt, Stuart J.; Shen, Dejun

    2014-01-01

    Background: Genetics and genomics have radically altered our understanding of breast cancer progression. However, the genomic basis of various histopathologic features of breast cancer is not yet well-defined. Materials and Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is an international database containing a large collection of human cancer genome sequencing data. cBioPortal is a web tool developed for mining these sequencing data. We performed mining of TCGA sequencing data in an attempt to characterize the genomic features correlated with breast cancer histopathology. We first assessed the quality of the TCGA data using a group of genes with known alterations in various cancers. Both genome-wide gene mutation and copy number changes as well as a group of genes with a high frequency of genetic changes were then correlated with various histopathologic features of invasive breast cancer. Results: Validation of TCGA data using a group of genes with known alterations in breast cancer suggests that the TCGA has accurately documented the genomic abnormalities of multiple malignancies. Further analysis of TCGA breast cancer sequencing data shows that accumulation of specific genomic defects is associated with higher tumor grade, larger tumor size and receptor negativity. Distinct groups of genomic changes were found to be associated with the different grades of invasive ductal carcinoma. The mutator role of the TP53 gene was validated by genomic sequencing data of invasive breast cancer and TP53 mutation was found to play a critical role in defining high tumor grade. Conclusions: Data mining of the TCGA genome sequencing data is an innovative and reliable method to help characterize the genomic abnormalities associated with histopathologic features of invasive breast cancer. PMID:24672738

  1. Mining genome sequencing data to identify the genomic features linked to breast cancer histopathology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheng Ping

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Genetics and genomics have radically altered our understanding of breast cancer progression. However, the genomic basis of various histopathologic features of breast cancer is not yet well-defined. Materials and Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA is an international database containing a large collection of human cancer genome sequencing data. cBioPortal is a web tool developed for mining these sequencing data. We performed mining of TCGA sequencing data in an attempt to characterize the genomic features correlated with breast cancer histopathology. We first assessed the quality of the TCGA data using a group of genes with known alterations in various cancers. Both genome-wide gene mutation and copy number changes as well as a group of genes with a high frequency of genetic changes were then correlated with various histopathologic features of invasive breast cancer. Results: Validation of TCGA data using a group of genes with known alterations in breast cancer suggests that the TCGA has accurately documented the genomic abnormalities of multiple malignancies. Further analysis of TCGA breast cancer sequencing data shows that accumulation of specific genomic defects is associated with higher tumor grade, larger tumor size and receptor negativity. Distinct groups of genomic changes were found to be associated with the different grades of invasive ductal carcinoma. The mutator role of the TP53 gene was validated by genomic sequencing data of invasive breast cancer and TP53 mutation was found to play a critical role in defining high tumor grade. Conclusions: Data mining of the TCGA genome sequencing data is an innovative and reliable method to help characterize the genomic abnormalities associated with histopathologic features of invasive breast cancer.

  2. Genome-wide identification of significant aberrations in cancer genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Xiguo; Yu, Guoqiang; Hou, Xuchu; Shih, Ie-Ming; Clarke, Robert; Zhang, Junying; Hoffman, Eric P; Wang, Roger R; Zhang, Zhen; Wang, Yue

    2012-07-27

    Somatic Copy Number Alterations (CNAs) in human genomes are present in almost all human cancers. Systematic efforts to characterize such structural variants must effectively distinguish significant consensus events from random background aberrations. Here we introduce Significant Aberration in Cancer (SAIC), a new method for characterizing and assessing the statistical significance of recurrent CNA units. Three main features of SAIC include: (1) exploiting the intrinsic correlation among consecutive probes to assign a score to each CNA unit instead of single probes; (2) performing permutations on CNA units that preserve correlations inherent in the copy number data; and (3) iteratively detecting Significant Copy Number Aberrations (SCAs) and estimating an unbiased null distribution by applying an SCA-exclusive permutation scheme. We test and compare the performance of SAIC against four peer methods (GISTIC, STAC, KC-SMART, CMDS) on a large number of simulation datasets. Experimental results show that SAIC outperforms peer methods in terms of larger area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve and increased detection power. We then apply SAIC to analyze structural genomic aberrations acquired in four real cancer genome-wide copy number data sets (ovarian cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma). When compared with previously reported results, SAIC successfully identifies most SCAs known to be of biological significance and associated with oncogenes (e.g., KRAS, CCNE1, and MYC) or tumor suppressor genes (e.g., CDKN2A/B). Furthermore, SAIC identifies a number of novel SCAs in these copy number data that encompass tumor related genes and may warrant further studies. Supported by a well-grounded theoretical framework, SAIC has been developed and used to identify SCAs in various cancer copy number data sets, providing useful information to study the landscape of cancer genomes. Open-source and platform-independent SAIC software is

  3. Defining a Cancer Dependency Map | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Most human epithelial tumors harbor numerous alterations, making it difficult to predict which genes are required for tumor survival. To systematically identify cancer dependencies, we analyzed 501 genome-scale loss-of-function screens performed in diverse human cancer cell lines. We developed DEMETER, an analytical framework that segregates on- from off-target effects of RNAi. 769 genes were differentially required in subsets of these cell lines at a threshold of six SDs from the mean.

  4. Characterizing genomic alterations in cancer by complementary functional associations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jong Wook; Botvinnik, Olga B; Abudayyeh, Omar; Birger, Chet; Rosenbluh, Joseph; Shrestha, Yashaswi; Abazeed, Mohamed E; Hammerman, Peter S; DiCara, Daniel; Konieczkowski, David J; Johannessen, Cory M; Liberzon, Arthur; Alizad-Rahvar, Amir Reza; Alexe, Gabriela; Aguirre, Andrew; Ghandi, Mahmoud; Greulich, Heidi; Vazquez, Francisca; Weir, Barbara A; Van Allen, Eliezer M; Tsherniak, Aviad; Shao, Diane D; Zack, Travis I; Noble, Michael; Getz, Gad; Beroukhim, Rameen; Garraway, Levi A; Ardakani, Masoud; Romualdi, Chiara; Sales, Gabriele; Barbie, David A; Boehm, Jesse S; Hahn, William C; Mesirov, Jill P; Tamayo, Pablo

    2016-05-01

    Systematic efforts to sequence the cancer genome have identified large numbers of mutations and copy number alterations in human cancers. However, elucidating the functional consequences of these variants, and their interactions to drive or maintain oncogenic states, remains a challenge in cancer research. We developed REVEALER, a computational method that identifies combinations of mutually exclusive genomic alterations correlated with functional phenotypes, such as the activation or gene dependency of oncogenic pathways or sensitivity to a drug treatment. We used REVEALER to uncover complementary genomic alterations associated with the transcriptional activation of β-catenin and NRF2, MEK-inhibitor sensitivity, and KRAS dependency. REVEALER successfully identified both known and new associations, demonstrating the power of combining functional profiles with extensive characterization of genomic alterations in cancer genomes.

  5. Perspective on Oncogenic Processes at the End of the Beginning of Cancer Genomics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ding, Li; Bailey, Matthew H.; Porta-Pardo, Eduard; Thorsson, Vesteinn; Colaprico, Antonio; Bertrand, Denis; Gibbs, David L.; Weerasinghe, Amila; Huang, Kuan lin; Tokheim, Collin; Cortés-Ciriano, Isidro; Jayasinghe, Reyka; Chen, Feng; Yu, Lihua; Sun, Sam; Olsen, Catharina; Kim, Jaegil; Taylor, Alison M.; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Akbani, Rehan; Suphavilai, Chayaporn; Nagarajan, Niranjan; Stuart, Joshua M.; Mills, Gordon B.; Wyczalkowski, Matthew A.; Vincent, Benjamin G.; Hutter, Carolyn M.; Zenklusen, Jean Claude; Hoadley, Katherine A.; Wendl, Michael C.; Shmulevich, llya; Lazar, Alexander J.; Wheeler, David A.; Getz, Gad; Caesar-Johnson, Samantha J.; Demchok, John A.; Felau, Ina; Kasapi, Melpomeni; Ferguson, Martin L.; Hutter, Carolyn M.; Sofia, Heidi J.; Tarnuzzer, Roy; Wang, Zhining; Yang, Liming; Zenklusen, Jean C.; Zhang, Jiashan (Julia); Chudamani, Sudha; Liu, Jia; Lolla, Laxmi; Naresh, Rashi; Pihl, Todd; Sun, Qiang; Wan, Yunhu; Wu, Ye; Cho, Juok; DeFreitas, Timothy; Frazer, Scott; Gehlenborg, Nils; Getz, Gad; Heiman, David I.; Kim, Jaegil; Lawrence, Michael S.; Lin, Pei; Meier, Sam; Noble, Michael S.; Saksena, Gordon; Voet, Doug; Zhang, Hailei; Bernard, Brady; Chambwe, Nyasha; Dhankani, Varsha; Knijnenburg, Theo; Kramer, Roger; Leinonen, Kalle; Liu, Yuexin; Miller, Michael; Reynolds, Sheila; Shmulevich, Ilya; Thorsson, Vesteinn; Zhang, Wei; Akbani, Rehan; Broom, Bradley M.; Hegde, Apurva M.; Ju, Zhenlin; Kanchi, Rupa S.; Korkut, Anil; Li, Jun; Liang, Han; Ling, Shiyun; Liu, Wenbin; Lu, Yiling; Mills, Gordon B.; Ng, Kwok Shing; Rao, Arvind; Ryan, Michael; Wang, Jing; Weinstein, John N.; Zhang, Jiexin; Abeshouse, Adam; Armenia, Joshua; Chakravarty, Debyani; Chatila, Walid K.; de Bruijn, Ino; Gao, Jianjiong; Gross, Benjamin E.; Heins, Zachary J.; Kundra, Ritika; La, Konnor; Ladanyi, Marc; Luna, Augustin; Nissan, Moriah G.; Ochoa, Angelica; Phillips, Sarah M.; Reznik, Ed; Sanchez-Vega, Francisco; Sander, Chris; Schultz, Nikolaus; Sheridan, Robert; Sumer, S. Onur; Sun, Yichao; Taylor, Barry S.; Wang, Jioajiao; Zhang, Hongxin; Anur, Pavana; Peto, Myron; Spellman, Paul; Benz, Christopher; Stuart, Joshua M.; Wong, Christopher K.; Yau, Christina; Hayes, D. Neil; Parker, Joel S.; Wilkerson, Matthew D.; Ally, Adrian; Balasundaram, Miruna; Bowlby, Reanne; Brooks, Denise; Carlsen, Rebecca; Chuah, Eric; Dhalla, Noreen; Holt, Robert; Jones, Steven J.M.; Kasaian, Katayoon; Lee, Darlene; Ma, Yussanne; Marra, Marco A.; Mayo, Michael; Moore, Richard A.; Mungall, Andrew J.; Mungall, Karen; Robertson, A. Gordon; Sadeghi, Sara; Schein, Jacqueline E.; Sipahimalani, Payal; Tam, Angela; Thiessen, Nina; Tse, Kane; Wong, Tina; Berger, Ashton C.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Cibulskis, Carrie; Gabriel, Stacey B.; Gao, Galen F.; Ha, Gavin; Meyerson, Matthew; Schumacher, Steven E.; Shih, Juliann; Kucherlapati, Melanie H.; Kucherlapati, Raju S.; Baylin, Stephen; Cope, Leslie; Danilova, Ludmila; Bootwalla, Moiz S.; Lai, Phillip H.; Maglinte, Dennis T.; Van Den Berg, David J.; Weisenberger, Daniel J.; Auman, J. Todd; Balu, Saianand; Bodenheimer, Tom; Fan, Cheng; Hoadley, Katherine A.; Hoyle, Alan P.; Jefferys, Stuart R.; Jones, Corbin D.; Meng, Shaowu; Mieczkowski, Piotr A.; Mose, Lisle E.; Perou, Amy H.; Perou, Charles M.; Roach, Jeffrey; Shi, Yan; Simons, Janae V.; Skelly, Tara; Soloway, Matthew G.; Tan, Donghui; Veluvolu, Umadevi; Fan, Huihui; Hinoue, Toshinori; Laird, Peter W.; Shen, Hui; Zhou, Wanding; Bellair, Michelle; Chang, Kyle; Covington, Kyle; Creighton, Chad J.; Dinh, Huyen; Doddapaneni, Harsha Vardhan; Donehower, Lawrence A.; Drummond, Jennifer; Gibbs, Richard A.; Glenn, Robert; Hale, Walker; Han, Yi; Hu, Jianhong; Korchina, Viktoriya; Lee, Sandra; Lewis, Lora; Li, Wei; Liu, Xiuping; Morgan, Margaret; Morton, Donna; Muzny, Donna; Santibanez, Jireh; Sheth, Margi; Shinbrot, Eve; Wang, Linghua; Wang, Min; Wheeler, David A.; Xi, Liu; Zhao, Fengmei; Hess, Julian; Appelbaum, Elizabeth L.; Bailey, Matthew; Cordes, Matthew G.; Ding, Li; Fronick, Catrina C.; Fulton, Lucinda A.; Fulton, Robert S.; Kandoth, Cyriac; Mardis, Elaine R.; McLellan, Michael D.; Miller, Christopher A.; Schmidt, Heather K.; Wilson, Richard K.; Crain, Daniel; Curley, Erin; Gardner, Johanna; Lau, Kevin; Mallery, David; Morris, Scott; Paulauskis, Joseph; Penny, Robert; Shelton, Candace; Shelton, Troy; Sherman, Mark; Thompson, Eric; Yena, Peggy; Bowen, Jay; Gastier-Foster, Julie M.; Gerken, Mark; Leraas, Kristen M.; Lichtenberg, Tara M.; Ramirez, Nilsa C.; Wise, Lisa; Zmuda, Erik; Corcoran, Niall; Costello, Tony; Hovens, Christopher; Carvalho, Andre L.; de Carvalho, Ana C.; Fregnani, José H.; Longatto-Filho, Adhemar; Reis, Rui M.; Scapulatempo-Neto, Cristovam; Silveira, Henrique C.S.; Vidal, Daniel O.; Burnette, Andrew; Eschbacher, Jennifer; Hermes, Beth; Noss, Ardene; Singh, Rosy; Anderson, Matthew L.; Castro, Patricia D.; Ittmann, Michael; Huntsman, David; Kohl, Bernard; Le, Xuan; Thorp, Richard; Andry, Chris; Duffy, Elizabeth R.; Lyadov, Vladimir; Paklina, Oxana; Setdikova, Galiya; Shabunin, Alexey; Tavobilov, Mikhail; McPherson, Christopher; Warnick, Ronald; Berkowitz, Ross; Cramer, Daniel; Feltmate, Colleen; Horowitz, Neil; Kibel, Adam; Muto, Michael; Raut, Chandrajit P.; Malykh, Andrei; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S.; Barrett, Wendi; Devine, Karen; Fulop, Jordonna; Ostrom, Quinn T.; Shimmel, Kristen; Wolinsky, Yingli; Sloan, Andrew E.; De Rose, Agostino; Giuliante, Felice; Goodman, Marc; Karlan, Beth Y.; Hagedorn, Curt H.; Eckman, John; Harr, Jodi; Myers, Jerome; Tucker, Kelinda; Zach, Leigh Anne; Deyarmin, Brenda; Hu, Hai; Kvecher, Leonid; Larson, Caroline; Mural, Richard J.; Somiari, Stella; Vicha, Ales; Zelinka, Tomas; Bennett, Joseph; Iacocca, Mary; Rabeno, Brenda; Swanson, Patricia; Latour, Mathieu; Lacombe, Louis; Têtu, Bernard; Bergeron, Alain; McGraw, Mary; Staugaitis, Susan M.; Chabot, John; Hibshoosh, Hanina; Sepulveda, Antonia; Su, Tao; Wang, Timothy; Potapova, Olga; Voronina, Olga; Desjardins, Laurence; Mariani, Odette; Roman-Roman, Sergio; Sastre, Xavier; Stern, Marc Henri; Cheng, Feixiong; Signoretti, Sabina; Berchuck, Andrew; Bigner, Darell; Lipp, Eric; Marks, Jeffrey; McCall, Shannon; McLendon, Roger; Secord, Angeles; Sharp, Alexis; Behera, Madhusmita; Brat, Daniel J.; Chen, Amy; Delman, Keith; Force, Seth; Khuri, Fadlo; Magliocca, Kelly; Maithel, Shishir; Olson, Jeffrey J.; Owonikoko, Taofeek; Pickens, Alan; Ramalingam, Suresh; Shin, Dong M.; Sica, Gabriel; Van Meir, Erwin G.; Zhang, Hongzheng; Eijckenboom, Wil; Gillis, Ad; Korpershoek, Esther; Looijenga, Leendert; Oosterhuis, Wolter; Stoop, Hans; van Kessel, Kim E.; Zwarthoff, Ellen C.; Calatozzolo, Chiara; Cuppini, Lucia; Cuzzubbo, Stefania; DiMeco, Francesco; Finocchiaro, Gaetano; Mattei, Luca; Perin, Alessandro; Pollo, Bianca; Chen, Chu; Houck, John; Lohavanichbutr, Pawadee; Hartmann, Arndt; Stoehr, Christine; Stoehr, Robert; Taubert, Helge; Wach, Sven; Wullich, Bernd; Kycler, Witold; Murawa, Dawid; Wiznerowicz, Maciej; Chung, Ki; Edenfield, W. Jeffrey; Martin, Julie; Baudin, Eric; Bubley, Glenn; Bueno, Raphael; De Rienzo, Assunta; Richards, William G.; Kalkanis, Steven; Mikkelsen, Tom; Noushmehr, Houtan; Scarpace, Lisa; Girard, Nicolas; Aymerich, Marta; Campo, Elias; Giné, Eva; Guillermo, Armando López; Van Bang, Nguyen; Hanh, Phan Thi; Phu, Bui Duc; Tang, Yufang; Colman, Howard; Evason, Kimberley; Dottino, Peter R.; Martignetti, John A.; Gabra, Hani; Juhl, Hartmut; Akeredolu, Teniola; Stepa, Serghei; Hoon, Dave; Ahn, Keunsoo; Kang, Koo Jeong; Beuschlein, Felix; Breggia, Anne; Birrer, Michael; Bell, Debra; Borad, Mitesh; Bryce, Alan H.; Castle, Erik; Chandan, Vishal; Cheville, John; Copland, John A.; Farnell, Michael; Flotte, Thomas; Giama, Nasra; Ho, Thai; Kendrick, Michael; Kocher, Jean Pierre; Kopp, Karla; Moser, Catherine; Nagorney, David; O'Brien, Daniel; O'Neill, Brian Patrick; Patel, Tushar; Petersen, Gloria; Que, Florencia; Rivera, Michael; Roberts, Lewis; Smallridge, Robert; Smyrk, Thomas; Stanton, Melissa; Thompson, R. Houston; Torbenson, Michael; Yang, Ju Dong; Zhang, Lizhi; Brimo, Fadi; Ajani, Jaffer A.; Gonzalez, Ana Maria Angulo; Behrens, Carmen; Bondaruk, Jolanta; Broaddus, Russell; Czerniak, Bogdan; Esmaeli, Bita; Fujimoto, Junya; Gershenwald, Jeffrey; Guo, Charles; Lazar, Alexander J.; Logothetis, Christopher; Meric-Bernstam, Funda; Moran, Cesar; Ramondetta, Lois; Rice, David; Sood, Anil; Tamboli, Pheroze; Thompson, Timothy; Troncoso, Patricia; Tsao, Anne; Wistuba, Ignacio; Carter, Candace; Haydu, Lauren; Hersey, Peter; Jakrot, Valerie; Kakavand, Hojabr; Kefford, Richard; Lee, Kenneth; Long, Georgina; Mann, Graham; Quinn, Michael; Saw, Robyn; Scolyer, Richard; Shannon, Kerwin; Spillane, Andrew; Stretch, Jonathan; Synott, Maria; Thompson, John; Wilmott, James; Al-Ahmadie, Hikmat; Chan, Timothy A.; Ghossein, Ronald; Gopalan, Anuradha; Levine, Douglas A.; Reuter, Victor; Singer, Samuel; Singh, Bhuvanesh; Tien, Nguyen Viet; Broudy, Thomas; Mirsaidi, Cyrus; Nair, Praveen; Drwiega, Paul; Miller, Judy; Smith, Jennifer; Zaren, Howard; Park, Joong Won; Hung, Nguyen Phi; Kebebew, Electron; Linehan, W. Marston; Metwalli, Adam R.; Pacak, Karel; Pinto, Peter A.; Schiffman, Mark; Schmidt, Laura S.; Vocke, Cathy D.; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Worrell, Robert; Yang, Hannah; Moncrieff, Marc; Goparaju, Chandra; Melamed, Jonathan; Pass, Harvey; Botnariuc, Natalia; Caraman, Irina; Cernat, Mircea; Chemencedji, Inga; Clipca, Adrian; Doruc, Serghei; Gorincioi, Ghenadie; Mura, Sergiu; Pirtac, Maria; Stancul, Irina; Tcaciuc, Diana; Albert, Monique; Alexopoulou, Iakovina; Arnaout, Angel; Bartlett, John; Engel, Jay; Gilbert, Sebastien; Parfitt, Jeremy; Sekhon, Harman; Thomas, George; Rassl, Doris M.; Rintoul, Robert C.; Bifulco, Carlo; Tamakawa, Raina; Urba, Walter; Hayward, Nicholas; Timmers, Henri; Antenucci, Anna; Facciolo, Francesco; Grazi, Gianluca; Marino, Mirella; Merola, Roberta; de Krijger, Ronald; Gimenez-Roqueplo, Anne Paule; Piché, Alain; Chevalier, Simone; McKercher, Ginette; Birsoy, Kivanc; Barnett, Gene; Brewer, Cathy; Farver, Carol; Naska, Theresa; Pennell, Nathan A.; Raymond, Daniel; Schilero, Cathy; Smolenski, Kathy; Williams, Felicia; Morrison, Carl; Borgia, Jeffrey A.; Liptay, Michael J.; Pool, Mark; Seder, Christopher W.; Junker, Kerstin; Omberg, Larsson; Dinkin, Mikhail; Manikhas, George; Alvaro, Domenico; Bragazzi, Maria Consiglia; Cardinale, Vincenzo; Carpino, Guido; Gaudio, Eugenio; Chesla, David; Cottingham, Sandra; Dubina, Michael; Moiseenko, Fedor; Dhanasekaran, Renumathy; Becker, Karl Friedrich; Janssen, Klaus Peter; Slotta-Huspenina, Julia; Abdel-Rahman, Mohamed H.; Aziz, Dina; Bell, Sue; Cebulla, Colleen M.; Davis, Amy; Duell, Rebecca; Elder, J. Bradley; Hilty, Joe; Kumar, Bahavna; Lang, James; Lehman, Norman L.; Mandt, Randy; Nguyen, Phuong; Pilarski, Robert; Rai, Karan; Schoenfield, Lynn; Senecal, Kelly; Wakely, Paul; Hansen, Paul; Lechan, Ronald; Powers, James; Tischler, Arthur; Grizzle, William E.; Sexton, Katherine C.; Kastl, Alison; Henderson, Joel; Porten, Sima; Waldmann, Jens; Fassnacht, Martin; Asa, Sylvia L.; Schadendorf, Dirk; Couce, Marta; Graefen, Markus; Huland, Hartwig; Sauter, Guido; Schlomm, Thorsten; Simon, Ronald; Tennstedt, Pierre; Olabode, Oluwole; Nelson, Mark; Bathe, Oliver; Carroll, Peter R.; Chan, June M.; Disaia, Philip; Glenn, Pat; Kelley, Robin K.; Landen, Charles N.; Phillips, Joanna; Prados, Michael; Simko, Jeffry; Smith-McCune, Karen; VandenBerg, Scott; Roggin, Kevin; Fehrenbach, Ashley; Kendler, Ady; Sifri, Suzanne; Steele, Ruth; Jimeno, Antonio; Carey, Francis; Forgie, Ian; Mannelli, Massimo; Carney, Michael; Hernandez, Brenda; Campos, Benito; Herold-Mende, Christel; Jungk, Christin; Unterberg, Andreas; von Deimling, Andreas; Bossler, Aaron; Galbraith, Joseph; Jacobus, Laura; Knudson, Michael; Knutson, Tina; Ma, Deqin; Milhem, Mohammed; Sigmund, Rita; Godwin, Andrew K.; Madan, Rashna; Rosenthal, Howard G.; Adebamowo, Clement; Adebamowo, Sally N.; Boussioutas, Alex; Beer, David; Giordano, Thomas; Mes-Masson, Anne Marie; Saad, Fred; Bocklage, Therese; Landrum, Lisa; Mannel, Robert; Moore, Kathleen; Moxley, Katherine; Postier, Russel; Walker, Joan; Zuna, Rosemary; Feldman, Michael; Valdivieso, Federico; Dhir, Rajiv; Luketich, James; Pinero, Edna M.Mora; Quintero-Aguilo, Mario; Carlotti, Carlos Gilberto; Dos Santos, Jose Sebastião; Kemp, Rafael; Sankarankuty, Ajith; Tirapelli, Daniela; Catto, James; Agnew, Kathy; Swisher, Elizabeth; Creaney, Jenette; Robinson, Bruce; Shelley, Carl Simon; Godwin, Eryn M.; Kendall, Sara; Shipman, Cassaundra; Bradford, Carol; Carey, Thomas; Haddad, Andrea; Moyer, Jeffey; Peterson, Lisa; Prince, Mark; Rozek, Laura; Wolf, Gregory; Bowman, Rayleen; Fong, Kwun M.; Yang, Ian; Korst, Robert; Rathmell, W. Kimryn; Fantacone-Campbell, J. Leigh; Hooke, Jeffrey A.; Kovatich, Albert J.; Shriver, Craig D.; DiPersio, John; Drake, Bettina; Govindan, Ramaswamy; Heath, Sharon; Ley, Timothy; Van Tine, Brian; Westervelt, Peter; Rubin, Mark A.; Lee, Jung Il; Aredes, Natália D.; Mariamidze, Armaz

    2018-01-01

    The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) has catalyzed systematic characterization of diverse genomic alterations underlying human cancers. At this historic junction marking the completion of genomic characterization of over 11,000 tumors from 33 cancer types, we present our current understanding of the

  6. Genome-wide identification of significant aberrations in cancer genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan Xiguo

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Somatic Copy Number Alterations (CNAs in human genomes are present in almost all human cancers. Systematic efforts to characterize such structural variants must effectively distinguish significant consensus events from random background aberrations. Here we introduce Significant Aberration in Cancer (SAIC, a new method for characterizing and assessing the statistical significance of recurrent CNA units. Three main features of SAIC include: (1 exploiting the intrinsic correlation among consecutive probes to assign a score to each CNA unit instead of single probes; (2 performing permutations on CNA units that preserve correlations inherent in the copy number data; and (3 iteratively detecting Significant Copy Number Aberrations (SCAs and estimating an unbiased null distribution by applying an SCA-exclusive permutation scheme. Results We test and compare the performance of SAIC against four peer methods (GISTIC, STAC, KC-SMART, CMDS on a large number of simulation datasets. Experimental results show that SAIC outperforms peer methods in terms of larger area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve and increased detection power. We then apply SAIC to analyze structural genomic aberrations acquired in four real cancer genome-wide copy number data sets (ovarian cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma. When compared with previously reported results, SAIC successfully identifies most SCAs known to be of biological significance and associated with oncogenes (e.g., KRAS, CCNE1, and MYC or tumor suppressor genes (e.g., CDKN2A/B. Furthermore, SAIC identifies a number of novel SCAs in these copy number data that encompass tumor related genes and may warrant further studies. Conclusions Supported by a well-grounded theoretical framework, SAIC has been developed and used to identify SCAs in various cancer copy number data sets, providing useful information to study the landscape of cancer genomes

  7. NGS-based approach to determine the presence of HPV and their sites of integration in human cancer genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandrani, P; Kulkarni, V; Iyer, P; Upadhyay, P; Chaubal, R; Das, P; Mulherkar, R; Singh, R; Dutt, A

    2015-06-09

    Human papilloma virus (HPV) accounts for the most common cause of all virus-associated human cancers. Here, we describe the first graphic user interface (GUI)-based automated tool 'HPVDetector', for non-computational biologists, exclusively for detection and annotation of the HPV genome based on next-generation sequencing data sets. We developed a custom-made reference genome that comprises of human chromosomes along with annotated genome of 143 HPV types as pseudochromosomes. The tool runs on a dual mode as defined by the user: a 'quick mode' to identify presence of HPV types and an 'integration mode' to determine genomic location for the site of integration. The input data can be a paired-end whole-exome, whole-genome or whole-transcriptome data set. The HPVDetector is available in public domain for download: http://www.actrec.gov.in/pi-webpages/AmitDutt/HPVdetector/HPVDetector.html. On the basis of our evaluation of 116 whole-exome, 23 whole-transcriptome and 2 whole-genome data, we were able to identify presence of HPV in 20 exomes and 4 transcriptomes of cervical and head and neck cancer tumour samples. Using the inbuilt annotation module of HPVDetector, we found predominant integration of viral gene E7, a known oncogene, at known 17q21, 3q27, 7q35, Xq28 and novel sites of integration in the human genome. Furthermore, co-infection with high-risk HPVs such as 16 and 31 were found to be mutually exclusive compared with low-risk HPV71. HPVDetector is a simple yet precise and robust tool for detecting HPV from tumour samples using variety of next-generation sequencing platforms including whole genome, whole exome and transcriptome. Two different modes (quick detection and integration mode) along with a GUI widen the usability of HPVDetector for biologists and clinicians with minimal computational knowledge.

  8. Characterization of HPV and host genome interactions in primary head and neck cancers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parfenov, Michael; Pedamallu, Chandra Sekhar; Gehlenborg, Nils; Freeman, Samuel S.; Danilova, Ludmila; Bristow, Christopher A.; Lee, Semin; Hadjipanayis, Angela G.; Ivanova, Elena V.; Wilkerson, Matthew D.; Protopopov, Alexei; Yang, Lixing; Seth, Sahil; Song, Xingzhi; Tang, Jiabin; Ren, Xiaojia; Zhang, Jianhua; Pantazi, Angeliki; Santoso, Netty; Xu, Andrew W.; Mahadeshwar, Harshad; Wheeler, David A.; Haddad, Robert I.; Jung, Joonil; Ojesina, Akinyemi I.; Issaeva, Natalia; Yarbrough, Wendell G.; Hayes, D. Neil; Grandis, Jennifer R.; El-Naggar, Adel K.; Meyerson, Matthew; Park, Peter J.; Chin, Lynda; Seidman, J. G.; Hammerman, Peter S.; Kucherlapati, Raju; Ally, Adrian; Balasundaram, Miruna; Birol, Inanc; Bowlby, Reanne; Butterfield, Yaron S.N.; Carlsen, Rebecca; Cheng, Dean; Chu, Andy; Dhalla, Noreen; Guin, Ranabir; Holt, Robert A.; Jones, Steven J.M.; Lee, Darlene; Li, Haiyan I.; Marra, Marco A.; Mayo, Michael; Moore, Richard A.; Mungall, Andrew J.; Robertson, A. Gordon; Schein, Jacqueline E.; Sipahimalani, Payal; Tam, Angela; Thiessen, Nina; Wong, Tina; Protopopov, Alexei; Santoso, Netty; Lee, Semin; Parfenov, Michael; Zhang, Jianhua; Mahadeshwar, Harshad S.; Tang, Jiabin; Ren, Xiaojia; Seth, Sahil; Haseley, Psalm; Zeng, Dong; Yang, Lixing; Xu, Andrew W.; Song, Xingzhi; Pantazi, Angeliki; Bristow, Christopher; Hadjipanayis, Angela; Seidman, Jonathan; Chin, Lynda; Park, Peter J.; Kucherlapati, Raju; Akbani, Rehan; Casasent, Tod; Liu, Wenbin; Lu, Yiling; Mills, Gordon; Motter, Thomas; Weinstein, John; Diao, Lixia; Wang, Jing; Fan, You Hong; Liu, Jinze; Wang, Kai; Auman, J. Todd; Balu, Saianand; Bodenheimer, Tom; Buda, Elizabeth; Hayes, D. Neil; Hoadley, Katherine A.; Hoyle, Alan P.; Jefferys, Stuart R.; Jones, Corbin D.; Kimes, Patrick K.; Marron, J.S.; Meng, Shaowu; Mieczkowski, Piotr A.; Mose, Lisle E.; Parker, Joel S.; Perou, Charles M.; Prins, Jan F.; Roach, Jeffrey; Shi, Yan; Simons, Janae V.; Singh, Darshan; Soloway, Mathew G.; Tan, Donghui; Veluvolu, Umadevi; Walter, Vonn; Waring, Scot; Wilkerson, Matthew D.; Wu, Junyuan; Zhao, Ni; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Hammerman, Peter S.; Tward, Aaron D.; Pedamallu, Chandra Sekhar; Saksena, Gordon; Jung, Joonil; Ojesina, Akinyemi I.; Carter, Scott L.; Zack, Travis I.; Schumacher, Steven E.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Freeman, Samuel S.; Meyerson, Matthew; Cho, Juok; Chin, Lynda; Getz, Gad; Noble, Michael S.; DiCara, Daniel; Zhang, Hailei; Heiman, David I.; Gehlenborg, Nils; Voet, Doug; Lin, Pei; Frazer, Scott; Stojanov, Petar; Liu, Yingchun; Zou, Lihua; Kim, Jaegil; Lawrence, Michael S.; Sougnez, Carrie; Lichtenstein, Lee; Cibulskis, Kristian; Lander, Eric; Gabriel, Stacey B.; Muzny, Donna; Doddapaneni, HarshaVardhan; Kovar, Christie; Reid, Jeff; Morton, Donna; Han, Yi; Hale, Walker; Chao, Hsu; Chang, Kyle; Drummond, Jennifer A.; Gibbs, Richard A.; Kakkar, Nipun; Wheeler, David; Xi, Liu; Ciriello, Giovanni; Ladanyi, Marc; Lee, William; Ramirez, Ricardo; Sander, Chris; Shen, Ronglai; Sinha, Rileen; Weinhold, Nils; Taylor, Barry S.; Aksoy, B. Arman; Dresdner, Gideon; Gao, Jianjiong; Gross, Benjamin; Jacobsen, Anders; Reva, Boris; Schultz, Nikolaus; Sumer, S. Onur; Sun, Yichao; Chan, Timothy; Morris, Luc; Stuart, Joshua; Benz, Stephen; Ng, Sam; Benz, Christopher; Yau, Christina; Baylin, Stephen B.; Cope, Leslie; Danilova, Ludmila; Herman, James G.; Bootwalla, Moiz; Maglinte, Dennis T.; Laird, Peter W.; Triche, Timothy; Weisenberger, Daniel J.; Van Den Berg, David J.; Agrawal, Nishant; Bishop, Justin; Boutros, Paul C.; Bruce, Jeff P; Byers, Lauren Averett; Califano, Joseph; Carey, Thomas E.; Chen, Zhong; Cheng, Hui; Chiosea, Simion I.; Cohen, Ezra; Diergaarde, Brenda; Egloff, Ann Marie; El-Naggar, Adel K.; Ferris, Robert L.; Frederick, Mitchell J.; Grandis, Jennifer R.; Guo, Yan; Haddad, Robert I.; Hammerman, Peter S.; Harris, Thomas; Hayes, D. Neil; Hui, Angela BY; Lee, J. Jack; Lippman, Scott M.; Liu, Fei-Fei; McHugh, Jonathan B.; Myers, Jeff; Ng, Patrick Kwok Shing; Perez-Ordonez, Bayardo; Pickering, Curtis R.; Prystowsky, Michael; Romkes, Marjorie; Saleh, Anthony D.; Sartor, Maureen A.; Seethala, Raja; Seiwert, Tanguy Y.; Si, Han; Tward, Aaron D.; Van Waes, Carter; Waggott, Daryl M.; Wiznerowicz, Maciej; Yarbrough, Wendell; Zhang, Jiexin; Zuo, Zhixiang; Burnett, Ken; Crain, Daniel; Gardner, Johanna; Lau, Kevin; Mallery, David; Morris, Scott; Paulauskis, Joseph; Penny, Robert; Shelton, Candance; Shelton, Troy; Sherman, Mark; Yena, Peggy; Black, Aaron D.; Bowen, Jay; Frick, Jessica; Gastier-Foster, Julie M.; Harper, Hollie A.; Lichtenberg, Tara M.; Ramirez, Nilsa C.; Wise, Lisa; Zmuda, Erik; Baboud, Julien; Jensen, Mark A.; Kahn, Ari B.; Pihl, Todd D.; Pot, David A.; Srinivasan, Deepak; Walton, Jessica S.; Wan, Yunhu; Burton, Robert; Davidsen, Tanja; Demchok, John A.; Eley, Greg; Ferguson, Martin L.; Shaw, Kenna R. Mills; Ozenberger, Bradley A.; Sheth, Margi; Sofia, Heidi J.; Tarnuzzer, Roy; Wang, Zhining; Yang, Liming; Zenklusen, Jean Claude; Saller, Charles; Tarvin, Katherine; Chen, Chu; Bollag, Roni; Weinberger, Paul; Golusiński, Wojciech; Golusiński, Paweł; Ibbs, Matthiew; Korski, Konstanty; Mackiewicz, Andrzej; Suchorska, Wiktoria; Szybiak, Bartosz; Wiznerowicz, Maciej; Burnett, Ken; Curley, Erin; Gardner, Johanna; Mallery, David; Penny, Robert; Shelton, Troy; Yena, Peggy; Beard, Christina; Mitchell, Colleen; Sandusky, George; Agrawal, Nishant; Ahn, Julie; Bishop, Justin; Califano, Joseph; Khan, Zubair; Bruce, Jeff P; Hui, Angela BY; Irish, Jonathan; Liu, Fei-Fei; Perez-Ordonez, Bayardo; Waldron, John; Boutros, Paul C.; Waggott, Daryl M.; Myers, Jeff; Lippman, Scott M.; Egea, Sophie; Gomez-Fernandez, Carmen; Herbert, Lynn; Bradford, Carol R.; Carey, Thomas E.; Chepeha, Douglas B.; Haddad, Andrea S.; Jones, Tamara R.; Komarck, Christine M.; Malakh, Mayya; McHugh, Jonathan B.; Moyer, Jeffrey S.; Nguyen, Ariane; Peterson, Lisa A.; Prince, Mark E.; Rozek, Laura S.; Sartor, Maureen A.; Taylor, Evan G.; Walline, Heather M.; Wolf, Gregory T.; Boice, Lori; Chera, Bhishamjit S.; Funkhouser, William K.; Gulley, Margaret L.; Hackman, Trevor G.; Hayes, D. Neil; Hayward, Michele C.; Huang, Mei; Rathmell, W. Kimryn; Salazar, Ashley H.; Shockley, William W.; Shores, Carol G.; Thorne, Leigh; Weissler, Mark C.; Wrenn, Sylvia; Zanation, Adam M.; Chiosea, Simion I.; Diergaarde, Brenda; Egloff, Ann Marie; Ferris, Robert L.; Romkes, Marjorie; Seethala, Raja; Brown, Brandee T.; Guo, Yan; Pham, Michelle; Yarbrough, Wendell G.

    2014-01-01

    Previous studies have established that a subset of head and neck tumors contains human papillomavirus (HPV) sequences and that HPV-driven head and neck cancers display distinct biological and clinical features. HPV is known to drive cancer by the actions of the E6 and E7 oncoproteins, but the molecular architecture of HPV infection and its interaction with the host genome in head and neck cancers have not been comprehensively described. We profiled a cohort of 279 head and neck cancers with next generation RNA and DNA sequencing and show that 35 (12.5%) tumors displayed evidence of high-risk HPV types 16, 33, or 35. Twenty-five cases had integration of the viral genome into one or more locations in the human genome with statistical enrichment for genic regions. Integrations had a marked impact on the human genome and were associated with alterations in DNA copy number, mRNA transcript abundance and splicing, and both inter- and intrachromosomal rearrangements. Many of these events involved genes with documented roles in cancer. Cancers with integrated vs. nonintegrated HPV displayed different patterns of DNA methylation and both human and viral gene expressions. Together, these data provide insight into the mechanisms by which HPV interacts with the human genome beyond expression of viral oncoproteins and suggest that specific integration events are an integral component of viral oncogenesis. PMID:25313082

  9. A network-based drug repositioning infrastructure for precision cancer medicine through targeting significantly mutated genes in the human cancer genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Feixiong; Zhao, Junfei; Fooksa, Michaela; Zhao, Zhongming

    2016-07-01

    Development of computational approaches and tools to effectively integrate multidomain data is urgently needed for the development of newly targeted cancer therapeutics. We proposed an integrative network-based infrastructure to identify new druggable targets and anticancer indications for existing drugs through targeting significantly mutated genes (SMGs) discovered in the human cancer genomes. The underlying assumption is that a drug would have a high potential for anticancer indication if its up-/down-regulated genes from the Connectivity Map tended to be SMGs or their neighbors in the human protein interaction network. We assembled and curated 693 SMGs in 29 cancer types and found 121 proteins currently targeted by known anticancer or noncancer (repurposed) drugs. We found that the approved or experimental cancer drugs could potentially target these SMGs in 33.3% of the mutated cancer samples, and this number increased to 68.0% by drug repositioning through surveying exome-sequencing data in approximately 5000 normal-tumor pairs from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Furthermore, we identified 284 potential new indications connecting 28 cancer types and 48 existing drugs (adjusted P < .05), with a 66.7% success rate validated by literature data. Several existing drugs (e.g., niclosamide, valproic acid, captopril, and resveratrol) were predicted to have potential indications for multiple cancer types. Finally, we used integrative analysis to showcase a potential mechanism-of-action for resveratrol in breast and lung cancer treatment whereby it targets several SMGs (ARNTL, ASPM, CTTN, EIF4G1, FOXP1, and STIP1). In summary, we demonstrated that our integrative network-based infrastructure is a promising strategy to identify potential druggable targets and uncover new indications for existing drugs to speed up molecularly targeted cancer therapeutics. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All

  10. A genome editing approach to study cancer stem cells in human tumors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortina, Carme; Turon, Gemma; Stork, Diana; Hernando-Momblona, Xavier; Sevillano, Marta; Aguilera, Mònica; Tosi, Sébastien; Merlos-Suárez, Anna; Stephan-Otto Attolini, Camille; Sancho, Elena; Batlle, Eduard

    2017-07-01

    The analysis of stem cell hierarchies in human cancers has been hampered by the impossibility of identifying or tracking tumor cell populations in an intact environment. To overcome this limitation, we devised a strategy based on editing the genomes of patient-derived tumor organoids using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to integrate reporter cassettes at desired marker genes. As proof of concept, we engineered human colorectal cancer (CRC) organoids that carry EGFP and lineage-tracing cassettes knocked in the LGR5 locus. Analysis of LGR5-EGFP + cells isolated from organoid-derived xenografts demonstrated that these cells express a gene program similar to that of normal intestinal stem cells and that they propagate the disease to recipient mice very efficiently. Lineage-tracing experiments showed that LGR5 + CRC cells self-renew and generate progeny over long time periods that undergo differentiation toward mucosecreting- and absorptive-like phenotypes. These genetic experiments confirm that human CRCs adopt a hierarchical organization reminiscent of that of the normal colonic epithelium. The strategy described herein may have broad applications to study cell heterogeneity in human tumors. © 2017 The Authors. Published under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.

  11. Crossing the LINE toward genomic instability: LINE-1 retrotransposition in cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemp, Jacqueline; Longworth, Michelle

    2015-12-01

    Retrotransposons are repetitive DNA sequences that are positioned throughout the human genome. Retrotransposons are capable of copying themselves and mobilizing new copies to novel genomic locations in a process called retrotransposition. While most retrotransposon sequences in the human genome are incomplete and incapable of mobilization, the LINE-1 retrotransposon, which comprises approximately 17% of the human genome, remains active. The disruption of cellular mechanisms that suppress retrotransposon activity is linked to the generation of aneuploidy, a potential driver of tumor development. When retrotransposons insert into a novel genomic region, they have the potential to disrupt the coding sequence of endogenous genes and alter gene expression, which can lead to deleterious consequences for the organism. Additionally, increased LINE-1 copy numbers provide more chances for recombination events to occur between retrotransposons, which can lead to chromosomal breaks and rearrangements. LINE-1 activity is increased in various cancer cell lines and in patient tissues resected from primary tumors. LINE-1 activity also correlates with increased cancer metastasis. This review aims to give a brief overview of the connections between LINE-1 retrotransposition and the loss of genome stability. We will also discuss the mechanisms that repress retrotransposition in human cells and their links to cancer.

  12. Genomic and Molecular Landscape of DNA Damage Repair Deficiency across The Cancer Genome Atlas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Theo A. Knijnenburg

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Summary: DNA damage repair (DDR pathways modulate cancer risk, progression, and therapeutic response. We systematically analyzed somatic alterations to provide a comprehensive view of DDR deficiency across 33 cancer types. Mutations with accompanying loss of heterozygosity were observed in over 1/3 of DDR genes, including TP53 and BRCA1/2. Other prevalent alterations included epigenetic silencing of the direct repair genes EXO5, MGMT, and ALKBH3 in ∼20% of samples. Homologous recombination deficiency (HRD was present at varying frequency in many cancer types, most notably ovarian cancer. However, in contrast to ovarian cancer, HRD was associated with worse outcomes in several other cancers. Protein structure-based analyses allowed us to predict functional consequences of rare, recurrent DDR mutations. A new machine-learning-based classifier developed from gene expression data allowed us to identify alterations that phenocopy deleterious TP53 mutations. These frequent DDR gene alterations in many human cancers have functional consequences that may determine cancer progression and guide therapy. : Knijnenburg et al. present The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA Pan-Cancer analysis of DNA damage repair (DDR deficiency in cancer. They use integrative genomic and molecular analyses to identify frequent DDR alterations across 33 cancer types, correlate gene- and pathway-level alterations with genome-wide measures of genome instability and impaired function, and demonstrate the prognostic utility of DDR deficiency scores. Keywords: The Cancer Genome Atlas PanCanAtlas project, DNA damage repair, somatic mutations, somatic copy-number alterations, epigenetic silencing, DNA damage footprints, mutational signatures, integrative statistical analysis, protein structure analysis

  13. Identification of genes containing expanded purine repeats in the human genome and their apparent protective role against cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Himanshu Narayan; Rajeswari, Moganty R

    2016-01-01

    Purine repeat sequences present in a gene are unique as they have high propensity to form unusual DNA-triple helix structures. Friedreich's ataxia is the only human disease that is well known to be associated with DNA-triplexes formed by purine repeats. The purpose of this study was to recognize the expanded purine repeats (EPRs) in human genome and find their correlation with cancer pathogenesis. We developed "PuRepeatFinder.pl" algorithm to identify non-overlapping EPRs without pyrimidine interruptions in the human genome and customized for searching repeat lengths, n ≥ 200. A total of 1158 EPRs were identified in the genome which followed Wakeby distribution. Two hundred and ninety-six EPRs were found in geneic regions of 282 genes (EPR-genes). Gene clustering of EPR-genes was done based on their cellular function and a large number of EPR-genes were found to be enzymes/enzyme modulators. Meta-analysis of 282 EPR-genes identified only 63 EPR-genes in association with cancer, mostly in breast, lung, and blood cancers. Protein-protein interaction network analysis of all 282 EPR-genes identified proteins including those in cadherins and VEGF. The two observations, that EPRs can induce mutations under malignant conditions and that identification of some EPR-gene products in vital cell signaling-mediated pathways, together suggest the crucial role of EPRs in carcinogenesis. The new link between EPR-genes and their functionally interacting proteins throws a new dimension in the present understanding of cancer pathogenesis and can help in planning therapeutic strategies. Validation of present results using techniques like NGS is required to establish the role of the EPR genes in cancer pathology.

  14. Radiation-induced instability of human genome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryabchenko, N.N.; Demina, Eh.A.

    2014-01-01

    A brief review is dedicated to the phenomenon of radiation-induced genomic instability where the increased level of genomic changes in the offspring of irradiated cells is characteristic. Particular attention is paid to the problems of genomic instability induced by the low-dose radiation, role of the bystander effect in formation of radiation-induced instability, and its relationship with individual radiosensitivity. We believe that in accordance with the paradigm of modern radiobiology the increased human individual radiosensitivity can be formed due to the genome instability onset and is a significant risk factor for radiation-induced cancer

  15. Transposable Elements in Human Cancer: Causes and Consequences of Deregulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anwar, Sumadi Lukman; Wulaningsih, Wahyu; Lehmann, Ulrich

    2017-01-01

    Transposable elements (TEs) comprise nearly half of the human genome and play an essential role in the maintenance of genomic stability, chromosomal architecture, and transcriptional regulation. TEs are repetitive sequences consisting of RNA transposons, DNA transposons, and endogenous retroviruses that can invade the human genome with a substantial contribution in human evolution and genomic diversity. TEs are therefore firmly regulated from early embryonic development and during the entire course of human life by epigenetic mechanisms, in particular DNA methylation and histone modifications. The deregulation of TEs has been reported in some developmental diseases, as well as for different types of human cancers. To date, the role of TEs, the mechanisms underlying TE reactivation, and the interplay with DNA methylation in human cancers remain largely unexplained. We reviewed the loss of epigenetic regulation and subsequent genomic instability, chromosomal aberrations, transcriptional deregulation, oncogenic activation, and aberrations of non-coding RNAs as the potential mechanisms underlying TE deregulation in human cancers. PMID:28471386

  16. Transposable Elements in Human Cancer: Causes and Consequences of Deregulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumadi Lukman Anwar

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Transposable elements (TEs comprise nearly half of the human genome and play an essential role in the maintenance of genomic stability, chromosomal architecture, and transcriptional regulation. TEs are repetitive sequences consisting of RNA transposons, DNA transposons, and endogenous retroviruses that can invade the human genome with a substantial contribution in human evolution and genomic diversity. TEs are therefore firmly regulated from early embryonic development and during the entire course of human life by epigenetic mechanisms, in particular DNA methylation and histone modifications. The deregulation of TEs has been reported in some developmental diseases, as well as for different types of human cancers. To date, the role of TEs, the mechanisms underlying TE reactivation, and the interplay with DNA methylation in human cancers remain largely unexplained. We reviewed the loss of epigenetic regulation and subsequent genomic instability, chromosomal aberrations, transcriptional deregulation, oncogenic activation, and aberrations of non-coding RNAs as the potential mechanisms underlying TE deregulation in human cancers.

  17. An expanding universe of the non-coding genome in cancer biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Bin; He, Lin

    2014-06-01

    Neoplastic transformation is caused by accumulation of genetic and epigenetic alterations that ultimately convert normal cells into tumor cells with uncontrolled proliferation and survival, unlimited replicative potential and invasive growth [Hanahan,D. et al. (2011) Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation. Cell, 144, 646-674]. Although the majority of the cancer studies have focused on the functions of protein-coding genes, emerging evidence has started to reveal the importance of the vast non-coding genome, which constitutes more than 98% of the human genome. A number of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) derived from the 'dark matter' of the human genome exhibit cancer-specific differential expression and/or genomic alterations, and it is increasingly clear that ncRNAs, including small ncRNAs and long ncRNAs (lncRNAs), play an important role in cancer development by regulating protein-coding gene expression through diverse mechanisms. In addition to ncRNAs, nearly half of the mammalian genomes consist of transposable elements, particularly retrotransposons. Once depicted as selfish genomic parasites that propagate at the expense of host fitness, retrotransposon elements could also confer regulatory complexity to the host genomes during development and disease. Reactivation of retrotransposons in cancer, while capable of causing insertional mutagenesis and genome rearrangements to promote oncogenesis, could also alter host gene expression networks to favor tumor development. Taken together, the functional significance of non-coding genome in tumorigenesis has been previously underestimated, and diverse transcripts derived from the non-coding genome could act as integral functional components of the oncogene and tumor suppressor network. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  18. Characterization of genomic alterations in radiation-associated breast cancer among childhood cancer survivors, using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH arrays.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaohong R Yang

    Full Text Available Ionizing radiation is an established risk factor for breast cancer. Epidemiologic studies of radiation-exposed cohorts have been primarily descriptive; molecular events responsible for the development of radiation-associated breast cancer have not been elucidated. In this study, we used array comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH to characterize genome-wide copy number changes in breast tumors collected in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS. Array-CGH data were obtained from 32 cases who developed a second primary breast cancer following chest irradiation at early ages for the treatment of their first cancers, mostly Hodgkin lymphoma. The majority of these cases developed breast cancer before age 45 (91%, n = 29, had invasive ductal tumors (81%, n = 26, estrogen receptor (ER-positive staining (68%, n = 19 out of 28, and high proliferation as indicated by high Ki-67 staining (77%, n = 17 out of 22. Genomic regions with low-copy number gains and losses and high-level amplifications were similar to what has been reported in sporadic breast tumors, however, the frequency of amplifications of the 17q12 region containing human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2 was much higher among CCSS cases (38%, n = 12. Our findings suggest that second primary breast cancers in CCSS were enriched for an "amplifier" genomic subgroup with highly proliferative breast tumors. Future investigation in a larger irradiated cohort will be needed to confirm our findings.

  19. Genomic rearrangements of PTEN in prostate cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sopheap ePhin

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The phosphatase and tensin homolog gene on chromosome 10q23.3 (PTEN is a negative regulator of the PIK3/Akt survival pathway and is the most frequently deleted tumor suppressor gene in prostate cancer. Monoallelic loss of PTEN is present in up to 60% of localized prostate cancers and complete loss of PTEN in prostate cancer is linked to metastasis and androgen independent progression. Studies on the genomic status of PTEN in prostate cancer initially used a two-color fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH assay for PTEN copy number detection in formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue preparations. More recently, a four-color FISH assay containing two additional control probes flanking the PTEN locus with a lower false-positive rate was reported. Combined with the detection of other critical genomic biomarkers for prostate cancer such as ERG, AR, and MYC, the evaluation of PTEN genomic status has proven to be invaluable for patient stratification and management. Although less frequent than allelic deletions, point mutations in the gene and epigenetic silencing are also known to contribute to loss of PTEN function, and ultimately to prostate cancer initiation. Overall, it is clear that PTEN is a powerful biomarker for prostate cancer. Used as a companion diagnostic for emerging therapeutic drugs, FISH analysis of PTEN is promisingly moving human prostate cancer closer to more effective cancer management and therapies.

  20. A Gene Gravity Model for the Evolution of Cancer Genomes: A Study of 3,000 Cancer Genomes across 9 Cancer Types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Chen-Ching; Zhao, Junfei; Jia, Peilin; Li, Wen-Hsiung; Zhao, Zhongming

    2015-01-01

    Cancer development and progression result from somatic evolution by an accumulation of genomic alterations. The effects of those alterations on the fitness of somatic cells lead to evolutionary adaptations such as increased cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and altered anticancer drug responses. However, there are few general mathematical models to quantitatively examine how perturbations of a single gene shape subsequent evolution of the cancer genome. In this study, we proposed the gene gravity model to study the evolution of cancer genomes by incorporating the genome-wide transcription and somatic mutation profiles of ~3,000 tumors across 9 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas into a broad gene network. We found that somatic mutations of a cancer driver gene may drive cancer genome evolution by inducing mutations in other genes. This functional consequence is often generated by the combined effect of genetic and epigenetic (e.g., chromatin regulation) alterations. By quantifying cancer genome evolution using the gene gravity model, we identified six putative cancer genes (AHNAK, COL11A1, DDX3X, FAT4, STAG2, and SYNE1). The tumor genomes harboring the nonsynonymous somatic mutations in these genes had a higher mutation density at the genome level compared to the wild-type groups. Furthermore, we provided statistical evidence that hypermutation of cancer driver genes on inactive X chromosomes is a general feature in female cancer genomes. In summary, this study sheds light on the functional consequences and evolutionary characteristics of somatic mutations during tumorigenesis by propelling adaptive cancer genome evolution, which would provide new perspectives for cancer research and therapeutics. PMID:26352260

  1. Implementing genomics and pharmacogenomics in the clinic: The National Human Genome Research Institute's genomic medicine portfolio.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manolio, Teri A

    2016-10-01

    Increasing knowledge about the influence of genetic variation on human health and growing availability of reliable, cost-effective genetic testing have spurred the implementation of genomic medicine in the clinic. As defined by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), genomic medicine uses an individual's genetic information in his or her clinical care, and has begun to be applied effectively in areas such as cancer genomics, pharmacogenomics, and rare and undiagnosed diseases. In 2011 NHGRI published its strategic vision for the future of genomic research, including an ambitious research agenda to facilitate and promote the implementation of genomic medicine. To realize this agenda, NHGRI is consulting and facilitating collaborations with the external research community through a series of "Genomic Medicine Meetings," under the guidance and leadership of the National Advisory Council on Human Genome Research. These meetings have identified and begun to address significant obstacles to implementation, such as lack of evidence of efficacy, limited availability of genomics expertise and testing, lack of standards, and difficulties in integrating genomic results into electronic medical records. The six research and dissemination initiatives comprising NHGRI's genomic research portfolio are designed to speed the evaluation and incorporation, where appropriate, of genomic technologies and findings into routine clinical care. Actual adoption of successful approaches in clinical care will depend upon the willingness, interest, and energy of professional societies, practitioners, patients, and payers to promote their responsible use and share their experiences in doing so. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  2. Genome Stability Pathways in Head and Neck Cancers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Glenn Jenkins

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Genomic instability underlies the transformation of host cells toward malignancy, promotes development of invasion and metastasis and shapes the response of established cancer to treatment. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of genomic stability in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC, with an emphasis on DNA repair pathways. HNSCC is characterized by distinct profiles in genome stability between similarly staged cancers that are reflected in risk, treatment response and outcomes. Defective DNA repair generates chromosomal derangement that can cause subsequent alterations in gene expression, and is a hallmark of progression toward carcinoma. Variable functionality of an increasing spectrum of repair gene polymorphisms is associated with increased cancer risk, while aetiological factors such as human papillomavirus, tobacco and alcohol induce significantly different behaviour in induced malignancy, underpinned by differences in genomic stability. Targeted inhibition of signalling receptors has proven to be a clinically-validated therapy, and protein expression of other DNA repair and signalling molecules associated with cancer behaviour could potentially provide a more refined clinical model for prognosis and treatment prediction. Development and expansion of current genomic stability models is furthering our understanding of HNSCC pathophysiology and uncovering new, promising treatment strategies.

  3. Genome Stability Pathways in Head and Neck Cancers

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Byrne, Kenneth J.; Panizza, Benedict; Richard, Derek J.

    2013-01-01

    Genomic instability underlies the transformation of host cells toward malignancy, promotes development of invasion and metastasis and shapes the response of established cancer to treatment. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of genomic stability in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC), with an emphasis on DNA repair pathways. HNSCC is characterized by distinct profiles in genome stability between similarly staged cancers that are reflected in risk, treatment response and outcomes. Defective DNA repair generates chromosomal derangement that can cause subsequent alterations in gene expression, and is a hallmark of progression toward carcinoma. Variable functionality of an increasing spectrum of repair gene polymorphisms is associated with increased cancer risk, while aetiological factors such as human papillomavirus, tobacco and alcohol induce significantly different behaviour in induced malignancy, underpinned by differences in genomic stability. Targeted inhibition of signalling receptors has proven to be a clinically-validated therapy, and protein expression of other DNA repair and signalling molecules associated with cancer behaviour could potentially provide a more refined clinical model for prognosis and treatment prediction. Development and expansion of current genomic stability models is furthering our understanding of HNSCC pathophysiology and uncovering new, promising treatment strategies. PMID:24364026

  4. Causation of cancer by ionizing radiation and genomic instability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Streffer, Christian

    2013-01-01

    The causation of cancer by ionizing radiation has been shown in many epidemiological (with exposed humans) as well as experimental studies with mammals especially mice but also rats, dogs and monkeys. Risk values have been determined in medium radiation dose ranges (∼100 to 2,000 mSv). However, in the low dose range (<100 mSv) the situation is unclear and unsolved up to now. A better knowledge of the mechanisms for the development of cancer in humans over decades after low to medium radiation exposures is necessary for the understanding of the open questions. An increase of chromosomal aberrations and other genetic changes have been frequently observed directly after radiation exposures in many cell systems including human cells. However, in 1989 it was found that an increase of genomic instability occurred after irradiation of mouse zygotes in the fibroblasts of the neonates developing from the irradiated zygotes. That means genomic instability developed many cell generations later in cells which never had been exposed to various qualities of ionizing radiations in vivo and any treatment and secondary cancers developed in photon irradiated M.Hodgkin patients preferentially in those patients who showed a comparatively high genomic instability in their lymphocytes. Since several decades it has been experienced that certain cancer patients show an extremely high radio-sensitivity. This clinical observation has been confirmed by experimental investigations with cells of such patients. It has been proven that this increased radio-sensitivity is due to genetic mutations. A number of syndromes could be defined on such a genetic basis like ataxia telangiectasia, bloom's syndrome, fanconi anemia, retinoblasoma and others. In all these syndromes mutations occur in genes which are to regulation of the cell cycle or DNA repair (preferentially repair of DSBs). These patients with an increased radio-sensitivity frequently develop cancer - very often lymphoma - and they also

  5. The human Genome project and the future of oncology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collins, Francis S.

    1996-01-01

    The Human Genome Project is an ambitious 15-year effort to devise maps and sequence of the 3-billion base pair human genome, including all 100,000 genes. The project is running ahead of schedule and under budget. Already the effects on progress in disease gene discovery have been dramatic, especially for cancer. The most appropriate uses of susceptibility testing for breast, ovarian, and colon cancer are being investigated in research protocols, and the need to prevent genetic discrimination in employment and health insurance is becoming more urgent. In the longer term, these gene discoveries are likely to usher in a new era of therapeutic molecular medicine

  6. Ectopic Expression of Testis Germ Cell Proteins in Cancer and Its Potential Role in Genomic Instability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aaraby Yoheswaran Nielsen

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Genomic instability is a hallmark of human cancer and an enabling factor for the genetic alterations that drive cancer development. The processes involved in genomic instability resemble those of meiosis, where genetic material is interchanged between homologous chromosomes. In most types of human cancer, epigenetic changes, including hypomethylation of gene promoters, lead to the ectopic expression of a large number of proteins normally restricted to the germ cells of the testis. Due to the similarities between meiosis and genomic instability, it has been proposed that activation of meiotic programs may drive genomic instability in cancer cells. Some germ cell proteins with ectopic expression in cancer cells indeed seem to promote genomic instability, while others reduce polyploidy and maintain mitotic fidelity. Furthermore, oncogenic germ cell proteins may indirectly contribute to genomic instability through induction of replication stress, similar to classic oncogenes. Thus, current evidence suggests that testis germ cell proteins are implicated in cancer development by regulating genomic instability during tumorigenesis, and these proteins therefore represent promising targets for novel therapeutic strategies.

  7. MutSpec: a Galaxy toolbox for streamlined analyses of somatic mutation spectra in human and mouse cancer genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardin, Maude; Cahais, Vincent; Castells, Xavier; Bouaoun, Liacine; Byrnes, Graham; Herceg, Zdenko; Zavadil, Jiri; Olivier, Magali

    2016-04-18

    The nature of somatic mutations observed in human tumors at single gene or genome-wide levels can reveal information on past carcinogenic exposures and mutational processes contributing to tumor development. While large amounts of sequencing data are being generated, the associated analysis and interpretation of mutation patterns that may reveal clues about the natural history of cancer present complex and challenging tasks that require advanced bioinformatics skills. To make such analyses accessible to a wider community of researchers with no programming expertise, we have developed within the web-based user-friendly platform Galaxy a first-of-its-kind package called MutSpec. MutSpec includes a set of tools that perform variant annotation and use advanced statistics for the identification of mutation signatures present in cancer genomes and for comparing the obtained signatures with those published in the COSMIC database and other sources. MutSpec offers an accessible framework for building reproducible analysis pipelines, integrating existing methods and scripts developed in-house with publicly available R packages. MutSpec may be used to analyse data from whole-exome, whole-genome or targeted sequencing experiments performed on human or mouse genomes. Results are provided in various formats including rich graphical outputs. An example is presented to illustrate the package functionalities, the straightforward workflow analysis and the richness of the statistics and publication-grade graphics produced by the tool. MutSpec offers an easy-to-use graphical interface embedded in the popular Galaxy platform that can be used by researchers with limited programming or bioinformatics expertise to analyse mutation signatures present in cancer genomes. MutSpec can thus effectively assist in the discovery of complex mutational processes resulting from exogenous and endogenous carcinogenic insults.

  8. Implementing genomics and pharmacogenomics in the clinic: The National Human Genome Research Institute’s genomic medicine portfolio

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manolio, Teri A.

    2016-01-01

    Increasing knowledge about the influence of genetic variation on human health and growing availability of reliable, cost-effective genetic testing have spurred the implementation of genomic medicine in the clinic. As defined by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), genomic medicine uses an individual’s genetic information in his or her clinical care, and has begun to be applied effectively in areas such as cancer genomics, pharmacogenomics, and rare and undiagnosed diseases. In 2011 NHGRI published its strategic vision for the future of genomic research, including an ambitious research agenda to facilitate and promote the implementation of genomic medicine. To realize this agenda, NHGRI is consulting and facilitating collaborations with the external research community through a series of “Genomic Medicine Meetings,” under the guidance and leadership of the National Advisory Council on Human Genome Research. These meetings have identified and begun to address significant obstacles to implementation, such as lack of evidence of efficacy, limited availability of genomics expertise and testing, lack of standards, and diffficulties in integrating genomic results into electronic medical records. The six research and dissemination initiatives comprising NHGRI’s genomic research portfolio are designed to speed the evaluation and incorporation, where appropriate, of genomic technologies and findings into routine clinical care. Actual adoption of successful approaches in clinical care will depend upon the willingness, interest, and energy of professional societies, practitioners, patients, and payers to promote their responsible use and share their experiences in doing so. PMID:27612677

  9. Integrated analysis of whole genome and transcriptome sequencing reveals diverse transcriptomic aberrations driven by somatic genomic changes in liver cancers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuichi Shiraishi

    Full Text Available Recent studies applying high-throughput sequencing technologies have identified several recurrently mutated genes and pathways in multiple cancer genomes. However, transcriptional consequences from these genomic alterations in cancer genome remain unclear. In this study, we performed integrated and comparative analyses of whole genomes and transcriptomes of 22 hepatitis B virus (HBV-related hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs and their matched controls. Comparison of whole genome sequence (WGS and RNA-Seq revealed much evidence that various types of genomic mutations triggered diverse transcriptional changes. Not only splice-site mutations, but also silent mutations in coding regions, deep intronic mutations and structural changes caused splicing aberrations. HBV integrations generated diverse patterns of virus-human fusion transcripts depending on affected gene, such as TERT, CDK15, FN1 and MLL4. Structural variations could drive over-expression of genes such as WNT ligands, with/without creating gene fusions. Furthermore, by taking account of genomic mutations causing transcriptional aberrations, we could improve the sensitivity of deleterious mutation detection in known cancer driver genes (TP53, AXIN1, ARID2, RPS6KA3, and identified recurrent disruptions in putative cancer driver genes such as HNF4A, CPS1, TSC1 and THRAP3 in HCCs. These findings indicate genomic alterations in cancer genome have diverse transcriptomic effects, and integrated analysis of WGS and RNA-Seq can facilitate the interpretation of a large number of genomic alterations detected in cancer genome.

  10. Opening plenary speaker: Human genomics, precision medicine, and advancing human health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Eric D

    2016-08-01

    Starting with the launch of the Human Genome Project in 1990, the past quarter-century has brought spectacular achievements in genomics that dramatically empower the study of human biology and disease. The human genomics enterprise is now in the midst of an important transition, as the growing foundation of genomic knowledge is being used by researchers and clinicians to tackle increasingly complex problems in biomedicine. Of particular prominence is the use of revolutionary new DNA sequencing technologies for generating prodigious amounts of DNA sequence data to elucidate the complexities of genome structure, function, and evolution, as well as to unravel the genomic bases of rare and common diseases. Together, these developments are ushering in the era of genomic medicine. Augmenting the advances in human genomics have been innovations in technologies for measuring environmental and lifestyle information, electronic health records, and data science; together, these provide opportunities of unprecedented scale and scope for investigating the underpinnings of health and disease. To capitalize on these opportunities, U.S. President Barack Obama recently announced a major new research endeavor - the U.S. Precision Medicine Initiative. This bold effort will be framed around several key aims, which include accelerating the use of genomically informed approaches to cancer care, making important policy and regulatory changes, and establishing a large research cohort of >1 million volunteers to facilitate precision medicine research. The latter will include making the partnership with all participants a centerpiece feature in the cohort's design and development. The Precision Medicine Initiative represents a broad-based research program that will allow new approaches for individualized medical care to be rigorously tested, so as to establish a new evidence base for advancing clinical practice and, eventually, human health.

  11. Human-specific HERV-K insertion causes genomic variations in the human genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wonseok Shin

    Full Text Available Human endogenous retroviruses (HERV sequences account for about 8% of the human genome. Through comparative genomics and literature mining, we identified a total of 29 human-specific HERV-K insertions. We characterized them focusing on their structure and flanking sequence. The results showed that four of the human-specific HERV-K insertions deleted human genomic sequences via non-classical insertion mechanisms. Interestingly, two of the human-specific HERV-K insertion loci contained two HERV-K internals and three LTR elements, a pattern which could be explained by LTR-LTR ectopic recombination or template switching. In addition, we conducted a polymorphic test and observed that twelve out of the 29 elements are polymorphic in the human population. In conclusion, human-specific HERV-K elements have inserted into human genome since the divergence of human and chimpanzee, causing human genomic changes. Thus, we believe that human-specific HERV-K activity has contributed to the genomic divergence between humans and chimpanzees, as well as within the human population.

  12. Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schaub, Franz X.; Dhankani, Varsha; Berger, Ashton C.; Trivedi, Mihir; Richardson, Anne B.; Shaw, Reid; Zhao, Wei; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Ventura, Andrea; Liu, Yuexin; Ayer, Donald E.; Hurlin, Peter J.; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Eisenman, Robert N.; Bernard, Brady; Grandori, Carla; Caesar-Johnson, Samantha J.; Demchok, John A.; Felau, Ina; Kasapi, Melpomeni; Ferguson, Martin L.; Hutter, Carolyn M.; Sofia, Heidi J.; Tarnuzzer, Roy; Wang, Zhining; Yang, Liming; Zenklusen, Jean C.; Zhang, Jiashan (Julia); Chudamani, Sudha; Liu, Jia; Lolla, Laxmi; Naresh, Rashi; Pihl, Todd; Sun, Qiang; Wan, Yunhu; Wu, Ye; Cho, Juok; DeFreitas, Timothy; Frazer, Scott; Gehlenborg, Nils; Getz, Gad; Heiman, David I.; Kim, Jaegil; Lawrence, Michael S.; Lin, Pei; Meier, Sam; Noble, Michael S.; Saksena, Gordon; Voet, Doug; Zhang, Hailei; Bernard, Brady; Chambwe, Nyasha; Dhankani, Varsha; Knijnenburg, Theo; Kramer, Roger; Leinonen, Kalle; Liu, Yuexin; Miller, Michael; Reynolds, Sheila; Shmulevich, Ilya; Thorsson, Vesteinn; Zhang, Wei; Akbani, Rehan; Broom, Bradley M.; Hegde, Apurva M.; Ju, Zhenlin; Kanchi, Rupa S.; Korkut, Anil; Li, Jun; Liang, Han; Ling, Shiyun; Liu, Wenbin; Lu, Yiling; Mills, Gordon B.; Ng, Kwok Shing; Rao, Arvind; Ryan, Michael; Wang, Jing; Weinstein, John N.; Zhang, Jiexin; Abeshouse, Adam; Armenia, Joshua; Chakravarty, Debyani; Chatila, Walid K.; de Bruijn, Ino; Gao, Jianjiong; Gross, Benjamin E.; Heins, Zachary J.; Kundra, Ritika; La, Konnor; Ladanyi, Marc; Luna, Augustin; Nissan, Moriah G.; Ochoa, Angelica; Phillips, Sarah M.; Reznik, Ed; Sanchez-Vega, Francisco; Sander, Chris; Schultz, Nikolaus; Sheridan, Robert; Sumer, S. Onur; Sun, Yichao; Taylor, Barry S.; Wang, Jioajiao; Zhang, Hongxin; Anur, Pavana; Peto, Myron; Spellman, Paul; Benz, Christopher; Stuart, Joshua M.; Wong, Christopher K.; Yau, Christina; Hayes, D. Neil; Parker, Joel S.; Wilkerson, Matthew D.; Ally, Adrian; Balasundaram, Miruna; Bowlby, Reanne; Brooks, Denise; Carlsen, Rebecca; Chuah, Eric; Dhalla, Noreen; Holt, Robert; Jones, Steven J.M.; Kasaian, Katayoon; Lee, Darlene; Ma, Yussanne; Marra, Marco A.; Mayo, Michael; Moore, Richard A.; Mungall, Andrew J.; Mungall, Karen; Robertson, A. Gordon; Sadeghi, Sara; Schein, Jacqueline E.; Sipahimalani, Payal; Tam, Angela; Thiessen, Nina; Tse, Kane; Wong, Tina; Berger, Ashton C.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Cibulskis, Carrie; Gabriel, Stacey B.; Gao, Galen F.; Ha, Gavin; Meyerson, Matthew; Schumacher, Steven E.; Shih, Juliann; Kucherlapati, Melanie H.; Kucherlapati, Raju S.; Baylin, Stephen; Cope, Leslie; Danilova, Ludmila; Bootwalla, Moiz S.; Lai, Phillip H.; Maglinte, Dennis T.; Van Den Berg, David J.; Weisenberger, Daniel J.; Auman, J. Todd; Balu, Saianand; Bodenheimer, Tom; Fan, Cheng; Hoadley, Katherine A.; Hoyle, Alan P.; Jefferys, Stuart R.; Jones, Corbin D.; Meng, Shaowu; Mieczkowski, Piotr A.; Mose, Lisle E.; Perou, Amy H.; Perou, Charles M.; Roach, Jeffrey; Shi, Yan; Simons, Janae V.; Skelly, Tara; Soloway, Matthew G.; Tan, Donghui; Veluvolu, Umadevi; Fan, Huihui; Hinoue, Toshinori; Laird, Peter W.; Shen, Hui; Zhou, Wanding; Bellair, Michelle; Chang, Kyle; Covington, Kyle; Creighton, Chad J.; Dinh, Huyen; Doddapaneni, Harsha Vardhan; Donehower, Lawrence A.; Drummond, Jennifer; Gibbs, Richard A.; Glenn, Robert; Hale, Walker; Han, Yi; Hu, Jianhong; Korchina, Viktoriya; Lee, Sandra; Lewis, Lora; Li, Wei; Liu, Xiuping; Morgan, Margaret; Morton, Donna; Muzny, Donna; Santibanez, Jireh; Sheth, Margi; Shinbrot, Eve; Wang, Linghua; Wang, Min; Wheeler, David A.; Xi, Liu; Zhao, Fengmei; Hess, Julian; Appelbaum, Elizabeth L.; Bailey, Matthew; Cordes, Matthew G.; Ding, Li; Fronick, Catrina C.; Fulton, Lucinda A.; Fulton, Robert S.; Kandoth, Cyriac; Mardis, Elaine R.; McLellan, Michael D.; Miller, Christopher A.; Schmidt, Heather K.; Wilson, Richard K.; Crain, Daniel; Curley, Erin; Gardner, Johanna; Lau, Kevin; Mallery, David; Morris, Scott; Paulauskis, Joseph; Penny, Robert; Shelton, Candace; Shelton, Troy; Sherman, Mark; Thompson, Eric; Yena, Peggy; Bowen, Jay; Gastier-Foster, Julie M.; Gerken, Mark; Leraas, Kristen M.; Lichtenberg, Tara M.; Ramirez, Nilsa C.; Wise, Lisa; Zmuda, Erik; Corcoran, Niall; Costello, Tony; Hovens, Christopher; Carvalho, Andre L.; de Carvalho, Ana C.; Fregnani, José H.; Longatto-Filho, Adhemar; Reis, Rui M.; Scapulatempo-Neto, Cristovam; Silveira, Henrique C.S.; Vidal, Daniel O.; Burnette, Andrew; Eschbacher, Jennifer; Hermes, Beth; Noss, Ardene; Singh, Rosy; Anderson, Matthew L.; Castro, Patricia D.; Ittmann, Michael; Huntsman, David; Kohl, Bernard; Le, Xuan; Thorp, Richard; Andry, Chris; Duffy, Elizabeth R.; Lyadov, Vladimir; Paklina, Oxana; Setdikova, Galiya; Shabunin, Alexey; Tavobilov, Mikhail; McPherson, Christopher; Warnick, Ronald; Berkowitz, Ross; Cramer, Daniel; Feltmate, Colleen; Horowitz, Neil; Kibel, Adam; Muto, Michael; Raut, Chandrajit P.; Malykh, Andrei; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S.; Barrett, Wendi; Devine, Karen; Fulop, Jordonna; Ostrom, Quinn T.; Shimmel, Kristen; Wolinsky, Yingli; Sloan, Andrew E.; De Rose, Agostino; Giuliante, Felice; Goodman, Marc; Karlan, Beth Y.; Hagedorn, Curt H.; Eckman, John; Harr, Jodi; Myers, Jerome; Tucker, Kelinda; Zach, Leigh Anne; Deyarmin, Brenda; Hu, Hai; Kvecher, Leonid; Larson, Caroline; Mural, Richard J.; Somiari, Stella; Vicha, Ales; Zelinka, Tomas; Bennett, Joseph; Iacocca, Mary; Rabeno, Brenda; Swanson, Patricia; Latour, Mathieu; Lacombe, Louis; Têtu, Bernard; Bergeron, Alain; McGraw, Mary; Staugaitis, Susan M.; Chabot, John; Hibshoosh, Hanina; Sepulveda, Antonia; Su, Tao; Wang, Timothy; Potapova, Olga; Voronina, Olga; Desjardins, Laurence; Mariani, Odette; Roman-Roman, Sergio; Sastre, Xavier; Stern, Marc Henri; Cheng, Feixiong; Signoretti, Sabina; Berchuck, Andrew; Bigner, Darell; Lipp, Eric; Marks, Jeffrey; McCall, Shannon; McLendon, Roger; Secord, Angeles; Sharp, Alexis; Behera, Madhusmita; Brat, Daniel J.; Chen, Amy; Delman, Keith; Force, Seth; Khuri, Fadlo; Magliocca, Kelly; Maithel, Shishir; Olson, Jeffrey J.; Owonikoko, Taofeek; Pickens, Alan; Ramalingam, Suresh; Shin, Dong M.; Sica, Gabriel; Van Meir, Erwin G.; Zhang, Hongzheng; Eijckenboom, Wil; Gillis, Ad; Korpershoek, Esther; Looijenga, Leendert; Oosterhuis, Wolter; Stoop, Hans; van Kessel, Kim E.; Zwarthoff, Ellen C.; Calatozzolo, Chiara; Cuppini, Lucia; Cuzzubbo, Stefania; DiMeco, Francesco; Finocchiaro, Gaetano; Mattei, Luca; Perin, Alessandro; Pollo, Bianca; Chen, Chu; Houck, John; Lohavanichbutr, Pawadee; Hartmann, Arndt; Stoehr, Christine; Stoehr, Robert; Taubert, Helge; Wach, Sven; Wullich, Bernd; Kycler, Witold; Murawa, Dawid; Wiznerowicz, Maciej; Chung, Ki; Edenfield, W. Jeffrey; Martin, Julie; Baudin, Eric; Bubley, Glenn; Bueno, Raphael; De Rienzo, Assunta; Richards, William G.; Kalkanis, Steven; Mikkelsen, Tom; Noushmehr, Houtan; Scarpace, Lisa; Girard, Nicolas; Aymerich, Marta; Campo, Elias; Giné, Eva; Guillermo, Armando López; Van Bang, Nguyen; Hanh, Phan Thi; Phu, Bui Duc; Tang, Yufang; Colman, Howard; Evason, Kimberley; Dottino, Peter R.; Martignetti, John A.; Gabra, Hani; Juhl, Hartmut; Akeredolu, Teniola; Stepa, Serghei; Hoon, Dave; Ahn, Keunsoo; Kang, Koo Jeong; Beuschlein, Felix; Breggia, Anne; Birrer, Michael; Bell, Debra; Borad, Mitesh; Bryce, Alan H.; Castle, Erik; Chandan, Vishal; Cheville, John; Copland, John A.; Farnell, Michael; Flotte, Thomas; Giama, Nasra; Ho, Thai; Kendrick, Michael; Kocher, Jean Pierre; Kopp, Karla; Moser, Catherine; Nagorney, David; O'Brien, Daniel; O'Neill, Brian Patrick; Patel, Tushar; Petersen, Gloria; Que, Florencia; Rivera, Michael; Roberts, Lewis; Smallridge, Robert; Smyrk, Thomas; Stanton, Melissa; Thompson, R. Houston; Torbenson, Michael; Yang, Ju Dong; Zhang, Lizhi; Brimo, Fadi; Ajani, Jaffer A.; Angulo Gonzalez, Ana Maria; Behrens, Carmen; Bondaruk, Jolanta; Broaddus, Russell; Czerniak, Bogdan; Esmaeli, Bita; Fujimoto, Junya; Gershenwald, Jeffrey; Guo, Charles; Lazar, Alexander J.; Logothetis, Christopher; Meric-Bernstam, Funda; Moran, Cesar; Ramondetta, Lois; Rice, David; Sood, Anil; Tamboli, Pheroze; Thompson, Timothy; Troncoso, Patricia; Tsao, Anne; Wistuba, Ignacio; Carter, Candace; Haydu, Lauren; Hersey, Peter; Jakrot, Valerie; Kakavand, Hojabr; Kefford, Richard; Lee, Kenneth; Long, Georgina; Mann, Graham; Quinn, Michael; Saw, Robyn; Scolyer, Richard; Shannon, Kerwin; Spillane, Andrew; Stretch, Jonathan; Synott, Maria; Thompson, John; Wilmott, James; Al-Ahmadie, Hikmat; Chan, Timothy A.; Ghossein, Ronald; Gopalan, Anuradha; Levine, Douglas A.; Reuter, Victor; Singer, Samuel; Singh, Bhuvanesh; Tien, Nguyen Viet; Broudy, Thomas; Mirsaidi, Cyrus; Nair, Praveen; Drwiega, Paul; Miller, Judy; Smith, Jennifer; Zaren, Howard; Park, Joong Won; Hung, Nguyen Phi; Kebebew, Electron; Linehan, W. Marston; Metwalli, Adam R.; Pacak, Karel; Pinto, Peter A.; Schiffman, Mark; Schmidt, Laura S.; Vocke, Cathy D.; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Worrell, Robert; Yang, Hannah; Moncrieff, Marc; Goparaju, Chandra; Melamed, Jonathan; Pass, Harvey; Botnariuc, Natalia; Caraman, Irina; Cernat, Mircea; Chemencedji, Inga; Clipca, Adrian; Doruc, Serghei; Gorincioi, Ghenadie; Mura, Sergiu; Pirtac, Maria; Stancul, Irina; Tcaciuc, Diana; Albert, Monique; Alexopoulou, Iakovina; Arnaout, Angel; Bartlett, John; Engel, Jay; Gilbert, Sebastien; Parfitt, Jeremy; Sekhon, Harman; Thomas, George; Rassl, Doris M.; Rintoul, Robert C.; Bifulco, Carlo; Tamakawa, Raina; Urba, Walter; Hayward, Nicholas; Timmers, Henri; Antenucci, Anna; Facciolo, Francesco; Grazi, Gianluca; Marino, Mirella; Merola, Roberta; de Krijger, Ronald; Gimenez-Roqueplo, Anne Paule; Piché, Alain; Chevalier, Simone; McKercher, Ginette; Birsoy, Kivanc; Barnett, Gene; Brewer, Cathy; Farver, Carol; Naska, Theresa; Pennell, Nathan A.; Raymond, Daniel; Schilero, Cathy; Smolenski, Kathy; Williams, Felicia; Morrison, Carl; Borgia, Jeffrey A.; Liptay, Michael J.; Pool, Mark; Seder, Christopher W.; Junker, Kerstin; Omberg, Larsson; Dinkin, Mikhail; Manikhas, George; Alvaro, Domenico; Bragazzi, Maria Consiglia; Cardinale, Vincenzo; Carpino, Guido; Gaudio, Eugenio; Chesla, David; Cottingham, Sandra; Dubina, Michael; Moiseenko, Fedor; Dhanasekaran, Renumathy; Becker, Karl Friedrich; Janssen, Klaus Peter; Slotta-Huspenina, Julia; Abdel-Rahman, Mohamed H.; Aziz, Dina; Bell, Sue; Cebulla, Colleen M.; Davis, Amy; Duell, Rebecca; Elder, J. Bradley; Hilty, Joe; Kumar, Bahavna; Lang, James; Lehman, Norman L.; Mandt, Randy; Nguyen, Phuong; Pilarski, Robert; Rai, Karan; Schoenfield, Lynn; Senecal, Kelly; Wakely, Paul; Hansen, Paul; Lechan, Ronald; Powers, James; Tischler, Arthur; Grizzle, William E.; Sexton, Katherine C.; Kastl, Alison; Henderson, Joel; Porten, Sima; Waldmann, Jens; Fassnacht, Martin; Asa, Sylvia L.; Schadendorf, Dirk; Couce, Marta; Graefen, Markus; Huland, Hartwig; Sauter, Guido; Schlomm, Thorsten; Simon, Ronald; Tennstedt, Pierre; Olabode, Oluwole; Nelson, Mark; Bathe, Oliver; Carroll, Peter R.; Chan, June M.; Disaia, Philip; Glenn, Pat; Kelley, Robin K.; Landen, Charles N.; Phillips, Joanna; Prados, Michael; Simko, Jeffry; Smith-McCune, Karen; VandenBerg, Scott; Roggin, Kevin; Fehrenbach, Ashley; Kendler, Ady; Sifri, Suzanne; Steele, Ruth; Jimeno, Antonio; Carey, Francis; Forgie, Ian; Mannelli, Massimo; Carney, Michael; Hernandez, Brenda; Campos, Benito; Herold-Mende, Christel; Jungk, Christin; Unterberg, Andreas; von Deimling, Andreas; Bossler, Aaron; Galbraith, Joseph; Jacobus, Laura; Knudson, Michael; Knutson, Tina; Ma, Deqin; Milhem, Mohammed; Sigmund, Rita; Godwin, Andrew K.; Madan, Rashna; Rosenthal, Howard G.; Adebamowo, Clement; Adebamowo, Sally N.; Boussioutas, Alex; Beer, David; Giordano, Thomas; Mes-Masson, Anne Marie; Saad, Fred; Bocklage, Therese; Landrum, Lisa; Mannel, Robert; Moore, Kathleen; Moxley, Katherine; Postier, Russel; Walker, Joan; Zuna, Rosemary; Feldman, Michael; Valdivieso, Federico; Dhir, Rajiv; Luketich, James; Mora Pinero, Edna M.; Quintero-Aguilo, Mario; Carlotti, Carlos Gilberto; Dos Santos, Jose Sebastião; Kemp, Rafael; Sankarankuty, Ajith; Tirapelli, Daniela; Catto, James; Agnew, Kathy; Swisher, Elizabeth; Creaney, Jenette; Robinson, Bruce; Shelley, Carl Simon; Godwin, Eryn M.; Kendall, Sara; Shipman, Cassaundra; Bradford, Carol; Carey, Thomas; Haddad, Andrea; Moyer, Jeffey; Peterson, Lisa; Prince, Mark; Rozek, Laura; Wolf, Gregory; Bowman, Rayleen; Fong, Kwun M.; Yang, Ian; Korst, Robert; Rathmell, W. Kimryn; Fantacone-Campbell, J. Leigh; Hooke, Jeffrey A.; Kovatich, Albert J.; Shriver, Craig D.; DiPersio, John; Drake, Bettina; Govindan, Ramaswamy; Heath, Sharon; Ley, Timothy; Van Tine, Brian; Westervelt, Peter; Rubin, Mark A.; Lee, Jung Il; Aredes, Natália D.; Mariamidze, Armaz

    2018-01-01

    Although the MYC oncogene has been implicated in cancer, a systematic assessment of alterations of MYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatory proteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN), across human cancers is lacking. Using computational approaches, we define genomic and proteomic

  13. The Human Genome Project: big science transforms biology and medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hood, Leroy; Rowen, Lee

    2013-01-01

    The Human Genome Project has transformed biology through its integrated big science approach to deciphering a reference human genome sequence along with the complete sequences of key model organisms. The project exemplifies the power, necessity and success of large, integrated, cross-disciplinary efforts - so-called 'big science' - directed towards complex major objectives. In this article, we discuss the ways in which this ambitious endeavor led to the development of novel technologies and analytical tools, and how it brought the expertise of engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians together with biologists. It established an open approach to data sharing and open-source software, thereby making the data resulting from the project accessible to all. The genome sequences of microbes, plants and animals have revolutionized many fields of science, including microbiology, virology, infectious disease and plant biology. Moreover, deeper knowledge of human sequence variation has begun to alter the practice of medicine. The Human Genome Project has inspired subsequent large-scale data acquisition initiatives such as the International HapMap Project, 1000 Genomes, and The Cancer Genome Atlas, as well as the recently announced Human Brain Project and the emerging Human Proteome Project.

  14. Integrating cancer genomic data into electronic health records

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeremy L. Warner

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The rise of genomically targeted therapies and immunotherapy has revolutionized the practice of oncology in the last 10–15 years. At the same time, new technologies and the electronic health record (EHR in particular have permeated the oncology clinic. Initially designed as billing and clinical documentation systems, EHR systems have not anticipated the complexity and variety of genomic information that needs to be reviewed, interpreted, and acted upon on a daily basis. Improved integration of cancer genomic data with EHR systems will help guide clinician decision making, support secondary uses, and ultimately improve patient care within oncology clinics. Some of the key factors relating to the challenge of integrating cancer genomic data into EHRs include: the bioinformatics pipelines that translate raw genomic data into meaningful, actionable results; the role of human curation in the interpretation of variant calls; and the need for consistent standards with regard to genomic and clinical data. Several emerging paradigms for integration are discussed in this review, including: non-standardized efforts between individual institutions and genomic testing laboratories; “middleware” products that portray genomic information, albeit outside of the clinical workflow; and application programming interfaces that have the potential to work within clinical workflow. The critical need for clinical-genomic knowledge bases, which can be independent or integrated into the aforementioned solutions, is also discussed.

  15. Three-dimensional genome architecture influences partner selection for chromosomal translocations in human disease.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesse M Engreitz

    Full Text Available Chromosomal translocations are frequent features of cancer genomes that contribute to disease progression. These rearrangements result from formation and illegitimate repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs, a process that requires spatial colocalization of chromosomal breakpoints. The "contact first" hypothesis suggests that translocation partners colocalize in the nuclei of normal cells, prior to rearrangement. It is unclear, however, the extent to which spatial interactions based on three-dimensional genome architecture contribute to chromosomal rearrangements in human disease. Here we intersect Hi-C maps of three-dimensional chromosome conformation with collections of 1,533 chromosomal translocations from cancer and germline genomes. We show that many translocation-prone pairs of regions genome-wide, including the cancer translocation partners BCR-ABL and MYC-IGH, display elevated Hi-C contact frequencies in normal human cells. Considering tissue specificity, we find that translocation breakpoints reported in human hematologic malignancies have higher Hi-C contact frequencies in lymphoid cells than those reported in sarcomas and epithelial tumors. However, translocations from multiple tissue types show significant correlation with Hi-C contact frequencies, suggesting that both tissue-specific and universal features of chromatin structure contribute to chromosomal alterations. Our results demonstrate that three-dimensional genome architecture shapes the landscape of rearrangements directly observed in human disease and establish Hi-C as a key method for dissecting these effects.

  16. Upregulation of FOXM1 induces genomic instability in human epidermal keratinocytes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philpott Michael P

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The human cell cycle transcription factor FOXM1 is known to play a key role in regulating timely mitotic progression and accurate chromosomal segregation during cell division. Deregulation of FOXM1 has been linked to a majority of human cancers. We previously showed that FOXM1 was upregulated in basal cell carcinoma and recently reported that upregulation of FOXM1 precedes malignancy in a number of solid human cancer types including oral, oesophagus, lung, breast, kidney, bladder and uterus. This indicates that upregulation of FOXM1 may be an early molecular signal required for aberrant cell cycle and cancer initiation. Results The present study investigated the putative early mechanism of UVB and FOXM1 in skin cancer initiation. We have demonstrated that UVB dose-dependently increased FOXM1 protein levels through protein stabilisation and accumulation rather than de novo mRNA expression in human epidermal keratinocytes. FOXM1 upregulation in primary human keratinocytes triggered pro-apoptotic/DNA-damage checkpoint response genes such as p21, p38 MAPK, p53 and PARP, however, without causing significant cell cycle arrest or cell death. Using a high-resolution Affymetrix genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP mapping technique, we provided the evidence that FOXM1 upregulation in epidermal keratinocytes is sufficient to induce genomic instability, in the form of loss of heterozygosity (LOH and copy number variations (CNV. FOXM1-induced genomic instability was significantly enhanced and accumulated with increasing cell passage and this instability was increased even further upon exposure to UVB resulting in whole chromosomal gain (7p21.3-7q36.3 and segmental LOH (6q25.1-6q25.3. Conclusion We hypothesise that prolonged and repeated UVB exposure selects for skin cells bearing stable FOXM1 protein causes aberrant cell cycle checkpoint thereby allowing ectopic cell cycle entry and subsequent genomic instability. The aberrant

  17. The Pediatric Cancer Genome Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Downing, James R; Wilson, Richard K; Zhang, Jinghui; Mardis, Elaine R; Pui, Ching-Hon; Ding, Li; Ley, Timothy J; Evans, William E

    2013-01-01

    The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) is participating in the international effort to identify somatic mutations that drive cancer. These cancer genome sequencing efforts will not only yield an unparalleled view of the altered signaling pathways in cancer but should also identify new targets against which novel therapeutics can be developed. Although these projects are still deep in the phase of generating primary DNA sequence data, important results are emerging and valuable community resources are being generated that should catalyze future cancer research. We describe here the rationale for conducting the PCGP, present some of the early results of this project and discuss the major lessons learned and how these will affect the application of genomic sequencing in the clinic. PMID:22641210

  18. Punctuated evolution of prostate cancer genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baca, Sylvan C; Prandi, Davide; Lawrence, Michael S; Mosquera, Juan Miguel; Romanel, Alessandro; Drier, Yotam; Park, Kyung; Kitabayashi, Naoki; MacDonald, Theresa Y; Ghandi, Mahmoud; Van Allen, Eliezer; Kryukov, Gregory V; Sboner, Andrea; Theurillat, Jean-Philippe; Soong, T David; Nickerson, Elizabeth; Auclair, Daniel; Tewari, Ashutosh; Beltran, Himisha; Onofrio, Robert C; Boysen, Gunther; Guiducci, Candace; Barbieri, Christopher E; Cibulskis, Kristian; Sivachenko, Andrey; Carter, Scott L; Saksena, Gordon; Voet, Douglas; Ramos, Alex H; Winckler, Wendy; Cipicchio, Michelle; Ardlie, Kristin; Kantoff, Philip W; Berger, Michael F; Gabriel, Stacey B; Golub, Todd R; Meyerson, Matthew; Lander, Eric S; Elemento, Olivier; Getz, Gad; Demichelis, Francesca; Rubin, Mark A; Garraway, Levi A

    2013-04-25

    The analysis of exonic DNA from prostate cancers has identified recurrently mutated genes, but the spectrum of genome-wide alterations has not been profiled extensively in this disease. We sequenced the genomes of 57 prostate tumors and matched normal tissues to characterize somatic alterations and to study how they accumulate during oncogenesis and progression. By modeling the genesis of genomic rearrangements, we identified abundant DNA translocations and deletions that arise in a highly interdependent manner. This phenomenon, which we term "chromoplexy," frequently accounts for the dysregulation of prostate cancer genes and appears to disrupt multiple cancer genes coordinately. Our modeling suggests that chromoplexy may induce considerable genomic derangement over relatively few events in prostate cancer and other neoplasms, supporting a model of punctuated cancer evolution. By characterizing the clonal hierarchy of genomic lesions in prostate tumors, we charted a path of oncogenic events along which chromoplexy may drive prostate carcinogenesis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Comparative analysis of genome maintenance genes in naked mole rat, mouse, and human

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S.L. Macrae (Sheila L.); Q. Zhang (Quanwei); C. Lemetre (Christophe); I. Seim (Inge); R.B. Calder (Robert B.); J.H.J. Hoeijmakers (Jan); Y. Suh (Yousin); V.N. Gladyshev (Vadim N.); A. Seluanov (Andrei); V. Gorbunova (Vera); J. Vijg (Jan); Z.D. Zhang (Zhengdong D.)

    2015-01-01

    textabstractGenome maintenance (GM) is an essential defense system against aging and cancer, as both are characterized by increased genome instability. Here, we compared the copy number variation and mutation rate of 518 GM-associated genes in the naked mole rat (NMR), mouse, and human genomes. GM

  20. Carcinogen susceptibility is regulated by genome architecture and predicts cancer mutagenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Nieto, Pablo E; Schwartz, Erin K; King, Devin A; Paulsen, Jonas; Collas, Philippe; Herrera, Rafael E; Morrison, Ashby J

    2017-10-02

    The development of many sporadic cancers is directly initiated by carcinogen exposure. Carcinogens induce malignancies by creating DNA lesions (i.e., adducts) that can result in mutations if left unrepaired. Despite this knowledge, there has been remarkably little investigation into the regulation of susceptibility to acquire DNA lesions. In this study, we present the first quantitative human genome-wide map of DNA lesions induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the ubiquitous carcinogen in sunlight that causes skin cancer. Remarkably, the pattern of carcinogen susceptibility across the genome of primary cells significantly reflects mutation frequency in malignant melanoma. Surprisingly, DNase-accessible euchromatin is protected from UV, while lamina-associated heterochromatin at the nuclear periphery is vulnerable. Many cancer driver genes have an intrinsic increase in carcinogen susceptibility, including the BRAF oncogene that has the highest mutation frequency in melanoma. These findings provide a genome-wide snapshot of DNA injuries at the earliest stage of carcinogenesis. Furthermore, they identify carcinogen susceptibility as an origin of genome instability that is regulated by nuclear architecture and mirrors mutagenesis in cancer. © 2017 The Authors.

  1. Genome-wide association study of susceptibility loci for breast cancer in Sardinian population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palomba, Grazia; Loi, Angela; Porcu, Eleonora; Cossu, Antonio; Zara, Ilenia; Budroni, Mario; Dei, Mariano; Lai, Sandra; Mulas, Antonella; Olmeo, Nina; Ionta, Maria Teresa; Atzori, Francesco; Cuccuru, Gianmauro; Pitzalis, Maristella; Zoledziewska, Magdalena; Olla, Nazario; Lovicu, Mario; Pisano, Marina; Abecasis, Gonçalo R; Uda, Manuela; Tanda, Francesco; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Easton, Douglas F; Chanock, Stephen J; Hoover, Robert N; Hunter, David J; Schlessinger, David; Sanna, Serena; Crisponi, Laura; Palmieri, Giuseppe

    2015-05-10

    Despite progress in identifying genes associated with breast cancer, many more risk loci exist. Genome-wide association analyses in genetically-homogeneous populations, such as that of Sardinia (Italy), could represent an additional approach to detect low penetrance alleles. We performed a genome-wide association study comparing 1431 Sardinian patients with non-familial, BRCA1/2-mutation-negative breast cancer to 2171 healthy Sardinian blood donors. DNA was genotyped using GeneChip Human Mapping 500 K Arrays or Genome-Wide Human SNP Arrays 6.0. To increase genomic coverage, genotypes of additional SNPs were imputed using data from HapMap Phase II. After quality control filtering of genotype data, 1367 cases (9 men) and 1658 controls (1156 men) were analyzed on a total of 2,067,645 SNPs. Overall, 33 genomic regions (67 candidate SNPs) were associated with breast cancer risk at the p <  0(-6) level. Twenty of these regions contained defined genes, including one already associated with breast cancer risk: TOX3. With a lower threshold for preliminary significance to p < 10(-5), we identified 11 additional SNPs in FGFR2, a well-established breast cancer-associated gene. Ten candidate SNPs were selected, excluding those already associated with breast cancer, for technical validation as well as replication in 1668 samples from the same population. Only SNP rs345299, located in intron 1 of VAV3, remained suggestively associated (p-value, 1.16 x 10(-5)), but it did not associate with breast cancer risk in pooled data from two large, mixed-population cohorts. This study indicated the role of TOX3 and FGFR2 as breast cancer susceptibility genes in BRCA1/2-wild-type breast cancer patients from Sardinian population.

  2. Genome-wide association study of susceptibility loci for breast cancer in Sardinian population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palomba, Grazia; Loi, Angela; Porcu, Eleonora; Cossu, Antonio; Zara, Ilenia

    2015-01-01

    Despite progress in identifying genes associated with breast cancer, many more risk loci exist. Genome-wide association analyses in genetically-homogeneous populations, such as that of Sardinia (Italy), could represent an additional approach to detect low penetrance alleles. We performed a genome-wide association study comparing 1431 Sardinian patients with non-familial, BRCA1/2-mutation-negative breast cancer to 2171 healthy Sardinian blood donors. DNA was genotyped using GeneChip Human Mapping 500 K Arrays or Genome-Wide Human SNP Arrays 6.0. To increase genomic coverage, genotypes of additional SNPs were imputed using data from HapMap Phase II. After quality control filtering of genotype data, 1367 cases (9 men) and 1658 controls (1156 men) were analyzed on a total of 2,067,645 SNPs. Overall, 33 genomic regions (67 candidate SNPs) were associated with breast cancer risk at the p < 10 −6 level. Twenty of these regions contained defined genes, including one already associated with breast cancer risk: TOX3. With a lower threshold for preliminary significance to p < 10 −5 , we identified 11 additional SNPs in FGFR2, a well-established breast cancer-associated gene. Ten candidate SNPs were selected, excluding those already associated with breast cancer, for technical validation as well as replication in 1668 samples from the same population. Only SNP rs345299, located in intron 1 of VAV3, remained suggestively associated (p-value, 1.16x10 −5 ), but it did not associate with breast cancer risk in pooled data from two large, mixed-population cohorts. This study indicated the role of TOX3 and FGFR2 as breast cancer susceptibility genes in BRCA1/2-wild-type breast cancer patients from Sardinian population. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1392-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

  3. Genomic and Epigenomic Alterations in Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakravarthi, Balabhadrapatruni V S K; Nepal, Saroj; Varambally, Sooryanarayana

    2016-07-01

    Multiple genetic and epigenetic events characterize tumor progression and define the identity of the tumors. Advances in high-throughput technologies, like gene expression profiling, next-generation sequencing, proteomics, and metabolomics, have enabled detailed molecular characterization of various tumors. The integration and analyses of these high-throughput data have unraveled many novel molecular aberrations and network alterations in tumors. These molecular alterations include multiple cancer-driving mutations, gene fusions, amplification, deletion, and post-translational modifications, among others. Many of these genomic events are being used in cancer diagnosis, whereas others are therapeutically targeted with small-molecule inhibitors. Multiple genes/enzymes that play a role in DNA and histone modifications are also altered in various cancers, changing the epigenomic landscape during cancer initiation and progression. Apart from protein-coding genes, studies are uncovering the critical regulatory roles played by noncoding RNAs and noncoding regions of the genome during cancer progression. Many of these genomic and epigenetic events function in tandem to drive tumor development and metastasis. Concurrent advances in genome-modulating technologies, like gene silencing and genome editing, are providing ability to understand in detail the process of cancer initiation, progression, and signaling as well as opening up avenues for therapeutic targeting. In this review, we discuss some of the recent advances in cancer genomic and epigenomic research. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Investigative Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Cancer genomics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Norrild, Bodil; Guldberg, Per; Ralfkiær, Elisabeth Methner

    2007-01-01

    Almost all cells in the human body contain a complete copy of the genome with an estimated number of 25,000 genes. The sequences of these genes make up about three percent of the genome and comprise the inherited set of genetic information. The genome also contains information that determines whe...

  5. SIGMA: A System for Integrative Genomic Microarray Analysis of Cancer Genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davies Jonathan J

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence of high resolution profiling of genomes has created a need for the integrative analysis of information generated from multiple methodologies and platforms. Although the majority of data in the public domain are gene expression profiles, and expression analysis software are available, the increase of array CGH studies has enabled integration of high throughput genomic and gene expression datasets. However, tools for direct mining and analysis of array CGH data are limited. Hence, there is a great need for analytical and display software tailored to cross platform integrative analysis of cancer genomes. Results We have created a user-friendly java application to facilitate sophisticated visualization and analysis such as cross-tumor and cross-platform comparisons. To demonstrate the utility of this software, we assembled array CGH data representing Affymetrix SNP chip, Stanford cDNA arrays and whole genome tiling path array platforms for cross comparison. This cancer genome database contains 267 profiles from commonly used cancer cell lines representing 14 different tissue types. Conclusion In this study we have developed an application for the visualization and analysis of data from high resolution array CGH platforms that can be adapted for analysis of multiple types of high throughput genomic datasets. Furthermore, we invite researchers using array CGH technology to deposit both their raw and processed data, as this will be a continually expanding database of cancer genomes. This publicly available resource, the System for Integrative Genomic Microarray Analysis (SIGMA of cancer genomes, can be accessed at http://sigma.bccrc.ca.

  6. Changes in the human mitochondrial genome after treatment of malignant disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wardell, Theresa M.; Ferguson, Elaine; Chinnery, Patrick F.; Borthwick, Gillian M.; Taylor, Robert W.; Jackson, Graham; Craft, Alan; Lightowlers, Robert N.; Howell, Neil; Turnbull, Douglass M.

    2003-01-01

    Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the only extrachromosomal DNA in human cells. The mitochondrial genome encodes essential information for the synthesis of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Inherited defects of this genome are an important cause of human disease. In addition, the mitochondrial genome seems to be particularly prone to DNA damage and acquired mutations may have a role in ageing, cancer and neurodegeneration. We wished to determine if radiotherapy and chemotherapy used in the treatment of cancer could induce changes in the mitochondrial genome. Such changes would be an important genetic marker of DNA damage and may explain some of the adverse effects of treatment. We studied samples from patients who had received radiotherapy and chemotherapy for point mutations within the mtDNA control region, and for large-scale deletions. In blood samples from patients, we found a significantly increased number of point mutations compared to the control subjects. In muscle biopsies from 7 of 8 patients whom had received whole body irradiation as well as chemotherapy, the level of a specific mtDNA deletion was significantly greater than in control subjects. Our studies have shown that in patients who have been treated for cancer there is an increased level of mtDNA damage

  7. Xenopatients 2.0: reprogramming the epigenetic landscapes of patient-derived cancer genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menendez, Javier A; Alarcón, Tomás; Corominas-Faja, Bruna; Cuyàs, Elisabet; López-Bonet, Eugeni; Martin, Angel G; Vellon, Luciano

    2014-01-01

    In the science-fiction thriller film Minority Report, a specialized police department called "PreCrime" apprehends criminals identified in advance based on foreknowledge provided by 3 genetically altered humans called "PreCogs". We propose that Yamanaka stem cell technology can be similarly used to (epi)genetically reprogram tumor cells obtained directly from cancer patients and create self-evolving personalized translational platforms to foresee the evolutionary trajectory of individual tumors. This strategy yields a large stem cell population and captures the cancer genome of an affected individual, i.e., the PreCog-induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cancer cells, which are immediately available for experimental manipulation, including pharmacological screening for personalized "stemotoxic" cancer drugs. The PreCog-iPS cancer cells will re-differentiate upon orthotopic injection into the corresponding target tissues of immunodeficient mice (i.e., the PreCrime-iPS mouse avatars), and this in vivo model will run through specific cancer stages to directly explore their biological properties for drug screening, diagnosis, and personalized treatment in individual patients. The PreCog/PreCrime-iPS approach can perform sets of comparisons to directly observe changes in the cancer-iPS cell line vs. a normal iPS cell line derived from the same human genetic background. Genome editing of PreCog-iPS cells could create translational platforms to directly investigate the link between genomic expression changes and cellular malignization that is largely free from genetic and epigenetic noise and provide proof-of-principle evidence for cutting-edge "chromosome therapies" aimed against cancer aneuploidy. We might infer the epigenetic marks that correct the tumorigenic nature of the reprogrammed cancer cell population and normalize the malignant phenotype in vivo. Genetically engineered models of conditionally reprogrammable mice to transiently express the Yamanaka stemness factors

  8. Functional assessment of human enhancer activities using whole-genome STARR-sequencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yuwen; Yu, Shan; Dhiman, Vineet K; Brunetti, Tonya; Eckart, Heather; White, Kevin P

    2017-11-20

    Genome-wide quantification of enhancer activity in the human genome has proven to be a challenging problem. Recent efforts have led to the development of powerful tools for enhancer quantification. However, because of genome size and complexity, these tools have yet to be applied to the whole human genome.  In the current study, we use a human prostate cancer cell line, LNCaP as a model to perform whole human genome STARR-seq (WHG-STARR-seq) to reliably obtain an assessment of enhancer activity. This approach builds upon previously developed STARR-seq in the fly genome and CapSTARR-seq techniques in targeted human genomic regions. With an improved library preparation strategy, our approach greatly increases the library complexity per unit of starting material, which makes it feasible and cost-effective to explore the landscape of regulatory activity in the much larger human genome. In addition to our ability to identify active, accessible enhancers located in open chromatin regions, we can also detect sequences with the potential for enhancer activity that are located in inaccessible, closed chromatin regions. When treated with the histone deacetylase inhibitor, Trichostatin A, genes nearby this latter class of enhancers are up-regulated, demonstrating the potential for endogenous functionality of these regulatory elements. WHG-STARR-seq provides an improved approach to current pipelines for analysis of high complexity genomes to gain a better understanding of the intricacies of transcriptional regulation.

  9. Genetics and Genomics: Discovery, Validation, and Utility of Novel Tools for management of Prostate Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan W. Shindel

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Genomics is the science of how genes influence human health and disease states. It differs from traditional genetic screening in that the transcriptional activity (or other markers in full panels of related genes are studied. Compared to simple genetic testing, assessment of expression levels in a panel of genes provides a more nuanced and holistic understanding of genetic modulation of human disease. Genomic testing may be used to great effect in resolving controversial questions on detection and treatment of prostate cancer. Genomic tests are currently in use for numerous facets of prostate cancer care, including screening, biopsy, and treatment planning. The clinical validity (predictive capacity of these assays has been well established; studies on clinical utility (i.e. usefulness of these tests in guiding patient/provider decisions have shown promising results. Men’s health specialists should be familiar with the role genomic testing will play in contemporary management of prostate cancer.

  10. Characterization of canine osteosarcoma by array comparative genomic hybridization and RT-qPCR: signatures of genomic imbalance in canine osteosarcoma parallel the human counterpart.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angstadt, Andrea Y; Motsinger-Reif, Alison; Thomas, Rachael; Kisseberth, William C; Guillermo Couto, C; Duval, Dawn L; Nielsen, Dahlia M; Modiano, Jaime F; Breen, Matthew

    2011-11-01

    Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most commonly diagnosed malignant bone tumor in humans and dogs, characterized in both species by extremely complex karyotypes exhibiting high frequencies of genomic imbalance. Evaluation of genomic signatures in human OS using array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) has assisted in uncovering genetic mechanisms that result in disease phenotype. Previous low-resolution (10-20 Mb) aCGH analysis of canine OS identified a wide range of recurrent DNA copy number aberrations, indicating extensive genomic instability. In this study, we profiled 123 canine OS tumors by 1 Mb-resolution aCGH to generate a dataset for direct comparison with current data for human OS, concluding that several high frequency aberrations in canine and human OS are orthologous. To ensure complete coverage of gene annotation, we identified the human refseq genes that map to these orthologous aberrant dog regions and found several candidate genes warranting evaluation for OS involvement. Specifically, subsequenct FISH and qRT-PCR analysis of RUNX2, TUSC3, and PTEN indicated that expression levels correlated with genomic copy number status, showcasing RUNX2 as an OS associated gene and TUSC3 as a possible tumor suppressor candidate. Together these data demonstrate the ability of genomic comparative oncology to identify genetic abberations which may be important for OS progression. Large scale screening of genomic imbalance in canine OS further validates the use of the dog as a suitable model for human cancers, supporting the idea that dysregulation discovered in canine cancers will provide an avenue for complementary study in human counterparts. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  11. Human Genome Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Block, S. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Cornwall, J. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Dally, W. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Dyson, F. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Fortson, N. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Joyce, G. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Kimble, H. J. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Lewis, N. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Max, C. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Prince, T. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Schwitters, R. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Weinberger, P. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Woodin, W. H. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office

    1998-01-04

    The study reviews Department of Energy supported aspects of the United States Human Genome Project, the joint National Institutes of Health/Department of Energy program to characterize all human genetic material, to discover the set of human genes, and to render them accessible for further biological study. The study concentrates on issues of technology, quality assurance/control, and informatics relevant to current effort on the genome project and needs beyond it. Recommendations are presented on areas of the genome program that are of particular interest to and supported by the Department of Energy.

  12. Copy-number and gene dependency analysis reveals partial copy loss of wild-type SF3B1 as a novel cancer vulnerability. | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genomic instability is a hallmark of human cancer, and results in widespread somatic copy number alterations. We used a genome-scale shRNA viability screen in human cancer cell lines to systematically identify genes that are essential in the context of particular copy-number alterations (copy-number associated gene dependencies). The most enriched class of copy-number associated gene dependencies was CYCLOPS (Copy-number alterations Yielding Cancer Liabilities Owing to Partial losS) genes, and spliceosome components were the most prevalent.

  13. Genomic instability--an evolving hallmark of cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negrini, Simona; Gorgoulis, Vassilis G; Halazonetis, Thanos D

    2010-03-01

    Genomic instability is a characteristic of most cancers. In hereditary cancers, genomic instability results from mutations in DNA repair genes and drives cancer development, as predicted by the mutator hypothesis. In sporadic (non-hereditary) cancers the molecular basis of genomic instability remains unclear, but recent high-throughput sequencing studies suggest that mutations in DNA repair genes are infrequent before therapy, arguing against the mutator hypothesis for these cancers. Instead, the mutation patterns of the tumour suppressor TP53 (which encodes p53), ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A; which encodes p16INK4A and p14ARF) support the oncogene-induced DNA replication stress model, which attributes genomic instability and TP53 and ATM mutations to oncogene-induced DNA damage.

  14. Comparing sequencing assays and human-machine analyses in actionable genomics for glioblastoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wrzeszczynski, Kazimierz O; Frank, Mayu O; Koyama, Takahiko; Rhrissorrakrai, Kahn; Robine, Nicolas; Utro, Filippo; Emde, Anne-Katrin; Chen, Bo-Juen; Arora, Kanika; Shah, Minita; Vacic, Vladimir; Norel, Raquel; Bilal, Erhan; Bergmann, Ewa A; Moore Vogel, Julia L; Bruce, Jeffrey N; Lassman, Andrew B; Canoll, Peter; Grommes, Christian; Harvey, Steve; Parida, Laxmi; Michelini, Vanessa V; Zody, Michael C; Jobanputra, Vaidehi; Royyuru, Ajay K; Darnell, Robert B

    2017-08-01

    To analyze a glioblastoma tumor specimen with 3 different platforms and compare potentially actionable calls from each. Tumor DNA was analyzed by a commercial targeted panel. In addition, tumor-normal DNA was analyzed by whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and tumor RNA was analyzed by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). The WGS and RNA-seq data were analyzed by a team of bioinformaticians and cancer oncologists, and separately by IBM Watson Genomic Analytics (WGA), an automated system for prioritizing somatic variants and identifying drugs. More variants were identified by WGS/RNA analysis than by targeted panels. WGA completed a comparable analysis in a fraction of the time required by the human analysts. The development of an effective human-machine interface in the analysis of deep cancer genomic datasets may provide potentially clinically actionable calls for individual patients in a more timely and efficient manner than currently possible. NCT02725684.

  15. GenPlay Multi-Genome, a tool to compare and analyze multiple human genomes in a graphical interface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lajugie, Julien; Fourel, Nicolas; Bouhassira, Eric E

    2015-01-01

    Parallel visualization of multiple individual human genomes is a complex endeavor that is rapidly gaining importance with the increasing number of personal, phased and cancer genomes that are being generated. It requires the display of variants such as SNPs, indels and structural variants that are unique to specific genomes and the introduction of multiple overlapping gaps in the reference sequence. Here, we describe GenPlay Multi-Genome, an application specifically written to visualize and analyze multiple human genomes in parallel. GenPlay Multi-Genome is ideally suited for the comparison of allele-specific expression and functional genomic data obtained from multiple phased genomes in a graphical interface with access to multiple-track operation. It also allows the analysis of data that have been aligned to custom genomes rather than to a standard reference and can be used as a variant calling format file browser and as a tool to compare different genome assembly, such as hg19 and hg38. GenPlay is available under the GNU public license (GPL-3) from http://genplay.einstein.yu.edu. The source code is available at https://github.com/JulienLajugie/GenPlay. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  16. Endometrial and acute myeloid leukemia cancer genomes characterized

    Science.gov (United States)

    Two studies from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program reveal details about the genomic landscapes of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and endometrial cancer. Both provide new insights into the molecular underpinnings of these cancers.

  17. Genomic hypomethylation in the human germline associates with selective structural mutability in the human genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian Li

    Full Text Available The hotspots of structural polymorphisms and structural mutability in the human genome remain to be explained mechanistically. We examine associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR mediated by low-copy repeats (LCRs. Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability. Specifically, methylation deserts, the ~1% fraction of the human genome with the lowest methylation in the germline, show a tenfold enrichment for structural rearrangements that occurred in the human genome since the branching of chimpanzee and are highly enriched for fast-evolving loci that regulate tissue-specific gene expression. Analysis of copy number variants (CNVs from 400 human samples identified using a custom-designed array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH chip, combined with publicly available structural variation data, indicates that association of structural mutability with germline hypomethylation is comparable in magnitude to the association of structural mutability with LCR-mediated NAHR. Moreover, rare CNVs occurring in the genomes of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and developmental delay and de novo CNVs occurring in those diagnosed with autism are significantly more concentrated within hypomethylated regions. These findings suggest a new connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease.

  18. Segmenting the human genome based on states of neutral genetic divergence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuruppumullage Don, Prabhani; Ananda, Guruprasad; Chiaromonte, Francesca; Makova, Kateryna D

    2013-09-03

    Many studies have demonstrated that divergence levels generated by different mutation types vary and covary across the human genome. To improve our still-incomplete understanding of the mechanistic basis of this phenomenon, we analyze several mutation types simultaneously, anchoring their variation to specific regions of the genome. Using hidden Markov models on insertion, deletion, nucleotide substitution, and microsatellite divergence estimates inferred from human-orangutan alignments of neutrally evolving genomic sequences, we segment the human genome into regions corresponding to different divergence states--each uniquely characterized by specific combinations of divergence levels. We then parsed the mutagenic contributions of various biochemical processes associating divergence states with a broad range of genomic landscape features. We find that high divergence states inhabit guanine- and cytosine (GC)-rich, highly recombining subtelomeric regions; low divergence states cover inner parts of autosomes; chromosome X forms its own state with lowest divergence; and a state of elevated microsatellite mutability is interspersed across the genome. These general trends are mirrored in human diversity data from the 1000 Genomes Project, and departures from them highlight the evolutionary history of primate chromosomes. We also find that genes and noncoding functional marks [annotations from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE)] are concentrated in high divergence states. Our results provide a powerful tool for biomedical data analysis: segmentations can be used to screen personal genome variants--including those associated with cancer and other diseases--and to improve computational predictions of noncoding functional elements.

  19. Comparative oncology: what dogs and other species can teach us about humans with cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiffman, Joshua D.; Breen, Matthew

    2015-01-01

    Over 1.66 million humans (approx. 500/100 000 population rate) and over 4.2 million dogs (approx. 5300/100 000 population rate) are diagnosed with cancer annually in the USA. The interdisciplinary field of comparative oncology offers a unique and strong opportunity to learn more about universal cancer risk and development through epidemiology, genetic and genomic investigations. Working across species, researchers from human and veterinary medicine can combine scientific findings to understand more quickly the origins of cancer and translate these findings to novel therapies to benefit both human and animals. This review begins with the genetic origins of canines and their advantage in cancer research. We next focus on recent findings in comparative oncology related to inherited, or genetic, risk for tumour development. We then detail the somatic, or genomic, changes within tumours and the similarities between species. The shared cancers between humans and dogs that we discuss include sarcoma (osteosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, histiocytic sarcoma, hemangiosarcoma), haematological malignancies (lymphoma, leukaemia), bladder cancer, intracranial neoplasms (meningioma, glioma) and melanoma. Tumour risk in other animal species is also briefly discussed. As the field of genomics advances, we predict that comparative oncology will continue to benefit both humans and the animals that live among us. PMID:26056372

  20. Translating the cancer genome: Going beyond p values

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chin, Lynda; Chin, Lynda; Gray, Joe W.

    2008-04-03

    Cancer cells are endowed with diverse biological capabilities driven by myriad inherited and somatic genetic and epigenetic aberrations that commandeer key cancer-relevant pathways. Efforts to elucidate these aberrations began with Boveri's hypothesis of aberrant mitoses causing cancer and continue today with a suite of powerful high-resolution technologies that enable detailed catalogues of genomic aberrations and epigenomic modifications. Tomorrow will likely bring the complete atlas of reversible and irreversible alteration in individual cancers. The challenge now is to discern causal molecular abnormalities from genomic and epigenomic 'noise', to understand how the ensemble of these aberrations collaborate to drive cancer pathophysiology. Here, we highlight lessons learned from now classical examples of successful translation of genomic discoveries into clinical practice, lessons that may be used to guide and accelerate translation of emerging genomic insights into practical clinical endpoints that can impact on practice of cancer medicine.

  1. Human Contamination in Public Genome Assemblies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kryukov, Kirill; Imanishi, Tadashi

    2016-01-01

    Contamination in genome assembly can lead to wrong or confusing results when using such genome as reference in sequence comparison. Although bacterial contamination is well known, the problem of human-originated contamination received little attention. In this study we surveyed 45,735 available genome assemblies for evidence of human contamination. We used lineage specificity to distinguish between contamination and conservation. We found that 154 genome assemblies contain fragments that with high confidence originate as contamination from human DNA. Majority of contaminating human sequences were present in the reference human genome assembly for over a decade. We recommend that existing contaminated genomes should be revised to remove contaminated sequence, and that new assemblies should be thoroughly checked for presence of human DNA before submitting them to public databases.

  2. New Regions of the Human Genome Linked to Skin Color Variation in Some African Populations

    Science.gov (United States)

    In the first study of its kind, an international team of genomics researchers has identified new regions of the human genome that are associated with skin color variation in some African populations, opening new avenues for research on skin diseases and cancer in all populations.

  3. Pathway and network analysis of cancer genomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Creixell, Pau; Reimand, Jueri; Haider, Syed

    2015-01-01

    Genomic information on tumors from 50 cancer types cataloged by the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) shows that only a few well-studied driver genes are frequently mutated, in contrast to many infrequently mutated genes that may also contribute to tumor biology. Hence there has been...

  4. Computational approaches to identify functional genetic variants in cancer genomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gonzalez-Perez, Abel; Mustonen, Ville; Reva, Boris

    2013-01-01

    The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) aims to catalog genomic abnormalities in tumors from 50 different cancer types. Genome sequencing reveals hundreds to thousands of somatic mutations in each tumor but only a minority of these drive tumor progression. We present the result of discu......The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) aims to catalog genomic abnormalities in tumors from 50 different cancer types. Genome sequencing reveals hundreds to thousands of somatic mutations in each tumor but only a minority of these drive tumor progression. We present the result...... of discussions within the ICGC on how to address the challenge of identifying mutations that contribute to oncogenesis, tumor maintenance or response to therapy, and recommend computational techniques to annotate somatic variants and predict their impact on cancer phenotype....

  5. Break Breast Cancer Addiction by CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Haitao; Jaeger, MariaLynn; Walker, Averi; Wei, Daniel; Leiker, Katie; Weitao, Tao

    2018-01-01

    Breast cancer is the leading diagnosed cancer for women globally. Evolution of breast cancer in tumorigenesis, metastasis and treatment resistance appears to be driven by the aberrant gene expression and protein degradation encoded by the cancer genomes. The uncontrolled cancer growth relies on these cellular events, thus constituting the cancerous programs and rendering the addiction towards them. These programs are likely the potential anticancer biomarkers for Personalized Medicine of breast cancer. This review intends to delineate the impact of the CRSPR/Cas-mediated genome editing in identification and validation of these anticancer biomarkers. It reviews the progress in three aspects of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of the breast cancer genomes: Somatic genome editing, transcription and protein degradation addictions.

  6. Health psychology and translational genomic research: bringing innovation to cancer-related behavioral interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McBride, Colleen M; Birmingham, Wendy C; Kinney, Anita Y

    2015-01-01

    The past decade has witnessed rapid advances in human genome sequencing technology and in the understanding of the role of genetic and epigenetic alterations in cancer development. These advances have raised hopes that such knowledge could lead to improvements in behavioral risk reduction interventions, tailored screening recommendations, and treatment matching that together could accelerate the war on cancer. Despite this optimism, translation of genomic discovery for clinical and public health applications has moved relatively slowly. To date, health psychologists and the behavioral sciences generally have played a very limited role in translation research. In this report we discuss what we mean by genomic translational research and consider the social forces that have slowed translational research, including normative assumptions that translation research must occur downstream of basic science, thus relegating health psychology and other behavioral sciences to a distal role. We then outline two broad priority areas in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment where evidence will be needed to guide evaluation and implementation of personalized genomics: (a) effective communication, to broaden dissemination of genomic discovery, including patient-provider communication and familial communication, and (b) the need to improve the motivational impact of behavior change interventions, including those aimed at altering lifestyle choices and those focusing on decision making regarding targeted cancer treatments and chemopreventive adherence. We further discuss the role that health psychologists can play in interdisciplinary teams to shape translational research priorities and to evaluate the utility of emerging genomic discoveries for cancer prevention and control. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  7. Warburg effect and translocation-induced genomic instability: two yeast models for cancer cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tosato, Valentina; Grüning, Nana-Maria; Breitenbach, Michael; Arnak, Remigiusz; Ralser, Markus; Bruschi, Carlo V.

    2013-01-01

    Yeast has been established as an efficient model system to study biological principles underpinning human health. In this review we focus on yeast models covering two aspects of cancer formation and progression (i) the activity of pyruvate kinase (PK), which recapitulates metabolic features of cancer cells, including the Warburg effect, and (ii) chromosome bridge-induced translocation (BIT) mimiking genome instability in cancer. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an excellent model to study cancer cell metabolism, as exponentially growing yeast cells exhibit many metabolic similarities with rapidly proliferating cancer cells. The metabolic reconfiguration includes an increase in glucose uptake and fermentation, at the expense of respiration and oxidative phosphorylation (the Warburg effect), and involves a broad reconfiguration of nucleotide and amino acid metabolism. Both in yeast and humans, the regulation of this process seems to have a central player, PK, which is up-regulated in cancer, and to occur mostly on a post-transcriptional and post-translational basis. Furthermore, BIT allows to generate selectable translocation-derived recombinants (“translocants”), between any two desired chromosomal locations, in wild-type yeast strains transformed with a linear DNA cassette carrying a selectable marker flanked by two DNA sequences homologous to different chromosomes. Using the BIT system, targeted non-reciprocal translocations in mitosis are easily inducible. An extensive collection of different yeast translocants exhibiting genome instability and aberrant phenotypes similar to cancer cells has been produced and subjected to analysis. In this review, we hence provide an overview upon two yeast cancer models, and extrapolate general principles for mimicking human disease mechanisms in yeast.

  8. Warburg effect and translocation-induced genomic instability: two yeast models for cancer cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tosato, Valentina [International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste (Italy); Grüning, Nana-Maria [Cambridge System Biology Center, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom); Breitenbach, Michael [Division of Genetics, Department of Cell Biology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg (Austria); Arnak, Remigiusz [International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste (Italy); Ralser, Markus [Cambridge System Biology Center, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom); Bruschi, Carlo V., E-mail: bruschi@icgeb.org [International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste (Italy)

    2013-01-18

    Yeast has been established as an efficient model system to study biological principles underpinning human health. In this review we focus on yeast models covering two aspects of cancer formation and progression (i) the activity of pyruvate kinase (PK), which recapitulates metabolic features of cancer cells, including the Warburg effect, and (ii) chromosome bridge-induced translocation (BIT) mimiking genome instability in cancer. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an excellent model to study cancer cell metabolism, as exponentially growing yeast cells exhibit many metabolic similarities with rapidly proliferating cancer cells. The metabolic reconfiguration includes an increase in glucose uptake and fermentation, at the expense of respiration and oxidative phosphorylation (the Warburg effect), and involves a broad reconfiguration of nucleotide and amino acid metabolism. Both in yeast and humans, the regulation of this process seems to have a central player, PK, which is up-regulated in cancer, and to occur mostly on a post-transcriptional and post-translational basis. Furthermore, BIT allows to generate selectable translocation-derived recombinants (“translocants”), between any two desired chromosomal locations, in wild-type yeast strains transformed with a linear DNA cassette carrying a selectable marker flanked by two DNA sequences homologous to different chromosomes. Using the BIT system, targeted non-reciprocal translocations in mitosis are easily inducible. An extensive collection of different yeast translocants exhibiting genome instability and aberrant phenotypes similar to cancer cells has been produced and subjected to analysis. In this review, we hence provide an overview upon two yeast cancer models, and extrapolate general principles for mimicking human disease mechanisms in yeast.

  9. WARBURG EFFECT AND TRANSLOCATION-INDUCED GENOMIC INSTABILITY: TWO YEAST MODELS FOR CANCER CELLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina eTosato

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Yeast has been established as an efficient model system to study biological principles underpinning human health. In this review we focus on yeast models covering two aspects of cancer formation and progression i the activity of pyruvate kinase (PK, which recapitulates metabolic features of cancer cells, including the Warburg effect, and ii Bridge-Induced chromosome Translocation (BIT mimicking genome instability in cancer. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an excellent model to study cancer cell metabolism, as exponentially growing yeast cells exhibit many metabolic similarities with rapidly proliferating cancer cells. The metabolic reconfiguration includes an increase in glucose uptake and fermentation, at the expense of respiration and oxidative phosphorylation (the Warburg effect, and involves a broad reconfiguration of nucleotide and amino acid metabolism. Both in yeast and humans, the regulation of this process seems to have a central player, pyruvate kinase, which is up-regulated in cancer, and to occur mostly on a post-transcriptional and posttranslational basis. Furthermore, BIT allows to generate selectable translocation-derived recombinants (translocants, between any two desired chromosomal locations, in wild-type yeast strains transformed with a linear DNA cassette carrying a selectable marker flanked by two DNA sequences homologous to different chromosomes. Using the Bridge-Induced Translocation system, targeted non-reciprocal translocations in mitosis are easily inducible. An extensive collection of different yeast translocants exhibiting genome instability and aberrant phenotypes similar to cancer cells has been produced and subjected to analysis. In this review, we hence provide an overview upon two yeast cancer models, and extrapolate general principles for mimicking human disease mechanisms in yeast.

  10. Childhood Cancer Genomics Gaps and Opportunities - Workshop Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    NCI convened a workshop of representative research teams that have been leaders in defining the genomic landscape of childhood cancers to discuss the influence of genomic discoveries on the future of childhood cancer research.

  11. Characterizing the cancer genome in lung adenocarcinoma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weir, Barbara A.; Woo, Michele S.; Getz, Gad; Perner, Sven; Ding, Li; Beroukhim, Rameen; Lin, William M.; Province, Michael A.; Kraja, Aldi; Johnson, Laura A.; Shah, Kinjal; Sato, Mitsuo; Thomas, Roman K.; Barletta, Justine A.; Borecki, Ingrid B.; Broderick, Stephen; Chang, Andrew C.; Chiang, Derek Y.; Chirieac, Lucian R.; Cho, Jeonghee; Fujii, Yoshitaka; Gazdar, Adi F.; Giordano, Thomas; Greulich, Heidi; Hanna, Megan; Johnson, Bruce E.; Kris, Mark G.; Lash, Alex; Lin, Ling; Lindeman, Neal; Mardis, Elaine R.; McPherson, John D.; Minna, John D.; Morgan, Margaret B.; Nadel, Mark; Orringer, Mark B.; Osborne, John R.; Ozenberger, Brad; Ramos, Alex H.; Robinson, James; Roth, Jack A.; Rusch, Valerie; Sasaki, Hidefumi; Shepherd, Frances; Sougnez, Carrie; Spitz, Margaret R.; Tsao, Ming-Sound; Twomey, David; Verhaak, Roel G. W.; Weinstock, George M.; Wheeler, David A.; Winckler, Wendy; Yoshizawa, Akihiko; Yu, Soyoung; Zakowski, Maureen F.; Zhang, Qunyuan; Beer, David G.; Wistuba, Ignacio I.; Watson, Mark A.; Garraway, Levi A.; Ladanyi, Marc; Travis, William D.; Pao, William; Rubin, Mark A.; Gabriel, Stacey B.; Gibbs, Richard A.; Varmus, Harold E.; Wilson, Richard K.; Lander, Eric S.; Meyerson, Matthew

    2008-01-01

    Somatic alterations in cellular DNA underlie almost all human cancers1. The prospect of targeted therapies2 and the development of high-resolution, genome-wide approaches3–8 are now spurring systematic efforts to characterize cancer genomes. Here we report a large-scale project to characterize copy-number alterations in primary lung adenocarcinomas. By analysis of a large collection of tumors (n = 371) using dense single nucleotide polymorphism arrays, we identify a total of 57 significantly recurrent events. We find that 26 of 39 autosomal chromosome arms show consistent large-scale copy-number gain or loss, of which only a handful have been linked to a specific gene. We also identify 31 recurrent focal events, including 24 amplifications and 7 homozygous deletions. Only six of these focal events are currently associated with known mutations in lung carcinomas. The most common event, amplification of chromosome 14q13.3, is found in ~12% of samples. On the basis of genomic and functional analyses, we identify NKX2-1 (NK2 homeobox 1, also called TITF1), which lies in the minimal 14q13.3 amplification interval and encodes a lineage-specific transcription factor, as a novel candidate proto-oncogene involved in a significant fraction of lung adenocarcinomas. More generally, our results indicate that many of the genes that are involved in lung adenocarcinoma remain to be discovered. PMID:17982442

  12. Machine Learning Detects Pan-cancer Ras Pathway Activation in The Cancer Genome Atlas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gregory P. Way

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Precision oncology uses genomic evidence to match patients with treatment but often fails to identify all patients who may respond. The transcriptome of these “hidden responders” may reveal responsive molecular states. We describe and evaluate a machine-learning approach to classify aberrant pathway activity in tumors, which may aid in hidden responder identification. The algorithm integrates RNA-seq, copy number, and mutations from 33 different cancer types across The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA PanCanAtlas project to predict aberrant molecular states in tumors. Applied to the Ras pathway, the method detects Ras activation across cancer types and identifies phenocopying variants. The model, trained on human tumors, can predict response to MEK inhibitors in wild-type Ras cell lines. We also present data that suggest that multiple hits in the Ras pathway confer increased Ras activity. The transcriptome is underused in precision oncology and, combined with machine learning, can aid in the identification of hidden responders. : Way et al. develop a machine-learning approach using PanCanAtlas data to detect Ras activation in cancer. Integrating mutation, copy number, and expression data, the authors show that their method detects Ras-activating variants in tumors and sensitivity to MEK inhibitors in cell lines. Keywords: Gene expression, machine learning, Ras, NF1, KRAS, NRAS, HRAS, pan-cancer, TCGA, drug sensitivity

  13. Genome engineering in human cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Minjung; Kim, Young-Hoon; Kim, Jin-Soo; Kim, Hyongbum

    2014-01-01

    Genome editing in human cells is of great value in research, medicine, and biotechnology. Programmable nucleases including zinc-finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and RNA-guided engineered nucleases recognize a specific target sequence and make a double-strand break at that site, which can result in gene disruption, gene insertion, gene correction, or chromosomal rearrangements. The target sequence complexities of these programmable nucleases are higher than 3.2 mega base pairs, the size of the haploid human genome. Here, we briefly introduce the structure of the human genome and the characteristics of each programmable nuclease, and review their applications in human cells including pluripotent stem cells. In addition, we discuss various delivery methods for nucleases, programmable nickases, and enrichment of gene-edited human cells, all of which facilitate efficient and precise genome editing in human cells.

  14. Mapping and annotating obesity-related genes in pig and human genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martelli, Pier Luigi; Fontanesi, Luca; Piovesan, Damiano; Fariselli, Piero; Casadio, Rita

    2014-01-01

    Background. Obesity is a major health problem in both developed and emerging countries. Obesity is a complex disease whose etiology involves genetic factors in strong interplay with environmental determinants and lifestyle. The discovery of genetic factors and biological pathways underlying human obesity is hampered by the difficulty in controlling the genetic background of human cohorts. Animal models are then necessary to further dissect the genetics of obesity. Pig has emerged as one of the most attractive models, because of the similarity with humans in the mechanisms regulating the fat deposition. Results. We collected the genes related to obesity in humans and to fat deposition traits in pig. We localized them on both human and pig genomes, building a map useful to interpret comparative studies on obesity. We characterized the collected genes structurally and functionally with BAR+ and mapped them on KEGG pathways and on STRING protein interaction network. Conclusions. The collected set consists of 361 obesity related genes in human and pig genomes. All genes were mapped on the human genome, and 54 could not be localized on the pig genome (release 2012). Only for 3 human genes there is no counterpart in pig, confirming that this animal is a good model for human obesity studies. Obesity related genes are mostly involved in regulation and signaling processes/pathways and relevant connection emerges between obesity-related genes and diseases such as cancer and infectious diseases.

  15. Quantitation of Murine Stroma and Selective Purification of the Human Tumor Component of Patient-Derived Xenografts for Genomic Analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina E Schneeberger

    Full Text Available Patient-derived xenograft (PDX mouse models are increasingly used for preclinical therapeutic testing of human cancer. A limitation in molecular and genetic characterization of PDX tumors is the presence of integral murine stroma. This is particularly problematic for genomic sequencing of PDX models. Rapid and dependable approaches for quantitating stromal content and purifying the malignant human component of these tumors are needed. We used a recently developed technique exploiting species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR amplicon length (ssPAL differences to define the fractional composition of murine and human DNA, which was proportional to the fractional composition of cells in a series of lung cancer PDX lines. We compared four methods of human cancer cell isolation: fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS, an immunomagnetic mouse cell depletion (MCD approach, and two distinct EpCAM-based immunomagnetic positive selection methods. We further analyzed DNA extracted from the resulting enriched human cancer cells by targeted sequencing using a clinically validated multi-gene panel. Stromal content varied widely among tumors of similar histology, but appeared stable over multiple serial tumor passages of an individual model. FACS and MCD were superior to either positive selection approach, especially in cases of high stromal content, and consistently allowed high quality human-specific genomic profiling. ssPAL is a dependable approach to quantitation of murine stromal content, and MCD is a simple, efficient, and high yield approach to human cancer cell isolation for genomic analysis of PDX tumors.

  16. Genomics and the human genome project: implications for psychiatry

    OpenAIRE

    Kelsoe, J R

    2004-01-01

    In the past decade the Human Genome Project has made extraordinary strides in understanding of fundamental human genetics. The complete human genetic sequence has been determined, and the chromosomal location of almost all human genes identified. Presently, a large international consortium, the HapMap Project, is working to identify a large portion of genetic variation in different human populations and the structure and relationship of these variants to each other. The Human Genome Project h...

  17. Applications of Support Vector Machine (SVM) Learning in Cancer Genomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Shujun; Cai, Nianguang; Pacheco, Pedro Penzuti; Narrandes, Shavira; Wang, Yang; Xu, Wayne

    2018-01-01

    Machine learning with maximization (support) of separating margin (vector), called support vector machine (SVM) learning, is a powerful classification tool that has been used for cancer genomic classification or subtyping. Today, as advancements in high-throughput technologies lead to production of large amounts of genomic and epigenomic data, the classification feature of SVMs is expanding its use in cancer genomics, leading to the discovery of new biomarkers, new drug targets, and a better understanding of cancer driver genes. Herein we reviewed the recent progress of SVMs in cancer genomic studies. We intend to comprehend the strength of the SVM learning and its future perspective in cancer genomic applications. Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

  18. TCGA study identifies genomic features of cervical cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Investigators with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network have identified novel genomic and molecular characteristics of cervical cancer that will aid in subclassification of the disease and may help target therapies that are most appropriate for each patient.

  19. Understanding Cancer Genome and Its Evolution by Next Generation Sequencing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hou, Yong

    Cancer will cause 13 million deaths by the year of 2030, ranking the second leading cause of death worldwide. Previous studies indicate that most of the cancers originate from cells that acquired somatic mutations and evolved as Darwin Theory. Ten biological insights of cancer have been summarized...... recently. Cutting-age technologies like next generation sequencing (NGS) enable exploring cancer genome and evolution much more efficiently. However, integrated cancer genome sequencing studies showed great inter-/intra-tumoral heterogeneity (ITH) and complex evolution patterns beyond the cancer biological...... knowledge we previously know. There is very limited knowledge of East Asia lung cancer genome except enrichment of EGFR mutations and lack of KRAS mutations. We carried out integrated genomic, transcriptomic and methylomic analysis of 335 primary Chinese lung adenocarcinomas (LUAD) and 35 corresponding...

  20. Cancer 2015: a longitudinal whole-of-system study of genomic cancer medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, David M; Fox, Stephen; Lorgelly, Paula K; Ashley, David; Richardson, Gary; Lipton, Lara; Parisot, John P; Lucas, Mark; McNeil, John; Wright, Michael

    2015-12-01

    Genomic cancer medicine promises revolutionary change in oncology. The impacts of 'personalized medicine', based upon a molecular classification of cancer and linked to targeted therapies, will extend from individual patient outcomes to the health economy at large. To address the 'whole-of-system' impact of genomic cancer medicine, we have established a prospective cohort of patients with newly diagnosed cancer in the state of Victoria, Australia, about whom we have collected a broad range of clinical, demographic, molecular, and patient-reported data, as well as data on health resource utilization. Our goal is to create a model for investigating public investment in genomic medicine that maximizes the cost:benefit ratio for the Australian community at large. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Genome organization, instabilities, stem cells, and cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Senthil Kumar Pazhanisamy

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available It is now widely recognized that advances in exploring genome organization provide remarkable insights on the induction and progression of chromosome abnormalities. Much of what we know about how mutations evolve and consequently transform into genome instabilities has been characterized in the spatial organization context of chromatin. Nevertheless, many underlying concepts of impact of the chromatin organization on perpetuation of multiple mutations and on propagation of chromosomal aberrations remain to be investigated in detail. Genesis of genome instabilities from accumulation of multiple mutations that drive tumorigenesis is increasingly becoming a focal theme in cancer studies. This review focuses on structural alterations evolve to raise a variety of genome instabilities that are manifested at the nucleotide, gene or sub-chromosomal, and whole chromosome level of genome. Here we explore an underlying connection between genome instability and cancer in the light of genome architecture. This review is limited to studies directed towards spatial organizational aspects of origin and propagation of aberrations into genetically unstable tumors.

  2. The human genome project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Worton, R.

    1996-01-01

    The Human Genome Project is a massive international research project, costing 3 to 5 billion dollars and expected to take 15 years, which will identify the all the genes in the human genome - i.e. the complete sequence of bases in human DNA. The prize will be the ability to identify genes causing or predisposing to disease, and in some cases the development of gene therapy, but this new knowledge will raise important ethical issues

  3. Identification of coding and non-coding mutational hotspots in cancer genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piraino, Scott W; Furney, Simon J

    2017-01-05

    The identification of mutations that play a causal role in tumour development, so called "driver" mutations, is of critical importance for understanding how cancers form and how they might be treated. Several large cancer sequencing projects have identified genes that are recurrently mutated in cancer patients, suggesting a role in tumourigenesis. While the landscape of coding drivers has been extensively studied and many of the most prominent driver genes are well characterised, comparatively less is known about the role of mutations in the non-coding regions of the genome in cancer development. The continuing fall in genome sequencing costs has resulted in a concomitant increase in the number of cancer whole genome sequences being produced, facilitating systematic interrogation of both the coding and non-coding regions of cancer genomes. To examine the mutational landscapes of tumour genomes we have developed a novel method to identify mutational hotspots in tumour genomes using both mutational data and information on evolutionary conservation. We have applied our methodology to over 1300 whole cancer genomes and show that it identifies prominent coding and non-coding regions that are known or highly suspected to play a role in cancer. Importantly, we applied our method to the entire genome, rather than relying on predefined annotations (e.g. promoter regions) and we highlight recurrently mutated regions that may have resulted from increased exposure to mutational processes rather than selection, some of which have been identified previously as targets of selection. Finally, we implicate several pan-cancer and cancer-specific candidate non-coding regions, which could be involved in tumourigenesis. We have developed a framework to identify mutational hotspots in cancer genomes, which is applicable to the entire genome. This framework identifies known and novel coding and non-coding mutional hotspots and can be used to differentiate candidate driver regions from

  4. Perspectives of Integrative Cancer Genomics in Next Generation Sequencing Era

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    So Mee Kwon

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The explosive development of genomics technologies including microarrays and next generation sequencing (NGS has provided comprehensive maps of cancer genomes, including the expression of mRNAs and microRNAs, DNA copy numbers, sequence variations, and epigenetic changes. These genome-wide profiles of the genetic aberrations could reveal the candidates for diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarkers as well as mechanistic insights into tumor development and progression. Recent efforts to establish the huge cancer genome compendium and integrative omics analyses, so-called "integromics", have extended our understanding on the cancer genome, showing its daunting complexity and heterogeneity. However, the challenges of the structured integration, sharing, and interpretation of the big omics data still remain to be resolved. Here, we review several issues raised in cancer omics data analysis, including NGS, focusing particularly on the study design and analysis strategies. This might be helpful to understand the current trends and strategies of the rapidly evolving cancer genomics research.

  5. Cancer Genomics: Diversity and Disparity Across Ethnicity and Geography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Daniel S W; Mok, Tony S K; Rebbeck, Timothy R

    2016-01-01

    Ethnic and geographic differences in cancer incidence, prognosis, and treatment outcomes can be attributed to diversity in the inherited (germline) and somatic genome. Although international large-scale sequencing efforts are beginning to unravel the genomic underpinnings of cancer traits, much remains to be known about the underlying mechanisms and determinants of genomic diversity. Carcinogenesis is a dynamic, complex phenomenon representing the interplay between genetic and environmental factors that results in divergent phenotypes across ethnicities and geography. For example, compared with whites, there is a higher incidence of prostate cancer among Africans and African Americans, and the disease is generally more aggressive and fatal. Genome-wide association studies have identified germline susceptibility loci that may account for differences between the African and non-African patients, but the lack of availability of appropriate cohorts for replication studies and the incomplete understanding of genomic architecture across populations pose major limitations. We further discuss the transformative potential of routine diagnostic evaluation for actionable somatic alterations, using lung cancer as an example, highlighting implications of population disparities, current hurdles in implementation, and the far-reaching potential of clinical genomics in enhancing cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. As we enter the era of precision cancer medicine, a concerted multinational effort is key to addressing population and genomic diversity as well as overcoming barriers and geographical disparities in research and health care delivery. © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

  6. HGVA: the Human Genome Variation Archive

    OpenAIRE

    Lopez, Javier; Coll, Jacobo; Haimel, Matthias; Kandasamy, Swaathi; Tarraga, Joaquin; Furio-Tari, Pedro; Bari, Wasim; Bleda, Marta; Rueda, Antonio; Gr?f, Stefan; Rendon, Augusto; Dopazo, Joaquin; Medina, Ignacio

    2017-01-01

    Abstract High-profile genomic variation projects like the 1000 Genomes project or the Exome Aggregation Consortium, are generating a wealth of human genomic variation knowledge which can be used as an essential reference for identifying disease-causing genotypes. However, accessing these data, contrasting the various studies and integrating those data in downstream analyses remains cumbersome. The Human Genome Variation Archive (HGVA) tackles these challenges and facilitates access to genomic...

  7. Genomic agonism and phenotypic antagonism between estrogen and progesterone receptors in breast cancer

    OpenAIRE

    Singhal, Hari; Greene, Marianne E.; Tarulli, Gerard; Zarnke, Allison L.; Bourgo, Ryan J.; Laine, Muriel; Chang, Ya-Fang; Ma, Shihong; Dembo, Anna G.; Raj, Ganesh V.; Hickey, Theresa E.; Tilley, Wayne D.; Greene, Geoffrey L.

    2016-01-01

    The functional role of progesterone receptor (PR) and its impact on estrogen signaling in breast cancer remain controversial. In primary ER+ (estrogen receptor?positive)/PR+ human tumors, we report that PR reprograms estrogen signaling as a genomic agonist and a phenotypic antagonist. In isolation, estrogen and progestin act as genomic agonists by regulating the expression of common target genes in similar directions, but at different levels. Similarly, in isolation, progestin is also a weak ...

  8. Human Germline Genome Editing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ormond, Kelly E; Mortlock, Douglas P; Scholes, Derek T; Bombard, Yvonne; Brody, Lawrence C; Faucett, W Andrew; Garrison, Nanibaa' A; Hercher, Laura; Isasi, Rosario; Middleton, Anna; Musunuru, Kiran; Shriner, Daniel; Virani, Alice; Young, Caroline E

    2017-08-03

    With CRISPR/Cas9 and other genome-editing technologies, successful somatic and germline genome editing are becoming feasible. To respond, an American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) workgroup developed this position statement, which was approved by the ASHG Board in March 2017. The workgroup included representatives from the UK Association of Genetic Nurses and Counsellors, Canadian Association of Genetic Counsellors, International Genetic Epidemiology Society, and US National Society of Genetic Counselors. These groups, as well as the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Asia Pacific Society of Human Genetics, British Society for Genetic Medicine, Human Genetics Society of Australasia, Professional Society of Genetic Counselors in Asia, and Southern African Society for Human Genetics, endorsed the final statement. The statement includes the following positions. (1) At this time, given the nature and number of unanswered scientific, ethical, and policy questions, it is inappropriate to perform germline gene editing that culminates in human pregnancy. (2) Currently, there is no reason to prohibit in vitro germline genome editing on human embryos and gametes, with appropriate oversight and consent from donors, to facilitate research on the possible future clinical applications of gene editing. There should be no prohibition on making public funds available to support this research. (3) Future clinical application of human germline genome editing should not proceed unless, at a minimum, there is (a) a compelling medical rationale, (b) an evidence base that supports its clinical use, (c) an ethical justification, and (d) a transparent public process to solicit and incorporate stakeholder input. Copyright © 2017 American Society of Human Genetics. All rights reserved.

  9. Detection of genomic instability in normal human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to 238Pu

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kennedy, C.H.; Fukushima, N.H.; Neft, R.E.; Lechner, J.F.

    1994-01-01

    Alpha particle-emitting radon daughters constitute a risk for development of lung cancer in humans. The development of this disease involves multiple genetic alterations. These changes and the time course they follow are not yet defined despite numerous in vitro endeavors to transform human lung cells with various physical or chemical agents. However, genomic instability, characterized both by structural and numerical chromosomal aberrations and by elevated rates of point mutations, is a common feature of tumor cells. Further, both types of genomic instability have been reported in the noncancerous progeny of normal murine hemopoietic cells exposed in vitro to α-particles. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if genomic instability is also a prominent feature of normal human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to α-particle irradiation from the decay of inhaled radon daughters

  10. Predictive genomics: A cancer hallmark network framework for predicting tumor clinical phenotypes using genome sequencing data

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Edwin; Zaman, Naif; Mcgee, Shauna; Milanese, Jean-Sébastien; Masoudi-Nejad, Ali; O'Connor, Maureen

    2014-01-01

    We discuss a cancer hallmark network framework for modelling genome-sequencing data to predict cancer clonal evolution and associated clinical phenotypes. Strategies of using this framework in conjunction with genome sequencing data in an attempt to predict personalized drug targets, drug resistance, and metastasis for a cancer patient, as well as cancer risks for a healthy individual are discussed. Accurate prediction of cancer clonal evolution and clinical phenotypes will have substantial i...

  11. Tolerance of Whole-Genome Doubling Propagates Chromosomal Instability and Accelerates Cancer Genome Evolution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dewhurst, Sally M.; McGranahan, Nicholas; Burrell, Rebecca A.

    2014-01-01

    The contribution of whole-genome doubling to chromosomal instability (CIN) and tumor evolution is unclear. We use long-term culture of isogenic tetraploid cells from a stable diploid colon cancer progenitor to investigate how a genome-doubling event affects genome stability over time. Rare cells...

  12. Human Genome Sequencing in Health and Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzaga-Jauregui, Claudia; Lupski, James R.; Gibbs, Richard A.

    2013-01-01

    Following the “finished,” euchromatic, haploid human reference genome sequence, the rapid development of novel, faster, and cheaper sequencing technologies is making possible the era of personalized human genomics. Personal diploid human genome sequences have been generated, and each has contributed to our better understanding of variation in the human genome. We have consequently begun to appreciate the vastness of individual genetic variation from single nucleotide to structural variants. Translation of genome-scale variation into medically useful information is, however, in its infancy. This review summarizes the initial steps undertaken in clinical implementation of personal genome information, and describes the application of whole-genome and exome sequencing to identify the cause of genetic diseases and to suggest adjuvant therapies. Better analysis tools and a deeper understanding of the biology of our genome are necessary in order to decipher, interpret, and optimize clinical utility of what the variation in the human genome can teach us. Personal genome sequencing may eventually become an instrument of common medical practice, providing information that assists in the formulation of a differential diagnosis. We outline herein some of the remaining challenges. PMID:22248320

  13. Chapter 27 -- Breast Cancer Genomics, Section VI, Pathology and Biological Markers of Invasive Breast Cancer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spellman, Paul T.; Heiser, Laura; Gray, Joe W.

    2009-06-18

    Breast cancer is predominantly a disease of the genome with cancers arising and progressing through accumulation of aberrations that alter the genome - by changing DNA sequence, copy number, and structure in ways that that contribute to diverse aspects of cancer pathophysiology. Classic examples of genomic events that contribute to breast cancer pathophysiology include inherited mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53, and CHK2 that contribute to the initiation of breast cancer, amplification of ERBB2 (formerly HER2) and mutations of elements of the PI3-kinase pathway that activate aspects of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling and deletion of CDKN2A/B that contributes to cell cycle deregulation and genome instability. It is now apparent that accumulation of these aberrations is a time-dependent process that accelerates with age. Although American women living to an age of 85 have a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer, the incidence of cancer in women younger than 30 years is uncommon. This is consistent with a multistep cancer progression model whereby mutation and selection drive the tumor's development, analogous to traditional Darwinian evolution. In the case of cancer, the driving events are changes in sequence, copy number, and structure of DNA and alterations in chromatin structure or other epigenetic marks. Our understanding of the genetic, genomic, and epigenomic events that influence the development and progression of breast cancer is increasing at a remarkable rate through application of powerful analysis tools that enable genome-wide analysis of DNA sequence and structure, copy number, allelic loss, and epigenomic modification. Application of these techniques to elucidation of the nature and timing of these events is enriching our understanding of mechanisms that increase breast cancer susceptibility, enable tumor initiation and progression to metastatic disease, and determine therapeutic response or resistance. These studies also

  14. The bonobo genome compared with the chimpanzee and human genomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prüfer, Kay; Munch, Kasper; Hellmann, Ines; Akagi, Keiko; Miller, Jason R.; Walenz, Brian; Koren, Sergey; Sutton, Granger; Kodira, Chinnappa; Winer, Roger; Knight, James R.; Mullikin, James C.; Meader, Stephen J.; Ponting, Chris P.; Lunter, Gerton; Higashino, Saneyuki; Hobolth, Asger; Dutheil, Julien; Karakoç, Emre; Alkan, Can; Sajjadian, Saba; Catacchio, Claudia Rita; Ventura, Mario; Marques-Bonet, Tomas; Eichler, Evan E.; André, Claudine; Atencia, Rebeca; Mugisha, Lawrence; Junhold, Jörg; Patterson, Nick; Siebauer, Michael; Good, Jeffrey M.; Fischer, Anne; Ptak, Susan E.; Lachmann, Michael; Symer, David E.; Mailund, Thomas; Schierup, Mikkel H.; Andrés, Aida M.; Kelso, Janet; Pääbo, Svante

    2012-01-01

    Two African apes are the closest living relatives of humans: the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobo (Pan paniscus). Although they are similar in many respects, bonobos and chimpanzees differ strikingly in key social and sexual behaviours1–4, and for some of these traits they show more similarity with humans than with each other. Here we report the sequencing and assembly of the bonobo genome to study its evolutionary relationship with the chimpanzee and human genomes. We find that more than three per cent of the human genome is more closely related to either the bonobo or the chimpanzee genome than these are to each other. These regions allow various aspects of the ancestry of the two ape species to be reconstructed. In addition, many of the regions that overlap genes may eventually help us understand the genetic basis of phenotypes that humans share with one of the two apes to the exclusion of the other. PMID:22722832

  15. Human genome. 1993 Program report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1994-03-01

    The purpose of this report is to update the Human Genome 1991-92 Program Report and provide new information on the DOE genome program to researchers, program managers, other government agencies, and the interested public. This FY 1993 supplement includes abstracts of 60 new or renewed projects and listings of 112 continuing and 28 completed projects. These two reports, taken together, present the most complete published view of the DOE Human Genome Program through FY 1993. Research is progressing rapidly toward 15-year goals of mapping and sequencing the DNA of each of the 24 different human chromosomes.

  16. Big Data Analysis of Human Genome Variations

    KAUST Repository

    Gojobori, Takashi

    2016-01-25

    Since the human genome draft sequence was in public for the first time in 2000, genomic analyses have been intensively extended to the population level. The following three international projects are good examples for large-scale studies of human genome variations: 1) HapMap Data (1,417 individuals) (http://hapmap.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/downloads/genotypes/2010-08_phaseII+III/forward/), 2) HGDP (Human Genome Diversity Project) Data (940 individuals) (http://www.hagsc.org/hgdp/files.html), 3) 1000 genomes Data (2,504 individuals) http://ftp.1000genomes.ebi.ac.uk/vol1/ftp/release/20130502/ If we can integrate all three data into a single volume of data, we should be able to conduct a more detailed analysis of human genome variations for a total number of 4,861 individuals (= 1,417+940+2,504 individuals). In fact, we successfully integrated these three data sets by use of information on the reference human genome sequence, and we conducted the big data analysis. In particular, we constructed a phylogenetic tree of about 5,000 human individuals at the genome level. As a result, we were able to identify clusters of ethnic groups, with detectable admixture, that were not possible by an analysis of each of the three data sets. Here, we report the outcome of this kind of big data analyses and discuss evolutionary significance of human genomic variations. Note that the present study was conducted in collaboration with Katsuhiko Mineta and Kosuke Goto at KAUST.

  17. Synergistic Interactions with PI3K Inhibition that Induce Apoptosis. | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Activating mutations involving the PI3K pathway occur frequently in human cancers. However, PI3K inhibitors primarily induce cell cycle arrest, leaving a significant reservoir of tumor cells that may acquire or exhibit resistance. We searched for genes that are required for the survival of PI3K mutant cancer cells in the presence of PI3K inhibition by conducting a genome scale shRNA-based apoptosis screen in a PIK3CA mutant human breast cancer cell. We identified 5 genes (PIM2, ZAK, TACC1, ZFR, ZNF565) whose suppression induced cell death upon PI3K inhibition.

  18. Making a virtue of necessity: the pleiotropic role of human endogenous retroviruses in cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kassiotis, George; Stoye, Jonathan P

    2017-10-19

    Like all other mammals, humans harbour an astonishing number of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), as well as other retroelements, embedded in their genome. These remnants of ancestral germline infection with distinct exogenous retroviruses display various degrees of open reading frame integrity and replication capability. Modern day exogenous retroviruses, as well as the infectious predecessors of ERVs, are demonstrably oncogenic. Further, replication-competent ERVs continue to cause cancers in many other species of mammal. Moreover, human cancers are characterized by transcriptional activation of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs). These observations conspire to incriminate HERVs as causative agents of human cancer. However, exhaustive investigation of cancer genomes suggests that HERVs have entirely lost the ability for re-infection and thus the potential for insertional mutagenic activity. Although there may be non-insertional mechanisms by which HERVs contribute to cancer development, recent evidence also uncovers potent anti-tumour activities exerted by HERV replication intermediates or protein products. On balance, it appears that HERVs, despite their oncogenic past, now represent potential targets for immune-mediated anti-tumour mechanisms.This article is part of the themed issue 'Human oncogenic viruses'. © 2017 The Authors.

  19. Oncogenomic portals for the visualization and analysis of genome-wide cancer data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klonowska, Katarzyna; Czubak, Karol; Wojciechowska, Marzena; Handschuh, Luiza; Zmienko, Agnieszka; Figlerowicz, Marek; Dams-Kozlowska, Hanna; Kozlowski, Piotr

    2016-01-05

    Somatically acquired genomic alterations that drive oncogenic cellular processes are of great scientific and clinical interest. Since the initiation of large-scale cancer genomic projects (e.g., the Cancer Genome Project, The Cancer Genome Atlas, and the International Cancer Genome Consortium cancer genome projects), a number of web-based portals have been created to facilitate access to multidimensional oncogenomic data and assist with the interpretation of the data. The portals provide the visualization of small-size mutations, copy number variations, methylation, and gene/protein expression data that can be correlated with the available clinical, epidemiological, and molecular features. Additionally, the portals enable to analyze the gathered data with the use of various user-friendly statistical tools. Herein, we present a highly illustrated review of seven portals, i.e., Tumorscape, UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser, ICGC Data Portal, COSMIC, cBioPortal, IntOGen, and BioProfiling.de. All of the selected portals are user-friendly and can be exploited by scientists from different cancer-associated fields, including those without bioinformatics background. It is expected that the use of the portals will contribute to a better understanding of cancer molecular etiology and will ultimately accelerate the translation of genomic knowledge into clinical practice.

  20. Childhood Cancer Genomics (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genomic findings have been useful in the identification of subsets of patients that have distinct biological features and clinical characteristics (such as prognosis) for some pediatric cancers. Learn about the genomic alterations associated with central nervous system, leukemia, lymphoma, liver, sarcoma, neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma, melanoma, kidney, and thyroid cancers in children in this comprehensive summary for clinicians.

  1. Pathways to Genome-targeted Therapies in Serous Ovarian Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Axelrod, Joshua; Delaney, Joe

    2017-07-01

    Genome sequencing technologies and corresponding oncology publications have generated enormous publicly available datasets for many cancer types. While this has enabled new treatments, and in some limited cases lifetime management of the disease, the treatment options for serous ovarian cancer remain dismal. This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of ovarian cancer, with a focus on heterogeneity, functional genomics, and actionable data.

  2. The Genomic Evolution of Prostate Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-06-01

    the proposed project : 1. To continue to acquire a comprehensive understanding of prostate cancer genomics . 2. To develop an understanding of... Genetics I • ECEV 35901 Evolutionary Genomics • Fundamentals of Clinical Research • HGEN 47400 Introduction to Probability and Statistics for Geneticists...Marc Gillard,2 David M. Hatcher,5 Westin R. Tom,5 Walter M. Stadler2 and Kevin P. White1,2,3 1Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology , Departments of

  3. Human Genome Program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1993-01-01

    The DOE Human Genome program has grown tremendously, as shown by the marked increase in the number of genome-funded projects since the last workshop held in 1991. The abstracts in this book describe the genome research of DOE-funded grantees and contractors and invited guests, and all projects are represented at the workshop by posters. The 3-day meeting includes plenary sessions on ethical, legal, and social issues pertaining to the availability of genetic data; sequencing techniques, informatics support; and chromosome and cDNA mapping and sequencing.

  4. Human genome I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1989-01-01

    An international conference, Human Genome I, was held Oct. 2-4, 1989 in San Diego, Calif. Selected speakers discussed: Current Status of the Genome Project; Technique Innovations; Interesting regions; Applications; and Organization - Different Views of Current and Future Science and Procedures. Posters, consisting of 119 presentations, were displayed during the sessions. 119 were indexed for inclusion to the Energy Data Base

  5. Data Mining Approaches for Genomic Biomarker Development: Applications Using Drug Screening Data from the Cancer Genome Project and the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David G Covell

    Full Text Available Developing reliable biomarkers of tumor cell drug sensitivity and resistance can guide hypothesis-driven basic science research and influence pre-therapy clinical decisions. A popular strategy for developing biomarkers uses characterizations of human tumor samples against a range of cancer drug responses that correlate with genomic change; developed largely from the efforts of the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE and Sanger Cancer Genome Project (CGP. The purpose of this study is to provide an independent analysis of this data that aims to vet existing and add novel perspectives to biomarker discoveries and applications. Existing and alternative data mining and statistical methods will be used to a evaluate drug responses of compounds with similar mechanism of action (MOA, b examine measures of gene expression (GE, copy number (CN and mutation status (MUT biomarkers, combined with gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA, for hypothesizing biological processes important for drug response, c conduct global comparisons of GE, CN and MUT as biomarkers across all drugs screened in the CGP dataset, and d assess the positive predictive power of CGP-derived GE biomarkers as predictors of drug response in CCLE tumor cells. The perspectives derived from individual and global examinations of GEs, MUTs and CNs confirm existing and reveal unique and shared roles for these biomarkers in tumor cell drug sensitivity and resistance. Applications of CGP-derived genomic biomarkers to predict the drug response of CCLE tumor cells finds a highly significant ROC, with a positive predictive power of 0.78. The results of this study expand the available data mining and analysis methods for genomic biomarker development and provide additional support for using biomarkers to guide hypothesis-driven basic science research and pre-therapy clinical decisions.

  6. Genomics of Colorectal Cancer in African Americans

    OpenAIRE

    Brim, Hassan; Ashktorab, Hassan

    2016-01-01

    Genome-wide studies are increasingly becoming a must, especially for complex diseases such as cancer where multiple genes and diverse molecular mechanisms are known to be involved in genes’ function alteration. In this review, we report our latest genomic and epigenomic findings in African-American colorectal cancer patients. This population suffers a higher burden of the disease and most investigators in this field are looking for the underlying genetic and epigenetic targets that might be r...

  7. Genomic Resources for Cancer Epidemiology

    Science.gov (United States)

    This page provides links to research resources, complied by the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program, that may be of interest to genetic epidemiologists conducting cancer research, but is not exhaustive.

  8. Novel mouse model recapitulates genome and transcriptome alterations in human colorectal carcinomas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNeil, Nicole E; Padilla-Nash, Hesed M; Buishand, Floryne O; Hue, Yue; Ried, Thomas

    2017-03-01

    Human colorectal carcinomas are defined by a nonrandom distribution of genomic imbalances that are characteristic for this disease. Often, these imbalances affect entire chromosomes. Understanding the role of these aneuploidies for carcinogenesis is of utmost importance. Currently, established transgenic mice do not recapitulate the pathognonomic genome aberration profile of human colorectal carcinomas. We have developed a novel model based on the spontaneous transformation of murine colon epithelial cells. During this process, cells progress through stages of pre-immortalization, immortalization and, finally, transformation, and result in tumors when injected into immunocompromised mice. We analyzed our model for genome and transcriptome alterations using ArrayCGH, spectral karyotyping (SKY), and array based gene expression profiling. ArrayCGH revealed a recurrent pattern of genomic imbalances. These results were confirmed by SKY. Comparing these imbalances with orthologous maps of human chromosomes revealed a remarkable overlap. We observed focal deletions of the tumor suppressor genes Trp53 and Cdkn2a/p16. High-level focal genomic amplification included the locus harboring the oncogene Mdm2, which was confirmed by FISH in the form of double minute chromosomes. Array-based global gene expression revealed distinct differences between the sequential steps of spontaneous transformation. Gene expression changes showed significant similarities with human colorectal carcinomas. Pathways most prominently affected included genes involved in chromosomal instability and in epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Our novel mouse model therefore recapitulates the most prominent genome and transcriptome alterations in human colorectal cancer, and might serve as a valuable tool for understanding the dynamic process of tumorigenesis, and for preclinical drug testing. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Comparative analysis of genome maintenance genes in naked mole rat, mouse, and human.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacRae, Sheila L; Zhang, Quanwei; Lemetre, Christophe; Seim, Inge; Calder, Robert B; Hoeijmakers, Jan; Suh, Yousin; Gladyshev, Vadim N; Seluanov, Andrei; Gorbunova, Vera; Vijg, Jan; Zhang, Zhengdong D

    2015-04-01

    Genome maintenance (GM) is an essential defense system against aging and cancer, as both are characterized by increased genome instability. Here, we compared the copy number variation and mutation rate of 518 GM-associated genes in the naked mole rat (NMR), mouse, and human genomes. GM genes appeared to be strongly conserved, with copy number variation in only four genes. Interestingly, we found NMR to have a higher copy number of CEBPG, a regulator of DNA repair, and TINF2, a protector of telomere integrity. NMR, as well as human, was also found to have a lower rate of germline nucleotide substitution than the mouse. Together, the data suggest that the long-lived NMR, as well as human, has more robust GM than mouse and identifies new targets for the analysis of the exceptional longevity of the NMR. © 2015 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Epidemiology & Genomics Research Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program, in the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, funds research in human populations to understand the determinants of cancer occurrence and outcomes.

  11. A transcriptome anatomy of human colorectal cancers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lü, Bingjian; Xu, Jing; Lai, Maode; Zhang, Hao; Chen, Jian

    2006-01-01

    Accumulating databases in human genome research have enabled integrated genome-wide study on complicated diseases such as cancers. A practical approach is to mine a global transcriptome profile of disease from public database. New concepts of these diseases might emerge by landscaping this profile. In this study, we clustered human colorectal normal mucosa (N), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), adenoma (A) and cancer (T) related expression sequence tags (EST) into UniGenes via an in-house GetUni software package and analyzed the transcriptome overview of these libraries by GOTree Machine (GOTM). Additionally, we downloaded UniGene based cDNA libraries of colon and analyzed them by Xprofiler to cross validate the efficiency of GetUni. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was used to validate the expression of β-catenin and. 7 novel genes in colorectal cancers. The efficiency of GetUni was successfully validated by Xprofiler and RT-PCR. Genes in library N, IBD and A were all found in library T. A total of 14,879 genes were identified with 2,355 of them having at least 2 transcripts. Differences in gene enrichment among these libraries were statistically significant in 50 signal transduction pathways and Pfam protein domains by GOTM analysis P < 0.01 Hypergeometric Test). Genes in two metabolic pathways, ribosome and glycolysis, were more enriched in the expression profiles of A and IBD than in N and T. Seven transmembrane receptor superfamily genes were typically abundant in cancers. Colorectal cancers are genetically heterogeneous. Transcription variants are common in them. Aberrations of ribosome and glycolysis pathway might be early indicators of precursor lesions in colon cancers. The electronic gene expression profile could be used to highlight the integral molecular events in colorectal cancers

  12. Naturally Occurring Canine Invasive Urinary Bladder Cancer: A Complementary Animal Model to Improve the Success Rate in Human Clinical Trials of New Cancer Drugs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher M. Fulkerson

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Genomic analyses are defining numerous new targets for cancer therapy. Therapies aimed at specific genetic and epigenetic targets in cancer cells as well as expanded development of immunotherapies are placing increased demands on animal models. Traditional experimental models do not possess the collective features (cancer heterogeneity, molecular complexity, invasion, metastasis, and immune cell response critical to predict success or failure of emerging therapies in humans. There is growing evidence, however, that dogs with specific forms of naturally occurring cancer can serve as highly relevant animal models to complement traditional models. Invasive urinary bladder cancer (invasive urothelial carcinoma (InvUC in dogs, for example, closely mimics the cancer in humans in pathology, molecular features, biological behavior including sites and frequency of distant metastasis, and response to chemotherapy. Genomic analyses are defining further intriguing similarities between InvUC in dogs and that in humans. Multiple canine clinical trials have been completed, and others are in progress with the aim of translating important findings into humans to increase the success rate of human trials, as well as helping pet dogs. Examples of successful targeted therapy studies and the challenges to be met to fully utilize naturally occurring dog models of cancer will be reviewed.

  13. Naturally Occurring Canine Invasive Urinary Bladder Cancer: A Complementary Animal Model to Improve the Success Rate in Human Clinical Trials of New Cancer Drugs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fulkerson, Christopher M; Dhawan, Deepika; Ratliff, Timothy L; Hahn, Noah M; Knapp, Deborah W

    2017-01-01

    Genomic analyses are defining numerous new targets for cancer therapy. Therapies aimed at specific genetic and epigenetic targets in cancer cells as well as expanded development of immunotherapies are placing increased demands on animal models. Traditional experimental models do not possess the collective features (cancer heterogeneity, molecular complexity, invasion, metastasis, and immune cell response) critical to predict success or failure of emerging therapies in humans. There is growing evidence, however, that dogs with specific forms of naturally occurring cancer can serve as highly relevant animal models to complement traditional models. Invasive urinary bladder cancer (invasive urothelial carcinoma (InvUC)) in dogs, for example, closely mimics the cancer in humans in pathology, molecular features, biological behavior including sites and frequency of distant metastasis, and response to chemotherapy. Genomic analyses are defining further intriguing similarities between InvUC in dogs and that in humans. Multiple canine clinical trials have been completed, and others are in progress with the aim of translating important findings into humans to increase the success rate of human trials, as well as helping pet dogs. Examples of successful targeted therapy studies and the challenges to be met to fully utilize naturally occurring dog models of cancer will be reviewed.

  14. Genome-wide association studies in Africans and African Americans: Expanding the Framework of the Genomics of Human Traits and Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peprah, Emmanuel; Xu, Huichun; Tekola-Ayele, Fasil; Royal, Charmaine D.

    2014-01-01

    Genomic research is one of the tools for elucidating the pathogenesis of diseases of global health relevance, and paving the research dimension to clinical and public health translation. Recent advances in genomic research and technologies have increased our understanding of human diseases, genes associated with these disorders, and the relevant mechanisms. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have proliferated since the first studies were published several years ago, and have become an important tool in helping researchers comprehend human variation and the role genetic variants play in disease. However, the need to expand the diversity of populations in GWAS has become increasingly apparent as new knowledge is gained about genetic variation. Inclusion of diverse populations in genomic studies is critical to a more complete understanding of human variation and elucidation of the underpinnings of complex diseases. In this review, we summarize the available data on GWAS in recent-African ancestry populations within the western hemisphere (i.e. African Americans and peoples of the Caribbean) and continental African populations. Furthermore, we highlight ways in which genomic studies in populations of recent African ancestry have led to advances in the areas of malaria, HIV, prostate cancer, and other diseases. Finally, we discuss the advantages of conducting GWAS in recent African ancestry populations in the context of addressing existing and emerging global health conditions. PMID:25427668

  15. Genome-wide association studies in Africans and African Americans: expanding the framework of the genomics of human traits and disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peprah, Emmanuel; Xu, Huichun; Tekola-Ayele, Fasil; Royal, Charmaine D

    2015-01-01

    Genomic research is one of the tools for elucidating the pathogenesis of diseases of global health relevance and paving the research dimension to clinical and public health translation. Recent advances in genomic research and technologies have increased our understanding of human diseases, genes associated with these disorders, and the relevant mechanisms. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have proliferated since the first studies were published several years ago and have become an important tool in helping researchers comprehend human variation and the role genetic variants play in disease. However, the need to expand the diversity of populations in GWAS has become increasingly apparent as new knowledge is gained about genetic variation. Inclusion of diverse populations in genomic studies is critical to a more complete understanding of human variation and elucidation of the underpinnings of complex diseases. In this review, we summarize the available data on GWAS in recent African ancestry populations within the western hemisphere (i.e. African Americans and peoples of the Caribbean) and continental African populations. Furthermore, we highlight ways in which genomic studies in populations of recent African ancestry have led to advances in the areas of malaria, HIV, prostate cancer, and other diseases. Finally, we discuss the advantages of conducting GWAS in recent African ancestry populations in the context of addressing existing and emerging global health conditions.

  16. Origins of the Human Genome Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, J D; Cook-Deegan, R M

    1991-01-01

    The Human Genome Project has become a reality. Building on a debate that dates back to 1985, several genome projects are now in full stride around the world, and more are likely to form in the next several years. Italy began its genome program in 1987, and the United Kingdom and U.S.S.R. in 1988. The European communities mounted several genome projects on yeast, bacteria, Drosophila, and Arabidospis thaliana (a rapidly growing plant with a small genome) in 1988, and in 1990 commenced a new 2-year program on the human genome. In the United States, we have completed the first year of operation of the National Center for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), now the largest single funding source for genome research in the world. There have been dedicated budgets focused on genome-scale research at NIH, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for several years, and results are beginning to accumulate. There were three annual meetings on genome mapping and sequencing at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, in the spring of 1988, 1989, and 1990; the talks have shifted from a discussion about how to approach problems to presenting results from experiments already performed. We have finally begun to work rather than merely talk. The purpose of genome projects is to assemble data on the structure of DNA in human chromosomes and those of other organisms. A second goal is to develop new technologies to perform mapping and sequencing. There have been impressive technical advances in the past 5 years since the debate about the human genome project began. We are on the verge of beginning pilot projects to test several approaches to sequencing long stretches of DNA, using both automation and manual methods. Ordered sets of yeast artificial chromosome and cosmid clones have been assembled to span more than 2 million base pairs of several human chromosomes, and a region of 10 million base pairs has been assembled for

  17. Predictive genomics: a cancer hallmark network framework for predicting tumor clinical phenotypes using genome sequencing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Edwin; Zaman, Naif; Mcgee, Shauna; Milanese, Jean-Sébastien; Masoudi-Nejad, Ali; O'Connor-McCourt, Maureen

    2015-02-01

    Tumor genome sequencing leads to documenting thousands of DNA mutations and other genomic alterations. At present, these data cannot be analyzed adequately to aid in the understanding of tumorigenesis and its evolution. Moreover, we have little insight into how to use these data to predict clinical phenotypes and tumor progression to better design patient treatment. To meet these challenges, we discuss a cancer hallmark network framework for modeling genome sequencing data to predict cancer clonal evolution and associated clinical phenotypes. The framework includes: (1) cancer hallmarks that can be represented by a few molecular/signaling networks. 'Network operational signatures' which represent gene regulatory logics/strengths enable to quantify state transitions and measures of hallmark traits. Thus, sets of genomic alterations which are associated with network operational signatures could be linked to the state/measure of hallmark traits. The network operational signature transforms genotypic data (i.e., genomic alterations) to regulatory phenotypic profiles (i.e., regulatory logics/strengths), to cellular phenotypic profiles (i.e., hallmark traits) which lead to clinical phenotypic profiles (i.e., a collection of hallmark traits). Furthermore, the framework considers regulatory logics of the hallmark networks under tumor evolutionary dynamics and therefore also includes: (2) a self-promoting positive feedback loop that is dominated by a genomic instability network and a cell survival/proliferation network is the main driver of tumor clonal evolution. Surrounding tumor stroma and its host immune systems shape the evolutionary paths; (3) cell motility initiating metastasis is a byproduct of the above self-promoting loop activity during tumorigenesis; (4) an emerging hallmark network which triggers genome duplication dominates a feed-forward loop which in turn could act as a rate-limiting step for tumor formation; (5) mutations and other genomic alterations have

  18. Cross-species comparison of aCGH data from mouse and human BRCA1- and BRCA2-mutated breast cancers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holstege, Henne; Wessels, Lodewyk FA; Nederlof, Petra M; Jonkers, Jos; Beers, Erik van; Velds, Arno; Liu, Xiaoling; Joosse, Simon A; Klarenbeek, Sjoerd; Schut, Eva; Kerkhoven, Ron; Klijn, Christiaan N

    2010-01-01

    Genomic gains and losses are a result of genomic instability in many types of cancers. BRCA1- and BRCA2-mutated breast cancers are associated with increased amounts of chromosomal aberrations, presumably due their functions in genome repair. Some of these genomic aberrations may harbor genes whose absence or overexpression may give rise to cellular growth advantage. So far, it has not been easy to identify the driver genes underlying gains and losses. A powerful approach to identify these driver genes could be a cross-species comparison of array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) data from cognate mouse and human tumors. Orthologous regions of mouse and human tumors that are commonly gained or lost might represent essential genomic regions selected for gain or loss during tumor development. To identify genomic regions that are associated with BRCA1- and BRCA2-mutated breast cancers we compared aCGH data from 130 mouse Brca1 Δ/Δ ;p53 Δ/Δ , Brca2 Δ/Δ ;p53 Δ/Δ and p53 Δ/Δ mammary tumor groups with 103 human BRCA1-mutated, BRCA2-mutated and non-hereditary breast cancers. Our genome-wide cross-species analysis yielded a complete collection of loci and genes that are commonly gained or lost in mouse and human breast cancer. Principal common CNAs were the well known MYC-associated gain and RB1/INTS6-associated loss that occurred in all mouse and human tumor groups, and the AURKA-associated gain occurred in BRCA2-related tumors from both species. However, there were also important differences between tumor profiles of both species, such as the prominent gain on chromosome 10 in mouse Brca2 Δ/Δ ;p53 Δ/Δ tumors and the PIK3CA associated 3q gain in human BRCA1-mutated tumors, which occurred in tumors from one species but not in tumors from the other species. This disparity in recurrent aberrations in mouse and human tumors might be due to differences in tumor cell type or genomic organization between both species. The selection of the oncogenome during

  19. Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Length Polymorphism (MS-AFLP) Microarrays for Epigenetic Analysis of Human Genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonso, Sergio; Suzuki, Koichi; Yamamoto, Fumiichiro; Perucho, Manuel

    2018-01-01

    Somatic, and in a minor scale also germ line, epigenetic aberrations are fundamental to carcinogenesis, cancer progression, and tumor phenotype. DNA methylation is the most extensively studied and arguably the best understood epigenetic mechanisms that become altered in cancer. Both somatic loss of methylation (hypomethylation) and gain of methylation (hypermethylation) are found in the genome of malignant cells. In general, the cancer cell epigenome is globally hypomethylated, while some regions-typically gene-associated CpG islands-become hypermethylated. Given the profound impact that DNA methylation exerts on the transcriptional profile and genomic stability of cancer cells, its characterization is essential to fully understand the complexity of cancer biology, improve tumor classification, and ultimately advance cancer patient management and treatment. A plethora of methods have been devised to analyze and quantify DNA methylation alterations. Several of the early-developed methods relied on the use of methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes, whose activity depends on the methylation status of their recognition sequences. Among these techniques, methylation-sensitive amplification length polymorphism (MS-AFLP) was developed in the early 2000s, and successfully adapted from its original gel electrophoresis fingerprinting format to a microarray format that notably increased its throughput and allowed the quantification of the methylation changes. This array-based platform interrogates over 9500 independent loci putatively amplified by the MS-AFLP technique, corresponding to the NotI sites mapped throughout the human genome.

  20. Single genome retrieval of context-dependent variability in mutation rates for human germline.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahakyan, Aleksandr B; Balasubramanian, Shankar

    2017-01-13

    Accurate knowledge of the core components of substitution rates is of vital importance to understand genome evolution and dynamics. By performing a single-genome and direct analysis of 39,894 retrotransposon remnants, we reveal sequence context-dependent germline nucleotide substitution rates for the human genome. The rates are characterised through rate constants in a time-domain, and are made available through a dedicated program (Trek) and a stand-alone database. Due to the nature of the method design and the imposed stringency criteria, we expect our rate constants to be good estimates for the rates of spontaneous mutations. Benefiting from such data, we study the short-range nucleotide (up to 7-mer) organisation and the germline basal substitution propensity (BSP) profile of the human genome; characterise novel, CpG-independent, substitution prone and resistant motifs; confirm a decreased tendency of moieties with low BSP to undergo somatic mutations in a number of cancer types; and, produce a Trek-based estimate of the overall mutation rate in human. The extended set of rate constants we report may enrich our resources and help advance our understanding of genome dynamics and evolution, with possible implications for the role of spontaneous mutations in the emergence of pathological genotypes and neutral evolution of proteomes.

  1. A Genome-Wide Breast Cancer Scan in African Americans

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-01

    SNPs from the African American breast cancer scan to COGs , a European collaborative study which is has designed a SNP array with that will be genotyped...Award Number: W81XWH-08-1-0383 TITLE: A Genome-wide Breast Cancer Scan in African Americans PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Christopher A...SUBTITLE A Genome-wide Breast Cancer Scan in African Americans 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-08-1-0383 5c. PROGRAM

  2. Whole-Genome Sequence of the Metastatic PC3 and LNCaP Human Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Inge Seim

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The bone metastasis-derived PC3 and the lymph node metastasis-derived LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines are widely studied, having been described in thousands of publications over the last four decades. Here, we report short-read whole-genome sequencing (WGS and de novo assembly of PC3 (ATCC CRL-1435 and LNCaP (clone FGC; ATCC CRL-1740 at ∼70 × coverage. A known homozygous mutation in TP53 and homozygous loss of PTEN were robustly identified in the PC3 cell line, whereas the LNCaP cell line exhibited a larger number of putative inactivating somatic point and indel mutations (and in particular a loss of stop codon events. This study also provides preliminary evidence that loss of one or both copies of the tumor suppressor Capicua (CIC contributes to primary tumor relapse and metastatic progression, potentially offering a treatment target for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC. Our work provides a resource for genetic, genomic, and biological studies employing two commonly-used prostate cancer cell lines.

  3. Whole-Genome Sequence of the Metastatic PC3 and LNCaP Human Prostate Cancer Cell Lines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seim, Inge; Jeffery, Penny L; Thomas, Patrick B; Nelson, Colleen C; Chopin, Lisa K

    2017-06-07

    The bone metastasis-derived PC3 and the lymph node metastasis-derived LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines are widely studied, having been described in thousands of publications over the last four decades. Here, we report short-read whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and de novo assembly of PC3 (ATCC CRL-1435) and LNCaP (clone FGC; ATCC CRL-1740) at ∼70 × coverage. A known homozygous mutation in TP53 and homozygous loss of PTEN were robustly identified in the PC3 cell line, whereas the LNCaP cell line exhibited a larger number of putative inactivating somatic point and indel mutations (and in particular a loss of stop codon events). This study also provides preliminary evidence that loss of one or both copies of the tumor suppressor Capicua ( CIC ) contributes to primary tumor relapse and metastatic progression, potentially offering a treatment target for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Our work provides a resource for genetic, genomic, and biological studies employing two commonly-used prostate cancer cell lines. Copyright © 2017 Seim et al.

  4. Use of genome editing tools in human stem cell-based disease modeling and precision medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Yu-da; Li, Shuang; Liu, Gai-gai; Zhang, Yong-xian; Ding, Qiu-rong

    2015-10-01

    Precision medicine emerges as a new approach that takes into account individual variability. The successful conduct of precision medicine requires the use of precise disease models. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), as well as adult stem cells, can be differentiated into a variety of human somatic cell types that can be used for research and drug screening. The development of genome editing technology over the past few years, especially the CRISPR/Cas system, has made it feasible to precisely and efficiently edit the genetic background. Therefore, disease modeling by using a combination of human stem cells and genome editing technology has offered a new platform to generate " personalized " disease models, which allow the study of the contribution of individual genetic variabilities to disease progression and the development of precise treatments. In this review, recent advances in the use of genome editing in human stem cells and the generation of stem cell models for rare diseases and cancers are discussed.

  5. Genome evolution during progression to breast cancer

    KAUST Repository

    Newburger, D. E.; Kashef-Haghighi, D.; Weng, Z.; Salari, R.; Sweeney, R. T.; Brunner, A. L.; Zhu, S. X.; Guo, X.; Varma, S.; Troxell, M. L.; West, R. B.; Batzoglou, S.; Sidow, A.

    2013-01-01

    Cancer evolution involves cycles of genomic damage, epigenetic deregulation, and increased cellular proliferation that eventually culminate in the carcinoma phenotype. Early neoplasias, which are often found concurrently with carcinomas and are histologically distinguishable from normal breast tissue, are less advanced in phenotype than carcinomas and are thought to represent precursor stages. To elucidate their role in cancer evolution we performed comparative whole-genome sequencing of early neoplasias, matched normal tissue, and carcinomas from six patients, for a total of 31 samples. By using somatic mutations as lineage markers we built trees that relate the tissue samples within each patient. On the basis of these lineage trees we inferred the order, timing, and rates of genomic events. In four out of six cases, an early neoplasia and the carcinoma share a mutated common ancestor with recurring aneuploidies, and in all six cases evolution accelerated in the carcinoma lineage. Transition spectra of somatic mutations are stable and consistent across cases, suggesting that accumulation of somatic mutations is a result of increased ancestral cell division rather than specific mutational mechanisms. In contrast to highly advanced tumors that are the focus of much of the current cancer genome sequencing, neither the early neoplasia genomes nor the carcinomas are enriched with potentially functional somatic point mutations. Aneuploidies that occur in common ancestors of neoplastic and tumor cells are the earliest events that affect a large number of genes and may predispose breast tissue to eventual development of invasive carcinoma.

  6. Genome evolution during progression to breast cancer

    KAUST Repository

    Newburger, D. E.

    2013-04-08

    Cancer evolution involves cycles of genomic damage, epigenetic deregulation, and increased cellular proliferation that eventually culminate in the carcinoma phenotype. Early neoplasias, which are often found concurrently with carcinomas and are histologically distinguishable from normal breast tissue, are less advanced in phenotype than carcinomas and are thought to represent precursor stages. To elucidate their role in cancer evolution we performed comparative whole-genome sequencing of early neoplasias, matched normal tissue, and carcinomas from six patients, for a total of 31 samples. By using somatic mutations as lineage markers we built trees that relate the tissue samples within each patient. On the basis of these lineage trees we inferred the order, timing, and rates of genomic events. In four out of six cases, an early neoplasia and the carcinoma share a mutated common ancestor with recurring aneuploidies, and in all six cases evolution accelerated in the carcinoma lineage. Transition spectra of somatic mutations are stable and consistent across cases, suggesting that accumulation of somatic mutations is a result of increased ancestral cell division rather than specific mutational mechanisms. In contrast to highly advanced tumors that are the focus of much of the current cancer genome sequencing, neither the early neoplasia genomes nor the carcinomas are enriched with potentially functional somatic point mutations. Aneuploidies that occur in common ancestors of neoplastic and tumor cells are the earliest events that affect a large number of genes and may predispose breast tissue to eventual development of invasive carcinoma.

  7. Distinct Mechanisms of Nuclease-Directed DNA-Structure-Induced Genetic Instability in Cancer Genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Junhua; Wang, Guliang; Del Mundo, Imee M; McKinney, Jennifer A; Lu, Xiuli; Bacolla, Albino; Boulware, Stephen B; Zhang, Changsheng; Zhang, Haihua; Ren, Pengyu; Freudenreich, Catherine H; Vasquez, Karen M

    2018-01-30

    Sequences with the capacity to adopt alternative DNA structures have been implicated in cancer etiology; however, the mechanisms are unclear. For example, H-DNA-forming sequences within oncogenes have been shown to stimulate genetic instability in mammals. Here, we report that H-DNA-forming sequences are enriched at translocation breakpoints in human cancer genomes, further implicating them in cancer etiology. H-DNA-induced mutations were suppressed in human cells deficient in the nucleotide excision repair nucleases, ERCC1-XPF and XPG, but were stimulated in cells deficient in FEN1, a replication-related endonuclease. Further, we found that these nucleases cleaved H-DNA conformations, and the interactions of modeled H-DNA with ERCC1-XPF, XPG, and FEN1 proteins were explored at the sub-molecular level. The results suggest mechanisms of genetic instability triggered by H-DNA through distinct structure-specific, cleavage-based replication-independent and replication-dependent pathways, providing critical evidence for a role of the DNA structure itself in the etiology of cancer and other human diseases. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Building capacity for human genetics and genomics research in Trinidad and Tobago

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allana Roach

    Full Text Available Advances in human genetics and genomic sciences and the corresponding explosion of biomedical technologies have deepened current understanding of human health and revolutionized medicine. In developed nations, this has led to marked improvements in disease risk stratification and diagnosis. These advances have also led to targeted intervention strategies aimed at promoting disease prevention, prolonging disease onset, and mitigating symptoms, as in the well-known case of breast cancer and the BRCA1 gene. In contrast, in the developing nation of Trinidad and Tobago, this scientific revolution has not translated into the development and application of effective genomics-based interventions for improving public health. While the reasons for this are multifactorial, the underlying basis may be rooted in the lack of pertinence of internationally driven genomics research to the local public health needs in the country, as well as a lack of relevance of internationally conducted genetics research to the genetic and environmental contexts of the population. Indeed, if Trinidad and Tobago is able to harness substantial public health benefit from genetics/genomics research, then there is a dire need, in the near future, to build local capacity for the conduct and translation of such research. Specifically, it is essential to establish a national human genetics/genomics research agenda in order to build sustainable human capacity through education and knowledge transfer and to generate public policies that will provide the basis for the creation of a mutually beneficial framework (including partnerships with more developed nations that is informed by public health needs and contextual realities of the nation.

  9. National Human Genome Research Institute

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Care Genomic Medicine Working Group New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About the Human Genome Project Fact Sheets Genetic Education Resources for ...

  10. A Million Cancer Genome Warehouse

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-20

    of a national program for Cancer Information Donors, the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has proposed a rapid learning system for...or Scala and Spark; “scrum” organization of small programming teams; calculating “velocity” to predict time to develop new features; and Agile...2012 to 00-00-2012 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE A Million Cancer Genome Warehouse 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6

  11. The Human L1 Element Causes DNA Double-Strand Breaks in Breast Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-08-01

    cancer is complex. However, defects in DNA repair genes in the double-strand break repair pathway are cancer predisposing. My lab has characterized...a new potentially important source of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in human cells and are interested in characterizing which DNA repair genes act on...this particular source of DNA damage. Selfish DNA accounts for 45% of the human genome. We have recently demonstrated that one particular selfish

  12. Widespread of horizontal gene transfer in the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Wenze; Tsai, Lillian; Li, Yulong; Hua, Nan; Sun, Chen; Wei, Chaochun

    2017-04-04

    A fundamental concept in biology is that heritable material is passed from parents to offspring, a process called vertical gene transfer. An alternative mechanism of gene acquisition is through horizontal gene transfer (HGT), which involves movement of genetic materials between different species. Horizontal gene transfer has been found prevalent in prokaryotes but very rare in eukaryote. In this paper, we investigate horizontal gene transfer in the human genome. From the pair-wise alignments between human genome and 53 vertebrate genomes, 1,467 human genome regions (2.6 M bases) from all chromosomes were found to be more conserved with non-mammals than with most mammals. These human genome regions involve 642 known genes, which are enriched with ion binding. Compared to known horizontal gene transfer regions in the human genome, there were few overlapping regions, which indicated horizontal gene transfer is more common than we expected in the human genome. Horizontal gene transfer impacts hundreds of human genes and this study provided insight into potential mechanisms of HGT in the human genome.

  13. Genomic analysis and selected molecular pathways in rare cancers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Stephen V; Lenkiewicz, Elizabeth; Evers, Lisa; Holley, Tara; Kiefer, Jeffrey; Demeure, Michael J; Ramanathan, Ramesh K; Von Hoff, Daniel D; Barrett, Michael T; Ruiz, Christian; Glatz, Katharina; Bubendorf, Lukas; Eng, Cathy

    2012-01-01

    It is widely accepted that many cancers arise as a result of an acquired genomic instability and the subsequent evolution of tumor cells with variable patterns of selected and background aberrations. The presence and behaviors of distinct neoplastic cell populations within a patient's tumor may underlie multiple clinical phenotypes in cancers. A goal of many current cancer genome studies is the identification of recurring selected driver events that can be advanced for the development of personalized therapies. Unfortunately, in the majority of rare tumors, this type of analysis can be particularly challenging. Large series of specimens for analysis are simply not available, allowing recurring patterns to remain hidden. In this paper, we highlight the use of DNA content-based flow sorting to identify and isolate DNA-diploid and DNA-aneuploid populations from tumor biopsies as a strategy to comprehensively study the genomic composition and behaviors of individual cancers in a series of rare solid tumors: intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, anal carcinoma, adrenal leiomyosarcoma, and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. We propose that the identification of highly selected genomic events in distinct tumor populations within each tumor can identify candidate driver events that can facilitate the development of novel, personalized treatment strategies for patients with cancer. (paper)

  14. The impact of the human genome project on risk assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katarzyna Doerffer; Paul Unrau.

    1996-01-01

    The radiation protection approach to risk assessment assumes that cancer induction following radiation exposure is purely random. Present risk assessment methods derive risk from cancer incidence frequencies in exposed populations and associate disease outcomes totally with the level of exposure to ionizing red aeon. Exposure defines a risk factor that affects the probability of the disease outcome. But cancer risk can be affected by other risk factors such as underlying genetic factors (predisposition) of the exposed organism. These genetic risk factors are now becoming available for incorporation into ionizing radiation risk assessment Progress in the Human Genome Project (HOP) will lead to direct assays to measure the effects of genetic risk determinants in disease outcomes. When all genetic risk determinants are known and incorporated into risk assessment it will be possible to reevaluate the role of ionizing radiation in the causation of cancer. (author)

  15. Applications of Support Vector Machine (SVM) Learning in Cancer Genomics

    OpenAIRE

    HUANG, SHUJUN; CAI, NIANGUANG; PACHECO, PEDRO PENZUTI; NARANDES, SHAVIRA; WANG, YANG; XU, WAYNE

    2017-01-01

    Machine learning with maximization (support) of separating margin (vector), called support vector machine (SVM) learning, is a powerful classification tool that has been used for cancer genomic classification or subtyping. Today, as advancements in high-throughput technologies lead to production of large amounts of genomic and epigenomic data, the classification feature of SVMs is expanding its use in cancer genomics, leading to the discovery of new biomarkers, new drug targets, and a better ...

  16. Recurrent DNA inversion rearrangements in the human genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Flores, Margarita; Morales, Lucía; Gonzaga-Jauregui, Claudia

    2007-01-01

    Several lines of evidence suggest that reiterated sequences in the human genome are targets for nonallelic homologous recombination (NAHR), which facilitates genomic rearrangements. We have used a PCR-based approach to identify breakpoint regions of rearranged structures in the human genome...... to human genomic variation is discussed........ In particular, we have identified intrachromosomal identical repeats that are located in reverse orientation, which may lead to chromosomal inversions. A bioinformatic workflow pathway to select appropriate regions for analysis was developed. Three such regions overlapping with known human genes, located...

  17. Databases and web tools for cancer genomics study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yadong; Dong, Xunong; Xie, Bingbing; Ding, Nan; Chen, Juan; Li, Yongjun; Zhang, Qian; Qu, Hongzhu; Fang, Xiangdong

    2015-02-01

    Publicly-accessible resources have promoted the advance of scientific discovery. The era of genomics and big data has brought the need for collaboration and data sharing in order to make effective use of this new knowledge. Here, we describe the web resources for cancer genomics research and rate them on the basis of the diversity of cancer types, sample size, omics data comprehensiveness, and user experience. The resources reviewed include data repository and analysis tools; and we hope such introduction will promote the awareness and facilitate the usage of these resources in the cancer research community. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  18. Non-codingRNA sequence variations in human chronic lymphocytic leukemia and colorectal cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wojcik, Sylwia E; Rossi, Simona; Shimizu, Masayoshi; Nicoloso, Milena S; Cimmino, Amelia; Alder, Hansjuerg; Herlea, Vlad; Rassenti, Laura Z; Rai, Kanti R; Kipps, Thomas J; Keating, Michael J; Croce, Carlo M; Calin, George A

    2010-02-01

    Cancer is a genetic disease in which the interplay between alterations in protein-coding genes and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) plays a fundamental role. In recent years, the full coding component of the human genome was sequenced in various cancers, whereas such attempts related to ncRNAs are still fragmentary. We screened genomic DNAs for sequence variations in 148 microRNAs (miRNAs) and ultraconserved regions (UCRs) loci in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or colorectal cancer (CRC) by Sanger technique and further tried to elucidate the functional consequences of some of these variations. We found sequence variations in miRNAs in both sporadic and familial CLL cases, mutations of UCRs in CLLs and CRCs and, in certain instances, detected functional effects of these variations. Furthermore, by integrating our data with previously published data on miRNA sequence variations, we have created a catalog of DNA sequence variations in miRNAs/ultraconserved genes in human cancers. These findings argue that ncRNAs are targeted by both germ line and somatic mutations as well as by single-nucleotide polymorphisms with functional significance for human tumorigenesis. Sequence variations in ncRNA loci are frequent and some have functional and biological significance. Such information can be exploited to further investigate on a genome-wide scale the frequency of genetic variations in ncRNAs and their functional meaning, as well as for the development of new diagnostic and prognostic markers for leukemias and carcinomas.

  19. Linkage of DNA Methylation Quantitative Trait Loci to Human Cancer Risk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holger Heyn

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Epigenetic regulation and, in particular, DNA methylation have been linked to the underlying genetic sequence. DNA methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTL have been identified through significant associations between the genetic and epigenetic codes in physiological and pathological contexts. We propose that interrogating the interplay between polymorphic alleles and DNA methylation is a powerful method for improving our interpretation of risk alleles identified in genome-wide association studies that otherwise lack mechanistic explanation. We integrated patient cancer risk genotype data and genome-scale DNA methylation profiles of 3,649 primary human tumors, representing 13 solid cancer types. We provide a comprehensive meQTL catalog containing DNA methylation associations for 21% of interrogated cancer risk polymorphisms. Differentially methylated loci harbor previously reported and as-yet-unidentified cancer genes. We suggest that such regulation at the DNA level can provide a considerable amount of new information about the biology of cancer-risk alleles.

  20. Digestive tumor bank protocol: from surgical specimens to genomic studies of digestive cancers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popescu, I; Stroescu, C; Dumitrascu, T; Herlea, V; Paslaru, Liliana; Lazar, V; Boissin, H; Taieb, J; Horeanga, Ionela

    2006-01-01

    Cancer is a complex polygenic and multifactorial disease, resulting from successive dynamic changes in the genome of somatic cells and from the accumulation of molecular alterations in both tumour cells and host cells. For the majority of cancers, including many malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract, our current means of diagnosis and treatment of the tumors are grossly insufficient. In recent years the development of several gene expression profiling methods such as comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), differential display, serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) and DNA arrays, together with the sequencing of the human genome, has provided an opportunity to monitor and investigate the complete cascade of molecular events leading to tumor development and progression. Given the central role played by surgeons in the current management of patients with solid cancers, it is of paramount importance for them to know the principles characterizing this laboratory tools to critically assess the results originating from this biotechnology. We describe in this article the scientific partnership between Fundeni Clinical Institute Bucharest, Romania and RNtech Company, Paris, France for the development of a center of biological resources (Biobank) as well as the standardized protocol of working with the biological samples, the ongoing projects and the future perspectives.

  1. Mechanisms of Base Substitution Mutagenesis in Cancer Genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Albino Bacolla

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Cancer genome sequence data provide an invaluable resource for inferring the key mechanisms by which mutations arise in cancer cells, favoring their survival, proliferation and invasiveness. Here we examine recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for the predominant type of genetic alteration found in cancer cells, somatic single base substitutions (SBSs. Cytosine methylation, demethylation and deamination, charge transfer reactions in DNA, DNA replication timing, chromatin status and altered DNA proofreading activities are all now known to contribute to the mechanisms leading to base substitution mutagenesis. We review current hypotheses as to the major processes that give rise to SBSs and evaluate their relative relevance in the light of knowledge acquired from cancer genome sequencing projects and the study of base modifications, DNA repair and lesion bypass. Although gene expression data on APOBEC3B enzymes provide support for a role in cancer mutagenesis through U:G mismatch intermediates, the enzyme preference for single-stranded DNA may limit its activity genome-wide. For SBSs at both CG:CG and YC:GR sites, we outline evidence for a prominent role of damage by charge transfer reactions that follow interactions of the DNA with reactive oxygen species (ROS and other endogenous or exogenous electron-abstracting molecules.

  2. Mechanisms of base substitution mutagenesis in cancer genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bacolla, Albino; Cooper, David N; Vasquez, Karen M

    2014-03-05

    Cancer genome sequence data provide an invaluable resource for inferring the key mechanisms by which mutations arise in cancer cells, favoring their survival, proliferation and invasiveness. Here we examine recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for the predominant type of genetic alteration found in cancer cells, somatic single base substitutions (SBSs). Cytosine methylation, demethylation and deamination, charge transfer reactions in DNA, DNA replication timing, chromatin status and altered DNA proofreading activities are all now known to contribute to the mechanisms leading to base substitution mutagenesis. We review current hypotheses as to the major processes that give rise to SBSs and evaluate their relative relevance in the light of knowledge acquired from cancer genome sequencing projects and the study of base modifications, DNA repair and lesion bypass. Although gene expression data on APOBEC3B enzymes provide support for a role in cancer mutagenesis through U:G mismatch intermediates, the enzyme preference for single-stranded DNA may limit its activity genome-wide. For SBSs at both CG:CG and YC:GR sites, we outline evidence for a prominent role of damage by charge transfer reactions that follow interactions of the DNA with reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other endogenous or exogenous electron-abstracting molecules.

  3. Genomic instability and radiation effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Christian Streffer

    2007-01-01

    Complete text of publication follows. Cancer, genetic mutations and developmental abnormalities are apparently associated with an increased genomic instability. Such phenomena have been frequently shown in human cancer cells in vitro and in situ. It is also well-known that individuals with a genetic predisposition for cancer proneness, such as ataxia telangiectesia, Fanconi anaemia etc. demonstrate a general high genomic instability e.g. in peripheral lymphocytes before a cancer has developed. Analogous data have been found in mice which develop a specific congenital malformation which has a genetic background. Under these aspects it is of high interest that ionising radiation can increase the genomic instability of mammalian cells after exposures in vitro an in vivo. This phenomenon is expressed 20 to 40 cell cycles after the exposure e.g. by de novo chromosomal aberrations. Such effects have been observed with high and low LET radiation, high LET radiation is more efficient. With low LET radiation a good dose response is observed in the dose range 0.2 to 2.0 Gy, Recently it has been reported that senescence and genomic instability was induced in human fibroblasts after 1 mGy carbon ions (1 in 18 cells are hit), apparently bystander effects also occurred under these conditions. The instability has been shown with DNA damage, chromosomal aberrations, gene mutation and cell death. It is also transferred to the next generation of mice with respect to gene mutations, chromosomal aberrations and congenital malformations. Several mechanisms have been discussed. The involvement of telomeres has gained interest. Genomic instability seems to be induced by a general lesion to the whole genome. The transmission of one chromosome from an irradiated cell to an non-irradiated cell leads to genomic instability in the untreated cells. Genomic instability increases mutation rates in the affected cells in general. As radiation late effects (cancer, gene mutations and congenital

  4. Genomics, Endoscopy, and Control of Gastroesophageal Cancers: A PerspectiveSummary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brian J. Reid

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available In The Cancer Genome Atlas the goals were to define how to treat advanced cancers with targeted therapy. However, the challenges facing cancer interception for early detection and prevention include length bias in which current screening and surveillance approaches frequently miss rapidly progressing cancers that then present at advanced stages in the clinic with symptoms (underdiagnosis. In contrast, many early detection strategies detect benign conditions that may never progress to cancer during a lifetime, and the patient dies of unrelated causes (overdiagnosis. This challenge to cancer interception is believed to be due to the speed at which the neoplasm evolves, called length bias sampling; rapidly progressing cancers are missed by current early detection strategies. In contrast, slowly or non-progressing cancers or their precursors are selectively detected. This has led to the concept of cancer interception, which can be defined as active interception of a biological process that drives cancer development before the patient presents in the clinic with an advanced, symptomatic cancer. The solutions needed to advance strategies for cancer interception require assessing the rate at which the cancer evolves over time and space. This is an essential challenge that needs to be addressed by robust study designs including normal and non-progressing controls when known to be appropriate. Keywords: Barrett's Esophagus, Biomarkers, Chromosome Aberrations, Esophageal Neoplasms, Gastroesophageal Reflux, Genomic Instability, Genomics, Stomach

  5. Inversion variants in human and primate genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catacchio, Claudia Rita; Maggiolini, Flavia Angela Maria; D'Addabbo, Pietro; Bitonto, Miriana; Capozzi, Oronzo; Signorile, Martina Lepore; Miroballo, Mattia; Archidiacono, Nicoletta; Eichler, Evan E; Ventura, Mario; Antonacci, Francesca

    2018-05-18

    For many years, inversions have been proposed to be a direct driving force in speciation since they suppress recombination when heterozygous. Inversions are the most common large-scale differences among humans and great apes. Nevertheless, they represent large events easily distinguishable by classical cytogenetics, whose resolution, however, is limited. Here, we performed a genome-wide comparison between human, great ape, and macaque genomes using the net alignments for the most recent releases of genome assemblies. We identified a total of 156 putative inversions, between 103 kb and 91 Mb, corresponding to 136 human loci. Combining literature, sequence, and experimental analyses, we analyzed 109 of these loci and found 67 regions inverted in one or multiple primates, including 28 newly identified inversions. These events overlap with 81 human genes at their breakpoints, and seven correspond to sites of recurrent rearrangements associated with human disease. This work doubles the number of validated primate inversions larger than 100 kb, beyond what was previously documented. We identified 74 sites of errors, where the sequence has been assembled in the wrong orientation, in the reference genomes analyzed. Our data serve two purposes: First, we generated a map of evolutionary inversions in these genomes representing a resource for interrogating differences among these species at a functional level; second, we provide a list of misassembled regions in these primate genomes, involving over 300 Mb of DNA and 1978 human genes. Accurately annotating these regions in the genome references has immediate applications for evolutionary and biomedical studies on primates. © 2018 Catacchio et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  6. A decade of human genome project conclusion: Scientific diffusion about our genome knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moraes, Fernanda; Góes, Andréa

    2016-05-06

    The Human Genome Project (HGP) was initiated in 1990 and completed in 2003. It aimed to sequence the whole human genome. Although it represented an advance in understanding the human genome and its complexity, many questions remained unanswered. Other projects were launched in order to unravel the mysteries of our genome, including the ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE). This review aims to analyze the evolution of scientific knowledge related to both the HGP and ENCODE projects. Data were retrieved from scientific articles published in 1990-2014, a period comprising the development and the 10 years following the HGP completion. The fact that only 20,000 genes are protein and RNA-coding is one of the most striking HGP results. A new concept about the organization of genome arose. The ENCODE project was initiated in 2003 and targeted to map the functional elements of the human genome. This project revealed that the human genome is pervasively transcribed. Therefore, it was determined that a large part of the non-protein coding regions are functional. Finally, a more sophisticated view of chromatin structure emerged. The mechanistic functioning of the genome has been redrafted, revealing a much more complex picture. Besides, a gene-centric conception of the organism has to be reviewed. A number of criticisms have emerged against the ENCODE project approaches, raising the question of whether non-conserved but biochemically active regions are truly functional. Thus, HGP and ENCODE projects accomplished a great map of the human genome, but the data generated still requires further in depth analysis. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 44:215-223, 2016. © 2016 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

  7. Safeguarding genome integrity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Claus Storgaard; Syljuåsen, Randi G

    2012-01-01

    Mechanisms that preserve genome integrity are highly important during the normal life cycle of human cells. Loss of genome protective mechanisms can lead to the development of diseases such as cancer. Checkpoint kinases function in the cellular surveillance pathways that help cells to cope with D...

  8. Interest in genomic SNP testing for prostate cancer risk: a pilot survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Michael J; Ruth, Karen J; Chen, David Yt; Gross, Laura M; Giri, Veda N

    2015-01-01

    Advancements in genomic testing have led to the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with prostate cancer. The clinical utility of SNP tests to evaluate prostate cancer risk is unclear. Studies have not examined predictors of interest in novel genomic SNP tests for prostate cancer risk in a diverse population. Consecutive participants in the Fox Chase Prostate Cancer Risk Assessment Program (PRAP) (n = 40) and unselected men from surgical urology clinics (n = 40) completed a one-time survey. Items examined interest in genomic SNP testing for prostate cancer risk, knowledge, impact of unsolicited findings, and psychosocial factors including health literacy. Knowledge of genomic SNP tests was low in both groups, but interest was higher among PRAP men (p testing in both groups. Multivariable modeling identified several predictors of higher interest in a genomic SNP test including higher perceived risk (p = 0.025), indicating zero reasons for not wanting testing (vs ≥1 reason) (p = 0.013), and higher health literacy (p = 0.016). Knowledge of genomic SNP testing was low in this sample, but higher among high-risk men. High-risk status may increase interest in novel genomic tests, while low literacy may lessen interest.

  9. Transposable element activity, genome regulation and human health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lu; Jordan, I King

    2018-03-02

    A convergence of novel genome analysis technologies is enabling population genomic studies of human transposable elements (TEs). Population surveys of human genome sequences have uncovered thousands of individual TE insertions that segregate as common genetic variants, i.e. TE polymorphisms. These recent TE insertions provide an important source of naturally occurring human genetic variation. Investigators are beginning to leverage population genomic data sets to execute genome-scale association studies for assessing the phenotypic impact of human TE polymorphisms. For example, the expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analytical paradigm has recently been used to uncover hundreds of associations between human TE insertion variants and gene expression levels. These include population-specific gene regulatory effects as well as coordinated changes to gene regulatory networks. In addition, analyses of linkage disequilibrium patterns with previously characterized genome-wide association study (GWAS) trait variants have uncovered TE insertion polymorphisms that are likely causal variants for a variety of common complex diseases. Gene regulatory mechanisms that underlie specific disease phenotypes have been proposed for a number of these trait associated TE polymorphisms. These new population genomic approaches hold great promise for understanding how ongoing TE activity contributes to functionally relevant genetic variation within and between human populations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Justice and the Human Genome Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murphy, T.F.; Lappe, M. (eds.)

    1992-01-01

    Most of the essays gathered in this volume were first presented at a conference, Justice and the Human Genome, in Chicago in early November, 1991. The goal of the, conference was to consider questions of justice as they are and will be raised by the Human Genome Project. To achieve its goal of identifying and elucidating the challenges of justice inherent in genomic research and its social applications the conference drew together in one forum members from academia, medicine, and industry with interests divergent as rate-setting for insurance, the care of newborns, and the history of ethics. The essays in this volume address a number of theoretical and practical concerns relative to the meaning of genomic research.

  11. Justice and the Human Genome Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murphy, T.F.; Lappe, M. [eds.

    1992-12-31

    Most of the essays gathered in this volume were first presented at a conference, Justice and the Human Genome, in Chicago in early November, 1991. The goal of the, conference was to consider questions of justice as they are and will be raised by the Human Genome Project. To achieve its goal of identifying and elucidating the challenges of justice inherent in genomic research and its social applications the conference drew together in one forum members from academia, medicine, and industry with interests divergent as rate-setting for insurance, the care of newborns, and the history of ethics. The essays in this volume address a number of theoretical and practical concerns relative to the meaning of genomic research.

  12. Decoding the human genome

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva. Audiovisual Unit; Antonerakis, S E

    2002-01-01

    Decoding the Human genome is a very up-to-date topic, raising several questions besides purely scientific, in view of the two competing teams (public and private), the ethics of using the results, and the fact that the project went apparently faster and easier than expected. The lecture series will address the following chapters: Scientific basis and challenges. Ethical and social aspects of genomics.

  13. Breast Cancer in Africa: Limitations and Opportunities for Application of Genomic Medicine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allison Silverstein

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available As genomic medicine gains clinical applicability across a spectrum of diseases, insufficient application in low-income settings stands to increase health disparity. Breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment have benefited greatly from genomic medicine in high-income settings. As breast cancer is a leading cause of both cancer incidence and mortality in Africa, attention and resources must be applied to research and clinical initiatives to integrate genomic medicine into breast cancer care. In terms of research, there is a paucity of investigations into genetic determinants of breast cancer specific to African populations, despite consensus in the literature that predisposition and susceptibility genes vary between populations. Therefore, we need targeted strengthening of existing research efforts and support of new initiatives. Results will improve clinical care through screening and diagnosis with genetic testing specific to breast cancer in African populations. Clinically, genomic medicine can provide information capable of improving resource allocation to the population which most stands to benefit from increased screening or tailored treatment modalities. In situations where mammography or chemotherapy options are limited, this information will allow for the greatest impact. Implementation of genomic medicine will face numerous systemic barriers but is essential to improve breast cancer outcomes and survival.

  14. Analysing human genomes at different scales

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Siyang

    The thriving of the Next-Generation sequencing (NGS) technologies in the past decade has dramatically revolutionized the field of human genetics. We are experiencing a wave of several large-scale whole genome sequencing studies of humans in the world. Those studies vary greatly regarding cohort...... will be reflected by the analysis of real data. This thesis covers studies in two human genome sequencing projects that distinctly differ in terms of studied population, sample size and sequencing depth. In the first project, we sequenced 150 Danish individuals from 50 trio families to 78x coverage....... The sophisticated experimental design enables high-quality de novo assembly of the genomes and provides a good opportunity for mapping the structural variations in the human population. We developed the AsmVar approach to discover, genotype and characterize the structural variations from the assemblies. Our...

  15. Big Data Analysis of Human Genome Variations

    KAUST Repository

    Gojobori, Takashi

    2016-01-01

    Since the human genome draft sequence was in public for the first time in 2000, genomic analyses have been intensively extended to the population level. The following three international projects are good examples for large-scale studies of human

  16. ‘There and back again’: revisiting the pathophysiological roles of human endogenous retroviruses in the post-genomic era

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magiorkinis, Gkikas; Belshaw, Robert; Katzourakis, Aris

    2013-01-01

    Almost 8% of the human genome comprises endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). While they have been shown to cause specific pathologies in animals, such as cancer, their association with disease in humans remains controversial. The limited evidence is partly due to the physical and bioethical restrictions surrounding the study of transposons in humans, coupled with the major experimental and bioinformatics challenges surrounding the association of ERVs with disease in general. Two biotechnological landmarks of the past decade provide us with unprecedented research artillery: (i) the ultra-fine sequencing of the human genome and (ii) the emergence of high-throughput sequencing technologies. Here, we critically assemble research about potential pathologies of ERVs in humans. We argue that the time is right to revisit the long-standing questions of human ERV pathogenesis within a robust and carefully structured framework that makes full use of genomic sequence data. We also pose two thought-provoking research questions on potential pathophysiological roles of ERVs with respect to immune escape and regulation. PMID:23938753

  17. Human genome and philosophy: what ethical challenge will human genome studies bring to the medical practices in the 21st century?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renzong, Q

    2001-12-01

    A human being or person cannot be reduced to a set of human genes, or human genome. Genetic essentialism is wrong, because as a person the entity should have self-conscious and social interaction capacity which is grown in an interpersonal relationship. Genetic determinism is wrong too, the relationship between a gene and a trait is not a linear model of causation, but rather a non-linear one. Human genome is a complexity system and functions in a complexity system of human body and a complexity of systems of natural/social environment. Genetic determinism also caused the issue of how much responsibility an agent should take for her/his action, and how much degrees of freedom will a human being have. Human genome research caused several conceptual issues. Can we call a gene 'good' or 'bad', 'superior' of 'inferior'? Is a boy who is detected to have the gene of Huntington's chorea or Alzheimer disease a patient? What should the term 'eugenics' mean? What do the terms such as 'gene therapy', 'treatment' and 'enhancement' and 'human cloning' mean etc.? The research of human genome and its application caused and will cause ethical issues. Can human genome research and its application be used for eugenics, or only for the treatment and prevention of diseases? Must the principle of informed consent/choice be insisted in human genome research and its application? How to protecting gene privacy and combating the discrimination on the basis of genes? How to promote the quality between persons, harmony between ethnic groups and peace between countries? How to establish a fair, just, equal and equitable relationship between developing and developed countries in regarding to human genome research and its application?

  18. Genome-wide analysis of the human Alu Yb-lineage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carter Anthony B

    2004-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The Alu Yb-lineage is a 'young' primarily human-specific group of short interspersed element (SINE subfamilies that have integrated throughout the human genome. In this study, we have computationally screened the draft sequence of the human genome for Alu Yb-lineage subfamily members present on autosomal chromosomes. A total of 1,733 Yb Alu subfamily members have integrated into human autosomes. The average ages of Yb-lineage subfamilies, Yb7, Yb8 and Yb9, are estimated as 4.81, 2.39 and 2.32 million years, respectively. In order to determine the contribution of the Alu Yb-lineage to human genomic diversity, 1,202 loci were analysed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR-based assays, which amplify the genomic regions containing individual Yb-lineage subfamily members. Approximately 20 per cent of the Yb-lineage Alu elements are polymorphic for insertion presence/absence in the human genome. Fewer than 0.5 per cent of the Yb loci also demonstrate insertions at orthologous positions in non-human primate genomes. Genomic sequencing of these unusual loci demonstrates that each of the orthologous loci from non-human primate genomes contains older Y, Sg and Sx Alu family members that have been altered, through various mechanisms, into Yb8 sequences. These data suggest that Alu Yb-lineage subfamily members are largely restricted to the human genome. The high copy number, level of insertion polymorphism and estimated age indicate that members of the Alu Yb elements will be useful in a wide range of genetic analyses.

  19. Genomes of early onset prostate cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Weischenfeldt, Joachim; Korbel, Jan O.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose of review Prostate cancer is a disease of the elderly but a clinically relevant subset occurs early in life. In the current review, we discuss recent findings and the current understanding of the molecular underpinnings associated with early-onset prostate cancer (PCa) and the evidence...... supporting age-specific differences in the cancer genomes. Recent findings Recent surveys of PCa patient cohorts have provided novel age-dependent links between germline and somatic aberrations which points to differences in the molecular cause and treatment options. Summary Identifying the earliest...... receptor pathway....

  20. Human Germline Genome Editing

    OpenAIRE

    Ormond, Kelly E.; Mortlock, Douglas P.; Scholes, Derek T.; Bombard, Yvonne; Brody, Lawrence C.; Faucett, W. Andrew; Garrison, Nanibaa’ A.; Hercher, Laura; Isasi, Rosario; Middleton, Anna; Musunuru, Kiran; Shriner, Daniel; Virani, Alice; Young, Caroline E.

    2017-01-01

    With CRISPR/Cas9 and other genome-editing technologies, successful somatic and germline genome editing are becoming feasible. To respond, an American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) workgroup developed this position statement, which was approved by the ASHG Board in March 2017. The workgroup included representatives from the UK Association of Genetic Nurses and Counsellors, Canadian Association of Genetic Counsellors, International Genetic Epidemiology Society, and US National Society of Gen...

  1. p53 shapes genome-wide and cell type-specific changes in microRNA expression during the human DNA damage response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hattori, Hiroyoshi; Janky, Rekin's; Nietfeld, Wilfried; Aerts, Stein; Madan Babu, M; Venkitaraman, Ashok R

    2014-01-01

    The human DNA damage response (DDR) triggers profound changes in gene expression, whose nature and regulation remain uncertain. Although certain micro-(mi)RNA species including miR34, miR-18, miR-16 and miR-143 have been implicated in the DDR, there is as yet no comprehensive description of genome-wide changes in the expression of miRNAs triggered by DNA breakage in human cells. We have used next-generation sequencing (NGS), combined with rigorous integrative computational analyses, to describe genome-wide changes in the expression of miRNAs during the human DDR. The changes affect 150 of 1523 miRNAs known in miRBase v18 from 4-24 h after the induction of DNA breakage, in cell-type dependent patterns. The regulatory regions of the most-highly regulated miRNA species are enriched in conserved binding sites for p53. Indeed, genome-wide changes in miRNA expression during the DDR are markedly altered in TP53-/- cells compared to otherwise isogenic controls. The expression levels of certain damage-induced, p53-regulated miRNAs in cancer samples correlate with patient survival. Our work reveals genome-wide and cell type-specific alterations in miRNA expression during the human DDR, which are regulated by the tumor suppressor protein p53. These findings provide a genomic resource to identify new molecules and mechanisms involved in the DDR, and to examine their role in tumor suppression and the clinical outcome of cancer patients.

  2. Comparing the DNA hypermethylome with gene mutations in human colorectal cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kornel E Schuebel

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available We have developed a transcriptome-wide approach to identify genes affected by promoter CpG island DNA hypermethylation and transcriptional silencing in colorectal cancer. By screening cell lines and validating tumor-specific hypermethylation in a panel of primary human colorectal cancer samples, we estimate that nearly 5% or more of all known genes may be promoter methylated in an individual tumor. When directly compared to gene mutations, we find larger numbers of genes hypermethylated in individual tumors, and a higher frequency of hypermethylation within individual genes harboring either genetic or epigenetic changes. Thus, to enumerate the full spectrum of alterations in the human cancer genome, and to facilitate the most efficacious grouping of tumors to identify cancer biomarkers and tailor therapeutic approaches, both genetic and epigenetic screens should be undertaken.

  3. A genomic and transcriptomic approach for a differential diagnosis between primary and secondary ovarian carcinomas in patients with a previous history of breast cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyniel, Jean-Philippe; Alran, Séverine; Rapinat, Audrey; Gentien, David; Roman-Roman, Sergio; Mignot, Laurent; Sastre-Garau, Xavier; Cottu, Paul H; Decraene, Charles; Stern, Marc-Henri; Couturier, Jérôme; Lebigot, Ingrid; Nicolas, André; Weber, Nina; Fourchotte, Virginie

    2010-01-01

    The distinction between primary and secondary ovarian tumors may be challenging for pathologists. The purpose of the present work was to develop genomic and transcriptomic tools to further refine the pathological diagnosis of ovarian tumors after a previous history of breast cancer. Sixteen paired breast-ovary tumors from patients with a former diagnosis of breast cancer were collected. The genomic profiles of paired tumors were analyzed using the Affymetrix GeneChip ® Mapping 50 K Xba Array or Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 6.0 (for one pair), and the data were normalized with ITALICS (ITerative and Alternative normaLIzation and Copy number calling for affymetrix Snp arrays) algorithm or Partek Genomic Suite, respectively. The transcriptome of paired samples was analyzed using Affymetrix GeneChip ® Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Arrays, and the data were normalized with gc-Robust Multi-array Average (gcRMA) algorithm. A hierarchical clustering of these samples was performed, combined with a dataset of well-identified primary and secondary ovarian tumors. In 12 of the 16 paired tumors analyzed, the comparison of genomic profiles confirmed the pathological diagnosis of primary ovarian tumor (n = 5) or metastasis of breast cancer (n = 7). Among four cases with uncertain pathological diagnosis, genomic profiles were clearly distinct between the ovarian and breast tumors in two pairs, thus indicating primary ovarian carcinomas, and showed common patterns in the two others, indicating metastases from breast cancer. In all pairs, the result of the transcriptomic analysis was concordant with that of the genomic analysis. In patients with ovarian carcinoma and a previous history of breast cancer, SNP array analysis can be used to distinguish primary and secondary ovarian tumors. Transcriptomic analysis may be used when primary breast tissue specimen is not available

  4. Genome Architecture and Its Roles in Human Copy Number Variation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lu Chen

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Besides single-nucleotide variants in the human genome, large-scale genomic variants, such as copy number variations (CNVs, are being increasingly discovered as a genetic source of human diversity and the pathogenic factors of diseases. Recent experimental findings have shed light on the links between different genome architectures and CNV mutagenesis. In this review, we summarize various genomic features and discuss their contributions to CNV formation. Genomic repeats, including both low-copy and high-copy repeats, play important roles in CNV instability, which was initially known as DNA recombination events. Furthermore, it has been found that human genomic repeats can also induce DNA replication errors and consequently result in CNV mutations. Some recent studies showed that DNA replication timing, which reflects the high-order information of genomic organization, is involved in human CNV mutations. Our review highlights that genome architecture, from DNA sequence to high-order genomic organization, is an important molecular factor in CNV mutagenesis and human genomic instability.

  5. Focusing on function to mine cancer genome data | Center for Cancer Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    CCR scientists have devised a strategy to sift through the tens of thousands of mutations in cancer genome data to find mutations that actually drive the disease. They have used the method to discover that the JNK signaling pathway, which in different contexts can either spur cancerous growth or rein it in, acts as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancers

  6. HGVA: the Human Genome Variation Archive.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Javier; Coll, Jacobo; Haimel, Matthias; Kandasamy, Swaathi; Tarraga, Joaquin; Furio-Tari, Pedro; Bari, Wasim; Bleda, Marta; Rueda, Antonio; Gräf, Stefan; Rendon, Augusto; Dopazo, Joaquin; Medina, Ignacio

    2017-07-03

    High-profile genomic variation projects like the 1000 Genomes project or the Exome Aggregation Consortium, are generating a wealth of human genomic variation knowledge which can be used as an essential reference for identifying disease-causing genotypes. However, accessing these data, contrasting the various studies and integrating those data in downstream analyses remains cumbersome. The Human Genome Variation Archive (HGVA) tackles these challenges and facilitates access to genomic data for key reference projects in a clean, fast and integrated fashion. HGVA provides an efficient and intuitive web-interface for easy data mining, a comprehensive RESTful API and client libraries in Python, Java and JavaScript for fast programmatic access to its knowledge base. HGVA calculates population frequencies for these projects and enriches their data with variant annotation provided by CellBase, a rich and fast annotation solution. HGVA serves as a proof-of-concept of the genome analysis developments being carried out by the University of Cambridge together with UK's 100 000 genomes project and the National Institute for Health Research BioResource Rare-Diseases, in particular, deploying open-source for Computational Biology (OpenCB) software platform for storing and analyzing massive genomic datasets. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  7. Genome Editing: A New Approach to Human Therapeutics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porteus, Matthew

    2016-01-01

    The ability to manipulate the genome with precise spatial and nucleotide resolution (genome editing) has been a powerful research tool. In the past decade, the tools and expertise for using genome editing in human somatic cells and pluripotent cells have increased to such an extent that the approach is now being developed widely as a strategy to treat human disease. The fundamental process depends on creating a site-specific DNA double-strand break (DSB) in the genome and then allowing the cell's endogenous DSB repair machinery to fix the break such that precise nucleotide changes are made to the DNA sequence. With the development and discovery of several different nuclease platforms and increasing knowledge of the parameters affecting different genome editing outcomes, genome editing frequencies now reach therapeutic relevance for a wide variety of diseases. Moreover, there is a series of complementary approaches to assessing the safety and toxicity of any genome editing process, irrespective of the underlying nuclease used. Finally, the development of genome editing has raised the issue of whether it should be used to engineer the human germline. Although such an approach could clearly prevent the birth of people with devastating and destructive genetic diseases, questions remain about whether human society is morally responsible enough to use this tool.

  8. Human genomics projects and precision medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrasco-Ramiro, F; Peiró-Pastor, R; Aguado, B

    2017-09-01

    The completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) in 2001 opened the floodgates to a deeper understanding of medicine. There are dozens of HGP-like projects which involve from a few tens to several million genomes currently in progress, which vary from having specialized goals or a more general approach. However, data generation, storage, management and analysis in public and private cloud computing platforms have raised concerns about privacy and security. The knowledge gained from further research has changed the field of genomics and is now slowly permeating into clinical medicine. The new precision (personalized) medicine, where genome sequencing and data analysis are essential components, allows tailored diagnosis and treatment according to the information from the patient's own genome and specific environmental factors. P4 (predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory) medicine is introducing new concepts, challenges and opportunities. This review summarizes current sequencing technologies, concentrates on ongoing human genomics projects, and provides some examples in which precision medicine has already demonstrated clinical impact in diagnosis and/or treatment.

  9. The human noncoding genome defined by genetic diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    di Iulio, Julia; Bartha, Istvan; Wong, Emily H M; Yu, Hung-Chun; Lavrenko, Victor; Yang, Dongchan; Jung, Inkyung; Hicks, Michael A; Shah, Naisha; Kirkness, Ewen F; Fabani, Martin M; Biggs, William H; Ren, Bing; Venter, J Craig; Telenti, Amalio

    2018-03-01

    Understanding the significance of genetic variants in the noncoding genome is emerging as the next challenge in human genomics. We used the power of 11,257 whole-genome sequences and 16,384 heptamers (7-nt motifs) to build a map of sequence constraint for the human species. This build differed substantially from traditional maps of interspecies conservation and identified regulatory elements among the most constrained regions of the genome. Using new Hi-C experimental data, we describe a strong pattern of coordination over 2 Mb where the most constrained regulatory elements associate with the most essential genes. Constrained regions of the noncoding genome are up to 52-fold enriched for known pathogenic variants as compared to unconstrained regions (21-fold when compared to the genome average). This map of sequence constraint across thousands of individuals is an asset to help interpret noncoding elements in the human genome, prioritize variants and reconsider gene units at a larger scale.

  10. Predicting Tissue-Specific Enhancers in the Human Genome

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pennacchio, Len A.; Loots, Gabriela G.; Nobrega, Marcelo A.; Ovcharenko, Ivan

    2006-07-01

    Determining how transcriptional regulatory signals areencoded in vertebrate genomes is essential for understanding the originsof multi-cellular complexity; yet the genetic code of vertebrate generegulation remains poorly understood. In an attempt to elucidate thiscode, we synergistically combined genome-wide gene expression profiling,vertebrate genome comparisons, and transcription factor binding siteanalysis to define sequence signatures characteristic of candidatetissue-specific enhancers in the human genome. We applied this strategyto microarray-based gene expression profiles from 79 human tissues andidentified 7,187 candidate enhancers that defined their flanking geneexpression, the majority of which were located outside of knownpromoters. We cross-validated this method for its ability to de novopredict tissue-specific gene expression and confirmed its reliability in57 of the 79 available human tissues, with an average precision inenhancer recognition ranging from 32 percent to 63 percent, and asensitivity of 47 percent. We used the sequence signatures identified bythis approach to assign tissue-specific predictions to ~;328,000human-mouse conserved noncoding elements in the human genome. Byoverlapping these genome-wide predictions with a large in vivo dataset ofenhancers validated in transgenic mice, we confirmed our results with a28 percent sensitivity and 50 percent precision. These results indicatethe power of combining complementary genomic datasets as an initialcomputational foray into the global view of tissue-specific generegulation in vertebrates.

  11. De novo assembly of a haplotype-resolved human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Hongzhi; Wu, Honglong; Luo, Ruibang; Huang, Shujia; Sun, Yuhui; Tong, Xin; Xie, Yinlong; Liu, Binghang; Yang, Hailong; Zheng, Hancheng; Li, Jian; Li, Bo; Wang, Yu; Yang, Fang; Sun, Peng; Liu, Siyang; Gao, Peng; Huang, Haodong; Sun, Jing; Chen, Dan; He, Guangzhu; Huang, Weihua; Huang, Zheng; Li, Yue; Tellier, Laurent C A M; Liu, Xiao; Feng, Qiang; Xu, Xun; Zhang, Xiuqing; Bolund, Lars; Krogh, Anders; Kristiansen, Karsten; Drmanac, Radoje; Drmanac, Snezana; Nielsen, Rasmus; Li, Songgang; Wang, Jian; Yang, Huanming; Li, Yingrui; Wong, Gane Ka-Shu; Wang, Jun

    2015-06-01

    The human genome is diploid, and knowledge of the variants on each chromosome is important for the interpretation of genomic information. Here we report the assembly of a haplotype-resolved diploid genome without using a reference genome. Our pipeline relies on fosmid pooling together with whole-genome shotgun strategies, based solely on next-generation sequencing and hierarchical assembly methods. We applied our sequencing method to the genome of an Asian individual and generated a 5.15-Gb assembled genome with a haplotype N50 of 484 kb. Our analysis identified previously undetected indels and 7.49 Mb of novel coding sequences that could not be aligned to the human reference genome, which include at least six predicted genes. This haplotype-resolved genome represents the most complete de novo human genome assembly to date. Application of our approach to identify individual haplotype differences should aid in translating genotypes to phenotypes for the development of personalized medicine.

  12. The mediator complex in genomic and non-genomic signaling in cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Hannah; Garabedian, Michael J

    2018-05-01

    Mediator is a conserved, multi-subunit macromolecular machine divided structurally into head, middle, and tail modules, along with a transiently associating kinase module. Mediator functions as an integrator of transcriptional regulatory activity by interacting with DNA-bound transcription factors and with RNA polymerase II (Pol II) to both activate and repress gene expression. Mediator has been shown to affect multiple steps in transcription, including chromatin looping between enhancers and promoters, pre-initiation complex formation, transcriptional elongation, and mRNA splicing. Individual Mediator subunits participate in regulation of gene expression by the estrogen and androgen receptors and are altered in a number of endocrine cancers, including breast and prostate cancer. In addition to its role in genomic signaling, MED12 has been implicated in non-genomic signaling by interacting with and activating TGF-beta receptor 2 in the cytoplasm. Recent structural studies have revealed extensive inter-domain interactions and complex architecture of the Mediator-Pol II complex, suggesting that Mediator is capable of reorganizing its conformation and composition to fit cellular needs. We propose that alterations in Mediator subunit expression that occur in various cancers could impact the organization and function of Mediator, resulting in changes in gene expression that promote malignancy. A better understanding of the role of Mediator in cancer could reveal new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of Mediator-dependent endocrine cancers, especially in settings of therapy resistance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Low-risk susceptibility alleles in 40 human breast cancer cell lines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riaz, Muhammad; Elstrodt, Fons; Hollestelle, Antoinette; Dehghan, Abbas; Klijn, Jan GM; Schutte, Mieke

    2009-01-01

    Low-risk breast cancer susceptibility alleles or SNPs confer only modest breast cancer risks ranging from just over 1.0 to1.3 fold. Yet, they are common among most populations and therefore are involved in the development of essentially all breast cancers. The mechanism by which the low-risk SNPs confer breast cancer risks is currently unclear. The breast cancer association consortium BCAC has hypothesized that the low-risk SNPs modulate expression levels of nearby located genes. Genotypes of five low-risk SNPs were determined for 40 human breast cancer cell lines, by direct sequencing of PCR-amplified genomic templates. We have analyzed expression of the four genes that are located nearby the low-risk SNPs, by using real-time RT-PCR and Human Exon microarrays. The SNP genotypes and additional phenotypic data on the breast cancer cell lines are presented. We did not detect any effect of the SNP genotypes on expression levels of the nearby-located genes MAP3K1, FGFR2, TNRC9 and LSP1. The SNP genotypes provide a base line for functional studies in a well-characterized cohort of 40 human breast cancer cell lines. Our expression analyses suggest that a putative disease mechanism through gene expression modulation is not operative in breast cancer cell lines

  14. Defining Driver DNA Methylation Changes in Human Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerd P. Pfeifer

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Human malignant tumors are characterized by pervasive changes in the patterns of DNA methylation. These changes include a globally hypomethylated tumor cell genome and the focal hypermethylation of numerous 5′-cytosine-phosphate-guanine-3′ (CpG islands, many of them associated with gene promoters. It has been challenging to link specific DNA methylation changes with tumorigenesis in a cause-and-effect relationship. Some evidence suggests that cancer-associated DNA hypomethylation may increase genomic instability. Promoter hypermethylation events can lead to silencing of genes functioning in pathways reflecting hallmarks of cancer, including DNA repair, cell cycle regulation, promotion of apoptosis or control of key tumor-relevant signaling networks. A convincing argument for a tumor-driving role of DNA methylation can be made when the same genes are also frequently mutated in cancer. Many of the most commonly hypermethylated genes encode developmental transcription factors, the methylation of which may lead to permanent gene silencing. Inactivation of such genes will deprive the cells in which the tumor may initiate from the option of undergoing or maintaining lineage differentiation and will lock them into a perpetuated stem cell-like state thus providing an additional window for cell transformation.

  15. Whole-Genome Sequencing and Variant Analysis of Human Papillomavirus 16 Infections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Weele, Pascal; Meijer, Chris J L M; King, Audrey J

    2017-10-01

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a strongly conserved DNA virus, high-risk types of which can cause cervical cancer in persistent infections. The most common type found in HPV-attributable cancer is HPV16, which can be subdivided into four lineages (A to D) with different carcinogenic properties. Studies have shown HPV16 sequence diversity in different geographical areas, but only limited information is available regarding HPV16 diversity within a population, especially at the whole-genome level. We analyzed HPV16 major variant diversity and conservation in persistent infections and performed a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) comparison between persistent and clearing infections. Materials were obtained in the Netherlands from a cohort study with longitudinal follow-up for up to 3 years. Our analysis shows a remarkably large variant diversity in the population. Whole-genome sequences were obtained for 57 persistent and 59 clearing HPV16 infections, resulting in 109 unique variants. Interestingly, persistent infections were completely conserved through time. One reinfection event was identified where the initial and follow-up samples clustered differently. Non-A1/A2 variants seemed to clear preferentially ( P = 0.02). Our analysis shows that population-wide HPV16 sequence diversity is very large. In persistent infections, the HPV16 sequence was fully conserved. Sequencing can identify HPV16 reinfections, although occurrence is rare. SNP comparison identified no strongly acting effect of the viral genome affecting HPV16 infection clearance or persistence in up to 3 years of follow-up. These findings suggest the progression of an early HPV16 infection could be host related. IMPORTANCE Human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) is the predominant type found in cervical cancer. Progression of initial infection to cervical cancer has been linked to sequence properties; however, knowledge of variants circulating in European populations, especially with longitudinal follow-up, is

  16. Initial genomics of the human nucleolus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Attila Németh

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available We report for the first time the genomics of a nuclear compartment of the eukaryotic cell. 454 sequencing and microarray analysis revealed the pattern of nucleolus-associated chromatin domains (NADs in the linear human genome and identified different gene families and certain satellite repeats as the major building blocks of NADs, which constitute about 4% of the genome. Bioinformatic evaluation showed that NAD-localized genes take part in specific biological processes, like the response to other organisms, odor perception, and tissue development. 3D FISH and immunofluorescence experiments illustrated the spatial distribution of NAD-specific chromatin within interphase nuclei and its alteration upon transcriptional changes. Altogether, our findings describe the nature of DNA sequences associated with the human nucleolus and provide insights into the function of the nucleolus in genome organization and establishment of nuclear architecture.

  17. Initial Genomics of the Human Nucleolus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Németh, Attila; Conesa, Ana; Santoyo-Lopez, Javier; Medina, Ignacio; Montaner, David; Péterfia, Bálint; Solovei, Irina; Cremer, Thomas; Dopazo, Joaquin; Längst, Gernot

    2010-01-01

    We report for the first time the genomics of a nuclear compartment of the eukaryotic cell. 454 sequencing and microarray analysis revealed the pattern of nucleolus-associated chromatin domains (NADs) in the linear human genome and identified different gene families and certain satellite repeats as the major building blocks of NADs, which constitute about 4% of the genome. Bioinformatic evaluation showed that NAD–localized genes take part in specific biological processes, like the response to other organisms, odor perception, and tissue development. 3D FISH and immunofluorescence experiments illustrated the spatial distribution of NAD–specific chromatin within interphase nuclei and its alteration upon transcriptional changes. Altogether, our findings describe the nature of DNA sequences associated with the human nucleolus and provide insights into the function of the nucleolus in genome organization and establishment of nuclear architecture. PMID:20361057

  18. Quantifying the Number of Independent Organelle DNA Insertions in Genome Evolution and Human Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazkani-Covo, Einat; Martin, William F

    2017-05-01

    Fragments of organelle genomes are often found as insertions in nuclear DNA. These fragments of mitochondrial DNA (numts) and plastid DNA (nupts) are ubiquitous components of eukaryotic genomes. They are, however, often edited out during the genome assembly process, leading to systematic underestimation of their frequency. Numts and nupts, once inserted, can become further fragmented through subsequent insertion of mobile elements or other recombinational events that disrupt the continuity of the inserted sequence relative to the genuine organelle DNA copy. Because numts and nupts are typically identified through sequence comparison tools such as BLAST, disruption of insertions into smaller fragments can lead to systematic overestimation of numt and nupt frequencies. Accurate identification of numts and nupts is important, however, both for better understanding of their role during evolution, and for monitoring their increasingly evident role in human disease. Human populations are polymorphic for 141 numt loci, five numts are causal to genetic disease, and cancer genomic studies are revealing an abundance of numts associated with tumor progression. Here, we report investigation of salient parameters involved in obtaining accurate estimates of numt and nupt numbers in genome sequence data. Numts and nupts from 44 sequenced eukaryotic genomes reveal lineage-specific differences in the number, relative age and frequency of insertional events as well as lineage-specific dynamics of their postinsertional fragmentation. Our findings outline the main technical parameters influencing accurate identification and frequency estimation of numts in genomic studies pertinent to both evolution and human health. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  19. Human endogenous retroviruses and cancer prevention: evidence and prospects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cegolon, Luca; Salata, Cristiano; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Vineis, Paolo; Palù, Giorgio; Mastrangelo, Giuseppe

    2013-01-03

    Cancer is a significant and growing problem worldwide. While this increase may, in part, be attributed to increasing longevity, improved case notifications and risk-enhancing lifestyle (such as smoking, diet and obesity), hygiene-related factors resulting in immuno-regulatory failure may also play a major role and call for a revision of vaccination strategies to protect against a range of cancers in addition to infections. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are a significant component of a wider family of retroelements that constitutes part of the human genome. They were originated by the integration of exogenous retroviruses into the human genome millions of years ago. HERVs are estimated to comprise about 8% of human DNA and are ubiquitous in somatic and germinal tissues.Physiologic and pathologic processes are influenced by some biologically active HERV families. HERV antigens are only expressed at low levels by the host, but in circumstances of inappropriate control their genes may initiate or maintain pathological processes. Although the precise mechanism leading to abnormal HERVs gene expression has yet to be clearly elucidated, environmental factors seem to be involved by influencing the human immune system.HERV-K expression has been detected in different types of tumors.Among the various human endogenous retroviral families, the K series was the latest acquired by the human species. Probably because of its relatively recent origin, the HERV-K is the most complete and biologically active family.The abnormal expression of HERV-K seemingly triggers pathological processes leading to melanoma onset, but also contributes to the morphological and functional cellular modifications implicated in melanoma maintenance and progression.The HERV-K-MEL antigen is encoded by a pseudo-gene incorporated in the HERV-K env-gene. HERV-K-MEL is significantly expressed in the majority of dysplastic and normal naevi, as well as other tumors like sarcoma, lymphoma, bladder and

  20. Human endogenous retroviruses and cancer prevention: evidence and prospects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cegolon, Luca; Salata, Cristiano; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Vineis, Paolo; Palù, Giorgio; Mastrangelo, Giuseppe

    2013-01-01

    Cancer is a significant and growing problem worldwide. While this increase may, in part, be attributed to increasing longevity, improved case notifications and risk-enhancing lifestyle (such as smoking, diet and obesity), hygiene-related factors resulting in immuno-regulatory failure may also play a major role and call for a revision of vaccination strategies to protect against a range of cancers in addition to infections. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are a significant component of a wider family of retroelements that constitutes part of the human genome. They were originated by the integration of exogenous retroviruses into the human genome millions of years ago. HERVs are estimated to comprise about 8% of human DNA and are ubiquitous in somatic and germinal tissues. Physiologic and pathologic processes are influenced by some biologically active HERV families. HERV antigens are only expressed at low levels by the host, but in circumstances of inappropriate control their genes may initiate or maintain pathological processes. Although the precise mechanism leading to abnormal HERVs gene expression has yet to be clearly elucidated, environmental factors seem to be involved by influencing the human immune system. HERV-K expression has been detected in different types of tumors. Among the various human endogenous retroviral families, the K series was the latest acquired by the human species. Probably because of its relatively recent origin, the HERV-K is the most complete and biologically active family. The abnormal expression of HERV-K seemingly triggers pathological processes leading to melanoma onset, but also contributes to the morphological and functional cellular modifications implicated in melanoma maintenance and progression. The HERV-K-MEL antigen is encoded by a pseudo-gene incorporated in the HERV-K env-gene. HERV-K-MEL is significantly expressed in the majority of dysplastic and normal naevi, as well as other tumors like sarcoma, lymphoma, bladder

  1. Air pollution and genomic instability: The role of particulate matter in lung carcinogenesis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santibáñez-Andrade, Miguel; Quezada-Maldonado, Ericka Marel; Osornio-Vargas, Álvaro; Sánchez-Pérez, Yesennia; García-Cuellar, Claudia M.

    2017-01-01

    In this review, we summarize and discuss the evidence regarding the interaction between air pollution, especially particulate matter (PM), and genomic instability. PM has been widely studied in the context of several diseases, and its role in lung carcinogenesis gained relevance due to an increase in cancer cases for which smoking does not seem to represent the main risk factor. According to epidemiological and toxicological evidence, PM acts as a carcinogenic factor in humans, inducing high rates of genomic alterations. Here, we discuss not only how PM is capable of inducing genomic instability during the carcinogenic process but also how our genetic background influences the response to the sources of damage. - Highlights: • Air pollution represents a worldwide problem with impact on human health. • Particulate matter (PM) has a recognized carcinogenic potential in humans. • Lung cancer susceptibility depends on gene-environment interactions. • Epidemiological and experimental evidence links PM exposure to genomic instability. • PM and genomic instability are co-dependent factors during cancer continuum. - We summarize the association between particulate matter (a component of air pollution) and genomic instability as well as discuss how new strategies to study the impact of air pollution on genomic instability and lung-cancer development could improve our understanding of the lung-cancer genome.

  2. Critical threshold levels of DNA methyltransferase 1 are required to maintain DNA methylation across the genome in human cancer cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Yi; Tsai, Hsing-Chen; Yen, Ray-Whay Chiu; Zhang, Yang W; Kong, Xiangqian; Wang, Wei; Xia, Limin; Baylin, Stephen B

    2017-04-01

    Reversing DNA methylation abnormalities and associated gene silencing, through inhibiting DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) is an important potential cancer therapy paradigm. Maximizing this potential requires defining precisely how these enzymes maintain genome-wide, cancer-specific DNA methylation. To date, there is incomplete understanding of precisely how the three DNMTs, 1, 3A, and 3B, interact for maintaining DNA methylation abnormalities in cancer. By combining genetic and shRNA depletion strategies, we define not only a dominant role for DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) but also distinct roles of 3A and 3B in genome-wide DNA methylation maintenance. Lowering DNMT1 below a threshold level is required for maximal loss of DNA methylation at all genomic regions, including gene body and enhancer regions, and for maximally reversing abnormal promoter DNA hypermethylation and associated gene silencing to reexpress key genes. It is difficult to reach this threshold with patient-tolerable doses of current DNMT inhibitors (DNMTIs). We show that new approaches, like decreasing the DNMT targeting protein, UHRF1, can augment the DNA demethylation capacities of existing DNA methylation inhibitors for fully realizing their therapeutic potential. © 2017 Cai et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  3. The zebrafish reference genome sequence and its relationship to the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Kerstin; Clark, Matthew D; Torroja, Carlos F; Torrance, James; Berthelot, Camille; Muffato, Matthieu; Collins, John E; Humphray, Sean; McLaren, Karen; Matthews, Lucy; McLaren, Stuart; Sealy, Ian; Caccamo, Mario; Churcher, Carol; Scott, Carol; Barrett, Jeffrey C; Koch, Romke; Rauch, Gerd-Jörg; White, Simon; Chow, William; Kilian, Britt; Quintais, Leonor T; Guerra-Assunção, José A; Zhou, Yi; Gu, Yong; Yen, Jennifer; Vogel, Jan-Hinnerk; Eyre, Tina; Redmond, Seth; Banerjee, Ruby; Chi, Jianxiang; Fu, Beiyuan; Langley, Elizabeth; Maguire, Sean F; Laird, Gavin K; Lloyd, David; Kenyon, Emma; Donaldson, Sarah; Sehra, Harminder; Almeida-King, Jeff; Loveland, Jane; Trevanion, Stephen; Jones, Matt; Quail, Mike; Willey, Dave; Hunt, Adrienne; Burton, John; Sims, Sarah; McLay, Kirsten; Plumb, Bob; Davis, Joy; Clee, Chris; Oliver, Karen; Clark, Richard; Riddle, Clare; Elliot, David; Eliott, David; Threadgold, Glen; Harden, Glenn; Ware, Darren; Begum, Sharmin; Mortimore, Beverley; Mortimer, Beverly; Kerry, Giselle; Heath, Paul; Phillimore, Benjamin; Tracey, Alan; Corby, Nicole; Dunn, Matthew; Johnson, Christopher; Wood, Jonathan; Clark, Susan; Pelan, Sarah; Griffiths, Guy; Smith, Michelle; Glithero, Rebecca; Howden, Philip; Barker, Nicholas; Lloyd, Christine; Stevens, Christopher; Harley, Joanna; Holt, Karen; Panagiotidis, Georgios; Lovell, Jamieson; Beasley, Helen; Henderson, Carl; Gordon, Daria; Auger, Katherine; Wright, Deborah; Collins, Joanna; Raisen, Claire; Dyer, Lauren; Leung, Kenric; Robertson, Lauren; Ambridge, Kirsty; Leongamornlert, Daniel; McGuire, Sarah; Gilderthorp, Ruth; Griffiths, Coline; Manthravadi, Deepa; Nichol, Sarah; Barker, Gary; Whitehead, Siobhan; Kay, Michael; Brown, Jacqueline; Murnane, Clare; Gray, Emma; Humphries, Matthew; Sycamore, Neil; Barker, Darren; Saunders, David; Wallis, Justene; Babbage, Anne; Hammond, Sian; Mashreghi-Mohammadi, Maryam; Barr, Lucy; Martin, Sancha; Wray, Paul; Ellington, Andrew; Matthews, Nicholas; Ellwood, Matthew; Woodmansey, Rebecca; Clark, Graham; Cooper, James D; Cooper, James; Tromans, Anthony; Grafham, Darren; Skuce, Carl; Pandian, Richard; Andrews, Robert; Harrison, Elliot; Kimberley, Andrew; Garnett, Jane; Fosker, Nigel; Hall, Rebekah; Garner, Patrick; Kelly, Daniel; Bird, Christine; Palmer, Sophie; Gehring, Ines; Berger, Andrea; Dooley, Christopher M; Ersan-Ürün, Zübeyde; Eser, Cigdem; Geiger, Horst; Geisler, Maria; Karotki, Lena; Kirn, Anette; Konantz, Judith; Konantz, Martina; Oberländer, Martina; Rudolph-Geiger, Silke; Teucke, Mathias; Lanz, Christa; Raddatz, Günter; Osoegawa, Kazutoyo; Zhu, Baoli; Rapp, Amanda; Widaa, Sara; Langford, Cordelia; Yang, Fengtang; Schuster, Stephan C; Carter, Nigel P; Harrow, Jennifer; Ning, Zemin; Herrero, Javier; Searle, Steve M J; Enright, Anton; Geisler, Robert; Plasterk, Ronald H A; Lee, Charles; Westerfield, Monte; de Jong, Pieter J; Zon, Leonard I; Postlethwait, John H; Nüsslein-Volhard, Christiane; Hubbard, Tim J P; Roest Crollius, Hugues; Rogers, Jane; Stemple, Derek L

    2013-04-25

    Zebrafish have become a popular organism for the study of vertebrate gene function. The virtually transparent embryos of this species, and the ability to accelerate genetic studies by gene knockdown or overexpression, have led to the widespread use of zebrafish in the detailed investigation of vertebrate gene function and increasingly, the study of human genetic disease. However, for effective modelling of human genetic disease it is important to understand the extent to which zebrafish genes and gene structures are related to orthologous human genes. To examine this, we generated a high-quality sequence assembly of the zebrafish genome, made up of an overlapping set of completely sequenced large-insert clones that were ordered and oriented using a high-resolution high-density meiotic map. Detailed automatic and manual annotation provides evidence of more than 26,000 protein-coding genes, the largest gene set of any vertebrate so far sequenced. Comparison to the human reference genome shows that approximately 70% of human genes have at least one obvious zebrafish orthologue. In addition, the high quality of this genome assembly provides a clearer understanding of key genomic features such as a unique repeat content, a scarcity of pseudogenes, an enrichment of zebrafish-specific genes on chromosome 4 and chromosomal regions that influence sex determination.

  4. Biosemiotic Entropy of the Genome: Mutations and Epigenetic Imbalances Resulting in Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samuel S. Shepard

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Biosemiotic entropy involves the deterioration of biological sign systems. The genome is a coded sign system that is connected to phenotypic outputs through the interpretive functions of the tRNA/ribosome machinery. This symbolic sign system (semiosis at the core of all biology has been termed “biosemiosis”. Layers of biosemiosis and cellular information management are analogous in varying degrees to the semiotics of computer programming, spoken, and written human languages. Biosemiotic entropy — an error or deviation from a healthy state — results from errors in copying functional information (mutations and errors in the appropriate context or quantity of gene expression (epigenetic imbalance. The concept of biosemiotic entropy is a deeply imbedded assumption in the study of cancer biology. Cells have a homeostatic, preprogrammed, ideal or healthy state that is rooted in genomics, strictly orchestrated by epigenetic regulation, and maintained by DNA repair mechanisms. Cancer is an eminent illustration of biosemiotic entropy, in which the corrosion of genetic information via substitutions, deletions, insertions, fusions, and aberrant regulation results in malignant phenotypes. However, little attention has been given to explicitly outlining the paradigm of biosemiotic entropy in the context of cancer. Herein we distill semiotic theory (from the familiar and well understood spheres of human language and computer code to draw analogies useful for understanding the operation of biological semiosis at the genetic level. We propose that the myriad checkpoints, error correcting mechanisms, and immunities are all systems whose primary role is to defend against the constant pressure of biosemiotic entropy, which malignancy must shut down in order to achieve advanced stages. In lieu of the narrower tumor suppressor/oncogene model, characterization of oncogenesis into the biosemiotic framework of sign, index, or object entropy may allow for more

  5. Unexplored therapeutic opportunities in the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oprea, Tudor I; Bologa, Cristian G; Brunak, Søren; Campbell, Allen; Gan, Gregory N; Gaulton, Anna; Gomez, Shawn M; Guha, Rajarshi; Hersey, Anne; Holmes, Jayme; Jadhav, Ajit; Jensen, Lars Juhl; Johnson, Gary L; Karlson, Anneli; Leach, Andrew R; Ma'ayan, Avi; Malovannaya, Anna; Mani, Subramani; Mathias, Stephen L; McManus, Michael T; Meehan, Terrence F; von Mering, Christian; Muthas, Daniel; Nguyen, Dac-Trung; Overington, John P; Papadatos, George; Qin, Jun; Reich, Christian; Roth, Bryan L; Schürer, Stephan C; Simeonov, Anton; Sklar, Larry A; Southall, Noel; Tomita, Susumu; Tudose, Ilinca; Ursu, Oleg; Vidovic, Dušica; Waller, Anna; Westergaard, David; Yang, Jeremy J; Zahoránszky-Köhalmi, Gergely

    2018-05-01

    A large proportion of biomedical research and the development of therapeutics is focused on a small fraction of the human genome. In a strategic effort to map the knowledge gaps around proteins encoded by the human genome and to promote the exploration of currently understudied, but potentially druggable, proteins, the US National Institutes of Health launched the Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG) initiative in 2014. In this article, we discuss how the systematic collection and processing of a wide array of genomic, proteomic, chemical and disease-related resource data by the IDG Knowledge Management Center have enabled the development of evidence-based criteria for tracking the target development level (TDL) of human proteins, which indicates a substantial knowledge deficit for approximately one out of three proteins in the human proteome. We then present spotlights on the TDL categories as well as key drug target classes, including G protein-coupled receptors, protein kinases and ion channels, which illustrate the nature of the unexplored opportunities for biomedical research and therapeutic development.

  6. In-silico human genomics with GeneCards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stelzer Gil

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Since 1998, the bioinformatics, systems biology, genomics and medical communities have enjoyed a synergistic relationship with the GeneCards database of human genes (http://www.genecards.org. This human gene compendium was created to help to introduce order into the increasing chaos of information flow. As a consequence of viewing details and deep links related to specific genes, users have often requested enhanced capabilities, such that, over time, GeneCards has blossomed into a suite of tools (including GeneDecks, GeneALaCart, GeneLoc, GeneNote and GeneAnnot for a variety of analyses of both single human genes and sets thereof. In this paper, we focus on inhouse and external research activities which have been enabled, enhanced, complemented and, in some cases, motivated by GeneCards. In turn, such interactions have often inspired and propelled improvements in GeneCards. We describe here the evolution and architecture of this project, including examples of synergistic applications in diverse areas such as synthetic lethality in cancer, the annotation of genetic variations in disease, omics integration in a systems biology approach to kidney disease, and bioinformatics tools.

  7. Annotating individual human genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torkamani, Ali; Scott-Van Zeeland, Ashley A; Topol, Eric J; Schork, Nicholas J

    2011-10-01

    Advances in DNA sequencing technologies have made it possible to rapidly, accurately and affordably sequence entire individual human genomes. As impressive as this ability seems, however, it will not likely amount to much if one cannot extract meaningful information from individual sequence data. Annotating variations within individual genomes and providing information about their biological or phenotypic impact will thus be crucially important in moving individual sequencing projects forward, especially in the context of the clinical use of sequence information. In this paper we consider the various ways in which one might annotate individual sequence variations and point out limitations in the available methods for doing so. It is arguable that, in the foreseeable future, DNA sequencing of individual genomes will become routine for clinical, research, forensic, and personal purposes. We therefore also consider directions and areas for further research in annotating genomic variants. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. ANNOTATING INDIVIDUAL HUMAN GENOMES*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torkamani, Ali; Scott-Van Zeeland, Ashley A.; Topol, Eric J.; Schork, Nicholas J.

    2014-01-01

    Advances in DNA sequencing technologies have made it possible to rapidly, accurately and affordably sequence entire individual human genomes. As impressive as this ability seems, however, it will not likely to amount to much if one cannot extract meaningful information from individual sequence data. Annotating variations within individual genomes and providing information about their biological or phenotypic impact will thus be crucially important in moving individual sequencing projects forward, especially in the context of the clinical use of sequence information. In this paper we consider the various ways in which one might annotate individual sequence variations and point out limitations in the available methods for doing so. It is arguable that, in the foreseeable future, DNA sequencing of individual genomes will become routine for clinical, research, forensic, and personal purposes. We therefore also consider directions and areas for further research in annotating genomic variants. PMID:21839162

  9. Development and application of Human Genome Epidemiology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jingwen

    2017-12-01

    Epidemiology is a science that studies distribution of diseases and health in population and its influencing factors, it also studies how to prevent and cure disease and promote health strategies and measures. Epidemiology has developed rapidly in recent years and it is an intercross subject with various other disciplines to form a series of branch disciplines such as Genetic epidemiology, molecular epidemiology, drug epidemiology and tumor epidemiology. With the implementation and completion of Human Genome Project (HGP), Human Genome Epidemiology (HuGE) has emerged at this historic moment. In this review, the development of Human Genome Epidemiology, research content, the construction and structure of relevant network, research standards, as well as the existing results and problems are briefly outlined.

  10. Genomic Characterization of Primary Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desmedt, Christine; Zoppoli, Gabriele; Gundem, Gunes; Pruneri, Giancarlo; Larsimont, Denis; Fornili, Marco; Fumagalli, Debora; Brown, David; Rothé, Françoise; Vincent, Delphine; Kheddoumi, Naima; Rouas, Ghizlane; Majjaj, Samira; Brohée, Sylvain; Van Loo, Peter; Maisonneuve, Patrick; Salgado, Roberto; Van Brussel, Thomas; Lambrechts, Diether; Bose, Ron; Metzger, Otto; Galant, Christine; Bertucci, François; Piccart-Gebhart, Martine; Viale, Giuseppe; Biganzoli, Elia; Campbell, Peter J; Sotiriou, Christos

    2016-06-01

    Invasive lobular breast cancer (ILBC) is the second most common histologic subtype after invasive ductal breast cancer (IDBC). Despite clinical and pathologic differences, ILBC is still treated as IDBC. We aimed to identify genomic alterations in ILBC with potential clinical implications. From an initial 630 ILBC primary tumors, we interrogated oncogenic substitutions and insertions and deletions of 360 cancer genes and genome-wide copy number aberrations in 413 and 170 ILBC samples, respectively, and correlated those findings with clinicopathologic and outcome features. Besides the high mutation frequency of CDH1 in 65% of tumors, alterations in one of the three key genes of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway, PIK3CA, PTEN, and AKT1, were present in more than one-half of the cases. HER2 and HER3 were mutated in 5.1% and 3.6% of the tumors, with most of these mutations having a proven role in activating the human epidermal growth factor receptor/ERBB pathway. Mutations in FOXA1 and ESR1 copy number gains were detected in 9% and 25% of the samples. All these alterations were more frequent in ILBC than in IDBC. The histologic diversity of ILBC was associated with specific alterations, such as enrichment for HER2 mutations in the mixed, nonclassic, and ESR1 gains in the solid subtype. Survival analyses revealed that chromosome 1q and 11p gains showed independent prognostic value in ILBC and that HER2 and AKT1 mutations were associated with increased risk of early relapse. This study demonstrates that we can now begin to individualize the treatment of ILBC, with HER2, HER3, and AKT1 mutations representing high-prevalence therapeutic targets and FOXA1 mutations and ESR1 gains deserving urgent dedicated clinical investigation, especially in the context of endocrine treatment. © 2016 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

  11. Telomeric repeat-containing RNA/G-quadruplex-forming sequences cause genome-wide alteration of gene expression in human cancer cells in vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirashima, Kyotaro; Seimiya, Hiroyuki

    2015-02-27

    Telomere erosion causes cell mortality, suggesting that longer telomeres enable more cell divisions. In telomerase-positive human cancer cells, however, telomeres are often kept shorter than those of surrounding normal tissues. Recently, we showed that cancer cell telomere elongation represses innate immune genes and promotes their differentiation in vivo. This implies that short telomeres contribute to cancer malignancy, but it is unclear how such genetic repression is caused by elongated telomeres. Here, we report that telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) induces a genome-wide alteration of gene expression in telomere-elongated cancer cells. Using three different cell lines, we found that telomere elongation up-regulates TERRA signal and down-regulates innate immune genes such as STAT1, ISG15 and OAS3 in vivo. Ectopic TERRA oligonucleotides repressed these genes even in cells with short telomeres under three-dimensional culture conditions. This appeared to occur from the action of G-quadruplexes (G4) in TERRA, because control oligonucleotides had no effect and a nontelomeric G4-forming oligonucleotide phenocopied the TERRA oligonucleotide. Telomere elongation and G4-forming oligonucleotides showed similar gene expression signatures. Most of the commonly suppressed genes were involved in the innate immune system and were up-regulated in various cancers. We propose that TERRA G4 counteracts cancer malignancy by suppressing innate immune genes. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  12. The Past, Present, and Future of Human Centromere Genomics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Megan E. Aldrup-MacDonald

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The centromere is the chromosomal locus essential for chromosome inheritance and genome stability. Human centromeres are located at repetitive alpha satellite DNA arrays that compose approximately 5% of the genome. Contiguous alpha satellite DNA sequence is absent from the assembled reference genome, limiting current understanding of centromere organization and function. Here, we review the progress in centromere genomics spanning the discovery of the sequence to its molecular characterization and the work done during the Human Genome Project era to elucidate alpha satellite structure and sequence variation. We discuss exciting recent advances in alpha satellite sequence assembly that have provided important insight into the abundance and complex organization of this sequence on human chromosomes. In light of these new findings, we offer perspectives for future studies of human centromere assembly and function.

  13. The Human Genome Project: how do we protect Australians?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stott Despoja, N

    It is the moon landing of the nineties: the ambitious Human Genome Project--identifying the up to 100,000 genes that make up human DNA and the sequences of the three billion base-pairs that comprise the human genome. However, unlike the moon landing, the effects of the genome project will have a fundamental impact on the way we see ourselves and each other.

  14. PROBING GENOME MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS OF HUMAN RECQ1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Furqan Sami

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The RecQ helicases are a highly conserved family of DNA-unwinding enzymes that play key roles in protecting the genome stability in all kingdoms of life.'Human RecQ homologs include RECQ1, BLM, WRN, RECQ4, and RECQ5β.'Although the individual RecQ-related diseases are characterized by a variety of clinical features encompassing growth defects (Bloom Syndrome and Rothmund Thomson Syndrome to premature aging (Werner Syndrome, all these patients have a high risk of cancer predisposition.'Here, we present an overview of recent progress towards elucidating functions of RECQ1 helicase, the most abundant but poorly characterized RecQ homolog in humans.'Consistent with a conserved role in genome stability maintenance, deficiency of RECQ1 results in elevated frequency of spontaneous sister chromatid exchanges, chromosomal instability, increased DNA damage and greater sensitivity to certain genotoxic stress.'Delineating what aspects of RECQ1 catalytic functions contribute to the observed cellular phenotypes, and how this is regulated is critical to establish its biological functions in DNA metabolism.'Recent studies have identified functional specialization of RECQ1 in DNA repair; however, identification of fundamental similarities will be just as critical in developing a unifying theme for RecQ actions, allowing the functions revealed from studying one homolog to be extrapolated and generalized to other RecQ homologs.

  15. Localizing recent adaptive evolution in the human genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Williamson, Scott H; Hubisz, Melissa J; Clark, Andrew G

    2007-01-01

    , clusters of olfactory receptors, genes involved in nervous system development and function, immune system genes, and heat shock genes. We also observe consistent evidence of selective sweeps in centromeric regions. In general, we find that recent adaptation is strikingly pervasive in the human genome......-nucleotide polymorphism ascertainment, while also providing fine-scale estimates of the position of the selected site, we analyzed a genomic dataset of 1.2 million human single-nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped in African-American, European-American, and Chinese samples. We identify 101 regions of the human genome...

  16. Recent and ongoing selection in the human genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Rasmus; Hellmann, Ines; Hubisz, Melissa

    2007-01-01

    The recent availability of genome-scale genotyping data has led to the identification of regions of the human genome that seem to have been targeted by selection. These findings have increased our understanding of the evolutionary forces that affect the human genome, have augmented our knowledge...... of gene function and promise to increase our understanding of the genetic basis of disease. However, inferences of selection are challenged by several confounding factors, especially the complex demographic history of human populations, and concordance between studies is variable. Although such studies...

  17. The Human Genome Initiative of the Department of Energy

    Science.gov (United States)

    1988-01-01

    The structural characterization of genes and elucidation of their encoded functions have become a cornerstone of modern health research, biology and biotechnology. A genome program is an organized effort to locate and identify the functions of all the genes of an organism. Beginning with the DOE-sponsored, 1986 human genome workshop at Santa Fe, the value of broadly organized efforts supporting total genome characterization became a subject of intensive study. There is now national recognition that benefits will rapidly accrue from an effective scientific infrastructure for total genome research. In the US genome research is now receiving dedicated funds. Several other nations are implementing genome programs. Supportive infrastructure is being improved through both national and international cooperation. The Human Genome Initiative of the Department of Energy (DOE) is a focused program of Resource and Technology Development, with objectives of speeding and bringing economies to the national human genome effort. This report relates the origins and progress of the Initiative.

  18. FXR silencing in human colon cancer by DNA methylation and KRAS signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Ann M; Zhan, Le; Maru, Dipen; Shureiqi, Imad; Pickering, Curtis R; Kiriakova, Galina; Izzo, Julie; He, Nan; Wei, Caimiao; Baladandayuthapani, Veerabhadran; Liang, Han; Kopetz, Scott; Powis, Garth; Guo, Grace L

    2014-01-01

    Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a bile acid nuclear receptor described through mouse knockout studies as a tumor suppressor for the development of colon adenocarcinomas. This study investigates the regulation of FXR in the development of human colon cancer. We used immunohistochemistry of FXR in normal tissue (n = 238), polyps (n = 32), and adenocarcinomas, staged I-IV (n = 43, 39, 68, and 9), of the colon; RT-quantitative PCR, reverse-phase protein array, and Western blot analysis in 15 colon cancer cell lines; NR1H4 promoter methylation and mRNA expression in colon cancer samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas; DNA methyltransferase inhibition; methyl-DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP); bisulfite sequencing; and V-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) knockdown assessment to investigate FXR regulation in colon cancer development. Immunohistochemistry and quantitative RT-PCR revealed that expression and function of FXR was reduced in precancerous lesions and silenced in a majority of stage I-IV tumors. FXR expression negatively correlated with phosphatidylinositol-4, 5-bisphosphate 3 kinase signaling and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. The NR1H4 promoter is methylated in ~12% colon cancer The Cancer Genome Atlas samples, and methylation patterns segregate with tumor subtypes. Inhibition of DNA methylation and KRAS silencing both increased FXR expression. FXR expression is decreased early in human colon cancer progression, and both DNA methylation and KRAS signaling may be contributing factors to FXR silencing. FXR potentially suppresses epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and other oncogenic signaling cascades, and restoration of FXR activity, by blocking silencing mechanisms or increasing residual FXR activity, represents promising therapeutic options for the treatment of colon cancer.

  19. Human genome project: revolutionizing biology through leveraging technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahl, Carol A.; Strausberg, Robert L.

    1996-04-01

    The Human Genome Project (HGP) is an international project to develop genetic, physical, and sequence-based maps of the human genome. Since the inception of the HGP it has been clear that substantially improved technology would be required to meet the scientific goals, particularly in order to acquire the complete sequence of the human genome, and that these technologies coupled with the information forthcoming from the project would have a dramatic effect on the way biomedical research is performed in the future. In this paper, we discuss the state-of-the-art for genomic DNA sequencing, technological challenges that remain, and the potential technological paths that could yield substantially improved genomic sequencing technology. The impact of the technology developed from the HGP is broad-reaching and a discussion of other research and medical applications that are leveraging HGP-derived DNA analysis technologies is included. The multidisciplinary approach to the development of new technologies that has been successful for the HGP provides a paradigm for facilitating new genomic approaches toward understanding the biological role of functional elements and systems within the cell, including those encoded within genomic DNA and their molecular products.

  20. Defining functional DNA elements in the human genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kellis, Manolis; Wold, Barbara; Snyder, Michael P.; Bernstein, Bradley E.; Kundaje, Anshul; Marinov, Georgi K.; Ward, Lucas D.; Birney, Ewan; Crawford, Gregory E.; Dekker, Job; Dunham, Ian; Elnitski, Laura L.; Farnham, Peggy J.; Feingold, Elise A.; Gerstein, Mark; Giddings, Morgan C.; Gilbert, David M.; Gingeras, Thomas R.; Green, Eric D.; Guigo, Roderic; Hubbard, Tim; Kent, Jim; Lieb, Jason D.; Myers, Richard M.; Pazin, Michael J.; Ren, Bing; Stamatoyannopoulos, John A.; Weng, Zhiping; White, Kevin P.; Hardison, Ross C.

    2014-01-01

    With the completion of the human genome sequence, attention turned to identifying and annotating its functional DNA elements. As a complement to genetic and comparative genomics approaches, the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements Project was launched to contribute maps of RNA transcripts, transcriptional regulator binding sites, and chromatin states in many cell types. The resulting genome-wide data reveal sites of biochemical activity with high positional resolution and cell type specificity that facilitate studies of gene regulation and interpretation of noncoding variants associated with human disease. However, the biochemically active regions cover a much larger fraction of the genome than do evolutionarily conserved regions, raising the question of whether nonconserved but biochemically active regions are truly functional. Here, we review the strengths and limitations of biochemical, evolutionary, and genetic approaches for defining functional DNA segments, potential sources for the observed differences in estimated genomic coverage, and the biological implications of these discrepancies. We also analyze the relationship between signal intensity, genomic coverage, and evolutionary conservation. Our results reinforce the principle that each approach provides complementary information and that we need to use combinations of all three to elucidate genome function in human biology and disease. PMID:24753594

  1. The zebrafish reference genome sequence and its relationship to the human genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Kerstin; Clark, Matthew D.; Torroja, Carlos F.; Torrance, James; Berthelot, Camille; Muffato, Matthieu; Collins, John E.; Humphray, Sean; McLaren, Karen; Matthews, Lucy; McLaren, Stuart; Sealy, Ian; Caccamo, Mario; Churcher, Carol; Scott, Carol; Barrett, Jeffrey C.; Koch, Romke; Rauch, Gerd-Jörg; White, Simon; Chow, William; Kilian, Britt; Quintais, Leonor T.; Guerra-Assunção, José A.; Zhou, Yi; Gu, Yong; Yen, Jennifer; Vogel, Jan-Hinnerk; Eyre, Tina; Redmond, Seth; Banerjee, Ruby; Chi, Jianxiang; Fu, Beiyuan; Langley, Elizabeth; Maguire, Sean F.; Laird, Gavin K.; Lloyd, David; Kenyon, Emma; Donaldson, Sarah; Sehra, Harminder; Almeida-King, Jeff; Loveland, Jane; Trevanion, Stephen; Jones, Matt; Quail, Mike; Willey, Dave; Hunt, Adrienne; Burton, John; Sims, Sarah; McLay, Kirsten; Plumb, Bob; Davis, Joy; Clee, Chris; Oliver, Karen; Clark, Richard; Riddle, Clare; Eliott, David; Threadgold, Glen; Harden, Glenn; Ware, Darren; Mortimer, Beverly; Kerry, Giselle; Heath, Paul; Phillimore, Benjamin; Tracey, Alan; Corby, Nicole; Dunn, Matthew; Johnson, Christopher; Wood, Jonathan; Clark, Susan; Pelan, Sarah; Griffiths, Guy; Smith, Michelle; Glithero, Rebecca; Howden, Philip; Barker, Nicholas; Stevens, Christopher; Harley, Joanna; Holt, Karen; Panagiotidis, Georgios; Lovell, Jamieson; Beasley, Helen; Henderson, Carl; Gordon, Daria; Auger, Katherine; Wright, Deborah; Collins, Joanna; Raisen, Claire; Dyer, Lauren; Leung, Kenric; Robertson, Lauren; Ambridge, Kirsty; Leongamornlert, Daniel; McGuire, Sarah; Gilderthorp, Ruth; Griffiths, Coline; Manthravadi, Deepa; Nichol, Sarah; Barker, Gary; Whitehead, Siobhan; Kay, Michael; Brown, Jacqueline; Murnane, Clare; Gray, Emma; Humphries, Matthew; Sycamore, Neil; Barker, Darren; Saunders, David; Wallis, Justene; Babbage, Anne; Hammond, Sian; Mashreghi-Mohammadi, Maryam; Barr, Lucy; Martin, Sancha; Wray, Paul; Ellington, Andrew; Matthews, Nicholas; Ellwood, Matthew; Woodmansey, Rebecca; Clark, Graham; Cooper, James; Tromans, Anthony; Grafham, Darren; Skuce, Carl; Pandian, Richard; Andrews, Robert; Harrison, Elliot; Kimberley, Andrew; Garnett, Jane; Fosker, Nigel; Hall, Rebekah; Garner, Patrick; Kelly, Daniel; Bird, Christine; Palmer, Sophie; Gehring, Ines; Berger, Andrea; Dooley, Christopher M.; Ersan-Ürün, Zübeyde; Eser, Cigdem; Geiger, Horst; Geisler, Maria; Karotki, Lena; Kirn, Anette; Konantz, Judith; Konantz, Martina; Oberländer, Martina; Rudolph-Geiger, Silke; Teucke, Mathias; Osoegawa, Kazutoyo; Zhu, Baoli; Rapp, Amanda; Widaa, Sara; Langford, Cordelia; Yang, Fengtang; Carter, Nigel P.; Harrow, Jennifer; Ning, Zemin; Herrero, Javier; Searle, Steve M. J.; Enright, Anton; Geisler, Robert; Plasterk, Ronald H. A.; Lee, Charles; Westerfield, Monte; de Jong, Pieter J.; Zon, Leonard I.; Postlethwait, John H.; Nüsslein-Volhard, Christiane; Hubbard, Tim J. P.; Crollius, Hugues Roest; Rogers, Jane; Stemple, Derek L.

    2013-01-01

    Zebrafish have become a popular organism for the study of vertebrate gene function1,2. The virtually transparent embryos of this species, and the ability to accelerate genetic studies by gene knockdown or overexpression, have led to the widespread use of zebrafish in the detailed investigation of vertebrate gene function and increasingly, the study of human genetic disease3–5. However, for effective modelling of human genetic disease it is important to understand the extent to which zebrafish genes and gene structures are related to orthologous human genes. To examine this, we generated a high-quality sequence assembly of the zebrafish genome, made up of an overlapping set of completely sequenced large-insert clones that were ordered and oriented using a high-resolution high-density meiotic map. Detailed automatic and manual annotation provides evidence of more than 26,000 protein-coding genes6, the largest gene set of any vertebrate so far sequenced. Comparison to the human reference genome shows that approximately 70% of human genes have at least one obvious zebrafish orthologue. In addition, the high quality of this genome assembly provides a clearer understanding of key genomic features such as a unique repeat content, a scarcity of pseudogenes, an enrichment of zebrafish-specific genes on chromosome 4 and chromosomal regions that influence sex determination. PMID:23594743

  2. Quantitative high-resolution genomic analysis of single cancer cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannemann, Juliane; Meyer-Staeckling, Sönke; Kemming, Dirk; Alpers, Iris; Joosse, Simon A; Pospisil, Heike; Kurtz, Stefan; Görndt, Jennifer; Püschel, Klaus; Riethdorf, Sabine; Pantel, Klaus; Brandt, Burkhard

    2011-01-01

    During cancer progression, specific genomic aberrations arise that can determine the scope of the disease and can be used as predictive or prognostic markers. The detection of specific gene amplifications or deletions in single blood-borne or disseminated tumour cells that may give rise to the development of metastases is of great clinical interest but technically challenging. In this study, we present a method for quantitative high-resolution genomic analysis of single cells. Cells were isolated under permanent microscopic control followed by high-fidelity whole genome amplification and subsequent analyses by fine tiling array-CGH and qPCR. The assay was applied to single breast cancer cells to analyze the chromosomal region centred by the therapeutical relevant EGFR gene. This method allows precise quantitative analysis of copy number variations in single cell diagnostics.

  3. 77 FR 2735 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-19

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research. Date: February 13... Extramural Research National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4076, MSC 9305...

  4. 75 FR 51828 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research. Date: February 7... Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4076, MSC 9305, Bethesda, MD...

  5. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Identification of Therapeutic Targets Across Cancer Types | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Dana Farber Cancer Institute CTD2 Center focuses on the use of high-throughput genetic and bioinformatic approaches to identify and credential oncogenes and co-dependencies in cancers. This Center aims to provide the cancer research community with information that will facilitate the prioritization of targets based on both genomic and functional evidence, inform the most appropriate genetic context for downstream mechanistic and validation studies, and enable the translation of this information into therapeutics and diagnostics.

  6. Microenvironmental Heterogeneity Parallels Breast Cancer Progression: A Histology-Genomic Integration Analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachael Natrajan

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The intra-tumor diversity of cancer cells is under intense investigation; however, little is known about the heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment that is key to cancer progression and evolution. We aimed to assess the degree of microenvironmental heterogeneity in breast cancer and correlate this with genomic and clinical parameters.We developed a quantitative measure of microenvironmental heterogeneity along three spatial dimensions (3-D in solid tumors, termed the tumor ecosystem diversity index (EDI, using fully automated histology image analysis coupled with statistical measures commonly used in ecology. This measure was compared with disease-specific survival, key mutations, genome-wide copy number, and expression profiling data in a retrospective study of 510 breast cancer patients as a test set and 516 breast cancer patients as an independent validation set. In high-grade (grade 3 breast cancers, we uncovered a striking link between high microenvironmental heterogeneity measured by EDI and a poor prognosis that cannot be explained by tumor size, genomics, or any other data types. However, this association was not observed in low-grade (grade 1 and 2 breast cancers. The prognostic value of EDI was superior to known prognostic factors and was enhanced with the addition of TP53 mutation status (multivariate analysis test set, p = 9 × 10-4, hazard ratio = 1.47, 95% CI 1.17-1.84; validation set, p = 0.0011, hazard ratio = 1.78, 95% CI 1.26-2.52. Integration with genome-wide profiling data identified losses of specific genes on 4p14 and 5q13 that were enriched in grade 3 tumors with high microenvironmental diversity that also substratified patients into poor prognostic groups. Limitations of this study include the number of cell types included in the model, that EDI has prognostic value only in grade 3 tumors, and that our spatial heterogeneity measure was dependent on spatial scale and tumor size.To our knowledge, this is the first

  7. CDC91L1 (PIG-U) is a newly discovered oncogene in human bladder cancer.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Guo, Z.; Linn, J.F.; Wu, G.; Anzick, S.L.; Eisenberger, C.F.; Halachmi, S.; Cohen, Y.; Fomenkov, A.; Hoque, M.O.; Okami, K.; Steiner, G.; Engles, J.M.; Osada, M.; Moon, C.; Ratovitski, E.; Trent, J.M.; Meltzer, P.S.; Westra, W.H.; Kiemeney, L.A.L.M.; Schoenberg, M.P.; Sidransky, D.; Trink, B.

    2004-01-01

    Genomic amplification at 20q11-13 is a common event in human cancers. We isolated a germline translocation breakpoint at 20q11 from a bladder cancer patient. We identified CDC91L1, the gene encoding CDC91L1 (also called phosphatidylinositol glycan class U (PIG-U), a transamidase complex unit in the

  8. 77 FR 2304 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-17

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome....S.C. 281(d)(4)), notice is hereby given that the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI... meeting of the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research. Background materials on the proposed...

  9. 77 FR 64816 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., National Human Genome Research Institute. The meeting will be open to the public as indicated below, with... invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: Board of Scientific Counselors, National Human Genome...

  10. 75 FR 2147 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Council for Human Genome Research. The meetings will be open to the public as indicated below, with... Extramural Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4076, MSC 9305...

  11. 76 FR 65204 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., National Human Genome Research Institute. The meeting will be open to the public as indicated below, with... invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: Board of Scientific Counselors, National Human Genome...

  12. 75 FR 60467 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-30

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., National Human Genome Research Institute. The meeting will be open to the public as indicated below, with... invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: Board of Scientific Counselors, National Human Genome...

  13. Break Breast Cancer Addiction by CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing

    OpenAIRE

    Yang, Haitao; Jaeger, MariaLynn; Walker, Averi; Wei, Daniel; Leiker, Katie; Weitao, Tao

    2018-01-01

    Breast cancer is the leading diagnosed cancer for women globally. Evolution of breast cancer in tumorigenesis, metastasis and treatment resistance appears to be driven by the aberrant gene expression and protein degradation encoded by the cancer genomes. The uncontrolled cancer growth relies on these cellular events, thus constituting the cancerous programs and rendering the addiction towards them. These programs are likely the potential anticancer biomarkers for Personalized Medicine of brea...

  14. Human Genome Research: Decoding DNA

    Science.gov (United States)

    dropdown arrow Site Map A-Z Index Menu Synopsis Human Genome Research: Decoding DNA Resources with of the DNA double helix during April 2003. James D. Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were company Celera announced the completion of a "working draft" reference DNA sequence of the human

  15. The human genome as public: Justifications and implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayefsky, Michelle J

    2017-03-01

    Since the human genome was decoded, great emphasis has been placed on the unique, personal nature of the genome, along with the benefits that personalized medicine can bring to individuals and the importance of safeguarding genetic privacy. As a result, an equally important aspect of the human genome - its common nature - has been underappreciated and underrepresented in the ethics literature and policy dialogue surrounding genetics and genomics. This article will argue that, just as the personal nature of the genome has been used to reinforce individual rights and justify important privacy protections, so too the common nature of the genome can be employed to support protections of the genome at a population level and policies designed to promote the public's wellbeing. In order for public health officials to have the authority to develop genetics policies for the sake of the public good, the genome must have not only a common, but also a public, dimension. This article contends that DNA carries a public dimension through the use of two conceptual frameworks: the common heritage (CH) framework and the common resource (CR) framework. Both frameworks establish a public interest in the human genome, but the CH framework can be used to justify policies aimed at preserving and protecting the genome, while the CR framework can be employed to justify policies for utilizing the genome for the public benefit. A variety of possible policy implications are discussed, with special attention paid to the use of large-scale genomics databases for public health research. © Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  16. Genome-wide association scan for variants associated with early-onset prostate cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ethan M Lange

    Full Text Available Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer related mortality for men in the United States. There is strong empirical and epidemiological evidence supporting a stronger role of genetics in early-onset prostate cancer. We performed a genome-wide association scan for early-onset prostate cancer. Novel aspects of this study include the focus on early-onset disease (defined as men with prostate cancer diagnosed before age 56 years and use of publically available control genotype data from previous genome-wide association studies. We found genome-wide significant (p<5×10(-8 evidence for variants at 8q24 and 11p15 and strong supportive evidence for a number of previously reported loci. We found little evidence for individual or systematic inflated association findings resulting from using public controls, demonstrating the utility of using public control data in large-scale genetic association studies of common variants. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of established common genetic variants for early-onset prostate cancer and the power of including early-onset prostate cancer cases in genetic association studies.

  17. Insights from Human/Mouse genome comparisons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pennacchio, Len A.

    2003-03-30

    Large-scale public genomic sequencing efforts have provided a wealth of vertebrate sequence data poised to provide insights into mammalian biology. These include deep genomic sequence coverage of human, mouse, rat, zebrafish, and two pufferfish (Fugu rubripes and Tetraodon nigroviridis) (Aparicio et al. 2002; Lander et al. 2001; Venter et al. 2001; Waterston et al. 2002). In addition, a high-priority has been placed on determining the genomic sequence of chimpanzee, dog, cow, frog, and chicken (Boguski 2002). While only recently available, whole genome sequence data have provided the unique opportunity to globally compare complete genome contents. Furthermore, the shared evolutionary ancestry of vertebrate species has allowed the development of comparative genomic approaches to identify ancient conserved sequences with functionality. Accordingly, this review focuses on the initial comparison of available mammalian genomes and describes various insights derived from such analysis.

  18. Human endogenous retroviruses and cancer prevention: evidence and prospects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cegolon Luca

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cancer is a significant and growing problem worldwide. While this increase may, in part, be attributed to increasing longevity, improved case notifications and risk-enhancing lifestyle (such as smoking, diet and obesity, hygiene-related factors resulting in immuno-regulatory failure may also play a major role and call for a revision of vaccination strategies to protect against a range of cancers in addition to infections. Discussion Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs are a significant component of a wider family of retroelements that constitutes part of the human genome. They were originated by the integration of exogenous retroviruses into the human genome millions of years ago. HERVs are estimated to comprise about 8% of human DNA and are ubiquitous in somatic and germinal tissues. Physiologic and pathologic processes are influenced by some biologically active HERV families. HERV antigens are only expressed at low levels by the host, but in circumstances of inappropriate control their genes may initiate or maintain pathological processes. Although the precise mechanism leading to abnormal HERVs gene expression has yet to be clearly elucidated, environmental factors seem to be involved by influencing the human immune system. HERV-K expression has been detected in different types of tumors. Among the various human endogenous retroviral families, the K series was the latest acquired by the human species. Probably because of its relatively recent origin, the HERV-K is the most complete and biologically active family. The abnormal expression of HERV-K seemingly triggers pathological processes leading to melanoma onset, but also contributes to the morphological and functional cellular modifications implicated in melanoma maintenance and progression. The HERV-K-MEL antigen is encoded by a pseudo-gene incorporated in the HERV-K env-gene. HERV-K-MEL is significantly expressed in the majority of dysplastic and normal naevi, as well

  19. "Orphan" retrogenes in the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciomborowska, Joanna; Rosikiewicz, Wojciech; Szklarczyk, Damian; Makałowski, Wojciech; Makałowska, Izabela

    2013-02-01

    Gene duplicates generated via retroposition were long thought to be pseudogenized and consequently decayed. However, a significant number of these genes escaped their evolutionary destiny and evolved into functional genes. Despite multiple studies, the number of functional retrogenes in human and other genomes remains unclear. We performed a comparative analysis of human, chicken, and worm genomes to identify "orphan" retrogenes, that is, retrogenes that have replaced their progenitors. We located 25 such candidates in the human genome. All of these genes were previously known, and the majority has been intensively studied. Despite this, they have never been recognized as retrogenes. Analysis revealed that the phenomenon of replacing parental genes with their retrocopies has been taking place over the entire span of animal evolution. This process was often species specific and contributed to interspecies differences. Surprisingly, these retrogenes, which should evolve in a more relaxed mode, are subject to a very strong purifying selection, which is, on average, two and a half times stronger than other human genes. Also, for retrogenes, they do not show a typical overall tendency for a testis-specific expression. Notably, seven of them are associated with human diseases. Recognizing them as "orphan" retrocopies, which have different regulatory machinery than their parents, is important for any disease studies in model organisms, especially when discoveries made in one species are transferred to humans.

  20. Human genome and genetic sequencing research and informed consent

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iwakawa, Mayumi

    2003-01-01

    On March 29, 2001, the Ethical Guidelines for Human Genome and Genetic Sequencing Research were established. They have intended to serve as ethical guidelines for all human genome and genetic sequencing research practice, for the purpose of upholding respect for human dignity and rights and enforcing use of proper methods in the pursuit of human genome and genetic sequencing research, with the understanding and cooperation of the public. The RadGenomics Project has prepared a research protocol and informed consent document that follow these ethical guidelines. We have endeavored to protect the privacy of individual information, and have established a procedure for examination of research practices by an ethics committee. Here we report our procedure in order to offer this concept to the patients. (authors)

  1. All about the Human Genome Project (HGP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Care Genomic Medicine Working Group New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About the Human Genome Project Fact Sheets Genetic Education Resources for ...

  2. A new generation of cancer genome diagnostics for routine clinical use: overcoming the roadblocks to personalized cancer medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heuckmann, J M; Thomas, R K

    2015-09-01

    The identification of 'druggable' kinase gene alterations has revolutionized cancer treatment in the last decade by providing new and successfully targetable drug targets. Thus, genotyping tumors for matching the right patients with the right drugs have become a clinical routine. Today, advances in sequencing technology and computational genome analyses enable the discovery of a constantly growing number of genome alterations relevant for clinical decision making. As a consequence, several technological approaches have emerged in order to deal with these rapidly increasing demands for clinical cancer genome analyses. Here, we describe challenges on the path to the broad introduction of diagnostic cancer genome analyses and the technologies that can be applied to overcome them. We define three generations of molecular diagnostics that are in clinical use. The latest generation of these approaches involves deep and thus, highly sensitive sequencing of all therapeutically relevant types of genome alterations-mutations, copy number alterations and rearrangements/fusions-in a single assay. Such approaches therefore have substantial advantages (less time and less tissue required) over PCR-based methods that typically have to be combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization for detection of gene amplifications and fusions. Since these new technologies work reliably on routine diagnostic formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens, they can help expedite the broad introduction of personalized cancer therapy into the clinic by providing comprehensive, sensitive and accurate cancer genome diagnoses in 'real-time'. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  3. Genome-Wide Screening of Genes Showing Altered Expression in Liver Metastases of Human Colorectal Cancers by cDNA Microarray

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rempei Yanagawa

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available In spite of intensive and increasingly successful attempts to determine the multiple steps involved in colorectal carcinogenesis, the mechanisms responsible for metastasis of colorectal tumors to the liver remain to be clarified. To identify genes that are candidates for involvement in the metastatic process, we analyzed genome-wide expression profiles of 10 primary colorectal cancers and their corresponding metastatic lesions by means of a cDNA microarray consisting of 9121 human genes. This analysis identified 40 genes whose expression was commonly upregulated in metastatic lesions, and 7 that were commonly downregulated. The upregulated genes encoded proteins involved in cell adhesion, or remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton. Investigation of the functions of more of the altered genes should improve our understanding of metastasis and may identify diagnostic markers and/or novel molecular targets for prevention or therapy of metastatic lesions.

  4. Genome-wide association study identifies new prostate cancer susceptibility loci

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schumacher, Fredrick R.; Berndt, Sonja I.; Siddiq, Afshan

    2011-01-01

    Prostate cancer (PrCa) is the most common non-skin cancer diagnosed among males in developed countries and the second leading cause of cancer mortality, yet little is known regarding its etiology and factors that influence clinical outcome. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of PrCa have iden...

  5. A set of BAC clones spanning the human genome.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Krzywinski, M.; Bosdet, I.; Smailus, D.; Chiu, R.; Mathewson, C.; Wye, N.; Barber, S.; Brown-John, M.; Chan, S.; Chand, S.; Cloutier, A.; Girn, N.; Lee, D.; Masson, A.; Mayo, M.; Olson, T.; Pandoh, P.; Prabhu, A.L.; Schoenmakers, E.F.P.M.; Tsai, M.Y.; Albertson, D.; Lam, W.W.; Choy, C.O.; Osoegawa, K.; Zhao, S.; Jong, P.J. de; Schein, J.; Jones, S.; Marra, M.A.

    2004-01-01

    Using the human bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) fingerprint-based physical map, genome sequence assembly and BAC end sequences, we have generated a fingerprint-validated set of 32 855 BAC clones spanning the human genome. The clone set provides coverage for at least 98% of the human

  6. Megabase replication domains along the human genome: relation to chromatin structure and genome organisation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Audit, Benjamin; Zaghloul, Lamia; Baker, Antoine; Arneodo, Alain; Chen, Chun-Long; d'Aubenton-Carafa, Yves; Thermes, Claude

    2013-01-01

    In higher eukaryotes, the absence of specific sequence motifs, marking the origins of replication has been a serious hindrance to the understanding of (i) the mechanisms that regulate the spatio-temporal replication program, and (ii) the links between origins activation, chromatin structure and transcription. In this chapter, we review the partitioning of the human genome into megabased-size replication domains delineated as N-shaped motifs in the strand compositional asymmetry profiles. They collectively span 28.3% of the genome and are bordered by more than 1,000 putative replication origins. We recapitulate the comparison of this partition of the human genome with high-resolution experimental data that confirms that replication domain borders are likely to be preferential replication initiation zones in the germline. In addition, we highlight the specific distribution of experimental and numerical chromatin marks along replication domains. Domain borders correspond to particular open chromatin regions, possibly encoded in the DNA sequence, and around which replication and transcription are highly coordinated. These regions also present a high evolutionary breakpoint density, suggesting that susceptibility to breakage might be linked to local open chromatin fiber state. Altogether, this chapter presents a compartmentalization of the human genome into replication domains that are landmarks of the human genome organization and are likely to play a key role in genome dynamics during evolution and in pathological situations.

  7. DNA Amplification by Breakage/Fusion/Bridge Cycles Initiated by Spontaneous Telomere Loss in a Human Cancer Cell Line

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony W.l. Lo

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available The development of genomic instability is an important step in generatingthe multiple genetic changes required for cancer. One consequence of genomic instability is the overexpression of oncogenes due to gene amplification. One mechanism for gene amplification is the breakagelfusionlbridge (B/F/Bcyclethatinvolvesthe repeated fusion and breakage of chromosomes following the loss of a telomere. B/F/B cycles have been associated with low-copy gene amplification in human cancer cells, and have been proposed to be an initiating event in high-copy gene amplification. We have found that spontaneous telomere loss on a marker chromosome 16 in a human tumor cell line results in sister chromatid fusion and prolonged periods of chromosome instability. The high rate of anaphase bridges involving chromosome 16 demonstrates that this instability results from B/F/B cycles. The amplification of subtelomeric DNA on the marker chromosome provides conclusive evidence that B/F/B cycles initiated by spontaneous telomere loss are a mechanism for gene amplification in human cancer cells.

  8. Integrative Analysis of Complex Cancer Genomics and Clinical Profiles Using the cBioPortal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Jianjiong; Aksoy, Bülent Arman; Dogrusoz, Ugur; Dresdner, Gideon; Gross, Benjamin; Sumer, S. Onur; Sun, Yichao; Jacobsen, Anders; Sinha, Rileen; Larsson, Erik; Cerami, Ethan; Sander, Chris; Schultz, Nikolaus

    2014-01-01

    The cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics (http://cbioportal.org) provides a Web resource for exploring, visualizing, and analyzing multidimensional cancer genomics data. The portal reduces molecular profiling data from cancer tissues and cell lines into readily understandable genetic, epigenetic, gene expression, and proteomic events. The query interface combined with customized data storage enables researchers to interactively explore genetic alterations across samples, genes, and pathways and, when available in the underlying data, to link these to clinical outcomes. The portal provides graphical summaries of gene-level data from multiple platforms, network visualization and analysis, survival analysis, patient-centric queries, and software programmatic access. The intuitive Web interface of the portal makes complex cancer genomics profiles accessible to researchers and clinicians without requiring bioinformatics expertise, thus facilitating biological discoveries. Here, we provide a practical guide to the analysis and visualization features of the cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics. PMID:23550210

  9. Contributing to Tumor Molecular Characterization Projects with a Global Impact | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    My name is Nicholas Griner and I am the Scientific Program Manager for the Cancer Genome Characterization Initiative (CGCI) in the Office of Cancer Genomics (OCG). Until recently, I spent most of my scientific career working in a cancer research laboratory. In my postdoctoral training, my research focused on identifying novel pathways that contribute to both prostate and breast cancers and studying proteins within these pathways that may be targeted with cancer drugs.

  10. Quantitative high-resolution genomic analysis of single cancer cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliane Hannemann

    Full Text Available During cancer progression, specific genomic aberrations arise that can determine the scope of the disease and can be used as predictive or prognostic markers. The detection of specific gene amplifications or deletions in single blood-borne or disseminated tumour cells that may give rise to the development of metastases is of great clinical interest but technically challenging. In this study, we present a method for quantitative high-resolution genomic analysis of single cells. Cells were isolated under permanent microscopic control followed by high-fidelity whole genome amplification and subsequent analyses by fine tiling array-CGH and qPCR. The assay was applied to single breast cancer cells to analyze the chromosomal region centred by the therapeutical relevant EGFR gene. This method allows precise quantitative analysis of copy number variations in single cell diagnostics.

  11. Genomic divergences among cattle, dog and human estimated from large-scale alignments of genomic sequences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shade Larry L

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Approximately 11 Mb of finished high quality genomic sequences were sampled from cattle, dog and human to estimate genomic divergences and their regional variation among these lineages. Results Optimal three-way multi-species global sequence alignments for 84 cattle clones or loci (each >50 kb of genomic sequence were constructed using the human and dog genome assemblies as references. Genomic divergences and substitution rates were examined for each clone and for various sequence classes under different functional constraints. Analysis of these alignments revealed that the overall genomic divergences are relatively constant (0.32–0.37 change/site for pairwise comparisons among cattle, dog and human; however substitution rates vary across genomic regions and among different sequence classes. A neutral mutation rate (2.0–2.2 × 10(-9 change/site/year was derived from ancestral repetitive sequences, whereas the substitution rate in coding sequences (1.1 × 10(-9 change/site/year was approximately half of the overall rate (1.9–2.0 × 10(-9 change/site/year. Relative rate tests also indicated that cattle have a significantly faster rate of substitution as compared to dog and that this difference is about 6%. Conclusion This analysis provides a large-scale and unbiased assessment of genomic divergences and regional variation of substitution rates among cattle, dog and human. It is expected that these data will serve as a baseline for future mammalian molecular evolution studies.

  12. Cloud Based Resource for Data Hosting, Visualization and Analysis Using UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser | Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR)

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Cancer Analysis Virtual Machine (CAVM) project will leverage cloud technology, the UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser, and the Galaxy analysis workflow system to provide investigators with a flexible, scalable platform for hosting, visualizing and analyzing their own genomic data.

  13. Helminth Genomics: The Implications for Human Health

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brindley, Paul J.; Mitreva, Makedonka; Ghedin, Elodie; Lustigman, Sara

    2009-01-01

    More than two billion people (one-third of humanity) are infected with parasitic roundworms or flatworms, collectively known as helminth parasites. These infections cause diseases that are responsible for enormous levels of morbidity and mortality, delays in the physical development of children, loss of productivity among the workforce, and maintenance of poverty. Genomes of the major helminth species that affect humans, and many others of agricultural and veterinary significance, are now the subject of intensive genome sequencing and annotation. Draft genome sequences of the filarial worm Brugia malayi and two of the human schistosomes, Schistosoma japonicum and S. mansoni, are now available, among others. These genome data will provide the basis for a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in helminth nutrition and metabolism, host-dependent development and maturation, immune evasion, and evolution. They are likely also to predict new potential vaccine candidates and drug targets. In this review, we present an overview of these efforts and emphasize the potential impact and importance of these new findings. PMID:19855829

  14. Tempo and mode of genomic mutations unveil human evolutionary history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hara, Yuichiro

    2015-01-01

    Mutations that have occurred in human genomes provide insight into various aspects of evolutionary history such as speciation events and degrees of natural selection. Comparing genome sequences between human and great apes or among humans is a feasible approach for inferring human evolutionary history. Recent advances in high-throughput or so-called 'next-generation' DNA sequencing technologies have enabled the sequencing of thousands of individual human genomes, as well as a variety of reference genomes of hominids, many of which are publicly available. These sequence data can help to unveil the detailed demographic history of the lineage leading to humans as well as the explosion of modern human population size in the last several thousand years. In addition, high-throughput sequencing illustrates the tempo and mode of de novo mutations, which are producing human genetic variation at this moment. Pedigree-based human genome sequencing has shown that mutation rates vary significantly across the human genome. These studies have also provided an improved timescale of human evolution, because the mutation rate estimated from pedigree analysis is half that estimated from traditional analyses based on molecular phylogeny. Because of the dramatic reduction in sequencing cost, sequencing on-demand samples designed for specific studies is now also becoming popular. To produce data of sufficient quality to meet the requirements of the study, it is necessary to set an explicit sequencing plan that includes the choice of sample collection methods, sequencing platforms, and number of sequence reads.

  15. Managing the genomic revolution in cancer diagnostics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Doreen; Gocke, Christopher D

    2017-08-01

    Molecular tumor profiling is now a routine part of patient care, revealing targetable genomic alterations and molecularly distinct tumor subtypes with therapeutic and prognostic implications. The widespread adoption of next-generation sequencing technologies has greatly facilitated clinical implementation of genomic data and opened the door for high-throughput multigene-targeted sequencing. Herein, we discuss the variability of cancer genetic profiling currently offered by clinical laboratories, the challenges of applying rapidly evolving medical knowledge to individual patients, and the need for more standardized population-based molecular profiling.

  16. Classification of human cancers based on DNA copy number amplification modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Knuutila Sakari

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background DNA amplifications alter gene dosage in cancer genomes by multiplying the gene copy number. Amplifications are quintessential in a considerable number of advanced cancers of various anatomical locations. The aims of this study were to classify human cancers based on their amplification patterns, explore the biological and clinical fundamentals behind their amplification-pattern based classification, and understand the characteristics in human genomic architecture that associate with amplification mechanisms. Methods We applied a machine learning approach to model DNA copy number amplifications using a data set of binary amplification records at chromosome sub-band resolution from 4400 cases that represent 82 cancer types. Amplification data was fused with background data: clinical, histological and biological classifications, and cytogenetic annotations. Statistical hypothesis testing was used to mine associations between the data sets. Results Probabilistic clustering of each chromosome identified 111 amplification models and divided the cancer cases into clusters. The distribution of classification terms in the amplification-model based clustering of cancer cases revealed cancer classes that were associated with specific DNA copy number amplification models. Amplification patterns – finite or bounded descriptions of the ranges of the amplifications in the chromosome – were extracted from the clustered data and expressed according to the original cytogenetic nomenclature. This was achieved by maximal frequent itemset mining using the cluster-specific data sets. The boundaries of amplification patterns were shown to be enriched with fragile sites, telomeres, centromeres, and light chromosome bands. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that amplifications are non-random chromosomal changes and specifically selected in tumor tissue microenvironment. Furthermore, statistical evidence showed that specific chromosomal features

  17. Within-Host Variations of Human Papillomavirus Reveal APOBEC-Signature Mutagenesis in the Viral Genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirose, Yusuke; Onuki, Mamiko; Tenjimbayashi, Yuri; Mori, Seiichiro; Ishii, Yoshiyuki; Takeuchi, Takamasa; Tasaka, Nobutaka; Satoh, Toyomi; Morisada, Tohru; Iwata, Takashi; Miyamoto, Shingo; Matsumoto, Koji; Sekizawa, Akihiko; Kukimoto, Iwao

    2018-03-28

    Persistent infection with oncogenic human papillomaviruses (HPVs) causes cervical cancer, accompanied with the accumulation of somatic mutations into the host genome. There are concomitant genetic changes in the HPV genome during viral infection; however, their relevance to cervical carcinogenesis is poorly understood. Here we explored within-host genetic diversity of HPV by performing deep sequencing analyses of viral whole-genome sequences in clinical specimens. The whole genomes of HPV types 16, 52 and 58 were amplified by type-specific PCR from total cellular DNA of cervical exfoliated cells collected from patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and invasive cervical cancer (ICC), and were deep-sequenced. After constructing a reference vial genome sequence for each specimen, nucleotide positions showing changes with > 0.5% frequencies compared to the reference sequence were determined for individual samples. In total, 1,052 positions of nucleotide variations were detected in HPV genomes from 151 samples (CIN1, n = 56; CIN2/3, n = 68; ICC, n = 27), with varying numbers per sample. Overall, C-to-T and C-to-A substitutions were the dominant changes observed across all histological grades. While C-to-T transitions were predominantly detected in CIN1, their prevalence was decreased in CIN2/3 and fell below that of C-to-A transversions in ICC. Analysis of the tri-nucleotides context encompassing substituted bases revealed that Tp C pN, a preferred target sequence for cellular APOBEC cytosine deaminases, was a primary site for C-to-T substitutions in the HPV genome. These results strongly imply that the APOBEC proteins are drivers of HPV genome mutation, particularly in CIN1 lesions. IMPORTANCE HPVs exhibit surprisingly high levels of genetic diversity, including a large repertoire of minor genomic variants in each viral genotype. Here, by conducting deep sequencing analyses, we show for the first time a comprehensive snapshot of the "within

  18. Viral symbiosis and the holobiontic nature of the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Francis Patrick

    2016-01-01

    The human genome is a holobiontic union of the mammalian nuclear genome, the mitochondrial genome and large numbers of endogenized retroviral genomes. This article defines and explores this symbiogenetic pattern of evolution, looking at the implications for human genetics, epigenetics, embryogenesis, physiology and the pathogenesis of inborn errors of metabolism and many other diseases. © 2016 APMIS. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Noncoding Genomics in Gastric Cancer and the Gastric Precancerous Cascade: Pathogenesis and Biomarkers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejandra Sandoval-Bórquez

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Gastric cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related death, whose patterns vary among geographical regions and ethnicities. It is a multifactorial disease, and its development depends on infection by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV, host genetic factors, and environmental factors. The heterogeneity of the disease has begun to be unraveled by a comprehensive mutational evaluation of primary tumors. The low-abundance of mutations suggests that other mechanisms participate in the evolution of the disease, such as those found through analyses of noncoding genomics. Noncoding genomics includes single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, regulation of gene expression through DNA methylation of promoter sites, miRNAs, other noncoding RNAs in regulatory regions, and other topics. These processes and molecules ultimately control gene expression. Potential biomarkers are appearing from analyses of noncoding genomics. This review focuses on noncoding genomics and potential biomarkers in the context of gastric cancer and the gastric precancerous cascade.

  20. Early Onset Malignancies - Genomic Study of Cancer Disparities

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Early Onset Malignancies Initiative studies the genomic basis of six cancers that develop at an earlier age, occur in higher rates, and are typically more aggressive in certain minority populations.

  1. In the Beginning was the Genome: Genomics and the Bi-textuality of Human Existence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zwart, H A E Hub

    2018-04-01

    This paper addresses the cultural impact of genomics and the Human Genome Project (HGP) on human self-understanding. Notably, it addresses the claim made by Francis Collins (director of the HGP) that the genome is the language of God and the claim made by Max Delbrück (founding father of molecular life sciences research) that Aristotle must be credited with having predicted DNA as the soul that organises bio-matter. From a continental philosophical perspective I will argue that human existence results from a dialectical interaction between two types of texts: the language of molecular biology and the language of civilisation; the language of the genome and the language of our socio-cultural, symbolic ambiance. Whereas the former ultimately builds on the alphabets of genes and nucleotides, the latter is informed by primordial texts such as the Bible and the Quran. In applied bioethics deliberations on genomics, science is easily framed as liberating and progressive, religious world-views as conservative and restrictive (Zwart 1993). This paper focusses on the broader cultural ambiance of the debate to discern how the bi-textuality of human existence is currently undergoing a transition, as not only the physiological, but also the normative dimension is being reframed in biomolecular and terabyte terms.

  2. From hacking the human genome to editing organs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobita, Takamasa; Guzman-Lepe, Jorge; Collin de l'Hortet, Alexandra

    2015-01-01

    In the recent decades, human genome engineering has been one of the major interesting research subjects, essentially because it raises new possibilities for personalized medicine and biotechnologies. With the development of engineered nucleases such as the Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs), the Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and more recently the Clustered Regularly Interspaced short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), the field of human genome edition has evolved very rapidly. Every new genetic tool is broadening the scope of applications on human tissues, even before we can completely master each of these tools. In this review, we will present the recent advances regarding human genome edition tools, we will discuss the numerous implications they have in research and medicine, and we will mention the limits and concerns about such technologies.

  3. A scored human protein-protein interaction network to catalyze genomic interpretation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Taibo; Wernersson, Rasmus; Hansen, Rasmus B

    2017-01-01

    Genome-scale human protein-protein interaction networks are critical to understanding cell biology and interpreting genomic data, but challenging to produce experimentally. Through data integration and quality control, we provide a scored human protein-protein interaction network (InWeb_InBioMap,......Genome-scale human protein-protein interaction networks are critical to understanding cell biology and interpreting genomic data, but challenging to produce experimentally. Through data integration and quality control, we provide a scored human protein-protein interaction network (In...

  4. 77 FR 59933 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research....D., Scientific Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute...

  5. 76 FR 29772 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research... of Scientific Review, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health...

  6. Templated sequence insertion polymorphisms in the human genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Onozawa, Masahiro; Aplan, Peter

    2016-11-01

    Templated Sequence Insertion Polymorphism (TSIP) is a recently described form of polymorphism recognized in the human genome, in which a sequence that is templated from a distant genomic region is inserted into the genome, seemingly at random. TSIPs can be grouped into two classes based on nucleotide sequence features at the insertion junctions; Class 1 TSIPs show features of insertions that are mediated via the LINE-1 ORF2 protein, including 1) target-site duplication (TSD), 2) polyadenylation 10-30 nucleotides downstream of a “cryptic” polyadenylation signal, and 3) preference for insertion at a 5’-TTTT/A-3’ sequence. In contrast, class 2 TSIPs show features consistent with repair of a DNA double-strand break via insertion of a DNA “patch” that is derived from a distant genomic region. Survey of a large number of normal human volunteers demonstrates that most individuals have 25-30 TSIPs, and that these TSIPs track with specific geographic regions. Similar to other forms of human polymorphism, we suspect that these TSIPs may be important for the generation of human diversity and genetic diseases.

  7. Population genetic inference from personal genome data: impact of ancestry and admixture on human genomic variation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kidd, Jeffrey M; Gravel, Simon; Byrnes, Jake; Moreno-Estrada, Andres; Musharoff, Shaila; Bryc, Katarzyna; Degenhardt, Jeremiah D; Brisbin, Abra; Sheth, Vrunda; Chen, Rong; McLaughlin, Stephen F; Peckham, Heather E; Omberg, Larsson; Bormann Chung, Christina A; Stanley, Sarah; Pearlstein, Kevin; Levandowsky, Elizabeth; Acevedo-Acevedo, Suehelay; Auton, Adam; Keinan, Alon; Acuña-Alonzo, Victor; Barquera-Lozano, Rodrigo; Canizales-Quinteros, Samuel; Eng, Celeste; Burchard, Esteban G; Russell, Archie; Reynolds, Andy; Clark, Andrew G; Reese, Martin G; Lincoln, Stephen E; Butte, Atul J; De La Vega, Francisco M; Bustamante, Carlos D

    2012-10-05

    Full sequencing of individual human genomes has greatly expanded our understanding of human genetic variation and population history. Here, we present a systematic analysis of 50 human genomes from 11 diverse global populations sequenced at high coverage. Our sample includes 12 individuals who have admixed ancestry and who have varying degrees of recent (within the last 500 years) African, Native American, and European ancestry. We found over 21 million single-nucleotide variants that contribute to a 1.75-fold range in nucleotide heterozygosity across diverse human genomes. This heterozygosity ranged from a high of one heterozygous site per kilobase in west African genomes to a low of 0.57 heterozygous sites per kilobase in segments inferred to have diploid Native American ancestry from the genomes of Mexican and Puerto Rican individuals. We show evidence of all three continental ancestries in the genomes of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and African American populations, and the genome-wide statistics are highly consistent across individuals from a population once ancestry proportions have been accounted for. Using a generalized linear model, we identified subtle variations across populations in the proportion of neutral versus deleterious variation and found that genome-wide statistics vary in admixed populations even once ancestry proportions have been factored in. We further infer that multiple periods of gene flow shaped the diversity of admixed populations in the Americas-70% of the European ancestry in today's African Americans dates back to European gene flow happening only 7-8 generations ago. Copyright © 2012 The American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. 77 FR 5035 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research... Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health...

  9. 77 FR 58402 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research...: To review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635...

  10. 78 FR 55752 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-11

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research.... Pozzatti, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research...

  11. 78 FR 56905 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research....m. Agenda: To review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research...

  12. 78 FR 107 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-02

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, 3rd Floor Conference Room....D., Scientific Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute...

  13. Endogenous retroviral promoter exaptation in human cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Artem Babaian

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Cancer arises from a series of genetic and epigenetic changes, which result in abnormal expression or mutational activation of oncogenes, as well as suppression/inactivation of tumor suppressor genes. Aberrant expression of coding genes or long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs with oncogenic properties can be caused by translocations, gene amplifications, point mutations or other less characterized mechanisms. One such mechanism is the inappropriate usage of normally dormant, tissue-restricted or cryptic enhancers or promoters that serve to drive oncogenic gene expression. Dispersed across the human genome, endogenous retroviruses (ERVs provide an enormous reservoir of autonomous gene regulatory modules, some of which have been co-opted by the host during evolution to play important roles in normal regulation of genes and gene networks. This review focuses on the “dark side” of such ERV regulatory capacity. Specifically, we discuss a growing number of examples of normally dormant or epigenetically repressed ERVs that have been harnessed to drive oncogenes in human cancer, a process we term onco-exaptation, and we propose potential mechanisms that may underlie this phenomenon.

  14. 75 FR 8374 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health...

  15. 78 FR 64222 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research... Review, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, 301...

  16. 77 FR 60706 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-04

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special.... Nakamura, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research...

  17. 77 FR 20646 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research.... Agenda: To review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635...

  18. 78 FR 21382 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-10

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, Suite 4076, 5635 Fisher's Lane, Bethesda, MD..., National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4075...

  19. 78 FR 20933 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, Room 3055, 5635...

  20. 76 FR 22112 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special....nih.gov . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  1. 78 FR 31953 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, 3rd Floor...

  2. 75 FR 10488 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research...- 4280, [email protected]gov . Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special...

  3. 76 FR 65204 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome... Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane...

  4. 75 FR 8373 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute [email protected] . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  5. 77 FR 12604 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. >Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research... review and evaluate contract proposals. Place: National Human Genome Reseach Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane...

  6. 77 FR 22332 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-13

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special.... Agenda: To review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635...

  7. 77 FR 8268 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fisher's Lane, Room 4076, Rockville, MD..., CIDR, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite...

  8. 75 FR 19984 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4075... Nakamura, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research...

  9. 76 FR 28056 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-13

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Counselors, National Human Genome Research Institute. The meeting will be closed to the public as indicated... National Human Genome Research Institute, including consideration of personnel qualifications and...

  10. 76 FR 3642 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

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    2011-01-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research....nih.gov . Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special Emphasis Panel eMERGE...

  11. 76 FR 17930 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-31

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane...

  12. 75 FR 52537 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Initial....nih.gov . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  13. 76 FR 58023 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

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    2011-09-19

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Initial..., Scientific Review Officer, Office of Scientific Review, National Human Genome Research Institute, National...

  14. 76 FR 28056 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

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    2011-05-13

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research... D. Nakamura, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, Office of Scientific Review, National Human Genome...

  15. 75 FR 2148 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

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    2010-01-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Initial....nih.gov . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  16. 77 FR 28888 - National Human Genome Research Institute Notice of Closed Meeting

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    2012-05-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Initial...: To review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, 3635...

  17. 78 FR 70063 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Counselors, National Human Genome Research Institute. The meeting will be closed to the public as indicated... NATIONAL HUMAN GENOME RESEARCH INSTITUTE, including consideration of personnel qualifications and...

  18. 78 FR 9707 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-11

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research... Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4076...

  19. 77 FR 71604 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

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    2012-12-03

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special..., Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635...

  20. 76 FR 5390 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

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    2011-01-31

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute Special Emphasis... Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4076...

  1. 75 FR 13558 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Counselors, National Human Genome Research Institute. The meeting will be closed to the public as indicated... National Human Genome Research Institute, including consideration of personnel qualifications and...

  2. 75 FR 32957 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-10

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... funding cycle. (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  3. 78 FR 14806 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-07

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... p.m. Agenda: To review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research...

  4. 75 FR 53703 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635.... (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of...

  5. About human genome Acerca del genoma humano

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mojica Tobias

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available The sequence ofthe human genome, an undertaking ofadvanced countries, is nearly complete. In fact The Human Genome Project has around 85% ofthe genome sequenced 4 times on the average, with an accuracy of roughly 1 in 1000 nucleotides. Celera Genomics, on the other hand, has 99% of the sequence of one person, with an accuracy of slightly less than 1 in 100. The Human Genome project trives to produce a physical map for public consumption following a step by step strategy, in which the researcher sequences short DNA fragments belonging to Iarger fragments of known relative
    position. Celera Genomics wants to have very rapidly a physical map which can be quickly used to develop genetic tests and drugs, which can be later sold. We feel that the sequence ofthe human genome is something, which will widen the gap between advanced and backward countries.En este artículo se revisan los eventos, alrededor del secuenciamiento del genoma humano, que han llevado a tanta excitación en los medios noticiosos y académicos en meses recientes. Se explican las estrategias que han llevado a que tengamos dos borradores diferentes pero complementarios, la estrategia llevada a cabo con el dinero
    de los contribuyentes que consiste en establecer el orden de fragmentos grandes de DNA antes de ser secuenciados y la estrategia llevada a cabo con dineros aportados por la industria privada, con la intención de explotar gananciosamente el conocimiento derivado del genoma humano. El genoma humano a mediados del año 2000 es
    un borrador incompleto que cubre aliededor del 85% de la secuencia con una precisión de un error en 1000 y el 99% de la secuencia con una precisión menor de 1 en 100 nucleótidos, También se discuten algunas de las posibles avenidas

  6. FR-like EBNA1 binding repeats in the human genome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D'Herouel, Aymeric Fouquier; Birgersdotter, Anna; Werner, Maria

    2010-01-01

    Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is widely spread in the human population. EBV nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1) is a transcription factor that activates viral genes and is necessary for viral replication and partitioning, which binds the EBV genome cooperatively. We identify similar EBNA1 repeat binding sites in the human genome using a nearest-neighbor positional weight matrix. Previously experimentally verified EBNA1 sites in the human genome are successfully recovered by our approach. Most importantly, 40 novel regions are identified in the human genome, constituted of tandemly repeated binding sites for EBNA1. Genes located in the vicinity of these regions are presented as possible targets for EBNA1-mediated regulation. Among these, four are discussed in more detail: IQCB1, IMPG1, IRF2BP2 and TPO. Incorporating the cooperative actions of EBNA1 is essential when identifying regulatory regions in the human genome and we believe the findings presented here are highly valuable for the understanding of EBV-induced phenotypic changes.

  7. 76 FR 19780 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome Research Institute, National... . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program No. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of...

  8. 76 FR 3917 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-21

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4076, MSC 9306, Rockville, MD...

  9. 75 FR 56115 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS...

  10. 76 FR 3643 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Initial... . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of...

  11. 78 FR 24223 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Initial...: To review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome Research Institute, 3rd floor...

  12. 76 FR 35224 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome...). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIR, National Human Genome Research..., [email protected] . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  13. 76 FR 22407 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-21

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special.... (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of...

  14. 75 FR 48977 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome.... Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome Research..., [email protected] . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  15. 77 FR 74676 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-17

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4075, Bethesda.... 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: December 11, 2012. David...

  16. 75 FR 26762 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Initial... . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of...

  17. 75 FR 35821 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Person: Camilla E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome Research [email protected] . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  18. 78 FR 47715 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Person: Camilla E. Day, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome Research [email protected] . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  19. 77 FR 31863 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-30

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special..., Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: May 22, 2012. Jennifer S. Spaeth...

  20. 76 FR 79199 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-21

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome.... Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome Research..., [email protected] . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research...

  1. 76 FR 66731 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-27

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: October 21, 2011...

  2. 76 FR 10909 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4076, MSC..., Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS). Dated: February 18, 2011. Jennifer S. Spaeth...

  3. 75 FR 52538 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Person: Ken D. Nakamura, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome...

  4. 76 FR 35223 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Person: Rudy O. Pozzatti, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome...

  5. 76 FR 36930 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special..., Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: June 17, 2011. Jennifer S. Spaeth...

  6. 77 FR 35991 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4075, Bethesda.... 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: June 8, 2012. Jennifer S...

  7. 77 FR 61770 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-11

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) [[Page 61771...

  8. 76 FR 63932 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: October 7...

  9. 75 FR 8977 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 4076, MSC..., Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: February 18, 2010. Jennifer Spaeth...

  10. 75 FR 67380 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-02

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Review Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane.... (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of...

  11. Unexplored therapeutic opportunities in the human genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oprea, Tudor I; Bologa, Cristian G; Brunak, Søren

    2018-01-01

    A large proportion of biomedical research and the development of therapeutics is focused on a small fraction of the human genome. In a strategic effort to map the knowledge gaps around proteins encoded by the human genome and to promote the exploration of currently understudied, but potentially d...... as well as key drug target classes, including G protein-coupled receptors, protein kinases and ion channels, which illustrate the nature of the unexplored opportunities for biomedical research and therapeutic development....

  12. Body maps on the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherniak, Christopher; Rodriguez-Esteban, Raul

    2013-12-20

    Chromosomes have territories, or preferred locales, in the cell nucleus. When these sites are taken into account, some large-scale structure of the human genome emerges. The synoptic picture is that genes highly expressed in particular topologically compact tissues are not randomly distributed on the genome. Rather, such tissue-specific genes tend to map somatotopically onto the complete chromosome set. They seem to form a "genome homunculus": a multi-dimensional, genome-wide body representation extending across chromosome territories of the entire spermcell nucleus. The antero-posterior axis of the body significantly corresponds to the head-tail axis of the nucleus, and the dorso-ventral body axis to the central-peripheral nucleus axis. This large-scale genomic structure includes thousands of genes. One rationale for a homuncular genome structure would be to minimize connection costs in genetic networks. Somatotopic maps in cerebral cortex have been reported for over a century.

  13. Genome-wide association analysis identifies three new breast cancer susceptibility loci

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ghoussaini, Maya; Fletcher, Olivia; Michailidou, Kyriaki

    2012-01-01

    Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. To date, 22 common breast cancer susceptibility loci have been identified accounting for ∼8% of the heritability of the disease. We attempted to replicate 72 promising associations from two independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS...

  14. Genomic characterization of large heterochromatic gaps in the human genome assembly.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Altemose

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The largest gaps in the human genome assembly correspond to multi-megabase heterochromatic regions composed primarily of two related families of tandem repeats, Human Satellites 2 and 3 (HSat2,3. The abundance of repetitive DNA in these regions challenges standard mapping and assembly algorithms, and as a result, the sequence composition and potential biological functions of these regions remain largely unexplored. Furthermore, existing genomic tools designed to predict consensus-based descriptions of repeat families cannot be readily applied to complex satellite repeats such as HSat2,3, which lack a consistent repeat unit reference sequence. Here we present an alignment-free method to characterize complex satellites using whole-genome shotgun read datasets. Utilizing this approach, we classify HSat2,3 sequences into fourteen subfamilies and predict their chromosomal distributions, resulting in a comprehensive satellite reference database to further enable genomic studies of heterochromatic regions. We also identify 1.3 Mb of non-repetitive sequence interspersed with HSat2,3 across 17 unmapped assembly scaffolds, including eight annotated gene predictions. Finally, we apply our satellite reference database to high-throughput sequence data from 396 males to estimate array size variation of the predominant HSat3 array on the Y chromosome, confirming that satellite array sizes can vary between individuals over an order of magnitude (7 to 98 Mb and further demonstrating that array sizes are distributed differently within distinct Y haplogroups. In summary, we present a novel framework for generating initial reference databases for unassembled genomic regions enriched with complex satellite DNA, and we further demonstrate the utility of these reference databases for studying patterns of sequence variation within human populations.

  15. High-density rhesus macaque oligonucleotide microarray design using early-stage rhesus genome sequence information and human genome annotations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magness Charles L

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Until recently, few genomic reagents specific for non-human primate research have been available. To address this need, we have constructed a macaque-specific high-density oligonucleotide microarray by using highly fragmented low-pass sequence contigs from the rhesus genome project together with the detailed sequence and exon structure of the human genome. Using this method, we designed oligonucleotide probes to over 17,000 distinct rhesus/human gene orthologs and increased by four-fold the number of available genes relative to our first-generation expressed sequence tag (EST-derived array. Results We constructed a database containing 248,000 exon sequences from 23,000 human RefSeq genes and compared each human exon with its best matching sequence in the January 2005 version of the rhesus genome project list of 486,000 DNA contigs. Best matching rhesus exon sequences for each of the 23,000 human genes were then concatenated in the proper order and orientation to produce a rhesus "virtual transcriptome." Microarray probes were designed, one per gene, to the region closest to the 3' untranslated region (UTR of each rhesus virtual transcript. Each probe was compared to a composite rhesus/human transcript database to test for cross-hybridization potential yielding a final probe set representing 18,296 rhesus/human gene orthologs, including transcript variants, and over 17,000 distinct genes. We hybridized mRNA from rhesus brain and spleen to both the EST- and genome-derived microarrays. Besides four-fold greater gene coverage, the genome-derived array also showed greater mean signal intensities for genes present on both arrays. Genome-derived probes showed 99.4% identity when compared to 4,767 rhesus GenBank sequence tag site (STS sequences indicating that early stage low-pass versions of complex genomes are of sufficient quality to yield valuable functional genomic information when combined with finished genome information from

  16. 76 FR 66076 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-25

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Call). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome... Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: October 19...

  17. 78 FR 61851 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-04

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Human Genome Research Institute Special... a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Agenda: To review and evaluate grant applications. Place: National Human Genome...

  18. 75 FR 80509 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Call). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome... Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: December 16...

  19. Association between genomic recurrence risk and well-being among breast cancer patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Retèl, Valesca P; Groothuis-Oudshoorn, Catharina GM; Aaronson, Neil K; Brewer, Noel T; Rutgers, Emiel JT; Harten, Wim H van

    2013-01-01

    Gene expression profiling (GEP) is increasingly used in the rapidly evolving field of personalized medicine. We sought to evaluate the association between GEP-assessed of breast cancer recurrence risk and patients’ well-being. Participants were Dutch women from 10 hospitals being treated for early stage breast cancer who were enrolled in the MINDACT trial (Microarray In Node-negative and 1 to 3 positive lymph node Disease may Avoid ChemoTherapy). As part of the trial, they received a disease recurrence risk estimate based on a 70-gene signature and on standard clinical criteria as scored via a modified version of Adjuvant! Online. /Women completed a questionnaire 6–8 weeks after surgery and after their decision regarding adjuvant chemotherapy. The questionnaire assessed perceived understanding, knowledge, risk perception, satisfaction, distress, cancer worry and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), 6–8 weeks after surgery and decision regarding adjuvant chemotherapy. Women (n = 347, response rate 62%) reported high satisfaction with and a good understanding of the GEP information they received. Women with low risk estimates from both the standard and genomic tests reported the lowest distress levels. Distress was higher predominately among patients who had received high genomic risk estimates, who did not receive genomic risk estimates, or who received conflicting estimates based on genomic and clinical criteria. Cancer worry was highest for patients with higher risk perceptions and lower satisfaction. Patients with concordant high-risk profiles and those for whom such profiles were not available reported lower quality of life. Patients were generally satisfied with the information they received about recurrence risk based on genomic testing. Some types of genomic test results were associated with greater distress levels, but not with cancer worry or HRQoL. ISRCTN: http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN18543567/MINDACT

  20. Actomyosin drives cancer cell nuclear dysmorphia and threatens genome stability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takaki, Tohru; Montagner, Marco; Serres, Murielle P; Le Berre, Maël; Russell, Matt; Collinson, Lucy; Szuhai, Karoly; Howell, Michael; Boulton, Simon J; Sahai, Erik; Petronczki, Mark

    2017-07-24

    Altered nuclear shape is a defining feature of cancer cells. The mechanisms underlying nuclear dysmorphia in cancer remain poorly understood. Here we identify PPP1R12A and PPP1CB, two subunits of the myosin phosphatase complex that antagonizes actomyosin contractility, as proteins safeguarding nuclear integrity. Loss of PPP1R12A or PPP1CB causes nuclear fragmentation, nuclear envelope rupture, nuclear compartment breakdown and genome instability. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of actomyosin contractility restores nuclear architecture and genome integrity in cells lacking PPP1R12A or PPP1CB. We detect actin filaments at nuclear envelope rupture sites and define the Rho-ROCK pathway as the driver of nuclear damage. Lamin A protects nuclei from the impact of actomyosin activity. Blocking contractility increases nuclear circularity in cultured cancer cells and suppresses deformations of xenograft nuclei in vivo. We conclude that actomyosin contractility is a major determinant of nuclear shape and that unrestrained contractility causes nuclear dysmorphia, nuclear envelope rupture and genome instability.

  1. The diploid genome sequence of an individual human.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samuel Levy

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available Presented here is a genome sequence of an individual human. It was produced from approximately 32 million random DNA fragments, sequenced by Sanger dideoxy technology and assembled into 4,528 scaffolds, comprising 2,810 million bases (Mb of contiguous sequence with approximately 7.5-fold coverage for any given region. We developed a modified version of the Celera assembler to facilitate the identification and comparison of alternate alleles within this individual diploid genome. Comparison of this genome and the National Center for Biotechnology Information human reference assembly revealed more than 4.1 million DNA variants, encompassing 12.3 Mb. These variants (of which 1,288,319 were novel included 3,213,401 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, 53,823 block substitutions (2-206 bp, 292,102 heterozygous insertion/deletion events (indels(1-571 bp, 559,473 homozygous indels (1-82,711 bp, 90 inversions, as well as numerous segmental duplications and copy number variation regions. Non-SNP DNA variation accounts for 22% of all events identified in the donor, however they involve 74% of all variant bases. This suggests an important role for non-SNP genetic alterations in defining the diploid genome structure. Moreover, 44% of genes were heterozygous for one or more variants. Using a novel haplotype assembly strategy, we were able to span 1.5 Gb of genome sequence in segments >200 kb, providing further precision to the diploid nature of the genome. These data depict a definitive molecular portrait of a diploid human genome that provides a starting point for future genome comparisons and enables an era of individualized genomic information.

  2. Forces shaping the fastest evolving regions in the human genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pollard, Katherine S; Salama, Sofie R; King, Bryan

    2006-01-01

    Comparative genomics allow us to search the human genome for segments that were extensively changed in the last approximately 5 million years since divergence from our common ancestor with chimpanzee, but are highly conserved in other species and thus are likely to be functional. We found 202...... genomic elements that are highly conserved in vertebrates but show evidence of significantly accelerated substitution rates in human. These are mostly in non-coding DNA, often near genes associated with transcription and DNA binding. Resequencing confirmed that the five most accelerated elements...... contributed to accelerated evolution of the fastest evolving elements in the human genome....

  3. 78 FR 66752 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... National Human Genome Research Institute Special Emphasis Panel, October 15, 2013, 01:00 p.m. to October 15, 2013, 02:30 p.m., National Human Genome Research Institute, 5635 Fishers Lane, Suite 3055, Rockville...

  4. Personal Genomic Testing for Cancer Risk: Results From the Impact of Personal Genomics Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, Stacy W; Gollust, Sarah E; Carere, Deanna Alexis; Chen, Clara A; Cronin, Angel; Kalia, Sarah S; Rana, Huma Q; Ruffin, Mack T; Wang, Catharine; Roberts, J Scott; Green, Robert C

    2017-02-20

    Purpose Significant concerns exist regarding the potential for unwarranted behavior changes and the overuse of health care resources in response to direct-to-consumer personal genomic testing (PGT). However, little is known about customers' behaviors after PGT. Methods Longitudinal surveys were given to new customers of 23andMe (Mountain View, CA) and Pathway Genomics (San Diego, CA). Survey data were linked to individual-level PGT results through a secure data transfer process. Results Of the 1,042 customers who completed baseline and 6-month surveys (response rate, 71.2%), 762 had complete cancer-related data and were analyzed. Most customers reported that learning about their genetic risk of cancers was a motivation for testing (colorectal, 88%; prostate, 95%; breast, 94%). No customers tested positive for pathogenic mutations in highly penetrant cancer susceptibility genes. A minority of individuals received elevated single nucleotide polymorphism-based PGT cancer risk estimates (colorectal, 24%; prostate, 24%; breast, 12%). At 6 months, customers who received elevated PGT cancer risk estimates were not significantly more likely to change their diet, exercise, or advanced planning behaviors or engage in cancer screening, compared with individuals at average or reduced risk. Men who received elevated PGT prostate cancer risk estimates changed their vitamin and supplement use more than those at average or reduced risk (22% v 7.6%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio, 3.41; 95% CI, 1.44 to 8.18). Predictors of 6-month behavior include baseline behavior (exercise, vitamin or supplement use, and screening), worse health status (diet and vitamin or supplement use), and older age (advanced planning, screening). Conclusion Most adults receiving elevated direct-to-consumer PGT single nucleotide polymorphism-based cancer risk estimates did not significantly change their diet, exercise, advanced care planning, or cancer screening behaviors.

  5. Cancer Genome Interpreter annotates the biological and clinical relevance of tumor alterations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamborero, David; Rubio-Perez, Carlota; Deu-Pons, Jordi; Schroeder, Michael P; Vivancos, Ana; Rovira, Ana; Tusquets, Ignasi; Albanell, Joan; Rodon, Jordi; Tabernero, Josep; de Torres, Carmen; Dienstmann, Rodrigo; Gonzalez-Perez, Abel; Lopez-Bigas, Nuria

    2018-03-28

    While tumor genome sequencing has become widely available in clinical and research settings, the interpretation of tumor somatic variants remains an important bottleneck. Here we present the Cancer Genome Interpreter, a versatile platform that automates the interpretation of newly sequenced cancer genomes, annotating the potential of alterations detected in tumors to act as drivers and their possible effect on treatment response. The results are organized in different levels of evidence according to current knowledge, which we envision can support a broad range of oncology use cases. The resource is publicly available at http://www.cancergenomeinterpreter.org .

  6. Inferring causal genomic alterations in breast cancer using gene expression data

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background One of the primary objectives in cancer research is to identify causal genomic alterations, such as somatic copy number variation (CNV) and somatic mutations, during tumor development. Many valuable studies lack genomic data to detect CNV; therefore, methods that are able to infer CNVs from gene expression data would help maximize the value of these studies. Results We developed a framework for identifying recurrent regions of CNV and distinguishing the cancer driver genes from the passenger genes in the regions. By inferring CNV regions across many datasets we were able to identify 109 recurrent amplified/deleted CNV regions. Many of these regions are enriched for genes involved in many important processes associated with tumorigenesis and cancer progression. Genes in these recurrent CNV regions were then examined in the context of gene regulatory networks to prioritize putative cancer driver genes. The cancer driver genes uncovered by the framework include not only well-known oncogenes but also a number of novel cancer susceptibility genes validated via siRNA experiments. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first effort to systematically identify and validate drivers for expression based CNV regions in breast cancer. The framework where the wavelet analysis of copy number alteration based on expression coupled with the gene regulatory network analysis, provides a blueprint for leveraging genomic data to identify key regulatory components and gene targets. This integrative approach can be applied to many other large-scale gene expression studies and other novel types of cancer data such as next-generation sequencing based expression (RNA-Seq) as well as CNV data. PMID:21806811

  7. Whole-genome and Transcriptome Sequencing of Prostate Cancer Identify New Genetic Alterations Driving Disease Progression

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ren, Shancheng; Wei, Gong-Hong; Liu, Dongbing

    2018-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Global disparities in prostate cancer (PCa) incidence highlight the urgent need to identify genomic abnormalities in prostate tumors in different ethnic populations including Asian men. OBJECTIVE: To systematically explore the genomic complexity and define disease-driven genetic......-scale and comprehensive genomic data of prostate cancer from Asian population. Identification of these genetic alterations may help advance prostate cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment....... alterations in PCa. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The study sequenced whole-genome and transcriptome of tumor-benign paired tissues from 65 treatment-naive Chinese PCa patients. Subsequent targeted deep sequencing of 293 PCa-relevant genes was performed in another cohort of 145 prostate tumors. OUTCOME...

  8. Telomeres and genomic damage repair. Their implication in human pathology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perez, Maria del R.; Dubner, Diana; Michelin, Severino; Gisone, Pablo; Carosella, Edgardo D.

    2002-01-01

    Telomeres, functional complexed that protect eukaryotic chromosome ends, participate in the regulation of cell proliferation and could play a role in the stabilization of genomic regions in response to genotoxic stress. Their significance in human pathology becomes evident in several diseases sharing genomic instability as a common trait, in which alterations of the telomere metabolism have been demonstrated. Many of them are also associated with hypersensitivity to ionizing radiation and cancer susceptibility. Besides the specific proteins belonging to the telomeric complex, other proteins involved in the DNA repair machinery, such as ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, PARP/tankyrase system, DNA-PK and RAD50-MRE11-NBS1 complexes, are closely related with the telomere. This suggests that the telomere sequesters DNA repair proteins for its own structure maintenance, with could also be released toward damaged sites in the genomic DNA. This communication describes essential aspects of telomere structure and function and their links with homologous recombination, non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ), V(D)J system and mismatch-repair (MMR). Several pathological conditions exhibiting alterations in some of these mechanisms are also considered. The cell response to ionizing radiation and its relationship with the telomeric metabolism is particularly taken into account as a model for studying genotoxicity. (author)

  9. Altered mitochondrial genome content signals worse pathology and prognosis in prostate cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalsbeek, Anton M F; Chan, Eva K F; Grogan, Judith; Petersen, Desiree C; Jaratlerdsiri, Weerachai; Gupta, Ruta; Lyons, Ruth J; Haynes, Anne-Maree; Horvath, Lisa G; Kench, James G; Stricker, Phillip D; Hayes, Vanessa M

    2018-01-01

    Mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) content is depleted in many cancers. In prostate cancer, there is intra-glandular as well as inter-patient mtDNA copy number variation. In this study, we determine if mtDNA content can be used as a predictor for prostate cancer staging and outcomes. Fresh prostate cancer biopsies from 115 patients were obtained at time of surgery. All cores underwent pathological review, followed by isolation of cancer and normal tissue. DNA was extracted and qPCR performed to quantify the total amount of mtDNA as a ratio to genomic DNA. Differences in mtDNA content were compared for prostate cancer pathology features and disease outcomes. We showed a significantly reduced mtDNA content in prostate cancer compared with normal adjacent prostate tissue (mean difference 1.73-fold, P-value Prostate cancer with increased mtDNA content showed unfavorable pathologic characteristics including, higher disease stage (PT2 vs PT3 P-value = 0.018), extracapsular extension (P-value = 0.02) and a trend toward an increased Gleason score (P-value = 0.064). No significant association was observed between changes in mtDNA content and biochemical recurrence (median follow up of 107 months). Contrary to other cancer types, prostate cancer tissue shows no universally depleted mtDNA content. Rather, the change in mtDNA content is highly variable, mirroring known prostate cancer genome heterogeneity. Patients with high mtDNA content have an unfavorable pathology, while a high mtDNA content in normal adjacent prostate tissue is associated with worse prognosis. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Enhancing knowledge discovery from cancer genomics data with Galaxy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albuquerque, Marco A; Grande, Bruno M; Ritch, Elie J; Pararajalingam, Prasath; Jessa, Selin; Krzywinski, Martin; Grewal, Jasleen K; Shah, Sohrab P; Boutros, Paul C; Morin, Ryan D

    2017-05-01

    The field of cancer genomics has demonstrated the power of massively parallel sequencing techniques to inform on the genes and specific alterations that drive tumor onset and progression. Although large comprehensive sequence data sets continue to be made increasingly available, data analysis remains an ongoing challenge, particularly for laboratories lacking dedicated resources and bioinformatics expertise. To address this, we have produced a collection of Galaxy tools that represent many popular algorithms for detecting somatic genetic alterations from cancer genome and exome data. We developed new methods for parallelization of these tools within Galaxy to accelerate runtime and have demonstrated their usability and summarized their runtimes on multiple cloud service providers. Some tools represent extensions or refinement of existing toolkits to yield visualizations suited to cohort-wide cancer genomic analysis. For example, we present Oncocircos and Oncoprintplus, which generate data-rich summaries of exome-derived somatic mutation. Workflows that integrate these to achieve data integration and visualizations are demonstrated on a cohort of 96 diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and enabled the discovery of multiple candidate lymphoma-related genes. Our toolkit is available from our GitHub repository as Galaxy tool and dependency definitions and has been deployed using virtualization on multiple platforms including Docker. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  11. 75 FR 44800 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... for Human Genome Research. The meeting will be closed to the public in accordance with the provisions... Committee: National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research. Date: August 18, 2010. Time: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m...

  12. Conditional Selection of Genomic Alterations Dictates Cancer Evolution and Oncogenic Dependencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mina, Marco; Raynaud, Franck; Tavernari, Daniele; Battistello, Elena; Sungalee, Stephanie; Saghafinia, Sadegh; Laessle, Titouan; Sanchez-Vega, Francisco; Schultz, Nikolaus; Oricchio, Elisa; Ciriello, Giovanni

    2017-08-14

    Cancer evolves through the emergence and selection of molecular alterations. Cancer genome profiling has revealed that specific events are more or less likely to be co-selected, suggesting that the selection of one event depends on the others. However, the nature of these evolutionary dependencies and their impact remain unclear. Here, we designed SELECT, an algorithmic approach to systematically identify evolutionary dependencies from alteration patterns. By analyzing 6,456 genomes from multiple tumor types, we constructed a map of oncogenic dependencies associated with cellular pathways, transcriptional readouts, and therapeutic response. Finally, modeling of cancer evolution shows that alteration dependencies emerge only under conditional selection. These results provide a framework for the design of strategies to predict cancer progression and therapeutic response. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Automated whole-genome multiple alignment of rat, mouse, and human

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brudno, Michael; Poliakov, Alexander; Salamov, Asaf; Cooper, Gregory M.; Sidow, Arend; Rubin, Edward M.; Solovyev, Victor; Batzoglou, Serafim; Dubchak, Inna

    2004-07-04

    We have built a whole genome multiple alignment of the three currently available mammalian genomes using a fully automated pipeline which combines the local/global approach of the Berkeley Genome Pipeline and the LAGAN program. The strategy is based on progressive alignment, and consists of two main steps: (1) alignment of the mouse and rat genomes; and (2) alignment of human to either the mouse-rat alignments from step 1, or the remaining unaligned mouse and rat sequences. The resulting alignments demonstrate high sensitivity, with 87% of all human gene-coding areas aligned in both mouse and rat. The specificity is also high: <7% of the rat contigs are aligned to multiple places in human and 97% of all alignments with human sequence > 100kb agree with a three-way synteny map built independently using predicted exons in the three genomes. At the nucleotide level <1% of the rat nucleotides are mapped to multiple places in the human sequence in the alignment; and 96.5% of human nucleotides within all alignments agree with the synteny map. The alignments are publicly available online, with visualization through the novel Multi-VISTA browser that we also present.

  14. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Identification of Therapeutic Targets in KRAS Driven Lung Cancer | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    The CTD2 Center at Dana Farber Cancer Institute focuses on the use of high-throughput genetic and bioinformatic approaches to identify and credential oncogenes and co-dependencies in cancers. This Center aims to provide the cancer research community with information that will facilitate the prioritization of targets based on both genomic and functional evidence, inform the most appropriate genetic context for downstream mechanistic and validation studies, and enable the translation of this information into therapeutics and diagnostics.

  15. Implications of the Human Genome Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kitcher, P.

    1998-11-01

    The Human Genome Project (HGP), launched in 1991, aims to map and sequence the human genome by 2006. During the fifteen-year life of the project, it is projected that $3 billion in federal funds will be allocated to it. The ultimate aims of spending this money are to analyze the structure of human DNA, to identify all human genes, to recognize the functions of those genes, and to prepare for the biology and medicine of the twenty-first century. The following summary examines some of the implications of the program, concentrating on its scientific import and on the ethical and social problems that it raises. Its aim is to expose principles that might be used in applying the information which the HGP will generate. There is no attempt here to translate the principles into detailed proposals for legislation. Arguments and discussion can be found in the full report, but, like this summary, that report does not contain any legislative proposals.

  16. The Genomic and Proteomic Content of Cancer Cell-Derived Exosomes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henderson, Meredith C.; Azorsa, David O.

    2012-01-01

    Exosomes are secreted membrane vesicles that have been proposed as an effective means to detect a variety of disease states, including cancer. The properties of exosomes, including stability in biological fluids, allow for their efficient isolation and make them an ideal vehicle for studies on early disease detection and evaluation. Much data has been collected over recent years regarding the messenger RNA, microRNA, and protein contents of exosomes. In addition, many studies have described the functional role that exosomes play in disease initiation and progression. Tumor cells have been shown to secrete exosomes, often in increased amounts compared to normal cells, and these exosomes can carry the genomic and proteomic signatures characteristic of the tumor cells from which they were derived. While these unique signatures make exosomes ideal for cancer detection, exosomes derived from cancer cells have also been shown to play a functional role in cancer progression. Here, we review the unique genomic and proteomic contents of exosomes originating from cancer cells as well as their functional effects to promote tumor progression.

  17. Centrosome Dysfunction Contributes To Chromosome Instability, Chromoanagenesis And Genome Reprograming In Cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    German A Pihan

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The unique ability of centrosomes to nucleate and organize microtubules makes them unrivaled conductors of important interphase processes, such as intracellular payload traffic, cell polarity, cell locomotion, and organization of the immunologic synapse. But it is in mitosis that centrosomes loom large, for they orchestrate, with clockmaker’s precision, the assembly and functioning of the mitotic spindle, ensuring the equal partitioning of the replicated genome into daughter cells. Centrosome dysfunction is inextricably linked to aneuploidy and chromosome instability, both hallmarks of cancer cells. Several aspects of centrosome function in normal and cancer cells have been molecularly characterized during the last two decades, greatly enhancing our mechanistic understanding of this tiny organelle. Whether centrosome defects alone can cause cancer, remains unanswered. Until recently, the aggregate of the evidence had suggested that centrosome dysfunction, by deregulating the fidelity of chromosome segregation, promotes and accelerates the characteristic Darwinian evolution of the cancer genome enabled by increased mutational load and/or decreased DNA repair. Very recent experimental work has shown that missegreated chromosomes resulting from centrosome dysfunction may experience extensive DNA damage, suggesting additional dimensions to the role of centrosomes in cancer. Centrosome dysfunction is particularly prevalent in tumors in which the genome has undergone extensive structural rearrangements and chromosome domain reshuffling. Ongoing gene reshuffling reprograms the genome for continuous growth, survival, and evasion of the immune system. Manipulation of molecular networks controlling centrosome function may soon become a viable target for specific therapeutic intervention in cancer, particularly since normal cells, which lack centrosome alterations, may be spared the toxicity of such therapies.

  18. Human papillomavirus detection in paraffin-embedded colorectal cancer tissues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanzi, Elisabetta; Bianchi, Silvia; Frati, Elena R; Amicizia, Daniela; Martinelli, Marianna; Bragazzi, Nicola L; Brisigotti, Maria Pia; Colzani, Daniela; Fasoli, Ester; Zehender, Gianguglielmo; Panatto, Donatella; Gasparini, Roberto

    2015-01-01

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) has a well-recognized aetiological role in the development of cervical cancer and other anogenital tumours. Recently, an association between colorectal cancer and HPV infection has been suggested, although this is still controversial. This study aimed at detecting and characterizing HPV infection in 57 paired biopsies from colorectal cancers and adjacent intact tissues using a degenerate PCR approach. All amplified fragments were genotyped by means of sequencing. Overall, HPV prevalence was 12.3 %. In particular, 15.8 % of tumour tissues and 8.8 % of non-cancerous tissue samples were HPV DNA-positive. Of these samples, 85.7 % were genotyped successfully, with 41.7 % of sequences identifying four genotypes of the HR (high oncogenic risk) clade Group 1; the remaining 58.3 % of HPV-genotyped specimens had an unclassified β-HPV. Examining additional cases and analysing whole genomes will help to outline the significance of these findings.

  19. Integrated Genomic Analysis of the Ubiquitin Pathway across Cancer Types

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhongqi Ge

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Protein ubiquitination is a dynamic and reversible process of adding single ubiquitin molecules or various ubiquitin chains to target proteins. Here, using multidimensional omic data of 9,125 tumor samples across 33 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas, we perform comprehensive molecular characterization of 929 ubiquitin-related genes and 95 deubiquitinase genes. Among them, we systematically identify top somatic driver candidates, including mutated FBXW7 with cancer-type-specific patterns and amplified MDM2 showing a mutually exclusive pattern with BRAF mutations. Ubiquitin pathway genes tend to be upregulated in cancer mediated by diverse mechanisms. By integrating pan-cancer multiomic data, we identify a group of tumor samples that exhibit worse prognosis. These samples are consistently associated with the upregulation of cell-cycle and DNA repair pathways, characterized by mutated TP53, MYC/TERT amplification, and APC/PTEN deletion. Our analysis highlights the importance of the ubiquitin pathway in cancer development and lays a foundation for developing relevant therapeutic strategies. : Ge et al. analyze a cohort of 9,125 TCGA samples across 33 cancer types to provide a comprehensive characterization of the ubiquitin pathway. They detect somatic driver candidates in the ubiquitin pathway and identify a cluster of patients with poor survival, highlighting the importance of this pathway in cancer development. Keywords: ubiquitin pathway, pan-cancer analysis, The Cancer Genome Atlas, tumor subtype, cancer prognosis, therapeutic targets, biomarker, FBXW7

  20. An integrated clinical and genomic information system for cancer precision medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Yeongjun; Choi, Taekjin; Kim, Jongho; Park, Jisub; Seo, Jihae; Kim, Sangok; Kwon, Yeajee; Lee, Seungjae; Lee, Sanghyuk

    2018-04-20

    Increasing affordability of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has created an opportunity for realizing genomically-informed personalized cancer therapy as a path to precision oncology. However, the complex nature of genomic information presents a huge challenge for clinicians in interpreting the patient's genomic alterations and selecting the optimum approved or investigational therapy. An elaborate and practical information system is urgently needed to support clinical decision as well as to test clinical hypotheses quickly. Here, we present an integrated clinical and genomic information system (CGIS) based on NGS data analyses. Major components include modules for handling clinical data, NGS data processing, variant annotation and prioritization, drug-target-pathway analysis, and population cohort explorer. We built a comprehensive knowledgebase of genes, variants, drugs by collecting annotated information from public and in-house resources. Structured reports for molecular pathology are generated using standardized terminology in order to help clinicians interpret genomic variants and utilize them for targeted cancer therapy. We also implemented many features useful for testing hypotheses to develop prognostic markers from mutation and gene expression data. Our CGIS software is an attempt to provide useful information for both clinicians and scientists who want to explore genomic information for precision oncology.

  1. Genomic dysregulation in gastric tumors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janjigian, Yelena Y; Kelsen, David P

    2013-03-01

    Gastric cancer is among the most common human malignancies and the second leading cause of cancer-related death. The different epidemiologic and histopathology of subtypes of gastric cancer are associated with different genomic patterns. Data suggests that gene expression patterns of proximal, distal gastric cancers-intestinal type, and diffuse/signet cell are well separated. This review summarizes the genetic and epigenetic changes thought to drive gastric cancer and the emerging paradigm of gastric cancer as three unique disease subtypes. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. HCMI Organization | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Consortium The Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI) was created and funded by the US National Cancer Institute, Cancer Research UK, the foundation Hubrecht Organoid Technology, and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Together, these organizations develop policy and make programmatic decisions to contribute to the function of the HCMI. National Cancer Institute

  3. Genome editing: a robust technology for human stem cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandrasekaran, Arun Pandian; Song, Minjung; Ramakrishna, Suresh

    2017-09-01

    Human pluripotent stem cells comprise induced pluripotent and embryonic stem cells, which have tremendous potential for biological and therapeutic applications. The development of efficient technologies for the targeted genome alteration of stem cells in disease models is a prerequisite for utilizing stem cells to their full potential. Genome editing of stem cells is possible with the help of synthetic nucleases that facilitate site-specific modification of a gene of interest. Recent advances in genome editing techniques have improved the efficiency and speed of the development of stem cells for human disease models. Zinc finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated system are powerful tools for editing DNA at specific loci. Here, we discuss recent technological advances in genome editing with site-specific nucleases in human stem cells.

  4. Comparison of phasing strategies for whole human genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Yongwook; Chan, Agnes P; Kirkness, Ewen; Telenti, Amalio; Schork, Nicholas J

    2018-04-01

    Humans are a diploid species that inherit one set of chromosomes paternally and one homologous set of chromosomes maternally. Unfortunately, most human sequencing initiatives ignore this fact in that they do not directly delineate the nucleotide content of the maternal and paternal copies of the 23 chromosomes individuals possess (i.e., they do not 'phase' the genome) often because of the costs and complexities of doing so. We compared 11 different widely-used approaches to phasing human genomes using the publicly available 'Genome-In-A-Bottle' (GIAB) phased version of the NA12878 genome as a gold standard. The phasing strategies we compared included laboratory-based assays that prepare DNA in unique ways to facilitate phasing as well as purely computational approaches that seek to reconstruct phase information from general sequencing reads and constructs or population-level haplotype frequency information obtained through a reference panel of haplotypes. To assess the performance of the 11 approaches, we used metrics that included, among others, switch error rates, haplotype block lengths, the proportion of fully phase-resolved genes, phasing accuracy and yield between pairs of SNVs. Our comparisons suggest that a hybrid or combined approach that leverages: 1. population-based phasing using the SHAPEIT software suite, 2. either genome-wide sequencing read data or parental genotypes, and 3. a large reference panel of variant and haplotype frequencies, provides a fast and efficient way to produce highly accurate phase-resolved individual human genomes. We found that for population-based approaches, phasing performance is enhanced with the addition of genome-wide read data; e.g., whole genome shotgun and/or RNA sequencing reads. Further, we found that the inclusion of parental genotype data within a population-based phasing strategy can provide as much as a ten-fold reduction in phasing errors. We also considered a majority voting scheme for the construction of a

  5. Genome Editing in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlson-Stevermer, Jared; Saha, Krishanu

    2017-01-01

    Genome editing in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) enables the generation of reporter lines and knockout cell lines. Zinc finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and CRISPR/Cas9 technology have recently increased the efficiency of proper gene editing by creating double strand breaks (DSB) at defined sequences in the human genome. These systems typically use plasmids to transiently transcribe nucleases within the cell. Here, we describe the process for preparing hPSCs for transient expression of nucleases via electroporation and subsequent analysis to create genetically modified stem cell lines.

  6. Radiation hybrid mapping as one of the main methods of the creation of high resolution maps of human and animal genomes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sulimova, G.E.; Kompanijtsev, A.A.; Mojsyak, E.V.; Rakhmanaliev, Eh.R.; Klimov, E.A.; Udina, I.G.; Zakharov, I.A.

    2000-01-01

    Radiation hybrid mapping (RH mapping) is considered as one of the main method of constructing physical maps of mammalian genomes. In introduction, theoretical prerequisites of developing of the RH mapping and statistical methods of data analysis are discussed. Comparative characteristics of universal commercial panels of the radiation hybrid somatic cells (RH panels) are shown. In experimental part of the work, RH mapping is used to localize nucleotide sequences adjacent to Not I sites of human chromosome 3 with the aim to integrate contig map of Nor I clones to comprehensive maps of human genome. Five nucleotide sequences adjacent to the sites of integration of papilloma virus in human genome and expressed in the cells of cervical cancer involved localized. It is demonstrated that the region 13q14.3-q21.1 was enriched with nucleotide sequences involved in the processes of carcinogenesis. RH mapping can be considered as one of the most perspective applications of modern radiation biology in the field of molecular genetics, that is, in constructing physical maps of mammalian genomes with high resolution level [ru

  7. Sequence space coverage, entropy of genomes and the potential to detect non-human DNA in human samples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maley Carlo C

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genomes store information for building and maintaining organisms. Complete sequencing of many genomes provides the opportunity to study and compare global information properties of those genomes. Results We have analyzed aspects of the information content of Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Arabidopsis thaliana, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Escherichia coli (K-12 genomes. Virtually all possible (> 98% 12 bp oligomers appear in vertebrate genomes while 98% to D. melanogaster (12–17 bp, C. elegans (11–17 bp, A. thaliana (11–17 bp, S. cerevisiae (10–16 bp and E. coli (9–15 bp. Frequencies of unique oligomers in the genomes follow similar patterns. We identified a set of 2.6 M 15-mers that are more than 1 nucleotide different from all 15-mers in the human genome and so could be used as probes to detect microbes in human samples. In a human sample, these probes would detect 100% of the 433 currently fully sequenced prokaryotes and 75% of the 3065 fully sequenced viruses. The human genome is significantly more compact in sequence space than a random genome. We identified the most frequent 5- to 20-mers in the human genome, which may prove useful as PCR primers. We also identified a bacterium, Anaeromyxobacter dehalogenans, which has an exceptionally low diversity of oligomers given the size of its genome and its GC content. The entropy of coding regions in the human genome is significantly higher than non-coding regions and chromosomes. However chromosomes 1, 2, 9, 12 and 14 have a relatively high proportion of coding DNA without high entropy, and chromosome 20 is the opposite with a low frequency of coding regions but relatively high entropy. Conclusion Measures of the frequency of oligomers are useful for designing PCR assays and for identifying chromosomes and organisms with hidden structure that had not been previously recognized. This information may be used to detect

  8. Sequence space coverage, entropy of genomes and the potential to detect non-human DNA in human samples

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhandong; Venkatesh, Santosh S; Maley, Carlo C

    2008-01-01

    Background Genomes store information for building and maintaining organisms. Complete sequencing of many genomes provides the opportunity to study and compare global information properties of those genomes. Results We have analyzed aspects of the information content of Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Arabidopsis thaliana, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Escherichia coli (K-12) genomes. Virtually all possible (> 98%) 12 bp oligomers appear in vertebrate genomes while 98% to < 2% of possible oligomers in D. melanogaster (12–17 bp), C. elegans (11–17 bp), A. thaliana (11–17 bp), S. cerevisiae (10–16 bp) and E. coli (9–15 bp). Frequencies of unique oligomers in the genomes follow similar patterns. We identified a set of 2.6 M 15-mers that are more than 1 nucleotide different from all 15-mers in the human genome and so could be used as probes to detect microbes in human samples. In a human sample, these probes would detect 100% of the 433 currently fully sequenced prokaryotes and 75% of the 3065 fully sequenced viruses. The human genome is significantly more compact in sequence space than a random genome. We identified the most frequent 5- to 20-mers in the human genome, which may prove useful as PCR primers. We also identified a bacterium, Anaeromyxobacter dehalogenans, which has an exceptionally low diversity of oligomers given the size of its genome and its GC content. The entropy of coding regions in the human genome is significantly higher than non-coding regions and chromosomes. However chromosomes 1, 2, 9, 12 and 14 have a relatively high proportion of coding DNA without high entropy, and chromosome 20 is the opposite with a low frequency of coding regions but relatively high entropy. Conclusion Measures of the frequency of oligomers are useful for designing PCR assays and for identifying chromosomes and organisms with hidden structure that had not been previously recognized. This information may be used to

  9. Human papillomavirus genome integration in squamous carcinogenesis: what have next-generation sequencing studies taught us?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groves, Ian J; Coleman, Nicholas

    2018-05-01

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with ∼5% of all human cancers, including a range of squamous cell carcinomas. Persistent infection by high-risk HPVs (HRHPVs) is associated with the integration of virus genomes (which are usually stably maintained as extrachromosomal episomes) into host chromosomes. Although HRHPV integration rates differ across human sites of infection, this process appears to be an important event in HPV-associated neoplastic progression, leading to deregulation of virus oncogene expression, host gene expression modulation, and further genomic instability. However, the mechanisms by which HRHPV integration occur and by which the subsequent gene expression changes take place are incompletely understood. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) of both RNA and DNA has allowed powerful interrogation of the association of HRHPVs with human disease, including precise determination of the sites of integration and the genomic rearrangements at integration loci. In turn, these data have indicated that integration occurs through two main mechanisms: looping integration and direct insertion. Improved understanding of integration sites is allowing further investigation of the factors that provide a competitive advantage to some integrants during disease progression. Furthermore, advanced approaches to the generation of genome-wide samples have given novel insights into the three-dimensional interactions within the nucleus, which could act as another layer of epigenetic control of both virus and host transcription. It is hoped that further advances in NGS techniques and analysis will not only allow the examination of further unanswered questions regarding HPV infection, but also direct new approaches to treating HPV-associated human disease. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John

  10. Genomic research perspectives in Kazakhstan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ainur Akilzhanova

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Technological advancements rapidly propel the field of genome research. Advances in genetics and genomics such as the sequence of the human genome, the human haplotype map, open access databases, cheaper genotyping and chemical genomics, have transformed basic and translational biomedical research. Several projects in the field of genomic and personalized medicine have been conducted at the Center for Life Sciences in Nazarbayev University. The prioritized areas of research include: genomics of multifactorial diseases, cancer genomics, bioinformatics, genetics of infectious diseases and population genomics. At present, DNA-based risk assessment for common complex diseases, application of molecular signatures for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, genome-guided therapy, and dose selection of therapeutic drugs are the important issues in personalized medicine. Results: To further develop genomic and biomedical projects at Center for Life Sciences, the development of bioinformatics research and infrastructure and the establishment of new collaborations in the field are essential. Widespread use of genetic tools will allow the identification of diseases before the onset of clinical symptoms, the individualization of drug treatment, and could induce individual behavioral changes on the basis of calculated disease risk. However, many challenges remain for the successful translation of genomic knowledge and technologies into health advances, such as medicines and diagnostics. It is important to integrate research and education in the fields of genomics, personalized medicine, and bioinformatics, which will be possible with opening of the new Medical Faculty at Nazarbayev University. People in practice and training need to be educated about the key concepts of genomics and engaged so they can effectively apply their knowledge in a matter that will bring the era of genomic medicine to patient care. This requires the development of well

  11. [Current advances and future prospects of genome editing technology in the field of biomedicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakuma, Tetsushi

    Genome editing technology can alter the genomic sequence at will, contributing the creation of cellular and animal models of human diseases including hereditary disorders and cancers, and the generation of the mutation-corrected human induced pluripotent stem cells for ex vivo regenerative medicine. In addition, novel approaches such as drug development using genome-wide CRISPR screening and cancer suppression using epigenome editing technology, which can change the epigenetic modifications in a site-specific manner, have also been conducted. In this article, I summarize the current advances and future prospects of genome editing technology in the field of biomedicine.

  12. Genetic Alterations in the Molecular Subtypes of Bladder Cancer: Illustration in the Cancer Genome Atlas Dataset.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Woonyoung; Ochoa, Andrea; McConkey, David J; Aine, Mattias; Höglund, Mattias; Kim, William Y; Real, Francisco X; Kiltie, Anne E; Milsom, Ian; Dyrskjøt, Lars; Lerner, Seth P

    2017-09-01

    Recent whole genome mRNA expression profiling studies revealed that bladder cancers can be grouped into molecular subtypes, some of which share clinical properties and gene expression patterns with the intrinsic subtypes of breast cancer and the molecular subtypes found in other solid tumors. The molecular subtypes in other solid tumors are enriched with specific mutations and copy number aberrations that are thought to underlie their distinct progression patterns, and biological and clinical properties. The availability of comprehensive genomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and other large projects made it possible to correlate the presence of DNA alterations with tumor molecular subtype membership. Our overall goal was to determine whether specific DNA mutations and/or copy number variations are enriched in specific molecular subtypes. We used the complete TCGA RNA-seq dataset and three different published classifiers developed by our groups to assign TCGA's bladder cancers to molecular subtypes, and examined the prevalence of the most common DNA alterations within them. We interpreted the results against the background of what was known from the published literature about the prevalence of these alterations in nonmuscle-invasive and muscle-invasive bladder cancers. The results confirmed that alterations involving RB1 and NFE2L2 were enriched in basal cancers, whereas alterations involving FGFR3 and KDM6A were enriched in luminal tumors. The results further reinforce the conclusion that the molecular subtypes of bladder cancer are distinct disease entities with specific genetic alterations. Our observation showed that some of subtype-enriched mutations and copy number aberrations are clinically actionable, which has direct implications for the clinical management of patients with bladder cancer. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Maintaining Genome Stability: The Role of Helicases and Deaminases

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-07-01

    Errors in duplicating DNA can result in genomic instability, leading to various human diseases, such as cancer, immune system disorder, muscle dystrophy ...as cancer, immune system disorder, muscle dystrophy , and neurodegenerations. Thus, maintaining genomic integrity is vital to the normal growth of...31–38. Eberharter, A., R. Ferreira and P. Becker , 2005 Dynamic chro- matin: concerted nucleosome remodelling and acetylation. Biol. Chem. 386: 745

  14. Functional annotation of rare gene aberration drivers of pancreatic cancer | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    As we enter the era of precision medicine, characterization of cancer genomes will directly influence therapeutic decisions in the clinic. Here we describe a platform enabling functionalization of rare gene mutations through their high-throughput construction, molecular barcoding and delivery to cancer models for in vivo tumour driver screens. We apply these technologies to identify oncogenic drivers of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

  15. Ornithine decarboxylase antizyme induces hypomethylation of genome DNA and histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2 in human oral cancer cell line.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daisuke Yamamoto

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Methylation of CpG islands of genome DNA and lysine residues of histone H3 and H4 tails regulates gene transcription. Inhibition of polyamine synthesis by ornithine decarboxylase antizyme-1 (OAZ in human oral cancer cell line resulted in accumulation of decarboxylated S-adenosylmethionine (dcSAM, which acts as a competitive inhibitor of methylation reactions. We anticipated that accumulation of dcSAM impaired methylation reactions and resulted in hypomethylation of genome DNA and histone tails.Global methylation state of genome DNA and lysine residues of histone H3 and H4 tails were assayed by Methylation by Isoschizomers (MIAMI method and western blotting, respectively, in the presence or absence of OAZ expression. Ectopic expression of OAZ mediated hypomethylation of CpG islands of genome DNA and histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2. Protein level of DNA methyltransferase 3B (DNMT3B and histone H3K9me specific methyltransferase G9a were down-regulated in OAZ transfectant.OAZ induced hypomethylation of CpG islands of global genome DNA and H3K9me2 by down-regulating DNMT3B and G9a protein level. Hypomethylation of CpG islands of genome DNA and histone H3K9me2 is a potent mechanism of induction of the genes related to tumor suppression and DNA double strand break repair.

  16. PBX1 Genomic Pioneer Function Drives ERα Signaling Underlying Progression in Breast Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magnani, Luca; Ballantyne, Elizabeth B.; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Lupien, Mathieu

    2011-01-01

    Altered transcriptional programs are a hallmark of diseases, yet how these are established is still ill-defined. PBX1 is a TALE homeodomain protein involved in the development of different types of cancers. The estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is central to the development of two-thirds of all breast cancers. Here we demonstrate that PBX1 acts as a pioneer factor and is essential for the ERα-mediated transcriptional response driving aggressive tumors in breast cancer. Indeed, PBX1 expression correlates with ERα in primary breast tumors, and breast cancer cells depleted of PBX1 no longer proliferate following estrogen stimulation. Profiling PBX1 recruitment and chromatin accessibility across the genome of breast cancer cells through ChIP-seq and FAIRE-seq reveals that PBX1 is loaded and promotes chromatin openness at specific genomic locations through its capacity to read specific epigenetic signatures. Accordingly, PBX1 guides ERα recruitment to a specific subset of sites. Expression profiling studies demonstrate that PBX1 controls over 70% of the estrogen response. More importantly, the PBX1-dependent transcriptional program is associated with poor-outcome in breast cancer patients. Correspondingly, PBX1 expression alone can discriminate a priori the outcome in ERα-positive breast cancer patients. These features are markedly different from the previously characterized ERα-associated pioneer factor FoxA1. Indeed, PBX1 is the only pioneer factor identified to date that discriminates outcome such as metastasis in ERα-positive breast cancer patients. Together our results reveal that PBX1 is a novel pioneer factor defining aggressive ERα-positive breast tumors, as it guides ERα genomic activity to unique genomic regions promoting a transcriptional program favorable to breast cancer progression. PMID:22125492

  17. Integration and comparison of different genomic data for outcome prediction in cancer

    OpenAIRE

    Gomez Rueda, Hugo; Martínez Ledesma, Emmanuel; Martínez Torteya, Antonio; Palacios Corona, Rebeca; Treviño, Victor

    2005-01-01

    Background In cancer, large-scale technologies such as next-generation sequencing and microarrays have produced a wide number of genomic features such as DNA copy number alterations (CNA), mRNA expression (EXPR), microRNA expression (MIRNA), and DNA somatic mutations (MUT), among others. Several analyses of a specific type of these genomic data have generated many prognostic biomarkers in cancer. However, it is uncertain which of these data is more powerful and whether the best data-type is c...

  18. The national cancer institute (NCI) and cancer biology in a 'post genome world'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klausner, Richard D.

    1996-01-01

    The National Cancer Institute (NCI) exists to reduce the burden of all cancers through research and discovery. Extensive restructuring of the NCI over the past year has been aimed at assuring that the institution functions in all ways to promote opportunities for discovery in the laboratory, in the clinic, and in the community. To do this well requires the difficult and almost paradoxical problem of planning for scientific discovery which, in turn is based on the freedom to pursue the unanticipated. The intellectual and structural landscape of science is changing and it places new challenges, new demands and new opportunities for facilitating discovery. The nature of cancer as a disease of genomic instability and of accumulated genetic change, coupled with a possibility of the development of new technologies for reading, utilizing, interpreting and manipulating the genome of single cells, provides unprecedented opportunities for a new type of high through-put biology that will change the nature of discovery, cancer detection, diagnosis, prognosis, therapeutic decision-making and therapeutic discovery. To capture these new opportunities will require attention to be paid to integrate the development of technology and new scientific discoveries with the ability to apply advances rapidly and efficiently through clinical trials

  19. Cancer associated epigenetic transitions identified by genome-wide histone methylation binding profiles in human colorectal cancer samples and paired normal mucosa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enroth, Stefan; Rada-Iglesisas, Alvaro; Andersson, Robin; Wallerman, Ola; Wanders, Alkwin; Påhlman, Lars; Komorowski, Jan; Wadelius, Claes

    2011-01-01

    Despite their well-established functional roles, histone modifications have received less attention than DNA methylation in the cancer field. In order to evaluate their importance in colorectal cancer (CRC), we generated the first genome-wide histone modification profiles in paired normal colon mucosa and tumor samples. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and microarray hybridization (ChIP-chip) was used to identify promoters enriched for histone H3 trimethylated on lysine 4 (H3K4me3) and lysine 27 (H3K27me3) in paired normal colon mucosa and tumor samples from two CRC patients and for the CRC cell line HT29. By comparing histone modification patterns in normal mucosa and tumors, we found that alterations predicted to have major functional consequences were quite rare. Furthermore, when normal or tumor tissue samples were compared to HT29, high similarities were observed for H3K4me3. However, the differences found for H3K27me3, which is important in determining cellular identity, indicates that cell lines do not represent optimal tissue models. Finally, using public expression data, we uncovered previously unknown changes in CRC expression patterns. Genes positive for H3K4me3 in normal and/or tumor samples, which are typically already active in normal mucosa, became hyperactivated in tumors, while genes with H3K27me3 in normal and/or tumor samples and which are expressed at low levels in normal mucosa, became hypersilenced in tumors. Genome wide histone modification profiles can be used to find epigenetic aberrations in genes associated with cancer. This strategy gives further insights into the epigenetic contribution to the oncogenic process and may identify new biomarkers

  20. Child Development and Structural Variation in the Human Genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ying; Haraksingh, Rajini; Grubert, Fabian; Abyzov, Alexej; Gerstein, Mark; Weissman, Sherman; Urban, Alexander E.

    2013-01-01

    Structural variation of the human genome sequence is the insertion, deletion, or rearrangement of stretches of DNA sequence sized from around 1,000 to millions of base pairs. Over the past few years, structural variation has been shown to be far more common in human genomes than previously thought. Very little is currently known about the effects…

  1. Human Genome Editing and Ethical Considerations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krishan, Kewal; Kanchan, Tanuj; Singh, Bahadur

    2016-04-01

    Editing human germline genes may act as boon in some genetic and other disorders. Recent editing of the genome of the human embryo with the CRISPR/Cas9 editing tool generated a debate amongst top scientists of the world for the ethical considerations regarding its effect on the future generations. It needs to be seen as to what transformation human gene editing brings to humankind in the times to come.

  2. Orthologous microRNA genes are located in cancer-associated genomic regions in human and mouse.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Igor V Makunin

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs are short non-coding RNAs that regulate differentiation and development in many organisms and play an important role in cancer. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a public database of mapped retroviral insertion sites from various mouse models of cancer we demonstrate that MLV-derived retroviral inserts are enriched in close proximity to mouse miRNA loci. Clustered inserts from cancer-associated regions (Common Integration Sites, CIS have a higher association with miRNAs than non-clustered inserts. Ten CIS-associated miRNA loci containing 22 miRNAs are located within 10 kb of known CIS insertions. Only one CIS-associated miRNA locus overlaps a RefSeq protein-coding gene and six loci are located more than 10 kb from any RefSeq gene. CIS-associated miRNAs on average are more conserved in vertebrates than miRNAs associated with non-CIS inserts and their human homologs are also located in regions perturbed in cancer. In addition we show that miRNA genes are enriched around promoter and/or terminator regions of RefSeq genes in both mouse and human. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We provide a list of ten miRNA loci potentially involved in the development of blood cancer or brain tumors. There is independent experimental support from other studies for the involvement of miRNAs from at least three CIS-associated miRNA loci in cancer development.

  3. Ancient Human Genome Sequence of an Extinct Palaeo-Eskimo

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Morten; Li, Yingrui; Lindgreen, Stinus

    2010-01-01

    We report here the genome sequence of an ancient human. Obtained from approximately 4,000-year-old permafrost-preserved hair, the genome represents a male individual from the first known culture to settle in Greenland. Sequenced to an average depth of 20x, we recover 79% of the diploid genome...... possible phenotypic characteristics of the individual that belonged to a culture whose location has yielded only trace human remains. We compare the high-confidence SNPs to those of contemporary populations to find the populations most closely related to the individual. This provides evidence...

  4. A genome-wide association study of upper aerodigestive tract cancers conducted within the INHANCE consortium.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    McKay, James D

    2011-03-01

    Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been successful in identifying common genetic variation involved in susceptibility to etiologically complex disease. We conducted a GWAS to identify common genetic variation involved in susceptibility to upper aero-digestive tract (UADT) cancers. Genome-wide genotyping was carried out using the Illumina HumanHap300 beadchips in 2,091 UADT cancer cases and 3,513 controls from two large European multi-centre UADT cancer studies, as well as 4,821 generic controls. The 19 top-ranked variants were investigated further in an additional 6,514 UADT cancer cases and 7,892 controls of European descent from an additional 13 UADT cancer studies participating in the INHANCE consortium. Five common variants presented evidence for significant association in the combined analysis (p ≤ 5 × 10⁻⁷). Two novel variants were identified, a 4q21 variant (rs1494961, p = 1×10⁻⁸) located near DNA repair related genes HEL308 and FAM175A (or Abraxas) and a 12q24 variant (rs4767364, p =2 × 10⁻⁸) located in an extended linkage disequilibrium region that contains multiple genes including the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene. Three remaining variants are located in the ADH gene cluster and were identified previously in a candidate gene study involving some of these samples. The association between these three variants and UADT cancers was independently replicated in 5,092 UADT cancer cases and 6,794 controls non-overlapping samples presented here (rs1573496-ADH7, p = 5 × 10⁻⁸); rs1229984-ADH1B, p = 7 × 10⁻⁹; and rs698-ADH1C, p = 0.02). These results implicate two variants at 4q21 and 12q24 and further highlight three ADH variants in UADT cancer susceptibility.

  5. A genome-wide association study of upper aerodigestive tract cancers conducted within the INHANCE consortium.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James D McKay

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS have been successful in identifying common genetic variation involved in susceptibility to etiologically complex disease. We conducted a GWAS to identify common genetic variation involved in susceptibility to upper aero-digestive tract (UADT cancers. Genome-wide genotyping was carried out using the Illumina HumanHap300 beadchips in 2,091 UADT cancer cases and 3,513 controls from two large European multi-centre UADT cancer studies, as well as 4,821 generic controls. The 19 top-ranked variants were investigated further in an additional 6,514 UADT cancer cases and 7,892 controls of European descent from an additional 13 UADT cancer studies participating in the INHANCE consortium. Five common variants presented evidence for significant association in the combined analysis (p ≤ 5 × 10⁻⁷. Two novel variants were identified, a 4q21 variant (rs1494961, p = 1×10⁻⁸ located near DNA repair related genes HEL308 and FAM175A (or Abraxas and a 12q24 variant (rs4767364, p =2 × 10⁻⁸ located in an extended linkage disequilibrium region that contains multiple genes including the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2 gene. Three remaining variants are located in the ADH gene cluster and were identified previously in a candidate gene study involving some of these samples. The association between these three variants and UADT cancers was independently replicated in 5,092 UADT cancer cases and 6,794 controls non-overlapping samples presented here (rs1573496-ADH7, p = 5 × 10⁻⁸; rs1229984-ADH1B, p = 7 × 10⁻⁹; and rs698-ADH1C, p = 0.02. These results implicate two variants at 4q21 and 12q24 and further highlight three ADH variants in UADT cancer susceptibility.

  6. Research for genetic instability of human genome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hori, T.; Takahashi, E.; Tsuji, H.; Yamauchi, M.; Murata, M.

    1992-01-01

    In the present review paper, the potential relevance of chromosomal fragile sites to carcinogenesis and mutagenesis is discussed based on our own and other's studies. Recent evidence indicate that fragile sites may act as predisposition factors involved in chromosomal instability of the human genome and that the sites may be preferential targets for various DNA damaging agents including ionizing radiation. It is also demonstrated that some critical genomic rearrangements at the fragile sites may contribute towards oncogenesis and that individuals carrying heritable form of fragile site may be at the risk. Although clinical significance of autosomal fragile sites has been a matter of discussion, a fragile site of the X chromosome is known to be associated with an X-linked genetic diseases, called fragile X syndrome. Molecular events leading to the fragile X syndrome have recently been elucidated. The fragile X genotype can be characterized by an increased amount of p(CCG)n repeat DNA sequence in the FMR-1 gene and the repeated sequences are shown to be unstable in both meiosis and mitosis. These repeats might exhibit higher mutation rate than is generally seen in the human genome. Further studies on the fragile sites in molecular biology and radiation biology will yield relevant data to the molecular mechanisms of genetic instability of the human genome as well as to better assessment of genetic effect of ionizing radiation. (author)

  7. Report on the Human Genome Initiative

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tinoco, I.; Cahill, G.; Cantor, C.; Caskey, T.; Dulbecco, R.; Engelhardt, D. L.; Hood, L.; Lerman, L. S.; Mendelsohn, M. L.; Sinsheimer, R. L.; Smith, T.; Soll, D.; Stormo, G.; White, R. L.

    1987-04-01

    The report urges DOE and the Nation to commit to a large. multi-year. multidisciplinary. technological undertaking to order and sequence the human genome. This effort will first require significant innovation in general capability to manipulate DNA. major new analytical methods for ordering and sequencing. theoretical developments in computer science and mathematical biology, and great expansions in our ability to store and manipulate the information and to interface it with other large and diverse genetic databases. The actual ordering and sequencing involves the coordinated processing of some 3 billion bases from a reference human genome. Science is poised on the rudimentary edge of being able to read and understand human genes. A concerted. broadly based. scientific effort to provide new methods of sufficient power and scale should transform this activity from an inefficient one-gene-at-a-time. single laboratory effort into a coordinated. worldwide. comprehensive reading of "the book of man". The effort will be extraordinary in scope and magnitude. but so will be the benefit to biological understanding. new technology and the diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

  8. Whole-genome analysis of human papillomavirus genotypes 52 and 58 isolated from Japanese women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive cervical cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenjimbayashi, Yuri; Onuki, Mamiko; Hirose, Yusuke; Mori, Seiichiro; Ishii, Yoshiyuki; Takeuchi, Takamasa; Tasaka, Nobutaka; Satoh, Toyomi; Morisada, Tohru; Iwata, Takashi; Miyamoto, Shingo; Matsumoto, Koji; Sekizawa, Akihiko; Kukimoto, Iwao

    2017-01-01

    Human papillomavirus genotypes 52 and 58 (HPV52/58) are frequently detected in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and invasive cervical cancer (ICC) in East Asian countries including Japan. As with other HPV genotypes, HPV52/58 consist of multiple lineages of genetic variants harboring less than 10% differences between complete genome sequences of the same HPV genotype. However, site variations of nucleotide and amino acid sequences across the viral whole-genome have not been fully examined for HPV52/58. The aim of this study was to investigate genetic variations of HPV52/58 prevalent among Japanese women by analyzing the viral whole-genome sequences. The entire genomic region of HPV52/58 was amplified by long-range PCR with total cellular DNA extracted from cervical exfoliated cells isolated from Japanese patients with CIN or ICC. The amplified DNA was subjected to next generation sequencing to determine the complete viral genome sequences. Phylogenetic analyses were performed with the whole-genome sequences to assign variant lineages/sublineages to the HPV52/58 isolates. The variability in amino acid sequences of viral proteins was assessed by calculating the Shannon entropy scores at individual amino acid positions of HPV proteins. Among 52 isolates of HPV52 (CIN1, n  = 20; CIN2/3, n  = 21; ICC, n  = 11), 50 isolates belonged to lineage B (sublineage B2) and two isolates belonged to lineage A (sublineage A1). Among 48 isolates of HPV58 (CIN1, n  = 21; CIN2/3, n  = 19; ICC, n  = 8), 47 isolates belonged to lineage A (sublineages A1/A2/A3) and one isolate belonged to lineage C. Single nucleotide polymorphisms specific for individual variant lineages were determined throughout the viral genome based on multiple sequence alignments of the Japanese HPV52/58 isolates and reference HPV52/58 genomes. Entropy analyses revealed that the E1 protein was relatively variable among the HPV52 isolates, whereas the E7, E4, and L2 proteins showed

  9. Continued colonization of the human genome by mitochondrial DNA.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miria Ricchetti

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available Integration of mitochondrial DNA fragments into nuclear chromosomes (giving rise to nuclear DNA sequences of mitochondrial origin, or NUMTs is an ongoing process that shapes nuclear genomes. In yeast this process depends on double-strand-break repair. Since NUMTs lack amplification and specific integration mechanisms, they represent the prototype of exogenous insertions in the nucleus. From sequence analysis of the genome of Homo sapiens, followed by sampling humans from different ethnic backgrounds, and chimpanzees, we have identified 27 NUMTs that are specific to humans and must have colonized human chromosomes in the last 4-6 million years. Thus, we measured the fixation rate of NUMTs in the human genome. Six such NUMTs show insertion polymorphism and provide a useful set of DNA markers for human population genetics. We also found that during recent human evolution, Chromosomes 18 and Y have been more susceptible to colonization by NUMTs. Surprisingly, 23 out of 27 human-specific NUMTs are inserted in known or predicted genes, mainly in introns. Some individuals carry a NUMT insertion in a tumor-suppressor gene and in a putative angiogenesis inhibitor. Therefore in humans, but not in yeast, NUMT integrations preferentially target coding or regulatory sequences. This is indeed the case for novel insertions associated with human diseases and those driven by environmental insults. We thus propose a mutagenic phenomenon that may be responsible for a variety of genetic diseases in humans and suggest that genetic or environmental factors that increase the frequency of chromosome breaks provide the impetus for the continued colonization of the human genome by mitochondrial DNA.

  10. Insights into Modern Human Prehistory Using Ancient Genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Melinda A; Fu, Qiaomei

    2018-03-01

    The genetic relationship of past modern humans to today's populations and each other was largely unknown until recently, when advances in ancient DNA sequencing allowed for unprecedented analysis of the genomes of these early people. These ancient genomes reveal new insights into human prehistory not always observed studying present-day populations, including greater details on the genetic diversity, population structure, and gene flow that characterized past human populations, particularly in early Eurasia, as well as increased insight on the relationship between archaic and modern humans. Here, we review genetic studies on ∼45000- to 7500-year-old individuals associated with mainly preagricultural cultures found in Eurasia, the Americas, and Africa. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Association between invasive ovarian cancer susceptibility and 11 best candidate SNPs from breast cancer genome-wide association study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Song, Honglin; Ramus, Susan J; Kjaer, Susanne Krüger

    2009-01-01

    Because both ovarian and breast cancer are hormone-related and are known to have some predisposition genes in common, we evaluated 11 of the most significant hits (six with confirmed associations with breast cancer) from the breast cancer genome-wide association study for association with invasiv...

  12. Cross Cancer Genomic Investigation of Inflammation Pathway for Five Common Cancers: Lung, Ovary, Prostate, Breast, and Colorectal Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hung, Rayjean J; Ulrich, Cornelia M; Goode, Ellen L; Brhane, Yonathan; Muir, Kenneth; Chan, Andrew T; Marchand, Loic Le; Schildkraut, Joellen; Witte, John S; Eeles, Rosalind; Boffetta, Paolo; Spitz, Margaret R; Poirier, Julia G; Rider, David N; Fridley, Brooke L; Chen, Zhihua; Haiman, Christopher; Schumacher, Fredrick; Easton, Douglas F; Landi, Maria Teresa; Brennan, Paul; Houlston, Richard; Christiani, David C; Field, John K; Bickeböller, Heike; Risch, Angela; Kote-Jarai, Zsofia; Wiklund, Fredrik; Grönberg, Henrik; Chanock, Stephen; Berndt, Sonja I; Kraft, Peter; Lindström, Sara; Al Olama, Ali Amin; Song, Honglin; Phelan, Catherine; Wentzensen, Nicholas; Peters, Ulrike; Slattery, Martha L; Sellers, Thomas A; Casey, Graham; Gruber, Stephen B; Hunter, David J; Amos, Christopher I; Henderson, Brian

    2015-11-01

    Inflammation has been hypothesized to increase the risk of cancer development as an initiator or promoter, yet no large-scale study of inherited variation across cancer sites has been conducted. We conducted a cross-cancer genomic analysis for the inflammation pathway based on 48 genome-wide association studies within the National Cancer Institute GAME-ON Network across five common cancer sites, with a total of 64 591 cancer patients and 74 467 control patients. Subset-based meta-analysis was used to account for possible disease heterogeneity, and hierarchical modeling was employed to estimate the effect of the subcomponents within the inflammation pathway. The network was visualized by enrichment map. All statistical tests were two-sided. We identified three pleiotropic loci within the inflammation pathway, including one novel locus in Ch12q24 encoding SH2B3 (rs3184504), which reached GWAS significance with a P value of 1.78 x 10(-8), and it showed an association with lung cancer (P = 2.01 x 10(-6)), colorectal cancer (GECCO P = 6.72x10(-6); CORECT P = 3.32x10(-5)), and breast cancer (P = .009). We also identified five key subpathway components with genetic variants that are relevant for the risk of these five cancer sites: inflammatory response for colorectal cancer (P = .006), inflammation related cell cycle gene for lung cancer (P = 1.35x10(-6)), and activation of immune response for ovarian cancer (P = .009). In addition, sequence variations in immune system development played a role in breast cancer etiology (P = .001) and innate immune response was involved in the risk of both colorectal (P = .022) and ovarian cancer (P = .003). Genetic variations in inflammation and its related subpathway components are keys to the development of lung, colorectal, ovary, and breast cancer, including SH2B3, which is associated with lung, colorectal, and breast cancer. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e

  13. The spotted gar genome illuminates vertebrate evolution and facilitates human-teleost comparisons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braasch, Ingo; Gehrke, Andrew R; Smith, Jeramiah J; Kawasaki, Kazuhiko; Manousaki, Tereza; Pasquier, Jeremy; Amores, Angel; Desvignes, Thomas; Batzel, Peter; Catchen, Julian; Berlin, Aaron M; Campbell, Michael S; Barrell, Daniel; Martin, Kyle J; Mulley, John F; Ravi, Vydianathan; Lee, Alison P; Nakamura, Tetsuya; Chalopin, Domitille; Fan, Shaohua; Wcisel, Dustin; Cañestro, Cristian; Sydes, Jason; Beaudry, Felix E G; Sun, Yi; Hertel, Jana; Beam, Michael J; Fasold, Mario; Ishiyama, Mikio; Johnson, Jeremy; Kehr, Steffi; Lara, Marcia; Letaw, John H; Litman, Gary W; Litman, Ronda T; Mikami, Masato; Ota, Tatsuya; Saha, Nil Ratan; Williams, Louise; Stadler, Peter F; Wang, Han; Taylor, John S; Fontenot, Quenton; Ferrara, Allyse; Searle, Stephen M J; Aken, Bronwen; Yandell, Mark; Schneider, Igor; Yoder, Jeffrey A; Volff, Jean-Nicolas; Meyer, Axel; Amemiya, Chris T; Venkatesh, Byrappa; Holland, Peter W H; Guiguen, Yann; Bobe, Julien; Shubin, Neil H; Di Palma, Federica; Alföldi, Jessica; Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin; Postlethwait, John H

    2016-04-01

    To connect human biology to fish biomedical models, we sequenced the genome of spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), whose lineage diverged from teleosts before teleost genome duplication (TGD). The slowly evolving gar genome has conserved in content and size many entire chromosomes from bony vertebrate ancestors. Gar bridges teleosts to tetrapods by illuminating the evolution of immunity, mineralization and development (mediated, for example, by Hox, ParaHox and microRNA genes). Numerous conserved noncoding elements (CNEs; often cis regulatory) undetectable in direct human-teleost comparisons become apparent using gar: functional studies uncovered conserved roles for such cryptic CNEs, facilitating annotation of sequences identified in human genome-wide association studies. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the sums of expression domains and expression levels for duplicated teleost genes often approximate the patterns and levels of expression for gar genes, consistent with subfunctionalization. The gar genome provides a resource for understanding evolution after genome duplication, the origin of vertebrate genomes and the function of human regulatory sequences.

  14. TCGA Workshop: Genomics and Biology of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) - TCGA

    Science.gov (United States)

    The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) held a workshop entitled, “Genomics and Biology of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM),” to review the initial GBM data from the TCGA pilot project.

  15. The characterization of twenty sequenced human genomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kimberly Pelak

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available We present the analysis of twenty human genomes to evaluate the prospects for identifying rare functional variants that contribute to a phenotype of interest. We sequenced at high coverage ten "case" genomes from individuals with severe hemophilia A and ten "control" genomes. We summarize the number of genetic variants emerging from a study of this magnitude, and provide a proof of concept for the identification of rare and highly-penetrant functional variants by confirming that the cause of hemophilia A is easily recognizable in this data set. We also show that the number of novel single nucleotide variants (SNVs discovered per genome seems to stabilize at about 144,000 new variants per genome, after the first 15 individuals have been sequenced. Finally, we find that, on average, each genome carries 165 homozygous protein-truncating or stop loss variants in genes representing a diverse set of pathways.

  16. 78 FR 68856 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Nakamura, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Scientific Review Branch, National Human Genome Research...-402-0838. [[Page 68857

  17. Translational and functional oncogenomics. From cancer-oriented genomic screenings to new diagnostic tools and improved cancer treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medico, Enzo

    2008-01-01

    We present here an experimental pipeline for the systematic identification and functional characterization of genes with high potential diagnostic and therapeutic value in human cancer. Complementary competences and resources have been brought together in the TRANSFOG Consortium to reach the following integrated research objectives: 1) execution of cancer-oriented genomic screenings on tumor tissues and experimental models and merging of the results to generate a prioritized panel of candidate genes involved in cancer progression and metastasis; 2) setup of systems for high-throughput delivery of full-length cDNAs, for gain-of-function analysis of the prioritized candidate genes; 3) collection of vectors and oligonucleotides for systematic, RNA interference-mediated down-regulation of the candidate genes; 4) adaptation of existing cell-based and model organism assays to a systematic analysis of gain and loss of function of the candidate genes, for identification and preliminary validation of novel potential therapeutic targets; 5) proteomic analysis of signal transduction and protein-protein interaction for better dissection of aberrant cancer signaling pathways; 6) validation of the diagnostic potential of the identified cancer genes towards the clinical use of diagnostic molecular signatures; 7) generation of a shared informatics platform for data handling and gene functional annotation. The results of the first three years of activity of the TRANSFOG Consortium are also briefly presented and discussed.

  18. Soft Sweeps Are the Dominant Mode of Adaptation in the Human Genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrider, Daniel R; Kern, Andrew D

    2017-08-01

    The degree to which adaptation in recent human evolution shapes genetic variation remains controversial. This is in part due to the limited evidence in humans for classic "hard selective sweeps", wherein a novel beneficial mutation rapidly sweeps through a population to fixation. However, positive selection may often proceed via "soft sweeps" acting on mutations already present within a population. Here, we examine recent positive selection across six human populations using a powerful machine learning approach that is sensitive to both hard and soft sweeps. We found evidence that soft sweeps are widespread and account for the vast majority of recent human adaptation. Surprisingly, our results also suggest that linked positive selection affects patterns of variation across much of the genome, and may increase the frequencies of deleterious mutations. Our results also reveal insights into the role of sexual selection, cancer risk, and central nervous system development in recent human evolution. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  19. Endocrine-Therapy-Resistant ESR1 Variants Revealed by Genomic Characterization of Breast-Cancer-Derived Xenografts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shunqiang Li

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available To characterize patient-derived xenografts (PDXs for functional studies, we made whole-genome comparisons with originating breast cancers representative of the major intrinsic subtypes. Structural and copy number aberrations were found to be retained with high fidelity. However, at the single-nucleotide level, variable numbers of PDX-specific somatic events were documented, although they were only rarely functionally significant. Variant allele frequencies were often preserved in the PDXs, demonstrating that clonal representation can be transplantable. Estrogen-receptor-positive PDXs were associated with ESR1 ligand-binding-domain mutations, gene amplification, or an ESR1/YAP1 translocation. These events produced different endocrine-therapy-response phenotypes in human, cell line, and PDX endocrine-response studies. Hence, deeply sequenced PDX models are an important resource for the search for genome-forward treatment options and capture endocrine-drug-resistance etiologies that are not observed in standard cell lines. The originating tumor genome provides a benchmark for assessing genetic drift and clonal representation after transplantation.

  20. Induction of genomic instability and activation of autophagy in artificial human aneuploid cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ariyoshi, Kentaro [Hirosaki University, Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine, 66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki 036-8564 (Japan); Miura, Tomisato; Kasai, Kosuke; Fujishima, Yohei [Department of Biomedical Sciences, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki 036-8564 (Japan); Oshimura, Mitsuo [Chromosome Engineering Research Center (CERC), Tottori University, Nishicho 86, Yonago, Tottori 683-8503 (Japan); Yoshida, Mitsuaki A., E-mail: ariyoshi@hirosaki-u.ac.jp [Hirosaki University, Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine, 66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki 036-8564 (Japan)

    2016-08-15

    Highlights: • Clones with artificial aneuploidy of chromosome 8 or chromosome 22 both show inhibited proliferation and genomic instability. • Increased autophagy was observed in the artificially aneuploid clones. • Inhibition of autophagy resulted in increased genomic instability and DNA damage. • Intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species were up-regulated in the artificially aneuploid clones. - Abstract: Chromosome missegregation can lead to a change in chromosome number known as aneuploidy. Although aneuploidy is a known hallmark of cancer cells, the various mechanisms by which altered gene and/or DNA copy number facilitate tumorigenesis remain unclear. To understand the effect of aneuploidy occurring in non-tumorigenic human breast epithelial cells, we generated clones harboring artificial aneuploidy using microcell-mediated chromosome transfer. Our results demonstrate that clones with artificial aneuploidy of chromosome 8 or chromosome 22 both show inhibited proliferation and genomic instability. Also, the increased autophagy was observed in the artificially aneuploidy clones, and inhibition of autophagy resulted in increased genomic instability and DNA damage. In addition, the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species were up-regulated in the artificially aneuploid clones, and inhibition of autophagy further increased the production of reactive oxygen species. Together, these results suggest that even a single extraneous chromosome can induce genomic instability, and that autophagy triggered by aneuploidy-induced stress is a mechanism to protect cells bearing abnormal chromosome number.

  1. Induction of genomic instability and activation of autophagy in artificial human aneuploid cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ariyoshi, Kentaro; Miura, Tomisato; Kasai, Kosuke; Fujishima, Yohei; Oshimura, Mitsuo; Yoshida, Mitsuaki A.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Clones with artificial aneuploidy of chromosome 8 or chromosome 22 both show inhibited proliferation and genomic instability. • Increased autophagy was observed in the artificially aneuploid clones. • Inhibition of autophagy resulted in increased genomic instability and DNA damage. • Intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species were up-regulated in the artificially aneuploid clones. - Abstract: Chromosome missegregation can lead to a change in chromosome number known as aneuploidy. Although aneuploidy is a known hallmark of cancer cells, the various mechanisms by which altered gene and/or DNA copy number facilitate tumorigenesis remain unclear. To understand the effect of aneuploidy occurring in non-tumorigenic human breast epithelial cells, we generated clones harboring artificial aneuploidy using microcell-mediated chromosome transfer. Our results demonstrate that clones with artificial aneuploidy of chromosome 8 or chromosome 22 both show inhibited proliferation and genomic instability. Also, the increased autophagy was observed in the artificially aneuploidy clones, and inhibition of autophagy resulted in increased genomic instability and DNA damage. In addition, the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species were up-regulated in the artificially aneuploid clones, and inhibition of autophagy further increased the production of reactive oxygen species. Together, these results suggest that even a single extraneous chromosome can induce genomic instability, and that autophagy triggered by aneuploidy-induced stress is a mechanism to protect cells bearing abnormal chromosome number.

  2. Transposable elements in cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, Kathleen H

    2017-07-01

    Transposable elements give rise to interspersed repeats, sequences that comprise most of our genomes. These mobile DNAs have been historically underappreciated - both because they have been presumed to be unimportant, and because their high copy number and variability pose unique technical challenges. Neither impediment now seems steadfast. Interest in the human mobilome has never been greater, and methods enabling its study are maturing at a fast pace. This Review describes the activity of transposable elements in human cancers, particularly long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1). LINE-1 sequences are self-propagating, protein-coding retrotransposons, and their activity results in somatically acquired insertions in cancer genomes. Altered expression of transposable elements and animation of genomic LINE-1 sequences appear to be hallmarks of cancer, and can be responsible for driving mutations in tumorigenesis.

  3. CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Sufficiently Abolished Oncogenicity in Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li-Chi Huang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid (ATC, also called undifferentiated thyroid cancer, is the least common but most aggressive and deadly thyroid gland malignancy of all thyroid cancers. The aim of this study is to explore essential biomarker and use CRISPR/Cas9 with lentivirus delivery to establish a gene-target therapeutic platform in ATC cells. At the beginning, the gene expression datasets from 1036 cancers from CCLE and 8215 tumors from TCGA were collected and analyzed, showing EGFR is predominantly overexpressed in thyroid cancers than other type of cancers (P=0.017 in CCLE and P=0.001 in TCGA. Using CRISPR/Cas9 genomic edit system, ATC cells with EGFR sgRNA lentivirus transfection obtained great disruptions on gene and protein expression, resulting in cell cycle arrest, cell growth inhibition, and most importantly metastasis turn-off ability. In addition, the FDA-approved TKI of afatinib for EGFR targeting also illustrates great anticancer activity on cancer cell death occurrence, cell growth inhibition, and cell cycle arrest in SW579 cells, an EGFR expressing human ATC cell line. Furthermore, off-target effect of using EGFR sgRNAs was measured and found no genomic editing can be detected in off-target candidate gene. To conclude, this study provides potential ATC therapeutic strategies for current and future clinical needs, which may be possible in increasing the survival rate of ATC patients by translational medicine.

  4. The Candidate Cancer Gene Database: a database of cancer driver genes from forward genetic screens in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbott, Kenneth L; Nyre, Erik T; Abrahante, Juan; Ho, Yen-Yi; Isaksson Vogel, Rachel; Starr, Timothy K

    2015-01-01

    Identification of cancer driver gene mutations is crucial for advancing cancer therapeutics. Due to the overwhelming number of passenger mutations in the human tumor genome, it is difficult to pinpoint causative driver genes. Using transposon mutagenesis in mice many laboratories have conducted forward genetic screens and identified thousands of candidate driver genes that are highly relevant to human cancer. Unfortunately, this information is difficult to access and utilize because it is scattered across multiple publications using different mouse genome builds and strength metrics. To improve access to these findings and facilitate meta-analyses, we developed the Candidate Cancer Gene Database (CCGD, http://ccgd-starrlab.oit.umn.edu/). The CCGD is a manually curated database containing a unified description of all identified candidate driver genes and the genomic location of transposon common insertion sites (CISs) from all currently published transposon-based screens. To demonstrate relevance to human cancer, we performed a modified gene set enrichment analysis using KEGG pathways and show that human cancer pathways are highly enriched in the database. We also used hierarchical clustering to identify pathways enriched in blood cancers compared to solid cancers. The CCGD is a novel resource available to scientists interested in the identification of genetic drivers of cancer. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  5. Genomic signatures of diet-related shifts during human origins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babbitt, Courtney C; Warner, Lisa R; Fedrigo, Olivier; Wall, Christine E; Wray, Gregory A

    2011-04-07

    There are numerous anthropological analyses concerning the importance of diet during human evolution. Diet is thought to have had a profound influence on the human phenotype, and dietary differences have been hypothesized to contribute to the dramatic morphological changes seen in modern humans as compared with non-human primates. Here, we attempt to integrate the results of new genomic studies within this well-developed anthropological context. We then review the current evidence for adaptation related to diet, both at the level of sequence changes and gene expression. Finally, we propose some ways in which new technologies can help identify specific genomic adaptations that have resulted in metabolic and morphological differences between humans and non-human primates.

  6. Cross-cancer genome-wide analysis of lung, ovary, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer reveals novel pleiotropic associations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fehringer, G. (Gordon); P. Kraft (Peter); P.D.P. Pharoah (Paul); R. Eeles (Rosalind); Chatterjee, N. (Nilanjan); F.R. Schumacher (Fredrick R); J.M. Schildkraut (Joellen); S. Lindstrom (Stephen); P. Brennan (Paul); H. Bickeböller (Heike); R. Houlston (Richard); M.T. Landi (Maria Teresa); N.E. Caporaso (Neil); Risch, A. (Angela); A.A. Al Olama (Ali Amin); S.I. Berndt (Sonja); Giovannucci, E.L. (Edward L.); H. Grönberg (Henrik); Z. Kote-Jarai; Ma, J. (Jing); K.R. Muir (K.); M.J. Stampfer (Meir J.); Stevens, V.L. (Victoria L.); F. Wiklund (Fredrik); W.C. Willett (Walter C.); E.L. Goode (Ellen); Permuth, J.B. (Jennifer B.); H. Risch (Harvey); Reid, B.M. (Brett M.); Bezieau, S. (Stephane); H. Brenner (Hermann); Chan, A.T. (Andrew T.); J. Chang-Claude (Jenny); T.J. Hudson (Thomas); Kocarnik, J.K. (Jonathan K.); P. Newcomb (Polly); Schoen, R.E. (Robert E.); Slattery, M.L. (Martha L.); White, E. (Emily); M.A. Adank (Muriel); H. Ahsan (Habibul); K. Aittomäki (Kristiina); Baglietto, L. (Laura); Blomquist, C. (Carl); F. Canzian (Federico); K. Czene (Kamila); I. dos Santos Silva (Isabel); Eliassen, A.H. (A. Heather); J.D. Figueroa (Jonine); D. Flesch-Janys (Dieter); O. Fletcher (Olivia); M. García-Closas (Montserrat); M.M. Gaudet (Mia); Johnson, N. (Nichola); P. Hall (Per); A. Hazra (Aditi); R. Hein (Rebecca); Hofman, A. (Albert); J.L. Hopper (John); A. Irwanto (Astrid); M. Johansson (Mattias); R. Kaaks (Rudolf); M.G. Kibriya (Muhammad); P. Lichtner (Peter); J. Liu (Jianjun); E. Lund (Eiliv); Makalic, E. (Enes); A. Meindl (Alfons); B. Müller-Myhsok (B.); Muranen, T.A. (Taru A.); H. Nevanlinna (Heli); P.H.M. Peeters; J. Peto (Julian); R. Prentice (Ross); N. Rahman (Nazneen); M.-J. Sanchez (Maria-Jose); D.F. Schmidt (Daniel); R.K. Schmutzler (Rita); M.C. Southey (Melissa); Tamimi, R. (Rulla); S.P.L. Travis (Simon); C. Turnbull (Clare); Uitterlinden, A.G. (Andre G.); Z. Wang (Zhaoming); A.S. Whittemore (Alice); X.R. Yang (Xiaohong); W. Zheng (Wei); D. Buchanan (Daniel); G. Casey (Graham); G. Conti (Giario); C.K. Edlund (Christopher); S. Gallinger (Steve); R. Haile (Robert); M. Jenkins (Mark); Marchand, L. (Loïcle); Li, L. (Li); N.M. Lindor (Noralane); Schmit, S.L. (Stephanie L.); S.N. Thibodeau (Stephen); M.O. Woods (Michael); T. Rafnar (Thorunn); J. Gudmundsson (Julius); S.N. Stacey (Simon); Stefansson, K. (Kari); P. Sulem (Patrick); Chen, Y.A. (Y. Ann); J.P. Tyrer (Jonathan); Christiani, D.C. (David C.); Wei, Y. (Yongyue); H. Shen (Hongbing); Z. Hu (Zhibin); X.-O. Shu (Xiao-Ou); Shiraishi, K. (Kouya); A. Takahashi (Atsushi); Y. Bossé (Yohan); M. Obeidat (Ma'en); D.C. Nickle (David); W. Timens (Wim); M. Freedman (Matthew); Li, Q. (Qiyuan); D. Seminara (Daniela); S.J. Chanock (Stephen); Gong, J. (Jian); U. Peters (Ulrike); S.B. Gruber (Stephen); Amos, C.I. (Christopher I.); T.A. Sellers (Thomas A.); D.F. Easton (Douglas F.); D. Hunter (David); C.A. Haiman (Christopher A.); B.E. Henderson (Brian); R.J. Hung (Rayjean)

    2016-01-01

    textabstractIdentifying genetic variants with pleiotropic associations can uncover common pathways influencing multiple cancers. We took a two-stage approach to conduct genome-wide association studies for lung, ovary, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer from the GAME-ON/GECCO Network (61,851

  7. Provision of personalized genomic diagnostic technologies for breast and colorectal cancer: an analysis of patient needs, expectations and priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Issa, Amalia M; Hutchinson, Janis F; Tufail, Waqas; Fletcher, Erica; Ajike, Roseline; Tenorio, Jose

    2011-07-01

    Several novel pharmacogenomic diagnostic tests are commercially available for breast and colorectal cancer, and are increasingly being used in clinical practice for improving treatment decisions. However, there is little evidence evaluating the value of these new genomic technologies from the perspective of patients. As part of an ongoing effort to understand the continuum of the process of adoption of genomic diagnostics, our aim in this study was to examine the value of genomic diagnostics to breast and colorectal cancer patients, and their willingness to adopt and use genomic diagnostics. We conducted six focus groups of breast and colorectal cancer patients from the oncology clinics at The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA. An adapted Q-sort instrument was also administered to focus group participants. The majority of breast and colorectal cancer patients are interested in using novel genomic diagnostics for deciding about treatment options. Most participants in our study expressed a willingness to pay out-of-pocket for genomic testing (z = 0.736). Reliability and validity of genomic testing were of significant concern (z = 1.32) for the majority of breast and colorectal cancer patients. Participants identified several facilitators and barriers within health systems that might either facilitate or impede the widespread adoption and use of genomic diagnostics in healthcare delivery. This study demonstrates breast and colorectal cancer patients' willingness to adopt and pay for novel genomic diagnostics, as well as identifies several salient factors associated with patient preferences for genomic diagnostics.

  8. Identification of DNA methylation changes associated with human gastric cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Park Jung-Hoon

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Epigenetic alteration of gene expression is a common event in human cancer. DNA methylation is a well-known epigenetic process, but verifying the exact nature of epigenetic changes associated with cancer remains difficult. Methods We profiled the methylome of human gastric cancer tissue at 50-bp resolution using a methylated DNA enrichment technique (methylated CpG island recovery assay in combination with a genome analyzer and a new normalization algorithm. Results We were able to gain a comprehensive view of promoters with various CpG densities, including CpG Islands (CGIs, transcript bodies, and various repeat classes. We found that gastric cancer was associated with hypermethylation of 5' CGIs and the 5'-end of coding exons as well as hypomethylation of repeat elements, such as short interspersed nuclear elements and the composite element SVA. Hypermethylation of 5' CGIs was significantly correlated with downregulation of associated genes, such as those in the HOX and histone gene families. We also discovered long-range epigenetic silencing (LRES regions in gastric cancer tissue and identified several hypermethylated genes (MDM2, DYRK2, and LYZ within these regions. The methylation status of CGIs and gene annotation elements in metastatic lymph nodes was intermediate between normal and cancerous tissue, indicating that methylation of specific genes is gradually increased in cancerous tissue. Conclusions Our findings will provide valuable data for future analysis of CpG methylation patterns, useful markers for the diagnosis of stomach cancer, as well as a new analysis method for clinical epigenomics investigations.

  9. Multi-region and single-cell sequencing reveal variable genomic heterogeneity in rectal cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Mingshan; Liu, Yang; Di, Jiabo; Su, Zhe; Yang, Hong; Jiang, Beihai; Wang, Zaozao; Zhuang, Meng; Bai, Fan; Su, Xiangqian

    2017-11-23

    Colorectal cancer is a heterogeneous group of malignancies with complex molecular subtypes. While colon cancer has been widely investigated, studies on rectal cancer are very limited. Here, we performed multi-region whole-exome sequencing and single-cell whole-genome sequencing to examine the genomic intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) of rectal tumors. We sequenced nine tumor regions and 88 single cells from two rectal cancer patients with tumors of the same molecular classification and characterized their mutation profiles and somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) at the multi-region and the single-cell levels. A variable extent of genomic heterogeneity was observed between the two patients, and the degree of ITH increased when analyzed on the single-cell level. We found that major SCNAs were early events in cancer development and inherited steadily. Single-cell sequencing revealed mutations and SCNAs which were hidden in bulk sequencing. In summary, we studied the ITH of rectal cancer at regional and single-cell resolution and demonstrated that variable heterogeneity existed in two patients. The mutational scenarios and SCNA profiles of two patients with treatment naïve from the same molecular subtype are quite different. Our results suggest each tumor possesses its own architecture, which may result in different diagnosis, prognosis, and drug responses. Remarkable ITH exists in the two patients we have studied, providing a preliminary impression of ITH in rectal cancer.

  10. dbEM: A database of epigenetic modifiers curated from cancerous and normal genomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh Nanda, Jagpreet; Kumar, Rahul; Raghava, Gajendra P. S.

    2016-01-01

    We have developed a database called dbEM (database of Epigenetic Modifiers) to maintain the genomic information of about 167 epigenetic modifiers/proteins, which are considered as potential cancer targets. In dbEM, modifiers are classified on functional basis and comprise of 48 histone methyl transferases, 33 chromatin remodelers and 31 histone demethylases. dbEM maintains the genomic information like mutations, copy number variation and gene expression in thousands of tumor samples, cancer cell lines and healthy samples. This information is obtained from public resources viz. COSMIC, CCLE and 1000-genome project. Gene essentiality data retrieved from COLT database further highlights the importance of various epigenetic proteins for cancer survival. We have also reported the sequence profiles, tertiary structures and post-translational modifications of these epigenetic proteins in cancer. It also contains information of 54 drug molecules against different epigenetic proteins. A wide range of tools have been integrated in dbEM e.g. Search, BLAST, Alignment and Profile based prediction. In our analysis, we found that epigenetic proteins DNMT3A, HDAC2, KDM6A, and TET2 are highly mutated in variety of cancers. We are confident that dbEM will be very useful in cancer research particularly in the field of epigenetic proteins based cancer therapeutics. This database is available for public at URL: http://crdd.osdd.net/raghava/dbem.

  11. An overview of the human genome project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Batzer, M.A.

    1994-01-01

    The human genome project is one of the most ambitious scientific projects to date, with the ultimate goal being a nucleotide sequence for all four billion bases of human DNA. In the process of determining the nucleotide sequence for each base, the location, function, and regulatory regions from the estimated 100,000 human genes will be identified. The genome project itself relies upon maps of the human genetic code derived from several different levels of resolution. Genetic linkage analysis provides a low resolution genome map. The information for genetic linkage maps is derived from the analysis of chromosome specific markers such as Sequence Tagged Sites (STSs), Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (VNTRs) or other polymorphic (highly informative) loci in a number of different-families. Using this information the location of an unknown disease gene can be limited to a region comprised of one million base pairs of DNA or less. After this point, one must construct or have access to a physical map of the region of interest. Physical mapping involves the construction of an ordered overlapping (contiguous) set of recombinant DNA clones. These clones may be derived from a number of different vectors including cosmids, Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes (BACs), P1 derived Artificial Chromosomes (PACs), somatic cell hybrids, or Yeast Artificial Chromosomes (YACs). The ultimate goal for physical mapping is to establish a completely overlapping (contiguous) set of clones for the entire genome. After a gene or region of interest has been localized using physical mapping the nucleotide sequence is determined. The overlap between genetic mapping, physical mapping and DNA sequencing has proven to be a powerful tool for the isolation of disease genes through positional cloning.

  12. 77 FR 64816 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: October 16, 2012. David Clary, Program... Conference Call). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human...

  13. 76 FR 9031 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Call). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome...- 402-8837, [email protected] . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human...

  14. 75 FR 62548 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Call). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome...- 402-8837, [email protected] . Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human...

  15. 78 FR 11898 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome....172, Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: February 13, 2013. David Clary... Conference Call). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer CIDR, National Human...

  16. 78 FR 77477 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS). Dated: December 17, 2013. David Clary... Conference Call). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human...

  17. Beyond the human genome: Microbes, methaphors and what it means to be human in an interconnected post-genomic world

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nerlich, B.; Hellsten, I.R.

    2009-01-01

    Four years after the completion of the Human Genome Project, the US National Institutes for Health launched the Human Microbiome Project on 19 December 2007. Using metaphor analysis, this article investigates reporting in English-language newspapers on advances in microbiomics from 2003 onwards,

  18. A Secure Alignment Algorithm for Mapping Short Reads to Human Genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yongan; Wang, Xiaofeng; Tang, Haixu

    2018-05-09

    The elastic and inexpensive computing resources such as clouds have been recognized as a useful solution to analyzing massive human genomic data (e.g., acquired by using next-generation sequencers) in biomedical researches. However, outsourcing human genome computation to public or commercial clouds was hindered due to privacy concerns: even a small number of human genome sequences contain sufficient information for identifying the donor of the genomic data. This issue cannot be directly addressed by existing security and cryptographic techniques (such as homomorphic encryption), because they are too heavyweight to carry out practical genome computation tasks on massive data. In this article, we present a secure algorithm to accomplish the read mapping, one of the most basic tasks in human genomic data analysis based on a hybrid cloud computing model. Comparing with the existing approaches, our algorithm delegates most computation to the public cloud, while only performing encryption and decryption on the private cloud, and thus makes the maximum use of the computing resource of the public cloud. Furthermore, our algorithm reports similar results as the nonsecure read mapping algorithms, including the alignment between reads and the reference genome, which can be directly used in the downstream analysis such as the inference of genomic variations. We implemented the algorithm in C++ and Python on a hybrid cloud system, in which the public cloud uses an Apache Spark system.

  19. Annotating the human genome with Disease Ontology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osborne, John D; Flatow, Jared; Holko, Michelle; Lin, Simon M; Kibbe, Warren A; Zhu, Lihua (Julie); Danila, Maria I; Feng, Gang; Chisholm, Rex L

    2009-01-01

    Background The human genome has been extensively annotated with Gene Ontology for biological functions, but minimally computationally annotated for diseases. Results We used the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) MetaMap Transfer tool (MMTx) to discover gene-disease relationships from the GeneRIF database. We utilized a comprehensive subset of UMLS, which is disease-focused and structured as a directed acyclic graph (the Disease Ontology), to filter and interpret results from MMTx. The results were validated against the Homayouni gene collection using recall and precision measurements. We compared our results with the widely used Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) annotations. Conclusion The validation data set suggests a 91% recall rate and 97% precision rate of disease annotation using GeneRIF, in contrast with a 22% recall and 98% precision using OMIM. Our thesaurus-based approach allows for comparisons to be made between disease containing databases and allows for increased accuracy in disease identification through synonym matching. The much higher recall rate of our approach demonstrates that annotating human genome with Disease Ontology and GeneRIF for diseases dramatically increases the coverage of the disease annotation of human genome. PMID:19594883

  20. A national study of breast and colorectal cancer patients' decision-making for novel personalized medicine genomic diagnostics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Issa, Amalia M; Tufail, Waqas; Atehortua, Nelson; McKeever, John

    2013-05-01

    Molecular diagnostics are increasingly being used to help guide decision-making for personalized medical treatment of breast and colorectal cancer patients. The main aim of this study was to better understand and determine breast and colorectal cancer patients' decision-making strategies and the trade-offs they make in deciding about characteristics of molecular genomic diagnostics for breast and colorectal cancer. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 300 breast and colorectal cancer patients using a previously developed web-administered instrument. Eligibility criteria included patients aged 18 years and older with either breast or colorectal cancer. We explored several attributes and attribute levels of molecular genomic diagnostics in 20 scenarios. Our analysis revealed that both breast and colorectal cancer patients weighted the capability of molecular genomic diagnostics to determine the probability of treatment efficacy as being of greater importance than information provided to detect adverse events. The probability of either false-positive or -negative results was ranked highly as a potential barrier by both breast and colorectal patients. However, 78.6% of breast cancer patients ranked the possibility of a 'false-negative test result leading to undertreatment' higher than the 'chance of a false positive, which may lead to overtreatment' (68%). This finding contrasted with the views of colorectal cancer patients who ranked the chance of a false positive as being of greater concern than a false negative (72.8 vs 63%). Overall, cancer patients exhibited a high willingness to accept and pay for genomic diagnostic tests, especially among breast cancer patients. Cancer patients seek a test accuracy rate of 90% or higher. Breast and colorectal cancer patients' decisions about genomic diagnostics are influenced more by the probability of being cured than by avoiding potential severe adverse events. This study provides insights into the relative weight

  1. Human Papillomavirus Induced Transformation in Cervical and Head and Neck Cancers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adams, Allie K. [Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229 (United States); Wise-Draper, Trisha M. [Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229 (United States); Wells, Susanne I., E-mail: Susanne.Wells@cchmc.org [Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229 (United States)

    2014-09-15

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most widely publicized and researched pathogenic DNA viruses. For decades, HPV research has focused on transforming viral activities in cervical cancer. During the past 15 years, however, HPV has also emerged as a major etiological agent in cancers of the head and neck, in particular squamous cell carcinoma. Even with significant strides achieved towards the screening and treatment of cervical cancer, and preventive vaccines, cervical cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-associated deaths for women in developing countries. Furthermore, routine screens are not available for those at risk of head and neck cancer. The current expectation is that HPV vaccination will prevent not only cervical, but also head and neck cancers. In order to determine if previous cervical cancer models for HPV infection and transformation are directly applicable to head and neck cancer, clinical and molecular disease aspects must be carefully compared. In this review, we briefly discuss the cervical and head and neck cancer literature to highlight clinical and genomic commonalities. Differences in prognosis, staging and treatment, as well as comparisons of mutational profiles, viral integration patterns, and alterations in gene expression will be addressed.

  2. Human Papillomavirus Induced Transformation in Cervical and Head and Neck Cancers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adams, Allie K.; Wise-Draper, Trisha M.; Wells, Susanne I.

    2014-01-01

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most widely publicized and researched pathogenic DNA viruses. For decades, HPV research has focused on transforming viral activities in cervical cancer. During the past 15 years, however, HPV has also emerged as a major etiological agent in cancers of the head and neck, in particular squamous cell carcinoma. Even with significant strides achieved towards the screening and treatment of cervical cancer, and preventive vaccines, cervical cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-associated deaths for women in developing countries. Furthermore, routine screens are not available for those at risk of head and neck cancer. The current expectation is that HPV vaccination will prevent not only cervical, but also head and neck cancers. In order to determine if previous cervical cancer models for HPV infection and transformation are directly applicable to head and neck cancer, clinical and molecular disease aspects must be carefully compared. In this review, we briefly discuss the cervical and head and neck cancer literature to highlight clinical and genomic commonalities. Differences in prognosis, staging and treatment, as well as comparisons of mutational profiles, viral integration patterns, and alterations in gene expression will be addressed

  3. Genetic basis of kidney cancer: Role of genomics for the development of disease-based therapeutics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linehan, W. Marston

    2012-01-01

    Kidney cancer is not a single disease; it is made up of a number of different types of cancer, including clear cell, type 1 papillary, type 2 papillary, chromophobe, TFE3, TFEB, and oncocytoma. Sporadic, nonfamilial kidney cancer includes clear cell kidney cancer (75%), type 1 papillary kidney cancer (10%), papillary type 2 kidney cancer (including collecting duct and medullary RCC) (5%), the microphalmia-associated transcription (MiT) family translocation kidney cancers (TFE3, TFEB, and MITF), chromophobe kidney cancer (5%), and oncocytoma (5%). Each has a distinct histology, a different clinical course, responds differently to therapy, and is caused by mutation in a different gene. Genomic studies identifying the genes for kidney cancer, including the VHL, MET, FLCN, fumarate hydratase, succinate dehydrogenase, TSC1, TSC2, and TFE3 genes, have significantly altered the ways in which patients with kidney cancer are managed. While seven FDA-approved agents that target the VHL pathway have been approved for the treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer, further genomic studies, such as whole genome sequencing, gene expression patterns, and gene copy number, will be required to gain a complete understanding of the genetic basis of kidney cancer and of the kidney cancer gene pathways and, most importantly, to provide the foundation for the development of effective forms of therapy for patients with this disease. PMID:23038766

  4. Identification and classification of conserved RNA secondary structures in the human genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Jakob Skou; Bejerano, Gill; Siepel, Adam

    2006-01-01

    The discoveries of microRNAs and riboswitches, among others, have shown functional RNAs to be biologically more important and genomically more prevalent than previously anticipated. We have developed a general comparative genomics method based on phylogenetic stochastic context-free grammars...... for identifying functional RNAs encoded in the human genome and used it to survey an eight-way genome-wide alignment of the human, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, dog, chicken, zebra-fish, and puffer-fish genomes for deeply conserved functional RNAs. At a loose threshold for acceptance, this search resulted in a set......, the results nevertheless provide evidence for many new human functional RNAs and present specific predictions to facilitate their further characterization....

  5. A site specific model and analysis of the neutral somatic mutation rate in whole-genome cancer data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertl, Johanna; Guo, Qianyun; Juul, Malene; Besenbacher, Søren; Nielsen, Morten Muhlig; Hornshøj, Henrik; Pedersen, Jakob Skou; Hobolth, Asger

    2018-04-19

    Detailed modelling of the neutral mutational process in cancer cells is crucial for identifying driver mutations and understanding the mutational mechanisms that act during cancer development. The neutral mutational process is very complex: whole-genome analyses have revealed that the mutation rate differs between cancer types, between patients and along the genome depending on the genetic and epigenetic context. Therefore, methods that predict the number of different types of mutations in regions or specific genomic elements must consider local genomic explanatory variables. A major drawback of most methods is the need to average the explanatory variables across the entire region or genomic element. This procedure is particularly problematic if the explanatory variable varies dramatically in the element under consideration. To take into account the fine scale of the explanatory variables, we model the probabilities of different types of mutations for each position in the genome by multinomial logistic regression. We analyse 505 cancer genomes from 14 different cancer types and compare the performance in predicting mutation rate for both regional based models and site-specific models. We show that for 1000 randomly selected genomic positions, the site-specific model predicts the mutation rate much better than regional based models. We use a forward selection procedure to identify the most important explanatory variables. The procedure identifies site-specific conservation (phyloP), replication timing, and expression level as the best predictors for the mutation rate. Finally, our model confirms and quantifies certain well-known mutational signatures. We find that our site-specific multinomial regression model outperforms the regional based models. The possibility of including genomic variables on different scales and patient specific variables makes it a versatile framework for studying different mutational mechanisms. Our model can serve as the neutral null model

  6. Research for genetic instability of human genome

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hori, T.; Takahashi, E.; Tsuji, H.; Yamauchi, M. (National Inst. of Radiological Sciences, Chiba (Japan)); Murata, M.

    1992-01-01

    In the present review paper, the potential relevance of chromosomal fragile sites to carcinogenesis and mutagenesis is discussed based on our own and other's studies. Recent evidence indicate that fragile sites may act as predisposition factors involved in chromosomal instability of the human genome and that the sites may be preferential targets for various DNA damaging agents including ionizing radiation. It is also demonstrated that some critical genomic rearrangements at the fragile sites may contribute towards oncogenesis and that individuals carrying heritable form of fragile site may be at the risk. Although clinical significance of autosomal fragile sites has been a matter of discussion, a fragile site of the X chromosome is known to be associated with an X-linked genetic diseases, called fragile X syndrome. Molecular events leading to the fragile X syndrome have recently been elucidated. The fragile X genotype can be characterized by an increased amount of p(CCG)n repeat DNA sequence in the FMR-1 gene and the repeated sequences are shown to be unstable in both meiosis and mitosis. These repeats might exhibit higher mutation rate than is generally seen in the human genome. Further studies on the fragile sites in molecular biology and radiation biology will yield relevant data to the molecular mechanisms of genetic instability of the human genome as well as to better assessment of genetic effect of ionizing radiation. (author).

  7. A genomic point-of-view on environmental factors influencing the human brain methylome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LaSalle, Janine M

    2011-07-01

    The etiologic paradigm of complex human disorders such as autism is that genetic and environmental risk factors are independent and additive, but the interactive effects at the epigenetic interface are largely ignored. Genomic technologies have radically changed perspective on the human genome and how the epigenetic interface may impact complex human disorders. Here, I review recent genomic, environmental, and epigenetic findings that suggest a new paradigm of "integrative genomics" in which genetic variation in genomic size may be impacted by dietary and environmental factors that influence the genomic saturation of DNA methylation. Human genomes are highly repetitive, but the interface of large-scale genomic differences with environmental factors that alter the DNA methylome such as dietary folate is under-explored. In addition to obvious direct effects of some environmental toxins on the genome by causing chromosomal breaks, non-mutagenic toxin exposures correlate with DNA hypomethylation that can lead to rearrangements between repeats or increased retrotransposition. Since human neurodevelopment appears to be particularly sensitive to alterations in epigenetic pathways, a further focus will be on how developing neurons may be particularly impacted by even subtle alterations to DNA methylation and proposing new directions towards understanding the quixotic etiology of autism by integrative genomic approaches.

  8. Characterization of noncoding regulatory DNA in the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elkon, Ran; Agami, Reuven

    2017-08-08

    Genetic variants associated with common diseases are usually located in noncoding parts of the human genome. Delineation of the full repertoire of functional noncoding elements, together with efficient methods for probing their biological roles, is therefore of crucial importance. Over the past decade, DNA accessibility and various epigenetic modifications have been associated with regulatory functions. Mapping these features across the genome has enabled researchers to begin to document the full complement of putative regulatory elements. High-throughput reporter assays to probe the functions of regulatory regions have also been developed but these methods separate putative regulatory elements from the chromosome so that any effects of chromatin context and long-range regulatory interactions are lost. Definitive assignment of function(s) to putative cis-regulatory elements requires perturbation of these elements. Genome-editing technologies are now transforming our ability to perturb regulatory elements across entire genomes. Interpretation of high-throughput genetic screens that incorporate genome editors might enable the construction of an unbiased map of functional noncoding elements in the human genome.

  9. Cross-Cancer Genome-Wide Analysis of Lung, Ovary, Breast, Prostate, and Colorectal Cancer Reveals Novel Pleiotropic Associations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fehringer, Gordon; Kraft, Peter; Pharoah, Paul D.; Eeles, Rosalind A.; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; Schumacher, Fredrick R.; Schildkraut, Joellen M.; Lindstrom, Sara; Brennan, Paul; Bickeboller, Heike; Houlston, Richard S.; Landi, Maria Teresa; Caporaso, Neil; Risch, Angela; Al Olama, Ali Amin; Berndt, Sonja I.; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Gronberg, Henrik; Kote-Jarai, Zsofia; Ma, Jing; Muir, Kenneth; Stampfer, Meir J.; Stevens, Victoria L.; Wiklund, Fredrik; Willett, Walter C.; Goode, Ellen L.; Permuth, Jennifer B.; Risch, Harvey A.; Reid, Brett M.; Bezieau, Stephane; Brenner, Hermann; Chan, Andrew T.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Hudson, Thomas J.; Kocarnik, Jonathan K.; Newcomb, Polly A.; Schoen, Robert E.; Slattery, Martha L.; White, Emily; Adank, Muriel A.; Ahsan, Habibul; Aittomaki, Kristiina; Baglietto, Laura; Blomquist, Carl; Canzian, Federico; Czene, Kamila; dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Eliassen, A. Heather; Figueroa, Jonine D.; Timens, Wim

    2016-01-01

    Identifying genetic variants with pleiotropic associations can uncover common pathways influencing multiple cancers. We took a two-stage approach to conduct genome-wide association studies for lung, ovary, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer from the GAME-ON/GECCO Network (61,851 cases, 61,820

  10. Cross-cancer genome-wide analysis of lung, ovary, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer reveals novel pleiotropic associations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fehringer, Gordon; Kraft, Peter; Pharoah, Paul D.; Eeles, Rosalind A.; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; Schumacher, Fredrick R.; Schildkraut, Joellen M.; Lindström, Sara; Brennan, Paul; Bickeböller, Heike; Houlston, Richard S.; Landi, Maria Teresa; Caporaso, Neil; Risch, Angela; Al Olama, Ali Amin; Berndt, Sonja I.; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Grönberg, Henrik; Kote-Jarai, Zsofia; Ma, Jing; Muir, Kenneth; Stampfer, Meir J.; Stevens, Victoria L.; Wiklund, Fredrik; Willett, Walter C.; Goode, Ellen L.; Permuth, Jennifer B.; Risch, Harvey A.; Reid, Brett M.; Bezieau, Stephane; Brenner, Hermann; Chan, Andrew T.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Hudson, Thomas J.; Kocarnik, Jonathan K.; Newcomb, Polly A.; Schoen, Robert E.; Slattery, Martha L.; White, Emily; Adank, Muriel A.; Ahsan, Habibul; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Baglietto, Laura; Blomquist, Carl; Canzian, Federico; Czene, Kamila; Dos-Santos-silva, Isabel; Eliassen, A. Heather; Figueroa, Jonine D.; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Fletcher, Olivia; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Gaudet, Mia M.; Johnson, Nichola; Hall, Per; Hazra, Aditi; Hein, Rebecca; Hofman, Albert; Hopper, John L.; Irwanto, Astrid; Johansson, Mattias; Kaaks, Rudolf; Kibriya, Muhammad G.; Lichtner, Peter; Liu, Jianjun; Lund, Eiliv; Makalic, Enes; Meindl, Alfons; Müller-Myhsok, Bertram; Muranen, Taru A.; Nevanlinna, Heli; Peeters, Petra H.; Peto, Julian; Prentice, Ross L.; Rahman, Nazneen; Sanchez, Maria Jose; Schmidt, Daniel F.; Schmutzler, Rita K.; Southey, Melissa C.; Tamimi, Rulla; Travis, Ruth C.; Turnbull, Clare; Uitterlinden, Andre G.; Wang, Zhaoming; Whittemore, Alice S.; Yang, Xiaohong R.; Zheng, Wei; Buchanan, Daniel D.; Casey, Graham; Conti, David V.; Edlund, Christopher K.; Gallinger, Steven; Haile, Robert W.; Jenkins, Mark; Marchand, Loïcle; Li, Li; Lindor, Noralene M.; Schmit, Stephanie L.; Thibodeau, Stephen N.; Woods, Michael O.; Rafnar, Thorunn; Gudmundsson, Julius; Stacey, Simon N.; Stefansson, Kari; Sulem, Patrick; Chen, Y. Ann; Tyrer, Jonathan P.; Christiani, David C.; Wei, Yongyue; Shen, Hongbing; Hu, Zhibin; Shu, Xiao Ou; Shiraishi, Kouya; Takahashi, Atsushi; Bossé, Yohan; Obeidat, Ma'en; Nickle, David; Timens, Wim; Freedman, Matthew L.; Li, Qiyuan; Seminara, Daniela; Chanock, Stephen J.; Gong, Jian; Peters, Ulrike; Gruber, Stephen B.; Amos, Christopher I.; Sellers, Thomas A.; Easton, Douglas F.; Hunter, David J.; Haiman, Christopher A.; Henderson, Brian E.; Hung, Rayjean J.

    2016-01-01

    Identifying genetic variants with pleiotropic associations can uncover common pathways influencing multiple cancers. We took a two-stage approach to conduct genome-wide association studies for lung, ovary, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer from the GAME-ON/GECCO Network (61,851 cases, 61,820

  11. 77 FR 50140 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome..., Human Genome Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) Dated: August 13, 2012. Anna Snouffer, Deputy..., Bethesda, MD 20892. Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human...

  12. 76 FR 50486 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome... Conference Call). Contact Person: Camilla E. Day, PhD, Scientific Review Officer, CIDR, National Human Genome...- 402-8837, [email protected] . (Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.172, Human...

  13. Explaining human uniqueness: genome interactions with environment, behaviour and culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varki, Ajit; Geschwind, Daniel H; Eichler, Evan E

    2008-10-01

    What makes us human? Specialists in each discipline respond through the lens of their own expertise. In fact, 'anthropogeny' (explaining the origin of humans) requires a transdisciplinary approach that eschews such barriers. Here we take a genomic and genetic perspective towards molecular variation, explore systems analysis of gene expression and discuss an organ-systems approach. Rejecting any 'genes versus environment' dichotomy, we then consider genome interactions with environment, behaviour and culture, finally speculating that aspects of human uniqueness arose because of a primate evolutionary trend towards increasing and irreversible dependence on learned behaviours and culture - perhaps relaxing allowable thresholds for large-scale genomic diversity.

  14. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated noncoding RNA editing in human cancers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jie; Meng, Xiaodan; Pan, Jinchang; Jiang, Nan; Zhou, Chengwei; Wu, Zhenhua; Gong, Zhaohui

    2018-01-02

    Cancer is characterized by multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations, including a higher prevalence of mutations of oncogenes and/or tumor suppressors. Mounting evidences have shown that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are involved in the epigenetic regulation of cancer genes and their associated pathways. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated nuclease 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system, a revolutionary genome-editing technology, has shed light on ncRNA-based cancer therapy. Here, we briefly introduce the classifications and mechanisms of CRISPR/Cas9 system. Importantly, we mainly focused on the applications of CRISPR/Cas9 system as a molecular tool for ncRNA (microRNA, long noncoding RNA and circular RNA, etc.) editing in human cancers, and the novel techniques that are based on CRISPR/Cas9 system. Additionally, the off-target effects and the corresponding solutions as well as the challenges toward CRISPR/Cas9 were also evaluated and discussed. Long- and short-ncRNAs have been employed as targets in precision oncology, and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated ncRNA editing may provide an excellent way to cure cancer.

  15. Genomic profiling toward precision medicine in non-small cell lung cancer: getting beyond EGFR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richer AL

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Amanda L Richer,1 Jacqueline M Friel,1 Vashti M Carson,2 Landon J Inge,1 Timothy G Whitsett2 1Norton Thoracic Institute, St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, 2Cancer and Cell Biology Division, Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USA Abstract: Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The application of next-generation genomic technologies has offered a more comprehensive look at the mutational landscape across the different subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC. A number of recurrent mutations such as TP53, KRAS, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR have been identified in NSCLC. While targeted therapeutic successes have been demonstrated in the therapeutic targeting of EGFR and ALK, the majority of NSCLC tumors do not harbor these genomic events. This review looks at the current treatment paradigms for lung adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas, examining genomic aberrations that dictate therapy selection, as well as novel therapeutic strategies for tumors harboring mutations in KRAS, TP53, and LKB1 which, to date, have been considered “undruggable”. A more thorough understanding of the molecular alterations that govern NSCLC tumorigenesis, aided by next-generation sequencing, will lead to targeted therapeutic options expected to dramatically reduce the high mortality rate observed in lung cancer. Keywords: non-small cell lung cancer, precision medicine, epidermal growth factor receptor, Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog, serine/threonine kinase 11, tumor protein p53

  16. The Complete Sequence of a Human Parainfluenzavirus 4 Genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yea, Carmen; Cheung, Rose; Collins, Carol; Adachi, Dena; Nishikawa, John; Tellier, Raymond

    2009-01-01

    Although the human parainfluenza virus 4 (HPIV4) has been known for a long time, its genome, alone among the human paramyxoviruses, has not been completely sequenced to date. In this study we obtained the first complete genomic sequence of HPIV4 from a clinical isolate named SKPIV4 obtained at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (Ontario, Canada). The coding regions for the N, P/V, M, F and HN proteins show very high identities (95% to 97%) with previously available partial sequences for HPIV4B. The sequence for the L protein and the non-coding regions represent new information. A surprising feature of the genome is its length, more than 17 kb, making it the longest genome within the genus Rubulavirus, although the length is well within the known range of 15 kb to 19 kb for the subfamily Paramyxovirinae. The availability of a complete genomic sequence will facilitate investigations on a respiratory virus that is still not completely characterized. PMID:21994536

  17. The Complete Sequence of a Human Parainfluenzavirus 4 Genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Yea

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Although the human parainfluenza virus 4 (HPIV4 has been known for a long time, its genome, alone among the human paramyxoviruses, has not been completely sequenced to date. In this study we obtained the first complete genomic sequence of HPIV4 from a clinical isolate named SKPIV4 obtained at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (Ontario, Canada. The coding regions for the N, P/V, M, F and HN proteins show very high identities (95% to 97% with previously available partial sequences for HPIV4B. The sequence for the L protein and the non-coding regions represent new information. A surprising feature of the genome is its length, more than 17 kb, making it the longest genome within the genus Rubulavirus, although the length is well within the known range of 15 kb to 19 kb for the subfamily Paramyxovirinae. The availability of a complete genomic sequence will facilitate investigations on a respiratory virus that is still not completely characterized.

  18. Funding Opportunity: Genomic Data Centers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funding Opportunity CCG, Funding Opportunity Center for Cancer Genomics, CCG, Center for Cancer Genomics, CCG RFA, Center for cancer genomics rfa, genomic data analysis network, genomic data analysis network centers,

  19. Evolution of the NANOG pseudogene family in the human and chimpanzee genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maughan Peter J

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The NANOG gene is expressed in mammalian embryonic stem cells where it maintains cellular pluripotency. An unusually large family of pseudogenes arose from it with one unprocessed and ten processed pseudogenes in the human genome. This article compares the NANOG gene and its pseudogenes in the human and chimpanzee genomes and derives an evolutionary history of this pseudogene family. Results The NANOG gene and all pseudogenes except NANOGP8 are present at their expected orthologous chromosomal positions in the chimpanzee genome when compared to the human genome, indicating that their origins predate the human-chimpanzee divergence. Analysis of flanking DNA sequences demonstrates that NANOGP8 is absent from the chimpanzee genome. Conclusion Based on the most parsimonious ordering of inferred source-gene mutations, the deduced evolutionary origins for the NANOG pseudogene family in the human and chimpanzee genomes, in order of most ancient to most recent, are NANOGP6, NANOGP5, NANOGP3, NANOGP10, NANOGP2, NANOGP9, NANOGP7, NANOGP1, and NANOGP4. All of these pseudogenes were fixed in the genome of the human-chimpanzee common ancestor. NANOGP8 is the most recent pseudogene and it originated exclusively in the human lineage after the human-chimpanzee divergence. NANOGP1 is apparently an unprocessed pseudogene. Comparison of its sequence to the functional NANOG gene's reading frame suggests that this apparent pseudogene remained functional after duplication and, therefore, was subject to selection-driven conservation of its reading frame, and that it may retain some functionality or that its loss of function may be evolutionarily recent.

  20. Pan-cancer analysis of genomic scar signatures associated with homologous recombination deficiency suggests novel indications for existing cancer drugs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marquard, Andrea Marion; Eklund, Aron Charles; Joshi, Tejal

    2015-01-01

    Ovarian and triple-negative breast cancers with BRCA1 or BRCA2 loss are highly sensitive to treatment with PARP inhibitors and platinum-based cytotoxic agents and show an accumulation of genomic scars in the form of gross DNA copy number aberrations. Cancers without BRCA1 or BRCA2 loss...... but with accumulation of similar genomic scars also show increased sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy. Therefore, reliable biomarkers to identify DNA repair-deficient cancers prior to treatment may be useful for directing patients to platinum chemotherapy and possibly PARP inhibitors. Recently, three SNP array...... may be strong candidates for clinical trials with PARP inhibitors or platinum-based chemotherapeutic regimens....

  1. HCSD: the human cancer secretome database

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Feizi, Amir; Banaei-Esfahani, Amir; Nielsen, Jens

    2015-01-01

    The human cancer secretome database (HCSD) is a comprehensive database for human cancer secretome data. The cancer secretome describes proteins secreted by cancer cells and structuring information about the cancer secretome will enable further analysis of how this is related with tumor biology...... database is limiting the ability to query the increasing community knowledge. We therefore developed the Human Cancer Secretome Database (HCSD) to fulfil this gap. HCSD contains >80 000 measurements for about 7000 nonredundant human proteins collected from up to 35 high-throughput studies on 17 cancer...

  2. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: High-Throughput Screening Identifying Driving Mutations in Endometrial Cancer | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Recent advances in next-generation sequencing technology have enabled the unprecedented characterization of a full spectrum of somatic alterations in cancer genomes. Given the large numbers of somatic mutations typically detected by this approach, a key challenge in the downstream analysis is to distinguish “drivers” that functionally contribute to tumorigenesis from “passengers” that occur as the consequence of genomic instability.

  3. Complete Genome Sequence of the Human Gut Symbiont Roseburia hominis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Travis, Anthony J.; Kelly, Denise; Flint, Harry J

    2015-01-01

    We report here the complete genome sequence of the human gut symbiont Roseburia hominis A2-183(T) (= DSM 16839(T) = NCIMB 14029(T)), isolated from human feces. The genome is represented by a 3,592,125-bp chromosome with 3,405 coding sequences. A number of potential functions contributing to host...

  4. Signatures of mutational processes in human cancer

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alexandrov, L.B.; Nik-Zainal, S.; Wedge, D.C.; Aparicio, S.A.; Behjati, S.; Biankin, A.V.; Bignell, G.R.; Bolli, N.; Borg, A.; Borresen-Dale, A.L.; Boyault, S.; Burkhardt, B.; Butler, A.P.; Caldas, C.; Davies, H.R.; Desmedt, C.; Eils, R.; Eyfjord, J.E.; Foekens, J.A.; Greaves, M.; Hosoda, F.; Hutter, B.; Ilicic, T.; Imbeaud, S.; Imielinsk, M.; Jager, N.; Jones, D.T.; Knappskog, S.; Kool, M.; Lakhani, S.R.; Lopez-Otin, C.; Martin, S.; Munshi, N.C.; Nakamura, H.; Northcott, P.A.; Pajic, M.; Papaemmanuil, E.; Paradiso, A.; Pearson, J.V.; Puente, X.S.; Raine, K.; Ramakrishna, M.; Richardson, A.L.; Richter, J.; Rosenstiel, P.; Schlesner, M.; Schumacher, T.N.; Span, P.N.; Teague, J.W.; Totoki, Y.; Tutt, A.N.; Valdes-Mas, R.; Buuren, M.M. van; Veer, L. van 't; Vincent-Salomon, A.; Waddell, N.; Yates, L.R.; Zucman-Rossi, J.; Futreal, P.A.; McDermott, U.; Lichter, P.; Meyerson, M.; Grimmond, S.M.; Siebert, R.; Campo, E.; Shibata, T.; Pfister, S.M.; Campbell, P.J.; Stratton, M.R.; Schlooz-Vries, M.S.; Tol, J.J. van; Laarhoven, H.W. van; Sweep, F.C.; Bult, P.; et al.,

    2013-01-01

    All cancers are caused by somatic mutations; however, understanding of the biological processes generating these mutations is limited. The catalogue of somatic mutations from a cancer genome bears the signatures of the mutational processes that have been operative. Here we analysed 4,938,362

  5. Genome-wide association study of prostate cancer-specific survival

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Szulkin, Robert; Karlsson, Robert; Whitington, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Unnecessary intervention and overtreatment of indolent disease are common challenges in clinical management of prostate cancer. Improved tools to distinguish lethal from indolent disease are critical. METHODS: We performed a genome-wide survival analysis of cause-specific death in 24,...

  6. Genomic analyses inform on migration events during the peopling of Eurasia

    OpenAIRE

    Pagani, L; Lawson, DJ; Jagoda, E; Mörseburg, A; Eriksson, A; Mitt, M; Clemente, F; Hudjashov, G; Degiorgio, M; Saag, L; Wall, JD; Cardona, A; Mägi, R; Sayres, MAW; Kaewert, S

    2016-01-01

    © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. High-Coverage whole-genome sequence studies have so far focused on a limited number of geographically restricted populations, or been targeted at specific diseases, such as cancer. Nevertheless, the availability of high-resolution genomic data has led to the development of new methodologies for inferring population history and refuelled the debate on the mutation rate in humans. Here we present the Estonian Biocentre Human Genome D...

  7. Genome-scale mutational signatures of aflatoxin in cells, mice, and human tumors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Mi Ni; Yu, Willie; Teoh, Wei Wei; Ardin, Maude; Jusakul, Apinya; Ng, Alvin Wei Tian; Boot, Arnoud; Abedi-Ardekani, Behnoush; Villar, Stephanie; Myint, Swe Swe; Othman, Rashidah; Poon, Song Ling; Heguy, Adriana; Olivier, Magali; Hollstein, Monica; Tan, Patrick; Teh, Bin Tean; Sabapathy, Kanaga; Zavadil, Jiri; Rozen, Steven G.

    2017-01-01

    Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a mutagen and IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) Group 1 carcinogen that causes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we present the first whole-genome data on the mutational signatures of AFB1 exposure from a total of >40,000 mutations in four experimental systems: two different human cell lines, in liver tumors in wild-type mice, and in mice that carried a hepatitis B surface antigen transgene—this to model the multiplicative effects of aflatoxin exposure and hepatitis B in causing HCC. AFB1 mutational signatures from all four experimental systems were remarkably similar. We integrated the experimental mutational signatures with data from newly sequenced HCCs from Qidong County, China, a region of well-studied aflatoxin exposure. This indicated that COSMIC mutational signature 24, previously hypothesized to stem from aflatoxin exposure, indeed likely represents AFB1 exposure, possibly combined with other exposures. Among published somatic mutation data, we found evidence of AFB1 exposure in 0.7% of HCCs treated in North America, 1% of HCCs from Japan, but 16% of HCCs from Hong Kong. Thus, aflatoxin exposure apparently remains a substantial public health issue in some areas. This aspect of our study exemplifies the promise of future widespread resequencing of tumor genomes in providing new insights into the contribution of mutagenic exposures to cancer incidence. PMID:28739859

  8. Genome-Wide Prediction and Analysis of 3D-Domain Swapped Proteins in the Human Genome from Sequence Information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Upadhyay, Atul Kumar; Sowdhamini, Ramanathan

    2016-01-01

    3D-domain swapping is one of the mechanisms of protein oligomerization and the proteins exhibiting this phenomenon have many biological functions. These proteins, which undergo domain swapping, have acquired much attention owing to their involvement in human diseases, such as conformational diseases, amyloidosis, serpinopathies, proteionopathies etc. Early realisation of proteins in the whole human genome that retain tendency to domain swap will enable many aspects of disease control management. Predictive models were developed by using machine learning approaches with an average accuracy of 78% (85.6% of sensitivity, 87.5% of specificity and an MCC value of 0.72) to predict putative domain swapping in protein sequences. These models were applied to many complete genomes with special emphasis on the human genome. Nearly 44% of the protein sequences in the human genome were predicted positive for domain swapping. Enrichment analysis was performed on the positively predicted sequences from human genome for their domain distribution, disease association and functional importance based on Gene Ontology (GO). Enrichment analysis was also performed to infer a better understanding of the functional importance of these sequences. Finally, we developed hinge region prediction, in the given putative domain swapped sequence, by using important physicochemical properties of amino acids.

  9. Accelerated Evolution of Conserved Noncoding Sequences in theHuman Genome

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prambhakar, Shyam; Noonan, James P.; Paabo, Svante; Rubin, EdwardM.

    2006-07-06

    Genomic comparisons between human and distant, non-primatemammals are commonly used to identify cis-regulatory elements based onconstrained sequence evolution. However, these methods fail to detect"cryptic" functional elements, which are too weakly conserved amongmammals to distinguish from nonfunctional DNA. To address this problem,we explored the potential of deep intra-primate sequence comparisons. Wesequenced the orthologs of 558 kb of human genomic sequence, coveringmultiple loci involved in cholesterol homeostasis, in 6 nonhumanprimates. Our analysis identified 6 noncoding DNA elements displayingsignificant conservation among primates, but undetectable in more distantcomparisons. In vitro and in vivo tests revealed that at least three ofthese 6 elements have regulatory function. Notably, the mouse orthologsof these three functional human sequences had regulatory activity despitetheir lack of significant sequence conservation, indicating that they arecryptic ancestral cis-regulatory elements. These regulatory elementscould still be detected in a smaller set of three primate speciesincluding human, rhesus and marmoset. Since the human and rhesus genomesequences are already available, and the marmoset genome is activelybeing sequenced, the primate-specific conservation analysis describedhere can be applied in the near future on a whole-genome scale, tocomplement the annotation provided by more distant speciescomparisons.

  10. Forces shaping the fastest evolving regions in the human genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine S Pollard

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available Comparative genomics allow us to search the human genome for segments that were extensively changed in the last approximately 5 million years since divergence from our common ancestor with chimpanzee, but are highly conserved in other species and thus are likely to be functional. We found 202 genomic elements that are highly conserved in vertebrates but show evidence of significantly accelerated substitution rates in human. These are mostly in non-coding DNA, often near genes associated with transcription and DNA binding. Resequencing confirmed that the five most accelerated elements are dramatically changed in human but not in other primates, with seven times more substitutions in human than in chimp. The accelerated elements, and in particular the top five, show a strong bias for adenine and thymine to guanine and cytosine nucleotide changes and are disproportionately located in high recombination and high guanine and cytosine content environments near telomeres, suggesting either biased gene conversion or isochore selection. In addition, there is some evidence of directional selection in the regions containing the two most accelerated regions. A combination of evolutionary forces has contributed to accelerated evolution of the fastest evolving elements in the human genome.

  11. Learning about the Human Genome. Part 2: Resources for Science Educators. ERIC Digest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haury, David L.

    This ERIC Digest identifies how the human genome project fits into the "National Science Education Standards" and lists Human Genome Project Web sites found on the World Wide Web. It is a resource companion to "Learning about the Human Genome. Part 1: Challenge to Science Educators" (Haury 2001). The Web resources and…

  12. The Human Genome Project (HGP): dividends and challenges: a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Human Genome Project (HGP): dividends and challenges: a review. ... Genomic studies have given profound insights into the genetic organization of ... with it will be an essential part of modern medicine and biology for years to come.

  13. Genomic Copy Number Dictates a Gene-Independent Cell Response to CRISPR/Cas9 Targeting | Office of Cancer Genomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    The CRISPR/Cas9 system enables genome editing and somatic cell genetic screens in mammalian cells. We performed genome-scale loss-of-function screens in 33 cancer cell lines to identify genes essential for proliferation/survival and found a strong correlation between increased gene copy number and decreased cell viability after genome editing. Within regions of copy-number gain, CRISPR/Cas9 targeting of both expressed and unexpressed genes, as well as intergenic loci, led to significantly decreased cell proliferation through induction of a G2 cell-cycle arrest.

  14. Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of KIAA1199 gene expression in human breast cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cem Kuscu

    Full Text Available Emerging evidence has demonstrated that upregulated expression of KIAA1199 in human cancer bodes for poor survival. The regulatory mechanism controlling KIAA1199 expression in cancer remains to be characterized. In the present study, we have isolated and characterized the human KIAA1199 promoter in terms of regulation of KIAA1199 gene expression. A 3.3 kb fragment of human genomic DNA containing the 5'-flanking sequence of the KIAA1199 gene possesses both suppressive and activating elements. Employing a deletion mutagenesis approach, a 1.4 kb proximal region was defined as the basic KIAA1199 promoter containing a TATA-box close to the transcription start site. A combination of 5'-primer extension study with 5'RACE DNA sequencing analysis revealed one major transcription start site that is utilized in the human KIAA1199 gene. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that the 1.4 kb KIAA1199 promoter contains putative activating regulatory elements, including activator protein-1(AP-1, Twist-1, and NF-κB sites. Sequential deletion and site-direct mutagenesis analysis demonstrated that the AP-1 and distal NF-κB sites are required for KIAA1199 gene expression. Further analyses using an electrophoretic mobility-shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed the requirement of these cis- and trans-acting elements in controlling KIAA1199 gene expression. Finally, we found that upregulated KIAA1199 expression in human breast cancer specimens correlated with hypomethylation of the regulatory region. Involvement of DNA methylation in regulation of KIAA1199 expression was recapitulated in human breast cancer cell lines. Taken together, our study unraveled the regulatory mechanisms controlling KIAA1199 gene expression in human cancer.

  15. Genome network medicine: innovation to overcome huge challenges in cancer therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roukos, Dimitrios H

    2014-01-01

    The post-ENCODE era shapes now a new biomedical research direction for understanding transcriptional and signaling networks driving gene expression and core cellular processes such as cell fate, survival, and apoptosis. Over the past half century, the Francis Crick 'central dogma' of single n gene/protein-phenotype (trait/disease) has defined biology, human physiology, disease, diagnostics, and drugs discovery. However, the ENCODE project and several other genomic studies using high-throughput sequencing technologies, computational strategies, and imaging techniques to visualize regulatory networks, provide evidence that transcriptional process and gene expression are regulated by highly complex dynamic molecular and signaling networks. This Focus article describes the linear experimentation-based limitations of diagnostics and therapeutics to cure advanced cancer and the need to move on from reductionist to network-based approaches. With evident a wide genomic heterogeneity, the power and challenges of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to identify a patient's personal mutational landscape for tailoring the best target drugs in the individual patient are discussed. However, the available drugs are not capable of targeting aberrant signaling networks and research on functional transcriptional heterogeneity and functional genome organization is poorly understood. Therefore, the future clinical genome network medicine aiming at overcoming multiple problems in the new fields of regulatory DNA mapping, noncoding RNA, enhancer RNAs, and dynamic complexity of transcriptional circuitry are also discussed expecting in new innovation technology and strong appreciation of clinical data and evidence-based medicine. The problematic and potential solutions in the discovery of next-generation, molecular, and signaling circuitry-based biomarkers and drugs are explored. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Human genome-microbiome interaction: metagenomics frontiers for the aetiopathology of autoimmune diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gundogdu, Aycan; Nalbantoglu, Ufuk

    2017-04-01

    A short while ago, the human genome and microbiome were analysed simultaneously for the first time as a multi-omic approach. The analyses of heterogeneous population cohorts showed that microbiome components were associated with human genome variations. In-depth analysis of these results reveals that the majority of those relationships are between immune pathways and autoimmune disease-associated microbiome components. Thus, it can be hypothesized that autoimmunity may be associated with homeostatic disequilibrium of the human-microbiome interactome. Further analysis of human genome-human microbiome relationships in disease contexts with tailored systems biology approaches may yield insights into disease pathogenesis and prognosis.

  17. Whole genomes redefine the mutational landscape of pancreatic cancer

    OpenAIRE

    Waddell, Nicola; Pajic, Marina; Patch, Ann-Marie; Chang, David K.; Kassahn, Karin S.; Bailey, Peter; Johns, Amber L.; Miller, David; Nones, Katia; Quek, Kelly; Quinn, Michael C. J.; Robertson, Alan J.; Fadlullah, Muhammad Z. H.; Bruxner, Tim J. C.; Christ, Angelika N.

    2015-01-01

    Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal of malignancies and a major health burden. We performed whole-genome sequencing and copy number variation (CNV) analysis of 100 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs). Chromosomal rearrangements leading to gene disruption were prevalent, affecting genes known to be important in pancreatic cancer (TP53, SMAD4, CDKN2A, ARID1A and ROBO2) and new candidate drivers of pancreatic carcinogenesis (KDM6A and PREX2). Patterns of structural variation (...

  18. What does it mean to be genomically literate?: National Human Genome Research Institute Meeting Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurle, Belen; Citrin, Toby; Jenkins, Jean F; Kaphingst, Kimberly A; Lamb, Neil; Roseman, Jo Ellen; Bonham, Vence L

    2013-08-01

    Genomic discoveries will increasingly advance the science of medicine. Limited genomic literacy may adversely impact the public's understanding and use of the power of genetics and genomics in health care and public health. In November 2011, a meeting was held by the National Human Genome Research Institute to examine the challenge of achieving genomic literacy for the general public, from kindergarten to grade 12 to adult education. The role of the media in disseminating scientific messages and in perpetuating or reducing misconceptions was also discussed. Workshop participants agreed that genomic literacy will be achieved only through active engagement between genomics experts and the varied constituencies that comprise the public. This report summarizes the background, content, and outcomes from this meeting, including recommendations for a research agenda to inform decisions about how to advance genomic literacy in our society.

  19. Deorphanizing the human transmembrane genome: A landscape of uncharacterized membrane proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babcock, Joseph J; Li, Min

    2014-01-01

    The sequencing of the human genome has fueled the last decade of work to functionally characterize genome content. An important subset of genes encodes membrane proteins, which are the targets of many drugs. They reside in lipid bilayers, restricting their endogenous activity to a relatively specialized biochemical environment. Without a reference phenotype, the application of systematic screens to profile candidate membrane proteins is not immediately possible. Bioinformatics has begun to show its effectiveness in focusing the functional characterization of orphan proteins of a particular functional class, such as channels or receptors. Here we discuss integration of experimental and bioinformatics approaches for characterizing the orphan membrane proteome. By analyzing the human genome, a landscape reference for the human transmembrane genome is provided.

  20. Rapid detection of structural variation in a human genome using nanochannel-based genome mapping technology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cao, Hongzhi; Hastie, Alex R.; Cao, Dandan

    2014-01-01

    mutations; however, none of the current detection methods are comprehensive, and currently available methodologies are incapable of providing sufficient resolution and unambiguous information across complex regions in the human genome. To address these challenges, we applied a high-throughput, cost......-effective genome mapping technology to comprehensively discover genome-wide SVs and characterize complex regions of the YH genome using long single molecules (>150 kb) in a global fashion. RESULTS: Utilizing nanochannel-based genome mapping technology, we obtained 708 insertions/deletions and 17 inversions larger...... fosmid data. Of the remaining 270 SVs, 260 are insertions and 213 overlap known SVs in the Database of Genomic Variants. Overall, 609 out of 666 (90%) variants were supported by experimental orthogonal methods or historical evidence in public databases. At the same time, genome mapping also provides...

  1. Cooperation and conflict in cancer: An evolutionary perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan Featherston

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Evolutionary approaches to carcinogenesis have gained prominence in the literature and enhanced our understanding of cancer. However, an appreciation of neoplasia in the context of evolutionary transitions, particularly the transition from independent genes to a fullyintegrated genome, is largely absent. In the gene–genome evolutionary transition, mobile genetic elements (MGEs can be studied as the extant exemplars of selfish autonomous lowerlevel units that cooperated to form a higher-level, functionally integrated genome. Here,we discuss levels of selection in cancer cells. In particular, we examine the tension between gene and genome units of selection by examining the expression profiles of MGE domains in an array of human cancers. Overall, across diverse cancers, there is an aberrant expression of several families of mobile elements, including the most common MGE in the human genome, retrotransposon LINE 1. These results indicate an alternative life-history strategy for MGEs in the cancers studied. Whether the aberrant expression is the cause or effect oftumourigenesis is unknown, although some evidence suggests that dysregulation of MGEs can play a role in cancer origin and progression. These data are interpreted in combination with phylostratigraphic reports correlating the origin of cancer genes with multicellularity and other potential increases in complexity in cancer cell populations. Cooperation and conflict between individuals at the gene, genome and cell level provide an evolutionary medicineperspective of cancer that enhances our understanding of disease pathogenesis and treatment.

  2. Human Rhinovirus B and C Genomes from Rural Coastal Kenya

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Agoti, Charles N.; Kiyuka, Patience K.; Kamau, Everlyn; Munywoki, Patrick K.; Bett, Anne; van der Hoek, Lia; Kellam, Paul; Nokes, D. James; Cotten, Matthew

    2016-01-01

    Primer-independent agnostic deep sequencing was used to generate three human rhinovirus (HRV) B genomes and one HRV C genome from samples collected in a household respiratory survey in rural coastal Kenya. The study provides the first rhinovirus genomes from Kenya and will help improve the

  3. The spotted gar genome illuminates vertebrate evolution and facilitates human-to-teleost comparisons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braasch, Ingo; Gehrke, Andrew R.; Smith, Jeramiah J.; Kawasaki, Kazuhiko; Manousaki, Tereza; Pasquier, Jeremy; Amores, Angel; Desvignes, Thomas; Batzel, Peter; Catchen, Julian; Berlin, Aaron M.; Campbell, Michael S.; Barrell, Daniel; Martin, Kyle J.; Mulley, John F.; Ravi, Vydianathan; Lee, Alison P.; Nakamura, Tetsuya; Chalopin, Domitille; Fan, Shaohua; Wcisel, Dustin; Cañestro, Cristian; Sydes, Jason; Beaudry, Felix E. G.; Sun, Yi; Hertel, Jana; Beam, Michael J.; Fasold, Mario; Ishiyama, Mikio; Johnson, Jeremy; Kehr, Steffi; Lara, Marcia; Letaw, John H.; Litman, Gary W.; Litman, Ronda T.; Mikami, Masato; Ota, Tatsuya; Saha, Nil Ratan; Williams, Louise; Stadler, Peter F.; Wang, Han; Taylor, John S.; Fontenot, Quenton; Ferrara, Allyse; Searle, Stephen M. J.; Aken, Bronwen; Yandell, Mark; Schneider, Igor; Yoder, Jeffrey A.; Volff, Jean-Nicolas; Meyer, Axel; Amemiya, Chris T.; Venkatesh, Byrappa; Holland, Peter W. H.; Guiguen, Yann; Bobe, Julien; Shubin, Neil H.; Di Palma, Federica; Alföldi, Jessica; Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin; Postlethwait, John H.

    2016-01-01

    To connect human biology to fish biomedical models, we sequenced the genome of spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), whose lineage diverged from teleosts before the teleost genome duplication (TGD). The slowly evolving gar genome conserved in content and size many entire chromosomes from bony vertebrate ancestors. Gar bridges teleosts to tetrapods by illuminating the evolution of immunity, mineralization, and development (e.g., Hox, ParaHox, and miRNA genes). Numerous conserved non-coding elements (CNEs, often cis-regulatory) undetectable in direct human-teleost comparisons become apparent using gar: functional studies uncovered conserved roles of such cryptic CNEs, facilitating annotation of sequences identified in human genome-wide association studies. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that the sum of expression domains and levels from duplicated teleost genes often approximate patterns and levels of gar genes, consistent with subfunctionalization. The gar genome provides a resource for understanding evolution after genome duplication, the origin of vertebrate genomes, and the function of human regulatory sequences. PMID:26950095

  4. Telomere Length Dynamics and the Evolution of Cancer Genome Architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kez Cleal

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Telomeres are progressively eroded during repeated rounds of cell division due to the end replication problem but also undergo additional more substantial stochastic shortening events. In most cases, shortened telomeres induce a cell-cycle arrest or trigger apoptosis, although for those cells that bypass such signals during tumour progression, a critical length threshold is reached at which telomere dysfunction may ensue. Dysfunction of the telomere nucleoprotein complex can expose free chromosome ends to the DNA double-strand break (DSB repair machinery, leading to telomere fusion with both telomeric and non-telomeric loci. The consequences of telomere fusions in promoting genome instability have long been appreciated through the breakage–fusion–bridge (BFB cycle mechanism, although recent studies using high-throughput sequencing technologies have uncovered evidence of involvement in a wider spectrum of genomic rearrangements including chromothripsis. A critical step in cancer progression is the transition of a clone to immortality, through the stabilisation of the telomere repeat array. This can be achieved via the reactivation of telomerase, or the induction of the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT pathway. Whilst telomere dysfunction may promote genome instability and tumour progression, by limiting the replicative potential of a cell and enforcing senescence, telomere shortening can act as a tumour suppressor mechanism. However, the burden of senescent cells has also been implicated as a driver of ageing and age-related pathology, and in the promotion of cancer through inflammatory signalling. Considering the critical role of telomere length in governing cancer biology, we review questions related to the prognostic value of studying the dynamics of telomere shortening and fusion, and discuss mechanisms and consequences of telomere-induced genome rearrangements.

  5. Genomic Instability and Breast Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-01

    distinguish these possibilities. The possible function of human SWI5-MEI5 in meiosis also needs to be investigated. It remains to be determined whether the... human SWI5-MEI5 complex acts in meiosis and, if it does, whether it acts with DMC1, RAD51, or both. Considering that SWI5-MEI5 is the only human ...tumorigenesis. This has been clearly illustrated in familial breast cancer, since human genetic studies reveal that many genes involved in DNA damage response

  6. De novo assembly of a haplotype-resolved human genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cao, Hongzhi; Wu, Honglong; Luo, Ruibang

    2015-01-01

    The human genome is diploid, and knowledge of the variants on each chromosome is important for the interpretation of genomic information. Here we report the assembly of a haplotype-resolved diploid genome without using a reference genome. Our pipeline relies on fosmid pooling together with whole-...

  7. Repetitive elements may comprise over two-thirds of the human genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A P Jason de Koning

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Transposable elements (TEs are conventionally identified in eukaryotic genomes by alignment to consensus element sequences. Using this approach, about half of the human genome has been previously identified as TEs and low-complexity repeats. We recently developed a highly sensitive alternative de novo strategy, P-clouds, that instead searches for clusters of high-abundance oligonucleotides that are related in sequence space (oligo "clouds". We show here that P-clouds predicts >840 Mbp of additional repetitive sequences in the human genome, thus suggesting that 66%-69% of the human genome is repetitive or repeat-derived. To investigate this remarkable difference, we conducted detailed analyses of the ability of both P-clouds and a commonly used conventional approach, RepeatMasker (RM, to detect different sized fragments of the highly abundant human Alu and MIR SINEs. RM can have surprisingly low sensitivity for even moderately long fragments, in contrast to P-clouds, which has good sensitivity down to small fragment sizes (∼25 bp. Although short fragments have a high intrinsic probability of being false positives, we performed a probabilistic annotation that reflects this fact. We further developed "element-specific" P-clouds (ESPs to identify novel Alu and MIR SINE elements, and using it we identified ∼100 Mb of previously unannotated human elements. ESP estimates of new MIR sequences are in good agreement with RM-based predictions of the amount that RM missed. These results highlight the need for combined, probabilistic genome annotation approaches and suggest that the human genome consists of substantially more repetitive sequence than previously believed.

  8. Human genetics: international projects and personalized medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apellaniz-Ruiz, Maria; Gallego, Cristina; Ruiz-Pinto, Sara; Carracedo, Angel; Rodríguez-Antona, Cristina

    2016-03-01

    In this article, we present the progress driven by the recent technological advances and new revolutionary massive sequencing technologies in the field of human genetics. We discuss this knowledge in relation with drug response prediction, from the germline genetic variation compiled in the 1000 Genomes Project or in the Genotype-Tissue Expression project, to the phenome-genome archives, the international cancer projects, such as The Cancer Genome Atlas or the International Cancer Genome Consortium, and the epigenetic variation and its influence in gene expression, including the regulation of drug metabolism. This review is based on the lectures presented by the speakers of the Symposium "Human Genetics: International Projects & New Technologies" from the VII Conference of the Spanish Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Society, held on the 20th and 21st of April 2015.

  9. Human genome and open source: balancing ethics and business.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marturano, Antonio

    2011-01-01

    The Human Genome Project has been completed thanks to a massive use of computer techniques, as well as the adoption of the open-source business and research model by the scientists involved. This model won over the proprietary model and allowed a quick propagation and feedback of research results among peers. In this paper, the author will analyse some ethical and legal issues emerging by the use of such computer model in the Human Genome property rights. The author will argue that the Open Source is the best business model, as it is able to balance business and human rights perspectives.

  10. Genome-wide associations of gene expression variation in humans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara E Stranger

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The exploration of quantitative variation in human populations has become one of the major priorities for medical genetics. The successful identification of variants that contribute to complex traits is highly dependent on reliable assays and genetic maps. We have performed a genome-wide quantitative trait analysis of 630 genes in 60 unrelated Utah residents with ancestry from Northern and Western Europe using the publicly available phase I data of the International HapMap project. The genes are located in regions of the human genome with elevated functional annotation and disease interest including the ENCODE regions spanning 1% of the genome, Chromosome 21 and Chromosome 20q12-13.2. We apply three different methods of multiple test correction, including Bonferroni, false discovery rate, and permutations. For the 374 expressed genes, we find many regions with statistically significant association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs with expression variation in lymphoblastoid cell lines after correcting for multiple tests. Based on our analyses, the signal proximal (cis- to the genes of interest is more abundant and more stable than distal and trans across statistical methodologies. Our results suggest that regulatory polymorphism is widespread in the human genome and show that the 5-kb (phase I HapMap has sufficient density to enable linkage disequilibrium mapping in humans. Such studies will significantly enhance our ability to annotate the non-coding part of the genome and interpret functional variation. In addition, we demonstrate that the HapMap cell lines themselves may serve as a useful resource for quantitative measurements at the cellular level.

  11. Genome-Wide Associations of Gene Expression Variation in Humans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The exploration of quantitative variation in human populations has become one of the major priorities for medical genetics. The successful identification of variants that contribute to complex traits is highly dependent on reliable assays and genetic maps. We have performed a genome-wide quantitative trait analysis of 630 genes in 60 unrelated Utah residents with ancestry from Northern and Western Europe using the publicly available phase I data of the International HapMap project. The genes are located in regions of the human genome with elevated functional annotation and disease interest including the ENCODE regions spanning 1% of the genome, Chromosome 21 and Chromosome 20q12-13.2. We apply three different methods of multiple test correction, including Bonferroni, false discovery rate, and permutations. For the 374 expressed genes, we find many regions with statistically significant association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs with expression variation in lymphoblastoid cell lines after correcting for multiple tests. Based on our analyses, the signal proximal (cis- to the genes of interest is more abundant and more stable than distal and trans across statistical methodologies. Our results suggest that regulatory polymorphism is widespread in the human genome and show that the 5-kb (phase I HapMap has sufficient density to enable linkage disequilibrium mapping in humans. Such studies will significantly enhance our ability to annotate the non-coding part of the genome and interpret functional variation. In addition, we demonstrate that the HapMap cell lines themselves may serve as a useful resource for quantitative measurements at the cellular level.

  12. [Genetic system for maintaining the mitochondrial human genome in yeast Yarrowia lipolytica].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isakova, E P; Deryabina, Yu I; Velyakova, A V; Biryukova, J K; Teplova, V V; Shevelev, A B

    2016-01-01

    For the first time, the possibility of maintaining an intact human mitochondrial genome in a heterologous system in the mitochondria of yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is shown. A method for introducing directional changes into the structure of the mitochondrial human genome replicating in Y. lipolytica by an artificially induced ability of yeast mitochondria for homologous recombination is proposed. A method of introducing and using phenotypic selection markers for the presence or absence of defects in genes tRNA-Lys and tRNA-Leu of the mitochondrial genome is developed. The proposed system can be used to correct harmful mutations of the human mitochondrial genome associated with mitochondrial diseases and for preparative amplification of intact mitochondrial DNA with an adjusted sequence in yeast cells. The applicability of the new system for the correction of mutations in the genes of Lys- and Leu-specific tRNAs of the human mitochondrial genome associated with serious and widespread human mitochondrial diseases such as myoclonic epilepsy with lactic acidosis (MELAS) and myoclonic epilepsy with ragged-red fibers (MERRF) is shown.

  13. Specific genomic regions are differentially affected by copy number alterations across distinct cancer types, in aggregated cytogenetic data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Nitin; Cai, Haoyang; von Mering, Christian; Baudis, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Regional genomic copy number alterations (CNA) are observed in the vast majority of cancers. Besides specifically targeting well-known, canonical oncogenes, CNAs may also play more subtle roles in terms of modulating genetic potential and broad gene expression patterns of developing tumors. Any significant differences in the overall CNA patterns between different cancer types may thus point towards specific biological mechanisms acting in those cancers. In addition, differences among CNA profiles may prove valuable for cancer classifications beyond existing annotation systems. We have analyzed molecular-cytogenetic data from 25579 tumors samples, which were classified into 160 cancer types according to the International Classification of Disease (ICD) coding system. When correcting for differences in the overall CNA frequencies between cancer types, related cancers were often found to cluster together according to similarities in their CNA profiles. Based on a randomization approach, distance measures from the cluster dendrograms were used to identify those specific genomic regions that contributed significantly to this signal. This approach identified 43 non-neutral genomic regions whose propensity for the occurrence of copy number alterations varied with the type of cancer at hand. Only a subset of these identified loci overlapped with previously implied, highly recurrent (hot-spot) cytogenetic imbalance regions. Thus, for many genomic regions, a simple null-hypothesis of independence between cancer type and relative copy number alteration frequency can be rejected. Since a subset of these regions display relatively low overall CNA frequencies, they may point towards second-tier genomic targets that are adaptively relevant but not necessarily essential for cancer development.

  14. A periodic pattern of SNPs in the human genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Bo Eskerod; Villesen, Palle; Wiuf, Carsten

    2007-01-01

    By surveying a filtered, high-quality set of SNPs in the human genome, we have found that SNPs positioned 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8 bp apart are more frequent than SNPs positioned 3, 5, 7, or 9 bp apart. The observed pattern is not restricted to genomic regions that are known to cause sequencing...... periodic DNA. Our results suggest that not all SNPs in the human genome are created by independent single nucleotide mutations, and that care should be taken in analysis of SNPs from periodic DNA. The latter may have important consequences for SNP and association studies....... or alignment errors, for example, transposable elements (SINE, LINE, and LTR), tandem repeats, and large duplicated regions. However, we found that the pattern is almost entirely confined to what we define as "periodic DNA." Periodic DNA is a genomic region with a high degree of periodicity in nucleotide usage...

  15. Human genomic disease variants: a neutral evolutionary explanation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dudley, Joel T; Kim, Yuseob; Liu, Li; Markov, Glenn J; Gerold, Kristyn; Chen, Rong; Butte, Atul J; Kumar, Sudhir

    2012-08-01

    Many perspectives on the role of evolution in human health include nonempirical assumptions concerning the adaptive evolutionary origins of human diseases. Evolutionary analyses of the increasing wealth of clinical and population genomic data have begun to challenge these presumptions. In order to systematically evaluate such claims, the time has come to build a common framework for an empirical and intellectual unification of evolution and modern medicine. We review the emerging evidence and provide a supporting conceptual framework that establishes the classical neutral theory of molecular evolution (NTME) as the basis for evaluating disease- associated genomic variations in health and medicine. For over a decade, the NTME has already explained the origins and distribution of variants implicated in diseases and has illuminated the power of evolutionary thinking in genomic medicine. We suggest that a majority of disease variants in modern populations will have neutral evolutionary origins (previously neutral), with a relatively smaller fraction exhibiting adaptive evolutionary origins (previously adaptive). This pattern is expected to hold true for common as well as rare disease variants. Ultimately, a neutral evolutionary perspective will provide medicine with an informative and actionable framework that enables objective clinical assessment beyond convenient tendencies to invoke past adaptive events in human history as a root cause of human disease.

  16. Learning about human population history from ancient and modern genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoneking, Mark; Krause, Johannes

    2011-08-18

    Genome-wide data, both from SNP arrays and from complete genome sequencing, are becoming increasingly abundant and are now even available from extinct hominins. These data are providing new insights into population history; in particular, when combined with model-based analytical approaches, genome-wide data allow direct testing of hypotheses about population history. For example, genome-wide data from both contemporary populations and extinct hominins strongly support a single dispersal of modern humans from Africa, followed by two archaic admixture events: one with Neanderthals somewhere outside Africa and a second with Denisovans that (so far) has only been detected in New Guinea. These new developments promise to reveal new stories about human population history, without having to resort to storytelling.

  17. 77 FR 67385 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the National Human Genome Research Institute Special Emphasis Panel, October 29, 2012, 8:00 a.m. to October 30...

  18. 78 FR 65342 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-31

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the National Human Genome Research Institute Special Emphasis Panel, October 17, 2013, 08:00 a.m. to October 17...

  19. 76 FR 65738 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the National Human Genome Research Institute Special Emphasis Panel, November 29, 2011, 8 a.m. to November 29...

  20. 76 FR 71581 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-18

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the National Human Genome Research Institute Special Emphasis Panel, November 22, 2011, 12 p.m. to November 22...

  1. Genome-wide identification of coding and non-coding conserved sequence tags in human and mouse genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maggi Giorgio P

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The accurate detection of genes and the identification of functional regions is still an open issue in the annotation of genomic sequences. This problem affects new genomes but also those of very well studied organisms such as human and mouse where, despite the great efforts, the inventory of genes and regulatory regions is far from complete. Comparative genomics is an effective approach to address this problem. Unfortunately it is limited by the computational requirements needed to perform genome-wide comparisons and by the problem of discriminating between conserved coding and non-coding sequences. This discrimination is often based (thus dependent on the availability of annotated proteins. Results In this paper we present the results of a comprehensive comparison of human and mouse genomes performed with a new high throughput grid-based system which allows the rapid detection of conserved sequences and accurate assessment of their coding potential. By detecting clusters of coding conserved sequences the system is also suitable to accurately identify potential gene loci. Following this analysis we created a collection of human-mouse conserved sequence tags and carefully compared our results to reliable annotations in order to benchmark the reliability of our classifications. Strikingly we were able to detect several potential gene loci supported by EST sequences but not corresponding to as yet annotated genes. Conclusion Here we present a new system which allows comprehensive comparison of genomes to detect conserved coding and non-coding sequences and the identification of potential gene loci. Our system does not require the availability of any annotated sequence thus is suitable for the analysis of new or poorly annotated genomes.

  2. Building the sequence map of the human pan-genome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Ruiqiang; Li, Yingrui; Zheng, Hancheng

    2010-01-01

    analysis of predicted genes indicated that the novel sequences contain potentially functional coding regions. We estimate that a complete human pan-genome would contain approximately 19-40 Mb of novel sequence not present in the extant reference genome. The extensive amount of novel sequence contributing...

  3. National human genome projects: an update and an agenda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, Joon Yong

    2017-01-01

    Population genetic and human genetic studies are being accelerated with genome technology and data sharing. Accordingly, in the past 10 years, several countries have initiated genetic research using genome technology and identified the genetic architecture of the ethnic groups living in the corresponding country or suggested the genetic foundation of a social phenomenon. Genetic research has been conducted from epidemiological studies that previously described the health or disease conditions in defined population. This perspective summarizes national genome projects conducted in the past 10 years and introduces case studies to utilize genomic data in genetic research.

  4. Tumor Genomic Profiling in Breast Cancer Patients Using Targeted Massively Parallel Sequencing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-03-01

    2015 “Cancer Care as a Model for Precision Medicine” MIT Collaborative Series Massachusetts Institute of Technology Invited Talk 2016 “Cancer...Precision Medicine” MIT -CHIEF Series Massachusetts Institute of Technology Invited Talk National 2013 “CanSeq: The Use of Whole Exome Sequencing To...Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Invited Talk 2014 “Clinical Genomics and Precision Cancer Medicine” Center for Molecular Oncology Memorial Sloan

  5. Genomic Data Commons and Genomic Cloud Pilots - Google Hangout

    Science.gov (United States)

    Join us for a live, moderated discussion about two NCI efforts to expand access to cancer genomics data: the Genomic Data Commons and Genomic Cloud Pilots. NCI subject matters experts will include Louis M. Staudt, M.D., Ph.D., Director Center for Cancer Genomics, Warren Kibbe, Ph.D., Director, NCI Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology, and moderated by Anthony Kerlavage, Ph.D., Chief, Cancer Informatics Branch, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology. We welcome your questions before and during the Hangout on Twitter using the hashtag #AskNCI.

  6. 77 FR 55853 - National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-11

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute; Amended Notice of Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research, September 10, 2012, 8:30 a.m. to September 11, 2012, 5...

  7. Genomic analyses inform on migration events during the peopling of Eurasia

    OpenAIRE

    Pagani, L.; Lawson, D. J.; Jagoda, E.; Moerseburg, A.; Eriksson, A.; Mitt, M.; Clemente, F.; Hudjashov, G.; DeGiorgio, M.; Saag, L.; Wall, J. D.; Cardona, A.; Maegi, R.; Sayres, M. A. W.; Kaewert, S.

    2016-01-01

    High-coverage whole-genome sequence studies have so far focused on a limited number1 of geographically restricted populations2, 3, 4, 5, or been targeted at specific diseases, such as cancer6. Nevertheless, the availability of high-resolution genomic data has led to the development of new methodologies for inferring population history7, 8, 9 and refuelled the debate on the mutation rate in humans10. Here we present the Estonian Biocentre Human Genome Diversity Panel (EGDP), a dataset of 483 h...

  8. PCR-SSCP analysis and its application to human genome study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hayashi, Kenshi

    1994-01-01

    A large amount of DNA sequence data are now available owing to the development of the human genome project. These data are deposited in public databases, e.g. DDBJ, GebBank and EMBL, and freely accessible to scientific community. One of the major advantages of having these databases is that we can now detect sequence differences between individuals in a large scale. Using the sequence informations, we can design primer sequences, amplify various target regions of the sample DNA's by PCR and detect abnormal sequence changes from reference, or normal sequences. Detecting sequence changes, or mutations, are essential part of searching genes responsible for hereditary diseases and also DNA diagnosis of hereditary diseases or cancer. We can also measure mutation frequency of the human genome by knowing its variability. Our group has developed and been improving a method, PCR-SSCP analysis, as an extremely rapid and easy technique for detection of sequence differences between sample DNA's. Knowing the sensitivity (percentage detection of mutations) of this technique is important in evaluating usefulness of it for the purposes stated above. Considerable number of experiences on PCR-SSCP analysis of fragments shorter than 300 b.p. are accumulating. We summarize here the sensitivity of PCR-SSCP analysis for various sequence context of this size range examined in various electrophoretic conditions conducted in many laboratories. Data on mutation detection by this technique for longer fragments are limited. We also present oue effort for defining electrophoretic conditions of PCR-SSCP analysis when examining longer (350 to 600 b.p.) fragments. (author)

  9. Crossed wires: 3D genome misfolding in human disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norton, Heidi K; Phillips-Cremins, Jennifer E

    2017-11-06

    Mammalian genomes are folded into unique topological structures that undergo precise spatiotemporal restructuring during healthy development. Here, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of how the genome folds inside the 3D nucleus and how these folding patterns are miswired during the onset and progression of mammalian disease states. We discuss potential mechanisms underlying the link among genome misfolding, genome dysregulation, and aberrant cellular phenotypes. We also discuss cases in which the endogenous 3D genome configurations in healthy cells might be particularly susceptible to mutation or translocation. Together, these data support an emerging model in which genome folding and misfolding is critically linked to the onset and progression of a broad range of human diseases. © 2017 Norton and Phillips-Cremins.

  10. DNA Oncogenic Virus-Induced Oxidative Stress, Genomic Damage, and Aberrant Epigenetic Alterations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mankgopo Magdeline Kgatle

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Approximately 20% of human cancers is attributable to DNA oncogenic viruses such as human papillomavirus (HPV, hepatitis B virus (HBV, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV. Unrepaired DNA damage is the most common and overlapping feature of these DNA oncogenic viruses and a source of genomic instability and tumour development. Sustained DNA damage results from unceasing production of reactive oxygen species and activation of inflammasome cascades that trigger genomic changes and increased propensity of epigenetic alterations. Accumulation of epigenetic alterations may interfere with genome-wide cellular signalling machineries and promote malignant transformation leading to cancer development. Untangling and understanding the underlying mechanisms that promote these detrimental effects remain the major objectives for ongoing research and hope for effective virus-induced cancer therapy. Here, we review current literature with an emphasis on how DNA damage influences HPV, HVB, and EBV replication and epigenetic alterations that are associated with carcinogenesis.

  11. 77 FR 27471 - National Human Genome Research Institute Amended Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-10

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute Amended Notice of Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research, May 21, 2012, 8:30 a.m. to May 22, 2012, 5:00 p.m...

  12. Attitudes towards the Human Genome Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shahroudi, Julie; Shaw, Geraldine

    Attitudes concerning the Human Genome Project were reported by faculty (N=40) and students (N=66) from a liberal arts college. Positive attitudes toward the project involved privacy, insurance and health, economic purposes, reproductive purposes, genetic counseling, religion and overall opinions. Negative attitudes were expressed regarding…

  13. Development of a complete human anti-human transferrin receptor C antibody as a novel marker of oral dysplasia and oral cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagai, Kentaro; Nakahata, Shingo; Shimosaki, Shunsuke; Tamura, Tomohiro; Kondo, Yuudai; Baba, Takashi; Taki, Tomohiko; Taniwaki, Masafumi; Kurosawa, Gene; Sudo, Yukio; Okada, Seiji; Sakoda, Sumio; Morishita, Kazuhiro

    2014-01-01

    Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. Up to 20% of oral dysplasia cases have been suggested to undergo malignant transformation to OSCC; however, there are no methods to predict OSCC development. In this study, to identify the genes associated with oral dysplasia progression, we performed genomic copy number analyses of genomic DNA samples isolated from primary oral dysplasia and OSCC via the microdissection method and found elevated expression of transferrin receptor C (TfR1/TFRC) with genomic amplification in oral dysplasia and OSCC. The expression rate of TFRC in OSCC was significantly higher than that in dysplasia, suggesting that OSCC disease progression might be related to TFRC expression. Additionally, we investigated the in vitro and in vivo impacts of a newly established anti-human TFRC monoclonal antibody, which was isolated from a human cDNA library using the phage-display method, on cell proliferation and survival. The anti-TFRC antibody blocked the interaction between transferrin and TFRC and consequently inhibited iron uptake, leading to the iron deprivation-mediated suppression of cell growth and induction of apoptosis. Moreover, we demonstrated that the anti-TFRC antibody efficiently inhibited tumor growth in a murine xenograft OSCC model. Therefore, we suggest our developed complete human anti-human TFRC antibody as a useful, novel treatment for oral dysplasia and OSCC

  14. Chromosomal locations of members of a family of novel endogenous human retroviral genomes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horn, T.M.; Huebner, K.; Croce, C.; Callahan, R.

    1986-01-01

    Human cellular DNA contains two distinguishable families of retroviral related sequences. One family shares extensive nucleotide sequence homology with infectious mammalian type C retroviral genomes. The other family contains major regions of homology with the pol genes of infectious type A and B and avian type C and D retroviral genomes. Analysis of the human recombinant clone HLM-2 has shown that the pol gene in the latter family is located within an endogenous proviral genome. The authors show that the proviral genome in HLM-2 and the related recombinant clone HLM-25 are located, respectively, on human chromosomes 1 and 5. Other related proviral genomes are located on chromosomes 7, 8, 11, 14, and 17

  15. Genome-wide association studies in bladder cancer: first results and potential relevance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Grotenhuis, Anne J; Vermeulen, Sita H; Wu, Xifeng

    2009-09-01

    The role of genetic susceptibility in the development of urinary bladder cancer is unclear, as it is in many other types of cancer. Since 2007, however, an innovative research approach (i.e. genome-wide association studies or GWASs) has led to the identification of numerous genomic loci that harbor susceptibility factors for one or more cancer sites. All GWASs have been published in high-impact journals and the strengths of the design are acknowledged by all experts, but there is criticism about the relevance of the results. Late 2008, the first GWAS in bladder cancer was published. In this review, the principles of GWASs are explained, as well as their strengths and limitations. The study in bladder cancer among 4000 cases and 38,000 controls identified three new susceptibility loci at 8q24, 3q28, and 5p15 that increase the risk of bladder cancer by 22, 19, and 16%, respectively. The results of two other GWASs in bladder cancer are expected to appear this year. Joint analysis of the three studies will probably identify additional susceptibility loci. The results of bladder cancer GWASs may point the way to yet unknown disease mechanisms. So far, the findings are not sufficiently discriminative for risk predictions to be used in clinical care or public health.

  16. The human genome: Some assembly required. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1994-12-31

    The Human Genome Project promises to be one of the most rewarding endeavors in modern biology. The cost and the ethical and social implications, however, have made this project the source of considerable debate both in the scientific community and in the public at large. The 1994 Graduate Student Symposium addresses the scientific merits of the project, the technical issues involved in accomplishing the task, as well as the medical and social issues which stem from the wealth of knowledge which the Human Genome Project will help create. To this end, speakers were brought together who represent the diverse areas of expertise characteristic of this multidisciplinary project. The keynote speaker addresses the project`s motivations and goals in the larger context of biological and medical sciences. The first two sessions address relevant technical issues, data collection with a focus on high-throughput sequencing methods and data analysis with an emphasis on identification of coding sequences. The third session explores recent advances in the understanding of genetic diseases and possible routes to treatment. Finally, the last session addresses some of the ethical, social and legal issues which will undoubtedly arise from having a detailed knowledge of the human genome.

  17. Integrated Bioinformatics, Environmental Epidemiologic and Genomic Approaches to Identify Environmental and Molecular Links between Endometriosis and Breast Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deodutta Roy

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available We present a combined environmental epidemiologic, genomic, and bioinformatics approach to identify: exposure of environmental chemicals with estrogenic activity; epidemiologic association between endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC and health effects, such as, breast cancer or endometriosis; and gene-EDC interactions and disease associations. Human exposure measurement and modeling confirmed estrogenic activity of three selected class of environmental chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, bisphenols (BPs, and phthalates. Meta-analysis showed that PCBs exposure, not Bisphenol A (BPA and phthalates, increased the summary odds ratio for breast cancer and endometriosis. Bioinformatics analysis of gene-EDC interactions and disease associations identified several hundred genes that were altered by exposure to PCBs, phthalate or BPA. EDCs-modified genes in breast neoplasms and endometriosis are part of steroid hormone signaling and inflammation pathways. All three EDCs–PCB 153, phthalates, and BPA influenced five common genes—CYP19A1, EGFR, ESR2, FOS, and IGF1—in breast cancer as well as in endometriosis. These genes are environmentally and estrogen responsive, altered in human breast and uterine tumors and endometriosis lesions, and part of Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK signaling pathways in cancer. Our findings suggest that breast cancer and endometriosis share some common environmental and molecular risk factors.

  18. Comprehensive Analysis of Cancer-Proteogenome to Identify Biomarkers for the Early Diagnosis and Prognosis of Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shukla, Hem D

    2017-10-25

    During the past century, our understanding of cancer diagnosis and treatment has been based on a monogenic approach, and as a consequence our knowledge of the clinical genetic underpinnings of cancer is incomplete. Since the completion of the human genome in 2003, it has steered us into therapeutic target discovery, enabling us to mine the genome using cutting edge proteogenomics tools. A number of novel and promising cancer targets have emerged from the genome project for diagnostics, therapeutics, and prognostic markers, which are being used to monitor response to cancer treatment. The heterogeneous nature of cancer has hindered progress in understanding the underlying mechanisms that lead to abnormal cellular growth. Since, the start of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and the International Genome consortium projects, there has been tremendous progress in genome sequencing and immense numbers of cancer genomes have been completed, and this approach has transformed our understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of different types of cancers. By employing Genomics and proteomics technologies, an immense amount of genomic data is being generated on clinical tumors, which has transformed the cancer landscape and has the potential to transform cancer diagnosis and prognosis. A complete molecular view of the cancer landscape is necessary for understanding the underlying mechanisms of cancer initiation to improve diagnosis and prognosis, which ultimately will lead to personalized treatment. Interestingly, cancer proteome analysis has also allowed us to identify biomarkers to monitor drug and radiation resistance in patients undergoing cancer treatment. Further, TCGA-funded studies have allowed for the genomic and transcriptomic characterization of targeted cancers, this analysis aiding the development of targeted therapies for highly lethal malignancy. High-throughput technologies, such as complete proteome, epigenome, protein-protein interaction, and pharmacogenomics

  19. Building a semantic web-based metadata repository for facilitating detailed clinical modeling in cancer genome studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Deepak K; Solbrig, Harold R; Tao, Cui; Weng, Chunhua; Chute, Christopher G; Jiang, Guoqian

    2017-06-05

    Detailed Clinical Models (DCMs) have been regarded as the basis for retaining computable meaning when data are exchanged between heterogeneous computer systems. To better support clinical cancer data capturing and reporting, there is an emerging need to develop informatics solutions for standards-based clinical models in cancer study domains. The objective of the study is to develop and evaluate a cancer genome study metadata management system that serves as a key infrastructure in supporting clinical information modeling in cancer genome study domains. We leveraged a Semantic Web-based metadata repository enhanced with both ISO11179 metadata standard and Clinical Information Modeling Initiative (CIMI) Reference Model. We used the common data elements (CDEs) defined in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data dictionary, and extracted the metadata of the CDEs using the NCI Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR) CDE dataset rendered in the Resource Description Framework (RDF). The ITEM/ITEM_GROUP pattern defined in the latest CIMI Reference Model is used to represent reusable model elements (mini-Archetypes). We produced a metadata repository with 38 clinical cancer genome study domains, comprising a rich collection of mini-Archetype pattern instances. We performed a case study of the domain "clinical pharmaceutical" in the TCGA data dictionary and demonstrated enriched data elements in the metadata repository are very useful in support of building detailed clinical models. Our informatics approach leveraging Semantic Web technologies provides an effective way to build a CIMI-compliant metadata repository that would facilitate the detailed clinical modeling to support use cases beyond TCGA in clinical cancer study domains.

  20. Human papilloma viruses (HPV and breast cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Sutherland Lawson

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Human papillomaviruses (HPV may have a role in some breast cancers. The purpose of this study is to fill important gaps in the evidence. These gaps are: (i confirmation of the presence of high risk for cancer HPVs in breast cancers, (ii evidence of HPV infections in benign breast tissues prior to the development of HPV positive breast cancer in the same patients, (iii evidence that HPVs are biologically active and not harmless passengers in breast cancer.Methods: RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA was used to identify HPV RNA sequences in breast cancers. We also conducted a retrospective cohort study based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR analyses to identify HPVs in archival specimens from Australian women with benign breast biopsies who later developed breast cancer. To assess whether HPVs in breast cancer were biologically active, the expression of the oncogenic protein HPV E7 was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC.Results: Thirty (3.5% low risk and 20 (2.3% high risk HPV types were identified in 855 breast cancers from the TCGA data base. The high risk types were HPV 18 (48%, HPV 113 (24%, HPV 16 (10%, HPV 52 (10%. Data from the PCR cohort study, indicated that HPV type 18 was the most common type identified in breast cancer specimens (55% of 40 breast cancer specimens followed by HPV 16 (13%. The same HPV type was identified in both the benign and subsequent breast cancer in 15 patients. HPV E7 proteins were identified in 72% of benign breast specimens and 59% of invasive breast cancer specimens.Conclusions: There were 4 observations of particular interest: (i confirmation by both NGS and PCR of the presence of high risk HPV gene sequences in breast cancers, (ii a correlation between high risk HPV in benign breast specimens and subsequent HPV positive breast cancer in the same patient, (iii HPVs in breast cancer are likely to be biologically active (as shown by transcription of HPV DNA to RNA plus the expression of