Digital Commons Network^™

Comparative Analyses Define Differences Between Bhd-Associated Renal Tumour And Sporadic Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma, Ryosuke Jikuya, Todd A Johnson, Kazuhiro Maejima, Jisong An, Young-Seok Ju, Hwajin Lee, Kyungsik Ha, Woojeung Song, Youngwook Kim, Yuki Okawa, Shota Sasagawa, Yuki Kanazashi, Masashi Fujita, Seiya Imoto, Taku Mitome, Shinji Ohtake, Go Noguchi, Sachi Kawaura, Yasuhiro Iribe, Kota Aomori, Tomoyuki Tatenuma, Mitsuru Komeya, Hiroki Ito, Yusuke Ito, Kentaro Muraoka, Mitsuko Furuya, Ikuma Kato, Satoshi Fujii, Haruka Hamanoue, Tomohiko Tamura, Masaya Baba, Toshio Suda, Tatsuhiko Kodama, Kazuhide Makiyama, Masahiro Yao, Brian M Shuch, Christopher J Ricketts, Laura S Schmidt, W Marston Linehan, Hidewaki Nakagawa, Hisashi Hasumi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Birt-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) syndrome, caused by germline alteration of folliculin (FLCN) gene, develops hybrid oncocytic/chromophobe tumour (HOCT) and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC), whereas sporadic ChRCC does not harbor FLCN alteration. To date, molecular characteristics of these similar histological types of tumours have been incompletely elucidated.

METHODS: To elucidate renal tumourigenesis of BHD-associated renal tumours and sporadic renal tumours, we conducted whole genome sequencing (WGS) and RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) of sixteen BHD-associated renal tumours from nine unrelated BHD patients, twenty-one sporadic ChRCCs and seven sporadic oncocytomas. We then compared somatic mutation profiles with FLCN variants and RNA expression profiles between BHD-associated …

The Integrative Studies On The Functional A-To-I Rna Editing Events In Human Cancers, Sijia Wu, Zhiwei Fan, Pora Kim, Liyu Huang, Xiaobo Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing, constituting nearly 90% of all RNA editing events in humans, has been reported to contribute to the tumorigenesis in diverse cancers. However, the comprehensive map for functional A-to-I RNA editing events in cancers is still insufficient. To fill this gap, we systematically and intensively analyzed multiple tumorigenic mechanisms of A-to-I RNA editing events in samples across 33 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas. For individual candidate among ∼ 1,500,000 quantified RNA editing events, we performed diverse types of downstream functional annotations. Finally, we identified 24,236 potentially functional A-to-I RNA editing events, including the cases …

Efficacy Of Systemic Chemotherapy In Patients With Low-Grade Mucinous Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma: A Randomized Crossover Trial, John Paul Shen, Abdelrahman M Yousef, Fadl A Zeineddine, Mohammad A Zeineddine, Rebecca S Tidwell, Karen A Beaty, Lisa C Scofield, Safia Rafeeq, Nicholas Hornstein, Elizabeth Lano, Cathy Eng, Aurelio Matamoros, Wai Chin Foo, Abhineet Uppal, Christopher Scally, Paul Mansfield, Melissa Taggart, Kanwal P Raghav, Michael J Overman, Keith Fournier

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: Appendiceal adenocarcinoma is a rare tumor, and given the inherent difficulties in performing prospective trials in such a rare disease, there are currently minimal high-quality data to guide treatment decisions, highlighting the need for more preclinical and clinical investigation for this disease.

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively evaluate the effectiveness of fluoropyrimidine-based systemic chemotherapy in patients with inoperable low-grade mucinous appendiceal adenocarcinoma.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This open-label randomized crossover trial recruited patients at a single tertiary care comprehensive cancer center from September 2013 to January 2021. The data collection cutoff was May 2022. Enrollment of up to 30 patients was …

Ovarian Cancer Pathology Characteristics As Predictors Of Variant Pathogenicity In Brca1 And Brca2, Denise G O'Mahony, Susan J Ramus, Melissa C Southey, Nicola S Meagher, Andreas Hadjisavvas, Esther M John, Ute Hamann, Evgeny N Imyanitov, Irene L Andrulis, Priyanka Sharma, Mary B Daly, Christopher R Hake, Jeffrey N Weitzel, Anna Jakubowska, Andrew K Godwin, Adalgeir Arason, Anita Bane, Jacques Simard, Penny Soucy, Maria A Caligo, Phuong L Mai, Kathleen B M Claes, Manuel R Teixeira, Wendy K Chung, Conxi Lazaro, Peter J Hulick, Amanda E Toland, Inge Sokilde Pedersen, Susan L Neuhausen, Ana Vega, Miguel De La Hoya, Heli Nevanlinna, Mallika Dhawan, Valentina Zampiga, Rita Danesi, Liliana Varesco, Viviana Gismondi, Valerio Gaetano Vellone, Paul A James, Ramunas Janavicius, Liene Nikitina-Zake, Finn Cilius Nielsen, Thomas Van Overeem Hansen, Tanja Pejovic, Ake Borg, Johanna Rantala, Kenneth Offit, Marco Montagna, Katherine L Nathanson, Susan M Domchek, Ana Osorio, María J García, Beth Y Karlan, Gemo Study Collaborators, Anna De Fazio, David Bowtell, Aocs Group, Lesley Mcguffog, Michael T Parsons, Thilo Dörk, Lisa-Marie Speith, Elizabeth Santana Dos Santos, Alexandre André B A Da Costa, Paolo Radice, Paolo Peterlongo, Laura Papi, Christoph Engel, Eric Hahnen, Rita K Schmutzler, Barbara Wappenschmidt, Douglas F Easton, Marc Tischkowitz, Christian F Singer, Yen Yen Tan, Alice S Whittemore, Weiva Sieh, James D Brenton, Drakoulis Yannoukakos, Florentia Fostira, Irene Konstantopoulou, Jana Soukupova, Michal Vocka, Czecanca Consortium, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Paul D P Pharoah, Antonis C Antoniou, David E Goldgar, Amanda B Spurdle, Kyriaki Michailidou, Consortium Of Investigators Of Modifiers Of Brca1/2, Evidence-Based Network For The Interpretation Of Germline Mutant Alleles Consortium, Hebon Investigators, Goska Leslie

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The distribution of ovarian tumour characteristics differs between germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers and non-carriers. In this study, we assessed the utility of ovarian tumour characteristics as predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 variant pathogenicity, for application using the American College of Medical Genetics and the Association for Molecular Pathology (ACMG/AMP) variant classification system.

METHODS: Data for 10,373 ovarian cancer cases, including carriers and non-carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 pathogenic variants, were collected from unpublished international cohorts and consortia and published studies. Likelihood ratios (LR) were calculated for the association of ovarian cancer histology and other characteristics, with …

Enhancement Of Immunotherapies In Head And Neck Cancers Using Biomaterial-Based Treatment Strategies, Gemalene M Sunga, Jeffrey Hartgerink, Andrew G Sikora, Simon Young

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a challenging disease to treat because of typically late-stage diagnoses and tumor formation in difficult-to-treat areas, sensitive to aggressive or invasive treatments. To date, HNSCC treatments have been limited to surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, which may have significant morbidity and often lead to long-lasting side effects. The development of immunotherapies has revolutionized cancer treatment by providing a promising alternative to standard-of-care therapies. However, single-agent immunotherapy has been only modestly effective in the treatment of various cancers, including HNSCC, with most patients receiving no overall benefit or increased survival. In addition, single-agent immunotherapy's …

Uptake And Outcomes Of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Among Us Patients With Less Common Epithelial Ovarian Carcinomas, Koji Matsuo, Shinya Matsuzaki, Michihide Maeda, Alesandra R Rau, Kosuke Yoshihara, Ryo Tamura, Muneaki Shimada, Hiroko Machida, Mikio Mikami, Maximilian Klar, Lynda D Roman, Jason D Wright, Anil K Sood, David M Gershenson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: Randomized clinical trials examining the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) for advanced ovarian cancer predominantly included patients with high-grade serous carcinomas. The use and outcomes of NACT in less common epithelial carcinomas are understudied.

Objective: To investigate the uptake and survival outcomes in treatment with NACT for less common histologic subtypes of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Design, setting, and participants: A retrospective cohort study and systematic literature review with meta-analysis was conducted using the National Cancer Database from 2006 to 2017 and the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program from 2006 to 2019. Data analysis was performed …

Facial Analytics Based On A Coordinate Extrapolation System (Zface) For Morphometric Phenotyping Of Developing Zebrafish, Lorena Maili, Oscar E Ruiz, Philip H Kahan, Frankie Chiu, Stephen T Larson, S Shahrukh Hashmi, Jacqueline T Hecht, George T Eisenhoffer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Facial development requires a complex and coordinated series of cellular events that, when perturbed, can lead to structural birth defects. A quantitative approach to quickly assess morphological changes could address how genetic or environmental inputs lead to differences in facial shape and promote malformations. Here, we report on a method to rapidly analyze craniofacial development in zebrafish embryos using facial analytics based on a coordinate extrapolation system, termed zFACE. Confocal images capture facial structures and morphometric data are quantified based on anatomical landmarks present during development. The quantitative morphometric data can detect phenotypic variation and inform on changes in facial …

Dusp22 Rearrangement Is Associated With A Distinctive Immunophenotype But Not Outcome In Patients With Systemic Alk-Negative Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, Lianqun Qiu, Guilin Tang, Shaoying Li, Francisco Vega, Pei Lin, Sa A Wang, Wei Wang, Swaminathan P Iyer, Luis Malpica, Roberto N Miranda, Sergej Konoplev, Zhenya Tang, Hong Fang, L Jeffrey Medeiros, Jie Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DUSP22 rearrangement (R) has been associated with a favorable outcome in systemic ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). However, a recent study found that patients with DUSP22-R ALK-negative ALCL have a poorer prognosis than was reported initially. In this study, we compared the clinicopathological features and outcomes of patients with ALKnegative ALCL with DUSP22-R (n=22) versus those without DUSP22-R (DUSP22-NR; n=59). Patients with DUSP22-R ALCL were younger than those with DUSP22-NR neoplasms (P=0.049). DUSP22-R ALK-negative ALCL cases were more often positive for CD15, CD8, and less frequently expressed pSTAT3Tyr705, PD-L1, granzyme B and EMA (all P0.05), but was significantly shorter …

Neuroaffective Reactivity Profiles Are Associated With Vulnerability To E-Cigarette Use, Francesco Versace, George Kypriotakis, Dustin Pluta

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: We tested whether neuroaffective responses to motivationally salient stimuli are associated with vulnerability to cue-induced e-cigarette use in e-cigarette naïve adults who smoke daily. We hypothesized that individuals with stronger neuroaffective responses to nicotine-related cues than to pleasant stimuli (the C>P reactivity profile) would be more vulnerable to cue-induced nicotine self-administration than individuals with stronger neuroaffective responses to pleasant stimuli than to nicotine-related cues (the P>C reactivity profile).

METHODS: We used event-related potentials (ERPs, a direct measure of cortical activity) to measure neuroaffective reactivity to pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, and nicotine-related cues indicating the opportunity to use an …

Integration Of Remote Symptom And Biometric Monitoring Into The Care Of Adult Patients With Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy-A Decentralized Feasibility Pilot Study, Anaeze C Offodile, Domenica Delgado, Yu-Li Lin, Danielle Geyen, Christopher J Miller, Sanchita Jain, Janice P Finder, Sanjay Shete, Frank V Fossella, Michael J Overman, Susan K Peterson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Although electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) are efficacious in symptom management, much is unknown about the utility of vital signs surveillance. We examined the feasibility of a remote patient monitoring platform that integrates ePROs and biometrics into the ambulatory management of symptom burden.

METHODS: Using a decentralized workflow, patients with gastrointestinal or thoracic cancer were approached for a 1-month study. Patients reported symptom burden via ePROs and biometrics (blood pressure, oxygen saturation, pulse, weight, and temperature) using bluetooth-enabled devices daily. Alerts on the basis of prespecified thresholds were managed via nurse-led triage. Adherence was defined as the completion of > 70% …

An Fbn1 Deep Intronic Variant Is Associated With Pseudoexon Formation And A Variable Marfan Phenotype In A Five Generation Family, Dong-Chuan Guo, Xueyan Duan, Kathleen Mimnagh, Alana C Cecchi, Isabella C Marin, Yang Yu, Walter V Velasco, Kwanghyuk Lee, Xue Zhu, David R Murdock, Suzanne M Leal, Marsha M Wheeler, Josh Smith, Michael J Bamshad, Dianna M Milewicz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Exome sequencing of genes associated with heritable thoracic aortic disease (HTAD) failed to identify a pathogenic variant in a large family with Marfan syndrome (MFS). A genome-wide linkage analysis for thoracic aortic disease identified a peak at 15q21.1, and genome sequencing identified a novel deep intronic FBN1 variant that segregated with thoracic aortic disease in the family (LOD score 2.7) and was predicted to alter splicing. RT-PCR and bulk RNA sequencing of RNA harvested from fibroblasts explanted from the affected proband revealed an insertion of a pseudoexon between exons 13 and 14 of the FBN1 transcript, predicted to lead to …

Conjugated Bile Acids Are Nutritionally Re-Programmable Antihypertensive Metabolites, Saroj Chakraborty, Anju Lulla, Xi Cheng, Ji-Youn Yeo, Juthika Mandal, Tao Yang, Xue Mei, Piu Saha, Rachel M Golonka, Beng San Yeoh, Blair Mell, Wei Jia, Vasanta Putluri, Danthasinghe Waduge Badrajee Piyarathna, Nagireddy Putluri, Arun Sreekumar, Katie Meyer, Matam Vijay-Kumar, Bina Joe

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is the largest risk factor affecting global mortality. Despite available medications, uncontrolled hypertension is on the rise, whereby there is an urgent need to develop novel and sustainable therapeutics. Because gut microbiota is now recognized as an important entity in blood pressure regulation, one such new avenue is to target the gut-liver axis wherein metabolites are transacted via host-microbiota interactions. Knowledge on which metabolites within the gut-liver axis regulate blood pressure is largely unknown.

METHOD: To address this, we analyzed bile acid profiles of human, hypertensive and germ-free rat models and report that conjugated bile acids are inversely …

Bi-Allelic Variants In Hmgcr Cause An Autosomal-Recessive Progressive Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, Joel A Morales-Rosado, Tanya L Schwab, Sarah K Macklin-Mantia, A Reghan Foley, Filippo Pinto E Vairo, Davut Pehlivan, Sandra Donkervoort, Jill A Rosenfeld, Grace E Boyum, Ying Hu, Anh T Q Cong, Timothy E Lotze, Carrie A Mohila, Dimah Saade, Diana Bharucha-Goebel, Katherine R Chao, Christopher Grunseich, Christine C Bruels, Hannah R Littel, Elicia A Estrella, Lynn Pais, Peter B Kang, Michael T Zimmermann, James R Lupski, Brendan Lee, Matthew J Schellenberg, Karl J Clark, Klaas J Wierenga, Carsten G Bönnemann, Eric W Klee

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Statins are a mainstay intervention for cardiovascular disease prevention, yet their use can cause rare severe myopathy. HMG-CoA reductase, an essential enzyme in the mevalonate pathway, is the target of statins. We identified nine individuals from five unrelated families with unexplained limb-girdle like muscular dystrophy and bi-allelic variants in HMGCR via clinical and research exome sequencing. The clinical features resembled other genetic causes of muscular dystrophy with incidental high CPK levels (>1,000 U/L), proximal muscle weakness, variable age of onset, and progression leading to impaired ambulation. Muscle biopsies in most affected individuals showed non-specific dystrophic changes with non-diagnostic immunohistochemistry. …

Impact Of Race And Ethnicity On Presentation And Outcomes Of Patients Treated On Rhabdomyosarcoma Clinical Trials: A Report From The Children’S Oncology Group, Senna R Munnikhuysen, Princess A Ekpo, Wei Xue, Zhengya Gao, Philip J Lupo, Rajkumar Venkatramani, Christine M Heske

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic disparities have been demonstrated in pediatric and adult cancers. However, there is no consensus on whether such disparities exist in the presentation, treatment, and outcome of patients with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS).

METHODS: Patient information from the seven most recent RMS clinical trials was obtained from the Children's Oncology Group (COG). Chi-squared analyses were used to compare patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics across racial and ethnic groups. Pairwise analyses comparing Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) versus Non-Hispanic White (NHW) racial groups and Hispanic versus NHW ethnic groups were conducted for significant characteristics. Kaplan-Meier method and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were performed …

Snv/Indel Hypermutator Phenotype In Biallelic Rad51c Variant: Fanconi Anemia, Roni Zemet, Haowei Du, Tomasz Gambin, James R Lupski, Pengfei Liu, Paweł Stankiewicz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We previously reported a fetus with Fanconi anemia (FA), complementation group O due to compound heterozygous variants involving RAD51C. Interestingly, the trio exome sequencing analysis also detected eight apparent de novo mosaic variants with variant allele fraction (VAF) ranging between 11.5 and 37%. Here, using whole genome sequencing and a 'home-brew' variant filtering pipeline and DeepMosaic module, we investigated the number and signature of de novo heterozygous and mosaic variants and the hypothesis of a rare phenomenon of hypermutation. Eight-hundred-thirty apparent de novo SNVs and 21 de novo indels had VAFs below 37.41% and were considered postzygotic somatic mosaic variants. …

Patient-Reported Fatigue And Pain In Erdheim-Chester Disease: A Registry-Based, Mixed Methods Study, Anne S Reiner, Dana Bossert, Justin J Buthorn, Allison M Sigler, Selin Gonen, Deanna Fournier, Kathleen Brewer, Jessica Corkran, Gaurav Goyal, Carl E Allen, Kenneth L Mcclain, Thomas M Atkinson, Kathleen A Lynch, Jun J Mao, Katherine S Panageas, Eli L Diamond

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

"Brain Age" Predicts Disability Accumulation In Multiple Sclerosis, Matthew R Brier, Zhuocheng Li, Maria Ly, Helmet T Karim, Leda Liang, Weixin Du, John E Mccarthy, Anne H Cross, Tammie L S Benzinger, Robert T Naismith, Salim Chahin

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: Neurodegenerative conditions often manifest radiologically with the appearance of premature aging. Multiple sclerosis (MS) biomarkers related to lesion burden are well developed, but measures of neurodegeneration are less well-developed. The appearance of premature aging quantified by machine learning applied to structural MRI assesses neurodegenerative pathology. We assess the explanatory and predictive power of "brain age" analysis on disability in MS using a large, real-world dataset.

METHODS: Brain age analysis is predicated on the over-estimation of predicted brain age in patients with more advanced pathology. We compared the performance of three brain age algorithms in a large, longitudinal dataset ( …

Genotypic And Phenotypic Spectrum Of Infantile Liver Failure Due To Pathogenic Trmu Variants, Georg F Vogel, Yael Mozer-Glassberg, Yuval E Landau, Lea D Schlieben, Holger Prokisch, René G Feichtinger, Johannes A Mayr, Heiko Brennenstuhl, Julian Schröter, Agnes Pechlaner, Fowzan S Alkuraya, Joshua J Baker, Giulia Barcia, Ivo Baric, Nancy Braverman, Birute Burnyte, John Christodoulou, Elzbieta Ciara, David Coman, Anibh M Das, Niklas Darin, Adela Della Marina, Felix Distelmaier, Erik A Eklund, Melike Ersoy, Weiyan Fang, Pauline Gaignard, Rebecca D Ganetzky, Emmanuel Gonzales, Caoimhe Howard, Joanne Hughes, Vassiliki Konstantopoulou, Melis Kose, Marina Kerr, Aneal Khan, Dominic Lenz, Robert Mcfarland, Merav Gil Margolis, Kevin Morrison, Thomas Müller, Kei Murayama, Emanuele Nicastro, Alessandra Pennisi, Heidi Peters, Dorota Piekutowska-Abramczuk, Agnès Rötig, René Santer, Fernando Scaglia, Manuel Schiff, Mohmmad Shagrani, Mark Sharrard, Claudia Soler-Alfonso, Christian Staufner, Imogen Storey, Michael Stormon, Robert W Taylor, David R Thorburn, Elisa Leao Teles, Jian-She Wang, Daniel Weghuber, Saskia Wortmann

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: This study aimed to define the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of reversible acute liver failure (ALF) of infancy resulting from biallelic pathogenic TRMU variants and determine the role of cysteine supplementation in its treatment.

Methods: Individuals with biallelic (likely) pathogenic variants in TRMU were studied within an international retrospective collection of de-identified patient data.

Results: In 62 individuals, including 30 previously unreported cases, we described 47 (likely) pathogenic TRMU variants, of which 17 were novel, and 1 intragenic deletion. Of these 62 individuals, 42 were alive at a median age of 6.8 (0.6-22) years after a median follow-up of …

Differentially Expressed Tear Proteins In Sjögren's Syndrome Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca, Stephen P Yoon, Zhiyuan Yu, Stephen C Pflugfelder, Cintia S De Paiva

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if there are significant differences in the concentrations of tear proteins in Sjögren's syndrome keratoconjunctivitis sicca (SS KCS) compared to healthy controls.

Methods: Tear samples were collected with unmarked Schirmer strips from 15 patients with SS KCS and 21 healthy controls. Tear protein was eluted and the concentration measured. Inflammatory mediators were assayed with a Raybiotech L-507 glass slide array and normalized by strip wetting length. All patients underwent an ocular surface exam to evaluate tear break-up time (TBUT), corneal fluorescein (CF) staining, and conjunctival (CJ) staining. The symptom assessment questionnaire …

Distinguishing Renal Cell Carcinoma From Normal Kidney Tissue Using Mass Spectrometry Imaging Combined With Machine Learning, Vishnu Shankar, Kanchustambham Vijayalakshmi, Rosalie Nolley, Geoffrey A Sonn, Chia-Sui Kao, Hongjuan Zhao, Ru Wen, Livia S Eberlin, Robert Tibshirani, Richard N Zare, James D Brooks

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Accurately distinguishing renal cell carcinoma (RCC) from normal kidney tissue is critical for identifying positive surgical margins (PSMs) during partial and radical nephrectomy, which remains the primary intervention for localized RCC. Techniques that detect PSM with higher accuracy and faster turnaround time than intraoperative frozen section (IFS) analysis can help decrease reoperation rates, relieve patient anxiety and costs, and potentially improve patient outcomes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here, we extended our combined desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) and machine learning methodology to identify metabolite and lipid species from tissue surfaces that can distinguish normal tissues from clear cell …

Diagnostic Testing For Evaluation Of Brief Resolved Unexplained Events, Manoj K Mittal, Joel S Tieder, Kathryn Westphal, Erin Sullivan, Matt Hall, Risa Bochner, Adam Cohen, Jennifer Y Colgan, Atima C Delaney, Amy M Delaroche, Thomas Graf, Beth Harper, Ron L Kaplan, Hannah C Neubauer, Mark I Neuman, Nirav Shastri, Victoria Wilkins, Allayne Stephans

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Since the publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) clinical practice guideline for brief resolved unexplained events (BRUEs), a few small, single-center studies have suggested low yield of diagnostic testing in infants presenting with such an event. We conducted this large retrospective multicenter study to determine the role of diagnostic testing in leading to a confirmatory diagnosis in BRUE patients.

Methods: Secondary analysis from a large multicenter cohort derived from 15 hospitals participating in the BRUE Quality Improvement and Research Collaborative. The study subjects were infants < 1 year of age presenting with a BRUE to the emergency departments (EDs) of these hospitals between October 1, 2015, and September 30, 2018. Potential BRUE cases were identified using a validated algorithm that relies on administrative data. Chart review was conducted to confirm study inclusion/exclusion, AAP risk criteria, final diagnosis, and contribution of test results. Findings were stratified by ED or hospital discharge and AAP risk criteria. For each patient, we identified whether any diagnostic test contributed to the final diagnosis. We distinguished true (contributory) results from false-positive results.

Results: Of 2036 patients meeting study criteria, 63.2% were hospitalized, 87.1% qualified …

Factors, Enablers And Challenges For Covid-19 Vaccine Development, Jean-Louis Excler, Melanie Saville, Lois Privor-Dumm, Sarah Gilbert, Peter J Hotez, Didi Thompson, Salim Abdool-Karim, Jerome H Kim

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a sense of vulnerability and urgency that led to concerted actions by governments, funders, regulators and industry to overcome traditional challenges for the development of vaccine candidates and to reach authorisation. Unprecedented financial investments, massive demand, accelerated clinical development and regulatory reviews were among the key factors that contributed to accelerating the development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines. The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines benefited of previous scientific innovations such as mRNA and recombinant vectors and proteins. This has created a new era of vaccinology, with powerful platform technologies and a new model for vaccine development. …

Examination Of Parent-Reported Differences In Children’S Daily Screen Use, Sleep, And Sleep Hygiene Behaviors During The School Year And Summer And Their Association With Bmi, Jennette P Moreno, Alexis C Wood, Brooke Reichek, Hafza Dadabhoy, Tom Baranowski, Debbe Thompson, Teresia M O'Connor

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: The current study examined school-summer differences in children's sleep patterns and sleep hygiene. Cross-sectional relationships with children's sleep, sleep hygiene, and weight status were explored during the school year and summer.

METHODS: Children (5-8 years) and their parents (n = 197 dyads) were recruited from 4 schools in southeastern Texas and via Facebook. Parents reported children's school year and summer sleep, sleep hygiene, and screen media use. Children's body mass index (BMI) was objectively assessed at the beginning and end of the summer. Associations between children's sleep hygiene and screen media use, sleep duration, and weight status were explored. …

Commentary: Myocardial Relaxation Matters, Paige E Brlecic, Todd K Rosengart

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Birth Weight Moderates The Association Between Obesity And Mortality Rate, Gregory Pavela, Nengjun Yi, Luis Mestre, Pengcheng Xun, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Purpose: The strength of the association between obesity and mortality rate (MR) varies by body mass index (BMI) and sociodemographic groups. We test the hypothesis that the association between obesity and MR varies, in part, due to the moderating effect of parental BMI and birth weight.

Methods: Data come from the 1958 National Child Development Study, an ongoing longitudinal dataset initiated in 1958 with baseline measures of birth weight from 18,059 infants born in Great Britain over 1 week. We tested whether the association between BMI and MR was moderated by parental BMI and birth weight using generalized additive proportional …

Beta-Blocker Use Is Associated With Worse Relapse-Free Survival In Patients With Head And Neck Cancer, Hannah Y Chen, Weilu Zhao, Shorook Na'ara, Frederico O Gleber-Netto, Tongxin Xie, Shahrukh Ali, Zachary M Thompson, Jane Buell, Haleigh Stafford, Priyadharsini Nagarajan, Michael Davies, Michael K Wong, Michael R Migden, Padmanee Sharma, Jeffrey N Myers, Neil D Gross, Moran Amit

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Although beta-blockers (BBs) have been hypothesized to exert a beneficial effect on cancer survival through inhibition of beta-adrenergic signaling pathways, clinical data on this issue have been inconsistent. We investigated the impact of BBs on survival outcomes and efficacy of immunotherapy in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma, or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin (skin SCC), independent of comorbidity status or cancer treatment regimen.

METHODS: Patients (N = 4,192) younger than 65 years with HNSCC, NSCLC, melanoma, or skin SCC treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center from 2010 to 2021 …

Aligning Germline Cancer Predisposition With Tumor-Based Next-Generation Sequencing For Modern Oncology Diagnosis, Interception, And Therapeutic Development, Timothy A Yap, Zsofia K Stadler, Leigh Anne Stout, Bryan P Schneider

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In the era of precision medicine, genomic interrogation for identification of both germline and somatic genetic alterations has become increasingly important. While such germline testing was usually undertaken via a phenotype-driven single-gene approach, with the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, the widespread utilization of multigene panels, often agnostic of cancer phenotype, has become a commonplace in many different cancer types. At the same time, somatic tumor testing in oncology performed for the purpose of guiding therapeutic decisions for targeted therapies has also rapidly expanded, recently starting to incorporate not just patients with recurrent or metastatic cancer but even patients …

Overcoming The Challenges To Clinical Development Of X-Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa Therapies: Proceedings Of An Expert Panel, David G Birch, Janet K Cheetham, Stephen P Daiger, Carel Hoyng, Christine Kay, Ian M Macdonald, Mark E Pennesi, Lori S Sullivan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) is a rare inherited retinal disease manifesting as impaired night vision and peripheral vision loss that progresses to legal blindness. Although several trials of ocular gene therapy for XLRP have been conducted or are in progress, there is currently no approved treatment. In July 2022, the Foundation Fighting Blindness convened an expert panel to examine relevant research and make recommendations for overcoming the challenges and capitalizing on the opportunities in conducting clinical trials of RPGR-targeted therapy for XLRP. Data presented concerned RPGR structure and mutation types known to cause XLRP, RPGR mutation-associated retinal phenotype diversity, patterns …

Leucine-Rich Alpha-2-Glycoprotein 1 Is A Systemic Biomarker Of Early Brain Injury And Delayed Cerebral Ischemia After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Jude P J Savarraj, Devin W Mcbride, Eunsu Park, Sarah Hinds, Atzhiry Paz, Aaron Gusdon, Ren Xuefang, Sheng Pan, Hilda Ahnstedt, Gabriela Delevati Colpo, Eunhee Kim, Zhongming Zhao, Louise Mccullough, Huimahn Alex Choi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: After subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), early brain injury (EBI) and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) lead to poor outcomes. Discovery of biomarkers indicative of disease severity and predictive of DCI is important. We tested whether leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) is a marker of severity, DCI, and functional outcomes after SAH.

METHODS: We performed untargeted proteomics using mass spectrometry in plasma samples collected at < 48 h of SAH in two independent discovery cohorts (n = 27 and n = 45) and identified LRG1 as a biomarker for DCI. To validate our findings, we used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and confirmed this finding in an internal validation cohort of plasma from 72 study participants with SAH (22 DCI and 50 non-DCI). Further, we investigated the relationship between LRG1 and markers of EBI, DCI, and poor functional outcomes (quantified by the modified Rankin Scale). We also measured cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of LRG1 and investigated its relationship to EBI, DCI, and clinical outcomes.

RESULTS: Untargeted proteomics revealed higher plasma LRG1 levels across EBI severity and DCI in both discovery cohorts. In the validation cohort, the levels of LRG1 were higher in the DCI group compared with the non-DCI group (mean (SD): …

Oncolytic Dnx-2401 Virotherapy Plus Pembrolizumab In Recurrent Glioblastoma: A Phase 1/2 Trial, Farshad Nassiri, Vikas Patil, Leeor S Yefet, Olivia Singh, Jeff Liu, Rachel M A Dang, Takafumi N Yamaguchi, Mariza Daras, Timothy F Cloughesy, Howard Colman, Priya U Kumthekar, Clark C Chen, Robert Aiken, Morris D Groves, Shirley S Ong, Rohan Ramakrishna, Michael A Vogelbaum, Simon Khagi, Thomas Kaley, Jason M Melear, David M Peereboom, Analiz Rodriguez, Maxim Yankelevich, Suresh G Nair, Vinay K Puduvalli, Kenneth Aldape, Andrew Gao, Álvaro López-Janeiro, Carlos E De Andrea, Marta M Alonso, Paul Boutros, Joan Robbins, Warren P Mason, Adam M Sonabend, Roger Stupp, Juan Fueyo, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Frederick F Lang, Gelareh Zadeh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune-mediated anti-tumoral responses, elicited by oncolytic viruses and augmented with checkpoint inhibition, may be an effective treatment approach for glioblastoma. Here in this multicenter phase 1/2 study we evaluated the combination of intratumoral delivery of oncolytic virus DNX-2401 followed by intravenous anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab in recurrent glioblastoma, first in a dose-escalation and then in a dose-expansion phase, in 49 patients. The primary endpoints were overall safety and objective response rate. The primary safety endpoint was met, whereas the primary efficacy endpoint was not met. There were no dose-limiting toxicities, and full dose combined treatment was well tolerated. The objective response …