Biomedical Informatics Commons^™

A Review Of The Role Of Tendon Stem Cells In Tendon-Bone Regeneration, Junjie Chen, Chuanfeng Jiang, Lu Yin, Yingqi Liu, Yue He, Sen Li, Huarui Shen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tendon-bone injuries are a prevalent health concern associated with sports and other physically demanding activities. These injuries have a limited innate healing ability, often leading to the formation of scar tissue rather than the regeneration of healthy tendon tissue. This scar tissue results from excessive fibrosis during the early healing process and often leads to reduced tendon function and an increased risk of reinjury. Traditionally, surgical reconstruction has been the primary treatment for tendon-bone injuries. However, restoring the natural structure and mechanical properties of tendons after surgical reconstruction presents a considerable challenge. Recently, the potential of stem cell therapy has …

Protocol For Expression Of Murine Milk Using Modified Human Breast Pump Parts, Cydney Meyer, Joseph L Alcorn

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Understanding the nutritional and immunomodulatory components of breast milk is crucial to developing novel mechanisms to optimize neonatal health. Here, we present a protocol to express and isolate murine milk in sufficient quantities for further analysis of components and bioactivity. We describe steps for separating dams from pups, administering intraperitoneal anesthetic and oxytocin, and expressing milk using a minimally modified and readily available commercial breast pump parts. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Meyer et al. (2022).

Immune-Active Tumor-Adjacent Tissues Are Associated With Favorable Prognosis In Stage I Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Lisha Ying, Chunliu Zhang, Alexandre Reuben, Yiping Tian, Jiaoyue Jin, Canming Wang, Jing Bai, Xinyuan Liu, Jianfei Fang, Tingting Feng, Chenyang Xu, Rui Zhu, Minran Huang, Yingqi Lyu, Tingting Lu, Xiaodan Pan, Jianjun Zhang, Dan Su

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The immunogenomic features of tumor-adjacent lungs (TALs) in stage I lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) are not clear. Multiomics analyses of tumor tissues and paired TALs from 59 stage I LUSC patients were performed. Compared to tumors, TALs exhibited a better-preserved immune contexture indicated by upregulation of immune pathways, increased immune infiltration, and higher expression of immune effector molecules. Notably, TALs had no mutations in PTEN and KEAP1, a lower incidence of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) loss and higher expression of HLA class I genes, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I chaperones, and interferon (IFN)-γ-associated genes. Digital spatial profiling validated the …

Advance Directives For Patients With Breast Cancer: Applying The Right Info/Right Care/Right Patient/Right Time Oncology Model, Stephanie Ossowski, Liisa Lyon, Elizabeth Linehan, Nancy P Gordon, Olga Egorova, Becky Mark, Kimberly Beringer, Thea Abbe, Aida Shirazi, Christine Weldon, Julia Trosman, Arliene Ravelo, Raymond Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background Advance directives (AD) are an important component of life care planning for patients undergoing treatment for cancer; however, there are few effective interventions to increase AD rates. In this quality improvement project, the authors integrated AD counseling into a novel right info/right care/right patient/right time (4R) sequence of care oncology delivery intervention for breast cancer patients in an integrated health care delivery system. Methods The authors studied two groups of patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer who attended a multidisciplinary clinic and underwent definitive surgery at a single facility. The usual care (UC) cohort (N = 139) received care …

Neurocognitive Outcomes In Adult Survivors Of Neuroblastoma: A Report From The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, Caroline Hesko, Wei Liu, Deo K Srivastava, Tara M Brinkman, Lisa Diller, Todd M Gibson, Kevin C Oeffinger, Wendy M Leisenring, Rebecca Howell, Gregory T Armstrong, Kevin R Krull, Tara O Henderson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Despite survival improvements, there is a paucity of data on neurocognitive outcomes in neuroblastoma survivors. This study addresses this literature gap.

Methods: Neurocognitive impairments in survivors were compared to sibling controls from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) using the CCSS Neurocognitive Questionnaire. Impaired emotional regulation, organization, task efficiency, and memory defined as scores ≥90th percentile of sibling norms. Modified Poisson regression models evaluated associations with treatment exposures, era of diagnosis, and chronic conditions. Analyses were stratified by age at diagnosis (≤1 and >1 year) as proxy for lower versus higher risk disease.

Results: Survivors (N = 837; median …

Mettl14 Is A Chromatin Regulator Independent Of Its Rna N6-Methyladenosine Methyltransferase Activity, Xiaoyang Dou, Lulu Huang, Yu Xiao, Chang Liu, Yini Li, Xinning Zhang, Lishan Yu, Ran Zhao, Lei Yang, Chuan Chen, Xianbin Yu, Boyang Gao, Meijie Qi, Yawei Gao, Bin Shen, Shuying Sun, Chuan He, Jun Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

METTL3 and METTL14 are two components that form the core heterodimer of the main RNA m6A methyltransferase complex (MTC) that installs m6A. Surprisingly, depletion of METTL3 or METTL14 displayed distinct effects on stemness maintenance of mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC). While comparable global hypo-methylation in RNA m6A was observed in Mettl3 or Mettl14 knockout mESCs, respectively. Mettl14 knockout led to a globally decreased nascent RNA synthesis, whereas Mettl3 depletion resulted in transcription upregulation, suggesting that METTL14 might possess an m6A-independent role in gene regulation. We found that METTL14 colocalizes with the repressive H3K27me3 modification. Mechanistically, METTL14, but not METTL3, binds …

Pathogen-Driven Crispr Screens Identify Trex1as A Regulator Of Dna Self-Sensing During Influenza Virus Infection, Cason R King, Yiping Liu, Katherine A Amato, Grace A Schaack, Clayton Mickelson, Autumn E Sanders, Tony Hu, Srishti Gupta, Ryan A Langlois, Judith A Smith, Andrew Mehle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Host:pathogen interactions dictate the outcome of infection, yet the limitations of current approaches leave large regions of this interface unexplored. Here, we develop a novel fitness-based screen that queries factors important during the middle to late stages of infection. This is achieved by engineering influenza virus to direct the screen by programming dCas9 to modulate host gene expression. Our genome-wide screen for pro-viral factors identifies the cytoplasmic DNA exonuclease TREX1. TREX1 degrades cytoplasmic DNA to prevent inappropriate innate immune activation by self-DNA. We reveal that this same process aids influenza virus replication. Infection triggers release of mitochondrial DNA into the …

Dosimetry Of A Novel 111indium-Labeled Anti-P-Cadherin Monoclonal Antibody (Ff-21101) In Non-Human Primates, Gregory Ravizzini, William Erwin, Louis De Palatis, Lucia Martiniova, Vivek Subbiah, Vincenzo Paolillo, Jennifer Mitchell, Asa P Mccoy, Jose Gonzalez, Osama Mawlawi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

P-cadherin is associated with a wide range of tumor types, making it an attractive therapeutic target. FF-21101 is a human-mouse chimeric monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed against human P-cadherin, which has been radioconjugated with indium-111 (111In) utilizing a DOTA chelator. We investigated the biodistribution of FF-21101(111In) in cynomolgus macaques and extrapolated the results to estimate internal radiation doses of 111In- and yttrium-90 (90Y)-FF-21101 for targeted radioimmunotherapy in humans. Whole-body planar and SPECT imaging were performed at 0, 2, 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 h post-injection, using a dual-head gamma camera. Volumes of interest of identifiable source organs of radioactivity were …

Exploring Acute Pancreatitis Clinical Pathways Using A Novel Process Mining Method, Xue Yang, Wei Huang, Weiling Zhao, Xiaobo Zhou, Na Shi, Qing Xia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mining process models of medical behavior from electronic medical records is an effective way to optimize clinical pathways. However, clinical medical behavior is an extremely complex field with high nonlinearity and variability, and thus we need to adopt a more effective method. In this study, we developed a fuzzy process mining method for complex clinical pathways. Firstly, we designed a multi-level expert classification system with fuzzy values to preserve finer details. Secondly, we categorized medical events into long-term and temporary events for more specific data processing. Subsequently, we utilized electronic medical record (EMR) data of acute pancreatitis spanning 9 years, …

Precision Modulation Of Dysbiotic Adult Microbiomes With A Human-Milk-Derived Synbiotic Reshapes Gut Microbial Composition And Metabolites, Julie E Button, Casey M Cosetta, Abigail L Reens, Sarah L Brooker, Aislinn D Rowan-Nash, Richard C Lavin, Russell Saur, Shuning Zheng, Chloe A Autran, Martin L Lee, Adam K Sun, Amin M Alousi, Christine B Peterson, Andrew Y Koh, David J Rechtman, Robert R Jenq, Gregory J Mckenzie

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Manipulation of the gut microbiome using live biotherapeutic products shows promise for clinical applications but remains challenging to achieve. Here, we induced dysbiosis in 56 healthy volunteers using antibiotics to test a synbiotic comprising the infant gut microbe, Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis (B. infantis), and human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). B. infantis engrafted in 76% of subjects in an HMO-dependent manner, reaching a relative abundance of up to 81%. Changes in microbiome composition and gut metabolites reflect altered recovery of engrafted subjects compared with controls. Engraftment associates with increases in lactate-consuming Veillonella, faster acetate recovery, and changes in indolelactate and p-cresol …

The Endosomal Escape Vehicle Platform Enhances Delivery Of Oligonucleotides In Preclinical Models Of Neuromuscular Disorders, Xiang Li, Mahboubeh Kheirabadi, Patrick G Dougherty, Kimberli J Kamer, Xiulong Shen, Nelsa L Estrella, Suresh Peddigari, Anushree Pathak, Sara L Blake, Emmanuelle Sizensky, Carmen Del Genio, Arti B Gaur, Mohanraj Dhanabal, Mahasweta Girgenrath, Natarajan Sethuraman, Ziqing Qian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Biological therapeutic agents are highly targeted and potent but limited in their ability to reach intracellular targets. These limitations often necessitate high therapeutic doses and can be associated with less-than-optimal therapeutic activity. One promising solution for therapeutic agent delivery is use of cell-penetrating peptides. Canonical cell-penetrating peptides, however, are limited by low efficiencies of cellular uptake and endosomal escape, minimal proteolytic stability, and toxicity. To overcome these limitations, we designed a family of proprietary cyclic cell-penetrating peptides that form the core of our endosomal escape vehicle technology capable of delivering therapeutic agent-conjugated cargo intracellularly. We demonstrated the therapeutic potential of …

Interaction Between Myelodysplasia-Related Gene Mutations And Ontogeny In Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Joseph G W Mccarter, David Nemirovsky, Christopher A Famulare, Noushin Farnoud, Abhinita S Mohanty, Zoe S Stone-Molloy, Jordan Chervin, Brian J Ball, Zachary D Epstein-Peterson, Maria E Arcila, Aaron J Stonestrom, Andrew Dunbar, Sheng F Cai, Jacob L Glass, Mark B Geyer, Raajit K Rampal, Ellin Berman, Omar I Abdel-Wahab, Eytan M Stein, Martin S Tallman, Ross L Levine, Aaron D Goldberg, Elli Papaemmanuil, Yanming Zhang, Mikhail Roshal, Andriy Derkach, Wenbin Xiao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Accurate classification and risk stratification are critical for clinical decision making in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In the newly proposed World Health Organization and International Consensus classifications of hematolymphoid neoplasms, the presence of myelodysplasia-related (MR) gene mutations is included as 1 of the diagnostic criteria for AML, AML-MR, based largely on the assumption that these mutations are specific for AML with an antecedent myelodysplastic syndrome. ICC also prioritizes MR gene mutations over ontogeny (as defined in the clinical history). Furthermore, European LeukemiaNet (ELN) 2022 stratifies these MR gene mutations into the adverse-risk group. By thoroughly annotating a cohort …

Cell-Type-Specific Alternative Polyadenylation Promotes Oncogenic Gene Expression In Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Progression, Kexin Huang, Yun Zhang, Xiaorui Shi, Zhiqin Yin, Weiling Zhao, Liyu Huang, Fu Wang, Xiaobo Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Disrupted alternative polyadenylation (APA) is frequently involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression by regulating the gene expression of oncogenes and tumor suppressors. However, limited knowledge of tumor-type- and cell-type-specific APA events may lead to novel APA events and their functions being overlooked. Here, we compared APA events across different cell types in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and normal tissues and identified functionally related APA events in NSCLC. We found several cell-specific 3'-UTR alterations that regulate gene expression changes showed prognostic value in NSCLC. We further investigated the function of APA-mediated 3'-UTR shortening through loss of microRNA (miRNA)-binding sites, and …

Disease Modeling And Gene Correction Of Lgmdr21 Ipscs Elucidates The Role Of Poglut1 In Skeletal Muscle Maintenance, Regeneration, And The Satellite Cell Niche, Jose L Ortiz-Vitali, Jianbo Wu, Nasa Xu, Annie W Shieh, Nima Niknejad, Megumi Takeuchi, Carmen Paradas, Chunru Lin, Hamed Jafar-Nejad, Robert S Haltiwanger, Sidney H Wang, Radbod Darabi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Autosomal recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 21 (LGMDR21) is caused by pathogenic variants in protein O-glucosyltransferase 1 (POGLUT1), which is responsible for O-glucosylation of specific epidermal growth factor (EGF) repeats found in ∼50 mammalian proteins, including Notch receptors. Previous data from patient biopsies indicated that impaired Notch signaling, reduction of muscle stem cells, and accelerated differentiation are probably involved in disease etiopathology. Using patient induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), their corrected isotypes, and control iPSCs, gene expression profiling indicated dysregulation of POGLUT1, NOTCH, muscle development, extracellular matrix (ECM), cell adhesion, and migration as involved pathways. They also exhibited reduced in vitro …

Collagene Enables Privacy-Aware Federated And Collaborative Genomic Data Analysis, Wentao Li, Miran Kim, Kai Zhang, Han Chen, Xiaoqian Jiang, Arif Harmanci

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Growing regulatory requirements set barriers around genetic data sharing and collaborations. Moreover, existing privacy-aware paradigms are challenging to deploy in collaborative settings. We present COLLAGENE, a tool base for building secure collaborative genomic data analysis methods. COLLAGENE protects data using shared-key homomorphic encryption and combines encryption with multiparty strategies for efficient privacy-aware collaborative method development. COLLAGENE provides ready-to-run tools for encryption/decryption, matrix processing, and network transfers, which can be immediately integrated into existing pipelines. We demonstrate the usage of COLLAGENE by building a practical federated GWAS protocol for binary phenotypes and a secure meta-analysis protocol. COLLAGENE is available at https://zenodo.org/record/8125935 …

Global Proteomic Identifies Multiple Cancer-Related Signaling Pathways Altered By A Gut Pathobiont Associated With Colorectal Cancer, Ewa Pasquereau-Kotula, Giulia Nigro, Florent Dingli, Damarys Loew, Patrick Poullet, Yi Xu, Scott Kopetz, Jennifer Davis, Lucie Peduto, Catherine Robbe-Masselot, Philippe Sansonetti, Patrick Trieu-Cuot, Shaynoor Dramsi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In this work, we investigated the oncogenic role of Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. gallolyticus (SGG), a gut bacterium associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). We showed that SGG UCN34 accelerates colon tumor development in a chemically induced CRC murine model. Full proteome and phosphoproteome analysis of murine colons chronically colonized by SGG UCN34 revealed that 164 proteins and 725 phosphorylation sites were differentially regulated. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) indicates a pro-tumoral shift specifically induced by SGG UCN34, as ~ 90% of proteins and phosphoproteins identified were associated with digestive cancer. Comprehensive analysis of the altered phosphoproteins using ROMA software revealed up-regulation of …

Elimination Of Oncogenic Kras In Genetic Mouse Models Eradicates Pancreatic Cancer By Inducing Fas-Dependent Apoptosis By Cd8+ T Cells, Krishnan K Mahadevan, Valerie S Lebleu, Elena V Ramirez, Yang Chen, Bingrui Li, Amari M Sockwell, Mihai Gagea, Hikaru Sugimoto, Lakshmi Kavitha Sthanam, Desiree Tampe, Michael Zeisberg, Haoqiang Ying, Abhinav K Jain, Ronald A Depinho, Anirban Maitra, Kathleen M Mcandrews, Raghu Kalluri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oncogenic KRASG12D (KRAS∗) is critical for the initiation and maintenance of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and is a known repressor of tumor immunity. Conditional elimination of KRAS∗ in genetic mouse models of PDAC leads to the reactivation of FAS, CD8+ T cell-mediated apoptosis, and complete eradication of tumors. KRAS∗ elimination recruits activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and promotes the activation of antigen-presenting cells. Mechanistically, KRAS∗-mediated immune evasion involves the epigenetic regulation of Fas death receptor in cancer cells, via methylation of its promoter region. Furthermore, analysis of human RNA sequencing identifies that high KRAS expression in PDAC tumors shows …

Unfolding The Secrets Of Small Cell Lung Cancer Progression: Novel Approaches And Insights Through Rapid Autopsies, Zsolt Megyesfalvi, Simon Heeke, Benjamin J Drapkin, Anna Solta, Ildiko Kovacs, Kristiina Boettiger, Lilla Horvath, Busra Ernhofer, Janos Fillinger, Ferenc Renyi-Vamos, Clemens Aigner, Karin Schelch, Christian Lang, Gyorgy Marko-Varga, Carl M Gay, Lauren A Byers, Benjamin B Morris, John V Heymach, Peter Van Loo, Fred R Hirsch, Balazs Dome

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The understanding of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) biology has increased dramatically in recent years, but the processes that allow SCLC to progress rapidly remain poorly understood. Here, we advocate the integration of rapid autopsies and preclinical models into SCLC research as a comprehensive strategy with the potential to revolutionize current treatment paradigms.

Early Onset Horizontal Gaze Palsy And Progressive Scoliosis Due To A Noncanonical Splicing-Site Variant And A Missense Variant In The Robo3 Gene, Sheng Yi, Zailong Qin, Xunzhao Zhou, Junjie Chen, Shang Yi, Qiuli Chen, Limei Huang, Qinle Zhang, Biyan Chen, Jingsi Luo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Homozygous or compound heterozygous ROBO3 gene mutations cause horizontal gaze palsy with progressive scoliosis (HGPPS). This is an autosomal recessive disorder that is characterized by congenital absence or severe restriction of horizontal gaze and progressive scoliosis. To date, almost 100 patients with HGPPS have been reported and 55 ROBO3 mutations have been identified.

METHODS: We described an HGPPS patient and performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) to identify the causative gene.

RESULTS: We identified a missense variant and a splice-site variant in the ROBO3 gene in the proband. Sanger sequencing of cDNA revealed the presence of an aberrant transcript with retention …

Treatment Of Older Adults With Flt3-Mutated Aml: Emerging Paradigms And The Role Of Frontline Flt3 Inhibitors, Nicholas J Short, Daniel Nguyen, Farhad Ravandi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

FLT3 is the most frequently mutated gene in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), with FLT3 internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations being associated with a more aggressive clinical course. While two large, randomized clinical trials have shown a survival benefit with the frontline use of an oral FLT3 inhibitor (midostaurin or quizartinib) in patients with FLT3-mutated AML, the role of FLT3 inhibitors in older adults with newly diagnosed FLT3-mutated AML remains unclear. A definitive improvement in survival has not been observed in intensively treated patients over 60 years of age receiving frontline FLT3 inhibitors. Furthermore, many patients with FLT3-mutated AML are unsuitable …

Integrative Multi-Omic Cancer Profiling Reveals Dna Methylation Patterns Associated With Therapeutic Vulnerability And Cell-Of-Origin, Wen-Wei Liang, Rita Jui-Hsien Lu, Reyka G Jayasinghe, Steven M Foltz, Eduard Porta-Pardo, Yifat Geffen, Michael C Wendl, Rossana Lazcano, Iga Kolodziejczak, Yizhe Song, Akshay Govindan, Elizabeth G Demicco, Xiang Li, Yize Li, Sunantha Sethuraman, Samuel H Payne, David Fenyö, Henry Rodriguez, Maciej Wiznerowicz, Hui Shen, D R Mani, Karin D Rodland, Alexander J Lazar, Ana I Robles, Li Ding, Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DNA methylation plays a critical role in establishing and maintaining cellular identity. However, it is frequently dysregulated during tumor development and is closely intertwined with other genetic alterations. Here, we leveraged multi-omic profiling of 687 tumors and matched non-involved adjacent tissues from the kidney, brain, pancreas, lung, head and neck, and endometrium to identify aberrant methylation associated with RNA and protein abundance changes and build a Pan-Cancer catalog. We uncovered lineage-specific epigenetic drivers including hypomethylated FGFR2 in endometrial cancer. We showed that hypermethylated STAT5A is associated with pervasive regulon downregulation and immune cell depletion, suggesting that epigenetic regulation of STAT5A …

Krasg12d Inhibition Reprograms The Tumor Microenvironment Of Early And Advanced Pancreatic Cancer To Promote Fas-Mediated Killing By Cd8+ T Cells, Krishnan K Mahadevan, Kathleen M Mcandrews, Valerie S Lebleu, Sujuan Yang, Hengyu Lyu, Bingrui Li, Amari M Sockwell, Michelle L Kirtley, Sami J Morse, Barbara A Moreno Diaz, Michael P Kim, Ningping Feng, Anastasia M Lopez, Paola A Guerrero, Francesca Paradiso, Hikaru Sugimoto, Kent A Arian, Haoqiang Ying, Yasaman Barekatain, Lakshmi Kavitha Sthanam, Patience J Kelly, Anirban Maitra, Timothy P Heffernan, Raghu Kalluri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The KRASG12D mutation is present in nearly half of pancreatic adenocarcinomas (PDAC). We investigated the effects of inhibiting the KRASG12D mutant protein with MRTX1133, a non-covalent small molecule inhibitor of KRASG12D, on early and advanced PDAC and its influence on the tumor microenvironment. Employing 16 different models of KRASG12D-driven PDAC, we demonstrate that MRTX1133 reverses early PDAC growth, increases intratumoral CD8+ effector T cells, decreases myeloid infiltration, and reprograms cancer associated fibroblasts. MRTX1133 leads to regression of both established PanINs and advanced PDAC. Regression of advanced PDAC requires CD8+ T cells and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) synergizes with MRTX1133 …

Elimination Of Oncogenic Kras In Genetic Mouse Models Eradicates Pancreatic Cancer By Inducing Fas-Dependent Apoptosis By Cd8+ T Cells, Krishnan K Mahadevan, Valerie S Lebleu, Elena V Ramirez, Yang Chen, Bingrui Li, Amari M Sockwell, Mihai Gagea, Hikaru Sugimoto, Lakshmi Kavitha Sthanam, Desiree Tampe, Michael Zeisberg, Haoqiang Ying, Abhinav K Jain, Ronald A Depinho, Anirban Maitra, Kathleen M Mcandrews, Raghu Kalluri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oncogenic KrasG12D (Kras*) is critical for the initiation and maintenance of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and a known repressor of tumor immunity. Conditional elimination of Kras* in genetic mouse models of PDAC leads to reactivation of Fas, CD8+ T cell mediated apoptosis, and complete eradication of tumors. Kras* elimination recruits activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and promotes the activation of antigen presenting cells. Mechanistically, Kras* mediated immune evasion involves epigenetic regulation of the Fas death receptor in cancer cells, via methylation of its promoter region. Further, analysis of human RNA sequencing identifies that high KRAS expressing PDAC tumors show …

Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy With Or Without Immunotherapy For Early-Stage Or Isolated Lung Parenchymal Recurrent Node-Negative Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: An Open-Label, Randomised, Phase 2 Trial, Joe Y Chang, Steven H Lin, Wenli Dong, Zhongxing Liao, Saumil J Gandhi, Carl M Gay, Jianjun Zhang, Stephen G Chun, Yasir Y Elamin, Frank V Fossella, George Blumenschein, Tina Cascone, Xiuning Le, Jenny V Pozadzides, Anne Tsao, Vivek Verma, James W Welsh, Aileen B Chen, Mehmet Altan, Reza J Mehran, Ara A Vaporciyan, Stephen G Swisher, Peter A Balter, Junya Fujimoto, Ignacio I Wistuba, Lei Feng, J Jack Lee, John V Heymach

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) is the standard treatment for medically inoperable early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but regional or distant relapses, or both, are common. Immunotherapy reduces recurrence and improves survival in people with stage III NSCLC after chemoradiotherapy, but its utility in stage I and II cases is unclear. We therefore conducted a randomised phase 2 trial of SABR alone compared with SABR with immunotherapy (I-SABR) for people with early-stage NSCLC.

METHODS: We did an open-label, randomised, phase 2 trial comparing SABR to I-SABR, conducted at three different hospitals in TX, USA. People aged 18 years or older …

Beyond The Symptom: The Biology Of Fatigue, David M Raizen, Janet Mullington, Christelle Anaclet, Gerard Clarke, Hugo Critchley, Robert Dantzer, Ronald Davis, Kelly L Drew, Josh Fessel, Patrick M Fuller, Erin M Gibson, Mary Harrington, W Ian Lipkin, Elizabeth B Klerman, Nancy Klimas, Anthony L Komaroff, Walter Koroshetz, Lauren Krupp, Anna Kuppuswamy, Julie Lasselin, Laura D Lewis, Pierre J Magistretti, Heidi Y Matos, Christine Miaskowski, Andrew H Miller, Avindra Nath, Maiken Nedergaard, Mark R Opp, Marylyn D Ritchie, Dragana Rogulja, Asya Rolls, John D Salamone, Clifford Saper, Vicky Whittemore, Glenn Wylie, Jarred Younger, Phyllis C Zee, H Craig Heller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A workshop titled "Beyond the Symptom: The Biology of Fatigue" was held virtually September 27-28, 2021. It was jointly organized by the Sleep Research Society and the Neurobiology of Fatigue Working Group of the NIH Blueprint Neuroscience Research Program. For access to the presentations and video recordings, see: https://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/about/event/beyond-symptom-biology-fatigue. The goals of this workshop were to bring together clinicians and scientists who use a variety of research approaches to understand fatigue in multiple conditions and to identify key gaps in our understanding of the biology of fatigue. This workshop summary distills key issues discussed in this workshop and provides a …

Click Display: A Rapid And Efficient In Vitro Protein Display Method For Directed Evolution, Yu Zeng, Michael Woolley, Karuppiah Chockalingam, Benjamin Thomas, Srishtee Arora, Magnus Hook, Zhilei Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We describe a novel method for in vitro protein display-click display-that does not depend on maintaining RNA integrity during biopanning and yields covalently linked protein-cDNA complexes from double-stranded input DNA within 2 h. The display is achieved in a one-pot format encompassing transcription, translation and reverse transcription reactions in series. Stable linkage between proteins and the encoding cDNA is mediated by a modified DNA linker-ML-generated via a click chemistry reaction between a puromycin-containing oligo and a cDNA synthesis primer. Biopanning of a click-displayed mock library coupled with next-generation sequencing analysis revealed >600-fold enrichment of target binders within a single round …

Structures Of Ctcf-Dna Complexes Including All 11 Zinc Fingers, Jie Yang, John R Horton, Bin Liu, Victor G Corces, Robert M Blumenthal, Xing Zhang, Xiaodong Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) binds tens of thousands of enhancers and promoters on mammalian chromosomes by means of its 11 tandem zinc finger (ZF) DNA-binding domain. In addition to the 12-15-bp CORE sequence, some of the CTCF binding sites contain 5' upstream and/or 3' downstream motifs. Here, we describe two structures for overlapping portions of human CTCF, respectively, including ZF1-ZF7 and ZF3-ZF11 in complex with DNA that incorporates the CORE sequence together with either 3' downstream or 5' upstream motifs. Like conventional tandem ZF array proteins, ZF1-ZF7 follow the right-handed twist of the DNA, with each finger occupying and recognizing …

Modulation Of The Proteostasis Network Promotes Tumor Resistance To Oncogenic Kras Inhibitors, Xiangdong Lv, Xuan Lu, Jin Cao, Qin Luo, Yao Ding, Fanglue Peng, Apar Pataer, Dong Lu, Dong Han, Eric Malmberg, Doug W Chan, Xiaoran Wang, Sara R Savage, Sufeng Mao, Jingjing Yu, Fei Peng, Liang Yan, Huan Meng, Laure Maneix, Yumin Han, Yiwen Chen, Wantong Yao, Eric C Chang, Andre Catic, Xia Lin, George Miles, Pengxiang Huang, Zheng Sun, Bryan Burt, Huamin Wang, Jin Wang, Qizhi Cathy Yao, Bing Zhang, Jack A Roth, Bert W O'Malley, Matthew J Ellis, Mothaffar F Rimawi, Haoqiang Ying, Xi Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite substantial advances in targeting mutant KRAS, tumor resistance to KRAS inhibitors (KRASi) remains a major barrier to progress. Here, we report proteostasis reprogramming as a key convergence point of multiple KRASi-resistance mechanisms. Inactivation of oncogenic KRAS down-regulated both the heat shock response and the inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) branch of the unfolded protein response, causing severe proteostasis disturbances. However, IRE1α was selectively reactivated in an ER stress-independent manner in acquired KRASi-resistant tumors, restoring proteostasis. Oncogenic KRAS promoted IRE1α protein stability through extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-dependent phosphorylation of IRE1α, leading to IRE1α disassociation from 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl reductase degradation (HRD1) E3-ligase. In …

Braf V600e/Ras Mutations And Lynch Syndrome In Patients With Msi-H/Dmmr Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Raphael Colle, Sara Lonardi, Marine Cachanado, Michael J Overman, Elena Elez, Marwan Fakih, Francesca Corti, Priya Jayachandran, Magali Svrcek, Antoine Dardenne, Baptiste Cervantes, Alex Duval, Romain Cohen, Filippo Pietrantonio, Thierry André

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: We pooled data from 2 cohorts of immune checkpoint inhibitors-treated microsatellite instability-high/mismatch repair-deficient (MSI/dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer patients to evaluate the prognostic value of RAS/BRAFV600E mutations and Lynch syndrome (LS).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were defined as LS-linked if germline mutation was detected and as sporadic if loss of MLH1/PMS2 expression with BRAFV600E mutation and/or MLH1 promoter hypermethylation, or biallelic somatic MMR genes mutations were found. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were adjusted on prognostic modifiers selected on unadjusted analysis (P < .2) if limited number of events.

RESULTS: Of 466 included patients, 305 (65.4%) and 161 (34.5%) received, respectively, anti-PD1 alone and anti-PD1+anti-CTLA4 …

Five-Year Follow-Up Of Keynote-087: Pembrolizumab Monotherapy For Relapsed/Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma, Philippe Armand, Pier Luigi Zinzani, Hun Ju Lee, Nathalie A Johnson, Pauline Brice, John Radford, Vincent Ribrag, Daniel Molin, Theodoros P Vassilakopoulos, Akihiro Tomita, Bastian Von Tresckow, Margaret A Shipp, Alex F Herrera, Jianxin Lin, Eunhee Kim, Samhita Chakraborty, Patricia Marinello, Craig H Moskowitz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Previous analyses of the phase 2 KEYNOTE-087 (NCT02453594) trial of pembrolizumab monotherapy demonstrated effective antitumor activity with acceptable safety in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). However, long-term response durability and outcome of patients who receive a second course after treatment discontinuation after complete response (CR) remain of clinical interest. We present KEYNOTE-087 data after >5 years of median follow-up. Patients with R/R cHL and progressive disease (PD) after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and brentuximab vedotin (BV; cohort 1), salvage chemotherapy and BV without ASCT (cohort 2), or ASCT without subsequent BV (cohort 3), received …