Biomedical Informatics Commons^™

Unmasking Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer With A Machine Learning-Driven Seven-Gene Stemness Signature That Predicts Progression, Agustina Sabater, Pablo Sanchis, Rocio Seniuk, Gaston Pascual, Nicolas Anselmino, Daniel F Alonso, Federico Cayol, Elba Vazquez, Marcelo Marti, Javier Cotignola, Ayelen Toro, Estefania Labanca, Juan Bizzotto, Geraldine Gueron

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Prostate cancer (PCa) poses a significant global health challenge, particularly due to its progression into aggressive forms like neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). This study developed and validated a stemness-associated gene signature using advanced machine learning techniques, including Random Forest and Lasso regression, applied to large-scale transcriptomic datasets. The resulting seven-gene signature (KMT5C, DPP4, TYMS, CDC25B, IRF5, MEN1, and DNMT3B) was validated across independent cohorts and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. This signature demonstrated strong prognostic value for progression-free, disease-free, relapse-free, metastasis-free, and overall survival. Importantly, the signature not only identified specific NEPC subtypes, …

Nutritional Intervention As Adjuvant Therapy For T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Miriam B Garcia, Palaniraja Thandapani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Pik3ca Gain And Pten Loss On Mantle Cell Lymphoma Biology And Sensitivity To Targeted Therapies, Nardjas Bettazova, Jana Senavova, Kristyna Kupcova, Dana Sovilj, Anezka Rajmonova, Ladislav Andera, Karla Svobodova, Adela Berkova, Zuzana Zemanova, Lenka Daumova, Vaclav Herman, Alexandra Dolníkova, R Eric Davis, Marek Trneny, Pavel Klener, Ondrej Havranek

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Besides many other mutations in known cancer driver genes, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is characterized by recurrent genetic alterations of important regulators of the phosphoinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) cascade including PIK3CA gains and PTEN losses. To evaluate the biological and functional consequences of these aberrations in MCL, we have introduced transgenic expression of PIK3CA (PIK3CA UP) and performed knockout/knockdown of PTEN gene (PTEN KO/KD) in 5 MCL cell lines. The modified cell lines were tested for associated phenotypes including dependence on upstream B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling (by an additional BCR knockout). PIK3CA overexpression decreased the dependence of the tested MCL on prosurvival …

Native Mass Spectrometry Of Membrane Protein-Lipid Interactions In Different Detergent Environments, Smriti Kumar, Lauren Stover, Lie Wang, Hanieh Bahramimoghaddam, Ming Zhou, David H Russell, Arthur Laganowsky

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Native mass spectrometry (MS) reveals the role of specific lipids in modulating membrane protein structure and function. Membrane proteins solubilized in detergents are often introduced into the mass spectrometer. However, detergents commonly used for structural studies, such as dodecylmaltoside, tend to generate highly charged ions, leading to protein unfolding, thereby diminishing their utility in characterizing protein–lipid interactions. Thus, there is a critical need to develop approaches to investigate protein–lipid interactions in different detergents. Here, we demonstrate how charge-reducing molecules, such as spermine and trimethylamine-N-oxide, enable the opportunity to characterize lipid binding to the bacterial water channel (AqpZ) and …

Comments On The Paper “Data-Driven Gating (Ddg)-Based Motion Match For Improved Ctac Registration Ejnmmi Physics 2024; 11(1):42”, Tinsu Pan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Misregistration between CT and PET in PET/CT is mainly caused by respiratory motion or irregular respiration during the CT scan in PET/CT. Other than repeat CT, repeat PET/CT, or data-driven gated (DDG) CT, there is no practical approach to mitigate the misregistration artifacts and subsequent CT attenuation correction (CTAC) of the PET data. DDG PET derives a respiratory motion model based on the multiple phases of PET images without hardware gating and it allows for a potential correction of the misregistration artifacts based on the respiratory motion model. The purpose of this commentary was to compare the recent two publications …

Micrornas Are Enriched At Covid-19 Genomic Risk Regions, And Their Blood Levels Correlate With The Covid-19 Prognosis Of Cancer Patients Infected By Sars-Cov-2, Simone Anfossi, Faezeh Darbaniyan, Joseph Quinlan, Steliana Calin, Masayoshi Shimizu, Meng Chen, Paola Rausseo, Michael Winters, Elena Bogatenkova, Kim-Anh Do, Ivan Martinez, Ziyi Li, Loredana Antal, Tudor Rares Olariu, Ignacio Wistuba, George A Calin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Cancer patients are more susceptible to an aggressive course of COVID-19. Developing biomarkers identifying cancer patients at high risk of COVID-19-related death could help determine who needs early clinical intervention. The miRNAs hosted in the genomic regions associated with the risk of aggressive COVID-19 could represent potential biomarkers for clinical outcomes.

Patients and methods: Plasma samples were collected at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from cancer patients (N = 128) affected by COVID-19. Serum samples were collected from vaccinated healthy individuals (n = 23) at the Municipal Clinical Emergency Teaching Hospital in Timisoara, Romania. An in …

Perioperative Chemoimmunotherapy Induces Strong Immune Responses And Long-Term Survival In Patients With Hla Class I-Deficient Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Marta Molina-Alejandre, Francisco Perea, Virginia Calvo, Cristina Martinez-Toledo, Ernest Nadal, Belén Sierra-Rodero, Marta Casarrubios, Joaquín Casal-Rubio, Alex Martinez-Martí, Amelia Insa, Bartomeu Massuti, Santiago Viteri, Isidoro Barneto Aranda, Delvys Rodriguez-Abreu, Javier De Castro, Joaquín Mosquera Martínez, Manuel Cobo, Ignacio I Wistuba, Edwin R Parra, Javier Martín-López, Diego Megías, Rafael Muñoz-Viana, Federico Garrido, Natalia Aptsiauri, Francisco Ruiz-Cabello, Mariano Provencio, Alberto Cruz-Bermúdez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Loss of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I expression and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) are common events implicated in the primary resistance of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to immunotherapy. However, there is no data on perioperative chemoimmunotherapy (ChIO) efficacy or response mechanisms in the context of HLA class I defects.

METHODS: Baseline HLA class I tumor status (HLA-deficient (HLA-DEF) or HLA-proficient (HLA-PRO)) was determined by DNA LOH combined with immunohistochemistry for protein levels in tissue of 24 patients with NSCLC treated with perioperative nivolumab plus chemotherapy from NADIM trial (NCT03081689). We integrated HLA tumor status with molecular data …

The Giab Genomic Stratifications Resource For Human Reference Genomes, Nathan Dwarshuis, Divya Kalra, Jennifer Mcdaniel, Philippe Sanio, Pilar Alvarez Jerez, Bharati Jadhav, Wenyu Eddy Huang, Rajarshi Mondal, Ben Busby, Nathan D Olson, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Justin Wagner, Sina Majidian, Justin M Zook

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite the growing variety of sequencing and variant-calling tools, no workflow performs equally well across the entire human genome. Understanding context-dependent performance is critical for enabling researchers, clinicians, and developers to make informed tradeoffs when selecting sequencing hardware and software. Here we describe a set of “stratifications,” which are BED files that define distinct contexts throughout the genome. We define these for GRCh37/38 as well as the new T2T-CHM13 reference, adding many new hard-to-sequence regions which are critical for understanding performance as the field progresses. Specifically, we highlight the increase in hard-to-map and GC-rich stratifications in CHM13 relative to the …

Characterizing The Progression From Mild Cognitive Impairment To Dementia: A Network Analysis Of Longitudinal Clinical Visits, Muskan Garg, Sara Hejazi, Sunyang Fu, Maria Vassilaki, Ronald C Petersen, Jennifer St Sauver, Sunghwan Sohn

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: With the recent surge in the utilization of electronic health records for cognitive decline, the research community has turned its attention to conducting fine-grained analyses of dementia onset using advanced techniques. Previous works have mostly focused on machine learning-based prediction of dementia, lacking the analysis of dementia progression and its associations with risk factors over time. The black box nature of machine learning models has also raised concerns regarding their uncertainty and safety in decision making, particularly in sensitive domains like healthcare.

Objective: We aimed to characterize the progression of health conditions, such as chronic diseases and neuropsychiatric symptoms, …

The Telehealth Shared Decision-Making Coaching And Navigation In Primary Care (Telescope) Intervention: A Study Protocol For Delivering Shared Decision-Making For Lung Cancer Screening By Patient Navigators, Naomi Q P Tan, Lisa M Lowenstein, Elisa E Douglas, Jeanne Silva, Joshua M Bershad, Jinghua An, Sanjay S Shete, Michael B Steinberg, Jeanne M Ferrante, Elizabeth C Clark, Ana Natale-Pereira, Novneet N Sahu, Shirin E Hastings, Richard M Hoffman, Robert J Volk, Anita Y Kinney

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer screening (LCS) can reduce lung cancer mortality but has potential harms for patients. A shared decision-making (SDM) conversation about LCS is required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for LCS reimbursement. To overcome barriers to SDM in primary care, this protocol describes a telehealth decision coaching and navigation intervention for LCS in primary care clinics delivered by patient navigators. The objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention and its implementation potential, compared with an enhanced usual care (EUC) arm.

METHODS: Patients (n = 420) of primary care clinicians (n …

Nonclinical Profile Of Pf-06952229 (Mdv6058), A Novel Tgfβri/Activin Like Kinase 5 Inhibitor Supports Clinical Evaluation In Cancer, Mausumee Guha, Stephane Thibault, Son Pham, Sebastian Bernales, Rama Pai, Francisco J Herrera, Theodore R Johnson, Allison Vitsky, Tina Fernando, Martin Finkelstein

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The development of transforming growth factor βreceptor inhibitors (TGFβRi) as new medicines has been affected by cardiac valvulopathy and arteriopathy toxicity findings in nonclinical toxicology studies. PF-06952229 (MDV6058) selected using rational drug design is a potent and selective TGFβRI inhibitor with a relatively clean off-target selectivity profile and good pharmacokinetic properties across species. PF-06952229 inhibited clinically translatable phospho-SMAD2 biomarker (≥60%) in human and cynomolgus monkey peripheral blood mononuclear cells, as well as in mouse and rat splenocytes. Using an optimized, intermittent dosing schedule (7-day on/7-day off/cycle; 5 cycles), PF-06952229 demonstrated efficacy in a 63-day syngeneic …

A Scoping Review Of Patient Safety Checklists In Dentistry, K Zouaidi, T W Miner, M F Walji, E Kalenderian, D B Rindal, K J Suda

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: Not much is known about safety checklists use in dentistry. We aim to examine, assess, and provide a comprehensive understanding of the current knowledge concerning the use of checklists to improve patient safety in dentistry.

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive literature search using Medline and Embase for studies that use or describe the development of dental patient safety checklists. All study designs were included for citations published through December 2023.

Results: Following abstract and full-text screening, 27 studies remained for data extraction and analysis. Oral surgery emerged as the main dental specialty where the utilization and evaluation of checklists …

Influence Of Tp53 Gene Mutations And Their Allelic Status In Myelodysplastic Syndromes With Isolated 5q Deletion, Maria Julia Montoro, Laura Palomo, Claudia Haferlach, Pamela Acha, Onyee Chan, Víctor Navarro, Yasuo Kubota, Felicitas Isabel Schulz, Manja Meggendorfer, Robert Briski, Najla Al Ali, Blanca Xicoy, Félix López-Cadenas, Francesc Bosch, Teresa González, Lea Naomi Eder, Andrés Jerez, Yu-Hung Wang, Alessia Campagna, Valeria Santini, Teresa Bernal Del Castillo, Esperanza Such, Hwei-Fang Tien, Nicolás Diaz Varela, Uwe Platzbecker, Detlef Haase, María Díez-Campelo, Matteo Della Porta, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Daniel H Wiseman, Ulrich Germing, Jaroslaw P Maciejewski, Rami S Komrokji, Francesc Sole, Torsten Haferlach, David Valcárcel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mutations in the TP53 gene, particularly multihit alterations, have been associated with unfavorable clinical features and prognosis in patients diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Despite this, the role of TP53 gene aberrations in MDS with isolated deletion of chromosome 5 [MDS-del(5q)] remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the impact of TP53 gene mutations and their allelic state in patients with MDS-del(5q). To that end, a comprehensive analysis of TP53 abnormalities, examining both TP53 mutations and allelic imbalances, in 682 patients diagnosed with MDS-del(5q) was conducted. Twenty-four percent of TP53-mutated patients exhibited multihit alterations, whereas the remaining patients displayed monoallelic …

Structural Basis Of The Human Transcriptional Mediator Regulated By Its Dissociable Kinase Module, Ti-Chun Chao, Shin-Fu Chen, Hee Jong Kim, Hui-Chi Tang, Hsiang-Ching Tseng, An Xu, Leon Palao, Subash Khadka, Tao Li, Mo-Fan Huang, Dung-Fang Lee, Kenji Murakami, Thomas G Boyer, Kuang-Lei Tsai

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The eukaryotic transcriptional Mediator comprises a large core (cMED) and a dissociable CDK8 kinase module (CKM). cMED recruits RNA polymerase II (RNA Pol II) and promotes pre-initiation complex formation in a manner repressed by the CKM through mechanisms presently unknown. Herein, we report cryoelectron microscopy structures of the complete human Mediator and its CKM. The CKM binds to multiple regions on cMED through both MED12 and MED13, including a large intrinsically disordered region (IDR) in the latter. MED12 and MED13 together anchor the CKM to the cMED hook, positioning CDK8 downstream and proximal to the transcription start site. Notably, the …

Safety Of Kidney Transplantation From Donors With Hiv, Christine M Durand, Allan Massie, Sander Florman, Tao Liang, Meenakshi M Rana, Rachel Friedman-Moraco, Alexander Gilbert, Peter Stock, Sapna A Mehta, Shikha Mehta, Valentina Stosor, Marcus R Pereira, Michele I Morris, Jonathan Hand, Saima Aslam, Maricar Malinis, Ghady Haidar, Catherine B Small, Carlos A Q Santos, Joanna Schaenman, John Baddley, David Wojciechowski, Emily A Blumberg, Karthik Ranganna, Oluwafisayo Adebiyi, Nahel Elias, Jose A Castillo-Lugo, Emmanouil Giorgakis, Senu Apewokin, Diane Brown, Darin Ostrander, Yolanda Eby, Niraj Desai, Fizza Naqvi, Serena Bagnasco, Natasha Watson, Erica Brittain, Jonah Odim, Andrew D Redd, Aaron A R Tobian, Dorry L Segev

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Kidney transplantation from donors with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to recipients with HIV is an emerging practice. It has been performed since 2016 under the U.S. congressional HIV Organ Policy Equity Act and is currently approved for research only. The Department of Health and Human Services is considering expanding the procedure to clinical practice, but data are limited to small case series that did not include donors without HIV as controls.

Methods: In an observational study conducted at 26 U.S. centers, we compared transplantation of kidneys from deceased donors with HIV and donors without HIV to recipients with HIV. …

Bridging Big Data In The Enigma Consortium To Combine Non-Equivalent Cognitive Measures, Eamonn Kennedy, Shashank Vadlamani, Hannah M Lindsey, Pui-Wa Lei, Mary Jo-Pugh, Paul M Thompson, David F Tate, Frank G Hillary, Emily L Dennis, Elisabeth A Wilde, Enigma Clinical Endpoints Working Group Collaborators

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Investigators in neuroscience have turned to Big Data to address replication and reliability issues by increasing sample size. These efforts unveil new questions about how to integrate data across distinct sources and instruments. The goal of this study was to link scores across common auditory verbal learning tasks (AVLTs). This international secondary analysis aggregated multisite raw data for AVLTs across 53 studies totaling 10,505 individuals. Using the ComBat-GAM algorithm, we isolated and removed the component of memory scores associated with site effects while preserving instrumental effects. After adjustment, a continuous item response theory model used multiple memory items of varying …

Immuneapp For Hla-I Epitope Prediction And Immunopeptidome Analysis, Haodong Xu, Ruifeng Hu, Xianjun Dong, Lan Kuang, Wenchao Zhang, Chao Tu, Zhihong Li, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Advances in mass spectrometry accelerates the characterization of HLA ligandome, necessitating the development of efficient methods for immunopeptidomics analysis and (neo)antigen prediction. We develop ImmuneApp, an interpretable deep learning framework trained on extensive HLA ligand datasets, which improves the prediction of HLA-I epitopes, prioritizes neoepitopes, and enhances immunopeptidomics deconvolution. ImmuneApp extracts informative embeddings and identifies key residues for pHLA binding. We also present a more accurate model-based deconvolution approach and systematically analyzed 216 multi-allelic immunopeptidomics samples, identifying 835,551 ligands restricted to over 100 HLA-I alleles. Our investigation reveals the effectiveness of the composite model, denoted as ImmuneApp-MA, which integrates mono- …

Cdk12 Loss Drives Prostate Cancer Progression, Transcription-Replication Conflicts, And Synthetic Lethality With Paralog Cdk13, Jean Ching-Yi Tien, Jie Luo, Yu Chang, Yuping Zhang, Yunhui Cheng, Xiaoju Wang, Jianzhang Yang, Rahul Mannan, Somnath Mahapatra, Palak Shah, Xiao-Ming Wang, Abigail J Todd, Sanjana Eyunni, Caleb Cheng, Ryan J Rebernick, Lanbo Xiao, Yi Bao, James Neiswender, Rachel Brough, Stephen J Pettitt, Xuhong Cao, Stephanie J Miner, Licheng Zhou, Yi-Mi Wu, Estefania Labanca, Yuzhuo Wang, Abhijit Parolia, Marcin Cieslik, Dan R Robinson, Zhen Wang, Felix Y Feng, Jonathan Chou, Christopher J Lord, Ke Ding, Arul M Chinnaiyan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Biallelic loss of cyclin-dependent kinase 12 (CDK12) defines a metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) subtype. It remains unclear, however, whether CDK12 loss drives prostate cancer (PCa) development or uncovers pharmacologic vulnerabilities. Here, we show Cdk12 ablation in murine prostate epithelium is sufficient to induce preneoplastic lesions with lymphocytic infiltration. In allograft-based CRISPR screening, Cdk12 loss associates positively with Trp53 inactivation but negatively with Pten inactivation. Moreover, concurrent Cdk12/Trp53 ablation promotes proliferation of prostate-derived organoids, while Cdk12 knockout in Pten-null mice abrogates prostate tumor growth. In syngeneic systems, Cdk12/Trp53-null allografts exhibit luminal morphology and immune checkpoint blockade sensitivity. Mechanistically, Cdk12 inactivation …

A Phase Ib/Ii Randomized Clinical Trial Of Oleclumab With Or Without Durvalumab Plus Chemotherapy In Patients With Metastatic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Andrew L Coveler, Matthew J Reilley, Mark Zalupski, Teresa Macarulla, Christos Fountzilas, Mariano Ponz-Sarvisé, Adnan Nagrial, Nataliya V Uboha, Sophia Frentzas, Michael Overman, Anne Noonan, Wells A Messersmith, Nick Pavlakis, Niharika B Mettu, Ina Bisha, Ying Wang, Paul Smith, Elina Murtomaki, Agata A Bielska, Veronique Bragulat, Zachary A Cooper, Rakesh Kumar, David R Spigel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma upregulates CD73, potentially contributing to immune surveillance evasion. Combining oleclumab (CD73 inhibitor) and durvalumab with chemotherapy may identify an effective treatment option.

Patients and methods: We describe a multicenter phase Ib/II randomized clinical trial in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, untreated (cohort A) or previously received gemcitabine-based chemotherapy (cohort B; NCT03611556). During escalation, patients received oleclumab 1,500 or 3,000 mg, durvalumab 1,500 mg, and gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel (GnP; cohort A; n = 14) or modified FOLFOX (cohort B; n = 11). During expansion, cohort A patients (n = 170) were randomized to GnP (arm …

Development And Validation Of A Machine Learning Model To Predict Myocardial Blood Flow And Clinical Outcomes From Patients’ Electrocardiogram, Fares Alahdab, Maliazurina Binti Saad, Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed, Qasem Al Tashi, Muhammad Aminu, Yushui Han, Jonathan B Moody, Venkatesh L Murthy, Jia Wu, Mouaz H Al-Mallah

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We develop a machine learning (ML) model using electrocardiography (ECG) to predict myocardial blood flow reserve (MFR) and assess its prognostic value for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). Using 3,639 ECG-positron emission tomography (PET) and 17,649 ECG-single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) data pairs, the ML model is trained with a swarm intelligence approach and support vector regression (SVR). The model achieves a receiver-operator curve (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.83, with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.75. An ECG-MFR value below 2 is significantly associated with MACE, with hazard ratios (HRs) of 3.85 and 3.70 in the discovery …

Yap1 Status Defines Two Intrinsic Subtypes Of Lcnec With Distinct Molecular Features And Therapeutic Vulnerabilities, C Allison Stewart, Lixia Diao, Yuanxin Xi, Runsheng Wang, Kavya Ramkumar, Alejandra G Serrano, Azusa Tanimoto, B Leticia Rodriguez, Benjamin B Morris, Li Shen, Bingnan Zhang, Yan Yang, Samera H Hamad, Robert J Cardnell, Alberto Duarte, Moushumi Sahu, Veronica Y Novegil, Bernard E Weissman, Michael Frumovitz, Neda Kalhor, Luisa Solis Soto, Pedro Da Rocha, Natalie Vokes, Don L Gibbons, Jing Wang, John V Heymach, Bonnie Glisson, Lauren Averett Byers, Carl M Gay

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) is a high-grade neuroendocrine malignancy that, like small cell lung cancer (SCLC), is associated with the absence of druggable oncogenic drivers and dismal prognosis. In contrast to SCLC, however, there is little evidence to guide optimal treatment strategies, which are often adapted from SCLC and non-small cell lung cancer approaches.

Experimental design: To better define the biology of LCNEC, we analyzed cell line and patient genomic data and performed IHC and single-cell RNA sequencing of core needle biopsies from patients with LCNEC and preclinical models.

Results: In this study, we demonstrate that the presence …

Accurate Identification Of Locally Aneuploid Cells By Incorporating Cytogenetic Information In Single Cell Data Analysis, Ziyi Li, Ruoxing Li, Irene Ganan-Gomez, Hussein A Abbas, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Wei Sun

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Single-cell RNA sequencing is a powerful tool to investigate the cellular makeup of tumor samples. However, due to the sparse data and the complex tumor microenvironment, it can be challenging to identify neoplastic cells that play important roles in tumor growth and disease progression. This is especially relevant for blood cancers, where neoplastic cells may be highly similar to normal cells. To address this challenge, we have developed partCNV and partCNVH, two methods for rapid and accurate detection of aneuploid cells with local copy number deletion or amplification. PartCNV uses an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm with mixtures of Poisson distributions and …

Npm1-Mutated Myeloid Neoplasms Are A Unique Entity Not Defined By Bone Marrow Blast Percentage, Georgina Gener-Ricos, Alex Bataller, Juan Jose Rodriguez-Sevilla, Kelly S Chien, Andres E Quesada, Emmanuel Almanza-Huante, Danielle Hammond, Koji Sasaki, Courtney Dinardo, Tapan Kadia, Naval Daver, Gautam Borthakur, Ghayas C Issa, Nicholas J Short, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Hagop M Kantarjian, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: NPM1-mutated (NPM1mut) myeloid neoplasms (MNs) with < 20% bone marrow (BM) blasts (NPM1mut MNs< 20) are uncommon, and their classification remains inconsistent.

Methods: The clinicopathologic features of 54 patients with NPM1mut MNs < 20 were evaluated and compared with wild-type NPM1 MNs < 20 and NPM1mut MNs≥20, respectively.

Results: NPM1mut MNs had similar features regardless of blast percentage, except for higher IDH2 (29% vs 7%, p = .023) and FLT3 (70% vs 11%, p < .001) frequency in patients with ≥20% BM blasts. Thirty-three (61%) patients with NPM1mut MNs < 20 received low-intensity chemotherapy (LIC) and 12 (22%) received intensive chemotherapy (IC). Higher complete remission rates (75% vs 27%, p = .006) and median overall survival (mOS) (not reached vs 30.4 months, p = .06) were observed with IC compared to LIC. Young patients (age < 60 years) did not reach mOS either when treated with LIC or IC. Stem cell transplant was associated with increased survival only in patients treated with LIC (HR, 0.24; p = .025). No differences in mOS were observed by BM blast strata (32.2 months, not reached and 46.9 months for < 10%, 10%-19%, and ≥20% blasts, p = .700) regardless of treatment modality (LIC: p = .900; IC: p = .360). Twenty-three patients (43%) with NPM1mut MNs < 20 had marrow blast progression to ≥20%.

Conclusions: Overall, NPM1mut MNs define a unique entity independent of BM blast percentage.

Biochemical And Structural Insights Into A 5′ To 3′ Rna Ligase Reveal A Potential Role In Trna Ligation, Yingjie Hu, Victor A Lopez, Hengyi Xu, James P Pfister, Bing Song, Kelly A Servage, Masahiro Sakurai, Benjamin T Jones, Joshua T Mendell, Tao Wang, Jun Wu, Alan M Lambowitz, Diana R Tomchick, Krzysztof Pawłowski, Vincent S Tagliabracci

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

ATP-grasp superfamily enzymes contain a hand-like ATP-binding fold and catalyze a variety of reactions using a similar catalytic mechanism. More than 30 protein families are categorized in this superfamily, and they are involved in a plethora of cellular processes and human diseases. Here, we identify C12orf29 (RLIG1) as an atypical ATP-grasp enzyme that ligates RNA. Human RLIG1 and its homologs autoadenylate on an active site Lys residue as part of a reaction intermediate that specifically ligates RNA halves containing a 5’-phosphate and a 3’-hydroxyl. RLIG1 binds tRNA in cells and can ligate tRNA within the anticodon loop in vitro. Transcriptomic …

Proportional Hazards Violations In Phase Iii Cancer Clinical Trials: A Potential Source Of Trial Misinterpretation, Timothy A Lin, Zachary R Mccaw, Alex Koong, Christine Lin, Joseph Abi Jaoude, Roshal Patel, Ramez Kouzy, Molly B El Alam, Alexander D Sherry, Sonal S Noticewala, Clifton D Fuller, Charles R Thomas, Ryan Sun, J Jack Lee, Ruitao Lin, Ying Yuan, Yu Shyr, Tomer Meirson, Ethan B Ludmir

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Survival analyses of novel agents with long-term responders often exhibit differential hazard rates over time. Such proportional hazards violations (PHV) may reduce the power of the log-rank test and lead to misinterpretation of trial results. We aimed to characterize the incidence and study attributes associated with PHVs in phase III oncology trials and assess the utility of restricted mean survival time and maximum combination test as additional analyses.

Experimental design: Clinicaltrials.gov and PubMed were searched to identify two-arm, randomized, phase III superiority-design cancer trials with time-to-event primary endpoints and published results through 2020. Patient-level data were reconstructed from published …

Evaluating Debio 1347 In Patients With Fgfr Fusion-Positive Advanced Solid Tumors From The Fuze Multicenter, Open-Label, Phase Ii Basket Trial, Petros Grivas, Elena Garralda, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Ingo K Mellinghoff, Lipika Goyal, James J Harding, E Claire Dees, Rastislav Bahleda, Nilofer S Azad, Asha Karippot, Razelle Kurzrock, Josep Tabernero, Juha Kononen, Matthew C H Ng, Rutika Mehta, Nataliya V Uboha, Frédéric Bigot, Valentina Boni, Samantha E Bowyer, Valeriy Breder, Andrés Cervantes, Nancy Chan, James M Cleary, Mallika Dhawan, Rikke L Eefsen, James Ewing, Donna M Graham, Tormod K Guren, Jin Won Kim, Krassimir Koynov, Do-Youn Oh, Rebecca Redman, Chia-Jui Yen, David Spetzler, Marie-Claude Roubaudi-Fraschini, Valerie Nicolas-Metral, Rafik Ait-Sarkouh, Claudio Zanna, Abdallah Ennaji, Anna Pokorska-Bocci, Keith T Flaherty

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This multicenter phase II basket trial investigated the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of Debio 1347, an investigational, oral, highly selective, ATP-competitive, small molecule inhibitor of FGFR1-3, in patients with solid tumors harboring a functional FGFR1-3 fusion.

Patients and methods: Eligible adults had a previously treated locally advanced (unresectable) or metastatic biliary tract (cohort 1), urothelial (cohort 2), or another histologic cancer type (cohort 3). Debio 1347 was administered at 80 mg once daily, continuously, in 28-day cycles. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate. Secondary endpoints included duration of response, progression-free survival, overall survival, pharmacokinetics, and incidence of …

First-In-Human Clinical Outcomes With Ng-350a, An Anti-Cd40 Expressing Tumor-Selective Vector Designed To Remodel Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironments, Aung Naing, Danny Khalil, Oliver Rosen, D Ross Camidge, Tom Lillie, Rui-Ru Ji, Andrea Stacey, Matthew Thomas, Lee Rosen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Tumor-selective oncolytic viral vectors are promising anticancer therapeutics; however, challenges with dosing and potency in advanced/metastatic cancers have limited efficacy and usage. NG-350A is a next-generation blood-stable adenoviral vector engineered to express an agonist anti-cluster of differentiation (CD)40 antibody without affecting tumor-selectivity and oncolytic potency.

Methods: Intravenous and intratumoral (IT) administration of NG-350A was assessed in a phase Ia/Ib study in patients with metastatic/advanced epithelial tumors (NCT03852511). Dose-escalation was performed separately for intravenous (four dose levels available, each with infusions on Days 1, 3 and 5 of a 57-day treatment period) and IT (single injection on D1 …

Magnetoelectrics For Implantable Bioelectronics: Progress To Date, Fatima Alrashdan, Kaiyuan Yang, Jacob T Robinson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The coupling of magnetic and electric properties manifested in magnetoelectric (ME) materials has unlocked numerous possibilities for advancing technologies like energy harvesting, memory devices, and medical technologies. Due to this unique coupling, the magnetic properties of these materials can be tuned by an electric field; conversely, their electric polarization can be manipulated through a magnetic field. Over the past seven years, our lab work has focused on leveraging these materials to engineer implantable bioelectronics for various neuromodulation applications. One of the main challenges for bioelectronics is to design miniaturized solutions that can be delivered with minimally invasive procedures and yet …

Ovarian Cancer Metastasis: Looking Beyond The Surface, Emine Bayraktar, Sisy Chen, Sara Corvigno, Jinsong Liu, Anil K Sood

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Historically, ovarian cancer (OC) was thought to metastasize by surface-to-surface spread, but recent developments have yielded a new understanding of the paths of metastatic spread. Given the histologic and molecular heterogeneity of OC, we will focus on high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC). Here, we provide a critical and more holistic view of the evidence supporting various routes of metastasis, including peritoneal, hematogenous, lymphatic, and nerve-related. Understanding the underlying mechanisms is necessary to improve treatment strategies for this challenging disease.

Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction With Elevated Filling Pressures Is Associated With Embolic Stroke Of Undetermined Source And Atrial Fibrillation, Zubair Bashir, Liqi Shu, Yuqian Guo, Edward W Chen, Shuyuan Wang, Eric D Goldstein, Maheen Rana, Narendra Kala, Xing Dai, Daniel Mandel, Shadi Yaghi, Phinnara Has, Mingxing Xie, Tao Wang, James Simmons, Christopher Song, Philip Haines

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background/Objectives: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) and elevated left ventricular filling pressure (LVFP) are strong predictors of clinical outcomes across various populations. However, their diagnostic utility in embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) remains unclear. We hypothesized that LVDD with elevated LVFP (based on echocardiography) was more likely to be prevalent in ESUS compared to non-cardioembolic stroke (NCE) and to be associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) on follow-up monitoring.

Methods: This is a single-center retrospective study that included adult patients with a diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke between January 2016 and June 2017. LV function was assessed by …