Genetic Phenomena Commons^™

Identification Of Pancreatic Cancer Germline Risk Variants With Effects That Are Modified By Smoking, Huili Zhu, Jaihee Choi, Naishu Kui, Tianzhong Yang, Peng Wei, Donghui Li, Ryan Sun

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a deadly disease most often diagnosed in late stages. Identification of high-risk subjects could both contribute to preventative measures and help diagnose the disease at earlier timepoints. However, known risk factors, assessed independently, are currently insufficient for accurately stratifying patients. We use large-scale data from the UK Biobank (UKB) to identify genetic variant-smoking interaction effects and show their importance in risk assessment.

Methods: We draw data from 15,086,830 genetic variants and 315,512 individuals in the UKB. There are 765 cases of PC. Crucially, robust resampling corrections are used to overcome well-known challenges in hypothesis testing …

Personal History Of Cancer As A Risk Factor For Second Primary Lung Cancer: Implications For Lung Cancer Screening, Sara Nofal, Jiangong Niu, Paul Resong, Jeff Jin, Kelly W Merriman, Xiuning Le, Hormuzd Katki, John Heymach, Mara B Antonoff, Edwin Ostrin, Jia Wu, Jianjun Zhang, Iakovos Toumazis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Personal history of cancer is an independent risk factor for lung cancer but is omitted from existing lung cancer screening eligibility criteria. In this study, we assess the lung cancer risk among cancer survivors and discuss potential implications for screening.

Methods: This was a retrospective, secondary analysis of data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry and the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC). We estimated the standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for lung cancer by site of first primary cancer using data from SEER. We assessed the lung cancer risk among head and neck cancer survivors from MDACC …

Systematic Evaluation Of Mri-Based Characterization Of Tumor-Associated Vascular Morphology And Hemodynamics Via A Dynamic Digital Phantom, Chengyue Wu, David A Hormuth, Ty Easley, Federico Pineda, Gregory S Karczmar, Thomas E Yankeelov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Validation of quantitative imaging biomarkers is a challenging task, due to the difficulty in measuring the ground truth of the target biological process. A digital phantom-based framework is established to systematically validate the quantitative characterization of tumor-associated vascular morphology and hemodynamics based on dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI).

Approach: A digital phantom is employed to provide a ground-truth vascular system within which 45 synthetic tumors are simulated. Morphological analysis is performed on high-spatial resolution DCE-MRI data (spatial/temporal resolution = 30 to 300μm/60s" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: 0; font-size: 18.08px; font-size-adjust: none; overflow-wrap: normal; word-spacing: normal; text-wrap-mode: …

Comprehensive Immunogenomic Profiling Of Idh1-/2-Altered Cholangiocarcinoma, Shalini Makawita, Sunyoung Lee, Elisabeth Kong, Lawrence N Kwong, Zeyad Abouelfetouh, Anaemy Danner De Armas, Lianchun Xiao, Karthikeyan Murugesan, Natalie Danziger, Dean Pavlick, Anil Korkut, Jeffrey S Ross, Milind Javle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)1/2 genomic alterations (GA) occur in 20% of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA); however, the immunogenomic landscape of IDH1-/2-mutated iCCA is largely unknown.

Methods: Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) was performed on 3,067 cases of advanced iCCA. Tumor mutational burden (TMB), PD-L1 expression (Dako 22C3), microsatellite instability (MSI), and genomic loss of heterozygosity (gLOH) as a surrogate marker for homologous recombination deficiency were examined. RNA sequencing of 73 patient samples was analyzed for differences in stromal/immune cell infiltration, immune marker expression, and T-cell inflammation. Tissue microarray arrays were subjected to multiplex immunohistochemistry and colocalization …

Tongue Electrical Impedance Myography Correlates With Functional, Neurophysiologic, And Clinical Outcome Measures In Long-Term Oropharyngeal Cancer Survivors With And Without Hypoglossal Neuropathy: An Exploratory Study, Nathan J Hansen, Karin Woodman, Sheila Buoy, Shitong Mao, Carly E A Barbon, Stephen Y Lai, C David Fuller, Katherine A Hutcheson, Benjamin Sanchez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: This pilot study analyzed correlations between tongue electrical impedance myography (EIM), standard tongue electromyography (EMG), and tongue functional measures in N = 4 long-term oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) survivors.

Methods: Patients were screened for a supportive care trial (NCT04151082). Hypoglossal nerve function was evaluated with genioglossus needle EMG, functional measures with the Iowa oral performance instrument (IOPI), and multi-frequency tissue composition with tongue EIM.

Results: Tongue EIM conductivity was higher for patients with EMG-confirmed cranial nerve XII neuropathy than those without (p = 0.005) and in patients with mild versus normal EMG reinnervation ratings (16 kHz EIM: p …

Patients With Advanced Cancer And Their Spouses Parenting Minor Children: The Role Of The Relationship Context In Parenting Concerns, Kathrin Milbury, Sujin Ann-Yi, Morgan Jones, Yisheng Li, Meagan Whisenant, Sania Yousuf, Victoria Necroto, Mariana Chavez Mac Gregor, Eduardo Bruera

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Patients with advanced cancer who parent minor children report parenting concerns and increased psychological distress. This cross-sectional study seeks to understand parenting-related issues in patients and spousal caregivers from a relationship perspective.

Methods: Patients with a metastatic solid malignancy and their spouses independently completed cross-sectional assessments of psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), parenting concerns (Parenting Concern Questionnaire) and efficacy (Cancer-Related Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale), and relationship measures (DAS-7, Couples' Illness Communication Scale, and Family Relationship Index).

Results: Of the 51 patients (57% female, 49% NHW, mean age 42 years) and spouses (43% female, 43% NHW, mean age of …

Correcting Ct Misregistration In Data-Driven Gated (Ddg) Pet With Pet Self-Gating And Deformable Image Registration, Peng Sun, M Allan Thomas, Dershan Luo, Tinsu Pan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Misregistration between CT and PET data can result in mis-localization and inaccurate quantification of functional uptake in whole body PET/CT imaging. This problem is exacerbated when an abnormal inspiration occurs during the free-breathing helical CT (FB CT) used for attenuation correction of PET data. In data-driven gated (DDG) PET, the data selected for reconstruction is typically derived from the end-expiration (EE) phase of the breathing cycle, making this potential issue worse.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to develop a deformable image registration (DIR)-based respiratory motion model to improve the registration and quantification between misregistered FB CT and …

Desirability Of Outcome Ranking For Obstetrical Trials: Illustration And Application To The Arrive Trial, Grecio J Sandoval, William A Grobman, Scott R Evans, Madeline M Rice, Rebecca G Clifton, Suneet P Chauhan, Maged M Costantine, Kelly S Gibson, Monica Longo, Torri D Metz, Emily S Miller, Samuel Parry, Uma M Reddy, Dwight J Rouse, Hyagriv N Simhan, John M Thorp, Alan T N Tita, George R Saade

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: In randomized trials, 1 primary outcome is typically chosen to evaluate the consequences of an intervention, whereas other important outcomes are relegated to secondary outcomes. This issue is amplified for many obstetrical trials in which an intervention may have consequences for both the pregnant person and the child. In contrast, desirability of outcome ranking, a paradigm shift for the design and analysis of clinical trials based on patient-centric evaluation, allows multiple outcomes-including from >1 individual-to be considered concurrently.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe desirability of outcome ranking methodology tailored to obstetrical trials and to apply the methodology to …

Reducing Frame Rate And Pulse Rate For Routine Diagnostic Cerebral Angiography: Alara Principles In Practice, Arvin R Wali, Sarath Pathuri, Michael G Brandel, Ryan W Sindewald, Brian R Hirshman, Javier A Bravo, Jeffrey A Steinberg, Scott E Olson, Jeffrey S Pannell, Alexander Khalessi, David Santiago-Dieppa

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Diagnostic cerebral angiograms (DCAs) are widely used in neurosurgery due to their high sensitivity and specificity to diagnose and characterize pathology using ionizing radiation. Eliminating unnecessary radiation is critical to reduce risk to patients, providers, and health care staff. We investigated if reducing pulse and frame rates during routine DCAs would decrease radiation burden without compromising image quality.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of prospectively acquired data after implementing a quality improvement protocol in which pulse rate and frame rate were reduced from 15 p/s to 7.5 p/s and 7.5 f/s to 4.0 f/s respectively. Radiation doses and …

Examining Psychometric Properties Of The Metacognitions About Smoking Questionnaire Among Young E-Cigarette Users, Aslesha Sumbe, Robert Suchting, Baojiang Chen, Anna V Wilkinson, Bara Bataineh, Stephanie L Clendennen, Melissa B Harrell

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Metacognition can be understood as 'cognition of cognition' or 'thinking about thinking'. Metacognition research has primarily focused on cigarette smoking, while e-cigarette use has been relatively unexplored. The study sought to examine the properties of the Metacognitions about Smoking Questionnaire (MSQ), as it was adapted for use among adolescent and young adult e-cigarette users. Further, the study sought to examine the ability of the Metacognitions about Smoking Questionnaire (MSQ) to predict past 30-day e-cigarette use among adolescent and young adult e-cigarette users.

Methods: The study analyzed data collected by the Texas Adolescent Tobacco and Marketing Surveillance System (TATAMS) in …

Corrigendum To 'Molecular Identity Changes Of Tumor-Associated Macrophages And Microglia After Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Focused Ultrasound-Induced Blood-Brain Barrier Opening In A Mouse Glioblastoma Model' [Ultrasound In Med & Biol 49 (2023) 1082-1090], Yanrong Zhang, Jing Wang, Sara Natasha Ghobadi, Haiyan Zhou, Ai Huang, Marco Gerosa, Qingyi Hou, Olivier Keunen, Anna Golebiewska, Frezghi G Habte, Gerald A Grant, Ramasamy Paulmurugan, Kevin S Lee, Max Wintermark

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Identifying A Stable And Generalizable Factor Structure Of Major Depressive Disorder Across Three Large Longitudinal Cohorts, Vincent W S Tseng, Jordan A Tharp, Jacob E Reiter, Weston Ferrer, David S Hong, P Murali Doraiswamy, Stefanie Nickels

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) is the current standard outpatient screening tool for measuring and tracking the nine symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD). While the PHQ-9 was originally conceptualized as a unidimensional measure, it has become clear that MDD is not a monolithic construct, as evidenced by high comorbidities with other theoretically distinct diagnoses and common symptom overlap between depression and other diagnoses. Therefore, identifying reliable and temporally stable subfactors of depressive symptoms could allow research and care to be tailored to different depression phenotypes. This study improved on previous factor analysis studies of the PHQ-9 by leveraging …

Glycoprotein Nonmetastatic Melanoma Protein B (Gpnmb) Immunohistochemistry Can Be A Useful Ancillary Tool To Identify Perivascular Epithelioid Cell Tumor, Sintawat Wangsiricharoen, Davis R Ingram, Rohini R Morey, Khalida Wani, Alexander J Lazar, Wei-Lien Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) are rare mesenchymal tumors that express smooth muscle and melanocytic makers. Diagnosis of PEComas can be challenging due to focal or lost expression of traditional immunohistochemical markers, limited availability of molecular testing, and morphological overlap with much more common smooth muscle tumors. This study evaluates the use of glycoprotein nonmetastatic melanoma protein B (GPNMB) immunohistochemical staining as a surrogate marker for TSC1/2/MTOR alteration or TFE3 rearrangement to differentiate PEComas from other mesenchymal tumors. Cathepsin K was also assessed for comparison. A total of 399 tumors, including PEComas, alveolar soft part sarcomas, and other histologic PEComa …

Polygenic Risk Scores, Radiation Treatment Exposures And Subsequent Cancer Risk In Childhood Cancer Survivors, Todd M Gibson, Danielle M Karyadi, Stephen W Hartley, Michael A Arnold, Amy Berrington De Gonzalez, Miriam R Conces, Rebecca M Howell, Vidushi Kapoor, Wendy M Leisenring, Joseph P Neglia, Joshua N Sampson, Lucie M Turcotte, Stephen J Chanock, Gregory T Armstrong, Lindsay M Morton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Survivors of childhood cancer are at increased risk for subsequent cancers attributable to the late effects of radiotherapy and other treatment exposures; thus, further understanding of the impact of genetic predisposition on risk is needed. Combining genotype data for 11,220 5-year survivors from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study and the St Jude Lifetime Cohort, we found that cancer-specific polygenic risk scores (PRSs) derived from general population, genome-wide association study, cancer loci identified survivors of European ancestry at increased risk of subsequent basal cell carcinoma (odds ratio per s.d. of the PRS: OR = 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.29-1.46), …

Targeted Inhibition Of Scfskp2 Confers Anti-Tumor Activities Resulting In A Survival Benefit In Osteosarcoma, Jichuan Wang, Alexander Ferrena, Ranxin Zhang, Swapnil Singh, Valentina Viscarret, Waleed Al-Harden, Osama Aldahamsheh, Hasibagan Borjihan, Amit Singla, Simon Yaguare, Janet Tingling, Xiaolin Zi, Yungtai Lo, Richard Gorlick, Edward L Schwartz, Hongling Zhao, Rui Yang, David S Geller, Deyou Zheng, Bang H Hoang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Osteosarcoma(OS) is a highly aggressive bone cancer for which treatment has remained essentially unchanged for decades. Although OS is characterized by extensive genomic heterogeneity and instability, RB1 and TP53 have been shown to be the most commonly inactivated tumor suppressors in OS. We previously generated a mouse model with a double knockout (DKO) of Rb1 and Trp53 within cells of the osteoblastic lineage, which largely recapitulates human OS with nearly complete penetrance. SKP2 is a repression target of pRb and serves as a substrate recruiting subunit of the SCFSKP2 complex. In addition, SKP2 plays a central role in regulating the …

Cardiovascular Events After Cancer Immunotherapy As Oncologic Emergencies: Analyses Of 610 Head And Neck Cancer Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Cielito C Reyes-Gibby, Aiham Qdaisat, Renata Ferrarotto, Anecita Fadol, Jason J Bischof, Christopher J Coyne, Demis N Lipe, Ehab Y Hanna, Sanjay Shete, Jun-Ichi Abe, Sai-Ching J Yeung

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Cardio-oncology and emergency medicine are closely collaborative, as many cardiac events in cancer patients require evaluation and treatment in the emergency department (ED). Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become a common treatment for patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). However, the immune-related adverse events (irAEs) from ICIs can be clinically significant.

Methods: We reviewed and analyzed cardiovascular diagnoses among HNC patients who received ICI during the period April 1, 2016-December 31, 2020 in a large tertiary cancer center. Demographics, clinical and cancer-related data were abstracted, and billing databases were queried for cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related diagnosis using International Classification …

Empirically Derived Principles For Research Funding Success: A Primer For Early Career Academic Investigators, Kareem A Wahid, Michael K Rooney, Jillian R Gunther, Amy C Moreno, Chelsea C Pinnix, Charles R Thomas, Clifton D Fuller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Polygenic Risk Scores, Radiation Treatment Exposures And Subsequent Cancer Risk In Childhood Cancer Survivors, Todd M Gibson, Danielle M Karyadi, Stephen W Hartley, Michael A Arnold, Amy Berrington De Gonzalez, Miriam R Conces, Rebecca M Howell, Vidushi Kapoor, Wendy M Leisenring, Joseph P Neglia, Joshua N Sampson, Lucie M Turcotte, Stephen J Chanock, Gregory T Armstrong, Lindsay M Morton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Survivors of childhood cancer are at increased risk for subsequent cancers attributable to the late effects of radiotherapy and other treatment exposures; thus, further understanding of the impact of genetic predisposition on risk is needed. Combining genotype data for 11,220 5-year survivors from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study and the St Jude Lifetime Cohort, we found that cancer-specific polygenic risk scores (PRSs) derived from general population, genome-wide association study, cancer loci identified survivors of European ancestry at increased risk of subsequent basal cell carcinoma (odds ratio per s.d. of the PRS: OR = 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.29-1.46), …

Bardoxolone Methyl Ameliorates Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathic Pain By Activation Of Phosphorylated Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 In The Dorsal Root Ganglia, Hee Kee Kim, Qi Wang, Seon-Hee Hwang, Patrick M Dougherty, Jing Wang, Salahadin Abdi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Many chemotherapeutic drugs, including paclitaxel, produce neuropathic pain in patients with cancer, which is a dose-dependent adverse effect. Such chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CINP) is difficult to treat with existing drugs. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a major regulator of antioxidative responses and activates phosphorylated Nrf2 (pNrf2). We determined the analgesic effects of bardoxolone methyl (BM), an Nrf2 activator, and the role of pNrf2 on CINP.

Methods: CINP was induced in rats by intraperitoneally injecting paclitaxel on 4 alternate days in rats. BM was injected systemically as single or repeated injections after pain fully developed. RNA transcriptome, …

Surrogate Endpoints In Clinical Trials Of P16-Positive Squamous Cell Carcinoma Of The Oropharynx: An Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis, Laila A Gharzai, Emily Morris, Krithika Suresh, Phuc Felix Nguyen-Tân, David I Rosenthal, Maura L Gillison, Paul M Harari, Adam S Garden, Shlomo Koyfman, Jimmy J Caudell, Christopher U Jones, Darrion L Mitchell, Greg Krempl, John A Ridge, Michael F Gensheimer, James A Bonner, Edith Filion, Neal E Dunlap, William A Stokes, Quynh-Thu Le, Pedro Torres-Saavedra, Michelle Mierzwa, Matthew J Schipper

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The increased incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers has motivated efforts to optimise treatment for these patients with excellent prognosis. Validation of surrogates for overall survival could expedite the investigation of new therapies. We sought to evaluate candidate intermediate clinical endpoints in trials assessing definitive treatment of p16-positive oropharyngeal cancer with chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Methods: We did a retrospective review of five multicentre, randomised trials (NRG/RTOG 9003, 0129, 0234, 0522, and 1016) that tested radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy in patients (aged ≥18 years) with p16-positive localised head or neck squamous-cell carcinomas. Eight intermediate clinical endpoints were considered as …