Single nucleotide variants in lung cancer

Germline genetic variants,including single-nucleotide variants(SNVs)and copy number variants(CNVs),account for interpatient heterogeneity.In the past several decades,genome-wide association studies(GWAS)have iden-tified multiple lung cancer-associated SNVs in Caucasian and Chinese populations.These variants either reside within coding regions and change the structure and function of cancer-related proteins or reside within non-coding regions and alter the expression level of cancer-related proteins.The variants can be used not only for cancer risk assessment and prevention but also for the development of new therapies.In this review,we discuss the lung cancer-associated SNVs identified to date,their contributions to lung tumorigenesis and prognosis,and their potential use in predicting prognosis and implementing therapeutic strategies.

Antithrombin Ⅲ deficiency in a patient with recurrent venous thromboembolism:A case report

BACKGROUND Antithrombin Ⅲ(AT3)deficiency,an autosomal dominant disease,increases the likelihood of an individual developing venous thromboembolism(VTE).Longterm anticoagulation treatment is required for those suffering from AT3 deficiency.CASE SUMMARY A man aged 23,who had a history of deep venous thrombosis(DVT),experienced recurrent pain and swelling in his right lower extremity for three days following withdrawal of Rivaroxaban.He was diagnosed with DVT and antithrombin Ⅲ deficiency as genetic testing revealed a single nucleotide variant in SERPINC1(c.667T>C,p.S223P).The patient was advised to accept long-term anticoagulant therapy.CONCLUSION Inherited AT3 deficiency due to SERPINC1 mutations results in recurrent VTE.Patients may benefit from long-term anticoagulant therapy.

A strategy for uncovering germline variants altering anti-tumor CD8 T cell response

Among many factors known to alter the outcomes of T cell receptor(TCR)-induced proximal signaling,the role of human germline variants in dictating the individuality of the anti-tumor CD8 T cell response has remained challenging to address.Here,we describe a convenient strategy for molecular and functional characterization of phosphotyrosine-altering non-synonymous single nucleotide variations(pTyr-SNVs)that directly impact TCR-induced proximal phosphotyrosine motif-based signaling pathways.We devise an experimental co-cultivation set-up comprising a C57BL/6 mouse-derived metastatic melanoma cell line engineered to constitutively present ovalbumin(OVA)antigens and retrovirally engineered syngeneic major histocompatibility complex(MHC)Class I restricted OVA TCR-transgenic CD8 T cells(OT-I).Using the synthetic version of pTyr-SNV rs1178800678-G/T-encoding integrin alpha 4(ITGA4)p.S1027I variant as a prototype,we show that under identical TCR stimulation conditions,genetically determined membrane-proximal immunoreceptor tyrosin activation motif(ITAM)results in increased tyrosine phosphorylation of 70 kDa zeta-chain-associated protein(ZAP70)and the levels of cytotoxic effector molecule granzyme B(GZMB),which in turn result in enhanced cytotoxic activity against metastatic melanoma cell line.This strategy paves the way for rapid molecular and functional characterization of anti-tumor immune response-linked germline pTyr-SNVs so as to improve our understanding of the genetic basis of individual-to-individual differences in anti-tumor CD8 T cell response.

The landscape and clinical relevance of intronic polyadenylation in human cancers

Intronic polyadenylation(IPA)is an RNA 3'end processing event which has been reported to play important roles in cancer development.However,the comprehensive landscape of IPA events across various cancer types is lacking.Here,we apply IPAFinder to identify and quantify IPA events in 10,383 samples covering all 33 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)project.We identify a total of 21,835 IPA events,almost half of which are ubiquitously expressed.We identify 2761 unique dynamically changed IPA events across cancer types.Furthermore,we observe 8855 non-redundant clinically relevant IPA events,which could potentially be used as prognostic indicators.Our analysis also reveals that dynamic IPA usage within cancer signaling pathways may affect drug response.Finally,we develop a user-friendly data portal,IPACancer Atlas(http://www.tingni-lab.com/Pancan_IPA),to search and explore IPAs in cancer.

Gut microbiome evolution impacts the clinical outcomes of diseases

The human digestive tract is home to trillions of microbes,and owing to the advent of next-generation sequencing at the turn of the century and the development of bioinformatics technology,researchers have been able to unravel the picture of the gut microbiome(1).

Genetic architecture, epigenetic influence and environment exposure in the pathogenesis of Autism

Autism spectrum disorder(ASD) is a spectral neurodevelopment disorder affecting approximately 1% of the population. ASD is characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interaction, communication deficits and restricted patterns of behavior. Multiple factors, including genetic/genomic, epigenetic/epigenomic and environmental, are thought to be necessary for autism development. Recent reviews have provided further insight into the genetic/genomic basis of ASD. It has long been suspected that epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, chromatin structures and long non-coding RNAs may play important roles in the pathology of ASD. In addition to genetic/genomic alterations and epigenetic/epigenomic influences, environmental exposures have been widely accepted as an important role in autism etiology, among which immune dysregulation and gastrointestinal microbiota are two prominent ones.

Plastome-wide comparison reveals new SNV resources for the authentication of Dendrobium huoshanense and its corresponding medicinal slice(Huoshan Fengdou)

Dendrobium species and their corresponding medicinal slices have been extensively used as traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in many Asian countries. However, it is extremely difficult to identify Dendrobium species based on their morphological and chemical features. In this study, the plastomes of D. huoshanense were used as a model system to investigate the hypothesis that plastomic mutational hotspot regions could provide a useful single nucleotide variants(SNVs) resource for authentication studies. We surveyed the plastomes of 17 Dendrobium species, including the newly sequenced plastome of D. huoshanense. A total of 19 SNVs that could be used for the authentication of D. huoshanense were detected. On the basis of this comprehensive comparison, we identified the four most informative hotspot regions in the Dendrobium plastome that encompass ccsA to ndhF, matK to 3′trnG, rpoB to psbD, and trnT to rbcL. Furthermore, to established a simple and accurate method for the authentication of D. huoshanense and its medicinal slices, a total of 127 samples from 20 Dendrobium species including their corresponding medicinal slices(Fengdous) were used in this study. Our results suggest that D. huoshanense and its medicinal slices can be rapidly and unequivocally identified using this method that combines real-time PCR with the amplification refractory mutation system(ARMS).

Genomic mutation signatures in primary breast cancer and their axillary metastatic lymph nodes

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women all over the world.Metastasis represents a major adverse progression of breast cancer,resulting in poor survival duration.Axillary lymph node metastasis is often the first step of systemic metastasis process of breast cancer.However,themechanismof lymph node metastasis and the genomic signatures of primary breast tumors and lymph node metastasis are still under exploration.Whole exome sequencing was applied to primary breast cancer,axillary metastatic lymph nodes,andwhite blood cells from10Chinesewomen patients in our study.Single nucleotide variants(SNVs)and copynumber variants(CNVs)were compared between primary tumors and lymph nodes for individual patients.There are somatic SNVs(average 5.58±2.56 per megabase)in primary breast cancers and somatic SNVs(average 5.46±2.66 per megabase)in axillary metastatic lymph nodes were identified,which is corresponding to a semblable mutation burden in two malignant sites(P=0.81).No difference was found in CNVs(P=0.33).In primary breast cancer,somatic SNVs(48.12±13.80%)and CNVs(61.72±35.00%)were overlapping with somatic SNVs(49.43±12.30%)and CNVs(72.01±24.31%)in axillary metastatic lymph nodes.Nine genes were screened for significant specificmutations in primary tumors,and 15 genes were significantly mutated in metastatic lymph nodes.Using MutSigCV screening,it was found that HRNR and AHNAK2 are lymph node metastasis-specific genes.In our study,primary breast tumors are directly related to axillary lymph node metastases together and there are most SNVs and CNVs which were overlapping in primary andmetastatic sites.These variants which are overlapping is closely related to themetastatic process of tumor invasion with early genetic variability.This is the first timeto prove the concept of polyclonalmetastaticmodel and in thismodelmore than one clonemigrates establish the metastases to axillary lymph nodes.This study was approved by the institutional review board(IRB)of the Cancer Hospital,Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences,and Peking Union Medical College,China(approval No.NCC2016G-030)on March 3,2016.

Finding neoepitopes in mouse models of personalized cancer immunotherapy

BACKGROUND： Cancer immunotherapy uses one＇s own immune system to fight cancerous cells. As immune system is hard- wired to distinguish self and non-self, cancer immunotherapy is predicted to target cancerous cells specifically, therefore is less toxic than chemotherapy and radiation therapy, two major treatments for cancer. Cancer immunologists have spent decades to search for the specific targets in cancerous cells. METHODS： Due to the recent advances in high throughput sequencing and bioinformatics, evidence has merged that the neoantigens in cancerous cells are probably the cancer-specific targets that lead to the destruction of cancer. We will review the transplantable murine tumor models for cancer immunotherapy and the bioinformatics tools used to navigate mouse genome to identify tumor-rejecting neoantigens. RESULTS： Several groups have independently identified point mutations that can be recognized by T cells of host immune system. It is consistent with the note that the formation ofpeptide-MHC I-TCR complex is critical to activate T cells. Both anchor residue and TCR-facing residue mutations have been reported. While TCR-facing residue mutations may directly activate specific T cells, anchor residue mutations improve the binding of peptides to MHC I molecules, which increases the presentation of peptides and the T cell activation indirectly. CONCLUSIONS： Our work indicates that the affinity of neoepitopes for MHC I is not a predictor for anti-tumor immune responses in mice. Instead differential agretopic index （DAI）, the numerical difference of epitope-MHC I affinities between the mutated and un-mutated sequences is a significant predictor. A similar bioinformatics pipeline has been developed to generate personalized vaccines to treat human ovarian cancer in a Phase I clinical trial.

Analysis of Allele Specific Expression——A Survey

Allele specific expression is essential for cellular programming and development and the diversity of cellular phenotypes. Traditional analysis methods utilize RNA and depend on single nucleotide polymorphisms,thus to suffer from limited amount of materials for analysis. The rapid development of next-generation sequencing technologies provides more comprehensive and powerful approaches to analyze the genomic, epigenetic, and transcriptomic data, and further to detect and measure allele specific expressions. It will potentially enhance the understanding of the allele specific expressions, their complexities, and the effect on biological processes. In this paper, we extensively review the state-of-art enabling technologies and tools to analyze, detect, and measure allele specific expressions, compare their features, and point out the future trend of the methods.