Preclinical Models of Brain Metastasis

Research at the Brain Metastasis Group is supported by MINECO grants MINECO-Retos SAF2017-89643-R (M.V.), Bristol-Myers Squibb- Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award 2017 (498103) (M.V.), Beug Foundation’s Prize for Metastasis Research 2017 (M.V.), Fundación Ramón Areces (CIVP19S8163) (M.V.), Worldwide Cancer Research (19-0177) (M.V.), H2020-FETOPEN (828972)N

A user's guide to the Encyclopedia of DNA elements (ENCODE)

The mission of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project is to enable the scientific and medical communities to interpret the human genome sequence and apply it to understand human biology and improve health. The ENCODE Consortium is integrating multiple technologies and approaches in a collective effort to discover and define the functional elements encoded in the human genome, including genes, transcripts, and transcriptional regulatory regions, together with their attendant chromatin states and DNA methylation patterns. In the process, standards to ensure high-quality data have been implemented, and novel algorithms have been developed to facilitate analysis. Data and derived results are made available through a freely accessible database. Here we provide an overview of the project and the resources it is generating and illustrate the application of ENCODE data to interpret the human genome

Fetomaternal alloimmunity as a cause of liver disease

Fetomaternal alloimmune disease has traditionally been associated with haematological disease such as fetomaternal alloimmune thrombocytopaenia and Rh haemolytic anaemia, but is now known to also be organ specific. Alloimmune membranous glomerulonephritis (AMG) is one of the most well understood organ-specific alloimmune diseases. Neonatal haemochromatosis (NH) is a rare condition characterised by early liver failure in infants, with evidence suggesting that it is also alloimmune. Both AMG and NH appear to involve the passive transfer of alloantibodies to the fetus, which bind a specific alloantigen, fix complement and activate the terminal complement cascade. Although differences between AMG and NH are known, and evidence of the presence of antigen-specific alloantibodies in NH is still missing, we will use AMG as an example of fetomaternal organ specific alloimmune disease, and critically compare this to other emerging evidence that indicates that NH is also alloimmune. © 2011 Springer-Verlag