An accessible GenePattern notebook for the copy number variation analysis of Illumina Infinium DNA methylation arrays [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Illumina Infinium DNA methylation arrays are a cost-effective technology to measure DNA methylation at CpG sites genome-wide and across cohorts of normal and cancer samples. While copy number alterations are commonly inferred from array-CGH, SNP arrays, or whole-genome DNA sequencing, Illumina Infinium DNA methylation arrays have been shown to detect copy number alterations at comparable sensitivity. Here we present an accessible, interactive GenePattern notebook for the analysis of copy number variation using Illumina Infinium DNA methylation arrays. The notebook provides a graphical user interface to a workflow using the R/Bioconductor packages minfi and conumee. The environment allows analysis to be performed without the installation of the R software environment, the packages and dependencies, and without the need to write or manipulate code

Proteomics, Post-translational Modifications, and Integrative Analyses Reveal Molecular Heterogeneity within Medulloblastoma Subgroups

There is a pressing need to identify therapeutic targets in tumors with low mutation rates such as the malignant pediatric brain tumor medulloblastoma. To address this challenge, we quantitatively profiled global proteomes and phospho-proteomes of 45 medulloblastoma samples. Integrated analyses revealed that tumors with similar RNA expression vary extensively at the post-transcriptional and post-translational levels. We identified distinct pathways associated with two subsets of SHH tumors, and found post-translational modifications of MYC that are associated with poor outcomes in group 3 tumors. We found kinases associated with subtypes and showed that inhibiting PRKDC sensitizes MYC-driven cells to radiation. Our study shows that proteomics enables a more comprehensive, functional readout, providing a foundation for future therapeutic strategies