Gene expression signatures in childhood acute leukemias are largely unique and distinct from those of normal tissues and other malignancies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Childhood leukemia is characterized by the presence of balanced chromosomal translocations or by other structural or numerical chromosomal changes. It is well know that leukemias with specific molecular abnormalities display profoundly different global gene expression profiles. However, it is largely unknown whether such subtype-specific leukemic signatures are unique or if they are active also in non-hematopoietic normal tissues or in other human cancer types.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using gene set enrichment analysis, we systematically explored whether the transcriptional programs in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and myeloid leukemia (AML) were significantly similar to those in different flow-sorted subpopulations of normal hematopoietic cells (n = 8), normal non-hematopoietic tissues (n = 22) or human cancer tissues (n = 13).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study revealed that e.g., the t(12;21) [<it>ETV6-RUNX1</it>] subtype of ALL and the t(15;17) [<it>PML-RARA</it>] subtype of AML had transcriptional programs similar to those in normal Pro-B cells and promyelocytes, respectively. Moreover, the 11q23/<it>MLL </it>subtype of ALL showed similarities with non-hematopoietic tissues. Strikingly however, most of the transcriptional programs in the other leukemic subtypes lacked significant similarity to ~100 gene sets derived from normal and malignant tissues.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study demonstrates, for the first time, that the expression profiles of childhood leukemia are largely unique, with limited similarities to transcriptional programs active in normal hematopoietic cells, non-hematopoietic normal tissues or the most common forms of human cancer. In addition to providing important pathogenetic insights, these findings should facilitate the identification of candidate genes or transcriptional programs that can be used as unique targets in leukemia.</p

Enhanced Zika virus susceptibility of globally invasive Aedes aegypti populations

The drivers and patterns of zoonotic virus emergence in the human population are poorly understood. The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a major arbovirus vector native to Africa that invaded most of the world’s tropical belt over the past four centuries, after the evolution of a “domestic” form that specialized in biting humans and breeding in water storage containers. Here, we show that human specialization and subsequent spread of A. aegypti out of Africa were accompanied by an increase in its intrinsic ability to acquire and transmit the emerging human pathogen Zika virus. Thus, the recent evolution and global expansion of A. aegypti promoted arbovirus emergence not solely through increased vector–host contact but also as a result of enhanced vector susceptibility

Cross-Cultural Psychogerontology

Population aging is a phenomenon that affects most parts of the world. According to recent data from the World Population Prospects (United Nations 2017), the number of older persons – those aged 60+ – has reached 962 million worldwide and is expected to climb to 2.1 billion in 2050. In spite of these general world trends, life expectancies differ still largely, and aging remains a highly diverse experience across the world. While universal developmental tasks are markers for older age in all societies (e.g., becoming a grandparent), expectations with regard to typical life trajectories and the timing of transitions vary. This “social clock” (Neugarten et al. 1965) or “cultural chrononormativity of aging” (Brinkmann and Musaeus 2018) is also expressed in legal regulations and policies (e.g., availability and timing of retirement schemes). Normative and nonnormative life events and their interpretation as on time or off-time might thus be defined very differently depending on the cultural (and historical) context (see also Baltes et al. 1980; Wrosch and Heckhausen 2005). This leads to one of the central questions of cross-cultural aging research: Are aging processes universals across cultures and societies in the Western, Eastern, Northern, and Southern parts of the world – or do aging processes differ between cultures and societies

Enhanced Zika virus susceptibility of globally invasive Aedes aegypti populations

The worldwide variation of Aedes aegypti susceptibility to ZIKV infection was investigated using a panel of 14 laboratory colonies recently established from field-collected specimens