108 research outputs found

    Evidence that an APOE Δ4 'double whammy' increases risk for Alzheimer's disease

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    Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is associated with some of the same neuropathological features as those reported for early stages of typical Alzheimer's disease (AD). The APOE Δ4 allele is associated with a gene-dose-dependent increase in AD risk and in the severity of amyloid-ÎČ (AÎČ) pathology. In a study published in the current BMC Medicine, Sue Griffin and colleagues studied markers of brain resilience in the amputated temporal lobes of TLE patients. They discovered compelling evidence that the APOE Δ3 isoform in TLE patients is apparently more neuroprotective from AÎČ toxicity than is the APOE Δ4 isoform, as shown by the reduced levels of neuronal damage, glial activation, and expression of IL-1α in the APOE Δ3/Δ3 brains. This result points to a new property of APOE isoforms: not only are APOE Δ4 alleles associated with increased brain amyloid plaque burden, but these alleles are also apparently inferior to APOE Δ3 alleles in conveying resistance to AÎČ neurotoxicity. This 'double whammy' result opens up a new direction for studies aimed at elucidating the relevant neurobiological activities of APOE isoforms in the pathogenesis of AD

    Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

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    Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

    Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

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    Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

    Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

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    This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

    Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

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    Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment

    Curcumin Promotes A-beta Fibrillation and Reduces Neurotoxicity in Transgenic Drosophila

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    The pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of extracellular deposits of misfolded and aggregated amyloid-ÎČ (AÎČ) peptide and intraneuronal accumulation of tangles comprised of hyperphosphorylated Tau protein. For several years, the natural compound curcumin has been proposed to be a candidate for enhanced clearance of toxic AÎČ amyloid. In this study we have studied the potency of feeding curcumin as a drug candidate to alleviate AÎČ toxicity in transgenic Drosophila. The longevity as well as the locomotor activity of five different AD model genotypes, measured relative to a control line, showed up to 75% improved lifespan and activity for curcumin fed flies. In contrast to the majority of studies of curcumin effects on amyloid we did not observe any decrease in the amount of AÎČ deposition following curcumin treatment. Conformation-dependent spectra from p-FTAA, a luminescent conjugated oligothiophene bound to AÎČ deposits in different Drosophila genotypes over time, indicated accelerated pre-fibrillar to fibril conversion of AÎČ1–42 in curcumin treated flies. This finding was supported by in vitro fibrillation assays of recombinant AÎČ1–42. Our study shows that curcumin promotes amyloid fibril conversion by reducing the pre-fibrillar/oligomeric species of AÎČ, resulting in a reduced neurotoxicity in Drosophila

    Integrated Genomic Analysis of the Ubiquitin Pathway across Cancer Types

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    Protein ubiquitination is a dynamic and reversibleprocess of adding single ubiquitin molecules orvarious ubiquitin chains to target proteins. Here,using multidimensional omic data of 9,125 tumorsamples across 33 cancer types from The CancerGenome Atlas, we perform comprehensive molecu-lar characterization of 929 ubiquitin-related genesand 95 deubiquitinase genes. Among them, we sys-tematically identify top somatic driver candidates,including mutatedFBXW7with cancer-type-specificpatterns and amplifiedMDM2showing a mutuallyexclusive pattern withBRAFmutations. Ubiquitinpathway genes tend to be upregulated in cancermediated by diverse mechanisms. By integratingpan-cancer multiomic data, we identify a group oftumor samples that exhibit worse prognosis. Thesesamples are consistently associated with the upre-gulation of cell-cycle and DNA repair pathways, char-acterized by mutatedTP53,MYC/TERTamplifica-tion, andAPC/PTENdeletion. Our analysishighlights the importance of the ubiquitin pathwayin cancer development and lays a foundation fordeveloping relevant therapeutic strategies

    The Cancer Genome Atlas Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Renal Cell Carcinoma

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