Testing the metal of ERCC2 in predicting the response to platinum-based therapy

DNA repair has been shown to affect the cellular response to platinum-based therapy in a variety of cancers; however, translating this knowledge to the clinic has proven difficult and yielded mixed results. In this issue of Cancer Discovery, Van Allen and colleagues have analyzed responders and nonresponders to neoadjuvant platinum-based therapy with locally advanced urothelial cancer and identified a series of mutations in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) gene ERCC2 that correlate with the response to platinum-based therapy. This work provides evidence that defects in NER can be exploited to maximize the efficacy of conventional platinum-based chemotherapy

Phencyclidine-like catalepsy induced by the excitatory amino acid antagonist DL-2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate

This study presents experimental evidence for the mediation of a behavioral effect of phencyclidine-like drugs by inhibition of neurotransmission at excitatory synapses utilizing N-methyl-aspartate (NMA) receptors by showing that -2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate, a selective NMA antagonist, produces phencyclidine-like catalepsy in pigeons. This finding suggests the possibility that other behavioral actions of phencyclidine-like substances may be mediated in a similar fashion.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26248/1/0000328.pd

Excitatory amino acid antagonists induce a phencyclidine-like catalepsy in pigeons: Structure-activity studies

The excitatory amino acid antagonists -2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (-AP5), its isomers -(-)-AP5 and -(+)-AP5, -2-amino-4-phosphonobutyrate (AP4), -2-amino-7-phosphonoheptanoate (AP7), [beta]--aspartylaminomethylphosphonic acid (ASP-AMP), cis-2,3-piperidinedi-carboxylic acid (cis-PDA), and [gamma]--glutamylaminomethylsulphonic acid (GAMS) were tested for their ability to produce a phencyclidine (PCP)-like catalepsy in pigeons when administered intracerebro-ventricularly. Each of the antagonists produced catalepsy, although -AP5, and the non-selective antagonists GAMS and cis-PDA, produced the effect only at toxic doses. The rank order of potency to produce catalepsy was AP7 > -AP5 > -AP5 > cis-pda > ASP-AMP > AP4 > -AP5 > GAMS; there was a strong positive correlation between this rank order of potency vivo and the potency order of these compounds in vitro as NMDA antagonists. The antagonists did not displace significant amounts of [3H]N[1-(2-thienyl)cyclohexyl]piperidine (a congener of phencyclidine) from its recognition site in the brain of pigeon. Thus, the PCP-like catalepsy that is produced by the excitatory neurotransmission at NMDA-preferring receptors that are distinct from, but related to, PCP receptors. The results strongly support the hypothesis that a reduction of neurotransmission at excitatory synapses, utilizing NMDA-preferring receptors, may underlie catalepsy in pigeons induced by PCP.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26604/1/0000145.pd

A Single-Step Sequencing Method for the Identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Species

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) comprises several closely related species responsible for strictly human and zoonotic tuberculosis. Some of the species are restricted to Africa and were responsible for the high prevalence of tuberculosis. However, their identification at species level is difficult and expansive. Accurate species identification of all members is warranted in order to distinguish between strict human and zoonotic tuberculosis, to trace source exposure during epidemiological studies, and for the appropriate treatment of patients. In this paper, the Exact Tandem Repeat D (ETR-D) intergenic region was investigated in order to distinguish MTC species. The ETR-D sequencing unambiguously identified MTC species type strain except M. pinnipedii and M. microti, and the results agreed with phenotypic and molecular identification. This finding offers a new tool for the rapid and accurate identification of MTC species in a single sequencing reaction, replacing the current time-consuming polyphasic approach. Its use could assist public health interventions and aid in the control of zoonotic transmission in African countries, and could be of particular interest with the current emergence of multidrug-resistant and extended-resistance isolates

Genome-wide association for major depression through age at onset stratification:Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disabling mood disorder and, despite a known heritable component, a large meta-analysis of GWAS revealed no replicable genetic risk variants. Given prior evidence of heterogeneity by age-at-onset (AAO) in MDD, we tested whether genome-wide significant risk variants for MDD could be identified in cases subdivided by AAO. Method Discovery case-control GWASs were performed where cases were stratified using increasing/decreasing AAO-cutoffs; significant SNPs were tested in nine independent replication samples, giving a total sample of 22,158 cases and 133,749 controls for sub-setting. Polygenic score analysis was used to examine if differences in shared genetic risk exists between earlier and adult onset MDD with commonly co-morbid disorders of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and coronary artery disease. Results We identify one replicated genome-wide significant locus associated with adult-onset (>27 years) MDD (rs7647854, OR=1.16, 95%CI=1.11-1.21, p=5.2x10-11). Using polygenic score analyses, we show that earlier-onset MDD is genetically more similar to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder than adult-onset. Conclusions We demonstrate that using additional phenotype data previously collected by genetic studies to tackle phenotypic heterogeneity in MDD can successfully lead to the discovery of genetic risk factor despite reduced sample size. Furthermore, our results suggest that the genetic susceptibility to MDD differs between adult- and earlier-onset MDD, with earlier-onset cases having a greater genetic overlap with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

A genome-wide association study of anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex and heritable eating disorder characterized by dangerously low body weight. Neither candidate gene studies nor an initial genome-wide association study (GWAS) have yielded significant and replicated results. We performed a GWAS in 2907 cases with AN from 14 countries (15 sites) and 14 860 ancestrally matched controls as part of the Genetic Consortium for AN (GCAN) and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 3 (WTCCC3). Individual association analyses were conducted in each stratum and meta-analyzed across all 15 discovery data sets. Seventy-six (72 independent) single nucleotide polymorphisms were taken forward for in silico (two data sets) or de novo (13 data sets) replication genotyping in 2677 independent AN cases and 8629 European ancestry controls along with 458 AN cases and 421 controls from Japan. The final global meta-analysis across discovery and replication data sets comprised 5551 AN cases and 21 080 controls. AN subtype analyses (1606 AN restricting; 1445 AN binge-purge) were performed. No findings reached genome-wide significance. Two intronic variants were suggestively associated: rs9839776 (P=3.01 × 10(-7)) in SOX2OT and rs17030795 (P=5.84 × 10(-6)) in PPP3CA. Two additional signals were specific to Europeans: rs1523921 (P=5.76 × 10(-)(6)) between CUL3 and FAM124B and rs1886797 (P=8.05 × 10(-)(6)) near SPATA13. Comparing discovery with replication results, 76% of the effects were in the same direction, an observation highly unlikely to be due to chance (P=4 × 10(-6)), strongly suggesting that true findings exist but our sample, the largest yet reported, was underpowered for their detection. The accrual of large genotyped AN case-control samples should be an immediate priority for the field

Shattered pellet injection experiments at JET in support of the ITER disruption mitigation system design

A series of experiments have been executed at JET to assess the efficacy of the newly installed shattered pellet injection (SPI) system in mitigating the effects of disruptions. Issues, important for the ITER disruption mitigation system, such as thermal load mitigation, avoidance of runaway electron (RE) formation, radiation asymmetries during thermal quench mitigation, electromagnetic load control and RE energy dissipation have been addressed over a large parameter range. The efficiency of the mitigation has been examined for the various SPI injection strategies. The paper summarises the results from these JET SPI experiments and discusses their implications for the ITER disruption mitigation scheme