A meiotic XPF-ERCC1-like complex recognizes joint molecule recombination intermediates to promote crossover formation

Meiotic crossover formation requires the stabilization of early recombination intermediates by a set of proteins and occurs within the environment of the chromosome axis, a structure important for the regulation of meiotic recombination events. The molecular mechanisms underlying and connecting crossover recombination and axis localization are elusive. Here, we identified the ZZS (Zip2–Zip4–Spo16) complex, required for crossover formation, which carries two distinct activities: one provided by Zip4, which acts as hub through physical interactions with components of the chromosome axis and the crossover machinery, and the other carried by Zip2 and Spo16, which preferentially bind branched DNA molecules in vitro. We found that Zip2 and Spo16 share structural similarities to the structure-specific XPF–ERCC1 nuclease, although it lacks endonuclease activity. The XPF domain of Zip2 is required for crossover formation, suggesting that, together with Spo16, it has a noncatalytic DNA recognition function. Our results suggest that the ZZS complex shepherds recombination intermediates toward crossovers as a dynamic structural module that connects recombination events to the chromosome axis. The identification of the ZZS complex improves our understanding of the various activities required for crossover implementation and is likely applicable to other organisms, including mammals

Increased Phosphorylation of Vimentin in Noninfiltrative Meningiomas

International audienceBACKGROUND: Tissue invasion or tissue infiltration are clinical behaviors of a poor-prognosis subset of meningiomas. We carried out proteomic analyses of tissue extracts to discover new markers to accurately distinguish between infiltrative and noninfiltrative meningiomas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Protein lysates of 64 different tissue samples (including two brain-invasive and 32 infiltrative tumors) were submitted to SELDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis. Mass profiles were used to build up both unsupervised and supervised hierarchical clustering. One marker was found at high levels in noninvasive and noninfiltrative tumors and appeared to be a discriminative marker for clustering infiltrative and/or invasive meningiomas versus noninvasive meningiomas in two distinct subsets. Sensitivity and specificity were 86.7% and 100%, respectively. This marker was purified and identified as a multiphosphorylated form of vimentin, a cytoskeletal protein expressed in meningiomas. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Specific forms of vimentin can be surrogate molecular indicators of the invasive/infiltrative phenotype in tumors

Internet Use by Older Adults with Bipolar Disorder: International Survey Results

Background: The world population is aging and the number of older adults with bipolar disorder is increasing. Digital technologies are viewed as a framework to improve care of older adults with bipolar disorder. This analysis quantifies Internet use by older adults with bipolar disorder as part of a larger survey project about information seeking. Methods: A paper-based survey about information seeking by patients with bipolar disorder was developed and translated into 12 languages. The survey was anonymous and completed between March 2014 and January 2016 by 1222 patients in 17 countries. All patients were diagnosed by a psychiatrist. General estimating equations were used to account for correlated data. Results: Overall, 47% of older adults (age 60 years or older) used the Internet versus 87% of younger adults (less than 60 years). More education and having symptoms that interfered with regular activities increased the odds of using the Internet, while being age 60 years or older decreased the odds. Data from 187 older adults and 1021 younger adults were included in the analysis excluding missing values. Conclusions: Older adults with bipolar disorder use the Internet much less frequently than younger adults. Many older adults do not use the Internet, and technology tools are suitable for some but not all older adults. As more health services are only available online, and more digital tools are developed, there is concern about growing health disparities based on age. Mental health experts should participate in determining the appropriate role for digital tools for older adults with bipolar disorder

MicroRNA and Target Protein Patterns Reveal Physiopathological Features of Glioma Subtypes

Gliomas such as oligodendrogliomas (ODG) and glioblastomas (GBM) are brain tumours with different clinical outcomes. Histology-based classification of these tumour types is often difficult. Therefore the first aim of this study was to gain microRNA data that can be used as reliable signatures of oligodendrogliomas and glioblastomas. We investigated the levels of 282 microRNAs using membrane-array hybridisation and real-time PCR in ODG, GBM and control brain tissues. In comparison to these control tissues, 26 deregulated microRNAs were identified in tumours and the tissue levels of seven microRNAs (miR-21, miR-128, miR-132, miR-134, miR-155, miR-210 and miR-409-5p) appropriately discriminated oligodendrogliomas from glioblastomas. Genomic, epigenomic and host gene expression studies were conducted to investigate the mechanisms involved in these deregulations. Another aim of this study was to better understand glioma physiopathology looking for targets of deregulated microRNAs. We discovered that some targets of these microRNAs such as STAT3, PTBP1 or SIRT1 are differentially expressed in gliomas consistent with deregulation of microRNA expression. Moreover, MDH1, the target of several deregulated microRNAs, is repressed in glioblastomas, making an intramitochondrial-NAD reduction mediated by the mitochondrial aspartate-malate shuttle unlikely. Understanding the connections between microRNAs and bioenergetic pathways in gliomas may lead to identification of novel therapeutic targets

Dyslexia in SNS: an Exploratory Study to Investigate Expressions of Identity and Multimodal Literacies

The paradigm of neurodiversity provides a theoretical scaffold to challenge the idea of dyslexia as a deficit, by considering how difficulties related to literacy may reflect possible cognitive strengths and opportunities for learning. In this paper we adopt this perspective which associates dyslexia with strengths in visual, oral and three-dimensional thinking. Our goal is to understand if and how the multimodal affordances of SNS mediate participation and new literacies for dyslexic youth, and how these affordances interact with identity work. Seven young people struggling with literacy were interviewed about their use of SNS. Our results show that the visual affordances of SNS enable new forms of participation and expression, furthering our understanding of visual literacies. Nonetheless, despite the pervasive use of visual affordances to perform identity work, we also find that young people's learning differences are not always obviated but re-constructed, or even confronted in SNS

Progesterone receptor gene polymorphisms and risk of endometriosis: results from an international collaborative effort

Objective To investigate the association between self-reported endometriosis and the putative functional promoter +331C/T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and the PROGINS allele. Design Control subjects from ovarian cancer case-control studies participating in the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. The majority of controls are drawn from population-based studies. Setting An international ovarian cancer consortium including studies from the Australia, Europe and the United States, Patients 5,812 White female controls, of whom 348 had endometriosis, from eight ovarian cancer case-control studies. Interventions None. Main Outcome Measures Genotypes for the +331C/T SNP and PROGINS allele and a history of endometriosis. Results The occurrence of endometriosis was reduced in women carrying one or more copies of the +331 T allele (OR=0.65; 95% CI: 0.43–0.98, p=0.042), whereas there was no association between the PROGINS allele and endometriosis (OR=0.94, 95% CI 0.76, 1.16). Conclusions Additional studies of the +331C/T variant are warranted given the current finding and the equivocal results of previous studies. The +331 T allele has been shown to result in a reduced PR-A to PR-B ratio and if the observed association with endometriosis is confirmed it would suggest that this ratio is important for this disease

Associations of common breast cancer susceptibility alleles with risk of breast cancer subtypes in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

Introduction: More than 70 common alleles are known to be involved in breast cancer (BC) susceptibility, and several exhibit significant heterogeneity in their associations with different BC subtypes. Although there are differences in the association patterns between BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and the general population for several loci, no study has comprehensively evaluated the associations of all known BC susceptibility alleles with risk of BC subtypes in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. Methods: We used data from 15,252 BRCA1 and 8,211 BRCA2 carriers to analyze the associations between approximately 200,000 genetic variants on the iCOGS array and risk of BC subtypes defined by estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and triple-negative- (TN) status; morphologic subtypes; histological grade; and nodal involvement. Results: The estimated BC hazard ratios (HRs) for the 74 known BC alleles in BRCA1 carriers exhibited moderate correlations with the corresponding odds ratios from the general population. However, their associations with ER-positive BC in BRCA1 carriers were more consistent with the ER-positive as

Genome-wide association study identifies 32 novel breast cancer susceptibility loci from overall and subtype-specific analyses.

Breast cancer susceptibility variants frequently show heterogeneity in associations by tumor subtype1-3. To identify novel loci, we performed a genome-wide association study including 133,384 breast cancer cases and 113,789 controls, plus 18,908 BRCA1 mutation carriers (9,414 with breast cancer) of European ancestry, using both standard and novel methodologies that account for underlying tumor heterogeneity by estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status and tumor grade. We identified 32 novel susceptibility loci (P < 5.0 × 10-8), 15 of which showed evidence for associations with at least one tumor feature (false discovery rate < 0.05). Five loci showed associations (P < 0.05) in opposite directions between luminal and non-luminal subtypes. In silico analyses showed that these five loci contained cell-specific enhancers that differed between normal luminal and basal mammary cells. The genetic correlations between five intrinsic-like subtypes ranged from 0.35 to 0.80. The proportion of genome-wide chip heritability explained by all known susceptibility loci was 54.2% for luminal A-like disease and 37.6% for triple-negative disease. The odds ratios of polygenic risk scores, which included 330 variants, for the highest 1% of quantiles compared with middle quantiles were 5.63 and 3.02 for luminal A-like and triple-negative disease, respectively. These findings provide an improved understanding of genetic predisposition to breast cancer subtypes and will inform the development of subtype-specific polygenic risk scores

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk