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Supplementary Figure 1 Legend from Effects of Tobacco Smoke on Gene Expression and Cellular Pathways in a Cellular Model of Oral Leukoplakia

Supplementary Tables 1-7

PDF file - 58K, Table of antibodies used in the study.

Perspective on this Article from Effects of Cigarette Smoke on the Human Oral Mucosal Transcriptome

Use of tobacco is responsible for ∼30% of all cancer-related deaths in the United States, including cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract. In the current study, 40 current and 40 age- and gender-matched never smokers underwent buccal biopsies to evaluate the effects of smoking on the transcriptome. Microarray analyses were carried out using Affymetrix HGU133 Plus 2 arrays. Smoking altered the expression of numerous genes: 32 genes showed increased expression and 9 genes showed reduced expression in the oral mucosa of smokers versus never smokers. Increases were found in genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, oxidant stress, eicosanoid synthesis, nicotine signaling, and cell adhesion. Increased numbers of Langerhans cells were found in the oral mucosa of smokers. Interestingly, smoking caused greater induction of aldo-keto reductases, enzymes linked to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon–induced genotoxicity, in the oral mucosa of women than men. Striking similarities in expression changes were found in oral compared with the bronchial mucosa. The observed changes in gene expression were compared with known chemical signatures using the Connectivity Map database and suggested that geldanamycin, a heat shock protein 90 inhibitor, might be an antimimetic of tobacco smoke. Consistent with this prediction, geldanamycin caused dose-dependent suppression of tobacco smoke extract–mediated induction of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 in vitro. Collectively, these results provide new insights into the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoke, support the potential use of oral epithelium as a surrogate tissue in future lung cancer chemoprevention trials, and illustrate the potential of computational biology to identify chemopreventive agents. Cancer Prev Res; 3(3); 266–78

Supplementary Figure 1 from Effects of Tobacco Smoke on Gene Expression and Cellular Pathways in a Cellular Model of Oral Leukoplakia

PDF file - 83K, Table 1-list of miRs tested for Figure 1G. Table 2 shows scores for distribution of the permuted test statistic of miR-23a and miR-27a in dataset GSE14333.

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Figure S1

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We investigated a Spanish and Catalan family in which multiple cancer types tracked across three generations, but for which no genetic etiology had been identified. Whole-exome sequencing of germline DNA from multiple affected family members was performed to identify candidate variants to explain this occurrence of familial cancer. We discovered in all cancer-affected family members a single rare heterozygous germline variant (I654V, rs1801201) in ERBB2/HER2, which is located in a transmembrane glycine zipper motif critical for ERBB2-mediated signaling and in complete linkage disequilibrium (D' = 1) with a common polymorphism (I655V, rs1136201) previously reported in some populations as associated with cancer risk. Because multiple cancer types occurred in this family, we tested both the I654V and the I655V variants for association with cancer across multiple tumor types in 6,371 cases of Northern European ancestry drawn from The Cancer Genome Atlas and 6,647 controls, and found that the rare variant (I654V) was significantly associated with an increased risk for cancer (OR = 1.40; P = 0.021; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05–1.89). Functional assays performed in HEK 293T cells revealed that both the I655V single mutant (SM) and the I654V;I655V double mutant (DM) stabilized ERBB2 protein and activated ERBB2 signaling, with the DM activating ERBB2 significantly more than the SM alone. Thus, our results suggest a model whereby heritable genetic variation in the transmembrane domain activating ERBB2 signaling is associated with both sporadic and familial cancer risk, with increased ERBB2 stabilization and activation associated with increased cancer risk.Prevention Relevance:By performing whole-exome sequencing on germline DNA from multiple cancer-affected individuals belonging to a family in which multiple cancer types track across three generations, we identified and then characterized functional common and rare variation in ERBB2 associated with both sporadic and familial cancer. Our results suggest that heritable variation activating ERBB2 signaling is associated with risk for multiple cancer types, with increases in signaling correlated with increases in risk, and modified by ancestry or family history.

Perspective from Effects of Tobacco Smoke on Gene Expression and Cellular Pathways in a Cellular Model of Oral Leukoplakia

Supplementary Methods, Tables 1-5 from Effects of Cigarette Smoke on the Human Oral Mucosal Transcriptome

Background: The genetic factors that modulate risk for developing lung cancer have not been fully defined. Here, we sought to determine the prevalence and clinical significance of germline pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants (PV) in patients with advanced lung cancer. Methods: We studied clinical and tumor characteristics of germline PV in 5,118 patients who underwent prospective genomic profiling using paired tumor–normal tissue samples in 468 cancer genes. Results: Germline PV in high/moderate-penetrance genes were observed in 222 (4.3%) patients; of these, 193 patients had PV in DNA damage repair (DDR) pathway genes including BRCA2 (n = 54), CHEK2 (n = 30), and ATM (n = 26) that showed high rate of biallelic inactivation in tumors. BRCA2 heterozygotes with lung adenocarcinoma were more likely to be never smokers and had improved survival compared with noncarriers. Fourteen patients with germline PV in lung cancer predisposing genes (TP53, EGFR, BAP1, and MEN1) were diagnosed at younger age compared with noncarriers, and of tumor suppressors, 75% demonstrated biallelic inactivation in tumors. A significantly higher proportion of germline PV in high/moderate-penetrance genes were detected in high-risk patients who had either a family history of any cancer, multiple primary tumors, or early age at diagnosis compared with unselected patients (10.5% vs. 4.1%; P = 1.7e−04). Conclusions: These data underscore the biological and clinical importance of germline mutations in highly penetrant DDR genes as a risk factor for lung cancer. Impact: The family members of lung cancer patients harboring PV in cancer predisposing genes should be referred for genetic counseling and may benefit from proactive surveillance.

Supplementary Figures and Tables

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) induces tumor cell-specific apoptosis, making it a prime therapeutic candidate. However, many tumor cells are either innately TRAIL-resistant, or they acquire resistance with adaptive mechanisms that remain poorly understood. In this study, we generated acquired TRAIL resistance models using multiple glioblastoma (GBM) cell lines to assess the molecular alterations in the TRAIL-resistant state. We selected TRAIL-resistant cells through chronic and long-term TRAIL exposure and noted that they showed persistent resistance both in vitro and in vivo. Among known TRAIL-sensitizers, proteosome inhibitor Bortezomib, but not HDAC inhibitor MS-275, was effective in overcoming resistance in all cell models. This was partly achieved through upregulating death receptors and pro-apoptotic proteins, and downregulating major anti-apoptotic members, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. We showed that CRISPR/Cas9 mediated silencing of DR5 could block Bortezomib-mediated re-sensitization, demonstrating its critical role. While overexpression of Bcl-2 or Bcl-xL was sufficient to confer resistance to TRAIL-sensitive cells, it failed to override Bortezomib-mediated re-sensitization. With RNA sequencing in multiple paired TRAIL-sensitive and TRAIL-resistant cells, we identified major alterations in inflammatory signaling, particularly in the NF-κB pathway. Inhibiting NF-κB substantially sensitized the most resistant cells to TRAIL, however, the sensitization effect was not as great as what was observed with Bortezomib. Together, our findings provide new models of acquired TRAIL resistance, which will provide essential tools to gain further insight into the heterogeneous therapy responses within GBM tumors. Additionally, these findings emphasize the critical importance of combining proteasome inhibitors and pro-apoptotic ligands to overcome acquired resistance.

We review research regarding the epidemiology, risk factors, genetic susceptibility, molecular pathology, and early detection of SCLC, a deadly tumor that accounts for 14% of lung cancers. We first summarize the changing incidences of SCLC globally and in the United States among males and females. We then review the established risk factor (i.e., tobacco smoking) and suspected nonsmoking-related risk factors for SCLC, and emphasize the importance of continued effort in tobacco control worldwide. Review of genetic susceptibility and molecular pathology suggests different molecular pathways in SCLC development compared with other types of lung cancer. Last, we comment on the limited utility of low-dose computed tomography screening in SCLC and on several promising blood-based molecular biomarkers as potential tools in SCLC early detection.

Background: A previous genome-wide association study identified several loci with genetic variants associated with prostate cancer survival time in two cohorts from Sweden. Whether these variants have an effect in other populations or if their effect is homogenous across the course of disease is unknown. Methods: These variants were genotyped in a cohort of 1,298 patients. Samples were linked with age, PSA level, Gleason score, cancer stage at surgery, and times from surgery to biochemical recurrence to death from prostate cancer. SNPs rs2702185 and rs73055188 were tested for association with prostate cancer–specific survival time using a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model. SNP rs2702185 was further tested for association with time to biochemical recurrence and time from biochemical recurrence to death with a multi-state model. Results: SNP rs2702185 at SMG7 was associated with prostate cancer–specific survival time, specifically the time from biochemical recurrence to prostate cancer death (HR, 2.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.4–4.5; P = 0.0014). Nine variants were in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with rs2702185; one, rs10737246, was found to be most likely to be functional based on LD patterns and overlap with open chromatin. Patterns of open chromatin and correlation with gene expression suggest that this SNP may affect expression of SMG7 in T cells. Conclusions: The SNP rs2702185 at the SMG7 locus is associated with time from biochemical recurrence to prostate cancer death, and its LD partner rs10737246 is predicted to be functional. Impact: These results suggest that future association studies of prostate cancer survival should consider various intervals over the course of disease.

To realize the goals of precision medicine in complex disease, discriminative clinical risk models are needed. One approach that has been proposed is polygenic risk scores (PRSs). PRSs incorporate information about inherited genetic risk for cancer, specifically those genetic variants that are common in the population. While PRSs are clearly associated with risk of cancer, there is an on-going debate on whether integrating PRSs into clinical practice have utility. Here, we present this important discussion to the cancer clinic. We argue that in cancer, the clinical utility of PRSs will depend on their actionability, or how such a score may guide clinical practice. In turn, the actionability depends on several factors. First, actionability depends on the discriminative power of the score, or how well it predicts who is at risk of the disease. Second, it depends on their comparative performance with respect to existing practice, as a score with good discriminative power will not be useful if there are better predictors used in the clinic. Finally, for a PRS to be useful there must also be available preventive actions. We discuss the strengths and challenges of utilizing a PRS in the context of each of these criteria, and provide insights on what is needed towards moving forward in translating PRSs into the cancer clinic. We further argue that in future studies, beyond predicting cancer risk, similarly developed PRS models may be of utility in predicting prognosis or treatment resistance.

Humans vary considerably both in their baseline and activated immune phenotypes. We developed a user-friendly open-access web portal, ImmuneRegulation, that enables users to interactively explore immune regulatory elements that drive cell-type or cohort-specific gene expression levels. ImmuneRegulation currently provides the largest centrally integrated resource on human transcriptome regulation across whole blood and blood cell types, including (i) ∼43,000 genotyped individuals with associated gene expression data from ∼51,000 experiments, yielding genetic variant-gene expression associations on ∼220 million eQTLs; (ii) 14 million transcription factor (TF)-binding region hits extracted from 1945 ChIP-seq studies; and (iii) the latest GWAS catalog with 67,230 published variant-trait associations. Users can interactively explore associations between queried gene(s) and their regulators (cis-eQTLs, trans-eQTLs or TFs) across multiple cohorts and studies. These regulators may explain genotype-dependent gene expression variations and be critical in selecting the ideal cohorts or cell types for follow-up studies or in developing predictive models. Overall, ImmuneRegulation significantly lowers the barriers between complex immune regulation data and researchers who want rapid, intuitive and high-quality access to the effects of regulatory elements on gene expression in multiple studies to empower investigators in translating these rich data into biological insights and clinical applications, and is freely available at https://immuneregulation.mssm.edu.

Purpose: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with substantially better prognosis in early-stage as opposed to late-stage disease. Identifying genetic factors for lung squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) risk will enable their use in risk stratification, and personalized intensive surveillance, early detection, and prevention strategies for high-risk individuals. Experimental Design: We analyzed whole-exome sequencing datasets of 318 cases and 814 controls (discovery cohort) and then validated our findings in an independent cohort of 444 patients and 3,479 controls (validation cohort), all of European descent. We also combined all the samples from both cohorts, which, after principal component analysis (PCA) and population stratification, included 765 cases and 4,344 controls (combined cohort). We focused on rare, pathogenic variants found in the ClinVar database and used penalized logistic regression to identify genes in which such variants are enriched in cases. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: We observed an overall enrichment of rare, deleterious germline variants in Fanconi anemia genes in cases with SqCC [joint analysis odds ratio (OR) = 3.08; P = 1.4e−09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.2–4.3]. Consistent with previous studies, BRCA2 in particular exhibited an increased overall burden of rare, deleterious variants (joint OR = 3.2; P = 8.7e−08; 95% CI, 2.1–4.7). More importantly, rare, deleterious germline variants were enriched in Fanconi anemia genes even without the BRCA2 rs11571833 variant that is strongly enriched in lung SqCC cases (joint OR = 2.76; P = 7.0e−04; 95% CI, 1.6–4.7). Conclusions: These findings can be used toward the development of a genetic diagnostic test in the clinic to identify SqCC high-risk individuals, who can benefit from personalized programs, improving prognosis.

IntroThe molecular mechanisms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, or Myalgic encephalomyelitis), a disease defined by extreme, long-term fatigue, remain largely uncharacterized, and presently no molecular diagnostic test and no specific treatments exist to diagnose and treat CFS patients. While CFS has historically had an estimated prevalence of 0.1-0.5% [1], concerns of a “long hauler” version of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that symptomatically overlaps CFS to a significant degree(Supplemental Table-1)and appears to occur in 10% of COVID-19 patients[2], has raised concerns of a larger spike in CFS [3]. Here, we established molecular signatures of CFS and a corresponding network-based disease context from RNA-sequencing data generated on whole blood and FACs sorted specific peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from CFS cases and non-CFS controls. The immune cell type specific molecular signatures of CFS we identified, overlapped molecular signatures from other fatiguing illnesses, demonstrating a common molecular etiology. Further, after constructing a probabilistic causal model of the CFS gene expression data, we identified master regulator genes modulating network states associated with CFS, suggesting potential therapeutic targets for CFS.

Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) remains a leading cause of cancer death with few therapeutic options. We characterized the proteogenomic landscape of LSCC, providing a deeper exposition of LSCC biology with potential therapeutic implications. We identify NSD3 as an alternative driver in FGFR1-amplified tumors and low-p63 tumors overexpressing the therapeutic target survivin. SOX2 is considered undruggable, but our analyses provide rationale for exploring chromatin modifiers such as LSD1 and EZH2 to target SOX2-overexpressing tumors. Our data support complex regulation of metabolic pathways by crosstalk between post-translational modifications including ubiquitylation. Numerous immune-related proteogenomic observations suggest directions for further investigation. Proteogenomic dissection of CDKN2A mutations argue for more nuanced assessment of RB1 protein expression and phosphorylation before declaring CDK4/6 inhibition unsuccessful. Finally, triangulation between LSCC, LUAD, and HNSCC identified both unique and common therapeutic vulnerabilities. These observations and proteogenomics data resources may guide research into the biology and treatment of LSCC.

IMPORTANCE Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness with high heritability. While common genetic variants account for a portion of the heritability, identification of rare variants associated with the disorder has proven challenging. OBJECTIVE To identify genes and gene sets associated with schizophrenia in a founder population (Ashkenazi Jewish), and to determine the relative power of this population for rare variant discovery. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Data on exonic variants were extracted from whole genome sequences drawn from 786 patients with schizophrenia and 463 healthy control subjects, all drawn from the Ashkenazi Jewish population. Variants observed in two large publicly available datasets (total n≈153,000, excluding neuropsychiatric patients) were filtered out, and novel ultra-rare variants (URVs) were compared in cases and controls. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The number of novel URVs and genes carrying them were compared across cases and controls. Genes in which only cases or only controls carried novel, functional URVs were examined using gene set analyses. RESULTS Cases had a higher frequency of novel missense or loss of function (MisLoF) variants compared to controls, as well as a greater number of genes impacted by MisLoF variants. Characterizing 141 “case-only” genes (in which ≥ 3 AJ cases in our dataset had MisLoF URVs with none found in our AJ controls), we replicated prior findings of both enrichment for synaptic gene sets, as well as specific genes such as SETD1A and TRIO. Additionally, we identified cadherins as a novel gene set associated with schizophrenia including a recurrent mutation in PCDHA3. Several genes associated with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders including CACNA1E, ASXL3, SETBP1, and WDFY3, were also identified in our case-only gene list, as was TSC2, which is linked to tuberous sclerosis. Modeling the effects of purifying selection demonstrated that deleterious rare variants are greatly over-represented in a founder population with a tight bottleneck and rapidly expanding census, resulting in enhanced power for rare variant association studies. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Identification of cell adhesion genes in the cadherin/protocadherin family is consistent with evidence from large-scale GWAS in schizophrenia, helps specify the synaptic abnormalities that may be central to the disorder, and suggests novel potential treatment strategies (e.g., inhibition of protein kinase C). Study of founder populations may serve as a cost-effective way to rapidly increase gene discovery in schizophrenia and other complex disorders.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected millions of people worldwide, igniting an unprecedented effort from the scientific community to understand the biological underpinning of COVID19 pathophysiology. In this review, we summarize the current state of knowledge of innate and adaptive immune responses elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and the immunological pathways that likely contribute to disease severity and death. We also discuss the rationale and clinical outcome of current therapeutic strategies as well as prospective clinical trials to prevent or treat SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Summary: Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging, mosquito-borne flavivirus responsible for recent epidemics across the Americas, and it is closely related to dengue virus (DENV). Here, we study samples from 46 DENV-naive and 43 DENV-immune patients with RT-PCR-confirmed ZIKV infection at early-acute, late-acute, and convalescent time points from our pediatric cohort study in Nicaragua. We analyze the samples via RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), CyTOF, and multiplex cytokine/chemokine Luminex to generate a comprehensive, innate immune profile during ZIKV infection. Immunophenotyping and analysis of cytokines/chemokines reveal that CD14+ monocytes play a key role during ZIKV infection. Further, we identify CD169 (Siglec-1) on CD14+ monocytes as a potential biomarker of acute ZIKV infection. Strikingly distinct transcriptomic and immunophenotypic signatures are observed at all three time points. Interestingly, pre-existing dengue immunity has minimal impact on the innate immune response to Zika. Finally, this comprehensive immune profiling and network analysis of ZIKV infection in children serves as a valuable resource. : At three time points after Zika virus infection, Michlmayr et al. perform comprehensive immunoprofiling of pediatric cohort samples via RNA-seq, CyTOF, and Luminex cytokine/chemokine array, resulting in distinct temporal patterns of gene expression, cell profiles, and cytokines/chemokines. They show CD14+ monocytes play a central role, identify CD169 as a potential biomarker of acute ZIKV infection along with upregulation of CXCL10, and find no impact of prior dengue virus infection on the innate immune response to Zika. Keywords: Zika virus, monocytes, dengue virus, innate immunity, immune profiling, RNA-seq, CyTOF, network model, biomarker, Luminex

To better understand the molecular basis of cancer, the NCI’s Clinical Proteomics Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) has been performing comprehensive large-scale proteogenomic characterizations of multiple cancer types. Gene/protein regulatory networks has subsequently been derived based on these proteogenomic profiles, which serve as useful tools to gain system-level understanding of the molecular regulatory factories underlying the diseases. On the other hand, it remains a challenge to effectively visualize and navigate the resulting network models, which capture higher order structures in the proteogenomic profiles. There is a pressing need to have a new open community resource tool for intuitive visual exploration, interpretation and communication of these gene/protein regulatory networks by the cancer research community. In this work, we introduce ProNetView-ccRCC (http://ccrcc.cptac-network-view.org/), an interactive web-based network exploration portal for investigating phosphopeptide co-expression network inferred based on the CPTAC clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) phosphoproteomics data. ProNetView-ccRCC enables quick, user-intuitive visual interactions with the ccRCC tumor phosphoprotein co-expression network comprised of 3,614 genes, as well as 30 functional pathway-enriched network modules. Users can interact with the network portal and can conveniently query for association between abundance of each phosphopeptide in the network and clinical variables such as tumor grade.

IntroductionLung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the world, and adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is its most prevalent subtype. Symptoms often appear in advanced disease when treatment options are limited. Identifying genetic risk factors will enable better identification of high-risk individuals.MethodsTo identify LUAD risk genes, we performed a case-control association study for gene-level burden of rare, deleterious variants (RDVs) in germline whole-exome sequencing (WES) data of 1,083 LUAD patients and 7,650 controls, split into discovery and validation cohorts. Of these, we performed WES on 97 patients and acquired the rest from multiple public databases. We annotated all rare variants for pathogenicity conservatively, using ACMG guidelines and ClinVar curation, and investigated gene-level RDV burden using penalized logistic regression. All statistical tests were two-sided.ResultsWe discovered and replicated the finding that the burden of germline ATM RDVs was significantly higher in LUAD patients versus controls (ORcombined=4.6; p=1.7e-04; 95% CI=2.2–9.5; 1.21% of cases; 0.24% of controls). Germline ATM RDVs were also enriched in an independent clinical cohort of 1,594 patients from the MSK-IMPACT study (0.63%). Additionally, we observed that an Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) founder ATM variant, rs56009889, was statistically significantly more frequent in AJ cases versus AJ controls in our cohort (ORcombined, AJ=2.7, p=6.9e-03, 95% CI=1.3–5.3).ConclusionsOur results indicate that ATM is a moderate-penetrance LUAD risk gene, and that LUAD may be part of the ATM-related cancer syndrome spectrum. Individuals with ATM RDVs are at elevated LUAD risk and can benefit from increased surveillance (particularly CT scanning), early detection and chemoprevention programs, improving prognosis.

We investigated a Spanish and Catalan family in which multiple cancer types tracked across three generations, but for which no genetic etiology had been identified. Whole exome sequencing of germline DNA from multiple affected family members was performed to identify candidate variants to explain this occurrence of familial cancer. We discovered in all cancer-affected family members a single rare heterozygous germline variant (I654V, rs1801201) in ERBB2/HER2 that is located in a transmembrane glycine zipper motif critical for ERBB2-mediated signaling and in complete linkage disequilibrium (D’=1) with a common polymorphism (I655V, rs1136201) previously reported in some populations as associated with cancer risk. Because multiple cancer types occurred in this family, we tested both the I654V and the I655V variants for association with cancer across multiple tumor types in 6,371 cases of Northern European ancestry drawn from The Cancer Genome Atlas and 6,647 controls, and found that the rare variant (I654V) was significantly associated with an increased risk for cancer (OR=1.40, p=0.021, 95% CI=1.05–1.89). Functional assays performed in HEK 293T cells revealed that both the I655V single mutant (SM) and the I654V;I655V double mutant (DM) stabilized ERBB2 protein and activated ERBB2 signaling, with the DM activating ERBB2 significantly more than the SM alone. Thus, our results suggest a model whereby heritable genetic variation in the transmembrane domain activating ERBB2 signaling is associated with both sporadic and familial cancer risk, with increased ERBB2 stabilization and activation associated with increased cancer risk.

Graphical abstract, Highlights • Study reveals specific dynamics of oncogenic K-Ras mutants G12C/V, G13D and Q61H. • P-loop mutations have pan-mutant and mutant-specific effects on local dynamics. • All active K-Ras P-loop mutations cause α3 helix to move away from Loop 7. • Only G12 mutations cause SII to move away from the α3 helix and the P-loop. • All studied mutations cause the α2 of SII region to get closer to C-terminal of α3., K-Ras is the most frequently mutated protein in human cancers. However, until very recently, its oncogenic mutants were viewed as undruggable. To develop inhibitors that directly target oncogenic K-Ras mutants, we need to understand both their mutant-specific and pan-mutant dynamics and conformations. Recently, we have investigated how the most frequently observed K-Ras mutation in cancer patients, G12D, changes its local dynamics and conformations (Vatansever et al., 2019). Here, we extend our analysis to study and compare the local effects of other frequently observed oncogenic mutations, G12C, G12V, G13D and Q61H. For this purpose, we have performed Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of each mutant when active (GTP-bound) and inactive (GDP-bound), analyzed their trajectories, and compared how each mutant changes local residue conformations, inter-protein distance distributions, local flexibility and residue pair correlated motions. Our results reveal that in the four active oncogenic mutants we have studied, the α2 helix moves closer to the C-terminal of the α3 helix. However, P-loop mutations cause α3 helix to move away from Loop7, and only G12 mutations change the local conformational state populations of the protein. Furthermore, the motions of coupled residues are mutant-specific: G12 mutations lead to new negative correlations between residue motions, while Q61H destroys them. Overall, our findings on the local conformational states and protein dynamics of oncogenic K-Ras mutants can provide insights for both mutant-selective and pan-mutant targeted inhibition efforts.

Causal genes and variants within genome-wide association study (GWAS) loci can be identified by integrating GWAS statistics with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) and determining which variants underlie both GWAS and eQTL signals. Most analyses, however, consider only the marginal eQTL signal, rather than dissect this signal into multiple conditionally independent signals for each gene. Here we show that analyzing conditional eQTL signatures, which could be important under specific cellular or temporal contexts, leads to improved fine mapping of GWAS associations. Using genotypes and gene expression levels from post-mortem human brain samples (n = 467) reported by the CommonMind Consortium (CMC), we find that conditional eQTL are widespread; 63% of genes with primary eQTL also have conditional eQTL. In addition, genomic features associated with conditional eQTL are consistent with context-specific (e.g., tissue-, cell type-, or developmental time point-specific) regulation of gene expression. Integrating the 2014 Psychiatric Genomics Consortium schizophrenia (SCZ) GWAS and CMC primary and conditional eQTL data reveals 40 loci with strong evidence for co-localization (posterior probability > 0.8), including six loci with co-localization of conditional eQTL. Our co-localization analyses support previously reported genes, identify novel genes associated with schizophrenia risk, and provide specific hypotheses for their functional follow-up.

// Sohail Jahid 1, * , Jian Sun 1, * , Ozkan Gelincik 1 , Pedro Blecua 8 , Winfried Edelmann 2 , Raju Kucherlapati 3 , Kathy Zhou 4 , Maria Jasin 5 , Zeynep H. Gumus 6, 7 and Steven M. Lipkin 1 1 Departments of Medicine and Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, 10021, NY, USA 2 Department of Cell Biology and Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, 10461, NY, USA 3 Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 02115, Boston, MA, USA 4 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, 10021, NY, USA 5 Developmental Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 10065, NY, USA 6 Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 10029, NY, USA 7 Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 10029, NY, USA 8 Division of Clinical Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 10065, NY, USA * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Steven M. Lipkin, email: stl2012@med.cornell.edu Zeynep H. Gumus, email: zeynep.gumus@mssm.edu Keywords: mismatch repair, homologous recombination, homeologous recombination, colorectal cancer Received: January 16, 2017 Accepted: April 24, 2017 Published: May 10, 2017 ABSTRACT Homologous recombination (HR) enables precise DNA repair after DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) using identical sequence templates, whereas homeologous recombination (HeR) uses only partially homologous sequences. Homeologous recombination introduces mutations through gene conversion and genomic deletions through single-strand annealing (SSA). DNA mismatch repair (MMR) inhibits HeR, but the roles of mammalian MMR MutL homologues (MLH1, PMS2 and MLH3) proteins in HeR suppression are poorly characterized. Here, we demonstrate that mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) carrying Mlh1 , Pms2 , and Mlh3 mutations have higher HeR rates, by using 7,863 uniquely mapping paired direct repeat sequences (DRs) in the mouse genome as endogenous gene conversion and SSA reporters. Additionally, when DSBs are induced by gamma-radiation, Mlh1 , Pms2 and Mlh3 mutant MEFs have higher DR copy number alterations (CNAs), including DR CNA hotspots previously identified in mouse MMR-deficient colorectal cancer (dMMR CRC). Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas CRC data revealed that dMMR CRCs have higher genome-wide DR HeR rates than MMR proficient CRCs, and that dMMR CRCs have deletion hotspots in tumor suppressors FHIT/WWOX at chromosomal fragile sites FRA3B and FRA16D (which have elevated DSB rates) flanked by paired homologous DRs and inverted repeats (IR). Overall, these data provide novel insights into the MMR-dependent HeR inhibition mechanism and its role in tumor suppression.

Human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) is a ligand-free tyrosine kinase receptor of the HER family that is overexpressed in some of the most aggressive tumours. Although it is known that HER2 dimerization involves a specific region of its extracellular domain, the so-called &ldquo, dimerization arm&rdquo, the mechanism of dimerization inhibition remains uncertain. However, uncovering how antibody interactions lead to inhibition of HER2 dimerization is of key importance in understanding its role in tumour progression and therapy. Herein, we employed several computational modelling techniques for a molecular-level understanding of the interactions between HER and specific anti-HER2 antibodies, namely an antigen-binding (Fab) fragment (F0178) and a single-chain variable fragment from Trastuzumab (scFv). Specifically, we investigated the effects of antibody-HER2 interactions on the key residues of &ldquo, from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of unbound HER (in a total of 1 &micro, s), as well as ScFv:HER2 and F0178:HER2 complexes (for a total of 2.5 &micro, s). A deep surface analysis of HER receptor revealed that the binding of specific anti-HER2 antibodies induced conformational changes both in the interfacial residues, which was expected, and in the ECDII (extracellular domain), in particular at the &ldquo, which is critical in establishing protein&ndash, protein interface (PPI) interactions. Our results support and advance the knowledge on the already described trastuzumab effect on blocking HER2 dimerization through synergistic inhibition and/or steric hindrance. Furthermore, our approach offers a new strategy for fine-tuning target activity through allosteric ligands.

Protein kinases are crucial to coordinate cellular decisions and therefore their activities are strictly regulated. Previously we used ancestral reconstruction to determine how CMGC group kinase specificity evolved (Howard et al., 2014). In the present study, we reconstructed ancestral kinases to study the evolution of regulation, from the inferred ancestor of CDKs and MAPKs, to modern ERKs. Kinases switched from high to low autophosphorylation activity at the transition to the inferred ancestor of ERKs 1 and 2. Two synergistic amino acid changes were sufficient to induce this change: shortening of the β3-αC loop and mutation of the gatekeeper residue. Restoring these two mutations to their inferred ancestral state led to a loss of dependence of modern ERKs 1 and 2 on the upstream activating kinase MEK in human cells. Our results shed light on the evolutionary mechanisms that led to the tight regulation of a kinase that is central in development and disease.

High mortality rates of glioblastoma (GBM) patients are partly attributed to the invasive behavior of tumor cells that exhibit extensive infiltration into adjacent brain tissue, leading to rapid, inevitable, and therapy-resistant recurrence. In this study, we analyzed transcriptome of motile (dispersive) and non-motile (core) GBM cells using an in vitro spheroid dispersal model and identified SERPINE1 as a modulator of GBM cell dispersal. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition of SERPINE1 reduced spheroid dispersal and cell adhesion by regulating cell-substrate adhesion. We examined TGFβ as a potential upstream regulator of SERPINE1 expression. We also assessed the significance of SERPINE1 in GBM growth and invasion using TCGA glioma datasets and a patient-derived orthotopic GBM model. SERPINE1 expression was associated with poor prognosis and mesenchymal GBM in patients. SERPINE1 knock-down in primary GBM cells suppressed tumor growth and invasiveness in the brain. Together, our results indicate that SERPINE1 is a key player in GBM dispersal and provide insights for future anti-invasive therapy design., Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK); Koç University; Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA), TÜBA-Gedip The Young Scientist Award Program) and the Science Academy of Turkey (BAGEP; The Young Scientist Award Program); LUNGevity foundation

We report a comprehensive proteogenomics analysis, including whole-genome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and proteomics and phosphoproteomics profiling, of 218 tumors across 7 histological types of childhood brain cancer: low-grade glioma (n = 93), ependymoma (32), high-grade glioma (25), medulloblastoma (22), ganglioglioma (18), craniopharyngioma (16), and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (12). Proteomics data identify common biological themes that span histological boundaries, suggesting that treatments used for one histological type may be applied effectively to other tumors sharing similar proteomics features. Immune landscape characterization reveals diverse tumor microenvironments across and within diagnoses. Proteomics data further reveal functional effects of somatic mutations and copy number variations (CNVs) not evident in transcriptomics data. Kinase-substrate association and co-expression network analysis identify important biological mechanisms of tumorigenesis. This is the first large-scale proteogenomics analysis across traditional histological boundaries to uncover foundational pediatric brain tumor biology and inform rational treatment selection.

To explore the biology of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and identify new therapeutic opportunities, we performed comprehensive proteogenomic characterization of 110 tumors and 101 matched normal adjacent tissues (NATs) incorporating genomics, epigenomics, deep-scale proteomics, phosphoproteomics, and acetylproteomics. Multi-omics clustering revealed four subgroups defined by key driver mutations, country, and gender. Proteomic and phosphoproteomic data illuminated biology downstream of copy number aberrations, somatic mutations, and fusions and identified therapeutic vulnerabilities associated with driver events involving KRAS, EGFR, and ALK. Immune subtyping revealed a complex landscape, reinforced the association of STK11 with immune-cold behavior, and underscored a potential immunosuppressive role of neutrophil degranulation. Smoking-associated LUADs showed correlation with other environmental exposure signatures and a field effect in NATs. Matched NATs allowed identification of differentially expressed proteins with potential diagnostic and therapeutic utility. This proteogenomics dataset represents a unique public resource for researchers and clinicians seeking to better understand and treat lung adenocarcinomas.