scholarly journals GAS2L1 Is a Potential Biomarker of Circulating Tumor Cells in Pancreatic Cancer

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3774
Author(s):  
Lei Zhu ◽  
Ke-Jia Kan ◽  
Johanna L. Grün ◽  
Barbara Hissa ◽  
Cui Yang ◽  
...  

Pancreatic cancer is a malignant disease with high mortality and a dismal prognosis. Circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection and characterization have emerged as essential techniques for early detection, prognostication, and liquid biopsy in many solid malignancies. Unfortunately, due to the low EPCAM expression in pancreatic cancer CTCs, no specific marker is available to identify and isolate this rare cell population. This study analyzed single-cell RNA sequencing profiles of pancreatic CTCs from a genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) and pancreatic cancer patients. Through dimensionality reduction analysis, murine pancreatic CTCs were grouped into three clusters with different biological functions. CLIC4 and GAS2L1 were shown to be overexpressed in pancreatic CTCs in comparison with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Further analyses of PBMCs and RNA-sequencing datasets of enriched pancreatic CTCs were used to validate the overexpression of GAS2L1 in pancreatic CTCs. A combinatorial approach using both GAS2L1 and EPCAM expression leads to an increased detection rate of CTCs in PDAC in both GEMM and patient samples. GAS2L1 is thus proposed as a novel biomarker of pancreatic cancer CTCs.

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1018
Author(s):  
Abby C. Lee ◽  
Grant Castaneda ◽  
Wei Tse Li ◽  
Chengyu Chen ◽  
Neil Shende ◽  
...  

Patients with underlying cardiovascular conditions are particularly vulnerable to severe COVID-19. In this project, we aimed to characterize similarities in dysregulated immune pathways between COVID-19 patients and patients with cardiomyopathy, venous thromboembolism (VTE), or coronary artery disease (CAD). We hypothesized that these similarly dysregulated pathways may be critical to how cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) exacerbate COVID-19. To evaluate immune dysregulation in different diseases, we used four separate datasets, including RNA-sequencing data from human left ventricular cardiac muscle samples of patients with dilated or ischemic cardiomyopathy and healthy controls; RNA-sequencing data of whole blood samples from patients with single or recurrent event VTE and healthy controls; RNA-sequencing data of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with and without obstructive CAD; and RNA-sequencing data of platelets from COVID-19 subjects and healthy controls. We found similar immune dysregulation profiles between patients with CVDs and COVID-19 patients. Interestingly, cardiomyopathy patients display the most similar immune landscape to COVID-19 patients. Additionally, COVID-19 patients experience greater upregulation of cytokine- and inflammasome-related genes than patients with CVDs. In all, patients with CVDs have a significant overlap of cytokine- and inflammasome-related gene expression profiles with that of COVID-19 patients, possibly explaining their greater vulnerability to severe COVID-19.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e0140253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie D. Weyandt ◽  
Benjamin L. Lampson ◽  
Sherry Tang ◽  
Matthew Mastrodomenico ◽  
Diana M. Cardona ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. B. Clarke ◽  
Alison W. Rebman ◽  
Allison Bailey ◽  
Megan L. Wojciechowicz ◽  
Sherry L. Jenkins ◽  
...  

Although widely prevalent, Lyme disease is still under-diagnosed and misunderstood. Here we followed 73 acute Lyme disease patients and uninfected controls over a period of a year. At each visit, RNA-sequencing was applied to profile patients' peripheral blood mononuclear cells in addition to extensive clinical phenotyping. Based on the projection of the RNA-seq data into lower dimensions, we observe that the cases are separated from controls, and almost all cases never return to cluster with the controls over time. Enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes between clusters identifies up-regulation of immune response genes. This observation is also supported by deconvolution analysis to identify the changes in cell type composition due to Lyme disease infection. Importantly, we developed several machine learning classifiers that attempt to perform various Lyme disease classifications. We show that Lyme patients can be distinguished from the controls as well as from COVID-19 patients, but classification was not successful in distinguishing those patients with early Lyme disease cases that would advance to develop post-treatment persistent symptoms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-482
Author(s):  
Francesca Tiano ◽  
Francesca Amati ◽  
Fabio Cherubini ◽  
Elena Morini ◽  
Chiara Vancheri ◽  
...  

Abstract Frataxin deficiency, responsible for Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA), is crucial for cell survival since it critically affects viability of neurons, pancreatic beta cells and cardiomyocytes. In FRDA, the heart is frequently affected with typical manifestation of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which can progress to heart failure and cause premature death. A microarray analysis performed on FRDA patient’s lymphoblastoid cells stably reconstituted with frataxin, indicated HS-1-associated protein X-1 (HAX-1) as the most significantly upregulated transcript (FC = +2, P < 0.0006). quantitative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot analysis performed on (I) HEK293 stably transfected with empty vector compared to wild-type frataxin and (II) lymphoblasts from FRDA patients show that low frataxin mRNA and protein expression correspond to reduced levels of HAX-1. Frataxin overexpression and silencing were also performed in the AC16 human cardiomyocyte cell line. HAX-1 protein levels are indeed regulated through frataxin modulation. Moreover, correlation between frataxin and HAX-1 was further evaluated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from FRDA patients and from non-related healthy controls. A regression model for frataxin which included HAX-1, group membership and group* HAX-1 interaction revealed that frataxin and HAX-1 are associated both at mRNA and protein levels. Additionally, a linked expression of FXN, HAX-1 and antioxidant defence proteins MnSOD and Nrf2 was observed both in PBMCs and AC16 cardiomyocytes. Our results suggest that HAX-1 could be considered as a potential biomarker of cardiac disease in FRDA and the evaluation of its expression might provide insights into its pathogenesis as well as improving risk stratification strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. TPS5091-TPS5091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Andrea Reimers ◽  
Wassim Abida ◽  
Jonathan Chou ◽  
Daniel J. George ◽  
Elisabeth I. Heath ◽  
...  

TPS5091 Background: Tumors with biallelic CDK12 loss have been identified as a distinct subtype in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and other cancer types. The CDK12 biallelic loss mCRPC genomic signature, distinct from homologous recombination deficient (HRD) and ETS fusion signatures, is characterized by excessive tandem duplications, genomic instability, gene fusion-caused putative neoantigens, and increased tumor T cell infiltration. Early clinical experience with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in CDK12 loss mCRPC patients (pts) is notable for deep and sustained PSA as well as radiographic responses. We hypothesize that CDK12 biallelic loss is a potential biomarker of immune checkpoint immunotherapy (ICI) efficacy in mCRPC and other cancers. Methods: IMPACT (NCT03570619) is a multi-center, open label, phase 2 study of pts with metastatic cancers that harbor CDK12 biallelic loss. mCRPC pts will be enrolled in cohort A (n = 25) in a Mini-Max Simon Two-Stage design, and all other pts in single-stage cohort B (n = 15). All pts will receive induction therapy with nivolumab 3 mg/kg IV and ipilimumab 1 mg/kg IV q3 weeks for up to 4 cycles, followed by maintenance nivolumab at 480 mg IV q4 weeks (up to 52 weeks in total). Eligible pts must have identified biallelic CDK12 loss on any CLIA/CAP approved next generation sequencing assay and a histologic diagnosis of metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma or other metastatic carcinoma. No prior ICI is allowed. The primary endpoint is the overall response rate (ORR) in cohort A per PCWG3 criteria. An ORR of 30% is targeted in cohort A. Secondary endpoints include safety, secondary efficacy measures, quality of life, and survival measures. Exploratory objectives include tumor whole exome analysis and changes in immune profiles with therapy. Comprehensive and serial monitoring of peripheral blood immune cell populations will be performed via T cell clonal diversity assessment and multi-parametric flow cytometry. Changes in myeloid and lymphoid populations will be assessed from whole blood. Polarization and effector function of T cells and activation of antigen presenting cells will be further characterized from isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Study accrual is ongoing. Clinical trial information: NCT03570619.


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