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Research

Adiposity associated DNA methylation signatures in adolescents are related to leptin and perinatal factors

Epigenetics links perinatal influences with later obesity. We identifed differentially methylated CpG (dmCpG) loci measured at 17 years associated with concurrent adiposity measures and examined whether these were associated with hsCRP, adipokines, and early life environmental factors. Genome-wide DNA methylation from 1192 Raine Study participants at 17 years, identified 29 dmCpGs associated with body mass index, 10 with waist circumference and 9 with subcutaneous fat thickness.

Research

A flexible computational pipeline for research analyses of unsolved clinical exome cases

Exome sequencing has enabled molecular diagnoses for rare disease patients but often with initial diagnostic rates of ~25-30%. Here we develop a robust computational pipeline to rank variants for reassessment of unsolved rare disease patients. A comprehensive web-based patient report is generated in which all deleterious variants can be filtered by gene, variant characteristics, OMIM disease and Phenolyzer scores, and all are annotated with an ACMG classification and links to ClinVar.

Research

Tumor Infiltrating Effector Memory Antigen-Specific CD8(+) T Cells Predict Response to Immune Checkpoint Therapy

Immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) results in durable responses in individuals with some cancers, but not all patients respond to treatment. ICT improves CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) function, but changes in tumor antigen-specific CTLs post-ICT that correlate with successful responses have not been well characterized. Here, we studied murine tumor models with dichotomous responses to ICT.

Research

Pathobiologic Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration in Osteopetrosis Derived From Structural and Functional Analysis of 14 ClC-7 Mutants

ClC-7 is a chloride-proton antiporter of the CLC protein family. In complex with its accessory protein Ostm-1, ClC-7 localizes to lysosomes and to the osteoclasts' ruffled border, where it plays a critical role in acidifying the resorption lacuna during bone resorption. Gene inactivation in mice causes severe osteopetrosis, neurodegeneration, and lysosomal storage disease. Mutations in the human CLCN7 gene are associated with diverse forms of osteopetrosis.

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Assessing the unified airway hypothesis in children via transcriptional profiling of the airway epithelium

Upper and lower airways are conserved in their transcriptional composition, and variations associated with disease are present in both nasal and tracheal epithelium

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Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of blood DNA methylation in newborns and children identifies numerous loci related to gestational age

We identified numerous CpGs differentially methylated in relation to gestational age at birth that appear to reflect fetal developmental processes across tissues

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Personalised analytics for rare disease diagnostics

Here we focus on the problem of prioritising variants with respect to the observed disease phenotype

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Sensitization to immune checkpoint blockade through activation of a STAT1/NK axis in the tumor microenvironment

Our results identify a pretreatment tumor microenvironment that predicts response to immune checkpoint blockade, which can be therapeutically attained

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Integration of genetics and miRNA-target gene network identified disease biology implicated in tissue specificity

Our result highlighted that miRNA-target gene network contributes to human disease genetics in a cell type-specific manner

Research

Association of maternal prenatal smoking GFI1-locus and cardio-metabolic phenotypes in 18,212 adults

Epigenetic changes at the GFI1 were linked to smoking exposure in-utero/in-adulthood and robustly associated with cardio-metabolic risk factors