Project description:Somatic L1 retrotransposition events have been shown to occur in epithelial cancers1-8. Here, we attempted to determine how early somatic L1 insertions occurred during the development of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Using L1-targeted resequencing (L1-seq), we studied different stages of four colorectal cancers arising from colonic polyps, seven pancreatic carcinomas, as well as seven gastric cancers. Surprisingly, we found somatic L1 insertions not only in all cancer types and metastases, but also in colonic adenomas, well-known cancer precursors. Some insertions were also present in low quantities in normal GI tissues, occasionally caught in the act of being clonally fixed in the adjacent tumors. Insertions in adenomas and cancers numbered in the hundreds and many were present in multiple tumor sections implying clonal distribution. Our results demonstrate that extensive somatic insertional mutagenesis occurs very early during the development of GI tumors, probably before dysplastic growth. We assessed the impact of somatic L1 insertions on the expression of the corresponding protein-coding genes by comparing protein abundance in the polyp with the highest number of somatic L1 insertions with that of its paired normal colon using mass spectrometry analysis. Of the 10 validated somatic insertions that were in protein coding regions in the polyp, two proteins – KIAA1217 and WARS2 – were downregulated in the adenoma >90% and >70%, respectively.
Project description:An extrachromosomal replication system was established to examine the perturbation of Alu-carrying genes in response to elevated Alu RNAs in the opposite direction. The null hypothesis is that the Alu-carrying RNA duplex cannot trigger subsequent post-transcriptional regulation, manifesting a random perturbation of expression levels. Comparing HEK293 cells transfected and not-transfected with pDR2-Alu vectors.
Project description:Somatic L1 retrotransposition events have been shown to occur in epithelial cancers1-8. Here, we attempted to determine how early somatic L1 insertions occurred during the development of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Using L1-targeted resequencing (L1-seq), we studied different stages of four colorectal cancers arising from colonic polyps, seven pancreatic carcinomas, as well as seven gastric cancers. Surprisingly, we found somatic L1 insertions not only in all cancer types and metastases, but also in colonic adenomas, well-known cancer precursors. Some insertions were also present in low quantities in normal GI tissues, occasionally caught in the act of being clonally fixed in the adjacent tumors. Insertions in adenomas and cancers numbered in the hundreds and many were present in multiple tumor sections implying clonal distribution. Our results demonstrate that extensive somatic insertional mutagenesis occurs very early during the development of GI tumors, probably before dysplastic growth. Here we show Human SNP 6.0 Array experiments on DNAs from four colorectal cancer patients (1BV, 2BV, 3BV, and 4BV) with polyps and metastases. Here we characterize the samples for CNVs and compare the samples' CNV status to their respective somatic L1 retrotransposition profile.
Project description:Although mutations in dozens of genes have been implicated in familial forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS) and frontotemporal degeneration (fFTD), most cases of these conditions are sporadic (sALS and sFTD), with no family history, and their etiology remains obscure. We tested the hypothesis that somatic mosaic mutations, present in some but not all cells, might contribute in these cases, by performing ultra-deep, targeted sequencing of 88 genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases in postmortem brain and spinal cord samples from 404 individuals with sALS or sFTD and 144 controls. Known pathogenic germline mutations were found in 20.6% of ALS, and 26.5% of FTD cases. Predicted pathogenic somatic mutations in ALS/FTD genes were observed in 2.7% of sALS and sFTD cases that did not carry known pathogenic or novel germline mutations. Somatic mutations showed low variant allele fraction (typically <2%) and were often restricted to the region of initial discovery, preventing detection through genetic screening in peripheral tissues. Damaging somatic mutations were preferentially enriched in primary motor cortex of sALS and prefrontal cortex of sFTD, mirroring regions most severely affected in each disease. Somatic mutation analysis of bulk RNA-seq data from brain and spinal cord from an additional 143 sALS cases and 23 controls confirmed an overall enrichment of somatic mutations in sALS. Two adult sALS cases were identified bearing pathogenic somatic mutations in DYNC1H1 and LMNA, two genes associated with pediatric motor neuron degeneration. Our study suggests that somatic mutations in fALS/fFTD genes, and in genes associated with more severe diseases in the germline state, contribute to sALS and sFTD, and that mosaic mutations in a small fraction of cells in focal regions of the nervous system can ultimately result in widespread degeneration.
Project description:Somatic L1 retrotransposition events have been shown to occur in epithelial cancers1-8. Here, we attempted to determine how early somatic L1 insertions occurred during the development of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Using L1-targeted resequencing (L1-seq), we studied different stages of four colorectal cancers arising from colonic polyps, seven pancreatic carcinomas, as well as seven gastric cancers. Surprisingly, we found somatic L1 insertions not only in all cancer types and metastases, but also in colonic adenomas, well-known cancer precursors. Some insertions were also present in low quantities in normal GI tissues, occasionally caught in the act of being clonally fixed in the adjacent tumors. Insertions in adenomas and cancers numbered in the hundreds and many were present in multiple tumor sections implying clonal distribution. Our results demonstrate that extensive somatic insertional mutagenesis occurs very early during the development of GI tumors, probably before dysplastic growth.
Project description:BACKGROUND:Endogenous retroelements (EREs) constitute about 42% of the human genome and have been implicated in common human diseases such as autoimmunity and cancer. The dominant paradigm holds that EREs are expressed in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and germline cells but are repressed in differentiated somatic cells. Despite evidence that some EREs can be expressed at the RNA and protein levels in specific contexts, a system-level evaluation of their expression in human tissues is lacking. METHODS:Using RNA sequencing data, we analyzed ERE expression in 32 human tissues and cell types, including medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs). A tissue specificity index was computed to identify tissue-restricted ERE families. We also analyzed the transcriptome of mTECs in wild-type and autoimmune regulator (AIRE)-deficient mice. Finally, we developed a proteogenomic workflow combining RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry (MS) in order to evaluate whether EREs might be translated and generate MHC I-associated peptides (MAP) in B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (B-LCL) from 16 individuals. RESULTS:We report that all human tissues express EREs, but the breadth and magnitude of ERE expression are very heterogeneous from one tissue to another. ERE expression was particularly high in two MHC I-deficient tissues (ESCs and testis) and one MHC I-expressing tissue, mTECs. In mutant mice, we report that the exceptional expression of EREs in mTECs was AIRE-independent. MS analyses identified 103 non-redundant ERE-derived MAPs (ereMAPs) in B-LCLs. These ereMAPs preferentially derived from sense translation of intronic EREs. Notably, detailed analyses of their amino acid composition revealed that ERE-derived MAPs presented homology to viral MAPs. CONCLUSIONS:This study shows that ERE expression in somatic tissues is more pervasive and heterogeneous than anticipated. The high and diversified expression of EREs in mTECs and their ability to generate MAPs suggest that EREs may play an important role in the establishment of self-tolerance. The viral-like properties of ERE-derived MAPs suggest that those not expressed in mTECs can be highly immunogenic.
Project description:Weaker CEBPA binding in the human than in the mouse genome is a general trait of the human genome across multiple biological conditions. Alu repeats carry strong CEBPA binding motifs, which compete with regulatory regions for CEBPA binding. To directly test this hypothesis, we attempted to overcome Alu competition by using, first, a CRISPR-dCas9 system in BLaER1 cells (Rapino et al. 2013). By promoting the recruitment of the inactive Cas9 to Alu regions with specific gRNAs targeting Alu repeats containing strong CEBPA motifs we protected them, hampering CEBPA binding to these regions. We tested the effect of two different paired gRNA constructs in two replicates and one control paired gRNA in two replicates. Second, we also further overexpressed CEBPA in human BLaER1 cells to overcome Alu competition. We tested two doses of CEBPA overexpression in two replicates and one control experiment in two replicates.