Project description:BACKGROUND:Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) in newborn screening (NBS) could expand the number of genetic conditions detected pre-symptomatically, simultaneously challenging current precedents, raising ethical concerns, and extending the role of parental decision-making in NBS. The NC NEXUS (Newborn Exome Sequencing for Universal Screening) study seeks to assess the technical possibilities and limitations of NGS-NBS, devise and evaluate a framework to convey various types of genetic information, and develop best practices for incorporating NGS-NBS into clinical care. The study is enrolling both a healthy cohort and a cohort diagnosed with known disorders identified through recent routine NBS. It uses a novel age-based metric to categorize a priori the large amount of data generated by NGS-NBS and interactive online decision aids to guide parental decision-making. Primary outcomes include: (1) assessment of NGS-NBS sensitivity, (2) decision regret, and (3) parental decision-making about NGS-NBS, and, for parents randomized to have the option of requesting them, additional findings (diagnosed and healthy cohorts). Secondary outcomes assess parents' reactions to the study and to decision-making. METHODS/DESIGN:Participants are parents and children in a well-child cohort recruited from a prenatal clinic and a diagnosed cohort recruited from pediatric clinics that treat children with disorders diagnosed through traditional NBS (goal of 200 children in each cohort). In phase 1, all parent participants use an online decision aid to decide whether to accept NGS-NBS for their child and provide consent for NGS-NBS. In phase 2, parents who consent to NGS-NBS are randomized to a decision arm or control arm (2:1 allocation) and learn their child's NGS-NBS results, which include conditions from standard (non-NGS) NBS plus other highly actionable childhood-onset conditions. Parents in the decision arm use a second decision aid to make decisions about additional results from their child's sequencing. In phase 3, decision arm participants learn additional results they have requested. Online questionnaires are administered at up to five time points. DISCUSSION:NC NEXUS will use a rigorous interdisciplinary approach designed to collect rich data to inform policy, practice, and future research. TRIAL REGISTRATION:clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02826694 . Registered on 11 July, 2016.
Project description:Newborn screening (NBS) was established as a public health program in the 1960s and is crucial for facilitating detection of certain medical conditions in which early intervention can prevent serious, life-threatening health problems. Genomic sequencing can potentially expand the screening for rare hereditary disorders, but many questions surround its possible use for this purpose. We examined the use of exome sequencing (ES) for NBS in the North Carolina Newborn Exome Sequencing for Universal Screening (NC NEXUS) project, comparing the yield from ES used in a screening versus a diagnostic context. We enrolled healthy newborns and children with metabolic diseases or hearing loss (106 participants total). ES confirmed the participant's underlying diagnosis in 15 out of 17 (88%) children with metabolic disorders and in 5 out of 28 (∼18%) children with hearing loss. We discovered actionable findings in four participants that would not have been detected by standard NBS. A subset of parents was eligible to receive additional information for their child about childhood-onset conditions with low or no clinical actionability, clinically actionable adult-onset conditions, and carrier status for autosomal-recessive conditions. We found pathogenic variants associated with hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer in two children, a likely pathogenic variant in the gene associated with Lowe syndrome in one child, and an average of 1.8 reportable variants per child for carrier results. These results highlight the benefits and limitations of using genomic sequencing for NBS and the challenges of using such technology in future precision medicine approaches.
Project description:Importance:X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a peroxisomal genetic disorder in which an accumulation of very long-chain fatty acids leads to inflammatory demyelination in the central nervous system and to adrenal cortex atrophy. In 2016, X-ALD was added to the US Recommended Uniform Screening Panel. Objective:To evaluate the performance of a single-tier newborn screening assay for X-ALD in North Carolina. Design, Setting, and Participants:This diagnostic screening study was of all newborn dried blood spot specimens received in the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health between January 2 and June 1, 2018, excluding specimens of insufficient quantity or quality. A total of 52?301 specimens were screened for X-ALD using negative ionization high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to measure C24:0- and C26:0-lysophosphatidylcholine concentrations. Sanger sequencing of the adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette subfamily D member 1 (ABCD1) gene was performed on screen-positive specimens. Exposures:A medical and family history, newborn physical examination, sequencing of ABCD1 on dried blood spot samples, and plasma analysis of very long-chain fatty acids were obtained for all infants with screen-positive results. Main Outcomes and Measures:The prevalence of X-ALD in North Carolina and the positive predictive value and false-positive rate for the first-tier assay were determined. Results:Of 52?301 infants tested (47.8% female, 50.6% male, and 1.7% other or unknown sex), 12 received screen-positive results. Of these 12 infants, 8 were confirmed with a genetic disorder: 3 male infants with X-ALD, 3 X-ALD-heterozygous female infants, 1 female infant with a peroxisome biogenesis disorder, and 1 female infant with Aicardi-Goutières syndrome. Four infants were initially classified as having false-positives results, including 3 female infants who were deemed unaffected and 1 male infant with indeterminate results on confirmatory testing. The positive predictive value for X-ALD or other genetic disorders for the first-tier assay was 67%, with a false-positive rate of 0.0057%. Conclusions and Relevance:This newborn screening pilot study reported results on 2 lysophosphatidylcholine analytes, identifying 3 male infants with X-ALD, 3 X-ALD-heterozygous female infants, and 3 infants with other disorders associated with increased very long-chain fatty acids. These results showed successful implementation in a public health program with minimal risk to the population. The findings will support other state laboratories planning to implement newborn screening for X-ALD and related disorders.
Project description:Bulk RNA was extracted via trizol at Fibroblasts stage, 5 days, 10 days, 15 days, and 20 days of fibroblast to neuron conversion using traditional NC media, or NC media supplemented with ZM336372, pyrintegrin, AZ960, and KC7F2
Project description:We utilized tandem mass tag (TMT)-based mass spectrometry to characterize nuclear proteomic changes between HSCB KO and NC K562 cells.
Project description:Microarray Analyses of Newborn Mouse lens lacking HSF4. Hsf4 is essential for lens development. Newborn Mouse lens expression pattern of HSF4-/- and wildtype.
Project description:RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pausing is a general regulatory step in transcription, yet the stability of paused Pol II varies widely between genes. Although paused Pol II stability correlates with core promoter elements, the contribution of individual sequences remains unclear, in part because no rapid assay is available for measuring the changes in Pol II pausing as a result of altered promoter sequences. Here, we overcome this hurdle by showing that ChIP-nexus captures the endogenous Pol II pausing on transfected plasmids. Using this reporter-ChIP-nexus assay in Drosophila cells, we show that the pausing stability is influenced by downstream promoter sequences, but that the strongest contribution to Pol II pausing comes from the initiator sequence, in which a single nucleotide, a G at the +2 position, is critical for stable Pol II pausing. These results establish reporter-ChIP-nexus as a valuable tool to analyze Pol II pausing.