Project description:The field of pharmacogenetics (PGx) holds great promise in advancing personalized medicine by adapting treatments based on individual genetic profiles. Despite its benefits, there are still economic, ethical and institutional barriers that hinder its implementation in our healthcare environment. A retrospective analysis approach of anonymized data sourced from electronic health records was performed, encompassing a diverse patient population and evaluating key parameters such as prescribing patterns and test results, to assess the impact of pharmacogenetic testing. A head-to-head comparison with previously published activity results within the same pharmacogenetic laboratory was also conducted to contrast the progress made after 10 years. The analysis revealed significant utilization of pharmacogenetic testing in daily clinical practice, with 1,145 pharmacogenetic tests performed over a 1-year period and showing a 35% growth rate increase over time. Of the 17 different medical departments that sought PGx tests, the Oncology department accounted for the highest number, representing 58.47% of all genotyped patients. A total of 1,000 PGx tests were requested for individuals susceptible to receive a dose modification based on genotype, and 76 individuals received a genotype-guided dose adjustment. This study presents a comprehensive descriptive analysis of real-world data obtained from a public tertiary hospital laboratory specialized in pharmacogenetic testing, and presents data that strongly endorse the integration of pharmacogenetic testing into everyday clinical practice.
Project description:All cancers emerge following a period of clonal selection and subsequent clonal expansion. Whilst the evolutionary principles imparted by genetic intra-tumour heterogeneity (ITH) are becoming increasingly clear, little is known about the non-genetic mechanisms that contribute to ITH and malignant clonal fitness. Using SPLINTR, a synthetic expressed barcoding strategy, in three clinically relevant mouse models of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) we find that malignant clonal dominance is a stable and heritable property that is facilitated by the repression of antigen presentation and the increased expression of Slpi, a leukocyte protease inhibitor that has not previously been characterised in AML. Increased transcriptional heterogeneity is a consistent feature enabling clonal fitness in diverse tissue / immune microenvironments and in the context of clonal competition between genetically distinct clones within a uniform microenvironment. Compared to extramedullary sites, leukemia initiating capacity is most enriched in malignant cells resident within the bone marrow microenvironment and leukemia stem cells (LSC), like normal haematopoietic stem cells, display heritable clone-intrinsic properties of high, and low clonal output that contribute to the overall tumour mass. Finally, we demonstrate that clonal output does not dictate sensitivity to chemotherapy and both high and low output LSC clones retain marked cellular plasticity enabling them to survive potent therapeutic challenge and persist as minimal residual disease. Together these data provide fundamental insights into the non-genetic transcriptional processes that underpin malignant clonal fitness which may inform future therapeutic strategies.
Project description:Objectives: To assess the efficacy of Y-chromosome mini-STR-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) for non-invasive prenatal paternity testing (NIPPT). Methods: DNA was extracted from the plasma of 24 pregnant women, and cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) genotyping was performed at 12 Y-chromosome mini-STR loci using the Illumina NextSeq 500 system. The cffDNA haplotype was validated by the paternal haplotype. The paternity testing parameters were attributed to each case quantitatively. Results: The biological relationship between the alleged fathers and infants in all 24 family cases were confirmed by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The Y-chromosome mini-STR haplotypes of all 14 male cffDNA were obtained by NGS without any missing loci. The alleles of cffDNA and paternal genomic DNA were matched in 13 cases, and a mismatched allele was detected at the DYS393 locus in one case and considered as mutation. No allele was detected in the 10 female cffDNA. The combined paternity index (CPI) and probability of paternity calculation was based on 6 loci Y-haplotype distributions of a local population. The probability of paternity was 98.2699-99.8828% for the cases without mutation, and 14.8719% for the case harboring mutation. Conclusions: Our proof-of-concept study demonstrated that Y-chromosome mini-STR can be used for NGS-based NIPPT with high accuracy in real cases, and is a promising tool for familial searching, paternity exclusion and sex selection in forensic and medical applications.
Project description:IntroductionAdequate and timely access to pathology services is a key to scale up cancer control, however, there is an extremely shortage of pathologists in Tanzania. Telepathology (scanned images microscopy) has the potential to increase access to pathology services and it is increasingly being employed for primary diagnosis and consultation services. However, the experience with the use of telepathology in Tanzania is limited. We aimed to investigate the feasibility of using scanned images for primary diagnosis of pre-malignant and malignant cervical lesions by assessing its equivalency to conventional (glass slide) microscopy in Tanzania.MethodsIn this laboratory-based study, assessment of hematoxylin and eosin stained glass slides of 175 cervical biopsies were initially performed conventionally by three pathologists independently. The slides were scanned at x 40 and one to three months later, the scanned images were reviewed by the pathologists in blinded fashion. The agreement between initial and review diagnoses across participating pathologists was described and measured using Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ).ResultsThe overall concordance of diagnoses established on conventional microscopy compared to scanned images across three pathologists was 87.7%; κ = 0.54; CI (0.49-0.57).The overall agreement of diagnoses established by local pathologist on conventional microscopy compared to scanned images was 87.4%; κ = 0.73; CI (0.65-0.79). The concordance of diagnoses established by senior pathologist compared to local pathologist on conventional microscopy and scanned images was 96% and 97.7% respectively. The inter-observer agreement (κ) value were 0.93, CI (0.87-1.00) and 0.94, CI (0.88-1.00) for conventional microscopy and scanned images respectively.ConclusionsAll κ coefficients expressed good intra- and inter-observer agreement, suggesting that telepathology is sufficiently accurate for primary diagnosis in surgical pathology. The discrepancies in interpretation of pre-malignant lesions highlights the importance of p16 immunohistochemistry in definitive diagnosis in these lesions. Sustainability factors including hardware and internet connectivity are essential components to be considered before telepathology may be deemed suitable for widely use in Tanzania.