Project description:the Enhanced Epidermal Antigen Specific Immunotherapy Trial -1 (EEASI) study was a two-centre, open-label, uncontrolled, single-group first-in-human Phase 1A safety study of C19-A3 GNP peptide in individuals with T1D (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02837094). The investigational medicinal product (IMP) was C19-A3 GNP (Midacore™), which comprises Midacore™ GNPs (Midatech Pharma Plc, Cardiff, UK)(1, 20) of a size of less than 5 nm, covalently coupled to an 18-amino acid human peptide, the sequence of which is identical to the residues from position 19 in the C-peptide of proinsulin through to position 3 on the A-chain of the same molecule (GSLQPLALEGSLQKRGIV). The peptide is synthesised with a linker to facilitate binding to the GNPs: 3-mercaptopropionyl-SLQPLALEGSLQKRGIV 2 acetate salt (disulfide bond). The chemical composition of the IMP contained a ratio of 4 C19-A3 peptides: 11 glucose C2: 29 glutathione ligands as determined by 1H-NMR (proton nuclear magnetic resonance). A typical batch contained: [C19-A3 peptide] = 1.33 mg/ml; [gold] = 5.5 mg/ml; [glucose linker] = 0.6 mg/ml; [glutathione linker] = 1.79 mg/ml. As the drug substance was diluted 1:7 to 1:10, depending on the content of C19-A3 peptide per particle, and as 50 μl of the diluted solution was administered to the study participants, this corresponded to C19-A3 peptide: 10 μg; gold: 39 μg; glucose linker: 4.3 μg; glutathione: 12.7 μg. Participants diagnosed with T1D and confirmed to possess the HLA-DRB1∗0401 genotype, were given three doses of C19-A3 GNP at 4-weekly intervals (weeks 0, 4, and 8) in the deltoid region of alternate arms (2 doses in one arm and 1 dose in the other arm) via CE-marked 600 μm length MicronJet600™ hollow microneedles (NanoPass Technologies Ltd. Israel) attached to a standard Luer-lock syringe. The single-dose given in 50 μl volume was equivalent to 10 μg of C19-A3 peptide. Punch skin biopsies of the local area were performed under aseptic conditions and under local anaesthetic (Lidocaine Hydrochloride Injection BP 2%, w/v), using a 6-mm sterile disposable biopsy punch. Following the biopsy, samples were divided with half immediately placed in 10% formalin and transported to the laboratory and the other half placed in RNA laterTM (Fisher Scientific, Loughborough, UK) for bulk RNA sequencing. Control skin samples were obtained from female patients aged 19–82 years, following mastectomy or breast reduction after informed consent. Skin without obvious pathological findings, which was surplus to diagnostic histopathology requirements, was used in the experiments. Control punch biopsy samples were treated in the same manner as described above. After cutting skin samples into small pieces, samples were homogenised and lysed by using Tissue Raptor II and QIAzol® Lysis protocol (QIAzol® Handbook 2021, QIAgen, Crawley, UK). The quality of RNA was routinely assessed by determining the A260:A280 ratio using NanoDrop2000 (Thermo Scientific, UK). RNA libraries were created using TruSeq stranded Total RNA with ribozero GOLD (illumina, UK) and sequenced on an illumina HiSeq 2500 platform with 2 x 75 bp reads
Project description:Population scale sweeps of viral pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, require high intensity testing for effective management. However, reliable systems affording parallel testing of thousands of patients for pathogen infection have not yet been routinely employed. Here we describe “Systematic Parallel Analysis of RNA coupled to Sequencing for Covid-19 screening” (C19-SPAR-Seq), a multiplexed, readily automated platform for SARS-CoV-2 detection capable of analyzing tens of thousands of patient samples in a single instrument run. To address strict requirements for control of assay parameters and output demanded by clinical diagnostics, we employed a control-based Precision-Recall and Receiver Operator Characteristics (coPR) analysis to assign run-specific quality control metrics. C19-SPAR-Seq coupled to coPR on a trial cohort of several hundred patients performed with a specificity of 100% and sensitivity of 91% on samples with low viral loads. Our study thus establishes the feasibility of employing C19-SPAR-Seq for the large-scale monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.
Project description:Population scale sweeps of viral pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, require high intensity testing for effective management. However, reliable systems affording parallel testing of thousands of patients for pathogen infection have not yet been routinely employed. Here we describe “Systematic Parallel Analysis of RNA coupled to Sequencing for Covid-19 screening” (C19-SPAR-Seq), a multiplexed, readily automated platform for SARS-CoV-2 detection capable of analyzing tens of thousands of patient samples in a single instrument run. To address strict requirements for control of assay parameters and output demanded by clinical diagnostics, we employed a control-based Precision-Recall and Receiver Operator Characteristics (coPR) analysis to assign run-specific quality control metrics. C19-SPAR-Seq coupled to coPR on a trial cohort of several hundred patients performed with a specificity of 100% and sensitivity of 91% on samples with low viral loads. Our study thus establishes the feasibility of employing C19-SPAR-Seq for the large-scale monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.
Project description:Population scale sweeps of viral pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, require high intensity testing for effective management. However, reliable systems affording parallel testing of thousands of patients for pathogen infection have not yet been routinely employed. Here we describe “Systematic Parallel Analysis of RNA coupled to Sequencing for Covid-19 screening” (C19-SPAR-Seq), a multiplexed, readily automated platform for SARS-CoV-2 detection capable of analyzing tens of thousands of patient samples in a single instrument run. To address strict requirements for control of assay parameters and output demanded by clinical diagnostics, we employed a control-based Precision-Recall and Receiver Operator Characteristics (coPR) analysis to assign run-specific quality control metrics. C19-SPAR-Seq coupled to coPR on a trial cohort of several hundred patients performed with a specificity of 100% and sensitivity of 91% on samples with low viral loads. Our study thus establishes the feasibility of employing C19-SPAR-Seq for the large-scale monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.
Project description:Population scale sweeps of viral pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, require high intensity testing for effective management. However, reliable systems affording parallel testing of thousands of patients for pathogen infection have not yet been routinely employed. Here we describe “Systematic Parallel Analysis of RNA coupled to Sequencing for Covid-19 screening” (C19-SPAR-Seq), a multiplexed, readily automated platform for SARS-CoV-2 detection capable of analyzing tens of thousands of patient samples in a single instrument run. To address strict requirements for control of assay parameters and output demanded by clinical diagnostics, we employed a control-based Precision-Recall and Receiver Operator Characteristics (coPR) analysis to assign run-specific quality control metrics. C19-SPAR-Seq coupled to coPR on a trial cohort of several hundred patients performed with a specificity of 100% and sensitivity of 91% on samples with low viral loads. Our study thus establishes the feasibility of employing C19-SPAR-Seq for the large-scale monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.
Project description:Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have been used in the development of novel therapies as a way of delivery of both stimulatory and tolerogenic peptide cargoes. Here we report that intradermal injection of GNPs loaded with the proinsulin peptide C19-A3, in patients with type 1 diabetes, results in recruitment and retention of immune cells in the skin. These include large numbers of clonally expanded T-cells sharing the same paired T-cell receptors (TCRs) with activated phenotypes, half of which, when the TCRs were re-expressed in a cell-based system, were confirmed to be specific for either GNP or proinsulin. All the identified gold-specific clones were CD8+, whilst proinsulin-specific clones were both CD8+ and CD4+. Proinsulin-specific CD8+ clones had a distinctive cytotoxic phenotype with overexpression of granulysin (GNLY) and KIR receptors. Clonally expanded antigen-specific T cells remained in situ for months to years, with a spectrum of tissue resident memory and effector memory phenotypes. As the T-cell response is divided between targeting the gold core and the antigenic cargo, this offers a route to improving resident memory T-cells formation in response to vaccines. In addition, our scRNAseq data indicate that focusing on clonally expanded skin infiltrating T-cells recruited to intradermally injected antigen is a highly efficient method to enrich and identify antigen-specific cells. This approach has the potential to be used to monitor the intradermal delivery of antigens and nanoparticles for immune modulation in humans the Enhanced Epidermal Antigen Specific Immunotherapy Trial -1 (EEASI) study was a two-centre, open-label, uncontrolled, single-group first-in-human Phase 1A safety study of C19-A3 GNP peptide in individuals with T1D (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02837094). The investigational medicinal product (IMP) was C19-A3 GNP (Midacore™), which comprises Midacore™ GNPs (Midatech Pharma Plc, Cardiff, UK)(1, 20) of a size of less than 5 nm, covalently coupled to an 18-amino acid human peptide, the sequence of which is identical to the residues from position 19 in the C-peptide of proinsulin through to position 3 on the A-chain of the same molecule (GSLQPLALEGSLQKRGIV). The peptide is synthesised with a linker to facilitate binding to the GNPs: 3-mercaptopropionyl-SLQPLALEGSLQKRGIV 2 acetate salt (disulfide bond). The chemical composition of the IMP contained a ratio of 4 C19-A3 peptides: 11 glucose C2: 29 glutathione ligands as determined by 1H-NMR (proton nuclear magnetic resonance). A typical batch contained: [C19-A3 peptide] = 1.33 mg/ml; [gold] = 5.5 mg/ml; [glucose linker] = 0.6 mg/ml; [glutathione linker] = 1.79 mg/ml. As the drug substance was diluted 1:7 to 1:10, depending on the content of C19-A3 peptide per particle, and as 50 μl of the diluted solution was administered to the study participants, this corresponded to C19-A3 peptide: 10 μg; gold: 39 μg; glucose linker: 4.3 μg; glutathione: 12.7 μg. Participants diagnosed with T1D and confirmed to possess the HLA-DRB1∗0401 genotype, were given three doses of C19-A3 GNP at 4-weekly intervals (weeks 0, 4, and 8) in the deltoid region of alternate arms (2 doses in one arm and 1 dose in the other arm) via CE-marked 600 μm length MicronJet600™ hollow microneedles (NanoPass Technologies Ltd. Israel) attached to a standard Luer-lock syringe. The single-dose given in 50 μl volume was equivalent to 10 μg of C19-A3 peptide Skin suction blisters were raised: Briefly, suction cups were applied to the deltoid region of participants’ arms, at the site of previous injection. Skin suction blisters were performed by gradually applying negative pressure (up to 60 kPa) from a suction pump machine VP25 (Eschmann, Lancing, UK) through a suction blister cup with a 15-mm hole in the base (UHBristol NHS Foundation Trust Medical Engineering Department, Bristol, UK) for 2–4 hr until a unilocular blister had formed within the cup. The cup was left in place for a further 30-60 minutes to encourage migration of lymphocytes into the blister fluid. The cup was then removed, and the blister fluid aspirated using a needle and syringe. Blister fluid was immediately suspended in 10ml heparinised RPMI (Gibco)+ 5% foetal calf serum Cells were counted then washed once and resuspended in an appropriate volume for scRNAseq. Samples were used fresh on the day of the collection. Samples were processed using a 10xGenomics V1 human 5’GEX kit and libraries were constructed following standard 10xGenomics protocols. Samples were pooled and sequenced on Illumina NextSeq and MiSeq scRNAseq libraries were sequenced aiming for 20,000 reads per cell for GEX and 5,000 reads/cell for VDJ.
Project description:ChIP-chip study using embryonic E18.5 mouse kidney tissue and anti-WT1 antibody (Santa Cruz C19 and N180) performed in three technical replicates. ChIP DNA was not PCR amplified prior to hybridization to Agilent 244K mouse promoter arrays, to avoid potential PCR amplification bias.
Project description:Samples are from clones of Erythroleukemia cells C19 (parental) and c-Myc overexpressing cells Cl56 induced for 5days with Hexamethyl-bis acetamide(differentiation triggering agent) were pooled and reverse-transcribed and hybridized. Comparison of both transcriptomes give access to c-Myc responsive genes involved in differentiation.
Project description:Samples are from clones of Erythroleukemia cells C19 (parental) and c-Myc overexpressing cells Cl56 induced for 5days with Hexamethyl-bis acetamide(differentiation triggering agent) were pooled and reverse-transcribed and hybridized. Comparison of both transcriptomes give access to c-Myc responsive genes involved in differentiation. Keywords: other