Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.
Project description:Tumor necrosis factor-related weak inducer of apoptosis, TWEAK, is a TNF superfamily member that mediates signaling through its receptor fibroblast growth factor inducible-14, Fn14. In tumor cell lines, TWEAK induces proliferation, survival and NF-kappaB signaling and gene expression that promote tumor growth and suppress antitumor immune responses. Anti-TWEAK antibody, RG7212, inhibits tumor growth in vivo with decreases in pathway activation markers and modulation of tumor, blood and spleen immune cell composition. Candidate response prediction markers, including Fn14, have been identified in mouse models. Phase I pharmacodynamic data from patients are consistent with preclinical results. TWEAK:Fn14 signaling is upregulated in human cancer and pathway activation induces tumor proliferation and survival signaling. Blockade with anti-TWEAK mAb, RG7212, inhibits tumor growth in multiple models in mice. TWEAK induces changes that suppress anti-tumor immune responses and RG7212 blocks these effects resulting in changes in tumor immune cell composition and decreases in cytokines that promote immunosuppression. Antitumor efficacy in mice was observed in a range of Fn14 expressing models with pathway activation and expressing either wild-type or mutant p53, BRAF or KRAS suggesting both a patient selection strategy and potential broad clinical applicability. Preclinical mechanism of action hypotheses are supported by Phase I clinical data, with decreases in proliferation markers and increased tumor T cell infiltration. Pan02 cells untreated or treated with 1090-TW (TWEAK) for 4 hours, 8 hours, or 24 hours. Four replicates for each condition were performed.