Project description:Prostate cancer (PCa) tends to be more aggressive and lethal in African Americans (AA) compared to European Americans (EA). To further understand the thebiological risk factors associated with PCa disparities observed in AA and EA patients, we performed microRNA profiling using Agilent Human miRNA arrays to identify the differentially expressed microRNAs beween: 1) AA and EA PCa patients; 2) AA PCa vs. AA normal; and 3) EA PCa vs. EA normal.
Project description:Epidemiological data have suggested that African Americans (AA) are twice as likely to be diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) as compared to European Americans (EA). Here, we have analyzed a set of cytogenetic and genomic data derived from AA and EA MM patients. We have compared the frequency of IgH translocations in a series of data from 115 AA patients from three studies and EA patients from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) studies E4A03 and E9487. We have also interrogated tumors from 45 AA and 196 EA MM patients for somatic copy number abnormalities associated with poor outcome. In addition, 35 AA and 178 EA patients were investigated for a transcriptional profile associated with high-risk disease. Overall, based on this cohort, genetic profiles were similar except for a significantly lower frequency of IgH translocations (40% vs. 52%; p=0.032) in AA patients. Frequency differences of somatic copy number aberrations were not significant after correction for multiple testing. There was also no significant difference in the frequency of high-risk disease based upon gene expression profiling. Our study represents the first comprehensive comparisons of the frequency and distribution of molecular alterations in MM tumors between AA and EA patients. This submission contains 27 of the 45 African American cases analyzed by aCGH. In addition, 196 samples from European American myeloma patients were also analyzed and compared to the 45 African American patients.
Project description:African-Americans with prostate cancer tend to have a more aggressive form of the disease, as compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Nevertheless, African-Americans tend to be underrepresented in most molecular profiling studies of prostate cancer. To investigate DNA copy number alterations (CNAs) in prostate cancer from a cohort of African-Americans, we profiled 20 tumors (each with paired normal) for 500,000 SNPs. Keywords: tumor-normal comparison
Project description:Epienome-wide DNA methylation profiling of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The Illumina HumanMethylation450K Beadchip was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles across approximately 450,000 CpGs in normal human blood samples from females. Samples included 33 non-SLE female patients (control) and 57 SLE female patients. SLE patients:- Ethnicity included 39 African americans and 18 European Americans. SLEDAI score ranged from 2-30. Non-SLE pateients:-Ethnicity indclued 17 African Americans and 16 European Americans, all with a SLEDAI score of zero.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Homo sapiens inflammatory skin diseases (whole skin biospies): Psoriasis (Pso), vs Atopic Dermatitis (AD) vs Lichen planus (Li), vs Contact Eczema (KE), vs Healthy control (KO) In recent years, different genes and proteins have been highlighted as potential biomarkers for psoriasis, one of the most common inflammatory skin diseases worldwide. However, most of these markers are not psoriasis-specific but also found in other inflammatory disorders. We performed an unsupervised cluster analysis of gene expression profiles in 150 psoriasis patients and other inflammatory skin diseases (atopic dermatitis, lichen planus, contact eczema, and healthy controls). We identified a cluster of IL-17/TNFα-associated genes specifically expressed in psoriasis, among which IL-36γ was the most outstanding marker. In subsequent immunohistological analyses IL-36γ was confirmed to be expressed in psoriasis lesions only. IL-36γ peripheral blood serum levels were found to be closely associated with disease activity, and they decreased after anti-TNFα-treatment. Furthermore, IL-36γ immunohistochemistry was found to be a helpful marker in the histological differential diagnosis between psoriasis and eczema in diagnostically challenging cases. These features highlight IL-36γ as a valuable biomarker in psoriasis patients, both for diagnostic purposes and measurement of disease activity during the clinical course. Furthermore, IL-36γ might also provide a future drug target, due to its potential amplifier role in TNFα- and IL-17 pathways in psoriatic skin inflammation. In recent years, different genes and proteins have been highlighted as potential biomarkers for psoriasis, one of the most common inflammatory skin diseases worldwide. However, most of these markers are not psoriasis-specific but also found in other inflammatory disorders. We performed an unsupervised cluster analysis of gene expression profiles in 150 psoriasis patients and other inflammatory skin diseases (atopic dermatitis, lichen planus, contact eczema, and healthy controls). We identified a cluster of IL-17/TNFα-associated genes specifically expressed in psoriasis, among which IL-36γ was the most outstanding marker. In subsequent immunohistological analyses IL-36γ was confirmed to be expressed in psoriasis lesions only. IL-36γ peripheral blood serum levels were found to be closely associated with disease activity, and they decreased after anti-TNFα-treatment. Furthermore, IL-36γ immunohistochemistry was found to be a helpful marker in the histological differential diagnosis between psoriasis and eczema in diagnostically challenging cases. These features highlight IL-36γ as a valuable biomarker in psoriasis patients, both for diagnostic purposes and measurement of disease activity during the clinical course. Furthermore, IL-36γ might also provide a future drug target, due to its potential amplifier role in TNFα- and IL-17 pathways in psoriatic skin inflammation.
Project description:Prostate cancer (PCa) tends to be more aggressive and lethal in African Americans (AA) compared to European Americans (EA). To further understand the biological factors accounting for the PCa disparities observed in AA and EA patients, we performed gene profiling analysis using Affymetrix human exon 1.0 ST arrays to identify the differentially expressed genes in EA PCa vs. EA normal.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of human mesenchymal stem cells comparing normoxic MSCs cells with hypoxic MSCs cells. Hypoxia may inhibit senescence of MSCs during expansion. Goal was to determine the effects of hypoxia on global MSCs gene expression. Two-condition experiment, Normoxic MSCs vs. Hypoxic MSCs.