Project description:Assessment of tumor pathological and transcriptional biomarkers in pre- and on-treatment core biopsies predictive of response and outcome after neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus Bevacizumab in patients with HER2-negative breast cancer: Results from a multi-center, single-arm, phase 2 study (the PROMIX trial) Global gene expression profiling was performed on samples from 3 time points (baseline, after 2 cycles and surgery) from women with breast cancer receivcing neoadjuvant chemotherapy with bevacizumab in a phase 2 trial
Project description:MITO16/MaNGO-OV2 (NCT01706120) is a multicenter, phase IV, single arm trial for advanced stage IIIB-IV or recurrent, previously untreated, ovarian cancer patients receiving carboplatin, paclitaxel plus bevacizumab for six 3-weekly cycles followed by bevacizumab single agent until progression or unacceptable toxicity up to a maximum of 22 total cycles. The trial that was specifically designed with a translational primary endpoint to explore if selected clinical and biological factors could identify ovarian cancer patients with better prognosis in terms of progression free survival and overall survival after combined first-line treatment with chemotherapy plus Bevacizumab. The translational study, designed together with the clinical trial, the translational study implicated the collection of patients’ tissue (formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded – FFPE) and blood samples. Gene expression profile was among the molecular analyses proposed on FFPE samples.
Project description:A Cartes d'Identite des Tumeurs (CIT) project from the French National League Against Cancer (http://cit.ligue-cancer.net ) 25 glioblastoma multiforme tumors hybridized on Illumina SNP and Affymetrix gene expression arrays. Project leader : François DUCRAY (francois.ducray@chu-lyon.fr). CIT Analysis : Julien LAFFAIRE (laffairej@ligue-cancer.net). Note: PFS : progression-free survival, OS: Overall Survival,BCNU : Carmustine (chemotherapy agent). RESPONDER: if the patient has shown or not shown a response to the treatment (Bevacizumab (Avastin) plus Irinotecan). Progression during : If the disease has progressed (cancer relapse or patient's death); otherwise (patient is alive without relapse).
Project description:In the current study, we used exon arrays and clinical samples from a previous trial (SAKK 19/05) to investigate the expression variations at the exon-level of 3 genes potentially playing a key role in modulating treatment response (EGFR, KRAS, VEGFA). Exon-level biomarkers for the response to targeted therapy bevacizumab/erlotinib were identified in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer Multicenter, prospective, open-label, single-arm, phase II trial.
Project description:This randomized phase II trial studies how well paclitaxel with or without carboplatin and/or bevacizumab followed by doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide works in treating patients with breast cancer that can be removed by surgery. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as paclitaxel, carboplatin, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Bevacizumab may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking blood flow to the tumor. Giving chemotherapy together with bevacizumab before surgery may make the tumor smaller and reduce the amount of normal tissue that needs to be removed.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.
Project description:As the evolution of miRNA genes has been found to be one of the important factors in formation of the modern type of man, we performed a comparative analysis of the evolution of miRNA genes in two archaic hominines, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens denisova, and elucidated the expression of their target mRNAs in bain.A comparative analysis of the genomes of primates, including species in the genus Homo, identified a group of miRNA genes having fixed substitutions with important implications for the evolution of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens denisova. The mRNAs targeted by miRNAs with mutations specific for Homo sapiens denisova exhibited enhanced expression during postnatal brain development in modern humans. By contrast, the expression of mRNAs targeted by miRNAs bearing variations specific for Homo sapiens neanderthalensis was shown to be enhanced in prenatal brain development.Our results highlight the importance of changes in miRNA gene sequences in the course of Homo sapiens denisova and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis evolution. The genetic alterations of miRNAs regulating the spatiotemporal expression of multiple genes in the prenatal and postnatal brain may contribute to the progressive evolution of brain function, which is consistent with the observations of fine technical and typological properties of tools and decorative items reported from archaeological Denisovan sites. The data also suggest that differential spatial-temporal regulation of gene products promoted by the subspecies-specific mutations in the miRNA genes might have occurred in the brains of Homo sapiens denisova and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, potentially contributing to the cultural differences between these two archaic hominines.
Project description:PurposeWe investigated the evidence of recent positive selection in the human phototransduction system at single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and gene level.MethodsSNP genotyping data from the International HapMap Project for European, Eastern Asian, and African populations was used to discover differences in haplotype length and allele frequency between these populations. Numeric selection metrics were computed for each SNP and aggregated into gene-level metrics to measure evidence of recent positive selection. The level of recent positive selection in phototransduction genes was evaluated and compared to a set of genes shown previously to be under recent selection, and a set of highly conserved genes as positive and negative controls, respectively.ResultsSix of 20 phototransduction genes evaluated had gene-level selection metrics above the 90th percentile: RGS9, GNB1, RHO, PDE6G, GNAT1, and SLC24A1. The selection signal across these genes was found to be of similar magnitude to the positive control genes and much greater than the negative control genes.ConclusionsThere is evidence for selective pressure in the genes involved in retinal phototransduction, and traces of this selective pressure can be demonstrated using SNP-level and gene-level metrics of allelic variation. We hypothesize that the selective pressure on these genes was related to their role in low light vision and retinal adaptation to ambient light changes. Uncovering the underlying genetics of evolutionary adaptations in phototransduction not only allows greater understanding of vision and visual diseases, but also the development of patient-specific diagnostic and intervention strategies.