Project description:Structural genetic variants like copy number variants (CNVs) comprise a large part of human genetic variation and may be inherited as well as somatically acquired. Recent studies have reported the presence of somatically acquired structural variants in the human genome and it has been suggested that they may accumulate in elderly individuals. To further explore the presence and the age-related acquisition of somatic structural variants in the human genome, we investigated CNVs acquired over a period of 10 years in 86 elderly Danish twins as well as CNV discordances between co-twins of 18 monozygotic twin pairs. Furthermore, the presence of mosaic structural variants was explored.
Project description:Using WGCNA and enrichment analyses to identify pathway level differences between individuals with no cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease. Frozen frontal cortex (BA10) tissue from NCI, MCI, and mild/moderate AD cases (n = 12/group) representing both genders was acquired postmortem from participants in the Rush Religious Orders Study, a longitudinal clinical pathologic study of aging and AD in elderly Catholic clergy
Project description:Diamond Blackfan anemia is a congenital bone marrow failure syndrome characterized by hypoproliferative anemia, often with associated physical abnormalities. Perturbations of the ribosome appear critically important to the development of DBA, as alterations in 9 different ribosomal protein genes have been identified in multiple unrelated families, along with rarer abnormalities of additional ribosomal proteins. However, presently only 50-60% of patients have an identifiable genetic lesion by ribosomal protein gene sequencing. Using genome-wide SNP array to evaluate for regions of recurrent copy variation, we identified 2 patients with mosaic loss in the region of the the chromosome 5-deleted region involved in somatically-acquired 5q- myelodysplastic syndrome. Samples were analyzed on Illumina HumanOmni1_Quad, HumanOmniExpress, or HumanOmniExpressExome Genotyping bead arrays; 1 patient was available for longitudinal study including assessment of mosaicism in lymphoid and myeloid-enriched cell populations before treatement with lenolidamide. Similar studies were performed while on lenoldamide therapy in peripheral blood at 3 months and in bone marrow at 20 months of treatment. One patient with mosaic deletion of 5q was available for longitudinal study including assessment of gene expression in bone marrow before and during treatment with lenalidomide.
Project description:Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the elderly population worldwide. Recent studies have demonstrated strong genetic associations between AMD and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within genes such as CFH and HTRA1. However, we found monozygotic twins had discordant AMD phenotypes (one with disease, the other without disease), suggesting that an epigenetic mechanism may control the pathogenesis of AMD. We obtained genomic DNA from the twins' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and subjected it to DNA methylation-chip analysis (MeDIP-chip) that profiled genome-wide DNA methylation patterns on promoters of all genes and microRNAs. Our MeDIP-chip analysis identified 256 genes with hypo-methylated promoters only in the twins with AMD and 744 genes with hyper-methylated promoters only in the twins with AMD. Importantly, the promoter region of IL17RC was associated with hypo-methylated CpG sites only in the twins with AMD but not in the twins without AMD. Two pairs of twins with discordant AMD phenotypes. MeDIP-chip analysis of DNA methylation patterns in PBMCs.
Project description:Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the elderly population worldwide. Recent studies have demonstrated strong genetic associations between AMD and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within genes such as CFH and HTRA1. However, we found monozygotic twins had discordant AMD phenotypes (one with disease, the other without disease), suggesting that an epigenetic mechanism may control the pathogenesis of AMD. We obtained genomic DNA from the twins' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and subjected it to DNA methylation-chip analysis (MeDIP-chip) that profiled genome-wide DNA methylation patterns on promoters of all genes and microRNAs. Our MeDIP-chip analysis identified 256 genes with hypo-methylated promoters only in the twins with AMD and 744 genes with hyper-methylated promoters only in the twins with AMD. Importantly, the promoter region of IL17RC was associated with hypo-methylated CpG sites only in the twins with AMD but not in the twins without AMD.
Project description:Using the Infinium HM450 platform, we have performed a longitudinal study of DNA methylation at birth and age 18 months in DNA from buccal swabs from 10 monozygotic (MZ) and 5 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs from the Peri/postnatal Epigenetic Twins Study (PETS) cohort.