BRAFV600E/pTERT double mutated papillary thyroid cancers exhibit immune gene suppression.

Introduction: BRAFV600E mutation (BRAF) is common in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), and most patients have an excellent outcome. However, a TERT-promoter mutation (pTERT) in the presence of BRAF (BRAFpTERT) has been demonstrated to confer a more aggressive behavior to PTC. Lymphocytic infiltration is often present in PTC.

Higher and Sustained Cell-Mediated Immune Responses After 3 Doses of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Therapy.

Introduction: Studies suggest that the generation of durable T-cell immunity following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination protects against severe disease. The aim of this study was to measure cell-mediated immune response (CMIR) 1-2 months and 6 months after a third dose of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

Methods: This prospective study (HumoRal and CellULar initial and Sustained immunogenicity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]) evaluated CMIR at 28-65 days (t 1 ) after dose 2, 28-65 days (t 2 ) (n = 183) and 6 months (±45 days) (t 3 ) (n = 167) after a third dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

Th17-inducing dendritic cell vaccines stimulate effective CD4 T cell-dependent antitumor immunity in ovarian cancer that overcomes resistance to immune checkpoint blockade.

Background: Ovarian cancer (OC), a highly lethal cancer in women, has a 48% 5-year overall survival rate. Prior studies link the presence of IL-17 and Th17 T cells in the tumor microenvironment to improved survival in OC patients. To determine if Th17-inducing vaccines are therapeutically effective in OC, we created a murine model of Th17-inducing dendritic cell (DC) (Th17-DC) vaccination generated by stimulating IL-15 while blocking p38 MAPK in bone marrow-derived DCs, followed by antigen pulsing.

Higher Cell-Mediated Immune Responses in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Anti-TNF Therapy After COVID-19 Vaccination.

Background: Some patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on immunosuppressive therapies may have a blunted response to certain vaccines, including the messenger RNA (mRNA) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. However, few studies have evaluated the cell-mediated immune response (CMIR), which is critical to host defense after COVID-19 infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the humoral immune response and CMIR after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in patients with IBD.

TRPC6 N338S is a gain-of-function mutant identified in patient with doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.

The canonical transient receptor potential 6 gene, TRPC6, has been implicated as a putative risk gene for chemotherapy-induced congestive heart failure, but knowledge of specific risk variants is lacking. Following our genome-wide association study and subsequent fine-mapping, a rare missense mutant of TRPC6 N338S, was identified in a breast cancer patient who received anthracycline-containing chemotherapy regiments and developed congestive heart failure. However, the function of N338S mutant has not been examined.

Trpc6 Promotes Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy in Male Mice With Pleiotropic Differences Between Males and Females.

Doxorubicin is a widely used and effective chemotherapy, but the major limiting side effect is cardiomyopathy which in some patients leads to congestive heart failure. Genetic variants in have been associated with the development of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity, suggesting that TRPC6 may be a therapeutic target for cardioprotection in cancer patients. Assessment of deficiency to prevent doxorubicin-induced cardiac damage and function was conducted in male and female B6.

Association of Genetic Variants at With Chemotherapy-Related Heart Failure.

Our previous GWAS identified genetic variants at six novel loci that were associated with a decline in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), < 1 × 10 in 1,191 early breast cancer patients from the N9831 clinical trial of chemotherapy plus trastuzumab. In this study we sought replication of these loci. We tested the top loci from the GWAS for association with chemotherapy-related heart failure (CRHF) using 26 CRHF cases from N9831 and 984 patients from the Mayo Clinic Biobank which included CRHF cases ( = 12) and control groups of patients treated with anthracycline +/- trastuzumab without HF ( = 282) and patients with HF that were never treated with anthracycline or trastuzumab ( = 690).

Folate receptor alpha expression associates with improved disease-free survival in triple negative breast cancer patients.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) comprises 15-20% of all invasive breast cancer and is associated with a poor prognosis. As therapy options are limited for this subtype, there is a significant need to identify new targeted approaches for TNBC patient management. The expression of the folate receptor alpha (FRα) is significantly increased in patients with TNBC and is therefore a potential biomarker and therapeutic target.

Chromoanasynthesis is a common mechanism that leads to ERBB2 amplifications in a cohort of early stage HER2 breast cancer samples.

Background: HER2 positive (HER2+) breast cancers involve chromosomal structural alterations that act as oncogenic driver events.

Methods: We interrogated the genomic structure of 18 clinically-defined HER2+ breast tumors through integrated analysis of whole genome and transcriptome sequencing, coupled with clinical information.

Results: ERBB2 overexpression in 15 of these tumors was associated with ERBB2 amplification due to chromoanasynthesis with six of them containing single events and the other nine exhibiting multiple events.

Generation of HER2-specific antibody immunity during trastuzumab adjuvant therapy associates with reduced relapse in resected HER2 breast cancer.

Background: Resected HER2 breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant trastuzumab and chemotherapy have superior survival compared to patients treated with chemotherapy alone. We previously showed that trastuzumab and chemotherapy induce HER2-specific antibodies which correlate with improved survival in HER2 metastatic breast cancer patients. It remains unclear whether the generation of immunity required trastuzumab and whether endogenous antibody immunity is associated with improved disease-free survival in the adjuvant setting.

Breast Cancer Clinical Trial of Chemotherapy and Trastuzumab: Potential Tool to Identify Cardiac Modifying Variants of Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Doxorubicin and the ERBB2 targeted therapy, trastuzumab, are routinely used in the treatment of HER2+ breast cancer. In mouse models, doxorubicin is known to cause cardiomyopathy and conditional cardiac knock out of Erbb2 results in dilated cardiomyopathy and increased sensitivity to doxorubicin-induced cell death. In humans, these drugs also result in cardiac phenotypes, but severity and reversibility is highly variable.

Comprehensive Genomic Profiling of a Rare Thyroid Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma.

We previously reported an extremely rare case of follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (FDCS) presented as a thyroid mass. Given the rarity of this disease, there are no personalized and molecularly targeted treatment options due to the lack of knowledge in the genomic makeup of the tumor. A 44-year-old white woman was diagnosed with an extranodal FDCS in thyroid.

Genome-wide association study of cardiotoxicity in the NCCTG N9831 (Alliance) adjuvant trastuzumab trial.

Objectives: The major clinical side effect of the ERBB2-targeted breast cancer therapy, trastuzumab, is a decline in the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Improved markers are needed to better identify patients susceptible to cardiotoxicity.

Methods: The NCCTG N9831 trial compared adjuvant doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by either weekly paclitaxel (arm A); paclitaxel then trastuzumab (arm B); or concurrent paclitaxel and trastuzumab (arm C) in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Corrigendum: Recurrent hormone-binding domain truncated ESR1 amplifications in primary endometrial cancers suggest their implication in hormone independent growth.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/srep25521.

The antineoplastic drug, trastuzumab, dysregulates metabolism in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes.

Background: The targeted ERBB2 therapy, trastuzumab, has had a tremendous impact on management of patients with HER2+ breast cancer, leading to development and increased use of further HER2 targeted therapies. The major clinical side effect is cardiotoxicity but the mechanism is largely unknown. On the basis that gene expression is known to be altered in multiple models of heart failure, we examined differential gene expression of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes treated at day 11 with the ERBB2 targeted monoclonal antibody, trastuzumab for 48 h and the small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor of EGFR and ERBB2.

Intrinsic Subtype and Therapeutic Response Among HER2-Positive Breaty st Tumors from the NCCTG (Alliance) N9831 Trial.

Background: Genomic data from human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) tumors were analyzed to assess the association between intrinsic subtype and clinical outcome in a large, well-annotated patient cohort.

Methods: Samples from the NCCTG (Alliance) N9831 trial were analyzed using the Prosigna algorithm on the NanoString platform to define intrinsic subtype, risk of recurrence scores, and risk categories for 1392 HER2+ tumors. Subtypes were evaluated for recurrence-free survival (RFS) using Kaplan-Meier and Cox model analysis following adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 484) or chemotherapy plus trastuzumab (n = 908).

Recurrent hormone-binding domain truncated ESR1 amplifications in primary endometrial cancers suggest their implication in hormone independent growth.

The estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is highly expressed in both endometrial and breast cancers, and represents the most prevalent therapeutic target in breast cancer. However, anti-estrogen therapy has not been shown to be effective in endometrial cancer. Recently it has been shown that hormone-binding domain alterations of ERα in breast cancer contribute to acquired resistance to anti-estrogen therapy.

Assessment of Tumor Heterogeneity, as Evidenced by Gene Expression Profiles, Pathway Activation, and Gene Copy Number, in Patients with Multifocal Invasive Lobular Breast Tumors.

Background: Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) comprises approximately ~10-20% of breast cancers. In general, multifocal/multicentric (MF/MC) breast cancer has been associated with an increased rate of regional lymph node metastases. Tumor heterogeneity between foci represents a largely unstudied source of genomic variation in those rare patients with MF/MC ILC.

Folate receptor-α (FOLR1) expression and function in triple negative tumors.

Folate receptor alpha (FOLR1) has been identified as a potential prognostic and therapeutic target in a number of cancers. A correlation has been shown between intense overexpression of FOLR1 in breast tumors and poor prognosis, yet there is limited examination of the distribution of FOLR1 across clinically relevant breast cancer subtypes. To explore this further, we used RNA-seq data from multiple patient cohorts to analyze the distribution of FOLR1 mRNA across breast cancer subtypes comprised of estrogen receptor positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor positive (HER2+), and triple negative (TNBC) tumors.

MEN1 mutations in Hürthle cell (oncocytic) thyroid carcinoma.

Context And Objective: Oncocytic thyroid carcinoma, also known as Hürthle cell thyroid carcinoma, accounts for only a small percentage of all thyroid cancers. However, this malignancy often presents at an advanced stage and poses unique challenges to patients and clinicians. Surgical resection of the tumor accompanied in some cases by radioactive iodine treatment, radiation, and chemotherapy are the established modes of therapy.

Clinical and molecular features of Hürthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid.

Context: Hürthle cell cancer (HCC) of the thyroid remains the subject of controversy with respect to natural course, treatment, and follow-up.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical and molecular features associated with outcome in HCC.

Design: The study was a review of 173 HCC cases treated at Mayo Clinic over 11 years with a median 5.

RNA sequencing identifies multiple fusion transcripts, differentially expressed genes, and reduced expression of immune function genes in BRAF (V600E) mutant vs BRAF wild-type papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Context: The BRAF V600E mutation (BRAF-MUT) confers an aggressive phenotype in papillary thyroid carcinoma, but unidentified additional genomic abnormalities may be required for full phenotypic expression.

Objective: RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was performed to identify genes differentially expressed between BRAF-MUT and BRAF wild-type (BRAF-WT) tumors and to correlate changes to patient clinical status.

Design: BRAF-MUT and BRAF-WT tumors were identified in patients with T1N0 and T2-3N1 tumors evaluated in a referral medical center.

Gene expression, single nucleotide variant and fusion transcript discovery in archival material from breast tumors.

Advantages of RNA-Seq over array based platforms are quantitative gene expression and discovery of expressed single nucleotide variants (eSNVs) and fusion transcripts from a single platform, but the sensitivity for each of these characteristics is unknown. We measured gene expression in a set of manually degraded RNAs, nine pairs of matched fresh-frozen, and FFPE RNA isolated from breast tumor with the hybridization based, NanoString nCounter (226 gene panel) and with whole transcriptome RNA-Seq using RiboZeroGold ScriptSeq V2 library preparation kits. We performed correlation analyses of gene expression between samples and across platforms.