Publications by authors named "Chun-Yee Lau"

Article Synopsis
  • The study explores using patient portal messaging to recruit underrepresented individuals for the All of Us Research Program, aiming to improve diversity in biomedical research.
  • A large-scale outreach was conducted at Columbia University, where over 59,000 patients were messaged, resulting in a 15.1% response rate and showing varying engagement levels among different racial and ethnic groups.
  • While the method increased outreach efficiency, the researchers found that underrepresented groups struggled more with initial consent and message engagement, highlighting the need for targeted strategies to enhance participation.
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The All of Us (AoU) Research Program aggregates electronic health records (EHR) data from 300,00+ participants spanning 50+ distinct data sites. The diversity and size of AoU's data network result in multifaceted obstacles to data integration that may undermine the usability of patient EHR. Consequently, the AoU team implemented data quality tools to regularly evaluate and communicate EHR data quality issues at scale.

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Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare cancer type that originates in the salivary glands. Tumors commonly invade along nerve tracks in the head and neck, making surgery challenging. Follow-up treatments for recurrence or metastasis including chemotherapy and targeted therapies have shown limited efficacy, emphasizing the need for new therapies.

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Context: Pituitary corticotroph adenomas are rare tumors that can be associated with excess adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and adrenal cortisol production, resulting in the clinically debilitating endocrine condition Cushing disease. A subset of corticotroph tumors behave aggressively, and genomic drivers behind the development of these tumors are largely unknown.

Objective: To investigate genomic drivers of corticotroph tumors at risk for aggressive behavior.

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Colorectal cancer remains a leading source of cancer mortality worldwide. Initial response is often followed by emergent resistance that is poorly responsive to targeted therapies, reflecting currently undruggable cancer drivers such as and overall genomic complexity. Here, we report a novel approach to developing a personalized therapy for a patient with treatment-resistant metastatic KRAS-mutant colorectal cancer.

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Cushing's disease (CD) is caused by pituitary corticotroph adenomas that secrete excess adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). In these tumors, somatic mutations in the gene have been identified as recurrent and pathogenic and are the sole known molecular driver for CD. Although other somatic mutations were reported in these studies, their contribution to the pathogenesis of CD remains unexplored.

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Article Synopsis
  • Parathyroid carcinoma (PC) is a rare cancer with limited treatment options, prompting researchers to analyze genetic data from 17 patients.
  • They found that 47% of the tumors had mutations in a tumor suppressor gene, with some patients also carrying inherited mutations.
  • The study identified significant alterations in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and mutations in the Wnt pathway, marking it as the largest genomic study of PC so far, aimed at enhancing understanding and treatment strategies.
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Background: Personalized therapy provides the best outcome of cancer care and its implementation in the clinic has been greatly facilitated by recent convergence of enormous progress in basic cancer research, rapid advancement of new tumor profiling technologies, and an expanding compendium of targeted cancer therapeutics.

Methods: We developed a personalized cancer therapy (PCT) program in a clinical setting, using an integrative genomics approach to fully characterize the complexity of each tumor. We carried out whole exome sequencing (WES) and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray genotyping on DNA from tumor and patient-matched normal specimens, as well as RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) on available frozen specimens, to identify somatic (tumor-specific) mutations, copy number alterations (CNAs), gene expression changes, gene fusions, and also germline variants.

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Adherent cells in culture maintain a polarized state to support movement and intercellular interactions. Nanopodia are thin, elongated, largely F-actin-negative membrane projections in endothelial and cancer cells that can be visualized through TM4SF1 (Transmembrane-4-L-six-family-1) immunofluorescence staining. TM4SF1 clusters in 100-300 μm diameter TMED (TM4SF1 enriched microdomains) containing 3 to as many as 14 individual TM4SF1 molecules.

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