Publications by authors named "Geno Guerra"
Association of immunoglobulin E levels with glioma risk and survival.
J Natl Cancer Inst
October 2024
Background: Previous epidemiologic studies have reported an association of serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels with reduced glioma risk, but the association between IgE and glioma prognosis has not been characterized. This study aimed to examine how sex, tumor subtype, and IgE class modulate the association of serum IgE levels with glioma risk and survival.
Methods: We conducted a case-control study using participants from the University of California, San Francisco Adult Glioma Study (1997-2010).
Background: Temozolomide (TMZ) treatment has demonstrated, but variable, impact on glioma prognosis. This study examines associations of survival with DNA repair gene germline polymorphisms among glioma patients who did and did not have TMZ treatment. Identifying genetic markers which sensitize tumor cells to TMZ could personalize therapy and improve outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Variations in survival among patients with oligodendroglioma are unexplained by known prognostic factors. To assess the impact of peripheral immune profiles on prognosis, we applied immunomethylomics analyses-DNA methylation of archived whole blood samples, to characterize immune cells.
Methods: We compared the proportions of immune cells from patients with oligodendroglioma to other glioma subtypes and controls.
Article Synopsis
- Polygenic risk scores (PRS) analyze multiple genetic variants to profile individual susceptibility to glioma, highlighting a need for efficient genetic risk assessment due to limited sample sizes in studies.
- The research compared two PRS methods: one incorporating over 1 million variants (PRS-CS) and another limiting to significant variants (PRS-CT), finding PRS-CS more predictive, especially for glioblastoma.
- Overall, PRS-CS significantly increased predictive accuracy and classification of high-risk individuals, suggesting its potential to better identify glioma subtypes and improve risk detection in clinical settings.
Background: Previous epidemiologic studies have reported an association of serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels with reduced glioma risk, but the association between IgE and glioma prognosis has not been characterized. This study aimed to examine how sex, tumor subtype, and IgE class modulate the association of serum IgE levels with glioma risk and survival.
Methods: We conducted a case-control study using participants from the University of California, San Francisco Adult Glioma Study (1997-2010).
Article Synopsis
- Researchers developed a new polygenic risk score (PRS-CS) that leverages data from over 1 million genetic variants to assess glioma risk more accurately than traditional methods.
- The study found that PRS-CS significantly improved risk prediction across glioma subtypes, particularly for glioblastoma, showing a 21% increase in explained variance compared to an older approach (PRS-CT).
- This scoring method could enhance the clinical identification of high-risk individuals and aid in differentiating glioma subtypes based on genetics, which may be beneficial for patient management.
Article Synopsis
- * A recent analysis of 3,418 glioma cases found that a higher platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) increased glioma risk, particularly in specific tumor subtypes, while higher lymphocyte and neutrophil counts were linked to reduced risk, suggesting a potential role of genetics in immune surveillance.
- * Although certain blood cell traits did not correlate with survival in most glioma cases, increased lymphocyte counts were associated with higher mortality in a specific tumor subtype, revealing new insights into immune mechanisms that could affect glioma treatment and management.
Background: Lifetime exposure to the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) has been consistently inversely associated with glioma risk, however, the relationship of VZV with survival in adults with glioma has not been investigated. In this study, we analyzed the survival of adults with glioma in relation to their antibody measurements to 4 common herpes viral infections, including VZV, measured post-diagnosis.
Methods: We analyzed IgG antibody measurements to VZV, cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus 1/2 (HSV), and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) collected from 1378 adults with glioma diagnosed between 1991 and 2010.
Article Synopsis
- Glioma is a deadly type of cancer that may be influenced by genetic factors and infections, with recent studies showing mixed evidence on the role of infections in glioma risk.
- Researchers used genetic predictors to examine the association between immune response to specific viral antigens and glioma risk and survival in a large study group of over 3,400 glioma patients and 8,100 controls.
- They found that certain immune responses to viruses, like Epstein-Barr and Merkel cell polyomavirus, were linked to glioma risk and survival outcomes, and they identified a specific HLA allele associated with a reduced risk of glioma, suggesting the potential for antiviral therapies in treatment.
Covariance of pairwise differences on a multi-species coalescent tree and implications for .
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
June 2022
The multi-species coalescent (MSC) provides a theoretical foundation for modern phylogenetics and comparative population genetics. Its theoretical properties have been heavily studied but there are still aspects of the MSC that are largely unknown, including the covariances in pairwise coalescence times, which are fundamental for understanding the properties of statistics that combine data from multiple species, such as the fixation index (). The major contribution of this study is the derivation and implementation of exact expressions for the covariances of pairwise coalescence times under phylogenetic models with piecewise constant changes in population size, assuming no gene flow after species divergence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIdentifying the genetic mechanisms of adaptation requires the elucidation of links between the evolution of DNA sequence, phenotype, and fitness. Convergent evolution can be used as a guide to identify candidate mutations that underlie adaptive traits, and new genome editing technology is facilitating functional validation of these mutations in whole organisms. We combined these approaches to study a classic case of convergence in insects from six orders, including the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), that have independently evolved to colonize plants that produce cardiac glycoside toxins.
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