Publications by authors named "Jamie S-L Kwok"

The field of cancer genomics and transcriptomics has evolved from targeted profiling to swift sequencing of individual tumor genome and transcriptome. The steady growth in genome, epigenome, and transcriptome datasets on a genome-wide scale has significantly increased our capability in capturing signatures that represent both the intrinsic and extrinsic biological features of tumors. These biological differences can help in precise molecular subtyping of cancer, predicting tumor progression, metastatic potential, and resistance to therapeutic agents.

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Microbiome mediates early life immune deviation in asthma development. Recurrent wheeze (RW) in pre-school years is a risk factor for asthma diagnosis in school-age children. Dysbiosis exists in asthmatic airways, while its origin in pre-school years and relationship to RW is not clearly defined.

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  • The study looks at how constant ovulation and certain cysts in chickens relate to ovarian cancer in humans.
  • It focuses on a special group of tiny molecules called miR-200 that are found in high amounts in ovarian cancer cells.
  • The researchers found that when miR-200 is present, it helps cells behave differently and could be connected to how ovaries function and develop cancer.
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While bats are increasingly recognized as a source of coronavirus epidemics, the diversity and emergence potential of bat coronaviruses remains to be fully understood. Among 1779 bat samples collected in China, diverse coronaviruses were detected in 32 samples from five different bat species by RT-PCR. Two novel alphacoronaviruses, bat coronavirus HKU32 (Rs-BatCoV HKU32) and bat coronavirus HKU33 (Tr-BatCoV HKU33), were discovered from Chinese horseshoe bats in Hong Kong and greater bamboo bats in Guizhou Province, respectively.

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RNA transcripts circulating in peripheral blood represent an important source of non-invasive biomarkers. To accurately quantify the levels of circulating transcripts, one needs to normalize the data with internal control reference genes, which are detected at relatively constant levels across blood samples. A few reference gene candidates have to be selected from transcriptome data before the validation of their stable expression by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

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  • Giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB) is the most common benign bone tumor in Hong Kong, presenting challenges in treatment due to aggressive local recurrence.
  • This study utilized RNA-sequencing to analyze gene expression differences between GCTB stromal cells and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, identifying 174 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and significant molecular pathways.
  • The findings suggest potential therapeutic targets, particularly noting the up-regulation of specific genes like SPP1, and call for further investigation into their roles in GCTB pathogenesis.
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Clostridium butyricum is one of the species frequently present in patients' stool samples. However, the identification of this species is sometimes difficult. Here, we present the draft genome of Clostridium butyricum NOR 33234, which was isolated from a patient with suspected Clostridium difficile infection-associated diarrhea and resembles Clostridium clostridioforme in biochemical tests.

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