West African Genetic Ancestry and Breast Cancer Outcomes Among Black Women.

Importance: Young Black women bear a disproportionate burden of breast cancer deaths compared with White women, yet they remain underrepresented in genomic studies.

Objective: To evaluate the association of biological factors, including West African genetic ancestry, and nonbiological factors with disease-free survival (DFS) among young Black women with breast cancer.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This observational cohort study included Black women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2016.

The Functional Transcriptomic Landscape Informs Therapeutic Strategies in Multiple Myeloma.

Several therapeutic agents have been approved for treating multiple myeloma, a cancer of bone marrow-resident plasma cells. Predictive biomarkers for drug response could help guide clinical strategies to optimize outcomes. In this study, we present an integrated functional genomic analysis of tumor samples from patients multiple myeloma that were assessed for their ex vivo drug sensitivity to 37 drugs, clinical variables, cytogenetics, mutational profiles, and transcriptomes.

Evaluating the Radiation Sensitivity Index and 12-chemokine gene expression signature for clinical use in a CLIA laboratory.

Background: The radiation sensitivity index (RSI) and 12-chemokine gene expression signature (12CK GES) are two gene expression signatures (GES) that were previously developed to predict tumor radiation sensitivity or identify the presence of tertiary lymphoid structures in tumors, respectively. To advance the use of these GES into clinical trial evaluation, their assays must be assessed within the context of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) process.

Methods: Using HG-U133Plus 2.

Structural Mapping of Polyclonal IgG Responses to HA After Influenza Virus Vaccination or Infection.

Cellular and molecular characterization of immune responses elicited by influenza virus infection and seasonal vaccination have informed efforts to improve vaccine efficacy, breadth, and longevity. Here, we use negative stain electron microscopy polyclonal epitope mapping (nsEMPEM) to structurally characterize the humoral IgG antibody responses to hemagglutinin (HA) from human patients vaccinated with a seasonal quadrivalent flu vaccine or infected with influenza A viruses. Our data show that both vaccinated and infected patients had humoral IgGs targeting highly conserved regions on both H1 and H3 subtype HAs, including the stem and anchor, which are targets for universal influenza vaccine design.