Publications by authors named "Victor Murcia Pienkowski"

Article Synopsis
  • * Recent research used advanced genetic sequencing techniques to uncover a new fusion gene (CRTC1::MAML2) and a surprising rearrangement of the MAML2 gene to MYBL1, hinting at MYBL1's potential role in salivary gland cancers.
  • * The study also found that TERT gene rearrangements and amplifications are common in MEC tumors, with TERT playing a crucial role in tumor growth, as demonstrated
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Purpose: Developing innovative precision and personalized cancer therapeutics is essential to enhance cancer survivability, particularly for prevalent cancer types such as colorectal cancer. This study aims to demonstrate various approaches for discovering new targets for precision therapies using artificial intelligence (AI) on a Polish cohort of colorectal cancer patients.

Methods: We analyzed 71 patients with histopathologically confirmed advanced resectional colorectal adenocarcinoma.

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Rab GTPases are important regulators of intracellular vesicular trafficking. RAB5C is a member of the Rab GTPase family that plays an important role in the endocytic pathway, membrane protein recycling and signaling. Here we report on 12 individuals with nine different heterozygous de novo variants in RAB5C.

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LAS1L encodes a nucleolar ribosomal biogenesis protein and is also a component of the Five Friends of Methylated CHTOP (5FMC) complex. Mutations in the LAS1L gene can be associated with Wilson−Turner syndrome (WTS) and, much more rarely, severe infantile hypotonia with respiratory failure. Here, we present an eighteen-month old boy with a phenotype of spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress (SMARD).

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In recent years great progress has been made in identification of structural variants (SV) in the human genome. However, the interpretation of SVs, especially located in non-coding DNA, remains challenging. One of the reasons stems in the lack of tools exclusively designed for clinical SVs evaluation acknowledging the 3D chromatin architecture.

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The occurrence of MYC-negative Burkitt lymphoma (BL) has been discussed for many years. The real frequency of the MYC insertion in MYC-negative BL is still unknown. Fine-needle aspiration biopsies of 108 consecutive patients with clinicopathologically suspected BL (suspBL) were evaluated by flow cytometry, classical cytogenetics, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

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Article Synopsis
  • - Researchers investigated the effects of preconditioning mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) with hypoxia and the HIFα stabilizer Vadadustat to enhance their therapeutic potential, focusing on gene expression changes.
  • - They analyzed human bone marrow-derived MSCs subjected to 6 hours of either hypoxia or Vadadustat treatment, resulting in a significant number of differentially expressed genes: 250 for hypoxia, 1071 for Vadadustat, and 1770 when comparing Vadadustat to hypoxia.
  • - The findings revealed that while both preconditioning methods enriched genes related to metabolism, Vadadustat specifically influenced genes involved in vesicular transport, chromatin modifications, and signaling
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  • Adaptor protein complexes play a key role in the transportation of proteins within neurons and are linked to various human disorders, including intellectual disabilities.
  • This study identifies specific variants in the AP1G1 gene, which are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by issues like intellectual disabilities and epilepsy across eleven diverse families.
  • Experimental evidence shows that these variants affect the protein's structure and functionality, impacting cellular processes and leading to severe developmental defects in model organisms like zebrafish.
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REV3L encodes a catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase zeta (Pol zeta) which is essential for the tolerance of DNA damage by inducing translesion synthesis (TLS). So far, the only Mendelian disease associated with REV3L was Moebius syndrome (3 patients with dominant REV3L mutations causing monoallelic loss-of-function were reported). We describe a homozygous ultra-rare REV3L variant (T2753R) identified with whole exome sequencing in a child without Moebius syndrome but with developmental delay, hypotrophy, and dysmorphic features who was born to healthy parents (heterozygous carriers of the variant).

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  • - Claudin-11 is a crucial protein for myelin formation, and researchers found new genetic variants in the CLDN11 gene in three people with neurological disorders, including movement and speech issues, and eye problems like hypermetropia.
  • - Brain MRIs revealed myelin deficits and differences in imaging results, hinting at some myelination progress differing in central and peripheral white matter.
  • - Genetic analysis showed specific stop-loss variants in CLDN11 that lead to a potentially altered version of the claudin-11 protein; this discovery adds to our understanding of rare genetic disorders affecting myelin development.
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De novo balanced chromosomal aberrations (BCAs), such as reciprocal translocations and inversions, are genomic aberrations that, in approximately 25% of cases, affect the human phenotype. Delineation of the exact structure of BCAs may provide a precise diagnosis and/or point to new disease loci. We report on six patients with de novo balanced chromosomal translocations (BCTs) and one patient with a de novo inversion, in whom we mapped breakpoints to a resolution of 1 bp, using shallow whole-genome mate pair sequencing.

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POLG2 associated disorders belong to the group of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diseases and present with a heterogeneous clinical spectrum, various age of onset, and disease severity. We report a 39-year old female presenting with childhood-onset and progressive neuroophthalmic manifestation with optic atrophy, mixed polyneuropathy, spinal and cerebellar ataxia and generalized chorea associated with mtDNA depletion. Whole-exome sequencing identified an ultra-rare homozygous missense mutation located at Chr17: 062474101-C > A (p.

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Retinoid acid receptors (RAR) are transcription factors that bind retinoic acid (RA), a metabolite of vitamin A. RARs are composed of three subunits encoded by RARA, RARB and RARG. In humans, RARB defects cause syndromic microphthalmia.

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Inherited ataxias are a group of highly heterogeneous, complex neurological disorders representing a significant diagnostic challenge in clinical practice. We performed a next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis in 10 index cases with unexplained progressive cerebellar ataxia of suspected autosomal recessive inheritance. A definite molecular diagnosis was obtained in 5/10 families and included the following diseases: autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay, POLR3B-related hypomyelinating leukodystrophy, primary coenzyme Q10 deficiency type 4, Niemann-Pick disease type C1 and SYNE1-related ataxia.

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Background: Mapping the breakpoints in de novo balanced chromosomal translocations (BCT) in symptomatic individuals provides a unique opportunity to identify in an unbiased way the likely causative genetic defect and thus find novel human disease candidate genes. Our aim was to fine-map breakpoints of de novo BCTs in a case series of nine patients.

Methods: Shallow whole-genome mate pair sequencing (SGMPS) together with long-range PCR and Sanger sequencing.

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PPP3CA encodes calmodulin-binding catalytic subunit of calcineurin, a ubiquitously expressed calcium/calmodulin-regulated protein phosphatase. Recently de novo PPP3CA variants were reported as a cause of disease in 12 subjects presenting with epileptic encephalopathy and dysmorphic features. We describe a boy with similar phenotype and severe early onset epileptic encephalopathy in whom a novel de novo c.

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Protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 4 (PTPN4) encodes non-receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase implicated in synaptic plasticity and innate immune response. The only report of PTPN4-associated disease described a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with a whole gene deletion. We describe a child with developmental delay, autistic features, hypotonia, increased immunoglobulin E and dental problems with a novel mosaic de novo variant in PTPN4 (hg19 chr2:g.

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The HNRNPH2-associated disease (mental retardation, X-linked, syndromic, Bain type [MRXSB, MIM #300986]) is caused by de novo mutations in the X-linked HNRNPH2 gene. MRXSB has been described in six female patients with dysmorphy, developmental delay, intellectual disability, autism, hypotonia and seizures. The reported HNRNPH2 mutations were clustered in the small domain encoding nuclear localization signal; in particular, the p.

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Mapping of de novo balanced chromosomal translocations (BCTs) in patients with sporadic poorly characterized disease(s) is an unbiased method of finding candidate gene(s) responsible for the observed symptoms. We present a paediatric patient suffering from epilepsy, developmental delay (DD) and atrial septal defect IIº (ASD) requiring surgery. Karyotyping indicated an apparently balanced de novo reciprocal translocation 46,XX,t(3;4)(p25.

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Overgrowth, macrocephaly, accelerated osseous maturation, variable intellectual disability, and characteristic facial features are the main symptoms of Weaver syndrome, a rare condition caused by mutations in EZH2 gene. Recently, in four patients with Weaver-like symptoms without mutations in EZH2 gene, pathogenic variants in EED were described. We present another patient clinically diagnosed with Weaver syndrome in whom WES revealed an EED de novo mutation affecting two neighboring aminoacids, NM_003797.

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Background: Implementation of whole exome sequencing has provided unique opportunity for a wide screening of causative variants in genetically heterogeneous diseases, including nonsyndromic hearing impairment. TRIOBP in the inner ear is responsible for proper structure and function of stereocilia and is necessary for sound transduction.

Methods: Whole exome sequencing followed by Sanger sequencing was conducted on patients derived from Polish hearing loss family.

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