Integrated multi-omics analyses reveal homology-directed repair pathway as a unique dependency in near-haploid leukemia.

Whole chromosome losses resulting in near-haploid karyotypes are found in a rare subgroup of treatment-refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia. To systematically dissect the unique physiology and uncover susceptibilities that can be exploited in near-haploid leukemia, we leveraged single-cell RNA-Seq and computational inference of cell cycle stages to pinpoint key differences between near-haploid and diploid leukemia cells. Combining cell cycle stage-specific differential expression with gene essentiality scores from a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockout screen, we identified the homologous recombination pathway component RAD51B as an essential gene in near-haploid leukemia.

The T-cell-directed vaccine BNT162b4 encoding conserved non-spike antigens protects animals from severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.

T cell responses play an important role in protection against beta-coronavirus infections, including SARS-CoV-2, where they associate with decreased COVID-19 disease severity and duration. To enhance T cell immunity across epitopes infrequently altered in SARS-CoV-2 variants, we designed BNT162b4, an mRNA vaccine component that is intended to be combined with BNT162b2, the spike-protein-encoding vaccine. BNT162b4 encodes variant-conserved, immunogenic segments of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid, membrane, and ORF1ab proteins, targeting diverse HLA alleles.