31 results match your criteria: "Biogem Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics[Affiliation]"

Congenital nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI; also known as arginine vasopressin resistance) is a rare inherited disorder of water homeostasis, caused by insensitivity of the distal nephron to arginine vasopressin. Consequently, the kidney loses its ability to concentrate urine, which leads to polyuria, polydipsia and the risk of hypertonic dehydration. The diagnosis and management of NDI are very challenging and require an integrated, multidisciplinary approach.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluates various deconvolution methods that estimate immune cell levels in tumor samples based on gene expression data during a DREAM Challenge.
  • While many established methods perform adequately for most immune cell types, they struggle with accurately assessing all states of functional CD8+ T cells.
  • Community-contributed methods, particularly a deep learning approach, have shown promising results and could enhance the development of deconvolution techniques, especially in identifying functional CD4+ T cell states.
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Background: The growing understanding of cancer biology and the establishment of new treatment modalities has not yielded the expected results in terms of survival for Laryngeal Squamous Cell Cancer (LSCC). Early diagnosis, as well as prompt identification of patients with high risk of relapse would ensure greater chance of therapeutic success. However, this goal remains a challenge due to the absence of specific biomarkers for this neoplasm.

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Background: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive primary brain tumor, that is refractory to standard treatment and to immunotherapy with immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Noteworthy, melanoma brain metastases (MM-BM), that share the same niche as GBM, frequently respond to current ICI therapies. Epigenetic modifications regulate GBM cellular proliferation, invasion, and prognosis and may negatively regulate the cross-talk between malignant cells and immune cells in the tumor milieu, likely contributing to limit the efficacy of ICI therapy of GBM.

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  • The study addresses the need for predictive biomarkers for the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using data from two clinical trials.
  • A competition, the Anti-PD-1 Response Prediction DREAM Challenge, involved 59 teams submitting 417 predictive models based on various biological variables to forecast patient outcomes with ICIs.
  • The results indicate that the best models outperformed existing reference variables like tumor mutational burden (TMB) and PD-L1 expression, potentially paving the way for future research in other cancers with similar approaches.
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Pan-cancer proteogenomics characterization of tumor immunity.

Cell

February 2024

Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA; Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Despite the notable advancements in immunotherapy for cancer, only a small percentage (less than 20%) show lasting responses to immune checkpoint blockade, leading researchers to consider combination therapies that target multiple immune evasion strategies.
  • Researchers analyzed data from over 1,000 tumors across ten cancers to identify seven distinct immune subtypes, examining their unique genomic, epigenetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic characteristics.
  • By investigating kinase activities linked to these immune subtypes, the study uncovered potential therapeutic targets that could improve future immunotherapy approaches and precision medicine.
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Background: Several evidence demonstrated that glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RAs) reduce the risk of dementia in type 2 diabetes patients by improving memory, learning, and overcoming cognitive impairment. In this study, we elucidated the molecular processes underlying the protective effect of Tirzepatide (TIR), a dual glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor agonist (GIP-RA)/ GLP-1RA, against learning and memory disorders.

Methods: We investigated the effects of TIR on markers of neuronal growth (CREB and BDNF), apoptosis (BAX/Bcl2 ratio) differentiation (pAkt, MAP2, GAP43, and AGBL4), and insulin resistance (GLUT1, GLUT4, GLUT3 and SORBS1) in a neuroblastoma cell line (SHSY5Y) exposed to normal and high glucose concentration.

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On the wake of metformin: Do anti-diabetic SGLT2 inhibitors exert anti-aging effects?

Ageing Res Rev

December 2023

Department of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy; UniCamillus, International Medical University, Rome, Italy.

Here we propose that SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), a class of drugs primarily used to treat type 2 diabetes, could also be repositioned as anti-aging senomorphic drugs (agents that prevent the extrinsic harmful effects of senescent cells). As observed for metformin, another anti-diabetic drug with established anti-aging potential, increasing evidence suggests that SGLT2i can modulate some relevant pathways associated with the aging process, such as free radical production, cellular energy regulation through AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), autophagy, and the activation of nuclear factor (NF)-kB/inflammasome. Some interesting pro-healthy effects were also observed on human microbiota.

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Sampling restrictions have hindered the comprehensive study of invasive non-enhancing (NE) high-grade glioma (HGG) cell populations driving tumor progression. Here, we present an integrated multi-omic analysis of spatially matched molecular and multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) profiling across 313 multi-regional tumor biopsies, including 111 from the NE, across 68 HGG patients. Whole exome and RNA sequencing uncover unique genomic alterations to unresectable invasive NE tumor, including subclonal events, which inform genomic models predictive of geographic evolution.

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Association with hypomethylating agents is a promising strategy to improve the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors-based therapy. The NIBIT-M4 was a phase Ib, dose-escalation trial in patients with advanced melanoma of the hypomethylating agent guadecitabine combined with the anti-CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab that followed a traditional 3 + 3 design (NCT02608437). Patients received guadecitabine 30, 45 or 60 mg/m/day subcutaneously on days 1 to 5 every 3 weeks starting on week 0 for a total of four cycles, and ipilimumab 3 mg/kg intravenously starting on day 1 of week 1 every 3 weeks for a total of four cycles.

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Motivation: The process of drug development is inherently complex, marked by extended intervals from the inception of a pharmaceutical agent to its eventual launch in the market. Additionally, each phase in this process is associated with a significant failure rate, amplifying the inherent challenges of this task. Computational virtual screening powered by machine learning algorithms has emerged as a promising approach for predicting therapeutic efficacy.

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An integrated tumor, immune and microbiome atlas of colon cancer.

Nat Med

May 2023

Translational Medicine Division, Research Branch, Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar.

The lack of multi-omics cancer datasets with extensive follow-up information hinders the identification of accurate biomarkers of clinical outcome. In this cohort study, we performed comprehensive genomic analyses on fresh-frozen samples from 348 patients affected by primary colon cancer, encompassing RNA, whole-exome, deep T cell receptor and 16S bacterial rRNA gene sequencing on tumor and matched healthy colon tissue, complemented with tumor whole-genome sequencing for further microbiome characterization. A type 1 helper T cell, cytotoxic, gene expression signature, called Immunologic Constant of Rejection, captured the presence of clonally expanded, tumor-enriched T cell clones and outperformed conventional prognostic molecular biomarkers, such as the consensus molecular subtype and the microsatellite instability classifications.

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Single-cell RNA sequencing is the reference technology to characterize the composition of the tumor microenvironment and to study tumor heterogeneity at high resolution. Here we report Single CEll Variational ANeuploidy analysis (SCEVAN), a fast variational algorithm for the deconvolution of the clonal substructure of tumors from single-cell RNA-seq data. It uses a multichannel segmentation algorithm exploiting the assumption that all the cells in a given copy number clone share the same breakpoints.

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Despite producing a panoply of potential cancer-specific targets, the proteogenomic characterization of human tumors has yet to demonstrate value for precision cancer medicine. Integrative multi-omics using a machine-learning network identified master kinases responsible for effecting phenotypic hallmarks of functional glioblastoma subtypes. In subtype-matched patient-derived models, we validated PKCδ and DNA-PK as master kinases of glycolytic/plurimetabolic and proliferative/progenitor subtypes, respectively, and qualified the kinases as potent and actionable glioblastoma subtype-specific therapeutic targets.

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Pan-cancer onco-signatures reveal a novel mitochondrial subtype of luminal breast cancer with specific regulators.

J Transl Med

January 2023

Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Claudio 21, 80128, Naples, Italy.

Background: Somatic alterations in cancer cause dysregulation of signaling pathways that control cell-cycle progression, apoptosis, and cell growth. The effect of individual alterations in these pathways differs between individual tumors and tumor types. Recognizing driver events is a complex task requiring integrating multiple molecular data, including genomics, epigenomics, and functional genomics.

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Analytic pipelines to assess the relationship between immune response and germline genetics in human tumors.

STAR Protoc

December 2022

Human Immunology Department, Cancer Program, Research Branch, Sidra Medicine, PO Box 26999, Doha, Qatar; College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar; Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (Di.M.I.), University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy. Electronic address:

Germline genetic variants modulate human immune response. We present analytical pipelines for assessing the contribution of hosts' genetic background to the immune landscape of solid tumors using harmonized data from more than 9,000 patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). These include protocols for heritability, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), colocalization, and rare variant analyses.

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Landscape of immune-related signatures induced by targeting of different epigenetic regulators in melanoma: implications for immunotherapy.

J Exp Clin Cancer Res

November 2022

Human Tumors Immunobiology Unit, Department of Research, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Via Venezian 1, 20133, Milan, Italy.

Article Synopsis
  • This study explores the effectiveness of combining immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) with various epigenetic drugs to boost immune responses in melanoma.
  • Different epigenetic inhibitors, like guadecitabine and givinostat, impact gene expression in melanoma cells differently, particularly affecting immune-related genes.
  • Results from patient biopsies show that guadecitabine treatment enhances specific immune gene signatures, indicating its potential effectiveness in ICB therapies compared to other epigenetic drugs.
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Background: Mutations in , which encodes the intracellular glucose transporter G6PT, cause the rare glycogen storage disease type 1b (GSD1b). A long-term consequence of GSD1b is kidney failure, which requires KRT. The main protein markers of proximal tubule function, including NaPi2A, NHE3, SGLT2, GLUT2, and AQP1, are downregulated as part of the disease phenotype.

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Article Synopsis
  • The CBX2 protein, part of the PRC1 complex, is found to be overexpressed in leukemia and may play a significant role in cancer cell survival and leukemic pathogenesis.
  • Researchers used reverse genetic methods and various assays to study the effects of silencing CBX2 in human leukemia cell lines, discovering that reduced levels lead to decreased cell proliferation and increased apoptosis.
  • The study indicates that targeting CBX2 could alter epigenetic regulation and transcriptional programs in leukemia, suggesting that the CBX2-p38 MAPK pathway may be a promising target for new therapies in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
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Accumulation of uremic toxins may lead to the life-threatening condition "uremic syndrome" in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) requiring renal replacement therapy. Clinical evaluation of proximal tubular secretion of organic cations (OC), of which some are uremic toxins, is desired, but difficult. The biomedical knowledge on OC secretion and cellular transport partly relies on studies using the fluorescent tracer 4-dimethylaminostyryl)--methylpyridinium (ASP+), which has been used in many studies of renal excretion mechanisms of organic ions and which could be a candidate as a PET tracer.

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Autophagy is a lysosome dependent cell survival mechanism and is central to the maintenance of organismal homeostasis in both physiological and pathological situations. Targeting autophagy in cancer therapy attracted considerable attention in the past as stress-induced autophagy has been demonstrated to contribute to both drug resistance and malignant progression and recently interest in this area has re-emerged. Unlocking the therapeutic potential of autophagy modulation could be a valuable strategy for designing innovative tools for cancer treatment.

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Breast cancer (BC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, although recent scientific and technological achievements have led to significant improvements in progression-free disease and overall survival of patients. Genetic mutations and epigenetic modifications play a critical role in deregulating gene expression, leading to uncontrolled cell proliferation and cancer progression. Aberrant histone modifications are one of the most frequent epigenetic mechanisms occurring in cancer.

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