Here, we employed cDNA amplicon sequencing using a long - read portable sequencer, MinION, to characterize various
types of mutations in cancer - related genes, namely, EGFR, KRAS, NRAS and NF1.
Other
types of mutations in DNA can occur when small segments of DNA break off the chromosome.
In a new analysis, researchers have shed light on these hereditary elements across 12 cancer types — showing a surprising inherited component to stomach cancer and providing some needed clarity on the consequences of certain
types of mutations in well - known breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2.
Perhaps shedding light on this mystery, the researchers found three different
types of mutations in the estrogen receptor in patients whose cancer was resistant to anti-hormone therapy.
Lo's team confronted this problem by studying a couple who each carry different
types of mutation in a gene involved in making hemoglobin.
When a member of Rozen's team spotted the same
type of mutation in liver cancer, the group wondered if plants that contain aristolochic acid might increase a person's risk of developing the disease.
Not exact matches
Using several techniques to gauge the effects
of these
mutations, which are the most common
type of variant
in the human genome, Akey estimated that more than 80 percent are probably harmful to us.
In recent years, scientists have devised drugs to target specific mutations in one type of cance
In recent years, scientists have devised drugs to target specific
mutations in one type of cance
in one
type of cancer.
Mutations in these genes have been associated with one
of the deadliest
types of ovarian cancer, called clear cell carcinoma.
Researchers at the University
of Maryland School
of Medicine have identified a
mutation in a fat - storage gene that appears to increase the risk for
type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders, according to a study published online
in the New England Journal
of Medicine.
«We found that Amish people with this
mutation have defects
in fat storage, increased fat
in the liver, high triglycerides, low «good» (HDL) cholesterol, insulin resistance and increased risk
of developing
type 2 diabetes,» says the study's senior author, Coleen M. Damcott, Ph.D., an assistant professor
of medicine
in the Division
of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition and member
of the Program for Personalized and Genomic Medicine at the University
of Maryland School
of Medicine.
They found that depending on the cell
of origin,
mutations in PIK3CA and p53 induced very different
types of tumors.
«The
type of inflammation seen
in psoriasis is known to promote insulin resistance, and psoriasis and diabetes share similar genetic
mutations suggesting a biological basis for the connection between the two conditions we found
in our study,» said the study's senior author Joel M. Gelfand, MD MSCE, a professor
of Dermatology and Epidemiology at Penn. «We know psoriasis is linked to higher rates
of diabetes, but this is the first study to specifically examine how the severity
of the disease affects a patient's risk.»
«Just as normal cells with the same genome differentiate into many different cell
types, a single tumor characterized by specific genetic
mutations can contain many different
types of cells — stem - like and more differentiated cells — with the difference being rooted
in their epigenetic information.
Although
mutations can occur anywhere
in the human intestine, certain
types of colorectal cancer tend to develop
in particular locations, suggesting that additional, nongenetic factors contribute to tumor growth and dictate where polyps appear.
Ma said this
type of mutation appears to be unique to soybeans as semideterminancy
in other plants such as tomatoes and chickpeas is caused by a different genetic mechanism.
The two - part approach netted a set
of mutations seen only at relapse that enabled the team to sift and sort leukemic and normal stem cells using tools developed
in the Dick lab a few years ago to zero
in on specific cell
types fated to relapse.
ALD, for instance, is caused by
mutations in a gene called ABCD1, leading to unusually high levels
of a
type of fatty acid that damages the material insulating some neurons.
(Previously, scientists had used CRISPR / Cas9 to repair
mutations that affect smaller numbers
of people with Duchenne, and
in cell
types that weren't necessarily clinically relevant.)
Scientists
in northern Spain tracking populations
of Drosophila subobscura, a
type of fly, observed reversible changes
in the frequency
of genetic
mutations, or «chromosomal inversions»
in the flies» genomes — essentially, parts
of the chromosome get flipped around with the seasons, as the weather changes from hot to cold.
The authors explain
in the article that NSD1
mutation has recently been linked
in the scientific literature to the blocking
of cellular differentiation and the promotion
of oncogenesis
in this
type of tumor.
Collaborators from the Human Genetics Department at the University Hospital
of Jena, PD Ingo Kurth and Professor Christian Hübner, already demonstrated
in 2009 that
mutations in FAM134B cause the death
of sensory neurons
in a disorder called hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy
type II (HSAN II).
Among patients who have this
type of lung cancer, nearly one
in three will carry a particular genetic
mutation on their cancer cells.
Two years ago, a French group found that
mutations in the human version are associated with Usher syndrome
type 1B, a condition that accounts for 4 % to 10 %
of all cases
of inherited deafness, but is associated with blindness as well.
She says
mutations in key players
of the mTOR pathway, a molecular pathway present and active
in several
types of cancer, have been identified
in pNETs.
Researchers have discovered that a hereditary
mutation in gene ENPP1 contributes to obesity
in children and early onset
of type II diabetes, both
of which carry severe health risks.
This is important because the proportion
in which the de novo
mutation is present
in a patient, as well as the
type of cells
in which it occurs, may not only determine the clinical outcome
of a disease for the patient, but also affect the risk
of the parents having another child with the same disease
in future pregnancies.
PTEN prevents tumor cells from growing uncontrollably, and
mutations in the gene encoding this protein are commonly found
in many different
types of cancer.
In one
type of mutation, patients don't have enough CFTR proteins that transit normally to the cell surface.
The researchers hope these findings will aid
in developing new treatments by using animal models that more closely represent the
types of mutations apparent
in the vast majority
of patients with enchrondromas.
One
type had the TMC1 gene completely deleted, and is a good model for recessive TMC1
mutations in humans: Children with two mutant copies
of TMC1 have profound hearing loss from a very young age, usually by around 2 years.
Tumours which carry
mutations in KRAS genes (40 %
of CCR) or BRAF genes (between 5 and 15 %
of these
types of cancers) are ineffectively treated and have poor prognosis.
Gene
mutations involved
in enamel mineralization through the CRAC channels were first seen
in people with a
type of severe combined immunodeficiency, a disorder
in which — among other symptoms — tooth enamel may fall off the teeth within five or six years after birth, and the dentine becomes exposed.
They knew that they had found a new
type of genetic defect, because the DNA
in cancer cells from people with the altered gene was riddled with
mutations.
They frequently find that
in both
types of disease the region
of the «healthy» copy
of chromosome 17 that should carry the normal copy
of the BRCA1 gene is missing, leaving only one copy
of the gene — the one with the cancer - causing
mutation.
There were only minor differences
in the crystal structures
of mutant and wild -
type annexin V around the
mutation site; however, the mutant showed structural differences elsewhere, including the presence
of a calcium binding site
in domain III unrelated to the
mutation.
NGS was possible
in 117 (76.5 %) patients and revealed that 66 patients had «all RAS» wild -
type tumours with no
mutations in KRAS; NRAS; BRAF; or PIK3CA genes and 51 patients had tumours harbouring a
mutation in at least one
of these genes.
New research led by Li Ding, Ph.D.,
of Washington University School
of Medicine
in St. Louis, shows that current approaches to genome analysis systematically miss detecting a certain
type of complex
mutation in cancer patients» tumors.
«We call this
type of mutation a complex indel because insertion and deletion is happening at the same time,
in the same genomic location,» Ding said.
Blocking the function
of the Ras oncogenes is considered by many scientists to be the «holy grail»
of cancer therapeutics because
mutations in these genes drive the growth
of so many different
types of cancers.
KRAS exon 2
mutations were found
in approximately 15 %
of the tumours that were originally identified as wild -
type.
However, genetic
mutations in a gene called mixed lineage leukemia, or MLL, lead to an aggressive subtype
of B - ALL known as MLL - rearranged, which is the most common
type of acute lymphoblastic leukemia
in infants.
«This tells you that all the different
types of stromal cells
in breast tissue are affected by the GT198
mutation because they all come from a common progenitor cell.»
Navin's team developed Nuc - Sec as a single - cell genome sequencing method and applied it to study how cell
mutations occur
in both
types of breast cancer.
However, we know that there are other
types of changes that might occur
in a very, very minute number
of situations, where the actual DNA sequence might differ due to
mutations that occur even after fertilization...
The kitten was found to have two copies
of a
mutation in the NPC1 gene, which causes Niemman - Pick
type 1, a fatal disorder.
These are two pathways that are very commonly mutated
in human tumors, and we try to understand where those pathways are mutated, which
type of tumors, what are the
mutations that co-occur with
mutations in those pathways; and try to understand, if we try to inhibit those pathways, what can we expect
in patients.
Though a range
of developmental scenarios
in multiple brain regions is surely at work
in ASDs, the researchers said the ability to place these specific genetic
mutations in one specific set
of cells — among hundreds
of cell
types in the brain, and at a specific point
in human development — is a critical step
in beginning to understand how autism comes about.
For Spark, the injection site is the eyes
of people, mostly children and young adults, who have a
type of inherited retinal disease caused by a
mutation in a gene called RPE65.
Morgan Fullerton, lead author
of the study, added: «Unlike the majority
of studies using genetic mouse models, we haven't deleted an entire protein; we have only made a very minor genetic
mutation, equivalent to what might be seen
in humans, thus highlighting the very precise way metformin lowers blood sugar
in Type 2 Diabetes»