Project description:In order to identify cellular factors that influence the efficiency of AAV-HR mediated TI, we performed an unbiased genome-wide screening in a library of near haploid human cells (HAP1) mutagenized by retroviral insertions.
Project description:Recently, gene-trap mutagenesis in near haploid human cells has been used to disrupt genes and identify novel host-pathogen interactions and elucidate mechanisms of drug action. Building on this technology, we here report the generation of a human gene-trap mutant collection of individual clones, which currently covers over a quarter of the expressed genome. Strand specific RNA-Seq of ribosomal RNA depleted total cellular RNA to measure transcript abundance and to detect fusion transcripts in KBM7 cells at standard culture conditions.
Project description:Recently, gene-trap mutagenesis in near haploid human cells has been used to disrupt genes and identify novel host-pathogen interactions and elucidate mechanisms of drug action. Building on this technology, we here report the generation of a human gene-trap mutant collection of individual clones, which currently covers over a quarter of the expressed genome.
Project description:This phase II trial is studying how well VEGF Trap works in treating patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer. VEGF Trap may stop the growth of colorectal cancer by blocking blood flow to the tumor.
Project description:Identifying the biological pathways mediating the action of a therapeutic compound may help the development of more specific treatments while also increasing our understanding of the underlying disease pathology. Salts of the metal lithium are commonly used as a front-line mood stabilizing treatment for bipolar disorder. Lithium's action has been variously linked to inositol phosphate metabolism and the WNT/Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3? (GSK3?)/?-Catenin signalling cascade, but, to date, little is known about which of these provides the principal therapeutic benefit for patients and, more specifically, which constituent genes, through presumed sequence variation, determine differences in patient response to treatment. Here, we describe a functional screen in which SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were randomly mutated through genomic integration of the pMS1 poly A 'gene trap' plasmid vector. Lithium normally induces differentiation of neuroblastoma cells, but a small proportion of mutated cells continued to proliferate and formed colonies. Rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE)-PCR was used to identify the 'trapped' gene in each of these lithium-resistant colonies. Heterozygous, gene trap integrations were identified within ten genes, eight of which are likely to produce loss-of-function mutations including MED10, MSI2 and three long intergenic non-coding (LINC) RNAs. Both MED10 and MSI2 have been previously linked with WNT/GSK3?/?-Catenin pathway function suggesting that this is an important mediator of lithium action in this screen. The methodology applied here provides a rapid, objective and economic approach to define the genetic contribution to drug action, but could also be readily adapted to any desired in vitro functional selection/screening paradigm.
Project description:In fibroblasts, p65-dependent genes can be sub-divided, depending on whether they are Trap-80-dependent or -independent. To examine the generality of this grouping, we performed a microarray analysis of wild-type and Trap-80 knock-down fibroblasts, before and after stimulation of NF-kappaB activity using TNF-alpha. RNA was extracted from three independent cultures of wild-type and Trap-80 knock-down fibroblasts, before and after stimulation for 1 hour with 5ng/ml TNF-alpha. The unstimulated and stimulated wild-type samples, and the stimulated Trap-80 knock-down samples, were used for microarray analysis.
Project description:Somatic transposon mutagenesis in mice is an efficient strategy to investigate the genetic mechanisms of tumorigenesis. The identification of tumor driving transposon insertions traditionally requires the generation of large tumor cohorts to obtain information about common insertion sites. Tumor driving insertions are also characterized by their clonal expansion in tumor tissue, a phenomenon that is facilitated by the slow and evolving transformation process of transposon mutagenesis. We describe here an improved approach for the detection of tumor driving insertions that assesses the clonal expansion of insertions by quantifying the relative proportion of sequence reads obtained in individual tumors. To this end, we have developed a protocol for insertion site sequencing that utilizes acoustic shearing of tumor DNA and Illumina sequencing. We analyzed various solid tumors generated by PiggyBac mutagenesis and for each tumor >10^6 reads corresponding to >10^4 insertion sites were obtained. In each tumor, 9 to 25 insertions stood out by their enriched sequence read frequencies when compared to frequencies obtained from tail DNA controls. These enriched insertions are potential clonally expanded tumor driving insertions, and thus identify candidate cancer genes. The candidate cancer genes of our study comprised many established cancer genes, but also novel candidate genes such as Mastermind-like1 (Mamld1) and Diacylglycerolkinase delta (Dgkd). We show that clonal expansion analysis by high-throughput sequencing is a robust approach for the identification of candidate cancer genes in insertional mutagenesis screens on the level of individual tumors. Solid tumors in mice were generated by somatic transposon mutagenesis with a PiggyBac transposon system. Insertion sites of transposons in 11 tumors and 6 non-cancerous tail controls were determined by Illumina high-throughput sequencing. Insertions were determined both on 5' and 3' sides of the transposon (PB5 and PB3, respectively). Quantitative analysis of read numbers revealed enrichment of certain insertions in tumors, but not in controls, and these enriched insertions identify candidate cancer genes.