Secondary (additional) findings from the 100,000 Genomes Project: Disease manifestation, health care outcomes, and costs of disclosure.

PURPOSE: The UK 100,000 Genomes Project offered participants screening for additional findings (AFs) in genes associated with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) or hereditary cancer syndromes including breast/ovarian cancer (HBOC), Lynch, familial adenomatous polyposis, MYH-associated polyposis, multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN), and von Hippel-Lindau. Here, we report disclosure processes, manifestation of AF-related disease, outcomes, and costs. METHODS: An observational study in an area representing one-fifth of England. RESULTS: Data were collected from 89 adult AF recipients. At disclosure, among 57 recipients of a cancer-predisposition-associated AF and 32 recipients of an FH-associated AF, 35% and 88%, respectively, had personal and/or family history evidence of AF-related disease. During post-disclosure investigations, 4 cancer-AF recipients had evidence of disease, including 1 medullary thyroid cancer. Six women with an HBOC AF, 3 women with a Lynch syndrome AF, and 2 individuals with a MEN AF elected for risk-reducing surgery. New hyperlipidemia diagnoses were made in 6 FH-AF recipients and treatment (re-)initiated for 7 with prior hyperlipidemia. Generating and disclosing AFs in this region cost £1.4m; £8680 per clinically significant AF. CONCLUSION: Generation and disclosure of AFs identifies individuals with and without personal or familial evidence of disease and prompts appropriate clinical interventions. Results can inform policy toward secondary findings.

An early secretory pathway mediated by GNOM-LIKE 1 and GNOM is essential for basal polarity establishment in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Spatial regulation of the plant hormone indole-3-acetic acid (IAA, or auxin) is essential for plant development. Auxin gradient establishment is mediated by polarly localized auxin transporters, including PIN-FORMED (PIN) proteins. Their localization and abundance at the plasma membrane are tightly regulated by endomembrane machinery, especially the endocytic and recycling pathways mediated by the ADP ribosylation factor guanine nucleotide exchange factor (ARF-GEF) GNOM. We assessed the role of the early secretory pathway in establishing PIN1 polarity in Arabidopsis thaliana by pharmacological and genetic approaches. We identified the compound endosidin 8 (ES8), which selectively interferes with PIN1 basal polarity without altering the polarity of apical proteins. ES8 alters the auxin distribution pattern in the root and induces a strong developmental phenotype, including reduced root length. The ARF-GEF-defective mutants gnom-like 1 (gnl1-1) and gnom (van7) are significantly resistant to ES8. The compound does not affect recycling or vacuolar trafficking of PIN1 but leads to its intracellular accumulation, resulting in loss of PIN1 basal polarity at the plasma membrane. Our data confirm a role for GNOM in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi trafficking and reveal that a GNL1/GNOM-mediated early secretory pathway selectively regulates PIN1 basal polarity establishment in a manner essential for normal plant development.

Developmental complexity of arabinan polysaccharides and their processing in plant cell walls.

Plant cell walls are constructed from a diversity of polysaccharide components. Molecular probes directed to structural elements of these polymers are required to assay polysaccharide structures in situ, and to determine polymer roles in the context of cell wall biology. Here, we report on the isolation and the characterization of three rat monoclonal antibodies that are directed to 1,5-linked arabinans and related polymers. LM13, LM16 and LM17, together with LM6, constitute a set of antibodies that can detect differing aspects of arabinan structures within cell walls. Each of these antibodies binds strongly to isolated sugar beet arabinan samples in ELISAs. Competitive-inhibition ELISAs indicate the antibodies bind differentially to arabinans with the binding of LM6 and LM17 being effectively inhibited by short oligoarabinosides. LM13 binds preferentially to longer oligoarabinosides, and its binding is highly sensitive to arabinanase action, indicating the recognition of a longer linearized arabinan epitope. In contrast, the binding of LM16 to branched arabinan and to cell walls is increased by arabinofuranosidase action. The presence of all epitopes can be differentially modulated in vitro using glycoside hydrolase family 43 and family 51 arabinofuranosidases. In addition, the LM16 epitope is sensitive to the action of beta-galactosidase. Immunofluorescence microscopy indicates that the antibodies can be used to detect epitopes in cell walls, and that the four antibodies reveal complex patterns of epitope occurrence that vary between organs and species, and relate both to the probable processing of arabinan structural elements and the differing mechanical properties of cell walls.

Enzymatically-tailored pectins differentially influence the morphology, adhesion, cell cycle progression and survival of fibroblasts.

Improved biocompatibility and performance of biomedical devices can be achieved through the incorporation of bioactive molecules on device surfaces. Five structurally distinct pectic polysaccharides (modified hairy regions (MHRs)) were obtained by enzymatic liquefaction of apple (MHR-B, MHR-A and MHR-alpha), carrot (MHR-C) and potato (MHR-P) cells. Polystyrene (PS) Petri dishes, aminated by a plasma deposition process, were surface modified by the covalent linking of the MHRs. Results clearly demonstrate that MHR-B induces cell adhesion, proliferation and survival, in contrast to the other MHRs. Moreover, MHR-alpha causes cells to aggregate, decrease proliferation and enter into apoptosis. Cells cultured in standard conditions with 1% soluble MHR-B or MHR-alpha show the opposite behaviour to the one observed on MHR-B and -alpha-grafted PS. Fibronectin was similarly adsorbed onto MHR-B and tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) control, but poorly on MHR-alpha. The Fn cell binding site (RGD sequence) was more accessible on MHR-B than on TCPS control, but poorly on MHR-alpha. The disintegrin echistatin inhibited fibroblast adhesion and spreading on MHR-B-grafted PS, which suggests that MHRs control fibroblast behaviour via serum-adhesive proteins. This study provides a basis for the design of intelligently-tailored biomaterial coatings able to induce specific cell functions.

An extended set of monoclonal antibodies to pectic homogalacturonan.

Three novel rat monoclonal antibodies, designated LM18, LM19 and LM20, were isolated from screens for binding to Arabidopsis thaliana seed coat mucilage. The binding of these antibodies to mucilage subject to enzyme and high pH pre-treatments and to a series of model homogalacturonan-rich pectins with defined levels of methyl-esterification indicated their recognition of pectic homogalacturonan epitopes. The binding capacities of these monoclonal antibodies to cell walls in sections of tobacco stem pith parenchyma were also differentially sensitive to equivalent treatments with high pH buffers and pectate lyase. The epitopes bound by these antibodies display some similarities and some differences to the epitopes recognized by the previously isolated and established pectic homogalacturonan probes JIM5 and JIM7.

High-throughput screening of monoclonal antibodies against plant cell wall glycans by hierarchical clustering of their carbohydrate microarray binding profiles.

Antibody-producing hybridoma cell lines were created following immunisation with a crude extract of cell wall polymers from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. In order to rapidly screen the specificities of individual monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), their binding to microarrays containing 50 cell wall glycans immobilized on nitrocellulose was assessed. Hierarchical clustering of microarray binding profiles from newly produced mAbs, together with the profiles for mAbs with previously defined specificities allowed the rapid assignments of mAb binding to antigen classes. mAb specificities were further investigated using subsequent immunochemical and biochemical analyses and two novel mAbs are described in detail. mAb LM13 binds to an arabinanase-sensitive pectic epitope and mAb LM14, binds to an epitope occurring on arabinogalactan-proteins. Both mAbs display novel patterns of recognition of cell walls in plant materials.

Modulating in vitro bone cell and macrophage behavior by immobilized enzymatically tailored pectins.

Previous work has reported the results of a multidisciplinary effort producing a proof-of-concept on the use of pectic polysaccharides in the surface modification of medical devices. This study was designed to learn more about the capability of engineered rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I) fractions of apple pectin to control bone cell and macrophage behavior. Thermanox or polystyrene Petri dishes were surface modified with two different modified hairy regions (MHRs) obtained by different enzymatic liquefaction processes of apples differing in relative amounts and lengths of their neutral side chains: (long-haired) MHR-alpha and (short-haired) MHR-B. Bone explants from 14-day-old chick embryos were cultured for 14 days on both pectic substrata. MHR-B promoted cell migration and differentiation, MHR-alpha did not. On MHR-alpha, J774.2 macrophages grew well, their percentage in G1 phase was decreased and in S phase increased, and they did not secrete either proinflammatory-cytokines or nitrites. Contrasting results were gained from macrophages on MHR-B, except for nitrite secretion. Thus, we conclude that coatings from tailored pectins show different biological activities in vitro and are potential innovative candidates for improving the biocompatibility of medical devices in various applications.