Genome-wide sexually antagonistic variants reveal long-standing constraints on sexual dimorphism in fruit flies.

The evolution of sexual dimorphism is constrained by a shared genome, leading to 'sexual antagonism', in which different alleles at given loci are favoured by selection in males and females. Despite its wide taxonomic incidence, we know little about the identity, genomic location, and evolutionary dynamics of antagonistic genetic variants. To address these deficits, we use sex-specific fitness data from 202 fully sequenced hemiclonal Drosophila melanogaster fly lines to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of sexual antagonism. We identify approximately 230 chromosomal clusters of candidate antagonistic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In contradiction to classic theory, we find no clear evidence that the X chromosome is a hot spot for sexually antagonistic variation. Characterising antagonistic SNPs functionally, we find a large excess of missense variants but little enrichment in terms of gene function. We also assess the evolutionary persistence of antagonistic variants by examining extant polymorphism in wild D. melanogaster populations and closely related species. Remarkably, antagonistic variants are associated with multiple signatures of balancing selection across the D. melanogaster distribution range and in their sister species D. simulans, indicating widespread and evolutionarily persistent (about 1 million years) genomic constraints on the evolution of sexual dimorphism. Based on our results, we propose that antagonistic variation accumulates because of constraints on the resolution of sexual conflict over protein coding sequences, thus contributing to the long-term maintenance of heritable fitness variation.

An investigation of cancer survival inequalities associated with individual-level socio-economic status, area-level deprivation, and contextual effects, in a cancer patient cohort in England and Wales.

BACKGROUND: People living in more deprived areas of high-income countries have lower cancer survival than those in less deprived areas. However, associations between individual-level socio-economic circumstances and cancer survival are relatively poorly understood. Moreover, few studies have addressed contextual effects, where associations between individual-level socio-economic status and cancer survival vary depending on area-based deprivation. METHODS: Using 9276 individual-level observations from a longitudinal study in England and Wales, we examined the association with cancer survival of area-level deprivation and individual-level occupation, education, and income, for colorectal, prostate and breast cancer patients aged 20-99 at diagnosis. With flexible parametric excess hazard models, we estimated excess mortality across individual-level and area-level socio-economic variables and investigated contextual effects. RESULTS: For colorectal cancers, we found evidence of an association between education and cancer survival in men with Excess Hazard Ratio (EHR) = 0.80, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.60;1.08 comparing "degree-level qualification and higher" to "no qualification" and EHR = 0.74 [0.56;0.97] comparing "apprenticeships and vocational qualification" to "no qualification", adjusted on occupation and income; and between occupation and cancer survival for women with EHR = 0.77 [0.54;1.10] comparing "managerial/professional occupations" to "manual/technical," and EHR = 0.81 [0.63;1.06] comparing "intermediate" to "manual/technical", adjusted on education and income. For breast cancer in women, we found evidence of an association with income (EHR = 0.52 [0.29;0.95] for the highest income quintile compared to the lowest, adjusted on education and occupation), while for prostate cancer, all three individual-level socio-economic variables were associated to some extent with cancer survival. We found contextual effects of area-level deprivation on survival inequalities between occupation types for breast and prostate cancers, suggesting wider individual-level inequalities in more deprived areas compared to least deprived areas. Individual-level income inequalities for breast cancer were more evident than an area-level differential, suggesting that area-level deprivation might not be the most effective measure of inequality for this cancer. For colorectal cancer in both sexes, we found evidence suggesting area- and individual-level inequalities, but no evidence of contextual effects. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight that both individual and contextual effects contribute to inequalities in cancer outcomes. These insights provide potential avenues for more effective policy and practice.

Are deprivation-specific cancer survival patterns similar according to individual-based and area-based measures? A cohort study of patients diagnosed with five malignancies in England and Wales, 2008-2016.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate if measured inequalities in cancer survival differ when using individual-based ('person') compared with area-based ('place') measures of deprivation for three socioeconomic dimensions: income, deprivation and occupation. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Data from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study of England and Wales, UK, linked to the National Cancer Registration Database. PARTICIPANTS: Patients diagnosed with cancers of the colorectum, breast, prostate, bladder or with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma during the period 2008-2016. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Differentials in net survival between groups defined by individual wage, occupation and education compared with those obtained from corresponding area-level metrics using the English and Welsh Indices of Multiple Deprivation. RESULTS: Survival was negatively associated with area-based deprivation irrespective of the type analysed, although a trend from least to most deprived was not always observed. Socioeconomic differences were present according to individually-measured socioeconomic groups although there was an absence of a consistent 'gradient' in survival. The magnitude of differentials was similar for area-based and individually-derived measures of deprivation, which was unexpected. CONCLUSION: These unique data suggest that the socioeconomic influence of 'person' is different to that of 'place' with respect to cancer outcomes. This has implications for health policy aimed at reducing inequalities. Further research could consider the separate and additional influence of area-based deprivation over individual-level characteristics (contextual effects) as well as investigate the geographic, socioeconomic and healthcare-related characteristics of areas with poor outcomes in order to inform policy intervention.

Cost-utility analysis of adding abiraterone acetate plus prednisone/prednisolone to long-term hormone therapy in newly diagnosed advanced prostate cancer in England: Lifetime decision model based on STAMPEDE trial data.

Adding abiraterone acetate (AA) plus prednisolone (P) to standard of care (SOC) improves survival in newly diagnosed advanced prostate cancer (PC) patients starting hormone therapy. Our objective was to determine the value for money to the English National Health Service (NHS) of adding AAP to SOC. We used a decision analytic model to evaluate cost-effectiveness of providing AAP in the English NHS. Between 2011-2014, the STAMPEDE trial recruited 1917 men with high-risk localised, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic PC starting first-line androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), and they were randomised to receive SOC plus AAP, or SOC alone. Lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were estimated using STAMPEDE trial data supplemented with literature data where necessary, adjusting for baseline patient and disease characteristics. British National Formulary (BNF) prices (£98/day) were applied for AAP. Costs and outcomes were discounted at 3.5%/year. AAP was not cost-effective. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was £149,748/QALY gained in the non-metastatic (M0) subgroup, with 2.4% probability of being cost-effective at NICE's £30,000/QALY threshold; and the metastatic (M1) subgroup had an ICER of £47,503/QALY gained, with 12.0% probability of being cost-effective. Scenario analysis suggested AAP could be cost-effective in M1 patients if priced below £62/day, or below £28/day in the M0 subgroup. AAP could dominate SOC in the M0 subgroup with price below £11/day. AAP is effective for non-metastatic and metastatic disease but is not cost-effective when using the BNF price. AAP currently only has UK approval for use in a subset of M1 patients. The actual price currently paid by the English NHS for abiraterone acetate is unknown. Broadening AAP's indication and having a daily cost below the thresholds described above is recommended, given AAP improves survival in both subgroups and its cost-saving potential in M0 subgroup.

Docetaxel for Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer: Long-Term Survival Outcomes in the STAMPEDE Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: STAMPEDE previously reported adding upfront docetaxel improved overall survival for prostate cancer patients starting long-term androgen deprivation therapy. We report long-term results for non-metastatic patients using, as primary outcome, metastatic progression-free survival (mPFS), an externally demonstrated surrogate for overall survival. METHODS: Standard of care (SOC) was androgen deprivation therapy with or without radical prostate radiotherapy. A total of 460 SOC and 230 SOC plus docetaxel were randomly assigned 2:1. Standard survival methods and intention to treat were used. Treatment effect estimates were summarized from adjusted Cox regression models, switching to restricted mean survival time if non-proportional hazards. mPFS (new metastases, skeletal-related events, or prostate cancer death) had 70% power (α = 0.05) for a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.70. Secondary outcome measures included overall survival, failure-free survival (FFS), and progression-free survival (PFS: mPFS, locoregional progression). RESULTS: Median follow-up was 6.5 years with 142 mPFS events on SOC (3 year and 54% increases over previous report). There was no good evidence of an advantage to SOC plus docetaxel on mPFS (HR = 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.66 to 1.19; P = .43); with 5-year mPFS 82% (95% CI = 78% to 87%) SOC plus docetaxel vs 77% (95% CI = 73% to 81%) SOC. Secondary outcomes showed evidence SOC plus docetaxel improved FFS (HR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.55 to 0.88; P = .002) and PFS (nonproportional P = .03, restricted mean survival time difference = 5.8 months, 95% CI = 0.5 to 11.2; P = .03) but no good evidence of overall survival benefit (125 SOC deaths; HR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.64 to 1.21; P = .44). There was no evidence SOC plus docetaxel increased late toxicity: post 1 year, 29% SOC and 30% SOC plus docetaxel grade 3-5 toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: There is robust evidence that SOC plus docetaxel improved FFS and PFS (previously shown to increase quality-adjusted life-years), without excess late toxicity, which did not translate into benefit for longer-term outcomes. This may influence patient management in individual cases.

Describing socio-economic variation in life expectancy according to an individual's education, occupation and wage in England and Wales: An analysis of the ONS Longitudinal Study.

People who live in more deprived areas have poorer health outcomes, and this inequality is a major driver of health and social policy. Many interventions targeting these disparities implicitly assume that poorer health is predominantly associated with area-level factors, and that these inequalities are the same for men and women. However, health differentials due to individual socio-economic status (SES) of men and women are less well documented. We used census data linked to the ONS Longitudinal Study to derive individual-level SES in terms of occupation, education and estimated wage, and examined differences in adult mortality and life expectancy. We modelled age-, sex- and SES-specific mortality using Poisson regression, and summarised mortality differences using life expectancy at age 20. We compared the results to those calculated using area-level deprivation metrics. Wide inequalities in life expectancy between SES groups were observed, although differences across SES groups were smaller for women than for men. The widest inequalities were found across men's education (7.2-year (95% CI: 3.0-10.1) difference in life expectancy between groups) and wage (7.0-year (95% CI: 3.5-9.8) difference), and women's education (5.4-year (95% CI: 2.2-8.1) difference). Men with no qualifications had the lowest life expectancy of all groups. In terms of the number of years' difference in life expectancy, the inequalities measured here with individual-level data were of a similar magnitude to inequalities identified previously using area-level deprivation metrics. These data show that health inequalities are as strongly related to individual SES as to area-level deprivation, highlighting the complementary usefulness of these different metrics. Indeed, poor outcomes are likely to be a product of both community and individual influences. Current policy which bases health spending decisions on evidence of inequalities between geographical areas may overlook individual-level SES inequalities for those living in affluent areas, as well as missing important sex differences.

Breaking barriers? Ethnicity and socioeconomic background impact on early career progression in the fields of ecology and evolution.

The academic disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) have long suffered from a lack of diversity. While in recent years there has been some progress in addressing the underrepresentation of women in STEM subjects, other characteristics that have the potential to impact on equality of opportunity have received less attention. In this study, we surveyed 188 early career scientists (ECRs), defined as within 10 years of completing their PhD, in the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, behaviour, and related disciplines. We examined associations between ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, sex, socioeconomic background, and disability, with measures of career progression, namely publication record, number of applications made before obtaining a postdoc, type of contract, and number of grant applications made. We also queried respondents on perceived barriers to progression and potential ways of overcoming them. Our key finding was that socioeconomic background and ethnicity were associated with measures of career progression. While there was no difference in the number of reported first-authored papers on PhD completion, ethnic minority respondents reported fewer other-authored papers. In addition, ECRs from a lower socioeconomic background were more likely to report being in teaching and research positions, rather than research-only positions, the latter being perceived as more prestigious by some institutions. We discuss our findings in the context of possible inequality of opportunity. We hope that this study will stimulate wider discussion and help to inform strategies to address the underrepresentation of minority groups in the fields of ecology and evolution, and STEM subjects more widely.

Assessment of the concordance between individual-level and area-level measures of socio-economic deprivation in a cancer patient cohort in England and Wales.

OBJECTIVES: Most research on health inequalities uses aggregated deprivation scores assigned to the small area where the patient lives; however, the concordance between aggregate area-level deprivation measures and personal deprivation experienced by individuals living in the area is poorly understood. Our objective was to examine the agreement between individual and ecological deprivation. We tested the concordance between metrics of income, occupation and education at individual and area levels, and assessed the reliability of area-based deprivation measures to predict individual deprivation circumstances. SETTING: England and Wales. PARTICIPANTS: A cancer patient cohort of 9547 individuals extracted from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study. OUTCOMES: We quantified the concordance between measures of income, occupation and education at individual and area level. In addition, we used ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curves and the area under the curve (AUC) to assess the reliability of area-based deprivation measures to predict individual deprivation circumstances. RESULTS: We found low concordance between individual-level and area-level indicators of deprivation (Cramer's V statistics range between 0.07 and 0.20). The most commonly used indicator in health inequalities research, area-based income deprivation, was a poor predictor of individual income status (AUC between 0.56 and 0.59), whereas education and occupation were slightly better predictors (AUC between 0.62 and 0.65). The results were consistent across sexes and across six major cancer types. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that ecological deprivation measures capture only part of the relationship between deprivation and health outcomes, especially with respect to income measurement. This has important implications for our understanding of the relationship between deprivation and health, and, as a consequence, healthcare policy. The results have a wide-reaching impact for the way in which we measure and monitor inequalities, and in turn, fund and organise current UK healthcare policy aimed at reducing them.

Prostate Radiotherapy for Metastatic Hormone-sensitive Prostate Cancer: A STOPCAP Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Many trials are evaluating therapies for men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). OBJECTIVE: To systematically review trials of prostate radiotherapy. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Using a prospective framework (framework for adaptive meta-analysis [FAME]), we prespecified methods before any trial results were known. We searched extensively for eligible trials and asked investigators when results would be available. We could then anticipate that a definitive meta-analysis of the effects of prostate radiotherapy was possible. We obtained prepublication, unpublished, and harmonised results from investigators. INTERVENTION: We included trials that randomised men to prostate radiotherapy and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) or ADT only. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Hazard ratios (HRs) for the effects of prostate radiotherapy on survival, progression-free survival (PFS), failure-free survival (FFS), biochemical progression, and subgroup interactions were combined using fixed-effect meta-analysis. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: We identified one ongoing (PEACE-1) and two completed (HORRAD and STAMPEDE) eligible trials. Pooled results of the latter (2126 men; 90% of those eligible) showed no overall improvement in survival (HR=0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.81-1.04, p=0.195) or PFS (HR=0.94, 95% CI 0.84-1.05, p=0.238) with prostate radiotherapy. There was an overall improvement in biochemical progression (HR=0.74, 95% CI 0.67-0.82, p=0.94×10-8) and FFS (HR=0.76, 95% CI 0.69-0.84, p=0.64×10-7), equivalent to ∼10% benefit at 3yr. The effect of prostate radiotherapy varied by metastatic burden-a pattern consistent across trials and outcome measures, including survival (<5, ≥5; interaction HR=1.47, 95% CI 1.11-1.94, p=0.007). There was 7% improvement in 3-yr survival in men with fewer than five bone metastases. CONCLUSIONS: Prostate radiotherapy should be considered for men with mHSPC with a low metastatic burden. PATIENT SUMMARY: Prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body (metastases) is usually treated with hormone therapy. In men with fewer than five bone metastases, addition of prostate radiotherapy helped them live longer and should be considered.

Survival and prognosis with osteosarcoma: outcomes in more than 2000 patients in the EURAMOS-1 (European and American Osteosarcoma Study) cohort.

BACKGROUND: High-grade osteosarcoma is a primary malignant bone tumour mainly affecting children and young adults. The European and American Osteosarcoma Study (EURAMOS)-1 is a collaboration of four study groups aiming to improve outcomes of this rare disease by facilitating randomised controlled trials. METHODS: Patients eligible for EURAMOS-1 were aged ≤40 years with M0 or M1 skeletal high-grade osteosarcoma in which case complete surgical resection at all sites was deemed to be possible. A three-drug combination with methotrexate, doxorubicin and cisplatin was defined as standard chemotherapy, and between April 2005 and June 2011, 2260 patients were registered. We report survival outcomes and prognostic factors in the full cohort of registered patients. RESULTS: For all registered patients at a median follow-up of 54 months (interquartile range: 38-73) from biopsy, 3-year and 5-year event-free survival were 59% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 57-61%) and 54% (95% CI: 52-56%), respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that the most adverse factors at diagnosis were pulmonary metastases (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.95-2.81), non-pulmonary metastases (HR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.38-2.73) or an axial skeleton tumour site (HR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.10-2.13). The histological subtypes telangiectatic (HR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.33-0.80) and unspecified conventional (HR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.52-0.88) were associated with a favourable prognosis compared with chondroblastic subtype. The 3-year and 5-year overall survival from biopsy were 79% (95% CI: 77-81%) and 71% (95% CI: 68-73%), respectively. For patients with localised disease at presentation and in complete remission after surgery, having a poor histological response was associated with worse outcome after surgery (HR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.76-2.58). In radically operated patients, there was no good evidence that axial tumour site was associated with worse outcome. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, data from >2000 patients registered to EURAMOS-1 demonstrated survival rates in concordance with institution- or group-level osteosarcoma trials. Further efforts are required to drive improvements for patients who can be identified to be at higher risk of adverse outcome. This trial reaffirms known prognostic factors, and owing to the large numbers of patients registered, it sheds light on some additional factors to consider.

Detecting differential gene expression in blastocysts following pronuclear transfer.

Nuclear transfer techniques (a.k.a. mitochondrial replacement therapies) are currently under development to provide a route to eliminating particular instances of mitochondrial disease from the germline. Before these kinds of techniques are implemented clinically it is of primary concern that their safety and efficacy is established. In a recent paper, Hyslop et al. (Nature 534:383-386, 2016. doi: 10.1038/nature18303 ) utilized a specific version of pronuclear transfer to investigate the consequences for gene expression in the developing embryo, which may indicate whether or not developmental pathways have been perturbed. However, the study was only able to include a small number of blastocysts within each treatment group, although a larger number of single cell expression profiles from each blastocyst were acquired. Using simulated datasets we show that the size and experimental design of this study cannot provide conclusive evidence that expression profiles of manipulated or control samples are indistinguishable from one another due to low power. These simulations also illustrate why visual inspections of principle component analyses used in the study cannot replace statistical modeling of treatment effects.

Insect Cuticular Hydrocarbons as Dynamic Traits in Sexual Communication.

Recent research has demonstrated extensive within-species variation in pheromone expression in insect species, contrary to the view that pheromones are largely invariant within species. In fact, many studies on insect cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) show that pheromones can be highly dynamic traits that can express significant short-term plasticity across both abiotic and social environments. It is likely that this variability in CHC expression contributes to their important role in sexual signaling and mate choice. In this review, I discuss CHC plasticity and how this might influence sexual communication. I also highlight two important avenues for future research: examining plasticity in how individuals respond to CHC signals, and testing how sexual communication varies across abiotic and social environments.

Sex-biased gene expression and sexual conflict throughout development.

Sex-biased gene expression is likely to account for most sexually dimorphic traits because males and females share much of their genome. When fitness optima differ between sexes for a shared trait, sexual dimorphism can allow each sex to express their optimum trait phenotype, and in this way, the evolution of sex-biased gene expression is one mechanism that could help to resolve intralocus sexual conflict. Genome-wide patterns of sex-biased gene expression have been identified in a number of studies, which we review here. However, very little is known about how sex-biased gene expression relates to sex-specific fitness and about how sex-biased gene expression and conflict vary throughout development or across different genotypes, populations, and environments. We discuss the importance of these neglected areas of research and use data from a small-scale experiment on sex-specific expression of genes throughout development to highlight potentially interesting avenues for future research.

Genotype-by-environment interactions for female mate choice of male cuticular hydrocarbons in Drosophila simulans.

Recent research has highlighted the potential importance of environmental and genotype-by-environment (G×E) variation in sexual selection, but most studies have focussed on the expression of male sexual traits. Consequently, our understanding of genetic variation for plasticity in female mate choice is extremely poor. In this study we examine the genetics of female mate choice in Drosophila simulans using isolines reared across two post-eclosion temperatures. There was evidence for G×Es in female choosiness and preference, which suggests that the evolution of female mate choice behaviour could differ across environments. However, the ranked order of preferred males was consistent across females and environments, so the same males are favoured by mate choice in spite of G×Es. Our study highlights the importance of taking cross-environment perspectives in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the operation of sexual selection.