Comparison of Circulating Tumor DNA Assays for Molecular Residual Disease Detection in Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

PURPOSE: Detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in patients who have completed treatment for early-stage breast cancer is associated with a high risk of relapse, yet the optimal assay for ctDNA detection is unknown. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The cTRAK-TN clinical trial prospectively used tumor-informed digital PCR (dPCR) assays for ctDNA molecular residual disease (MRD) detection in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer. We compared tumor-informed dPCR assays with tumor-informed personalized multimutation sequencing assays in 141 patients from cTRAK-TN. RESULTS: MRD was first detected by personalized sequencing in 47.9% of patients, 0% first detected by dPCR, and 52.1% with both assays simultaneously (P < 0.001; Fisher exact test). The median lead time from ctDNA detection to relapse was 6.1 months with personalized sequencing and 3.9 months with dPCR (P = 0.004, mixed-effects Cox model). Detection of MRD at the first time point was associated with a shorter time to relapse compared with detection at subsequent time points (median lead time 4.2 vs. 7.1 months; P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Personalized multimutation sequencing assays have potential clinically important improvements in clinical outcome in the early detection of MRD.

Cell-cell adhesion regulates Merlin/NF2 interaction with the PAF complex.

The PAF complex (PAFC) coordinates transcription elongation and mRNA processing and its CDC73/parafibromin subunit functions as a tumour suppressor. The NF2/Merlin tumour suppressor functions both at the cell cortex and nucleus and is a key mediator of contact inhibition but the molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study we have used affinity proteomics to identify novel Merlin interacting proteins and show that Merlin forms a complex with multiple proteins involved in RNA processing including the PAFC and the CHD1 chromatin remodeller. Tumour-derived inactivating mutations in both Merlin and the CDC73 PAFC subunit mutually disrupt their interaction and growth suppression by Merlin requires CDC73. Merlin interacts with the PAFC in a cell density-dependent manner and we identify a role for FAT cadherins in regulating the Merlin-PAFC interaction. Our results suggest that in addition to its function within the Hippo pathway, Merlin is part of a tumour suppressor network regulated by cell-cell adhesion which coordinates post-initiation steps of the transcription cycle of genes mediating contact inhibition.

Comparison of two targeted ultra-deep sequencing technologies for analysis of plasma circulating tumour DNA in endocrine-therapy-resistant breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: There is growing interest in the application of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) as a sensitive tool for monitoring tumour evolution and guiding targeted therapy in patients with cancer. However, robust comparisons of different platform technologies are still required. Here we compared the InVisionSeq™ ctDNA Assay with the Oncomine™ Breast cfDNA Assay to assess their concordance and feasibility for the detection of mutations in plasma at low (< 0.5%) variant allele fraction (VAF). METHODS: Ninety-six plasma samples from 50 patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancer (mBC) were profiled using the InVision Assay. Results were compared to the Oncomine assay in 30 samples from 26 patients, where there was sufficient material and variants were covered by both assays. Longitudinal samples were analysed for 8 patients with endocrine resistance. RESULTS: We detected alterations in 59/96 samples from 34/50 patients analysed with the InVision assay, most frequently affecting ESR1, PIK3CA and TP53. Complete or partial concordance was found in 28/30 samples analysed by both assays, and VAF values were highly correlated. Excellent concordance was found for most genes, and most discordant calls occurred at VAF < 1%. In longitudinal samples from progressing patients with endocrine resistance, we detected consistent alterations in sequential samples, most commonly in ESR1 and PIK3CA. CONCLUSION: This study shows that both ultra-deep next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies can detect genomic alternations even at low VAFs in plasma samples of mBC patients. The strong agreement of the technologies indicates sufficient reproducibility for clinical use as prognosic and predictive biomarker.

MIR-NATs repress MAPT translation and aid proteostasis in neurodegeneration.

The human genome expresses thousands of natural antisense transcripts (NAT) that can regulate epigenetic state, transcription, RNA stability or translation of their overlapping genes1,2. Here we describe MAPT-AS1, a brain-enriched NAT that is conserved in primates and contains an embedded mammalian-wide interspersed repeat (MIR), which represses tau translation by competing for ribosomal RNA pairing with the MAPT mRNA internal ribosome entry site3. MAPT encodes tau, a neuronal intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) that stabilizes axonal microtubules. Hyperphosphorylated, aggregation-prone tau forms the hallmark inclusions of tauopathies4. Mutations in MAPT cause familial frontotemporal dementia, and common variations forming the MAPT H1 haplotype are a significant risk factor in many tauopathies5 and Parkinson's disease. Notably, expression of MAPT-AS1 or minimal essential sequences from MAPT-AS1 (including MIR) reduces-whereas silencing MAPT-AS1 expression increases-neuronal tau levels, and correlate with tau pathology in human brain. Moreover, we identified many additional NATs with embedded MIRs (MIR-NATs), which are overrepresented at coding genes linked to neurodegeneration and/or encoding IDPs, and confirmed MIR-NAT-mediated translational control of one such gene, PLCG1. These results demonstrate a key role for MAPT-AS1 in tauopathies and reveal a potentially broad contribution of MIR-NATs to the tightly controlled translation of IDPs6, with particular relevance for proteostasis in neurodegeneration.

FICC-Seq: a method for enzyme-specified profiling of methyl-5-uridine in cellular RNA.

Methyl-5-uridine (m5U) is one the most abundant non-canonical bases present in cellular RNA, and in yeast is found at position U54 of tRNAs where modification is catalysed by the methyltransferase Trm2. Although the mammalian enzymes that catalyse m5U formation are yet to be identified via experimental evidence, based on sequence homology to Trm2, two candidates currently exist, TRMT2A and TRMT2B. Here we developed a genome-wide single-nucleotide resolution mapping method, Fluorouracil-Induced-Catalytic-Crosslinking-Sequencing (FICC-Seq), in order to identify the relevant enzymatic targets. We demonstrate that TRMT2A is responsible for the majority of m5U present in human RNA, and that it commonly targets U54 of cytosolic tRNAs. By comparison to current methods, we show that FICC-Seq is a particularly robust method for accurate and reliable detection of relevant enzymatic target sites. Our associated finding of extensive irreversible TRMT2A-tRNA crosslinking in vivo following 5-Fluorouracil exposure is also intriguing, as it suggests a tangible mechanism for a previously suspected RNA-dependent route of Fluorouracil-mediated cytotoxicity.

Exon Junction Complex Shapes the Transcriptome by Repressing Recursive Splicing.

Recursive splicing (RS) starts by defining an "RS-exon," which is then spliced to the preceding exon, thus creating a recursive 5' splice site (RS-5ss). Previous studies focused on cryptic RS-exons, and now we find that the exon junction complex (EJC) represses RS of hundreds of annotated, mainly constitutive RS-exons. The core EJC factors, and the peripheral factors PNN and RNPS1, maintain RS-exon inclusion by repressing spliceosomal assembly on RS-5ss. The EJC also blocks 5ss located near exon-exon junctions, thus repressing inclusion of cryptic microexons. The prevalence of annotated RS-exons is high in deuterostomes, while the cryptic RS-exons are more prevalent in Drosophila, where EJC appears less capable of repressing RS. Notably, incomplete repression of RS also contributes to physiological alternative splicing of several human RS-exons. Finally, haploinsufficiency of the EJC factor Magoh in mice is associated with skipping of RS-exons in the brain, with relevance to the microcephaly phenotype and human diseases.

Heteromeric RNP Assembly at LINEs Controls Lineage-Specific RNA Processing.

Long mammalian introns make it challenging for the RNA processing machinery to identify exons accurately. We find that LINE-derived sequences (LINEs) contribute to this selection by recruiting dozens of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) to introns. This includes MATR3, which promotes binding of PTBP1 to multivalent binding sites within LINEs. Both RBPs repress splicing and 3' end processing within and around LINEs. Notably, repressive RBPs preferentially bind to evolutionarily young LINEs, which are located far from exons. These RBPs insulate the LINEs and the surrounding intronic regions from RNA processing. Upon evolutionary divergence, changes in RNA motifs within LINEs lead to gradual loss of their insulation. Hence, older LINEs are located closer to exons, are a common source of tissue-specific exons, and increasingly bind to RBPs that enhance RNA processing. Thus, LINEs are hubs for the assembly of repressive RBPs and also contribute to the evolution of new, lineage-specific transcripts in mammals. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Mice with endogenous TDP-43 mutations exhibit gain of splicing function and characteristics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

TDP-43 (encoded by the gene TARDBP) is an RNA binding protein central to the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, how TARDBP mutations trigger pathogenesis remains unknown. Here, we use novel mouse mutants carrying point mutations in endogenous Tardbp to dissect TDP-43 function at physiological levels both in vitro and in vivo Interestingly, we find that mutations within the C-terminal domain of TDP-43 lead to a gain of splicing function. Using two different strains, we are able to separate TDP-43 loss- and gain-of-function effects. TDP-43 gain-of-function effects in these mice reveal a novel category of splicing events controlled by TDP-43, referred to as "skiptic" exons, in which skipping of constitutive exons causes changes in gene expression. In vivo, this gain-of-function mutation in endogenous Tardbp causes an adult-onset neuromuscular phenotype accompanied by motor neuron loss and neurodegenerative changes. Furthermore, we have validated the splicing gain-of-function and skiptic exons in ALS patient-derived cells. Our findings provide a novel pathogenic mechanism and highlight how TDP-43 gain of function and loss of function affect RNA processing differently, suggesting they may act at different disease stages.

Association study of schizophrenia with variants in miR-137 binding sites.

There is strong cumulative evidence for the involvement of miR-137 and its targets in the aetiology of schizophrenia. Here we test whether variants, especially rare variants, in miR-137 binding sites are associated with schizophrenia in an exome-sequenced sample of 4225 cases and 5834 controls. Only a small proportion of binding sites were covered by the capture system which had been used. A weighted burden test using the 372 detected variants demonstrated an excess among cases significant at p=0.024. The sample size is too small to implicate individual variants or genes but overall this finding does provide some further support for the hypothesis that disruption of miR-137 binding sites can increase the risk of schizophrenia, perhaps by leading to over-expression of the target gene. We recommend that future exome sequencing studies should cover the untranscribed regions of genes, which contain the microRNA binding sites, in order that this potentially important pathogenic mechanism can be adequately investigated.

Quantitative analysis of cryptic splicing associated with TDP-43 depletion.

BACKGROUND: Reliable exon recognition is key to the splicing of pre-mRNAs into mature mRNAs. TDP-43 is an RNA-binding protein whose nuclear loss and cytoplasmic aggregation are a hallmark pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia (ALS/FTD). TDP-43 depletion causes the aberrant inclusion of cryptic exons into a range of transcripts, but their extent, relevance to disease pathogenesis and whether they are caused by other RNA-binding proteins implicated in ALS/FTD are unknown. METHODS: We developed an analysis pipeline to discover and quantify cryptic exon inclusion and applied it to publicly available human and murine RNA-sequencing data. RESULTS: We detected widespread cryptic splicing in TDP-43 depletion datasets but almost none in another ALS/FTD-linked protein FUS. Sequence motif and iCLIP analysis of cryptic exons demonstrated that they are bound by TDP-43. Unlike the cryptic exons seen in hnRNP C depletion, those repressed by TDP-43 cannot be linked to transposable elements. Cryptic exons are poorly conserved and inclusion overwhelmingly leads to nonsense-mediated decay of the host transcript, with reduced transcript levels observed in differential expression analysis. RNA-protein interaction data on 73 different RNA-binding proteins showed that, in addition to TDP-43, 7 specifically bind TDP-43 linked cryptic exons. This suggests that TDP-43 competes with other splicing factors for binding to cryptic exons and can repress cryptic exon inclusion. CONCLUSIONS: Our quantitative analysis pipeline confirms the presence of cryptic exons during the depletion of TDP-43 but not FUS providing new insight into to RNA-processing dysfunction as a cause or consequence in ALS/FTD.

Splicing repression allows the gradual emergence of new Alu-exons in primate evolution.

Alu elements are retrotransposons that frequently form new exons during primate evolution. Here, we assess the interplay of splicing repression by hnRNPC and nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) in the quality control and evolution of new Alu-exons. We identify 3100 new Alu-exons and show that NMD more efficiently recognises transcripts with Alu-exons compared to other exons with premature termination codons. However, some Alu-exons escape NMD, especially when an adjacent intron is retained, highlighting the importance of concerted repression by splicing and NMD. We show that evolutionary progression of 3' splice sites is coupled with longer repressive uridine tracts. Once the 3' splice site at ancient Alu-exons reaches a stable phase, splicing repression by hnRNPC decreases, but the exons generally remain sensitive to NMD. We conclude that repressive motifs are strongest next to cryptic exons and that gradual weakening of these motifs contributes to the evolutionary emergence of new alternative exons.

Variants Within TSC2 Exons 25 and 31 Are Very Unlikely to Cause Clinically Diagnosable Tuberous Sclerosis.

Inactivating mutations in TSC1 and TSC2 cause tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). The 2012 international consensus meeting on TSC diagnosis and management agreed that the identification of a pathogenic TSC1 or TSC2 variant establishes a diagnosis of TSC, even in the absence of clinical signs. However, exons 25 and 31 of TSC2 are subject to alternative splicing. No variants causing clinically diagnosed TSC have been reported in these exons, raising the possibility that such variants would not cause TSC. We present truncating and in-frame variants in exons 25 and 31 in three individuals unlikely to fulfil TSC diagnostic criteria and examine the importance of these exons in TSC using different approaches. Amino acid conservation analysis suggests significantly less conservation in these exons compared with the majority of TSC2 exons, and TSC2 expression data demonstrates that the majority of TSC2 transcripts lack exons 25 and/or 31 in many human adult tissues. In vitro assay of both exons shows that neither exon is essential for TSC complex function. Our evidence suggests that variants in TSC2 exons 25 or 31 are very unlikely to cause classical TSC, although a role for these exons in tissue/stage specific development cannot be excluded.

Recursive splicing in long vertebrate genes.

It is generally believed that splicing removes introns as single units from precursor messenger RNA transcripts. However, some long Drosophila melanogaster introns contain a cryptic site, known as a recursive splice site (RS-site), that enables a multi-step process of intron removal termed recursive splicing. The extent to which recursive splicing occurs in other species and its mechanistic basis have not been examined. Here we identify highly conserved RS-sites in genes expressed in the mammalian brain that encode proteins functioning in neuronal development. Moreover, the RS-sites are found in some of the longest introns across vertebrates. We find that vertebrate recursive splicing requires initial definition of an 'RS-exon' that follows the RS-site. The RS-exon is then excluded from the dominant mRNA isoform owing to competition with a reconstituted 5' splice site formed at the RS-site after the first splicing step. Conversely, the RS-exon is included when preceded by cryptic promoters or exons that fail to reconstitute an efficient 5' splice site. Most RS-exons contain a premature stop codon such that their inclusion can decrease mRNA stability. Thus, by establishing a binary splicing switch, RS-sites demarcate different mRNA isoforms emerging from long genes by coupling cryptic elements with inclusion of RS-exons.

Astrovirus VA1/HMO-C: an increasingly recognized neurotropic pathogen in immunocompromised patients.

BACKGROUND: An 18-month-old boy developed encephalopathy, for which extensive investigation failed to identify an etiology, 6 weeks after stem cell transplant. To exclude a potential infectious cause, we performed high-throughput RNA sequencing on brain biopsy. METHODS: RNA-Seq was performed on an Illumina Miseq, generating 20 million paired-end reads. Nonhost data were checked for similarity to known organisms using BLASTx. The full viral genome was sequenced by primer walking. RESULTS: We identified an astrovirus, HAstV-VA1/HMO-C-UK1(a), which was highly divergent from human astrovirus (HAstV 1-8) genotypes, but closely related to VA1/HMO-C astroviruses, including one recovered from a case of fatal encephalitis in an immunosuppressed child. The virus was detected in stool and serum, with highest levels in brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Immunohistochemistry of the brain biopsy showed positive neuronal staining. A survey of 680 stool and 349 CSF samples identified a related virus in the stool of another immunosuppressed child. CONCLUSIONS: The discovery of HAstV-VA1/HMO-C-UK1(a) as the cause of encephalitis in this case provides further evidence that VA1/HMO-C viruses, unlike HAstV 1-8, are neuropathic, particularly in immunocompromised patients, and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of encephalopathy. With a turnaround from sample receipt to result of <1 week, we confirm that RNA-Seq presents a valuable diagnostic tool in unexplained encephalitis.

UCbase 2.0: ultraconserved sequences database (2014 update).

UCbase 2.0 (http://ucbase.unimore.it) is an update, extension and evolution of UCbase, a Web tool dedicated to the analysis of ultraconserved sequences (UCRs). UCRs are 481 sequences >200 bases sharing 100% identity among human, mouse and rat genomes. They are frequently located in genomic regions known to be involved in cancer or differentially expressed in human leukemias and carcinomas. UCbase 2.0 is a platform-independent Web resource that includes the updated version of the human genome annotation (hg19), information linking disorders to chromosomal coordinates based on the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine classification, a query tool to search for Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and a new text box to directly interrogate the database using a MySQL interface. To facilitate the interactive visual interpretation of UCR chromosomal positioning, UCbase 2.0 now includes a graph visualization interface directly linked to UCSC genome browser. Database URL: http://ucbase.unimore.it.

The combination of transcriptomics and informatics identifies pathways targeted by miR-204 during neurogenesis and axon guidance.

Vertebrate organogenesis is critically sensitive to gene dosage and even subtle variations in the expression levels of key genes may result in a variety of tissue anomalies. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are fundamental regulators of gene expression and their role in vertebrate tissue patterning is just beginning to be elucidated. To gain further insight into this issue, we analysed the transcriptomic consequences of manipulating the expression of miR-204 in the Medaka fish model system. We used RNA-Seq and an innovative bioinformatics approach, which combines conventional differential expression analysis with the behavior expected by miR-204 targets after its overexpression and knockdown. With this approach combined with a correlative analysis of the putative targets, we identified a wider set of miR-204 target genes belonging to different pathways. Together, these approaches confirmed that miR-204 has a key role in eye development and further highlighted its putative function in neural differentiation processes, including axon guidance as supported by in vivo functional studies. Together, our results demonstrate the advantage of integrating next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics approaches to investigate miRNA biology and provide new important information on the role of miRNAs in the control of axon guidance and more broadly in nervous system development.

Phage ϕC2 mediates transduction of Tn6215, encoding erythromycin resistance, between Clostridium difficile strains.

UNLABELLED: In this work, we show that Clostridium difficile phage ϕC2 transduces erm(B), which confers erythromycin resistance, from a donor to a recipient strain at a frequency of 10(-6) per PFU. The transductants were lysogenic for ϕC2 and contained the erm(B) gene in a novel transposon, Tn6215. This element is 13,008 bp in length and contains 17 putative open reading frames (ORFs). It could also be transferred at a lower frequency by filter mating. IMPORTANCE: Clostridium difficile is a major human pathogen that causes diarrhea that can be persistent and difficult to resolve using antibiotics. C. difficile is potentially zoonotic and has been detected in animals, food, and environmental samples. C. difficile genomes contain large portions of horizontally acquired genetic elements. The conjugative elements have been reasonably well studied, but transduction has not yet been demonstrated. Here, we show for the first time transduction as a mechanism for the transfer of a novel genetic element in C. difficile. Transduction may also be a useful tool for the genetic manipulation of C. difficile.

Fine-mapping, gene expression and splicing analysis of the disease associated LRRK2 locus.

Association studies have identified several signals at the LRRK2 locus for Parkinson's disease (PD), Crohn's disease (CD) and leprosy. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms mediating these effects. To further characterize this locus, we fine-mapped the risk association in 5,802 PD and 5,556 controls using a dense genotyping array (ImmunoChip). Using samples from 134 post-mortem control adult human brains (UK Human Brain Expression Consortium), where up to ten brain regions were available per individual, we studied the regional variation, splicing and regulation of LRRK2. We found convincing evidence for a common variant PD association located outside of the LRRK2 protein coding region (rs117762348, A>G, P = 2.56×10(-8), case/control MAF 0.083/0.074, odds ratio 0.86 for the minor allele with 95% confidence interval [0.80-0.91]). We show that mRNA expression levels are highest in cortical regions and lowest in cerebellum. We find an exon quantitative trait locus (QTL) in brain samples that localizes to exons 32-33 and investigate the molecular basis of this eQTL using RNA-Seq data in n = 8 brain samples. The genotype underlying this eQTL is in strong linkage disequilibrium with the CD associated non-synonymous SNP rs3761863 (M2397T). We found two additional QTLs in liver and monocyte samples but none of these explained the common variant PD association at rs117762348. Our results characterize the LRRK2 locus, and highlight the importance and difficulties of fine-mapping and integration of multiple datasets to delineate pathogenic variants and thus develop an understanding of disease mechanisms.

DNA methylation analysis of murine hematopoietic side population cells during aging.

Stem cells have been found in most tissues/organs. These somatic stem cells produce replacements for lost and damaged cells, and it is not completely understood how this regenerative capacity becomes diminished during aging. To study the possible involvement of epigenetic changes in somatic stem cell aging, we used murine hematopoiesis as a model system. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) were enriched for via Hoechst exclusion activity (SP-HSC) from young, medium-aged and old mice and subjected to comprehensive, global methylome (MeDIP-seq) analysis. With age, we observed a global loss of DNA methylation of approximately 5%, but an increase in methylation at some CpG islands. Just over 100 significant (FDR<0.2) aging-specific differentially methylated regions (aDMRs) were identified, which are surprisingly few considering the profound age-based changes that occur in HSC biology. Interestingly, the polycomb repressive complex -2 (PCRC2) target genes Kiss1r, Nav2 and Hsf4 were hypermethylated with age. The promoter for the Sdpr gene was determined to be progressively hypomethylated with age. This occurred concurrently with an increase in gene expression with age. To explore this relationship further, we cultured isolated SP-HSC in the presence of 5-aza-deoxycytdine and demonstrated a negative correlation between Sdpr promoter methylation and gene expression. We report that DNA methylation patterns are well preserved during hematopoietic stem cell aging, confirm that PCRC2 targets are increasingly methylated with age, and suggest that SDPR expression changes with age in HSCs may be regulated via age-based alterations in DNA methylation.

Wolfram gene (WFS1) mutation causes autosomal dominant congenital nuclear cataract in humans.

Congenital cataracts are an important cause of bilateral visual impairment in infants. Through genome-wide linkage analysis in a four-generation family of Irish descent, the disease-associated gene causing autosomal-dominant congenital nuclear cataract was mapped to chromosome 4p16.1. The maximum logarithm of odds (LOD) score was 2.62 at a recombination fraction θ=0, obtained for marker D4S432 physically close to the Wolfram gene (WFS1). By sequencing the coding regions and intron-exon boundaries of WFS1, we identified a DNA substitution (c.1385A-to-G) in exon 8, causing a missense mutation at codon 462 (E462G) of the Wolframin protein. This is the first report of a mutation in this gene causing an isolated nuclear congenital cataract. These findings suggest that the membrane trafficking protein Wolframin may be important for supporting the developing lens.