Assessment of droplet digital polymerase chain reaction for measuring BCR-ABL1 in chronic myeloid leukaemia in an international interlaboratory study.

Measurement of BCR activator of RhoGEF and GTPase -ABL proto-oncogene 1, non-receptor tyrosine kinase (BCR-ABL1) mRNA levels by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTqPCR) has been critical to treatment protocols and clinical trials in chronic myeloid leukaemia; however, interlaboratory variation remains a significant issue. Reverse transcriptase droplet digital PCR (RTddPCR) has shown potential to improve testing but a large-scale interlaboratory study is required to definitively establish this. In the present study, 10 BCR-ABL1-positive samples with levels ranging from molecular response (MR)1·0 -MR5·0 were tested by 23 laboratories using RTddPCR with the QXDX BCR-ABL %IS kit. A subset of participants tested the samples using RTqPCR. All 23 participants using RTddPCR detected BCR-ABL1 in all samples to MR4·0 . Detection rates for deep-response samples were 95·7% at MR4·5 , 78·3% at MR4·7 and 87·0% at MR5·0 . Interlaboratory coefficient of variation was indirectly proportional to BCR-ABL1 level ranging from 29·3% to 69·0%. Linearity ranged from 0·9330 to 1·000 (average 0·9936). When results were compared for the 11 participants who performed both RTddPCR and RTqPCR, RTddPCR showed a similar limit of detection to RTqPCR with reduced interlaboratory variation and better assay linearity. The ability to detect deep responses with RTddPCR, matched with an improved linearity and reduced interlaboratory variation will allow improved patient management, and is of particular importance for future clinical trials focussed on achieving and maintaining treatment-free remission.

PARP Inhibitors in Breast and Ovarian Cancer.

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are one of the most successful examples of clinical translation of targeted therapies in medical oncology, and this has been demonstrated by their effective management of BRCA1/BRCA2 mutant cancers, most notably in breast and ovarian cancers. PARP inhibitors target DNA repair pathways that BRCA1/2-mutant tumours are dependent upon. Inhibition of the key components of these pathways leads to DNA damage triggering subsequent critical levels of genomic instability, mitotic catastrophe and cell death. This ultimately results in a synthetic lethal relationship between BRCA1/2 and PARP, which underpins the effectiveness of PARP inhibitors. Despite the early and dramatic response seen with PARP inhibitors, patients receiving them often develop treatment resistance. To date, data from both clinical and preclinical studies have highlighted multiple resistance mechanisms to PARP inhibitors, and only by understanding these mechanisms are we able to overcome the challenges. The focus of this review is to summarise the underlying mechanisms underpinning treatment resistance to PARP inhibitors and to aid both clinicians and scientists to develop better clinically applicable assays to better select patients who would derive the greatest benefit as well as develop new novel/combination treatment strategies to overcome these mechanisms of resistance. With a better understanding of PARP inhibitor resistance mechanisms, we would not only be able to identify a subset of patients who are unlikely to benefit from therapy but also to sequence our treatment paradigm to avoid and overcome these resistance mechanisms.

Missense variant in interleukin-6 signal transducer identified as susceptibility locus for rheumatoid arthritis in Chinese patients.

Objectives: This study aims to uncover variants of large effect size and allele frequency below 5% by sequencing all extant genes associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a homogeneous patient cohort. Patients and methods: This retrospective study was conducted between January 2001 and December 2017. We selected Chinese RA patients positive for anti-citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA). All the 128 known candidate genes identified through genome-wide association studies were sequenced in 48 RA patients (15 males, 33 females; mean age 53.32±8.98 years; range, 32 to 75 years) and 45 controls (11 males, 34 females; mean age 32.18±9.54; range, 21 to 57 years). The exonic regions of these genes were sequenced. The resultant data were analyzed for association using single variant association and pathway-based association enrichment tests. The genetic burden due to low-frequency variants was assessed with the C-alpha test. The candidate variants that showed significant association were validated in a larger cohort of 500 RA cases (71 males, 429 females; mean age 48.6±12.2 years; range, 24 to 92 years) and 500 controls (66 males, 434 females; mean age 32.3±10.1 years; range, 21 to 73 years). Results: Thirty-nine variants in 21 genes were identified using single variant association analysis and C-alpha test, with stepwise filtering. Among these, the missense variant in interleukin-6 signal transducer (IL-6ST) 5:55260065 (p.Cys47Phe) was significantly associated with RA in Chinese patients in Singapore. Conclusion: Our results suggest that a mutation in IL-6ST (5:55260065) confers risk of RA in Chinese patients in Singapore.