In most eukaryotes, meiotic homologous recombination (HR) is mediated by two recombinase systems, namely, the ubiquitous RAD51 and meiosis-specific DMC1. In the RAD51-mediated HR system, five paralogs are essential for normal RAD51 function. Meanwhile, given the embryonic lethality of RAD51 or any RAD51 paralog knockouts, the role of RAD51 in mammalian meiosis is unclear. This […]
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Evolution of genetic assessment for BRCA-associated gynaecologic malignancies: a Canadian multisociety roadmap (Contributed by Dr Raymond H Kim)
BRCA1/2 gene mutations are inherited from a parent or acquired in the cells of a tumour. With advances in personalized cancer treatment, knowledge BRCA1/2 mutations (inherited or acquired) can direct cancer treatment, particularly ovarian cancer. This has increased requests for multiple types genetic testing, requiring changes to current genetic testing models. Led by the Society […]
Bacteria-free minicircle DNA system to generate integration-free CAR-T cells (Contributed by Chen Cheng)
Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells engineered with viral vectors have been successfully applied to treat patients with B cell malignancy. However, viral integration has the potential risk of mutagenesis, and the efforts and cost of viral vector production are demanding. Using non-integrative episomal vector to generate integration free CAR-T cells is an attractive option. […]
Paternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 19 in a pair of monochorionic diamniotic twins with dysmorphic features and developmental delay (Contributed by Kit San Yeung)
Uniparental disomy (UPD) occurs when a person obtains both copies of the homologous chromosome from one parent. UPD can be associated with human diseases caused by disruption of genomic imprinting or homozygosity for a recessive trait. In this report, we describe the first human case of paternal UPD for chromosome 19 in monozygotic twins showing […]
Fine mapping MHC associations in Graves’ disease and its clinical subtypes in Han Chinese (Contributed by Dr. Xun Chu)
The classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes were the most important genetic determinant for Graves’ disease (GD). We applied imputation to thoroughly investigate the MHC associations with GD down to the amino acid level of classical HLA genes in 1,468 GD patients and 1,490 controls of Han Chinese. We observed the top association signal at […]
Applications and advances of CRISPR-Cas9 in cancer immunotherapy (Contributed by An-Liang Xia)
To date, few articles have systematically described the applications and advances of CRISPR-Cas9 in cancer immunotherapy. Immunotherapy has emerged as one of the most promising therapeutic strategies in cancer. CRISPR-Cas9 system, as an RNA-guided genome editing technology, can be implemented to fuel the production of therapeutic immune cells such as construction of chimeric antigen receptor […]
Genetic obesity: next-generation sequencing results of 1230 patients with obesity (Contributed by Dr. Lotte Kleinendorst)
Obesity is a global severe health problem, highly influenced by environmental factors such as a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits. In rare cases, a genetic defect can be identified as the main cause of obesity. Our article summarizes the genetic obesity test results of 1230 Dutch obese patients. This test included 52 obesity-associated genes. […]
Hereditary lobular breast cancer with an emphasis on E-cadherin genetic defect (Contributed by Dr. Giovanni Corso)
Hereditary lobular breast cancer is an inherited syndrome that is associated with the CDH1 germline mutations. The CDH1 gene plays a crucial role in the correct function of human cells. Loss of the encoded protein, so called E-cadherin, represents a dramatic event; in human epithelial cancers, as diffuse gastric and lobular breast tumors, this loss […]
Identification of new risk factors for rolandic epilepsy: CNV at Xp22.31 and alterations at cholinergic synapses (Contributed by Dr. Laura Addis)
Rolandic epilepsy (RE) is the most common genetic childhood epilepsy, with focal nocturnal seizures and neurodevelopmental impairments. In this study of 186 children with RE from ethnically diverse populations, we identified rare copy number variation (CNV, large duplications or deletions of DNA) in 84. Children with RE carried CNVs that disrupt genes known to cause […]
Molecular genetic classification in Prader-Willi syndrome: a multisite cohort study (Contributed by Professor Merlin G. Butler)
Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is the most common known cause of life-threatening obesity due to errors in genomic imprinting from chromosome 15 defects. We summarized the frequency and characterized the PWS molecular classes using advanced genomic technology in 510 individuals as the largest cohort to date (paternal 15q11-q13 deletion in 60% of cases, maternal disomy 15 […]