ALBERT

Description: The discovery of RNAi has revolutionized loss-of-function genetic studies in mammalian systems. However, significant challenges still remain to fully exploit RNAi for mammalian genetics. For instance, genetic screens and in vivo studies could be broadly improved by methods that allow inducible and uniform gene expression control. To achieve this, we built the lentiviral pINDUCER series of expression vehicles for inducible RNAi in vivo. Using a multicistronic design, pINDUCER vehicles enable tracking of viral transduction and shRNA or cDNA induction in a broad spectrum of mammalian cell types in vivo. They achieve this uniform temporal, dose-dependent, and reversible control of gene expression across heterogenous cell populations via fluorescence-based quantification of reverse tet-transactivator expression. This feature allows isolation of cell populations that exhibit a potent, inducible target knockdown in vitro and in vivo that can be used in human xenotransplantation models to examine cancer drug targets.

Description: Cancers emerge from an ongoing Darwinian evolutionary process, often leading to multiple competing subclones within a single primary tumour. This evolutionary process culminates in the formation of metastases, which is the cause of 90% of cancer-related deaths. However, despite its clinical importance, little is known about the principles governing the dissemination of cancer cells to distant organs. Although the hypothesis that each metastasis originates from a single tumour cell is generally supported, recent studies using mouse models of cancer demonstrated the existence of polyclonal seeding from and interclonal cooperation between multiple subclones. Here we sought definitive evidence for the existence of polyclonal seeding in human malignancy and to establish the clonal relationship among different metastases in the context of androgen-deprived metastatic prostate cancer. Using whole-genome sequencing, we characterized multiple metastases arising from prostate tumours in ten patients. Integrated analyses of subclonal architecture revealed the patterns of metastatic spread in unprecedented detail. Metastasis-to-metastasis spread was found to be common, either through de novo monoclonal seeding of daughter metastases or, in five cases, through the transfer of multiple tumour clones between metastatic sites. Lesions affecting tumour suppressor genes usually occur as single events, whereas mutations in genes involved in androgen receptor signalling commonly involve multiple, convergent events in different metastases. Our results elucidate in detail the complex patterns of metastatic spread and further our understanding of the development of resistance to androgen-deprivation therapy in prostate cancer.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413032/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413032/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gundem, Gunes -- Van Loo, Peter -- Kremeyer, Barbara -- Alexandrov, Ludmil B -- Tubio, Jose M C -- Papaemmanuil, Elli -- Brewer, Daniel S -- Kallio, Heini M L -- Hognas, Gunilla -- Annala, Matti -- Kivinummi, Kati -- Goody, Victoria -- Latimer, Calli -- O'Meara, Sarah -- Dawson, Kevin J -- Isaacs, William -- Emmert-Buck, Michael R -- Nykter, Matti -- Foster, Christopher -- Kote-Jarai, Zsofia -- Easton, Douglas -- Whitaker, Hayley C -- ICGC Prostate UK Group -- Neal, David E -- Cooper, Colin S -- Eeles, Rosalind A -- Visakorpi, Tapio -- Campbell, Peter J -- McDermott, Ultan -- Wedge, David C -- Bova, G Steven -- 077012/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- A12758/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- A14835/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- CA92234/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 16;520(7547):353-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14347. Epub 2015 Apr 1.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK. ; 1] Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK [2] Department of Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49 Box 602, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium [3] Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, London WC2A 3LY, UK. ; 1] Norwich Medical School and Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK [2] The Genome Analysis Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK. ; Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology, BioMediTech, University of Tampere and Fimlab Laboratories, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere FI-33520, Finland. ; The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA. ; Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Maryland 20892, USA. ; University of Liverpool and HCA Pathology Laboratories, London WC1E 6JA, UK. ; Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, The Institute Of Cancer Research, London SW7 3RP, UK. ; Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB1 8RN, UK. ; Uro-oncology Research Group, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Cambridge CB2 0RE, UK. ; 1] Uro-oncology Research Group, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Cambridge CB2 0RE, UK [2] Department of Surgical Oncology, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK. ; 1] Norwich Medical School and Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK [2] Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, The Institute Of Cancer Research, London SW7 3RP, UK. ; 1] Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, The Institute Of Cancer Research, London SW7 3RP, UK [2] Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London SW3 6JJ, UK; and Sutton SM2 5PT, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25830880" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: We have used multiple-regression methods to calibrate new, pressure-independent empirical chemometric equations to calculate the major element composition of basanitic to rhyolitic melts in equilibrium with calcic amphibole. The equations are based on amphibole stoichiometric formula components ± temperature from published experimental P-T - X data and avoid some problems of previous studies associated with uncertainties in pressure determination. Compared with the pressure-dependent equations of Ridolfi and Renzulli (2012) , tests run using an independent data set indicate that the new equations yield improved precision and accuracy, in particular for SiO 2 , TiO 2 , CaO, and K 2 O. The results are only marginally more precise when temperature is used as a dependent variable, demonstrating that temperature has a relatively minor role in controlling amphibole crystal chemistry compared with melt composition. This allows us to accept a small decrease in precision in excluding temperature from the analysis, which is very convenient for application of the equations to natural amphiboles where temperature is typically unknown. Using the new chemometric equations, reconstructed melt compositions in equilibrium with the rims of amphiboles in pumice clasts of the Ongatiti ignimbrite are in good agreement with coexisting matrix glass compositions, lending support for our analysis. The compositionally variable cores of the amphiboles give predicted melt compositions with large compositional variations from andesitic (63 wt% SiO 2 ) to high-Si rhyolite. These compositional variations in the predicted melt compositions suggest that there may be a range of heterogeneous melts undergoing progressive differentiation within a major crustal magma storage region underneath the volcano. The results support the existence of genuine intermediate composition melts within the storage region. Interaction between these stored melts, disaggregating mush fragments and replenishing magmas gives rise to the chemical complexity observed in erupted magmas. We also used our multiple regression model to predict the compositions of melts that were in equilibrium with amphiboles in plutonic nodules from Grenada lavas. The predicted melts cover a wide range of compositions, perhaps as a result of in situ fractionation, but are consistent with melt inclusions hosted in those cumulates, as reported by Stamper et al. (2014) . Overall, our new pressure- and temperature-independent equations resolve issues associated with previous pressure-dependent studies and represent a useful tool for further investigation of crustal processes at subduction zones.

Description: Tumor induction in athymic nude mice can be used to detect dominant transforming genes in cellular DNA. Mouse NIH 3T3 cells freshly transfected with either cloned Moloney sarcoma proviral DNA or cellular DNA's derived from virally transformed cells induced tumors when injected into athymic nu/nu mice. Tumors were also induced by cells transfected with DNA from two tumor-derived and one chemically transformed human cell lines. The mouse tumors induced by human cell line DNA's contained human DNA sequences, and DNA derived from these tumors was capable of inducing both tumors and foci on subsequent transfection. Tumor induction in nude mice represents a useful new method for the detection and selection of cells transformed by cellular oncogenes.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Blair, D G -- Cooper, C S -- Oskarsson, M K -- Eader, L A -- Vande Woude, G F -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1982 Dec 10;218(4577):1122-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6293052" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The mutagenicity of r-8,t-9-dihydroxy-t-10, 11-oxy-8,9,10,11-tetrahydrobenz[a]anthracene (BA-8,9-diol 10, 11-oxide) toward Salmonella typhimurium TA 100 is not decreased by the presence of large amounts of highly purified microsomal or cytosolic epoxide hydrolase. However, highly purified dihydrodiol dehydrogenase inactivates this diol epoxide, which is a major DNA-binding metabolite of benz[a]anthracene. The K-region epoxide, benz[a]anthracene 5,6-oxide (BA 5,6-oxide) is efficiently inactivated by microsomal epoxide hydrolase, is much less readily inactivated by cytosolic epoxide hydrolase, and is not inactivated by dihydrodiol dehydrogenase. This inactivation of a diol epoxide by dihydrodiol dehydrogenase points to a new significance of this enzyme and a new level of control for diol epoxides.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Glatt, H R -- Cooper, C S -- Grover, P L -- Sims, P -- Bentley, P -- Merdes, M -- Waechter, F -- Vogel, K -- Guenthner, T M -- Oesch, F -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1982 Mar 19;215(4539):1507-9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7038877" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Early passages of the human teratocarcinoma cell line PA1 are not tumorigenic in nude mice, while late passages are. A transforming gene present in late passages of PA1 cells was isolated as a biologically active molecular clone and is a new isolate of the human rasN locus. Its transforming activity is due to a single G---A (G, guanine; A, adenine) point mutation at the codon for amino acid 12 which changes the codon for glycine so that an aspartic acid residue is expressed. In contrast to late passage PA1 cells (passages 106, 330, and 338), DNA from the PA1 cell line at early passages (passage 36) does not yield rasN foci in DNA transfection assays. Thus, the presence of an activated rasN in PA1 cells correlates with enhanced tumorigenicity of the cell line and, more importantly, may have arisen during cell culture in vitro.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tainsky, M A -- Cooper, C S -- Giovanella, B C -- Vande Woude, G F -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1984 Aug 10;225(4662):643-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6740333" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉