Search

The genomic profiles of osteosarcoma (OS) patients have been extensively investigated; however, the genetic prognostic biomarkers still remain unclear. In the present study, we analyzed the mutational profiles of pre-treatment primary tumor samples from 33 OS patients using whole exome sequencing (WES). These 33 OS patients were divided into two groups according to clinical outcomes: a good prognosis group involving 21 patients with tumor free survival, and a poor prognosis group involving the remaining12 patients who had lung metastases at initial diagnosis. Overall we found that the MAPK signaling pathway may play an important role in determining a good prognosis, while the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway may be an important factor leading to a poor prognosis. Significant differences were observed in the number of somatic copy number alterations, including del (3p), amp (4q), del (7p) and amp (8q), between the two groups. Moreover, significant differences were observed in mutation sites and frequencies between these two groups. The good prognosis group exhibited a significantly higher mutation frequency in somatic JAK-STAT and germline base excision repair pathways than the poor prognosis group. Furthermore, significant difference was also observed in the frequency of potentially actionable alterations between the two groups, suggesting that patients with a poor prognosis potentially have access to a larger number of treatment options. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating genomic disparities in OS, and provide a novel insight into the potential prognostic biomarkers.

Background Occurrence at a young age is known to be associated with unique clinical features in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the genomic differences between young and old patients with CRC are not well elucidated and, to the best of our knowledge, have never been investigated in a Chinese population. Methods Tumor tissue samples from 29 young (age ≤50 years) and 46 old (age >50 years) patients with CRC were collected. Targeted sequencing of 808 cancer‐related genes was conducted to characterize the genomic landscape for Chinese CRC. Results Overall, mutational profiles exhibited notable differences between the two groups. In particular, APC and PIK3CA mutations were more frequently observed in old patients (p = 0.009 and p = 0.012, respectively), while SMAD4 mutations tended to occur in young patients (p = 0.054). Mutation loci distributions of KRAS in the young cohort differed from those in the old cohort, and a higher frequency of KRAS codon 12 mutations was potentially associated with a young age (p = 0.076). The frequencies of clinically actionable alterations were analyzed by defined age categories, which unveiled a distinctive targeted genomic profile in the young group. Furthermore, among patients with mismatch repair‐proficient (pMMR) CRC, tumor mutation burden (TMB) was positively correlated with age (Pearson's r = 0.306, p = 0.011), and genomic alterations associated with high TMB in young patients differentiated from those in old patients. Conclusions These findings revealed different molecular characterization between young and old Chinese patients with CRC, which may provide novel insights for the personalized treatment of CRC., This is the first NGS study to compare genomic profiles between young and old Chinese cohorts with CRC. The results demonstrated that young patients with CRC presented with some unique molecular features. Moreover, the comprehensive investigation of clinically actionable mutations and TMB will contribute to the improvement of personalized therapy and clinical management in CRC.

Background The identification of NTRK fusions in tumours has become critically important due to the actionable events predictive of response to TRK inhibitor. It is not clear whether the NTRK breakpoint location is different for response to targeted therapy and NTRK fusions affects the efficacy of immunotherapy. Case presentation Here we reported a 60-year-old female diagnosed with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. NGS-based molecular profiling identified a novel NCOR2-NTRK1 fusion and high tumor mutational burden (TMB) (58.58 mutations/Mb) in this case. Additionally, program death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression was detected in 20–30% of the tumor cells by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. The patient received treatment with anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor of camrelizumab. After two cycles of treatment, the CT scan showed some tumor nodules were still enlarged, indicating disease progression. She was then changed to TRK inhibitor larotrectinib. One month later, the CT scan showed the volume of some lesions started to decrease, and no metastasis lesions were found. The patient then continued the administration of larotrectinib, and some lesion sizes were significantly reduced or even disappeared in the next few months. Currently, this patient is still alive. Conclusions Altogether, this report provided a new driver of lung adenocarcinoma expanded the mutational spectrum of NTRK1 fusion variants and suggested using larotrectinib as the targeted therapy is more effective than anti-PD-1 inhibitor in lung adenocarcinoma harboring with NTRK fusion, positive PD-L1 expression, and high TMB simultaneously.

Current methods for the early detection and minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring of urothelial carcinoma (UC) are invasive and/or possess suboptimal sensitivity. We developed an efficient workflow named urine tumor DNA multidimensional bioinformatic predictor (utLIFE). Using UC-specific mutations and large copy number variations, utLIFE-UC model was developed on bladder cancer cohort (n = 150) and validated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) bladder cancer cohort (n=674) and upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) cohort (n=22). The utLIFE-UC model could discriminate 92.8% UC with 96.0% specificity, and validated robustly in BLCA_TCGA and UTUC cohorts. Furthermore, compared to cytology, utLIFE-UC achieved a great improvement in detection of non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC, p

As the largest genus of Halymeniaceae, Grateloupia has been widely reported. Here, we observed the life history and early development of Grateloupia constricata Li et Ding and investigated the effects of temperature, irradiance, and photoperiod on the discoid crust and sporeling development of G. constricata under laboratory conditions. We observed that the type of carpospore development was “mediate discal type”. The life history included homotypic gametophyte (haploid), carposporophyte (diploid), and tetrasporophyte (diploid), with typical isomorphic alternation of generations. The results of double factorial analysis showed that both single factorial effects and interaction among temperature, photoperiod, and irradiance were obviously significant on the discoid crust and sporeling development. Furthermore, we found that the optimum combination of condition for the early growth and development of G. constricata was temperature 20°C, irradiance 80 μmol photons/(m2·s) and photoperiod 16L:8D. This study provides the theoretical basis and technical support for the conservation of the Grateloupia germplasm, artificial breeding, large-scale cultivation and sustainable development.

Purpose: Because of their high tumor specificity and immunogenicity, neoantigens have been considered as ultimate targets for cancer immunotherapy. Neoantigen-based vaccines have demonstrated promising efficacy for several cancer types. To further investigate the antitumor potentials for other types of solid tumors, we designed a peptide-based neoantigen vaccine, iNeo-Vac-P01, and conducted a single-arm, open-labeled, investigator-initiated clinical trial (NCT03662815). Patients and Methods: Personalized neoantigen vaccines were designed and manufactured according to our bioinformatics analysis results from the whole-exome sequencing of tumor and peripheral blood cell DNAs. Patients were scheduled to be vaccinated subcutaneously with adjuvant on days 1, 4, 8, 15, and 22 (prime phase), and days 78 and 162 (boost phase). Additional immunizations were administrated every 2–3 months as per patient's potential benefit. The safety and efficacy were assessed through adverse events (AE), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and other parameters. Results: Of the 22 patients enrolled with advanced malignancies, 20 had no or mild AEs, while 2 had grade 3 or 4 acute allergic reactions only after their sixth boost vaccination. The disease control rate was 71.4%. The median PFS was 4.6 months, whereas the median OS was not reached (12-month OS = 55.1%). Around 80% of individual peptides or peptide pools elicited measurable specific immune response. In addition, our findings revealed several potential biomarkers for the prediction of better response. Conclusions: iNeo-Vac-P01 as monotherapy is feasible and safe for patients with advanced solid tumors. It could elicit T-cell–mediated immune response targeting tumor neoantigens, and might have promising antitumor efficacy. See related commentary by Filderman and Storkus, p. 4429

Purpose: Enhanced lipogenesis and mitochondrial function are two critical metabolic characteristics in melanoma, but their crosstalk involved in tumor biology and targeted therapy remains unknown. ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY) is a crucial lipogenic enzyme that is greatly implicated in tumor development, but its role in mitochondrial function and melanoma pathogenesis has not been elucidated. Experimental Design: In vitro and in vivo functional experiments were performed to determine the effect of ACLY on melanoma growth. mRNA expression profile analysis and a panel of biochemical assays were used to investigate the role of ACLY in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and the underlying mechanism. The effect of combined ACLY inhibition on the efficacy of MAPK inhibition therapy was also examined. Results: We first found that ACLY expression was increased in melanoma and facilitated cell proliferation and tumor growth both in vitro and in vivo. Subsequent mRNA expression profile analysis and functional studies unveiled that ACLY specifically activated MITF–PGC1α axis to promote mitochondrial biogenesis and melanoma growth. Mechanistically, ACLY enhanced the activity of acetyltransferase P300, increasing the histone acetylation at MITF locus to promote MITF–PGC1α axis transcription. More importantly, the combined inhibition of ACLY sensitized BRAF-mutant melanoma to MAPK inhibition by suppressing MITF–PGC1α axis. Conclusions: We demonstrate that ACLY epigenetically potentiates oxidative phosphorylation to promote melanoma growth and MAPK inhibition adaptive resistance. Our study discovers the novel crosstalk between lipogenesis and mitochondrial function in tumor biology and highlights targeting ACLY as a potent therapeutic approach via simultaneously impairing tumor growth and MAPK inhibition resistance in melanoma.

The rhodophyte marine algal genus Grateloupia (Halymeniaceae, Halymeniales) is distributed worldwide, including in offshore southeastern China. Here, we investigated morphology, carpospore development, ecological habits, and molecular analyses of a rarely studied species, Grateloupia qingdaoensis. The carpogonial branch ampullae and auxiliary cell ampullae were the typical Grateloupia type (6cpb-5auxb type) and the type of spore development was “mediate discal type”. The life history included homotypic gametophytes (haploid), carposporophytes (diploid), and tetrasporophytes (diploid) and showed a typical isomorphic alternation of generations. By using single-factor and orthogonal experiments, we explored the effects of temperature, irradiance and seawater salinity on the early development of G. qingdaoensis. Each ecological factor showed distinct effect on the early development of G. qingdaoensis. Additionally, we found a significant interactive effect between temperature and irradiance on discord crust growth. The optimum conditions for the early growth of discoid crust and upright thalli were 20 °C, 80 μmol photons m−2 s−1 irradiance and 30‰ seawater salinity. To clarify its taxonomical status, we constructed the phylogenetic tree of rbcL gene sequences. Results showed that there was no pairwise divergence between G. qingdaoensis and G. asiatica from China. Our findings indicate that previous records without precise and comprehensive comparison and molecular analyses need to be re-examined to clarify the global distribution of this species.

Background Although researchers have shown that prodromal symptoms can predict acute coronary events, the ability of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to identify these symptoms in a timely manner is limited. Objectives We aimed to assess prodromal symptoms in Chinese patients with ACS and their responses to symptoms by sex. Design This cross-sectional, multicenter study involved 5 teaching hospitals in China and included 806 patients admitted for ACS between June 2013 and February 2014. The McSweeney Acute and Prodromal Myocardial Infarction Symptom Survey (Chinese version) was used to gather data. Results Among 806 patients (including 483 women), 688 (85.4%) experienced at least 1 prodromal symptom before ACS onset. Using adjusted logistic regression models, we determined that women were significantly more likely than men to report back pain, between- or under-shoulder blade pain/discomfort, sleep disturbances, anxiousness, or heart racing. The prevalence of generalized chest pain and loss of appetite was higher among men than women. Only 41% of patients attributed their prodromal symptoms to the heart, and women were more likely than men to attribute prodromal symptoms to a heart attack. Conclusions More than two-thirds of patients with ACS reported at least 1 prodromal symptom, with some significant sex differences. Most patients do not attribute their symptoms to an impending ACS event.

BackgroundRenal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a disease of genomic alterations, of which the complete panorama helps in facilitating molecular-guided therapy. Germline mutation profiles and associated somatic and clinical characteristics remains unexplored in Chinese RCC patients.MethodsWe retrospectively profiled the germline and somatic mutations of 322 unselected RCC patients using a panel consisting of 808 cancer-related genes. We categorized patients into three groups based on germline mutation status and compared the somatic mutation spectrum among different groups.ResultsApproximately one out of ten (9.9%) RCC patients were identified to carry pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) germline variants (PGVs), of which 3.7% were variants in syndromic RCC-associated genes and 6.2% were other cancer-predisposition genes. The most common PGV was found in VHL (2.2%), followed by FH, TSC2, ATM, BRCA1, NBN, and BLM (0.6% each). Young patients (≤46 years) were more likely to harbor PGVs. Variants in syndromic RCC-associated genes were predominant identified in young patients, while variants in other cancer-predisposition genes were found in patients >46 years more frequently. Furthermore, 39.3% (11/28) of patients carrying PGVs were detected to have somatic “second hit” events. Germline and somatic sequencing, including microsatellite instability (MSI) status analysis, provided potentially actionable therapeutic targets in 17.1% of patients in the whole cohort.ConclusionsOur results revealed that approximately 10% of RCC patients carried clinically significant germline mutations. Current guidelines recommendation for genetic testing seemed not sensitive enough to identify patients with hereditary RCC susceptibility. It is rational to promote genetic testing in RCC population.

BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent malignances worldwide. However, CRC with situs inversus totalis (SCRC) is extremely rare, and molecular characterization of this disease has never been investigated.MethodsTumor tissue samples from 8 patients with SCRC and 33 CRC patients without situs inversus totalis (NSCRC) were subjected to multigene next-generation sequencing.ResultsThe most frequently mutated genes in SCRC were APC, TP53, CHEK2, MDC1, GNAQ, KRAS, and SMAD4. A high frequency of SCRC tumors had mutations in DNA damage repair genes. Single amino acid substitutions in the DNA damage repair genes caused by continuous double base substitution was identified in the majority of this population. Furthermore, mutational profiles showed notable differences between the SCRC and NSCRC groups. In particular, CHEK2, MDC1, GNAQ, SMAD4, BRCA1, HLA-B, LATS2, and NLRC5 mutations were more frequently observed in SCRC patients. The mutation loci distributions of KRAS in the SCRC cohort differed from that of the NSCRC cohort. Additionally, differences in the targeted genomic profiles and base substitution patterns were observed between the two groups.ConclusionsThese findings comprehensively revealed a molecular characterization of SCRC, which will contribute to the development of personalized therapy and improved clinical management of SCRC patients.

Background Bladder cancer (BLCA) is one of most common urinary tract malignant tumor and immunotherapy have generated a great deal of interest in BLCA. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has significantly progressed the treatment of BLCA. Multiple studies have suggested that specific genetic mutations may serve as immune biomarkers for ICB therapy. Objective In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of mutations genes and subtypes in prognosis and immune checkpoint prediction in BLCA. Method Mutation information and expression profiles were acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Integrated bioinformatics analysis was carried out to explore the mutation genes of BLCA. Functional enrichment analysis Gene Ontology (GO) and Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted. The infiltrating immune cells and the prediction of ICB between different subtypes group were explored using immuCellAI algorithm. Results The mutation genes Filaggrin (FLG) gene were identified. Following the study on its subtypes and functional enrichment analysis, Sub2 of FLG-wide type was found to have relationships with poor prognosis and immune infiltration BLCA. What’s more, Sub2 of FLG-wide type may be used as a biomarker to predict the prognosis of BLCA patients receiving ICB. Conclusion This research provides a new basis and ideas for guiding the clinical application of BLCA immunotherapy.

The tumor mutational burden (TMB) calculated by whole-exome sequencing (WES) is a promising biomarker for the response to immune checkpoint inhibition (ICIs) in solid tumors. However, WES is not feasible in the routine clinical setting. In addition, the characteristics of the TMB in Chinese urothelial carcinoma (UC) are unclear. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the reliability of an Acornmed 808 panel and analyze the characteristics of the TMB in Chinese UC. An Acornmed 808 panel was designed and virtually validated using UC data from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA). Comprehensive analysis of sequencing and clinical data was performed to explore the characteristics of the TMB for 143 Chinese UC patients. Compared to the TMB calculated with random 808-, 500-, and 250-gene panels, the TMB calculated with the Acornmed 808 panel was closer to that calculated by WES. There were marked disparities in the mutational landscape and TMB between Chinese and TCGA UC data. The TMB was negatively associated with copy number variation (CNV). In contrast, the TMB was positive correlation with numbers of mutated DDR genes. Exposure to aristolochic acid signature was observed only in the TMB-high groups. The Acornmed 808 panel is a clinically practical method to assess the TMB. The TMB was associated with the DDR gene status and CNV counts and might be a biomarker for further stratification of UC patients. The study suggested that patients with high TMB may have a unique carcinogenic mechanism.

The study of coastal processes is critical for the protection and development of beach amenities, infrastructure, and properties. Many studies of beach evolution rely on data collected using remote sensing and show that beach evolution can be characterized by a finite number of “beach states”. However, due to practical constraints, long-term data displaying all beach states are rare. Additionally, when the dataset is available, the accuracy of the classification is not entirely objective since it depends on the operator. To address this problem, we collected hourly coastal images and corresponding tidal data for more than 20 years (November 1998–August 2019). We classified the images into eight categories according to the classic beach state classification, defined as (1) reflective, (2) incident scaled bar, (3) non-rhythmic, attached bar, (4) attached rhythmic bar, (5) offshore rhythmic bar, (6) non-rhythmic, 3-D bar, (7) infragravity scaled 2-D bar, (8) dissipative. We developed a classification model based on convolutional neural networks (CNN). After image pre-processing with data enhancement, we compared different CNN models. The improved ResNext obtained the best and most stable classification with F1-score of 90.41% and good generalization ability. The classification results of the whole dataset were transformed into time series data. MDLats algorithms were used to find frequent temporal patterns in morphology changes. Combining the pattern of coastal morphology change and the corresponding tidal data, we also analyzed the characteristics of beach morphology and the changes in morphodynamic states.

Rehmannia glutinosa has important medicinal value; terpenoid is one of the main active components in R. glutinosa. In this study, iTRAQ technique was used to analyze the relative abundance of proteins in roots of R. glutinosa, and 6,752 reliable proteins were quantified. GO enrichment results indicated that most proteins were involved in metabolic process or cellular process, 57.63% proteins had catalytic activity, and 65.80% proteins were enriched in membrane-bounded organelle. In roots of R. glutinosa, there were 38 KEGG enrichments with significance, more DEPs were found in some pathways, especially the proteasome pathway and TCA cycle with 15.0% DEPs between elongation stage and expansion stage of roots. Furthermore, five KEGG pathways of terpenoid synthesis were found. Most prenyltransferases belong to FPP/GGPP synthase family, involved in terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, and all interacted with biotin carboxylase CAC2. Compared with that at the elongation stage, many prenyltransferases exhibited higher expression at the expansion stage or maturation stage of roots. In addition, eight FPP/GGPP synthase encoding genes were cloned from R. glutinosa, namely FPPS, FPPS1, GGPS, GGPS3, GGPS4, GGPS5, GPPS and GPPS2, introns were also found in FPPS, FPPS1, GGPS5 and GGPS2, and FPP/GPP synthases were more conservative in organisms, especially in viridiplantae, in which the co-occurrence of GPPS or GPPS2 was significantly higher in plants. Further analysis found that FPP/GGPP synthases of R. glutinosa were divided into three kinds, GGPS, GPPS and FPPS, and their gene expression was significantly diverse in different varieties, growth periods, or tissues of R. glutinosa. Compared with that of GGPS, the expression of GPPS and FPPS was much higher in R. glutinosa, especially at the expansion stage and maturation stage. Thus, the synthesis of terpenoids in roots of R. glutinosa is intricately regulated and needs to be further studied.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusions have been recognized as a therapeutic target in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, molecular signatures and clinical characteristics of the Chinese population with ALK‐rearranged NSCLC are not well elucidated. In the present study, we carried out targeted next‐generation sequencing on tissue and plasma ctDNA samples in 1688 patients with NSCLC. Overall, ALK fusions were detected in 70 patients (4.1%), and the frequencies of ALK fusions detected in tissue and plasma samples were 5.1% and 3.3%, respectively. Additionally, the prevalence of breakpoint locations for EML4‐ALK fusions in ctDNA was significantly correlated with that in tumor tissues (R 2 = .91, P = .045). According to age, the incidence rates of ALK fusions among young (age 70 years) patients were significantly different (P

This work characterizes the hydrogen permeation fluxes of dual-phase SrCe0.9Y0.1O3-Ce0.8Sm0.2O2 (SCY-SDC) laminated membrane that contains regular and independent transport channels made of alternating films of SCY and SDC phases. Such membrane was synthesized via combined tape casting, co-pressing, and sintering route. The hydrogen flux of the dual-phase SCY-SDC laminated membrane reached 0.163 mL min−1 cm−2 at 900 °C when 100 mL min−1 of 20 vol% H2 in He and 100 mL min−1 of N2 were passed in the feed side and the permeate side, respectively. Such flux is significantly larger than the flux of the conventional SCY-SDC dual-phase membrane made by mixing SCY-SDC powder mixture and subsequent sintering at the same operation condition. The enhanced flux for the dual-phase laminated membrane relative to the conventional dual-phase membrane is attributed to the shorter diffusion paths for protons and electrons and the lower amount of the phase interfaces. The dual-phase SCY-SDC laminated membrane also displayed stable hydrogen permeation flux of around 0.15 mL min−1 cm−2 during 166-hour continuous operation at 850 °C in the presence of carbon dioxide in the permeate gas stream. Such stable performance highlights its chemical stability. Another attractive advantage of the dual-phase SCY-SDC laminated membrane lies in the minor discrepancy of the thermal expansion coefficient of SCY (α = 1.12·10−5 K−1) to that of SDC (α = 1.28·10−5 K−1) as obtained by dilatometry from room temperature to 1500 °C, which ensures its mechanical integrity during repeated thermal cycles.

Mitochondrial dysregulation has been implicated in oxidative stress-induced melanocyte destruction in vitiligo. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this process is merely investigated. Given the prominent role of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacetylase Sirtuin3 (SIRT3) in sustaining mitochondrial dynamics and homeostasis and that SIRT3 expression and activity can be influenced by oxidative stress-related signaling, we wondered whether SIRT3 could play an important role in vitiligo melanocyte degeneration by regulating mitochondrial dynamics. Methods: We initially testified SIRT3 expression and activity in normal and vitiligo melanocytes via PCR, immunoblotting and immunofluorescence assays. Then, cell apoptosis, mitochondrial function and mitochondrial dynamics after SIRT3 intervention were analyzed by flow cytometry, immunoblotting, confocal laser microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and oxphos activity assays. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP), immunoblotting and immunofluorescence assays were performed to clarify the upstream regulatory mechanism of SIRT3. Finally, the effect of honokiol on protecting melanocytes and the underlying mechanism were investigated via flow cytometry and immunoblotting analysis. Results: We first found that the expression and the activity of SIRT3 were significantly impaired in vitiligo melanocytes both in vitro and in vivo. Then, SIRT3 deficiency led to more melanocyte apoptosis by inducing severe mitochondrial dysfunction and cytochrome c release to cytoplasm, with Optic atrophy 1 (OPA1)-mediated mitochondrial dynamics remodeling involved in. Moreover, potentiated carbonylation and dampened peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC1α) activation accounted for SIRT3 dysregulation in vitiligo melanocytes. Finally, we proved that honokiol could prevent melanocyte apoptosis under oxidative stress by activating SIRT3-OPA1 axis. Conclusions: Overall, we demonstrate that SIRT3-dependent mitochondrial dynamics remodeling contributes to oxidative stress-induced melanocyte degeneration in vitiligo, and honokiol is promising in preventing oxidative stress-induced vitiligo melanocyte apoptosis.

e16560 Background: Concordance between tumor DNA (tDNA) and urine tumor DNA (utDNA) profiles using paired samples was analyzed. Genomic analysis of utDNA and tDNA showed a high consistency, indicating that urine is an optional sample for noninvasive detection and response evaluation of bladder cancer (BC). Methods: Methods and results data were analyzed from an ongoing study, collecting all cases from Second Hospital Affiliated to Tianjin Medical University. Cases with pathologically confirmed BC and matching tissue/urine/whole blood before treatments were recruited. In 85 patients, 48 with paired samples were enrolled in this analysis after excluding 37 paired samples failed in sample QC or sample collection. WES (Whole Exome Sequence) was applied to tDNA and paired white blood cell (WBC) DNA. An Acornmed 808-Gene panel was applied to utDNA and paired WBC DNA. Somatic events, including SNV (single nucleotide variant), InDel (insertion and deletion) of hot genes were analyzed. Consistency of tDNA and utDNA were identified and analyzed in the intersection set between the two chips, and tDNA profiling was used as the“golden standard”. Results: Among 48 patients, 24(50.0%) were MIBC, 21(43.8%) were NMIBC and 41 (81.5%) were male. With neoadjuvant therapy, 23(47.9%) are identified as responders (CR or PR), 7(14.6%) identified as non-responders (SD or PD), 18(37.5%) are still following up. Overall, 75.4% (214/284) tDNA mutations were found in utDNA, and 75.1% (214/285) utDNA mutations were found in tDNA. The top20 genes’ mutation landscape of utDNA highly resembled that of tDNA. The top20 genes could cover 97.9% (47/48) tissue samples and 89.6% (43/48) urine samples. Also, top20 mutated genes showed a strong correlation between tDNA and utDNA(r = 0.7371, p = 0.0002). TP53, KMT2D, ARIDA1A, CREBBP, ERBB2, ERCC2 and KDM6A are the most frequent abnormalities captured in tDNA and utDNA. Interestingly, we also found that the consistency of top20 genes in responders (n = 23, r = 0.7015, p = 0.0006) are higher than non-responders (n = 7, r = 0.4118, p = 0.1853). As a consequence, 70.1% (157/224), 61.8% (21/34) tDNA mutations were found in utDNA, and 72.0% (157/218), 25.0% (21/84) utDNA mutations were found in tDNA in responders and in non-responders, respectively. Conclusions: In brief, utDNA was robustly consistent and highly associated with tDNA, with 61.8%̃75.4% tDNA variations detected in utDNA target sequecing by acornmed 808 panel. The consistency would be higher if TERT promoter included in WES panel. While in non-responders, only 25.0% utDNA mutations were found in tDNA, indicating a spatial and temporal tumor heterogeneity. Our data provided initial prospective evidence on further developing urine as an optional sample for noninvasive detection and response evaluation of BC. The large prospective cohort study is still ongoing.

e15127 Background: Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homologue (KRAS) is the most frequently mutated oncogene in human cancers. Sotorasib (AMG 510) has shown promising anticancer activity in patients with heavily pre-treated KRAS p.G12C mutant solid tumors. Here, we provide an overview of genomic diversity of KRAS alterations in a large cohort of Chinese patients. Methods: Molecular profiles of 16,654 tumor specimens were obtained using gene-panel target-capture next-generation sequencing, and classified based on the presence and subtypes of KRAS mutation. Tumor mutation burdens (TMB) were calculated using an Acornmed panel with 808 cancer-related genes. Results: In total,15.04% (2505/16654) of pan-cancer patients harbored RAS mutations, and 13.58% (2262/16654) patients carried KRAS mutations in the current study. Five main subtypes of KRAS mutation were detected including G12D (642, 28.38%), G12V (392, 17.33%), G12C (354, 15.65%), G13 (220, 9.73%), G12A (101, 4.47%). In our cohort, the highest KRAS G12C mutation frequency tumor type was lung cancer (12.33%) followed by colorectal cancer (1.99%), which is comparable with the previously published data. Among all patients with KRAS G12C mutation, 77.40% (274/354) of the patients were male and 22.60% (80/354) were female. Tumor mutation burdens (TMB) were calculated for 151 samples of all the 352 KRAS G12C mutation samples. The median TMB was 10.15 mut/Mb with 50.99%≥10 mut/Mb and 14.57%≥20 mut/Mb. However, according to the results of CodeBreaK 100 exploratory analysis at the 2021 ASCO annual meeting, among all patients with KRAS G12C mutation, 17.86% of the patients had ≥ 10 mut /Mb, which was defined as TMB-high. Therefore, it can be found that the TMB of domestic and foreign patients is different. Conclusions: Genomic alterations in KRAS are widespread among Chinese pan-cancer patients. Results of CodeBreaK 100 exploratory analysis presented at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting showed no significant difference (40% vs 42%) in objective response rates between TMB high (≥ 10 mut/Mb) and TMB low (< 10 mut/Mb). Based on our data, the threshold of TMB high in the Chinese population should be higher. The molecular marker exploration of AMG 510 efficacy in the Chinese population needs to be further carried out and confirmed.

BackgroundAlthough anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy is greatly effective in melanoma treatment, low response rate and treatment resistance significantly hinder its efficacy. Tumor cell ferroptosis triggered by interferon (IFN)-γ that is derived from tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells greatly contributes to the effect of immunotherapy. However, the molecular mechanism underlying IFN-γ-mediated ferroptosis and related potentially promising therapeutic strategy warrant further clarification. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) participate in ferroptosis execution and can be delivered systemically by multiple carriers, which have manifested obvious therapeutic effects on cancer.MethodsMiRNAs expression profile in IFN-γ-driven ferroptosis was obtained by RNA sequencing. Biochemical assays were used to clarify the role of miR-21-3p in IFN-γ-driven ferroptosis and the underlying mechanism. MiR-21-3p-loaded gold nanoparticles were constructed and systemically applied to analyze the role of miR-21-3p in anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in preclinical transplanted tumor model.ResultsMiRNAs expression profile of melanoma cells in IFN-γ-driven ferroptosis was first obtained. Then, upregulated miR-21-3p was proved to facilitate IFN-γ-mediated ferroptosis by potentiating lipid peroxidation. miR-21-3p increased the ferroptosis sensitivity by directly targeting thioredoxin reductase 1 (TXNRD1) to enhance lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Furthermore, miR-21-3p overexpression in tumor synergized with anti-PD-1 antibody by promoting tumor cell ferroptosis. More importantly, miR-21-3p-loaded gold nanoparticles were constructed, and the systemic delivery of them increased the efficacy of anti-PD-1 antibody without prominent side effects in preclinical mice model. Ultimately, ATF3 was found to promote miR-21-3p transcription in IFN-γ-driven ferroptosis.ConclusionsMiR-21–3 p upregulation contributes to IFN-γ-driven ferroptosis and synergizes with anti-PD-1 antibody. Nanoparticle delivery of miR-21–3 p is a promising therapeutic approach to increase immunotherapy efficacy without obvious systemic side effects.

e16128 Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a type of aggressive disease with poor prognosis. Although surgery is the most effective therapy for early liver cancer, recurrence rate is up to 50%. Therefore, it is crucial to predict the recurrence for improvement of prognosis of liver cancer. This study aim is to establish a prognostic model using for the prediction of recurrence in HCC. Methods: We collected the genomic and clinical data of 372 patients from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) database. Mutational signature were established based on univariate Cox analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operation (LASSO) Cox regression analysis. A prognostic signature model were developed. Results: The patients with higher pathological T stage (p < 0.001) and old age (p = 0.05) were associated with a worse DFS. In addtion, patients with a HRD score over 24 had a worse DFS compared to those in patients with HRD score less than 24 (p < 0.001). Based on the 1 year DFS, 112 differential mutation gene (DMEs) and 326 differential expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. The univariate Cox and LASSO Cox regression models were employed to select 47 DMEs and 9 gene expression construct an prognosis model. The AUC is 0.612. A nomogram of DFS was established based on the prognosis model, HRD, and tumor stage. The AUC is 0.812 in training set and 0.842 in validation set. Conclusions: We established and validated a novel nomogram model based the genomic and clinical factors for predict DFS in Hepatocellular Carcinoma patients. This model has good predictive value for prognosis, which could improve the risk stratification and individual treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma patients.

e16293 Background: Besides BRCA1/2, there are various genes involved in DNA damage repair that could predict patients’ response to treatments such as platin-based therapy, PARP inhibitors, and immunotherapy. While the mutational pattern of DNA damage repair (DDR) gene alterations in pancreatic patients remains unknown. Methods: Tumors and blood samples from 490 pancreatic patients were analyzed with next-generation sequencing (NGS) that covered 808 genes. Patients were classified based on the presence or absence of deleterious mutations across a panel of 98 DDR genes. Results: 70.4% (345/490) pancreatic cancer patients harbored DDR gene pathogenic mutations (mut). Among DDR-mut patients, 84.6% (292/345) had only somatic DDR gene alterations, 6.4% (22/345) had only germline DDR gene alterations, and 9.0% (31/345) had both. The most frequently mutated somatic DDR genes were TP53 (73.9%), CDKN2A (17.1%), ARID1A (10.1%), ATM (4.1%), and BRCA2 (4.1%). The most commonly mutated germline DDR genes were BRCA2 (4.1%), RAD51B (2.0%), ATM (2.0%), FANCE (0.9%), PALB2 (0.9%). Among the functional pathways of DDR genes, the most commonly mutated pathways were others (77.2%), FA (10.1%), CCC (7.7%), HR (1.5%), NHEJ (1.4%), MMR (1.4%), and BER (0.8%). No patients were found to harbor mutations in NER, TLS, and DR pathways. In addition, the mean TMB was significantly higher in the DDR-mut group compared with the wild-type DDR (wt) group (6.2 vs. 5.0 muts/Mb; p < 0.05). No significant difference in microsatellite instability was observed between DDR-mut and DDR-wt patients (p = 0.67). In terms of HRD status, 87.5% (28/32) HRD-positive patients and 73.1% (19/26) HRD-negative patients had DDR gene mutations. No significant difference in DDR variants was found between HRD-positive and HRD-negative patients, suggesting that HRD detection is necessary for DDR-mut patients. Within individual DDR genes, CDKN2A mutation was significantly associated with HRD-positivity (p < 0.05) whereas BRCA1, BRCA2, ATM, and PALB2 were not. Conclusions: An expanding set of DDR genes profiling provides more therapeutic opportunities for pancreatic patients who might benefit from PARP inhibitor owing to pathogenic mutations in DDR genes. This retrospective study may serve as a benchmark for the future design of an expanded association study between DDR mutations and the therapeutic outcome of pancreatic cancer.

e14563 Background: Bladder cancer is a molecularly diverse disease with heterogeneous clinical outcomes. Transcriptome-based molecular subtypes of muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) and non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) have been shown to be both prognostic and predictive. However, its predictive role in Chinese bladder cancer remains unclear. The aim of this study was to identify the predictive role of molecular subtypes in China bladder cancer with neoadjuvant therapy. Methods: The study was conducted from May 2020 to August 2021. Patients who were age 18 years or older, were diagnosed with NMIBC or MIBC, and neoadjuvant tislelizumab combining nab-paclitaxel followed by surgery were included. Multigenomic sequencing was performed. Molecular subtypes were identified by published consensus. Results: We prospectively recruited 30 patients for neoadjuvant tislelizumab combining nab-paclitaxel, including 14 patients with NMIBC and 16 patients with MIBC. For bladder cancer, 73.3% (22/33) patients responded to neoadjuvant tislelizumab combining nab-paclitaxel. In NMIBC groups, 64.3% (9/14) patients were pCR. The objective remission rate ( ORR) was 71.4%. 4 molecular classes were identified in Chinese NMIBC, including class 1 (7.1%), class 2a (35.7%), class 2b (50%), class 3 (7.1%). Interesting, ORR was significantly higher for patients with class 2b (5/7, 71.4%) as compared to class 2a (3/5,60%) before neoadjuvant. Molecular classes changed in 35.7% (5/14) of patients before and after neoadjuvant. After neoadjuvant, 80% of class 2b patients responded to neoadjuvant, and all class 2a patients did not respond to neoadjuvant. In MIBC groups, a pPR was achieved by 37.5% patients (6/16). The ORR was 75%. We found 4 molecular classes in Chinese MIBC: basal/squamous (43.8%), luminal unstable (25%), luminal papillary (25%), and stroma-rich (6.2%). Patients with basal/squamous (85.7%) and luminal unstable (75%) had significantly higher ORR than luminal papillary (50%) before neoadjuvant. Molecular classes changed in 44.4% (4/9) of patients before and after neoadjuvant. After neoadjuvant, all patients with stroma-rich responded to neoadjuvant. Conclusions: Molecular classification could predict the efficacy of neoadjuvant tislelizumab combining nab-paclitaxel in Chinese bladder cancer, which may be preferable when studying biomarkers of bladder cancer in the future.

e16126 Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver malignancy associated with poor prognosis. With the rapid development of systematic therapy for liver cancer, immunotherapy has been widely used in therapy of liver cancer. Hyperprogression of tumor is a phenomenon of accelerated tumor growth, which occurs in patients with liver cancer and other solid tumors receiving systematic treatment, and is mainly related to immunotherapy hyperprogression genes. However, it is still unclear about the genes of immune hyperprogression in HCC patients. Therefore, we studied the molecular characteristics of HCC patients, including the genes related to immunotherapy hyperprogression. Methods: From June 2019 to August 2021, 102 patients with HCC were inculded in this study. Matched tumor/normal DNA from HCC patients (N = 102) were analyzed by whole exome sequencing (WES) or Acornmed panel with 808 cancer-related genes. Results: Overall, 86.3% (88/102) patients exhibited genetic alterations. TP53 (50%), TERT (23%), CTNNB1 (18%) and KMT2C (14%) were the most commonly mutated genes in HCC. In addition, 8.9% patinets harbored at least one immunotherapy hyperprogressive gene mutations, including CCND1 (7%), FGF19 (6%), FGF3 (5%), FGF4 (5%) and MDM4 (2%). In addition, CCND1 and FGF19 were frequently mutated genes in patients with liver cancer, ranking ninth and tenth, respectively. Compared with the TCGA data, there was no significant difference in immunotherapy hyperprogressive genes (25% vs 32.3%, p = 0.18). Interesting, CCND1, FGF19, FGF3 and FGF4 mutations occurred simultaneously in most patients and were mutually exclusive with MDM4 (p = 0.057). Conclusions: This study contributes to understand the molecular characteristics of patients with HCC, which will be useful to guide immunotherapy and promote the clinical management in this population. Furthermore, the study suggested that both Chinese and Western populations should pay attention to immunotherapy hyperprogression genes in immunotherapy selection.

e15068 Background: Cyclin-dependent kinases ( CDKs) are key regulators of both cell cycle progression and transcription. Analysis of mutation detection of CDK12 in pan-cancer could contribute to understand the complexity and diversity of genetic alterations present in CDK12 mutant cancers. Herein, we provide a pan-cancer analysis of CDK12 alterations in Chinese population. Methods: Using gene-panel target-capture next generation sequencing, we analyzed 17509 tumor tissue or plasma ctDNA samples from different patients. Testing included analysis of single nucleotide variants, insertions/deletions, fusions and amplifications. CDK12 variants of uncertain significance and synonymous variants excluded. Results: In total, 0.95% (167/17509) of pan-cancer patients harbored CDK12 mutation, and 32 patients carried at least two CDK12 mutations. The most common genetic alteration type was truncating mutations (128, 64%), followed by amplications (53, 26%), missense mutations (9, 5%) and splicing mutations (9, 5%). In our cohort, the highest CDK12 mutation frequency tumor type was prostate cancer(11.30%), followed by breast cancer (3.96%), bladder cacner (3.16%), stomach cancer (1.84%) and colorectal cacner (1.13%). The TCGA pan-cancer cohort confirmed that the CDK12-altered cancer was associated with shorter overall survival (81.11 vs 133.00 mos, p = 5.30×10−18) in prostate cancer. Tumor mutation burdens(TMB) were calculated for 137 samples of all the 167 samples. The median TMB was 7.66 mut/Mb with 38%≥10 mut/Mb and 17%≥20 mut/Mb. including a patient with hypermutated in colorectal cancer(TMB: 88.24 Mut/Mb), harboring three CDK12 mutations. Conclusions: Genomic alterations in CDK12 are widespread among Chinese patients, with alteration rates and alteration types varying by cancer type. We identified prostate cancer as the cancer type with the highest prevalence of CDK12 oncogenic alterations. Additional analyses are ongoing.

3115 Background: Somatic alterations of the MET oncogene are emerging as an attractive target in human cancers, thus, understanding the molecular epidemiology of MET alterations is essential. While the occurrence of MET exon 14 skipping mutations (MET ex14) in US lung cancer patients is well defined, it is not widely published for Chinese patients. In addition, reports on the occurrence of METex14 outside lung cancer and other clinically relevant MET alterations across all cancers are limited. Methods: The MET ex14 alterations and amplification data of 10475 Chinese cancer patients from 16 types of cancer were obtained in Acronmed database, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC, n = 5719), Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, n = 511), colorectal cancer (CRC, n = 1779), renal cell carcinoma (RCC, n = 1169), Gastric carcinoma (GC, n = 679), etc. Genomic profiling of DNA was performed through a next-generation sequencing. Results: Of all pan-cancer patients, 141 cases (1.3%) with MET alterations were identified, including MET Amp (0.9%) and MET ex14 (0.7%). Compared to Western population (̃3%), the frequency of MET alterations is much lower in Chinese cancer patients (1.3%). MET Amp were most commonly found in HCC (1.7%), GC (1.3%), NSCLC (0.7%), RCC (0.7%), CRC (0.2%). MET ex14 occurred most in NSCLC (0.5%), HCC (0.3%), CRC (0.2%). HCC were significantly to have MET Amp than NSCLC (P = 0.01), while MET ex14 mutations were more likely to be observed in NSCLC (p = 0.02). We further analyzed the MET mutation characteristics of NSCLC. The most frequently co-mutated genes in MET ex14 cohort were TP53 (48%,15/31), KMT2B (23%,7/31) and EGFR (16%, 5/31). Except for TP53 (65%,22/34) and EGFR (56%,19/34) mutations. Interestingly,other gene mutations were rare in the patients with MET Amp. In addition, MET ex14 patients showed significant lower EGFR mutation comparing to the MET amp patients (P = 0.002). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated a landscape of MET alterations among the Chinese population. MET mutations occurs in a variety of solid tumors, indicating that these patients may benefit from MET inhibitors.

4583 Background: Current methods for the early detection and minimal residual disease (MRD) of urothelial carcinoma (UC) are often invasive and/or possess sub-optimal sensitivity, especially in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Methods: We developed an efficient workflow named the urine tumor DNA multidimensional bioinformatic predictor, utLIFE, by using low-coverage whole-genome sequencing and targeted deep sequencing. We identified the UC specific mutations and large CNV in the discovery cohort. The utLIFE-UC model was trained in a bladder cancer retrospective cohort (n = 150) and validated in an bladder cohort(n = 674) and UTUC cohort(n = 22). 31 patients established diagnosis of BC who are on neoadjuvant were also enrolled, including a MRD training cohort (n = 16) with serial urine samples at baseline, during treatment and before surgery; a independent MRD validation cohort (n = 15) with urine samples before surgery. Results: The utLIFE-UC model could discriminate UC with high accuracy (94.3%), sensitivity (92.8%), and specificity (96.0%). Furthermore, compared to cytology, the assay achieved a great improvement in sensitivity in the detection of non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC, 94.7% vs. 31.6%,p = 0.0002), and muscle-invasive bladder cancer(MIBC, 82.6% vs. 69.6%, p = 0.4894). The utLIFE-UC model was also validated in independent BC cohort (sensitivity 94.3%, specificity 92.6%) and UTUC cohort (sensitivity 90.9%, specificity 90.9%). utLIFE-UC score also showed outstanding potential on dynamic surveillance of residual disease in UC as the score showed dramatically decreased in pCR patients. As expected, utLIFE-UC score could classify pCR and non-pCR(PR, SD, PD) with NPV 100% in MRD training and validation cohorts, which showed superior sensitivity over that of urine cytology (100% vs.37.5%, p = 0.0070) and FISH (100 vs. 42.9%, p = 0.0125). Conclusions: utLIFE-UC diagnostic model for early diagnosis, residual disease detection in UC is a cost-effective, rapid, high-throughput, noninvasive, and promising approach, which may reduce the burden of cystoscopy and blind surgery.

e17575 Background: HRD score correlates with sensitivity to PARP inhibitors (PARPi). BRCA1/2 mutations are well-known causes of HRD, but other genetic abnormalities of the homologous recombination repair (HRR) pathway could also cause HRD, although no consensus has been reached. We aimed to analyze HRD score and its relationship with genetic characteristics in ovarian cancer, particularly the HRR-related genes mutations. Methods: Matched tumor/normal DNA from Chinese patients with ovarian cancer (N = 181) were analyzed by Acornmed panel with 98 cancer-related genes. The HRD score is the sum of these scar signature scores, namely, the loss of heterozygosity (LOH), telomeric allelic imbalance (TAI), and large-scale state transitions (LST). HRR genes mutations and clinical outcomes from the TCGA cohort were included. Results: In our cohort, 44.2% patients exhibited HRR genes mutations, yielded an increment of 12.2% than BRCA mutants. The most frequently mutated HRR genes were BRCA1 (25.0%), BRCA2 (8.0%), CDK12 (4.0%), and RAD51D (4.0%). Chinese cohort contained frequently somatic mutation of HRR genes compared with TCGA cohort (22.7% vs 13.6%, p < 0.010). Germline mutations of HRR genes and non-HRR genes occurred in 21.5% and 2.8% of cases detected, respectively. HRD score in HRR-related genes wildtype was lower than tumors with BRCA1/2 mutation and HRR genes mutation without BRCA1/2 carriers (median HRD score 33, 72 and 64; p < 0.001). Interestingly, no difference was observed in HRD scores between patients with somatic BRCA-mut and germline- BRCA mutants. The median HRD score in our cohort was 65 (range from 0 to 96), and 58.6% patients were HRD-high with the cutoff of HRD score ≥ 42. The HRD-high patients covered 89.7% of the BRCA-positive cases, besides, approximately 77.3% of the BRCA-wt/HRR-mut patients also harbored high HRD scores. Six mutated genes were significantly different between HRD-high and HRD-low group. ARID1A was frequently mutated in patients with HRD-low, while significantly more mutations in TP53 were identified among HRD-high patients. Interestingly, in the TCGA cohort, patients with TP53-mut (p = 0.024) and individuals without ARID1A mutation (p < 0.001) had remarkably high survival rates, as compared with the rest of these patients.Furthermore, tumors with HRD-high had a bit higher TMB (median TMB 4.56 vs 2.91, p = 0.018). Conclusions: Our data suggest that HRR genes mutations strongly affect HRD score, which may increase the number of patients who may benefit from PARPi treatment, and combining gene mutations and HRD score could optimize prognosis stratification in ovarian cancer. In addition, the molecular features of HRD provide new opportunities to predict the tumor response to multiple treatments.

Autophagy plays a protective role in the oxidative stress-induced melanocyte death. Dysregulated autophagy increases the sensitivity of melanocytes in response to oxidative damage and promotes the melanocyte degeneration in vitiligo. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this process is not fully understood. Here, using RNA-Seq technology, we compared the transcriptome change between normal and vitiligo melanocytes with or without treatment of oxidative stress. We found that autophagy-related protein 5 and 12 (Atg5 and Atg12), the critical components for autophagosome formation, were significantly reduced in vitiligo melanocytes under oxidative stress. Mechanistically, heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) is the prime transcription factor for both Atg5 and Atg12, accounting for the reduced level of Atg5 and Atg12 in vitiligo melanocytes. Deficiency of HSF1 led to accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), imbalance of mitochondrion membrane potential and apoptosis in melanocytes exposure to oxidative stress. Further, overexpression of HSF1 could ameliorate oxidative stress-induced melanocytes death by activation of autophagy through upregulating Atg5 and Atg12. These findings suggested targeting HSF1-Atg5/12 axis could prevent oxidative stress-induced melanocyte death and may be used as therapeutic strategies for vitiligo treatment.

ObjectiveThe incidence of early stage multiple primary lung cancer (MPLC) has been increasing in recent years, while the ideal strategy for its diagnosis and treatment remains controversial. The present study conducted genomic analysis to identify a new molecular classification method for accurately predicting the diagnosis and therapy for patients with early stage MPLC.MethodsA total of 240 tissue samples from 203 patients with multiple-non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) (n = 30), early stage single-NSCLC (Group A, n = 94), and advanced-stage NSCLC (Group B, n = 79) were subjected to targeted multigene panel sequencing.ResultsThirty patients for whom next-generation sequencing was performed on >1 tumor were identified, yielding 45 tumor pairs. The frequencies of EGFR, TP53, RBM10, ERBB2, and CDKN2A mutations exhibited significant differences between early and advanced-stage NSCLCs. The prevalence of the EGFR L858R mutation in early stage NSCLC was remarkably higher than that in advanced-stage NSCLC (P = 0.047). The molecular method classified tumor pairs into 26 definite MPLC tumors and four intrapulmonary metastasis (IM) tumors. A high rate of discordance in driver genetic alterations was found in the different tumor lesions of MPLC patients. The prospective Martini histologic prediction of MPLC was discordant with the molecular method for three patients (16.7%), particularly in the prediction of IM (91.7% discordant).ConclusionsComprehensive molecular evaluation allows the unambiguous delineation of clonal relationships among tumors. In comparison, the Martini and Melamed criteria have notable limitations in the recognition of IM. Our results support the adoption of a large panel to supplement histology for strongly discriminating NSCLC clonal relationships in clinical practice.

Chun Zeng,1,2 Jing Wang,3 Mingwei Li,4 Huina Wang,4 Feng Lou,4 Shanbo Cao,4 Changyu Lu3 1Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurosurgery, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 4Acornmed Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Changyu LuDepartment of Neurosurgery, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +8669006144Email luchangyu2020@163.comShanbo CaoAcornmed Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Floor 18, Block 5, Yard 18, Kechuang 13 Road, Beijing, 100176, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +8653606156Email shanbocao@acornmed.comBackground: Tremendous efforts have been made to explore biomarkers for classifying and grading glioma. However, the majority of the current understanding is based on public databases that might not accurately reflect the Asian population. Here, we investigated the genetic landscape of Chinese glioma patients using a validated multigene next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel to provide a strong rationale for the future classification and prognosis of glioma in this population.Methods: We analyzed 83 samples, consisting of 71 initial treatments and 12 recurrent surgical tumors, from 81 Chinese patients with gliomas by performing multigene NGS with an Acornmed panel targeting 808 cancer-related hotspot genes, including genes related to glioma (hotspots, selected exons or complete coding sequences) and full-length SNPs located on chromosomes 1 and 19.Results: A total of 76 (91.57%) glioma samples had at least one somatic mutation. The most commonly mutated genes were TP53, TERT, IDH1, PTEN, ATRX, and EGFR. Approximately one-third of cases exhibited more than one copy number variation. Of note, this study identified the amplification of genes, such as EGFR and PDGFRA, which were significantly associated with glioblastoma but had not been previously used for clinical classification (P< 0.05). Significant differences in genomic profiles between different pathological subtypes and WHO grade were observed. Compared to the MSKCC database primarily comprised of Caucasians, H3F3A mutations and MET amplifications exhibited higher mutation rates, whereas TERT mutations and EGFR and CDKN2A/B copy number variations presented a lower mutation rate in Chinese patients with glioma (P< 0.05).Conclusion: Our multigene NGS in the simultaneous evaluation of multiple relevant markers revealed several novel genetic alterations in Chinese patients with glioma. NGS-based molecular analysis is a reliable and effective method for diagnosing brain tumors, assisting clinicians in evaluating additional potential therapeutic options, such as targeted therapy, for glioma patients in different racial/ethnic groups.Keywords: glioma, molecular pathology, molecular biomarker, copy number variations, multigene NGS panel

Background Different genomic characterization in urothelial carcinoma (UC) by site of origin may imply contrasting therapeutic opportunities and pathogenetic mechanisms. The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences between upper tract UC (UTUC) and UC of the bladder (UCB) result from intrinsic biological diversity. Materials and Methods We prospectively sequenced 118 tumors and matched blood DNA from Chinese patients with UC using next-generation sequencing techniques, including 45 UTUC and 73 UCB. Two hundred twenty-six patients with UTUC and 350 patients with UCB for The Cancer Genome Atlas were acquired from the cbioportal. Results There were marked disparities in the mutational landscape for UC according to race and site of origin. Signature 22 for exposure to aristolochic acid was only observed in the UTUC cohort. Conversely, signature 6 for defective DNA mismatch repair only existed in the UCB cohort. Compared with UCB, UTUC had higher clonal and subclonal mutation numbers. TP53, PIK3CA, and FGFR3 mutations may be the driver genes for UTUC, whereas for UCB, the driver gene may be BRCA1. Patients with UTUC had lower PD-L1 than those with UCB. There was no significant difference in the number of DDR mutations, copy number variation counts, and tumor mutational burden between UTUC and UCB. Conclusion UTUC and UCB exhibit significant differences in the prevalence of genomic landscape and carcinogenesis. Consequently, molecular subtypes differ according to location, and these results may imply the site-specific management of patients with urothelial carcinoma. Mutational signature may be used as a screening tool to assist clinical differential diagnosis between UTUC and UCB. Implications for Practice This study's findings lay the foundation for a deeper understanding of distinct molecular mechanisms and similar treatment opportunities between upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) and urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) and had important implications for the site-specific management of patients with urothelial carcinoma. A comprehensive understanding of the biology of UTUC and UCB is needed to identify new drug targets in order to improve clinical outcomes.

Background: Melanoma cells are relatively resistant to ER stress, which contributes to tumor progression under stressful conditions and renders tolerance to ER stress-inducing therapeutic agents. Mitochondria are tightly interconnected with ER. However, whether mitochondria play a role in regulating ER stress resistance in melanoma remains elusive.Methods: Integrative bioinformatics was employed to figure out the implication of mitochondria in the resistance of melanoma cells to ER stress. A panel of biochemical assays and pre-clinical xenograft mouse model were used to investigate the role of mitochondrial fission and mitophagy in affecting ER stress sensitivity and the underlying mechanisms. Results: Our integrative bioinformatics analysis revealed that the down-regulation of mitochondrial genes was highly correlated with UPR activation in melanoma. Then we proved that mitochondrial fission and mitophagy were prominently induced in melanoma cells upon ER stress. Pharmacological inhibition of either mitochondrial fission or mitophagy effectively restored the sensitivity of melanoma cells to ER stress both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, the down-regulation of MFN2 was essential for rendering the resistance by promoting mitochondrial fission and mitophagy. XBP1-mediated transcriptional up-regulation of E3 ligase MARCH5 contributed to the ubiquitination and degradation of MFN2 in ER stress-resistant cells, whereas the impaired transduction of this axis indicated the fragile to ER stress. Finally, the relationships among UPR pathway molecules, MARCH5 and mitochondrial genes were confirmed in both publicly accessible databases and tumor specimens.Conclusions: Together, our findings demonstrate a novel regulatory axis that links mitochondrial fission and mitophagy to the resistance to ER stress. Targeting mitochondrial quality control machinery can be exploited as an approach to reinforce the efficacy of ER stress-inducing agents against cancer.

BackgroundThe therapeutic effect of immune checkpoint blockers, especially the neutralizing antibodies of programmed cell death (PD-1) and its ligand programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), has been well verified in melanoma. Nevertheless, the dissatisfactory response rate and the occurrence of resistance significantly hinder the treatment effect. Inflammation-related molecules like A20 are greatly implicated in cancer immune response, but the role of tumorous A20 in antitumor immunity and immunotherapy efficacy remains elusive.MethodsThe association between tumorous A20 expression and the effect of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy was determined by immunoblotting, immunofluorescence staining and flow cytometry analysis of primary tumor specimens from melanoma patients. Preclinical mouse model, in vitro coculture system, immunohistochemical staining and flow cytometry analysis were employed to investigate the role of A20 in regulating the effect of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. Bioinformatics, mass spectrum analysis and a set of biochemical analyzes were used to figure out the underlying mechanism.ResultsWe first discovered that upregulated A20 was associated with impaired antitumor capacity of CD8+T cells and poor response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in melanoma patients. Subsequent functional studies in preclinical mouse model and in vitro coculture system proved that targeting tumorous A20 prominently improved the effect of immunotherapy through the invigoration of infiltrating CD8+T cells via the regulation of PD-L1. Mechanistically, A20 facilitated the ubiquitination and degradation of prohibitin to potentiate STAT3 activation and PD-L1 expression. Moreover, tumorous A20 expression was highly associated with the ratio of Ki-67 percentage in circulating PD-1+CD8+T cells to tumor burden.ConclusionsTogether, our findings uncover a novel crosstalk between inflammatory molecules and antitumor immunity in melanoma, and highlight that A20 can be exploited as a promising target to bring clinical benefit to melanomas refractory to immune checkpoint blockade.

Understanding the spatiotemporal variability of habitat quality as a function of land-use changes is important for expanding scientific knowledge of ecological conservation. In this study, the impacts of land-use change on habitat quality were assessed in two urban agglomerations in China at different stages of development, namely (1) the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA), which has reached the middle and late stage of urbanization, and (2) the Golden Triangle of Southern Fujian (GTSF), which has reached the middle and early stage. The Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) habitat quality model was applied to determine the habitat quality and the degree of habitat degradation in these two agglomerations. Overall, the habitat quality in the YRDUA was found to be clearly inferior to that in the GTSF. In the GTSF, more than 65% of the habitat was of good or excellent quality, whereas in the YRDUA, less than 45% of the habitat reached this quality. By combining the concepts of land use, landscape, and habitat, the boundary of degradation and the general increase in habitat quality from 2000 to 2015 were found to be mainly related to the landform, the dominant landscape, and the concentration of non-habitat areas. Additionally, the type, distribution, and fragmentation of the dominant habitat were shown to play important roles in habitat quality. Moreover, changes in industrial composition over time were demonstrated to be critical drivers of changes in areas of construction land.

Additional file 1: Table S1. The sequences of the gene specific primers.

Melanoma is the most lethal skin cancer caused by the malignant transformation of epidermal melanocytes. Recent progress in targeted therapy and immunotherapy has significantly improved the treatment outcome, but the survival of patients with advanced melanoma remains suboptimal. Ferroptosis, a cell death modality triggered by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, reportedly participates in cancer pathogenesis and can mediate the effect of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in melanoma. However, the detailed regulatory mechanism of ferroptosis remains far from being understood. In this study, we report that CAMKK2 defines the ferroptosis sensitivity of melanoma cells by regulating the AMPK‒NRF2 pathway. We first found that CAMKK2 was prominently activated in ferroptosis. Then we proved that CAMKK2 negatively regulated ferroptosis through the activation of NRF2 and the suppression of lipid peroxidation. Subsequent mechanistic studies revealed that AMPK connected CAMKK2 upregulation to NRF2-dependent antioxidative machinery in ferroptosis. In addition, the suppression of CAMKK2 increased the efficacy of ferroptosis inducer and anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in the preclinical xenograft tumor model by inhibiting the AMPK‒NRF2 pathway and promoting ferroptosis. Taken together, CAMKK2 plays a protective role in ferroptosis by activating the AMPK‒NRF2 pathway. Targeting CAMKK2 could be a potential approach to increase the efficacy of ferroptosis inducers and immunotherapy for melanoma treatment.

Background MicroRNAs are reported to play an important role in tumor growth and metastasis, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Accumulative evidence has revealed that dysregulated miR-340 expression contributed to the carcinogenesis and development of various cancers. Objective The aim of the current study was to investigate the role and the underlying mechanism of miR-340 in SCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Methods Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to examine the expression of miR-340 in SCC tissues and cell lines. The function of miR-340 in SCC was investigated through Cell Counting Kit-8, wound healing, transwell migration and invasion assays. Bioinformatics analysis, luciferase reporter assay, western blotting and immunohistochemical analysis were conducted to predict and confirm the target gene of miR-340. Results In the present study, we first found that miR-340 was significantly decreased in both SCC tissues and cell lines. Moreover, ectopic expression of miR-340 remarkably attenuated SCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion, whereas inhibition of endogenous miR-340 promoted SCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. Our subsequent bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay showed that RhoA was a novel direct target of miR-340 in SCC cells, and the knockdown of RhoA expression rescued the effects of miR-340 inhibition on SCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. More importantly, the expression of RhoA and miR-340 was negatively correlated in SCC tissues. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate the tumor suppressor role of miR-340 in SCC by directly regulating RhoA. Therefore, restoration of miR-340 expression can be a potential therapeutic approach for SCC treatment.

It is demonstrated that gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs can directly inhibit the proliferation of reproductive tissue cancer cells, but the poor pharmacokinetic properties still restrict their application in treating hormone-dependent diseases. Modifications in position 6 and 10 of natural GnRH can improve the metabolic stability. In order to study the effect of incorporation Cys6 substitution with C-terminal Pro9-NHEt modification and dimerization of linear peptides on metabolic stability and antiproliferative activity of GnRH analogs, two new GnRH analogs [l-Cys6, desGly10, Pro9-NHEt]-GnRH (1) and [d-Cys6, desGly10, Pro9-NHEt]-GnRH (2), and their corresponding dimer derivatives ([l-Cys6, desGly10, Pro9-NHEt]-GnRH)2 (3) and ([d-Cys6, desGly10, Pro9-NHEt]-GnRH)2 (4) were synthesized. Incubation of these analogs with human serum was carried out to evaluate their metabolic stability, and direct growth inhibitory effect of the two dimer derivatives 3 and 4 on MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line was examined by MTT assay. The metabolic stability of dimer derivatives 3 and 4 was remarkably improved in comparison with natural GnRH. The d-Cys6 substituted dimer derivative 4 exhibited higher inhibitory effect (29.6–39.7% growth reduction) on cell growth than its corresponding counterpart 3 (21.8–26.2% growth reduction) at concentration range of 50, 100 and 200 μΜ. The cell growth inhibition of leuprolide was 16.4–27.2% at the tested concentrations. The dimer derivative 4 was the most stable and active GnRH analog in this study and has the potential for future preclinical investigations as promising antitumor drug candidate.

Background Maize bsd2 (bundle sheath defective2) is a classical C4 mutant with defective C4 photosynthesis, accompanied with reduced accumulation of Rubisco (ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase) and aberrant mature chloroplast morphology in the bundle sheath (BS) cells. However, as a hypothetical chloroplast chaperone, the effects of BSD2 on C4 chloroplast development have not been fully examined yet, which precludes a full appreciation of BSD2 function in C4 photosynthesis. The aims of our study are to find out the role ofBSD2 in regulating chloroplasts development in maize leaves, and to add new insights into our understanding of C4 biology. Results We found that at the chloroplast maturation stage, the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts in the BS and mesophyll (M) cells became significantly looser, and the granaof chloroplasts in the M cells became thinner stacking in the bsd2 mutant when compared with the wildtype plant. Moreover, at the early chloroplast development stage, the number of dividing chloroplasts and the chloroplast division rate are both reduced in the bsd2 mutant, compared with wild type. Quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis revealed that the expression of both thylakoid formation-related genesand chloroplast division-related genes is significantly reduced in the bsd2 mutants. Further, we showed that BSD2 interacts physically with the large submit of Rubisco (LS) in Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation assay. Conclusions Our combined results suggest that BSD2 plays an essential role in regulating the division and differentiation of the dimorphic BS and M chloroplasts, and that it acts at a post-transcriptional level to regulate LS stability or assembly of Rubisco.

Hydrogen share in the energy market has increased significantly in line with greater demand for zero emission fuel and the development of novel production routes via renewable resources. The application of mixed protonic–electronic conducting (MPEC) ceramic membrane within the hydrogen production process is an innovative route that enables high purity hydrogen production with low cost. This review provides readers a brief summary of the research efforts on MPEC ceramic membrane for hydrogen separation as well as the membrane reactor for hydrogen production and dehydrogenation or hydrogenation reactions. Most of the existing MPEC ceramic membranes come from either a single-phase or a dual-phase membrane. We discuss the working principles, the performances, the advantages and disadvantages, and the main issues of all these membranes. Major emphasis of the review is to cover the literature published in the last ten years since the earlier progress has been well documented by the previously existing reviews. We also put forward recommendations for future research direction in this topic.

Melanoma cells are relatively resistant to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which contributes to tumor progression under stressful conditions and renders tolerance to ER stress‒inducing therapeutic agents. Mitochondria are tightly interconnected with ER. However, whether mitochondria play a role in regulating ER stress resistance in melanoma remains elusive. In this study, we reported that the XBP1‒MARCH5‒MFN2 axis conferred ER stress resistance by coordinating mitochondrial fission and mitophagy in melanoma. Our integrative bioinformatics first revealed that the downregulation of mitochondrial genes was highly correlated with unfolded protein response activation in melanoma. Then we proved that mitochondrial fission and mitophagy were prominently induced to contribute to ER stress resistance both in vitro and in vivo by maintaining mitochondrial function. Mechanistically, the activation of IRE1α/ATF6-XBP1 branches of unfolded protein response promoted the transcription of E3 ligase MARCH5 to facilitate the ubiquitination and degradation of MFN2, which thereby triggered mitochondrial fission and mitophagy under ER stress. Together, our findings show a regulatory axis that links mitochondrial fission and mitophagy to the resistance to ER stress. Targeting mitochondrial quality control machinery can be exploited as an approach to reinforce the efficacy of ER stress‒inducing agents against cancer.