1 2979 80 GENETIC BACKGROUND OF JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS. JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS (JIA) IS THE MOST COMMON CHRONIC RHEUMATOLOGIC DISEASE IN CHILDREN. JIA IS A GROUP OF DISORDERS THAT SHARE THE CLINICAL MANIFESTATION OF CHRONIC JOINT INFLAMMATION. THE HUMAN LEUKOCYTE ANTIGEN REGION (HLA) SEEMS TO BE A MAJOR SUSCEPTIBILITY LOCUS FOR JIA THAT IS ESTIMATED TO ACCOUNT FOR 17% OF FAMILIAL SEGREGATION OF THE DISEASE. TO DATE, AROUND 20 NON-HLA LOCI CONFERRING SUSCEPTIBILITY TO JIA WERE FOUND. AT LEAST A HALF OF THOSE ARE SHARED BETWEEN JIA AND RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA), AN ADULT RHEUMATIC DISEASE, THEREBY SUGGESTING FOR SIMILARITY OF PATHOGENIC MECHANISMS OF BOTH DISEASES. NEW FINDINGS ALSO SUGGEST FOR A LIKELY ROLE OF EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF JIA THAT SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED IN THE FUTURE. 2014 2 6787 73 [CONTRIBUTION OF NON-HLA GENES TO JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS SUSCEPTIBILITY]. JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS (JAL4) IS THE MOST COMMON CHRONIC RHEUMATOLOGIC DISEASE IN CHILDREN. JIA IS A GROUP OF DISORDERS THAT SHARE THE CLINICAL MANIFESTATION OF CHRONIC JOINT INFLAMMATION. THE HUMAN LEUKOCYTE ANTIGEN REGION (HLA) SEEMS TO BE A MAJOR SUSCEPTIBILITY LOCUS FOR JIA THAT IS ESTIMATED TO ACCOUNT FOR 17% OF FAMILIAL SEGREGATION OF THE DISEASE. GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES (GWAS), CASE-CONTROL STUDIES AND META-ANALYSES OF THE POST-GWAS ERA REVEALED OVER 20 NON-HLA LOCI CONFERRING SUSCEPTIBILITY TO JIA. AT LEAST A HALF OF THOSE ARE SHARED BETWEEN JIA AND RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS, AN ADULT RHEUMATIC DISEASE, THEREBY SUGGESTING FOR SIMILARITY OF PATHOGENIC MECHANISMS OF BOTH DISEASES. NEW FINDINGS ALSO SUGGEST FOR A LIKELY ROLE OF EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF JIA THAT SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED IN THE FUTURE. 2014 3 3507 27 IDENTIFICATION OF TARGET GENES AT JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS GWAS LOCI IN HUMAN NEUTROPHILS. JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS (JIA) IS THE MOST COMMON CHRONIC RHEUMATIC DISEASE AMONG CHILDREN WHICH COULD CAUSE SEVERE DISABILITY. GENOMIC STUDIES HAVE DISCOVERED SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF RISK LOCI FOR JIA, HOWEVER, THE MECHANISM OF HOW THESE LOCI AFFECT JIA DEVELOPMENT IS NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD. NEUTROPHIL IS AN IMPORTANT CELL TYPE INVOLVED IN AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES. TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF GENETIC LOCI IN NEUTROPHILS DURING JIA DEVELOPMENT, WE TOOK AN INTEGRATED MULTI-OMICS APPROACH TO IDENTIFY TARGET GENES AT JIA RISK LOCI IN NEUTROPHILS AND CONSTRUCTED A PROTEIN-PROTEIN INTERACTION NETWORK VIA A MACHINE LEARNING APPROACH. WE IDENTIFIED GENES LIKELY TO BE JIA RISK LOCI TARGETED GENES IN NEUTROPHILS WHICH COULD CONTRIBUTE TO JIA DEVELOPMENT. 2019 4 2727 26 EXPLAINING THE BLACK-WHITE DISPARITY IN PRETERM BIRTH: A CONSENSUS STATEMENT FROM A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC WORK GROUP CONVENED BY THE MARCH OF DIMES. IN 2017-2019, THE MARCH OF DIMES CONVENED A WORKGROUP WITH BIOMEDICAL, CLINICAL, AND EPIDEMIOLOGIC EXPERTISE TO REVIEW KNOWLEDGE OF THE CAUSES OF THE PERSISTENT BLACK-WHITE DISPARITY IN PRETERM BIRTH (PTB). MULTIPLE DATABASES WERE SEARCHED TO IDENTIFY HYPOTHESIZED CAUSES EXAMINED IN PEER-REVIEWED LITERATURE, 33 HYPOTHESIZED CAUSES WERE REVIEWED FOR WHETHER THEY PLAUSIBLY AFFECT PTB AND EITHER OCCUR MORE/LESS FREQUENTLY AND/OR HAVE A LARGER/SMALLER EFFECT SIZE AMONG BLACK WOMEN VS. WHITE WOMEN. WHILE DEFINITIVE PROOF IS LACKING FOR MOST POTENTIAL CAUSES, MOST ARE BIOLOGICALLY PLAUSIBLE. NO SINGLE DOWNSTREAM OR MIDSTREAM FACTOR EXPLAINS THE DISPARITY OR ITS SOCIAL PATTERNING, HOWEVER, MANY LIKELY PLAY LIMITED ROLES, E.G., WHILE GENETIC FACTORS LIKELY CONTRIBUTE TO PTB, THEY EXPLAIN AT MOST A SMALL FRACTION OF THE DISPARITY. RESEARCH LINKS MOST HYPOTHESIZED MIDSTREAM CAUSES, INCLUDING SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS AND STRESS, WITH THE DISPARITY THROUGH THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE HYPOTHESIZED DOWNSTREAM FACTORS. SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS ALONE CANNOT EXPLAIN THE DISPARITY'S SOCIAL PATTERNING. CHRONIC STRESS COULD AFFECT PTB THROUGH NEUROENDOCRINE AND IMMUNE MECHANISMS LEADING TO INFLAMMATION AND IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION, STRESS COULD ALTER A WOMAN'S MICROBIOTA, IMMUNE RESPONSE TO INFECTION, CHRONIC DISEASE RISKS, AND BEHAVIORS, AND TRIGGER EPIGENETIC CHANGES INFLUENCING PTB RISK. AS AN UPSTREAM FACTOR, RACISM IN MULTIPLE FORMS HAS REPEATEDLY BEEN LINKED WITH THE PLAUSIBLE MIDSTREAM/DOWNSTREAM FACTORS, INCLUDING SOCIOECONOMIC DISADVANTAGE, STRESS, AND TOXIC EXPOSURES. RACISM IS THE ONLY FACTOR IDENTIFIED THAT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY COULD EXPLAIN THE RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE PLAUSIBLE MIDSTREAM/DOWNSTREAM CAUSES AND THE OBSERVED SOCIAL PATTERNING. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY SYSTEMIC RACISM CAN EXPLAIN THE RACIAL DISPARITIES IN SOCIOECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES THAT DIFFERENTIALLY EXPOSE AFRICAN AMERICANS TO LIFELONG FINANCIAL STRESS AND ASSOCIATED HEALTH-HARMING CONDITIONS. SEGREGATION PLACES BLACK WOMEN IN STRESSFUL SURROUNDINGS AND EXPOSES THEM TO ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS. RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT IS A PERVASIVE STRESSOR FOR BLACK WOMEN OF ALL SOCIOECONOMIC LEVELS, CONSIDERING BOTH INCIDENTS AND THE CONSTANT VIGILANCE NEEDED TO PREPARE ONESELF FOR POTENTIAL INCIDENTS. RACISM IS A HIGHLY PLAUSIBLE, MAJOR UPSTREAM CONTRIBUTOR TO THE BLACK-WHITE DISPARITY IN PTB THROUGH MULTIPLE PATHWAYS AND BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS. WHILE MUCH IS UNKNOWN, EXISTING KNOWLEDGE AND CORE VALUES (EQUITY, JUSTICE) SUPPORT ADDRESSING RACISM IN EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE THE RACIAL DISPARITY IN PTB. 2021 5 2901 26 GENDER DIFFERENCES IN GERM-CELL MUTAGENESIS AND GENETIC RISK. CURRENT INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS FOR CHEMICAL MUTAGENS ARE HAZARD-BASED RATHER THAN AIMED AT ASSESSING RISKS QUANTITATIVELY. IN THE PAST, GERM-CELL TESTS HAVE BEEN MAINLY PERFORMED WITH A LIMITED NUMBER OF SOMATIC CELL MUTAGENS, AND RARELY UNDER CONDITIONS AIMED AT COMPARING GENDER-SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES IN SUSCEPTIBILITY TO MUTAGEN EXPOSURES. THERE ARE PROFOUND DIFFERENCES IN THE GENETIC CONSTITUTION, AND IN HORMONAL, STRUCTURAL, AND FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS OF DIFFERENTIATION AND CONTROL OF GAMETOGENESIS BETWEEN THE SEXES. A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE SUGGESTS THAT THESE DIFFERENCES MAY HAVE A PROFOUND IMPACT ON THE RELATIVE SUSCEPTIBILITY, STAGE OF HIGHEST SENSITIVITY AND THE RELATIVE RISK FOR THE GENESIS OF GENE MUTATION, AS WELL AS STRUCTURAL AND NUMERICAL CHROMOSOMAL ABERRATIONS IN MALE AND FEMALE GERM CELLS. TRANSMISSION OF GERM-CELL MUTATIONS TO THE OFFSPRING MAY ALSO ENCOUNTER GENDER-SPECIFIC INFLUENCES. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CHEMICALLY DERIVED ALTERATIONS IN IMPRINTING PATTERNS MAY POSE A THREAT FOR THE HEALTH OF THE OFFSPRING AND MAY ALSO BE TRANSMITTED TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. RECENT REPORTS ON DIFFERENT GENETIC EFFECTS FROM HIGH ACUTE AND FROM CHRONIC LOW-DOSE EXPOSURES CHALLENGE THE VALIDITY OF CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM STANDARD METHODS OF MUTAGENICITY TESTING. IN CONCLUSION, RESEARCH IS URGENTLY NEEDED TO IDENTIFY GENETIC HAZARDS FOR A LARGER RANGE OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS, INCLUDING THOSE SUSPECTED TO DISTURB PROPER CHROMOSOME SEGREGATION. ALTERATIONS IN EPIGENETIC PROGRAMMING AND THEIR HEALTH CONSEQUENCES WILL HAVE TO BE INVESTIGATED. MORE ATTENTION SHOULD BE PAID TO GENDER-SPECIFIC GENETIC EFFECTS. FINALLY, THE DATABASE FOR GERM-CELL MUTAGENS SHOULD BE ENLARGED USING MOLECULAR METHODOLOGIES, AND GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDIES SHOULD BE PERFORMED WITH THESE TECHNIQUES TO VERIFY HUMAN GENETIC RISK. 2007 6 1049 31 CLINICAL EPIGENOMIC EXPLANATION OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CANNABINOID GENOTOXICITY MANIFESTING AS TRANSGENERATIONAL TERATOGENESIS, CANCEROGENESIS AND AGING ACCELERATION. AS GLOBAL INTEREST IN THE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF CANNABIS AND ITS' DERIVATIVES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF SELECTED DISEASES INCREASES, IT IS INCREASINGLY IMPERATIVE THAT THE TOXIC PROFILE OF CANNABINOIDS BE THOROUGHLY UNDERSTOOD IN ORDER TO CORRECTLY ASSESS THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE THERAPEUTIC RISKS AND BENEFITS. MODERN STUDIES ACROSS A NUMBER OF JURISDICTIONS, INCLUDING CANADA, AUSTRALIA, THE US AND EUROPE HAVE CONFIRMED THAT SOME OF THE MOST WORRYING AND SEVERE HISTORICAL REPORTS OF BOTH CONGENITAL ANOMALIES AND CANCER INDUCTION FOLLOWING CANNABIS EXPOSURE ACTUALLY UNDERESTIMATE THE MULTISYSTEM THOUSAND MEGABASE-SCALE TRANSGENERATIONAL GENETIC DAMAGE. THESE FINDINGS FROM TERATOGENIC AND CARCINOGENIC LITERATURE ARE SUPPORTED BY RECENT DATA SHOWING THE ACCELERATED PATTERNS OF CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE ADVANCED DNA METHYLATION EPIGENOMIC CLOCK AGE IN CANNABIS EXPOSED PATIENTS. TOGETHER, THE INCREASED MULTISYSTEM CARCINOGENESIS, TERATOGENESIS AND ACCELERATED AGING POINT STRONGLY TO CANNABINOID-RELATED GENOTOXICITY BEING MUCH MORE CLINICALLY SIGNIFICANT THAN IT IS WIDELY SUPPOSED AND, THUS, OF VERY CONSIDERABLE PUBLIC HEALTH AND MULTIGENERATIONAL IMPACT. RECENTLY REPORTED LONGITUDINAL EPIGENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES ELEGANTLY EXPLAIN MANY OF THESE OBSERVED EFFECTS WITH CONSIDERABLE METHODOLOGICAL SOPHISTICATION, INCLUDING MULTIPLE PATHWAYS FOR THE INHIBITION OF THE NORMAL CHROMOSOMAL SEGREGATION AND DNA REPAIR, THE INHIBITION OF THE BASIC EPIGENETIC MACHINERY FOR DNA METHYLATION AND THE DEMETHYLATION AND TELOMERASE ACCELERATION OF THE EPIGENOMIC PROMOTER HYPERMETHYLATION CHARACTERIZING AGING. FOR CANCER, 810 HITS WERE ALSO NOTED. THE TYPES OF MALIGNANCY WHICH WERE OBSERVED HAVE ALL BEEN DOCUMENTED EPIDEMIOLOGICALLY. DETAILED EPIGENOMIC EXPLICATIONS OF THE BRAIN, HEART, FACE, URONEPHROLOGICAL, GASTROINTESTINAL AND LIMB DEVELOPMENT WERE PROVIDED, WHICH AMPLY EXPLAINED THE OBSERVED TERATOLOGICAL PATTERNS, INCLUDING THE INHIBITION OF THE KEY MORPHOGENIC GRADIENTS. HENCE, THESE MAJOR EPIGENOMIC INSIGHTS CONSTITUTED A POWERFUL NEW SERIES OF ARGUMENTS WHICH ADVANCED BOTH OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE DOWNSTREAM SEQUALAE OF MULTISYSTEM MULTIGENERATIONAL CANNABINOID GENOTOXICITY AND ALSO, SINCE MECHANISMS ARE KEY TO THE CAUSAL ARGUMENT, INVEIGHED STRONGLY IN FAVOR OF THE CAUSAL NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP. IN THIS INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW, WE PRESENT THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THIS NOVEL SYNTHETIC PARADIGMATIC FRAMEWORK. SUCH CONCEPTS SUGGEST AND, INDEED, INDICATE NUMEROUS FIELDS FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION AND BASIC SCIENCE RESEARCH TO ADVANCE THE EXPLORATION OF MANY IMPORTANT ISSUES IN BIOLOGY, CLINICAL MEDICINE AND POPULATION HEALTH. GIVEN THIS, IT IS IMPERATIVE WE CORRECTLY APPRAISE THE RISK-BENEFIT RATIO FOR EACH POTENTIAL CANNABIS APPLICATION, CONSIDERING THE POTENCY, SEVERITY OF DISEASE, STAGE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND DURATION OF USE. 2023 7 1314 21 DELINEATING CONDITIONS AND SUBTYPES IN CHRONIC PAIN USING NEUROIMAGING. DIFFERENTIATING SUBTYPES OF CHRONIC PAIN STILL REMAINS A CHALLENGE-BOTH FROM A SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW. PERSONALIZED MEDICINE IS THE CURRENT GOAL OF MODERN MEDICAL CARE AND IS LIMITED BY THE SUBJECTIVE NATURE OF PATIENT SELF-REPORTING OF SYMPTOMS AND BEHAVIORAL EVALUATION. PHYSIOLOGY-FOCUSED TECHNIQUES SUCH AS GENOME AND EPIGENETIC ANALYSES INFORM THE DELINEATION OF PAIN GROUPS; HOWEVER, EXCEPT UNDER RARE CIRCUMSTANCES, THEY HAVE DILUTED EFFECTS THAT AGAIN, SHARE A COMMON RELIANCE ON BEHAVIORAL EVALUATION. THE APPLICATION OF STRUCTURAL NEUROIMAGING TOWARDS DISTINGUISHING PAIN SUBTYPES IS A GROWING FIELD AND MAY INFORM PAIN-GROUP CLASSIFICATION THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF BRAIN REGIONS SHOWING HYPERTROPHIC AND ATROPHIC CHANGES IN THE PRESENCE OF PAIN. ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES SUCH AS MACHINE-LEARNING CLASSIFIERS HAVE THE CAPACITY TO PROCESS LARGE VOLUMES OF DATA AND DELINEATE DIAGNOSTICALLY RELEVANT INFORMATION FROM NEUROIMAGING ANALYSIS. THE ISSUE OF DEFINING A "BRAIN TYPE" IS AN EMERGING FIELD AIMED AT INTERPRETING OBSERVED BRAIN CHANGES AND DELINEATING THEIR CLINICAL IDENTITY/SIGNIFICANCE. IN THIS REVIEW, 2 CHRONIC PAIN CONDITIONS (MIGRAINE AND IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME) WITH SIMILAR CLINICAL PHENOTYPES ARE COMPARED IN TERMS OF THEIR STRUCTURAL NEUROIMAGING FINDINGS. INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS ARE COMPARED WITH FINDINGS FROM APPLICATION OF MACHINE-LEARNING ALGORITHMS. FINDINGS ARE DISCUSSED IN TERMS OF DIFFERENTIATING PATIENT SUBGROUPS USING NEUROIMAGING DATA IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC PAIN AND HOW THEY MAY BE APPLIED TOWARDS DEFINING A PERSONALIZED PAIN SIGNATURE THAT HELPS SEGREGATE PATIENT SUBGROUPS (EG, MIGRAINE WITH AND WITHOUT AURA, WITH OR WITHOUT NAUSEA; IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME VS OTHER FUNCTIONAL GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDERS). 2019 8 4593 24 NATURAL GENETIC VARIATION IN A MULTIGENERATIONAL PHENOTYPE IN C. ELEGANS. ALTHOUGH HEREDITY MOSTLY RELIES ON THE TRANSMISSION OF DNA SEQUENCE, ADDITIONAL MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR FEATURES ARE HERITABLE ACROSS SEVERAL GENERATIONS. IN THE NEMATODE CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS, INSIGHTS INTO SUCH UNCONVENTIONAL INHERITANCE RESULT FROM TWO LINES OF WORK. FIRST, THE MORTAL GERMLINE (MRT) PHENOTYPE WAS DEFINED AS A MULTIGENERATIONAL PHENOTYPE WHEREBY A SELFING LINEAGE BECOMES STERILE AFTER SEVERAL GENERATIONS, IMPLYING MULTIGENERATIONAL MEMORY [1, 2]. SECOND, CERTAIN RNAI EFFECTS ARE HERITABLE OVER SEVERAL GENERATIONS IN THE ABSENCE OF THE INITIAL TRIGGER [3-5]. BOTH LINES OF WORK CONVERGED WHEN THE SUBSET OF MRT MUTANTS THAT ARE HEAT SENSITIVE WERE FOUND TO CLOSELY CORRESPOND TO MUTANTS DEFECTIVE IN THE RNAI-INHERITANCE MACHINERY, INCLUDING HISTONE MODIFIERS [6-9]. HERE, WE REPORT THE SURPRISING FINDING THAT SEVERAL C. ELEGANS WILD ISOLATES DISPLAY A HEAT-SENSITIVE MORTAL GERMLINE PHENOTYPE IN LABORATORY CONDITIONS: UPON CHRONIC EXPOSURE TO HIGHER TEMPERATURES, SUCH AS 25 DEGREES C, LINES REPRODUCIBLY BECOME STERILE AFTER SEVERAL GENERATIONS. THIS PHENOMENON IS REVERSIBLE, AS IT CAN BE SUPPRESSED BY TEMPERATURE ALTERNATIONS AT EACH GENERATION, SUGGESTING A NON-GENETIC BASIS FOR THE STERILITY. WE TESTED WHETHER NATURAL VARIATION IN THE TEMPERATURE-INDUCED MRT PHENOTYPE WAS OF GENETIC NATURE BY BUILDING RECOMBINANT INBRED LINES BETWEEN THE ISOLATES MY10 (MRT) AND JU1395 (NON-MRT). USING BULK SEGREGANT ANALYSIS, WE DETECTED TWO QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI. AFTER FURTHER RECOMBINANT MAPPING AND GENOME EDITING, WE IDENTIFIED THE MAJOR CAUSAL LOCUS AS A POLYMORPHISM IN THE SET-24 GENE, ENCODING A SET- AND SPK-DOMAIN PROTEIN. WE CONCLUDE THAT C. ELEGANS NATURAL POPULATIONS MAY HARBOR NATURAL GENETIC VARIATION IN EPIGENETIC INHERITANCE PHENOMENA. 2018 9 3761 19 INTEGRATING GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC FACTORS IN CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA RISK ASSESSMENT: TOWARD GENE EXPRESSION-BASED BIOMARKERS. CANCER TREATMENT IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING FROM A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL TOWARDS BESPOKE APPROACHES FOR EACH PATIENT. IN CERTAIN SOLID CANCERS, INCLUDING BREAST AND LUNG, TUMOR GENOME PROFILING HAS BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THERAPEUTIC DECISION-MAKING. FOR CHRONIC PHASE CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA (CML), WHILE TYROSINE KINASE INHIBITOR THERAPY IS THE STANDARD TREATMENT, CURRENT CLINICAL SCORING SYSTEMS CANNOT ACCURATELY PREDICT THE HETEROGENEOUS TREATMENT OUTCOMES OBSERVED IN PATIENTS. BIOMARKERS CAPABLE OF SEGREGATING PATIENTS ACCORDING TO OUTCOME AT DIAGNOSIS ARE NEEDED TO IMPROVE MANAGEMENT, AND FACILITATE ENROLLMENT IN CLINICAL TRIALS SEEKING TO PREVENT BLAST CRISIS TRANSFORMATION AND IMPROVE THE DEPTH OF MOLECULAR RESPONSES. TO THIS END, GENE EXPRESSION (GE) PROFILING STUDIES HAVE EVALUATED WHETHER GE SIGNATURES AT DIAGNOSIS ARE CLINICALLY INFORMATIVE. PATIENT MATERIAL FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES HAS BEEN PROFILED USING MICROARRAYS, RNA SEQUENCING AND, MORE RECENTLY, SINGLE-CELL RNA SEQUENCING. HOWEVER, DIFFERENCES IN THE CELL TYPES PROFILED, THE TECHNOLOGIES USED, AND THE INHERENT COMPLEXITIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE INTERPRETATION OF GENOMIC DATA POSE CHALLENGES IN DISTILLING GE DATASETS INTO BIOMARKERS WITH CLINICAL UTILITY. THE GOAL OF THIS PAPER IS TO REVIEW PREVIOUS STUDIES EVALUATING GE PROFILING IN CML, AND EXPLORE THEIR POTENTIAL AS RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR INDIVIDUALIZED CML TREATMENT. WE ALSO REVIEW THE CONTRIBUTION THAT ACQUIRED MUTATIONS, INCLUDING THOSE SEEN IN CLONAL HEMATOPOIESIS, MAKE TO GE PROFILES, AND HOW A MODEL INTEGRATING CONTRIBUTIONS OF GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC FACTORS IN RESISTANCE TO TYROSINE KINASE INHIBITORS AND BLAST CRISIS TRANSFORMATION CAN DEFINE A ROUTE TO GE-BASED BIOMARKERS. FINALLY, WE OUTLINE A FOUR-STAGE APPROACH FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF GE-BASED BIOMARKERS IN CML. 2022 10 960 10 CHRONIC MYELOMONOCYTIC LEUKEMIA: 2016 UPDATE ON DIAGNOSIS, RISK STRATIFICATION, AND MANAGEMENT. CHRONIC MYELOMONOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (CMML) IS A CLONAL HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL DISORDER CHARACTERIZED BY OVERLAPPING FEATURES OF MYELODYSPLASTIC SYNDROMES AND MYELOPROLIFERATIVE NEOPLASMS. DIAGNOSIS IS BASED ON THE PRESENCE OF PERSISTENT (>3 MONTHS) PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONOCYTOSIS (>1 X 10(9) /L), ALONG WITH BONE MARROW DYSPLASIA. CLONAL CYTOGENETIC ABNORMALITIES OCCUR IN APPROXIMATELY 20-30% OF PATIENTS, WHILE >90% HAVE GENE MUTATIONS. MUTATIONS INVOLVING TET2 ( APPROXIMATELY 60%), SRSF2 ( APPROXIMATELY 50%), ASXL1 ( APPROXIMATELY 40%), AND RAS ( APPROXIMATELY 30%) ARE FREQUENT; WITH ONLY ASXL1 MUTATIONS NEGATIVELY IMPACTING OVERALL SURVIVAL. TWO MOLECULARLY INTEGRATED, CMML-SPECIFIC PROGNOSTIC MODELS INCLUDE; THE GROUPE FRANCAIS DES MYELODYSPLASIES (GFM) AND THE MOLECULAR MAYO MODEL (MMM). THE GFM MODEL SEGREGATES PATIENTS INTO 3 GROUPS BASED ON: AGE >65 YEARS, WBC >15 X 10(9) /L, ANEMIA, PLATELETS <100 X 10(9) /L, AND ASXL1 MUTATION STATUS, WITH RESPECTIVE MEDIAN SURVIVALS OF 56 (LOW), 27.4 (INTERMEDIATE), AND 9.2 (HIGH) MONTHS. THE MMM IS BASED ON ASXL1 MUTATIONAL STATUS, ABSOLUTE MONOCYTE COUNT >10 X 10(9) /L, HEMOGLOBIN <10 G/DL, PLATELETS <100 X 109/L AND CIRCULATING IMMATURE MYELOID CELLS. THIS MODEL STRATIFIES PATIENTS INTO FOUR GROUPS; HIGH (>/=3 RISK FACTORS), INTERMEDIATE-2 (2 RISK FACTORS), INTERMEDIATE-1 (1 RISK FACTOR) AND LOW (NO RISK FACTORS), WITH MEDIAN SURVIVALS OF 16, 31, 59, AND 97 MONTHS, RESPECTIVELY. HYPOMETHYLATING AGENTS SUCH AS 5-AZACITIDINE AND DECITABINE ARE COMMONLY USED, WITH OVERALL RESPONSE RATES OF APPROXIMATELY 30-40% AND COMPLETE REMISSION RATES OF APPROXIMATELY 7-17%. ALLOGENEIC STEM CELL TRANSPLANT IS THE ONLY POTENTIALLY CURATIVE OPTION, BUT IS ASSOCIATED WITH SIGNIFICANT MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY. INDIVIDUALIZED THERAPY, INCLUDING EPIGENETIC MODIFIERS AND SMALL MOLECULE INHIBITORS, ARE EXCITING PROSPECTS. AM. J. HEMATOL. 91:632-642, 2016. (C) 2016 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC. 2016 11 5371 27 RECENT ADVANCES IN UNDERSTANDING THE GENETIC BASIS OF SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS. SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE) IS A POLYGENIC CHRONIC AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE LEADING TO MULTIPLE ORGAN DAMAGE. A LARGE HERITABILITY OF UP TO 66% IS ESTIMATED IN SLE, WITH ROUGHLY 180 REPORTED SUSCEPTIBILITY LOCI THAT HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED MOSTLY BY GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES (GWASS) AND ACCOUNT FOR APPROXIMATELY 30% OF GENETIC HERITABILITY. A VAST MAJORITY OF RISK VARIANTS RESIDE IN NON-CODING REGIONS, WHICH MAKES IT QUITE CHALLENGING TO INTERPRET THEIR FUNCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN THE SLE-AFFECTED IMMUNE SYSTEM, SUGGESTING THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING CELL TYPE-SPECIFIC EPIGENETIC REGULATION AROUND SLE GWAS VARIANTS. THE LATEST GENETIC STUDIES HAVE BEEN HIGHLY FRUITFUL AS SEVERAL DOZENS OF SLE LOCI WERE NEWLY DISCOVERED IN THE LAST FEW YEARS AND MANY LOCI HAVE COME TO BE UNDERSTOOD IN SYSTEMIC APPROACHES INTEGRATING GWAS SIGNALS WITH OTHER BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES. IN THIS REVIEW, WE SUMMARIZE SLE-ASSOCIATED GENETIC VARIANTS IN BOTH THE MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX (MHC) AND NON-MHC LOCI, EXAMINING POLYGENETIC RISK SCORES FOR SLE AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH CLINICAL FEATURES. FINALLY, VARIANT-DRIVEN PATHOGENETIC FUNCTIONS UNDERLYING GENETIC ASSOCIATIONS ARE DESCRIBED, COUPLED WITH DISCUSSION ABOUT CHALLENGES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN GENETIC STUDIES ON SLE. 2022 12 5774 22 SPERM TRANSCRIPTIONAL STATE ASSOCIATED WITH PATERNAL TRANSMISSION OF STRESS PHENOTYPES. PATERNAL STRESS CAN INDUCE LONG-LASTING CHANGES IN GERM CELLS POTENTIALLY PROPAGATING HERITABLE CHANGES ACROSS GENERATIONS. TO DATE, NO STUDIES HAVE INVESTIGATED DIFFERENCES IN TRANSMISSION PATTERNS BETWEEN STRESS-RESILIENT AND -SUSCEPTIBLE MICE. WE TESTED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT TRANSCRIPTIONAL ALTERATIONS IN SPERM DURING CHRONIC SOCIAL DEFEAT STRESS (CSDS) TRANSMIT INCREASED SUSCEPTIBILITY TO STRESS PHENOTYPES TO THE NEXT GENERATION. WE DEMONSTRATE DIFFERENCES IN OFFSPRING FROM STRESSED FATHERS THAT DEPEND UPON PATERNAL CATEGORY (RESILIENT VS SUSCEPTIBLE) AND OFFSPRING SEX. IMPORTANTLY, ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION REVEALS THAT SPERM MEDIATES SOME OF THE BEHAVIORAL PHENOTYPES SEEN IN OFFSPRING. USING RNA-SEQUENCING WE REPORT SUBSTANTIAL AND DISTINCT CHANGES IN THE TRANSCRIPTOMIC PROFILES OF SPERM FOLLOWING CSDS IN SUSCEPTIBLE VS RESILIENT FATHERS, WITH ALTERATIONS IN LONG NONCODING RNAS (LNCRNAS) PREDOMINATING ESPECIALLY IN SUSCEPTIBILITY. CORRELATION ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT THESE ALTERATIONS WERE ACCOMPANIED BY A LOSS OF REGULATION OF PROTEIN-CODING GENES BY LNCRNAS IN SPERM OF SUSCEPTIBLE MALES. WE ALSO IDENTIFY SEVERAL CO-EXPRESSION GENE MODULES THAT ARE ENRICHED IN DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES IN SPERM FROM EITHER RESILIENT OR SUSCEPTIBLE FATHERS. TAKEN TOGETHER, THESE STUDIES ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF INTERGENERATIONAL EPIGENETIC TRANSMISSION OF BEHAVIORAL EXPERIENCE.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTTHIS MANUSCRIPT CONTRIBUTES TO THE COMPLEX FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE PATERNAL TRANSMISSION OF STRESS PHENOTYPES. BY LEVERAGING THE SEGREGATION OF MALES EXPOSED TO CHRONIC SOCIAL DEFEAT STRESS INTO EITHER RESILIENT OR SUSCEPTIBLE CATEGORIES WE WERE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE PHENOTYPIC DIFFERENCES IN THE PATERNAL TRANSMISSION OF STRESS PHENOTYPES ACROSS GENERATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO LINEAGES. IMPORTANTLY, THIS WORK ALSO ALLUDES TO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BOTH LONG NONCODING RNAS AND PROTEIN CODING GENES MEDIATING THE PATERNAL TRANSMISSION OF STRESS. THE KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM THESE DATA IS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST IN UNDERSTANDING THE RISK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS SUCH AS ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION. 2021 13 4387 20 MITOTIC DYSFUNCTION ASSOCIATED WITH AGING HALLMARKS. AGING IS A BIOLOGICAL PROCESS CHARACTERIZED BY THE PROGRESSIVE DETERIORATION OF PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS KNOWN TO BE THE MAIN RISK FACTOR FOR CHRONIC DISEASES AND DECLINING HEALTH. THERE HAS BEEN AN EMERGING CONNECTION BETWEEN AGING AND ANEUPLOIDY, AN ABERRANT NUMBER OF CHROMOSOMES, EVEN THOUGH THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS BEHIND AGE-ASSOCIATED ANEUPLOIDY REMAIN LARGELY UNKNOWN. IN RECENT YEARS, SEVERAL GENETIC PATHWAYS AND BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES CONTROLLING THE RATE OF AGING HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AND PROPOSED AS AGING HALLMARKS. PRIMARY HALLMARKS THAT CAUSE THE ACCUMULATION OF CELLULAR DAMAGE INCLUDE GENOMIC INSTABILITY, TELOMERE ATTRITION, EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS AND LOSS OF PROTEOSTASIS (LOPEZ-OTIN ET AL., CELL 153:1194-1217, 2013). HERE WE REVIEW THE PROVOCATIVE LINK BETWEEN THESE AGING HALLMARKS AND THE LOSS OF CHROMOSOME SEGREGATION FIDELITY DURING CELL DIVISION, WHICH COULD SUPPORT THE CORRELATION BETWEEN AGING AND ANEUPLOIDY SEEN OVER THE PAST DECADES. SECONDLY, WE REVIEW THE SYSTEMIC IMPACTS OF ANEUPLOIDY IN CELL PHYSIOLOGY AND EMPHASIZE HOW THESE INCLUDE SOME OF THE PRIMARY HALLMARKS OF AGING. BASED ON THE EVIDENCE, WE PROPOSE A MUTUAL CAUSALITY BETWEEN AGING AND ANEUPLOIDY, AND SUGGEST MODULATION OF MITOTIC FIDELITY AS A POTENTIAL MEANS TO AMELIORATE HEALTHY LIFESPAN. 2017 14 4922 17 PARENTAL AGE AND RISK OF LYMPHOID NEOPLASMS. HIGH PARENTAL AGE AT CHILDBIRTH HAS REPEATEDLY BEEN LINKED TO CHILDHOOD MALIGNANCIES, WHILE FEW STUDIES HAVE FOCUSED ON THE OFFSPRING'S RISK OF ADULT CANCER. IN THIS POPULATION-BASED CASE-CONTROL STUDY, WE IDENTIFIED 32,000 PATIENTS WITH LYMPHOID NEOPLASMS, DIAGNOSED AT AGES 0-79 YEARS DURING THE PERIOD 1987-2011, AND 160,000 MATCHED CONTROLS IN SWEDEN. USING PROSPECTIVELY REGISTERED DATA ON THEIR FIRST-DEGREE RELATIVES, WE EVALUATED THE IMPACT OF PARENTAL AGE ON THE RISK OF LYMPHOID NEOPLASMS BY SUBTYPE. OVERALL, EACH 5-YEAR INCREMENT IN MATERNAL AGE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A 3% INCREASE IN INCIDENCE OF OFFSPRING LYMPHOID NEOPLASMS (HAZARD RATIO = 1.03, 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL: 1.02, 1.04). THE ASSOCIATION WAS SIMILAR FOR PATERNAL AGE AND PRESENT EVEN AMONG INDIVIDUALS OLDER THAN 70 YEARS OF AGE AT DIAGNOSIS. STRATIFIED ANALYSES FURTHER REVEALED THAT THE ASSOCIATION WAS LIMITED TO CERTAIN SUBTYPES, MOSTLY OF INDOLENT NATURE. RISKS OF CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA, FOLLICULAR LYMPHOMA, AND MANTLE CELL LYMPHOMA WERE 5%-10% HIGHER PER 5-YEAR INCREMENT IN MATERNAL AGE, BUT NO ASSOCIATIONS WERE OBSERVED FOR ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA, PLASMA CELL NEOPLASMS, OR DIFFUSE LARGE B-CELL LYMPHOMA. THESE FINDINGS INDICATED THAT PRENATAL GENETIC OR EPIGENETIC CHANGES INFLUENCE RISK OF ADULT LYMPHOID NEOPLASMS AND SUGGEST A DIFFERENCE IN THIS ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AGGRESSIVE AND INDOLENT LYMPHOMA SUBTYPES. 2017 15 6555 21 TRANSGENERATIONAL EFFECTS OF GAMMA RADIATION DOSE AND DOSE RATE ON DROSOPHILA FLIES IRRADIATED AT AN EARLY EMBRYONAL STAGE. IONIZING RADIATION (IR) KILLS CELLS MAINLY THROUGH INDUCTION OF DNA DAMAGES AND THE SURVIVING CELLS MAY SUFFER FROM MUTATIONS. TRANSGENERATIONAL EFFECTS OF IR ARE WELL DOCUMENTED, BUT THE EXACT MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THEM ARE LESS WELL UNDERSTOOD; THEY INCLUDE INDUCTION OF MUTATIONS IN GERM CELLS AND EPIGENETIC INHERITANCE. PREVIOUSLY, EFFECTS IN THE OFFSPRING OF MICE AND ZEBRAFISH EXPOSED TO IR HAVE BEEN REPORTED. A FEW STUDIES ALSO SHOWED INDICATIONS OF TRANSGENERATIONAL EFFECTS OF RADIATION IN HUMANS, PARTICULARLY IN NUCLEAR POWER WORKERS. IN THE PRESENT PROJECT, SHORT- AND LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF LOW-DOSE-RATE (LDR; 50 AND 97 MGY/H) AND HIGH-DOSE-RATE (HDR; 23.4, 47.1 AND 495 GY/H) IR IN DROSOPHILA EMBRYOS WERE INVESTIGATED. THE EMBRYOS WERE IRRADIATED AT DIFFERENT DOSES AND DOSE RATES AND RADIOSENSITIVITY AT DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES WAS INVESTIGATED. ALSO, THE SURVIVAL OF LARVAE, PUPAE AND ADULTS DEVELOPED FROM EMBRYOS IRRADIATED AT AN EARLY STAGE (30 MIN AFTER EGG LAYING) WERE STUDIED. THE LARVAL CRAWLING AND PUPATION HEIGHT ASSAYS WERE APPLIED TO INVESTIGATE RADIATION EFFECTS ON LARVAL LOCOMOTION AND PUPATION BEHAVIOR, RESPECTIVELY. IN PARALLEL, THE OFFSPRING FROM 3 GY IRRADIATED EARLY-STAGE EMBRYOS WERE FOLLOWED UP TO 12 GENERATIONS AND ABNORMAL PHENOTYPES WERE STUDIED. ACUTE EXPOSURE OF EMBRYOS AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT SHOWED THAT THE EARLY STAGE EMBRYO IS THE MOST SENSITIVE. THE EFFECTS ON LARVAL LOCOMOTION SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE DOSE RATES BUT A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE OF LOCOMOTION ACTIVITY ABOVE 7 GY WAS OBSERVED. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT EMBRYOS EXPOSED TO THE LOW DOSE RATES HAVE SHORTER ECLOSION TIMES. AT THE SAME CUMULATIVE DOSE (1 UP TO 7 GY), HDR IS MORE EMBRYOTOXIC THAN LDR. WE ALSO FOUND A RADIATION-INDUCED DEPIGMENTATION ON MALES (A5 SEGMENT OF THE DORSAL ABDOMEN, A5PIG(-)) THAT CAN BE TRANSMITTED UP TO 12 GENERATIONS. THE PHENOMENON DOES NOT FOLLOW THE CLASSICAL MENDELIAN LAWS OF SEGREGATION. 2022 16 2205 23 EPIGENETIC MODIFICATION OF THE X CHROMOSOME INFLUENCES SUSCEPTIBILITY TO POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME. CONTEXT: THE CAUSE OF POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME (PCOS) IS UNKNOWN, ALTHOUGH GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ARE CLEARLY IMPLICATED. SOME GENETIC STUDIES HAVE SUGGESTED THE INVOLVEMENT OF X-LINKED GENES IN PCOS, BUT THE INFLUENCE OF X CHROMOSOME INACTIVATION (XCI) ON MANIFESTATION OF THIS DISORDER HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY BEEN EXAMINED. OBJECTIVE: THE OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY WAS TO TEST THE NULL HYPOTHESIS THAT XCI HAS NO INFLUENCE ON CLINICAL PRESENTATION OF PCOS. DESIGN: WE EXAMINED PATTERNS OF XCI BETWEEN SISTER PAIRS WITH THE SAME GENOTYPE AT A POLYMORPHIC LOCUS ON THE X CHROMOSOME IN FAMILIES WITH PCOS. SETTING: THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED AT A PRIVATE PRACTICE. PARTICIPANTS: PCOS WAS DEFINED AS HYPERANDROGENEMIA WITH CHRONIC ANOVULATION. FORTY FAMILIES WERE STUDIED IN WHICH DNA WAS OBTAINED FROM AT LEAST ONE PARENT, THE PROBAND, AND ONE SISTER THAT COULD BE ACCURATELY DIAGNOSED AS BEING AFFECTED OR UNAFFECTED. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): RELATIVE EXPRESSION OF TWO X-LINKED ALLELES WAS DETERMINED, AND THE RATIO OF ONE TO THE OTHER REPRESENTED THE PATTERN OF XCI. RESULTS: THE STATISTICAL ODDS ON A DIFFERENT CLINICAL PRESENTATION BETWEEN SISTERS WAS APPROXIMATELY 29 TIMES HIGHER IN SISTER PAIRS WITH DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF XCI, COMPARED WITH SISTER PAIRS WITH THE SAME PATTERN OF XCI (ODDS RATIO 28.9; 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL 4.0-206; P = 0.0008). CONCLUSIONS: THIS STUDY PROVIDES EVIDENCE TO REFUTE THE NULL HYPOTHESIS AND PROPOSE A CLOSER INSPECTION OF X-LINKED GENES IN PCOS, ONE IN WHICH BOTH GENOTYPE AND EPIGENOTYPE ARE CONSIDERED. ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF PCOS MAY ALTER CLINICAL PRESENTATION VIA EPIGENETIC MODIFICATIONS, WHICH CURRENTLY REMAIN UNDETECTED IN TRADITIONAL GENETIC ANALYSES. 2006 17 1092 21 COHESIN MUTATIONS IN MYELOID MALIGNANCIES. COHESIN IS A MULTISUBUNIT PROTEIN COMPLEX THAT FORMS A RING-LIKE STRUCTURE AROUND DNA. IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR SISTER CHROMATID COHESION, CHROMATIN ORGANIZATION, TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION, AND DNA DAMAGE REPAIR AND PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN DYNAMICALLY SHAPING THE GENOME ARCHITECTURE AND MAINTAINING DNA INTEGRITY. THE CORE COMPLEX SUBUNITS STAG2, RAD21, SMC1, AND SMC3, AS WELL AS ITS MODULATORS PDS5A/B, WAPL, AND NIPBL, HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE RECURRENTLY MUTATED IN HEMATOLOGIC AND SOLID MALIGNANCIES. THESE MUTATIONS ARE FOUND ACROSS THE FULL SPECTRUM OF MYELOID NEOPLASIA, INCLUDING PEDIATRIC DOWN SYNDROME-ASSOCIATED ACUTE MEGAKARYOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA, MYELODYSPLASTIC SYNDROMES, CHRONIC MYELOMONOCYTIC LEUKEMIA, AND DE NOVO AND SECONDARY ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIAS. THE MECHANISMS BY WHICH COHESIN MUTATIONS ACT AS DRIVERS OF CLONAL EXPANSION AND DISEASE PROGRESSION ARE STILL POORLY UNDERSTOOD. RECENT STUDIES HAVE DESCRIBED THE IMPACT OF COHESIN ALTERATIONS ON SELF-RENEWAL AND DIFFERENTIATION OF HEMATOPOIETIC STEM AND PROGENITOR CELLS, WHICH ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES IN CHROMATIN AND EPIGENETIC STATE DIRECTING LINEAGE COMMITMENT, AS WELL AS GENOMIC INTEGRITY. HEREIN, WE REVIEW THE ROLE OF THE COHESIN COMPLEX IN HEALTHY AND MALIGNANT HEMATOPOIESIS. WE DISCUSS CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF COHESIN MUTATIONS IN MYELOID MALIGNANCIES AND DISCUSS OPPORTUNITIES FOR THERAPEUTIC TARGETING. 2021 18 647 18 BIRTH ORDER PATTERN IN THE INHERITANCE OF CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKAEMIA AND RELATED LYMPHOPROLIFERATIVE DISEASE. RANK ORDER OF AFFECTED OFFSPRING IN A SIBSHIP CAN INFORM ON EPIGENETIC FACTORS IN DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY. HERE WE REPORT AN ANALYSIS OF BIRTH ORDER IN 32 FAMILIES SEGREGATING CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKAEMIA (CLL) AND OTHER B-CELL LYMPHOPROLIFERATIVE DISORDERS. A PATERNAL-OFFSPRING, BUT NOT A MATERNAL-OFFSPRING BIRTH RANK ORDER WAS OBSERVED. COX REGRESSION ANALYSIS PROVIDED RELATIVE RISKS (RR) FOR PATERNAL AND MATERNAL TRANSMISSION OF 3.60 (CI 95%: 1.54 - 8.42; P = 0.0005) AND 1.64 (CI 95%: 0.90 - 3.01; P = 0.096), RESPECTIVELY. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PATERNAL AND MATERNAL TRANSMISSION OF CLL-CLL PAIRS EMPLOYING HALDANE AND SMITH'S TEST WERE 0.006 AND 0.63, RESPECTIVELY. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTAL AGE AND BIRTH ORDER. THE GENETIC MECHANISM BEHIND THE BIRTH ORDER EFFECT OBSERVED IS DISCUSSED IN THE LIGHT OF NON-MENDELIAN IMPRINTING AND PREGNANCY RELATED MICROCHIMERISM. 2007 19 5113 14 POPULATION-LEVEL IMPACTS OF PESTICIDE-INDUCED CHRONIC EFFECTS ON INDIVIDUALS DEPEND MORE ON ECOLOGY THAN TOXICOLOGY. THE CURRENT METHOD FOR ASSESSING LONG-TERM RISK OF PESTICIDES TO MAMMALS IN THE EU IS BASED ON THE INDIVIDUAL RATHER THAN THE POPULATION-LEVEL AND LACKS ECOLOGICAL REALISM. HENCE THERE IS LITTLE POSSIBILITY FOR REGULATORY AUTHORITIES TO INCREASE ECOLOGICAL REALISM AND UNDERSTANDING OF RISKS AT THE POPULATION-LEVEL. HERE WE DEMONSTRATE HOW, USING ABM MODELLING, ASSESSMENTS AT THE POPULATION-LEVEL CAN BE OBTAINED EVEN FOR A PESTICIDE WITH COMPLEX LONG-TERM EFFECTS SUCH AS EPIGENETIC TRANSMISSION OF REPRODUCTIVE DEPRESSION. BY OBJECTIVELY FITTING NONLINEAR MODELS TO THE SIMULATION OUTPUTS IT WAS POSSIBLE TO COMPARE POPULATION DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY RATES FOR A RANGE OF SCENARIOS IN WHICH TOXICITY AND EXPOSURE FACTORS WERE VARIED. THE SYSTEM WAS DIFFERENTIALLY SENSITIVE TO THE VARIOUS FACTORS, BUT VOLE ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR WERE AT LEAST AS IMPORTANT PREDICTORS OF POPULATION-LEVEL EFFECTS AS TOXICOLOGY. THIS EMPHASISES THE NEED FOR GREATER FOCUS ON ANIMAL ECOLOGY IN RISK ASSESSMENTS. 2009 20 1599 24 DNA METHYLATION SIGNATURE OF CHILDHOOD CHRONIC PHYSICAL AGGRESSION IN T CELLS OF BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. BACKGROUND: HIGH FREQUENCY OF PHYSICAL AGGRESSION IS THE CENTRAL FEATURE OF SEVERE CONDUCT DISORDER AND IS ASSOCIATED WITH A WIDE RANGE OF SOCIAL, MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH PROBLEMS. WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY TESTED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT DIFFERENTIAL DNA METHYLATION SIGNATURES IN PERIPHERAL T CELLS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A CHRONIC AGGRESSION TRAJECTORY IN MALES. DESPITE THE FACT THAT SEX DIFFERENCES APPEAR TO PLAY A PIVOTAL ROLE IN DETERMINING THE DEVELOPMENT, MAGNITUDE AND FREQUENCY OF AGGRESSION, MOST OF PREVIOUS STUDIES FOCUSED ON MALES, SO LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT FEMALE CHRONIC PHYSICAL AGGRESSION. WE THEREFORE TESTED HERE WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS A SIGNATURE OF PHYSICAL AGGRESSION IN FEMALE DNA METHYLATION AND, IF THERE IS, HOW IT RELATES TO THE SIGNATURE OBSERVED IN MALES. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: METHYLATION PROFILES WERE CREATED USING THE METHOD OF METHYLATED DNA IMMUNOPRECIPITATION (MEDIP) FOLLOWED BY MICROARRAY HYBRIDIZATION AND STATISTICAL AND BIOINFORMATIC ANALYSES ON T CELL DNA OBTAINED FROM ADULT WOMEN WHO WERE FOUND TO BE ON A CHRONIC PHYSICAL AGGRESSION TRAJECTORY (CPA) BETWEEN 6 AND 12 YEARS OF AGE COMPARED TO WOMEN WHO FOLLOWED A NORMAL PHYSICAL AGGRESSION TRAJECTORY. WE CONFIRMED THE EXISTENCE OF A WELL-DEFINED, GENOME-WIDE SIGNATURE OF DNA METHYLATION ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC PHYSICAL AGGRESSION IN THE PERIPHERAL T CELLS OF ADULT FEMALES THAT INCLUDES MANY OF THE GENES SIMILARLY ASSOCIATED WITH PHYSICAL AGGRESSION IN THE SAME CELL TYPES OF ADULT MALES. CONCLUSIONS: THIS STUDY IN A SMALL NUMBER OF WOMEN PRESENTS PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE FOR A GENOME-WIDE VARIATION IN PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION THAT ASSOCIATES WITH CPA IN WOMEN THAT WARRANT LARGER STUDIES FOR FURTHER VERIFICATION. A SIGNIFICANT PROPORTION OF THESE ASSOCIATIONS WERE PREVIOUSLY OBSERVED IN MEN WITH CPA SUPPORTING THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE EPIGENETIC SIGNATURE OF EARLY LIFE AGGRESSION IN FEMALES IS COMPOSED OF A COMPONENT SPECIFIC TO FEMALES AND ANOTHER COMMON TO BOTH MALES AND FEMALES. 2014