Active clinical trials for "Genetic Predisposition to Disease"

The purpose of the study is to see if we will be more able to tell what the risk is for bladder cancer to reoccur or worsen when genetics and risk factors are examined along with the stage and grade of the tumor. Superficial bladder cancer is a cancer that does not grow into the muscle layer of the bladder wall. Even though it is a superficial cancer, this type of cancer tends to come back after being treated and is often more aggressive when it returns. We already know, that the "stage" or how deeply the tumor grows into the bladder wall and the "grade" or how fast the tumor grows affect whether the tumor will come back or get worse over time. Now we use information about the stage and grade of your tumor to decide how to treat the tumor and how often you should be checked after the treatment is over. However, this has not been very reliable, because each person has unique genetic characteristics and other factors that are likely to affect what happens to the tumor over time. For instance, we know the risk for developing a cancer may be affected by your surroundings and other factors such as what you eat, the type of habits you have such as smoking, and the type of job you have, but not everyone exposed to the same risk factors gets a cancer. We believe this is due to unique genetic characteristics in each person which may help their body fight cancer.

The objective is to explore the genetic predisposition to early pelvic organ prolapse after adequate surgical repair by exploring the association between pelvic organ prolapse recurrences and certain polymorphisms.

Autoimmune bullous dermatoses include pemphigus, bullous pemphigoid, pemphigoid gestationis, linear IgA dermatosis, mucous membrane pemphigoid, lichen planus pemphigoid, anti-p200 pemphigoid, epidermolysis bullosa acquisita and dermatitis herpetiformis. Autoimmune bullous dermatoses are rare and have an incidence of 20-60 new cases per 1 million person- year in Europe. The incidence of the individual entities is slight significantly different within Europe, but strongly also in comparison to other countries such as Kuwait, Singapore, USA and South America. The most common of these disorders is the bullous pemphigoid. A considerable progress has been made in the last years to elucidate the pathogenic role of autoantibodies in these diseases. To this end, various in vitro and animal experiments have been used to understand some basic pathophysiological mechanisms in these diseases. Further studies are currently being carried out to explain a precise elucidation of the disease process and to be able to treat the patients targeted later. At present, however, no data are available to explain why certain individuals develop the autoimmune disease and others do not. Epidemiological studies showed some triggers to the development of autoimmune dysregulation, e.g. drugs. Furthermore, it has been shown that genetic factors play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. A clear association with certain HLA regions have been shown in patients with pemphigus, e.g. about 95% of pemphigus patients from the group of Ashkenazi Jews have the HLA-DRB1*0402 haplotype. Recently, the first non-HLA gene associated with pemphigus was described. For other conditions such as bullous pemphigoid, pemphigoid gestationis or linear IgA dermatosis the association with HLA antigens is less pronounced. Another indication of the importance of the genetic background in these diseases can be elucidated from the observation of autoantibodies at a low concentration in healthy relatives of pemphigus patients.

The objective of the Gestational Diabetes Genetic Socioeconomic Risk Study is to generate genome wide association study data (GWAS) to calculate polygenic risk scores (PRS) for the development of gestational diabetes in pregnant women. Oshun Medical's GWAS study will be conducted by collecting DNA samples alongside medical and socioeconomic data and applying data science methodology to generate a polygenic risk score algorithm for gestational diabetes. Our hypothesis is that key genetic variants linked to gestational diabetes will be identified, and sociodemographic characteristics may impact epigenetic factors which further contribute to this risk of gestational diabetes. The PRS generated through our study will be combined with an analysis of epigenetic factors to produce a new method for predicting risk of developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy.

The main objective of this part of the project is to identify the germline genetic factors which discriminate the benign and severe forms of SARS-CoV2 (CoVID-19) infection in the context of the ongoing SARS-CoV2 (HCOVID-19) epidemic. The scientific arguments of the project are described in APPENDIX. We hypothesize that pathogenic variants in genes coding for crucial factors involved in the HOST PATHOGEN interaction could explain the susceptibility of some patients to severe disease, even in the absence of comorbidities. The challenge is to identify those of the genetic factors who may be related respiratory distress and potentially further death. Based on our previous experience in sarcoidosis, a multifactorial disease predisposing to opportunistic infections, we will focus particularly the regulation of apoptosis and autophagy, immune response to viral infection, and endoplasmic reticulum stress response (ER STRESS) which is closely linked to apoptosis. Genetic defects in such pathways may decrease the clearance of viral particles and induces the progressive invasion by SARS-CoV2 and destruction of lung parenchyma. Our strategy will be similar to that described in our previous studies on sarcoidosis, recently published. We will combine a comparative genotype analysis by WHOLE EXOME SEQUENCING (WES) of benign and severe forms of SARS-CoV2 infection through clinical subgroups defined by the infectious diseases experts and a bioinformatics analysis of the functional networks identified by the panel of genes sharing pathogenic variants and discriminating the severe forms of the diseases. WES data will be carefully analyzed and related to all the intracellular physiological process and also the functional pathways involved in host-pathogen interaction: viral targets on the cell surface and downstream signaling, viral genomic RNA replication and translation, production and release of new viral particles. Finally, our main objectives are the definition of a gene panel more specifically related to severe forms of infection and the characterization of defective pathways involved in pejorative forms of SARS-COv2 disease in order to identify putative therapeutic targets.

The Genomic Sequencing for Childhood Risk and Newborn Illness (the BabySeq Project) is a research study exploring the use of genomic sequencing in newborns. The National Institutes of Health is funding this study. The investigators will enroll 240 healthy infants and their parents from the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Well Newborn Nursery and 240 sick infants and their parents at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) or the BWH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). A small blood sample will be collected from each infant and genome sequencing may be performed. Six weeks later, results are returned and explained. Over 12 months the investigators are studying the experiences of parents and pediatricians of infants who receive sequencing to help understand how best to use genomics in pediatric care.

Background: There is a current worldwide outbreak of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 which originated from Wuhan in China and has now spread to 6 continents including 210 countries. There is still a lack of any report about severe acute respiratory syndromes (SARS-CoV-2) genetic polymorphisms which are associated with the susceptibility to infection. In addition, gene polymorphisms of MBL (mannose-binding lectin) associated with antigen presentation are related to the risk of SARS-CoV infection. Aim: To investigate the association of different genetic markers of different mechanisms of viral pathogenesis with the outcome of COVID-19. Methods: The study will include one hundred patients diagnosed as COVID-19. Biological blood samples will be taken for routine diagnostic analysis, routine molecular testing using Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Allelic discrimination and genotyping analysis. Outcome: Different genetic markers could play a role in the outcome and prognosis of COVID-19 viral infection.

Follicular lymphoma is the second most common adult B-cell lymphoma. The acquisition of the t(14;18) translocation is the genetic hallmark of Follicular lymphoma. However, 50% to 70% of healthy individuals harbor low levels of circulating t(14;18)-positive cells but will never develop Follicular lymphoma. It was observed that individuals who developed Follicular lymphoma showed a higher t(14;18) frequency than controls (Roulland et al., J Clin Oncol 2014). High t(14;18) frequency in blood from healthy individuals could be a predictive biomarker for Follicular lymphoma development. Genetic instability of those t(14;18)+ B-cells as well as failure of the micro-environment to control the proliferation of these cells are proposed mechanisms linking these lymphoma precursors to true lymphoma cells. The prognosis of Follicular lymphoma patients has been significantly improved mainly with the development of anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies, with a current median overall survival over 15 years. However, this lymphoma remains an incurable disease. The most commonly used tool for prognostication of patients with Follicular lymphoma is the Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (FLIPI) based on conventional clinical and pathology parameters. Although it has clinical utility, the Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index does not reflect the biologic heterogeneity of Follicular lymphoma. First-degree relatives of Follicular lymphoma had a fourfold increased risk of Follicular lymphoma suggesting a genetic etiology. Using the Genome wide association studies (GWAS) approach on Follicular lymphoma cohorts of 1,565 patients, the project plan to identify new prognostic markers. These markers will then be analyzed to decipher the impact of host genetics on somatic alterations and tumor biology, using public or matched patient data. The investigators also plan to analyze the influence of single-nucleotide polymorphisms on circulating t(14;18) levels in 318 healthy individuals included in EPIC cohort that will develop Follicular lymphoma later on, and assess if these biomarkers are helpful to refine the identification of high-risk Follicular lymphoma individuals.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequently encountered cardiac arrhythmia. Emerging data suggests that common genetic variants are associated with the development of AF. The main feature of the structural remodelling in AF is atrial fibrosis and is considered the substrate for AF perpetuation. Genome-wide association studies suggest that AF-susceptibility variants may modulate atrial fibrosis. However, the association between atrial fibrosis and genetic polymorphisms in humans has not yet been specifically investigated. In this study, we plan to investigate the relationship between genetic polymorphisms, atrial fibrosis and other components of thrombogenic substrate in patients with non-valvular AF. Primary objectives of this study are to assess associations between (i) polymorphic genetic variants and atrial fibrosis (detected by magnetic resonance imaging), (ii) polymorphic genetic variants and components of thrombogenic substrate (inflammation, endothelial function, prothrombotic state, atrial functions).

This proposal relates to the testing of several specific hypotheses in a subset of 500 participants in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study. These 500 now have complete data from the time of recruitment (in pregnancy) to age 1 year. The primary purpose of this proposal is to identify risk factors for early allergic outcomes and biomarkers that may predict future disease. These 500 infants will provide critical preliminary data, not only related to early outcomes, but also to inform analytical plans for the full CHILD cohort.