Rick
My turn to make you do your homework on relating these abstracts to the company, heh heh. Of course, this kind of homework -- which can take me a couple of hours -- will take you approximately ten seconds . . .
Both via MedLine
>>Specific genetic predictors of chemotherapeutic response and survival in patients with anaplastic oligodendrogliomas.
J Natl Cancer Inst 1998 Oct 7;90(19):1473-9 (ISSN: 0027-8874)
Cairncross JG; Ueki K; Zlatescu MC; Lisle DK; Finkelstein DM; Hammond RR; Silver JS; Stark PC; Macdonald DR; Ino Y; Ramsay DA; Louis DN [Find other articles with these Authors]
Department of Medical and Experimental Oncology, London Regional Cancer Centre, Ontario, Canada.
BACKGROUND/METHODS: Gliomas are common malignant neoplasms of the central nervous system. Among the major subtypes of gliomas, oligodendrogliomas are distinguished by their remarkable sensitivity to chemotherapy, with approximately two thirds of anaplastic (malignant) oligodendrogliomas responding dramatically to combination treatment with procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine (termed PCV). Unfortunately, no clinical or pathologic feature of these tumors allows accurate prediction of their response to chemotherapy. Anaplastic oligodendrogliomas also are distinguished by a unique constellation of molecular genetic alterations, including coincident loss of chromosomal arms 1p and 19q in 50%-70% of tumors. We have hypothesized that these or other specific genetic changes might predict the response to chemotherapy and prognosis in patients with anaplastic oligodendrogliomas. Therefore, we have analyzed molecular genetic alterations involving chromosomes 1p, 10q, and 19q and the TP53 (on chromosome 17p) and CDKN2A (on chromosome 9p) genes, in addition to clinicopathologic features in 39 patients with anaplastic oligodendrogliomas for whom chemotherapeutic response and survival could be assessed. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: Allelic loss (or loss of heterozygosity) of chromosome 1p is a statistically significant predictor of chemosensitivity, and combined loss involving chromosomes 1p and 19q is statistically significantly associated with both chemosensitivity and longer recurrence-free survival after chemotherapy. Moreover, in both univariate and multivariate analyses, losses involving both chromosomes 1p and 19q were strongly associated with longer overall survival, whereas CDKN2A gene deletions and ring enhancement (i.e., contrast enhancement forming a rim around the tumor) on neuroimaging were associated with a significantly worse prognosis. The inverse relationship between CDKN2A gene deletions and losses of chromosomes 1p and 19q further implies that these differential clinical behaviors reflect two independent genetic subtypes of anaplastic oligodendroglioma. These results suggest that molecular genetic analysis may aid therapeutic decisions and predict outcome in patients with anaplastic oligodendrogliomas.<<
snip
>>Direct haplotyping of kilobase-size DNA using carbon nanotube probes [see comments]
Nat Biotechnol 2000 Jul;18(7):760-3 (ISSN: 1087-0156)
Woolley AT; Guillemette C; Li Cheung C; Housman DE; Lieber CM [Find other articles with these Authors]
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
We have implemented a method for multiplexed detection of polymorphic sites and direct determination of haplotypes in 10-kilobase-size DNA fragments using single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes. Labeled oligonucleotides are hybridized specifically to complementary target sequences in template DNA, and the positions of the tagged sequences are detected by direct SWNT tip imaging. We demonstrated this concept by detecting streptavidin and IRD800 labels at two different sequences in M13mp18. Our approach also permits haplotype determination from simple visual inspection of AFM images of individual DNA molecules, which we have done on UGT1A7, a gene under study as a cancer risk factor. The haplotypes of individuals heterozygous at two critical loci, which together influence cancer risk, can be easily and directly distinguished from AFM images. The application of this technique to haplotyping in population-based genetic disease studies and other genomic screening problems is discussed.<<
snip
Enjoy.
Cheers, Tuck |
