Richard Young

BackgroundBoth anastomotic leak (AL) and conduit necrosis (CN) after oesophagectomy are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the identification of preoperative, modifiable risk factors is desirable. The aim of this study was to generate a risk scoring model for AL and CN after oesophagectomy.MethodsPatients undergoing curative resection for oesophageal cancer were identified from the international Oesophagogastric Anastomosis Audit (OGAA) from April 2018–December 2018. Definitions for AL and CN were those set out by the Oesophageal Complications Consensus Group. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify risk factors for both AL and CN. A risk score was then produced for both AL and CN using the derivation set, then internally validated using the validation set.ResultsThis study included 2247 oesophagectomies across 137 hospitals in 41 countries. The AL …

Diverse mechanisms have been described for selective enrichment of biomolecules in membrane-bound organelles, but less is known about mechanisms by which molecules are selectively incorporated into biomolecular assemblies such as condensates that lack surrounding membranes. The chemical environments within condensates may differ from those outside these bodies, and if these differed among various types of condensate, then the different solvation environments would provide a mechanism for selective distribution among these intracellular bodies. Here we use small molecule probes to show that different condensates have distinct chemical solvating properties and that selective partitioning of probes in condensates can be predicted with deep learning approaches. Our results demonstrate that different condensates harbor distinct chemical environments that influence the distribution of molecules …

2021-04-09 Assigned to WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH reassignment WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: YOUNG, RICHARD A., SIGOVA, Alla A., LI, Charles H., WEINTRAUB, Abraham S.

Understanding in-vivo mechanisms of hematopoiesis is critical for developing directed blood differentiation approaches to treat blood disorders such as leukemias. Zebrafish moonshine (mon) mutant embryos defective for transcriptional intermediary factor 1 gamma (tif1γ), a conserved transcription elongation and chromatin factor, lack red blood cells due to a block in hematopoietic stem cell differentiation along the erythroid lineage. We recently showed that TIF1γ plays a critical role in mitochondrial metabolism, including maintaining adequate coenzyme Q levels. Through a chemical suppressor screen for the mon mutant, we identified inhibitors of the essential mitochondrial pyrimidine synthesis enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase to promote erythroid differentiation in mon mutants due to its functional link to the electron transport chain. In agreement, our in-vivo metabolomics analyses identified nucleotide …

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can drive tumorigenesis and are susceptible to therapeutic intervention. Here, we used a large-scale CRISPR interference viability screen to interrogate cell-growth dependency to lncRNA genes in multiple myeloma (MM) and identified a prominent role for the miR-17-92 cluster host gene (MIR17HG). We show that an MIR17HG-derived lncRNA, named lnc-17-92, is the main mediator of cell-growth dependency acting in a microRNA- and DROSHA-independent manner. Lnc-17-92 provides a chromatin scaffold for the functional interaction between c-MYC and WDR82, thus promoting the expression of ACACA, which encodes the rate-limiting enzyme of de novo lipogenesis acetyl-coA carboxylase 1. Targeting MIR17HG pre-RNA with clinically applicable antisense molecules disrupts the transcriptional and functional activities of lnc-17-92, causing potent antitumor effects both in …

Childhood neuroblastomas exhibit plasticity between an undifferentiated neural crest–like mesenchymal cell state and a more differentiated sympathetic adrenergic cell state. These cell states are governed by autoregulatory transcriptional loops called core regulatory circuitries (CRCs), which drive the early development of sympathetic neuronal progenitors from migratory neural crest cells during embryogenesis. The adrenergic cell identity of neuroblastoma requires LMO1 as a transcriptional cofactor. Both LMO1 expression levels and the risk of developing neuroblastoma in children are associated with a single nucleotide polymorphism, G/T, that affects a GATA motif in the first intron of LMO1. Here, we showed that WT zebrafish with the GATA genotype developed adrenergic neuroblastoma, while knock-in of the protective TATA allele at this locus reduced the penetrance of MYCN-driven tumors, which were …

The invention provides compositions and methods of use in reprogramming somatic cells. Compositions and methods of the invention are of use, eg, for generating or modulating (eg, enhancing) generation of induced pluripotent stem cells by reprogramming somatic cells. The reprogrammed somatic cells are useful for a number of purposes, including treating or preventing a medical condition in an individual. The invention further provides methods for identifying an agent that reprograms somatic cells to a pluripotent state and/or enhances the speed and/or efficiency of reprogramming. Certain of the compositions and methods relate to modulating the Wnt pathway.

878 MODELING INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE PROGRESSION IN HUMAN ORGAN-CHIPS Alican Ozkan, Gwenn Merry, David B. Chou, Viktor Horvath, Lorenzo E. Ferri, Rocco Ricciardi, Liliana G. Bordeianou, Sean Hall, Donald Ingber Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have regions of their intestine that experience altered barrier function and increased inflammation leading to active flares of abdominal pain, cramping, and bleeding alternating with symptom-free periods, and some of these lesions develop into cancers over time. As this disease emerges in local regions of the intestine, the tissue microenvironment, and particularly stromal-epithelial interactions have been implicated as potential contributors to IBD as well as cancer formation. To gain additional insight into this disease, we leveraged human organ-on-a-chip (Organ Chip) microfluidic culture technology to engineer human colon …