DNAH2 facilitates the homologous recombination repair of Fanconi anemia pathway through modulating FANCD2 ubiquitination

Construction and optimization of multi-platform precision pathways for precision medicine

In the enduring challenge against disease, advancements in medical technology have empowered clinicians with novel diagnostic platforms. Whilst in some cases, a single test may provide a confident diagnosis, often additional tests are required. However, to strike a balance between diagnostic accuracy and cost-effectiveness, one must rigorously construct the clinical pathways. Here, we developed a framework to build multi-platform precision pathways in an automated, unbiased way, recommending the key steps a clinician would take to reach a diagnosis. We achieve this by developing a confidence score, used to simulate a clinical scenario, where at each stage, either a confident diagnosis is made, or another test is performed. Our framework provides a range of tools to interpret, visualize and compare the pathways, improving communication and enabling their evaluation on accuracy and cost, specific to different contexts. This framework will guide the development of novel diagnostic pathways for different diseases, accelerating the implementation of precision medicine into clinical practice.

Genetic architecture of the acute and persistent immune cell response after radiation exposure

Hematologic toxicity is a common side effect of multimodal cancer therapy. Nearly all animal studies investigating the causes of radiotherapy-induced hematologic toxicity use inbred strains with limited genetic diversity and do not reflect the diverse responses observed in humans. We used the population-based Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse resource to investigate the genetic architecture of the acute and persistent immune response after radiation exposure by measuring 22 immune parameters in 1,720 CC mice representing 35 strains. We determined relative acute and persistent radiation resistance scores at the individual strain level considering contributions from all immune parameters. Genome-wide association analysis identified quantitative trait loci associated with baseline and radiation responses. A cross-species radiation resistance score predicted recurrence-free survival in medulloblastoma patients. We present a community resource of immune parameters and genome-wide association analyses before and after radiation exposure for future investigations of the contributions of host genetics on radiosensitivity.