Relapsed and refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma (MM) patients have very poor prognosis. Chimeric antigen receptor modified T (CAR T) cells is an emerging approach in treating hematopoietic malignancies. Here we conducted the clinical trial of a biepitope-targeting CAR T against B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) (LCAR-B38M) in 17 R/R MM cases. CAR T cells were i.v. infused after lymphodepleting chemotherapy. Two delivery methods, three infusions versus one infusion of the total CAR T dose, were tested in, respectively, 8 and 9 cases. No response differences were noted among the two delivery subgroups. Together, after CAR T cell infusion, 10 cases experienced a mild cytokine release syndrome (CRS), 6 had severe but manageable CRS, and 1 died of a very severe toxic reaction. The abundance of BCMA and cytogenetic marker del(17p) and the elevation of IL-6 were the key indicators for severe CRS. Among 17 cases, the overall response rate was 88.2%, with 13 achieving stringent complete response (sCR) and 2 reaching very good partial response (VGPR), while 1 was a nonresponder. With a median follow-up of 417 days, 8 patients remained in sCR or VGPR, whereas 6 relapsed after sCR and 1 had progressive disease (PD) after VGPR. CAR T cells were high in most cases with stable response but low in 6 out of 7 relapse/PD cases. Notably, positive anti-CAR antibody constituted a high-risk factor for relapse/PD, and patients who received prior autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation had more durable response. Thus, biepitopic CAR T against BCMA represents a promising therapy for R/R MM, while most adverse effects are clinically manageable.

We have developed a novel machine-learning approach, MutPred Splice, for the identification of coding region substitutions that disrupt pre-mRNA splicing. Applying MutPred Splice to human disease-causing exonic mutations suggests that 16% of mutations causing inherited disease and 10 to 14% of somatic mutations in cancer may disrupt pre-mRNA splicing. For inherited disease, the main mechanism responsible for the splicing defect is splice site loss, whereas for cancer the predominant mechanism of splicing disruption is predicted to be exon skipping via loss of exonic splicing enhancers or gain of exonic splicing silencer elements. MutPred Splice is available at http://mutdb.org/mutpredsplice.

We used detailed phylogenetic trees for human mtDNA, combined with pathogenicity predictions for each amino acid change, to evaluate selection on mtDNA-encoded protein variants. Protein variants with high pathogenicity scores were significantly rarer in the older branches of the tree. Variants that have formed and survived multiple times in the human phylogenetics tree had significantly lower pathogenicity scores than those that only appear once in the tree. We compared the distribution of pathogenicity scores observed on the human phylogenetic tree to the distribution of all possible protein variations to define a measure of the effect of selection on these protein variations. The measured effect of selection increased exponentially with increasing pathogenicity score. We found no measurable difference in this measure of purifying selection in mtDNA across the global population, represented by the macrohaplogroups L, M, and N. We provide a list of all possible single amino acid variations for the human mtDNA-encoded proteins with their predicted pathogenicity scores and our measured selection effect as a tool for assessing novel protein variations that are often reported in patients with mitochondrial disease of unknown origin or for assessing somatic mutations acquired through aging or detected in tumors.

BackgroundRecent studies have shown that adult human possess active brown adipose tissue (BAT), which might be important in affecting obesity. However, the supporting evidence on the relationship between BAT and central obesity and metabolic profile in large population based studies is sparse.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe studied 4011 (2688 males and 1323 females) tumor-free Chinese adults aged 18-89 for BAT activities, visceral/subcutaneous fat areas (VFA/SFA), waist circumferences (WC) and metabolic parameters. We found that the prevalence of BAT was around 2.7% in our study participants, with a significant sexual difference (5.5% in the females vs. 1.3% in the males; p<0.0001). BAT detection was increased in low temperature and declined in elderly subjects. The BAT positive subjects had lower BMI (P<0.0001), less SFA (P<0.01), VFA (P<0.0001), WC (P<0.0001), lower fasting glucose and triglyceride levels (both P<0.01) and increased HDL cholesterol concentrations (P<0.0001), compared with the BAT negative subjects. Robust logistic regression revealed that after adjustment for covariates (including age, sex, BMI, VFA, SFA and WC), age and BMI in the males (0.92 [95%CI, 0.88-0.96] and 0.84 [95% CI, 0.75-0.96], both P ≤0.008) while age and VFA in the females (0.87 [95%CI, 0.83-0.91] and 0.98 [95%CI, 0.97-0.99], respectively, P<0.05) were independently associated with detectable BAT.Conclusions/SignificanceOur data suggest that decreased amount of active BAT might be associated with accumulation of visceral fat content and unfavorable metabolic outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a personalized orthognathic surgical guide (POSG) system for bimaxillary surgery without the use of surgical splint. Ten patients with dentofacial deformities were enrolled. Surgeries were planned with the computer-aided surgical simulation method. The POSG system was designed for both maxillary and mandibular surgery. Each consisted of cutting guides and three-dimensionally (3D) printed custom titanium plates to guide the osteotomy and repositioning the bony segments without the use of the surgical splints. Finally, the outcome evaluation was completed by comparing planned outcomes with postoperative outcomes. All operations were successfully completed using the POSG system. The largest root-mean-square deviations were 0.74 mm and 1.93° for the maxillary dental arch, 1.10 mm and 2.82° for the mandibular arch, 0.83 mm and 2.59° for the mandibular body, and 0.98 mm and 2.45° for the proximal segments. The results of the study indicated that our POSG system is capable of accurately and effectively transferring the surgical plan without the use of surgical splint. A significant advantage is that the repositioning of the bony segments is independent to the mandibular autorotation, thus eliminates the potential problems associated with the surgical splint.

Postmeiotic spermatids use a unique strategy to coordinate gene expression with morphological transformation, in which transcription and translation take place at separate developmental stages, but how mRNAs stored as translationally inert messenger ribonucleoproteins in developing spermatids become activated remains largely unknown. Here, we report that the RNA binding protein FXR1, a member of the fragile X–related (FXR) family, is highly expressed in late spermatids and undergoes liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) to merge messenger ribonucleoprotein granules with the translation machinery to convert stored mRNAs into a translationally activated state. Germline-specific Fxr1 ablation in mice impaired the translation of target mRNAs and caused defective spermatid development and male infertility, and a phase separation–deficient FXR1 L351P mutation in Fxr1 knock-in mice produced the same developmental defect. These findings uncover a mechanism for translational reprogramming with LLPS as a key driver in spermiogenesis.

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Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), the circular DNA molecule inside the mitochondria of all eukaryotic cells, has been shown to be under the effect of purifying selection in several species. Traditional testing of purifying selection has been based simply on ratios of nonsynonymous to synonymous mutations, without considering the relative age of each mutation, which can be determined by phylogenetic analysis of this non-recombining molecule. The incorporation of a mutation time-ordering from phylogeny and of predicted pathogenicity scores for nonsynonymous mutations allow a quantitative evaluation of the effects of purifying selection in human mtDNA. Here, by using this additional information, we show that purifying selection undoubtedly acts upon the mtDNA of other mammalian species/genera, namely Bos sp., Canis lupus, Mus musculus, Orcinus orca, Pan sp. and Sus scrofa. The effects of purifying selection were comparable in all species, leading to a significant major proportion of nonsynonymous variants with higher pathogenicity scores in the younger branches of the tree. We also derive recalibrated mutation rates for age estimates of ancestors of these various species and proposed a correction curve in order to take into account the effects of selection. Understanding this selection is fundamental to evolutionary studies and to the identification of deleterious mutations.