BackgroundConventional prenatal screening tests, such as maternal serum tests and ultrasound scan, have limited resolution and accuracy.MethodsWe developed an advanced noninvasive prenatal diagnosis method based on massively parallel sequencing. The Noninvasive Fetal Trisomy (NIFTY) test, combines an optimized Student’s t-test with a locally weighted polynomial regression and binary hypotheses. We applied the NIFTY test to 903 pregnancies and compared the diagnostic results with those of full karyotyping.Results16 of 16 trisomy 21, 12 of 12 trisomy 18, two of two trisomy 13, three of four 45, X, one of one XYY and two of two XXY abnormalities were correctly identified. But one false positive case of trisomy 18 and one false negative case of 45, X were observed. The test performed with 100% sensitivity and 99.9% specificity for autosomal aneuploidies and 85.7% sensitivity and 99.9% specificity for sex chromosomal aneuploidies. Compared with three previously reported z-score approaches with/without GC-bias removal and with internal control, the NIFTY test was more accurate and robust for the detection of both autosomal and sex chromosomal aneuploidies in fetuses.ConclusionOur study demonstrates a powerful and reliable methodology for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis.

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Monoclonal antibodies against HERV-K env protein show potential as novel immunotherapeutic agents for breast cancer therapy.

A simple and accurate test to detect early-stage breast cancer has not been developed. Previous studies indicate that the level of human endogenous retrovirus type K (group HERV-K(HML-2)) transcription may be increased in human breast tumors. We hypothesized that HERV-K(HML-2) reactivation can serve as a biomarker for early detection of breast cancer. Serum samples were collected from women without cancer (controls) and patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive breast cancer. ELISA assays were employed to detect serum anti-HERV-K(HML-2) antibody titers. RNA was extracted from sera and analyzed by real-time RT-PCR to quantitate the level of HERV-K(HML-2) mRNA. We measured significantly higher serum mRNA and serum antibody titers against HERV-K(HML-2) proteins in women with DCIS and stage I disease than in women without cancer. At optimized cutoffs for the antibody titers, the assay produced an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.89 (95% confidence interval 0.77 to 1.00) for DCIS and of 0.95 (95% confidence interval 0.89 to 1.00) for invasive breast cancer. These AUCs are comparable to those observed for mammograms. We also found that serum HERV-K(HML-2) mRNA tended to be higher in breast cancer patients with a primary tumor who later on developed the metastatic disease than in patients who did not develop cancer metastasis. Our results show that HERV-K(HML-2) antibodies and mRNA are already elevated in the blood at an early stage of breast cancer, and further increase in patients who are at risk of developing a metastatic disease.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide; due to the lack of ideal cancer biomarkers for early detection or diagnosis, most patients present with late-stage disease at the time of diagnosis, thus limiting the potential for successful treatment. Traditional cancer treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, have demonstrated very limited efficacy for patients with late-stage disease. Therefore, innovative and effective cancer treatments are urgently needed for cancer patients with late-stage and refractory disease. Cancer immunotherapy, particularly adoptive cell transfer, has shown great promise in the treatment of patients with late-stage disease, including those who are refractory to standard therapies. In this review, we will highlight recent advances and discuss future directions in adoptive cell transfer based cancer immunotherapy.

Despite recent advances in the understanding of the biology of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), successful surgical treatment and implementation of novel-targeted therapies, the prognosis for RCC patients remains poor. Late presentation, tumor heterogeneity and in particular the lack of molecular biomarkers for early detection, classification and the surveillance of RCC treatments are major obstacles. The increasing knowledge regarding the functional role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in pathophysiological processes may provide an important link to the identification of suitable therapeutic targets and diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers for RCC. The aim of this review was to provide new insight into the function of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of RCC and to emphasize their potential as diagnostic and prognostic markers, as well as therapeutic targets.

Purpose We investigated the role of the human endogenous retrovirus type K (HERV-K) envelope (env) gene in pancreatic cancer (PC). Experimental Design shRNA was employed to knockdown (KD) the expression of HERV-K in PC cells. Results HERV-K env expression was detected in seven PC cell lines and in 80% of PC patient biopsies, but not in two normal pancreatic cell lines or uninvolved normal tissues. A new HERV-K splice variant was discovered in several PC cell lines. RT activity and virus-like particles were observed in culture media supernatant obtained from Panc-1 and Panc-2 cells. HERV-K viral RNA levels and anti-HERV-K antibody titers were significantly higher in PC patient sera (N=106) than in normal donor sera (N=40). Importantly, the in vitro and in vivo growth rates of three PC cell lines were significantly reduced after HERV-K KD by shRNA targeting HERV-K env, and there was reduced metastasis to lung after treatment. RNA-seq results revealed changes in gene expression after HERV-K env KD, including RAS and TP53. Furthermore, downregulation of HERV-K Env protein expression by shRNA also resulted in decreased expression of RAS, p-ERK, p-RSK, and p-AKT in several PC cells or tumors. Conclusion These results demonstrate that HERV-K influences signal transduction via the RAS-ERK-RSK pathway in PC. Our data highlight the potentially important role of HERV-K in tumorigenesis and progression of PC, and indicate that HERV-K viral proteins may be attractive biomarkers and/or tumor-associated antigens, as well as potentially useful targets for detection, diagnosis and immunotherapy of PC.

We previously observed that the HERV type K (HERV-K) envelope (env) protein was expressed in the majority of human breast tumors from a U.S. cohort of women from Texas. We also made the preliminary observation that the expression of HERV-K env transcripts was associated with markers of disease progression. In this follow-up study, env protein expression was evaluated immunohistochemically in an additional 195 paraffin-embedded breast tumors from a second U.S. patient cohort (Baltimore, Maryland) and in 110 tumors from Chinese patients. Moreover, we compared env transcript expression between fresh-frozen normal and cancerous breast tissues. We observed that while env mRNA and protein expression was undetectable in normal breast tissue and in a subset of uninvolved normal-appearing tissue adjacent to the tumor epithelium, it was overexpressed in most tumors. Furthermore, env expression was associated with breast cancer progression. In Baltimore cohort women, HERV-K tumor positivity was significantly associated with disease stage and lymph node metastasis. In Chinese women, HERV-K env positivity was significantly associated with tumor size, TNM stage, and lymph node metastases, which is consistent with the observations in the U.S. cohort. We also found that Chinese breast cancer patients with a high expression of HERV-K had a decreased overall survival compared with patients who had either a moderate or low HERV-K expression in their tumors (P = 0.049, χ(2) log rank test). In conclusion, the HERV-K env gene is expressed in the majority of breast cancers from U.S. or Chinese women but not in normal breast tissue. High expression of HERV-K env protein in breast cancer patients is associated with markers of disease progression and poor disease outcome, indicating that HERV-K env protein is a novel candidate prognostic marker for breast cancer.