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Little is understood about the occurrence of somatic genomic alterations in normal tissues, and their significance in the context of diseases. Here we identified potential somatic copy number alterations (pSCNA) in apparently normal ovarian tissue and peripheral blood of 423 ovarian cancer patients. There were on average 2–4 pSCNAs per sample detectable at a tissue-level resolution, although some individuals had orders of magnitude more. Accordingly, we estimated the lower bound of the rate of pSCNAs per cell division. Older individuals and BRCA mutation carriers had more pSCNAs than others. pSCNAs significantly overlapped with Alu and G-quadruplexes, and the affected genes were enriched for signaling and regulation. Some of the amplification/deletion hotspots in pan-cancer genomes were hotspots of pSCNAs in normal tissues as well-suggesting that those regions might be inherently unstable. Prevalence of pSCNA in peripheral blood predicted survival, implying that mutations in normal tissues might have consequences for cancer patients.

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Aging is the single most important prognostic factor for the development of many cancers. While mutational accumulation may increase the risk of cancer in aged individuals, declining immunity due to chronic inflammation is also a likely contributing factor. We have demonstrated that reducing aging-associated chronic inflammation abrogates fitness declines in B-progenitor cells, and significantly reduces leukemogenesis in aged mice (Henry et al., JCI, 2015). In addition to preserving the function of B-progenitor cells, subsequent studies have revealed that reducing chronic inflammation in aged mice augments immune responses. Specifically, reducing inflammation in aged mice (≥22 months) results in a two-fold reduction in the number of splenic M2 macrophage and T-regulatory cell populations, as well as, a three-fold reduction in the surface expression of the inhibitory protein PD-L1 on innate immune cells. Reducing chronic inflammation in aged mice also results in a three-fold increase in the percentage of interferon-gamma producing CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell lymphocytes when stimulated. These phenotypes were observed in aged, anti-inflammatory transgenic mice (alpha-1-anti-trypsin and interleukin-37) and in geriatric mice (≥27 months) treated with recombinant interleukin-37. Overall, these findings suggest that reducing chronic inflammation in aged populations can rejuvenate hematopoiesis and immunity, while also creating a less permissive environment for leukemogenesis.

Down syndrome (DS) is characterized by chronic neuroinflammation, peripheral inflammation, astrogliosis, imbalanced excitatory/inhibitory neuronal function, and cognitive deficits in both humans and mouse models. Suppression of inflammation has been proposed as a therapeutic approach to treating DS co-morbidities, including intellectual disability (DS/ID). Conversely, we discovered previously that treatment with the pro-inflammatory cytokine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) improved cognition and reduced biomarkers of brain pathology in humans with Alzheimer·s disease (AD), another inflammatory disorder, and in a mouse model of AD. To investigate the effects of GM-CSF treatment on DS/ID, we assessed behavior and brain pathology in 12-14 month-old DS mice (Dp[16]1Yey) and their wild-type (WT) littermates, neither of which develop amyloid, and found that GM-CSF treatment improved performance in the radial arm water maze in both Dp16 and WT mice compared to placebo. Dp16 mice also showed abnormal astrocyte morphology and aggregation and fewer calretinin-positive interneurons, both of which were improved by GM-CSF treatment. These findings suggest that stimulating and/or modulating inflammation and the innate immune system with GM-CSF treatment may enhance cognition in both people with DS/ID and in the typical aging population.