In the early, online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Genentech Oncology Biomarker Development, Yale Cancer Center, and elsewhere describe distinct contributions that PD-L1 expression in tumor- and tumor-infiltrating immune cell make to immunotherapy response in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The team characterized PD-L1 and other molecular features in tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating immune cells from 4,549 NSCLC cases before and after treatment with the anti-PD-L1 drug atezolizumab. Along with differences in PD-L1 expression, and mechanisms influencing it, in the immune and tumor compartments, the authors report that "PD-L1 on both cell types is important for predicting best response to atezulizumab in non-small cell lung cancer."
An Uppsala University team presents findings from an analysis of endogenous retrovirus (ERV) segregation in wild and domestic populations of the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, sub-species cuniculus and algirus. The researchers searched for ERV insertions in whole-genome sequences for half a dozen domestic rabbit breeds, the rabbit reference genome, and 14 rabbit populations from southern France, the Iberian Peninsula, and Portugal's Porto Santo Island. "[W]e show that although ERV diversity tends to follow the host species' divergence, a subset of phylogenetically distinct retroviruses expanded along the rabbit host phylogeny," the authors write, noting that ERV standing variation "may be utilized to complement conventional comparative genomics strategies."
A team led by investigators at Kaiser Permanente Northern California share results from a genome-wide association study focused on erectile dysfunction (ED). Based on genotype and self-reported ED survey data for 36,649 male participants in the Kaiser Permanente's Genetic Epidemiology Research in Adult Health and Aging cohort, the researchers identified five chromosome 6 SNPs with potential ties to ED. After a validation analysis in another 222,358 men from the UK Biobank study, they focused in on an ED-associated SNP called rs17185536 in an evolutionarily conserved region near the transcription factor-coding gene SIM1 for further analyses. GenomeWeb has more on the study, here.