 Research
CGS Research Project Descriptions
I. SEGREGATION ANALYSES, GENETIC LINKAGE STUDIES AND
POSTIONAL CLONING OF GENES ASSOCIATED WITH INHERITED HUMAN DISEASES AND
SUSCEPTABILITIES
1) The Genetics of Hereditary Craniofacial Dysmorphologies and Related Syndromes
This program began in 1992 as a collaborative project between the future
founders and directors of the Center for Genomic Sciences (CGS), Drs. J. Christopher Post and Garth Ehrlich, and has been awarded NIH
funding for 11 years to date. Published works from this project include
manuscripts in Gene, Nature Genetics and Human Molecular
Genetics as well as invited talks at national and international meetings.
This project began with the mapping by Dr. Robert Preston and cloning of the
gene (FGFR2) for Crouzon syndrome and Jackson-Weiss
Syndrome (Gorry,
et al). These observations turned out to be a watershed event in the
field of craniofacial dysmorphologies and within
months, five other craniofacial syndromes had been mapped to FGFR2 or other
FGFR genes. Based on this synergy, CGS hosted a world-wide symposium in Pittsburgh to bring
together the research community in craniosynostoses.
CGS research led to the elucidation of the entire genomic structure of the
FGFR2 gene with DNA sequence available for all intron-exon
boundaries and a comparison with other FGFRs in
human and mice. This was accomplished using a combination of genomic library
screening, long-PCR, and automated DNA sequencing. Ongoing studies are
designed to further characterize the promoter and enhancer elements of the
FGFR2 gene. Preliminary data indicates control elements as far as 7 kb 5' of
the transcription start site as well as tissue-specific positive and negative
cis-acting regulatory elements.
Together with our collaborator, Dr. Michael Cunningham (University of Washington,
Seattle), we
have developed a chimeric xenotransplant
small animal model (nude rat) that faithfully recapitulates the cardinal
features of craniosynostosis. We are currently exploiting
this model to study the downstream effects of the dominant gain of function
mutations associated with the point mutations in FGFR2 by screening sutural expressomes from normal
and induced synostotic coronal sutures.
We are also investigating whether FGFR2 mutant osteoblasts
can be used therapeutically to promote bony growth in cases of nonunion.
(ENT, Plastic Surgery, Orthopedics, Pathology, Human Genetics)
2) The Genetics and Biochemistry of Hereditary Pancreatitis (HP)
This program was begun by Dr. Ehrlich
in 1995 with the concept of identifying the genetic cause of HP. We
successfully assembled the kindreds, mapped the
gene to chromosome 7q, cloned the cationic trypsinogen
gene as the cause of the disease, and constructed a theoretical model to
explain the disease symptoms in less than one year. This work was highly
editorialized, and the NIDDK held press releases about the importance of
these discoveries and reported it to the United States Congress in their
annual review. This work has resulted in over a dozen publications (including
three rapid publications in Nature Genetics and Gastroenterology)
and presentations around the world. Based upon the discoveries resulting from
this work, CGS hosted an international meeting on the genetics of
pancreatitis which was attended by scientists across the North American
Continent and from Asia and Europe. The
President of West China University of the Medical Sciences visited CGS to
learn more about our HP work. (Gastroenterology, Surgery)
3) The Genetics of Vesicoureteral Reflux (VUR)
This project was begun as a collaboration between
the CGS directors and Dr. Francis Schneck (University of Pittsburgh) in 1995 and was directed
by Dr. Robert Preston. In
addition, CGS has collaborated with a group headed by Dr. Mike Eccles in New Zealand
with whom Dr. Ehrlich had previously
worked on the construction of physical maps of human chromosome 10. This
project is designed to physically map major genes for VUR. At this juncture
in spite of having assembled several large families and some 40 sib pairs, no
single locus has been unambiguously identified after performing multiple gene
scans suggesting that the genetics may be quite complex and heterogeneous.
(Pediatric Urology, Human Genetics)
4) The Genetics of Diffuse Abnormal Insertional Activity
This project was initiated in 1994 by Dr.
Ehrlich in collaboration with Drs. Giuliani and Hurtt
at the University
of Pittsburgh. Dr.
Giuliani had realized that several members of a family had the same abnormal
EMG results. Dr. Hurtt prepared a pedigree which
revealed an AD pattern of inheritance in a three generation family. IRB
approval was obtained and bloods were collected from all affected and
unaffected family members for DNA preparations. A genome-wide scan using
microsatellite markers was performed and genetic linkage analyses revealed a
single locus which demonstrated co-segregation with the phenotype through the
family. This project is ready for a major NIH grant application. (Neurology,
Neuropathology)
5) The Genetics of Hereditary Severe Infantile Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER)
This is a major project undertaken by CGS beginning in 1998. Dr. Post initially realized through his
clinical ENT practice (Allegheny
Pediatric ENT Associates) that severe pediatric GER was familial. His observations were in concordance with those
of the GER patient support group (Pediatric/Adolescent
Gastroesophageal Reflux Association) and this
synthesis of ideas resulted in the establishment of a collaborative project
between CGS and PAGER Directors, Beth Anderson and Caroline McGraw. In
addition, we have established collaborations with pediatric
gastroenterologist, Dr. Thomas Self and Dr. Ramamurti
Chandra. This disorder is quite possibly the most common autosomal
dominant disease of mankind, affecting >2% of all children. The laboratory
aspects of this project, directed by Dr. Robert Preston and Dr. Fen Hu,
included the performance of a genome-wide scan on a large family which
resulted in the establishment of linkage to chromosome 13q14. These results
were subsequently confirmed with several additional GER families and we
obtained a multipoint, multifamily LOD of greater than 7. This work has been
published in JAMA and Human Molecular Genetics. We are
currently in the midst of a large-scale positional cloning effort and have to
date identified over novel 150 SNPs within the
linkage region which are being further analyzed. An NIH R01 supporting this
work was funded as of July 1, 2000. (Pediatric GI, Pediatric ENT)
Join the "Spit on GERD" campaign and help
future generations!!!
6) Genes that make Humans Human
Drs. Ehrlich and Post have had a longstanding interest in
genes associated with language development and cognition as it is this aspect
of our behavior as a species which is uniquely human. To this end CGS
scientists have been working for the past several years with Dr. Thomas Campbell
of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) to identify suitable study
populations for genetic mapping projects. Recently, we have also added Dr.
Larry Schrieber to our collaborative group and the
three groups plan to apply for joint NIH funding in the future. Drs. Campbell and Schrieber
are recognized as two of the premier phenotypers
for language and speech disorders in the world today and Dr. Campbell, as
Director of the Audiology and Speech Communications Department at CHP, has
thousands of children in his clinical practice, many of whom who are already
in study protocols. Drs. Ehrlich, Post and Schreiber were all invitees of the NIH's NIDCD in 1997 to be part of a blue-ribbon panel
that was charged with assessing whether or not the technology and phenotyping had progressed to the point where it was
realistic to begin using genetic mapping methodologies to identify candidate
loci for behavioral traits associated with communication. We have chosen apraxia of speech as our first target in this area and
are working with the national patient support group to obtain individuals for
phenotyping and genetic testing. (Audiology and
Speech Communications)
7) Genetic Susceptibility to Chronic or Recurrent Otitis Media with Effusion
This project was initiated over a decade ago as an epidemiological study
by Dr. Margaretha Casselbrant
at Children's Hospital
of Pittsburgh who was
comparatively evaluating monozygotic and dizygotic
twins for concordance in terms of ear infection occurrence rates and
severity. Several years ago CGS joined her on an NIH-funded project to begin
laying the groundwork for performing an affected sib-pair genome-wide linkage
analysis study. The theoretical basis for this project came from the
observation that the monozygotic twins showed a significantly higher degree
of concordance than did the monozygotic twins indicating a strong genetic
component the subject of a JAMA article (Casselbrant,
et al) and editorial (Post and Ehrlich).
Ascertainment biases was eliminated as the entire
study was done in a blinded manner with the clinical investigators not
knowing the zygosity of the twins. To date we have
collected blood specimens and immortalized cell lines from over 80 sets of
twins, in addition Dr. Post is
identifying other families through his clinical practice. (Pediatric ENT)
8) The Genetics of Dupuytren Contracture
Dupuytren contracture is a disease of the fascia
in the hand that does not usually onset until the fifth or sixth decade of
life and is most prevalent among the Xanthocroix
peoples of Northern Europe. This project was
begun in 1995 in collaboration with our Swedish colleague, Dr. Ake Nystrom. Dr. Nystrom, currently at the University of Nebraska in
Omaha, Dr. Ehrlich and Dr. Hu have
completed several specimen collection trips to Sweden to access informative
Scandinavian families that Dr. Hu and Dr. Preston successfully used to identify a
locus on chromosome 16. (Plastic Surgery)
9) Fine Mapping of a Locus for Ectrodactyly
This project was performed in collaboration with Dr. Charlie Richard using
a large family from Turkey.
We were able to reduce the size of the locus from >20 cM
to less than 2 cM. (Psychiatry).
10) Identification of Susceptibility Loci for Recurrent
Respiratory Papillomatosis
Dr. Farrel Buchinsky heads CGS's
most recent foray into human genetics by combining two prime CGS emphases,
chronic infectious pathogens and genetic susceptibility. In the current study
a large cohort of affected children and adults and their parents will be
assembled for the performance of a genome-wide transmission disequilibrium
scan through the auspices of the RRP Task Force. Dr. Buchinsky
received a K08 award to investigate these issues. The first phase, patient
ascertainment, cohort assembly and HPV typing, requires several years. As of
January 2007, 200 patients and their available parents have been enrolled
making this the biggest DNA repository of unique RRP cases ever. Initially,
several candidate genes are being explored by genotyping scores of SNPs in each with the Sequenom MASSArray iPLEX. The next step
is to conduct genome-wide typing at sufficiently high resolution to detect
association by the transmission disequilibrium test; we shall use the Illumina BeadStation with a
500K chip.
II. GENE IDENTIFICATION STUDIES USING COMPARATIVE EXPRESSOME
and COMPARATIVE GENOME TECHNOLOGIES
11) The Molecular Biology of a Fetal Model of Scarless Wound Healing
This program was begun in 1994 as a collaboration
between Dr. Ehrlich and Dr. Joseph Dohar at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
to identify genes associated with scarless wound
healing in fetal mammals with the long-term goal of being able to affect the
wound healing process in adults to minimize or eliminate scar formation. Dr. Kathju has
recently taken over direction of this project at CGS. He has been employing
SS-RT-PCR and gene array technology to compliment earlier studies using a
heavily controlled differential display strategy for the identification of
genes expressed in fetal wound healing that are not expressed in adult wounds
or normal fetal or adult tissues. To date we have identified over 100
candidate genes of which 50% are completely new. This work has been presented
at multiple international meetings and has been published in Pediatric
Surgery and Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
This project was one of the driving forces behind the setting up of a robotic
array facility for comparative expressomics.
Briefly, this technology provides a means to compare the levels of
expressions for all genes transcribed in a given tissue under different
environmental conditions. Dr. Kathju received a K08 grant from the NIH to further
these studies. There is also the potential for pharmaceutical interest in
this project as the financial outlook for biologicals
that could reduce scarification have enormous
commercial potential. (Plastic Surgery, Dermatology, Pediatric ENT)
12) Developmental Expressomics of Host and Pathogen during the Development of
Chronic Supportive Otitis Media (Otorrhea)
Drs. Ehrlich, Post, Erdos, Antalis, Sayeed and Hu are studying the
molecular biology underlying the shift in bacterial growth from a planktonic mode to the biofilm
mode. This metabolic shift has been most fully characterized in vitro
in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Thus, we've
chosen to study otorrhea (a P. aeruginosa-associated disease) as a model system to
establish the methodologies to study the global changes in gene expression on
a gene-by-gene basis in an in vivo situation. We have obtained
specimens from a large number of closely spaced time points of both the
bacteria and the host mucosa that will serve as probes to interrogate CGS
constructed gene arrays to identify changes in both host and pathogen gene
expression patterns. mRNA pools from all time points
have been used in the generation of species-specific cDNA
libraries that will be picked, arrayed, gridded and normalized for use in
comprehensive hybridization screens. The individual time points RNAs will then be used to probe the libraries to discern
which genes are differentially regulated at various time points. A data
display system will be developed to visualize the transcriptional activity of
the bacterial genome. (Pediatric ENT, Human Genetics)
13) Downstream Affects of Mutant FGFR2 Signaling
Dr. Kai Shen working with Drs. Ehrlich and Post are studying the downstream gene
expression effects of FGFR2 constitutive signaling associated with the
dominant gain-of-function mutations that we have identified in patients with
craniofacial synostotic syndromes. This is being
accomplished in collaboration with Dr. Michael Cunningham of the University of Washington, with whom we have
developed a xenotransplant model in the nude rat.
In this model, human osteoblast cell lines are
placed below the developing calvarial sutures of
weanling (6-8 week) rats. Mutant osteoblasts
from patients with Crouzon and Apert
syndrome induce premature suture closure, whereas osteoblasts
from normal patients do not. Using global gene expression monitoring
technology, we are identifying the genes that are involved in craniosynostosis. This comparative expressomics
aspect of the craniofacial project forms the bulk of the proposal for Dr. Post's NIDCD continuation grant.
(Pediatrics, Maxillo-Facial Surgery, Human
Genetics)
14) Host Mucosa Comparative Expressome Analysis in OME
This is a subproject of the Otitis Media program
in which we will be using the assembled tools for comparative mRNA studies to
look at the differences in mRNA expression patterns of host mucosa in the
presence and absence of chronic and acute bacterial infections. (Human
Genetics, Pathology)
15) Genomic Plasticity Among and Within Populations of
Bacterial Pathogens
This project was initiated by Dr.
Ehrlich in 1999 to investigate the degree of difference among various
strains of various chronic bacterial pathogens. In 2000 Dr. Erdos was hired to run this program. To attack this
problem, massive pooled genomic libraries of H. influenzae
and P. aeruginosa were constructed, each
from 10-12 low-passage clinical isolates. These libraries were arrayed and
subjected to DNA sequencing and cross hybridizations. The data from these
studies indicates that the average strain differs from each other strain by
10-15% and that the entire genome space for a bacterial species may be
several times the genome of any single bacterium. This data has provided the
engine behind the concepts of the supragenome, supravirulence factors, the Distributed Genome Hypothesis
and the edifice of 'Bacterial Plurality'.
16) The Difference in Gene Expression Changes between
Responders and Non-Responders of Anti-MS Therapy
Dr. Thomas Scott (Neurology) and Drs.
Ehrlich and Hu
of CGS are investigating the differences in the changes in gene expression
between responders and nonresponders of
anti-multiple sclerosis therapy in a Biogen-supported
clinical research project. PBLs are collected pre-
and post-treatment from persons being put on standard therapy and then
interrogated to identify changes and differences in gene expression patterns.
17) Development of Prognostic Markers for Identifying Colon Cancers with Metastatic Potential
Drs. Mark Roh (Surgery) and Ehrlich are using paired primary and
liver mets from patients with colon cancer and
comparing the gene expression profiles from these tumors from those that do
not metastasize to identify prognostic markers for cancer metastasis.
III. INFECTIOUS DISEASE STUDIES
18) Otitis Media with
Effusion as a Bacterial Biofilm Disease
This project had its root in 1990 when the CGS directors first met and has
been continuously NIH funded by the NIDCD since 1993. The application of
molecular diagnostics to the issue of chronic, but culturally-sterile
middle-ear effusions, resulted in a major paradigm
shift that Dr. Ehrlich developed that
states that chronic bacterial infections, which are physiologically but not
genetically, antibiotic resistant, result from a metabolic change from a planktonic form to a biofilm
form. It is postulated that this changeover occurs through the coordinate
induction and repression of different sets of contingency genes in a manner
analogous to sporulation or metamorphosis. It is
expected that the comparative gene expression studies detailed above will
provide novel targets for the development of entirely new classes of
antimicrobial compounds. Beginning in 1996, Dr. Bill Costerton,
Director of the Center for Biofilm Engineering, and
his team joined the project and have provided the imaging and proteomic
aspects of this work. The work performed on this project to date has resulted
in over three dozen publications and presentations including three articles
in JAMA and dozens of national and international talks. In addition,
the research completed to date has twice been highlighted by the NIDCD and
has received direct comment from both the past and current NIDCD Directors in
their summaries. This work was also chosen for presentation to NIDCD Council.
19) Association of Common Respiratory Pathogens with Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
This project was begun at the request of program personnel within the
NIDCD and NIMCH and was funded by an NO1 contract and a Personal Services
Contract to Dr. Ehrlich. In this study
Drs. Post and Ehrlich worked with the Medical
Examiner's office for the State of Maryland,
and the University
of Maryland Brain and
Tissue Bank run by Dr. Ron Zielke. These latter two
institutions perform autopsies and collect specimens from all SIDS cases,
respectively, within the State of Maryland.
Dr. Zielke's lab then shipped the specimens to CGS
from SIDS deaths and other causes in a blinded manner for infectious pathogen
analyses via multiplex PCR assays that were developed as part of the CGS
effort to study otitis media. A database with over
8000 data points was supplied to NIH personnel for unblinding
analyses indicated a significant association between SIDS and enteroviral infection.
20) Host-Pathogen Interactions During HIV-1 Infection
Drs. Ehrlich and Shankarappa have studied the mechanisms by which HIV-1
persists and evades the immune system in the face of a strong antibody
response. The collaborative group has included: Drs. Peter Nara and Robert Garrity of the National Cancer Institute; Dr. Jerry Zack
of UCLA; Drs. Rinaldo and Gupta at Pitt; and Dr.
Mullins at Washington
University. Three major
approaches have been utilized. The first method involves characterizing the
effect on the T-cell repertoire of HIV-1 infection in humans, chimpanzee, and
SCID-HU mice using TCR-specific gene amplification systems (this approach established
Koch's postulates for HIV-1 and AIDS for the first time in a controlled
laboratory environment). The second method involves performing longitudinal
DNA sequencing of viral isolates from individuals with different rates of
disease progression and looking for the appearance of sequence or structure
motifs associated with disease progression. The third project involves
selection of HIV-1 mutants that are neutralization resistant to monoclonal
antibodies that could neutralize parental strains. This is then followed by
cassette mutagenesis and site-directed mutagenesis, sequentially, to identify
regions and bases at distant sites that changed coordinately with proximal
mutations. The idea behind these experiments is to develop a set of rules
which indicate that if the virus mutates at one site which other sites must
also be mutated to maintain function. We argue that if a relatively complete
set of rules could be developed, it should be possible to attack the virus
with a cocktail of rationally designed aptamers or
antibodies that target collectively the several sites which must change
together to maintain function thereby boxing the virus in using what we know
about how it evolves in response to the host immune response. These projects
are extremely technically difficult, but have generated six significant
scientific papers to date in J. Virology, Virology and AIDS
and Human Retroviruses. These projects also have led to the publication
of numerous technique papers over the past several years as much of the
methodology to perform these studies had to be developed within the lab. One
of the methodologies developed - the placement of restriction enzyme sites
within coding regions using silent mutagenesis - has turned out to be very
broadly applicable and we developed a shareware computer program to aid
scientists in the performance of these studies which is available at the CGS
website. The tabular forms of this work have been widely distributed by many
of the molecular biological reagent vendors through inclusion in their
catalog reference sections. This work was funded for years at the University of Pittsburgh through the NIH's Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) and an RO1 to
Drs. Gupta and Ehrlich.
IV BIO-ENGINEERING PROJECTS
21) Development of Intelligent Implants to Control Biofilm Infections
Dr. J. William Costerton (Center for Biofilm Engineering, MSU), Dr. Qiao
Lin (Carnegie Mellon University), and Drs.
Ehrlich, Kathju,
Sotereanos, and Erdos
(CGS) head a large multi-institutional multidisciplinary program to develop
and test auto-diagnostic/auto-therapeutic implantable joints as a means to
combat the scourge of biofilms which can, if
established on joint prostheses, result in severe morbidity and even limb
amputation.
V BIOFILM RESEARCH
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