Showing papers by "Robert F. Stengel published in 2008"
TL;DR: This work examines the dynamics of infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as therapies that minimize viral load, restore adaptive immunity, and use minimal dosage of anti-HIV drugs.
Abstract: We examine the dynamics of infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as therapies that minimize viral load, restore adaptive immunity, and use minimal dosage of anti-HIV drugs. Virtual therapies for wild-type infections are demonstrated; however, the HIV infection is never cured, requiring continued treatment to keep the condition in remission. With high viral turnover and mutation rates, drug-resistant strains of HIV evolve quickly. The ability of optimal therapy to contain drug-resistant strains is shown to depend upon the relative fitness of mutant strains.
57 citations
TL;DR: It is believed that these IBD segments within CRC patients are likely to harbor important CRC-related genes with low-penetrance SNPs and/or mutations, and, indeed, two recently identified CRC predisposition SNPs in the 8q24 region were confirmed to be homozygous in one particular patient carrying an IBD segment covering the region.
Abstract: Previous studies have shown that among populations with a high rate of consanguinity, there is a significant increase in the prevalence of cancer Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array data (Affymetrix, 50K XbaI) analysis revealed long regions of homozygosity in genomic DNAs taken from tumor and matched normal tissues of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients The presence of these regions in the genome may indicate levels of consanguinity in the individual's family lineage We refer to these autozygous regions as identity-by-descent (IBD) segments In this study, we compared IBD segments in 74 mostly Caucasian CRC patients (mean age of 66 years) to two control data sets: (a) 146 Caucasian individuals (mean age of 80 years) who participated in an age-related macular degeneration (AMD) study and (b) 118 cancer-free Caucasian individuals from the Framingham Heart Study (mean age of 67 years) Our results show that the percentage of CRC patients with IBD segments (>or=4 Mb length and 50 SNPs probed) in the genome is at least twice as high as the AMD or Framingham control groups Also, the average length of these IBD regions in the CRC patients is more than twice the length of the two control data sets Compared with control groups, IBD segments are found to be more common among individuals of Jewish background We believe that these IBD segments within CRC patients are likely to harbor important CRC-related genes with low-penetrance SNPs and/or mutations, and, indeed, two recently identified CRC predisposition SNPs in the 8q24 region were confirmed to be homozygous in one particular patient carrying an IBD segment covering the region
53 citations