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Biomedical subjects

K Lee

Publications and source records attributed to K Lee.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Development of RS1-specific ACMG/AMP variant classification criteria with pilot variant curation.

Gene-based therapies are being developed for retinal diseases, including RS1-related X-linked retinoschisis. Therefore it is essential to determine which variants are pathogenic and which are benign when enrolling patients. The Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) X-Linked Inherited Retinal Diseases (XLRD) Variant Curation Expert Panel (VCEP) brings together clinician scientists, molecular biologists, and geneticists to apply their expertise and review the clinical, genetic, population, and functional evidence for variants. American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) guidelines have been modified for RS1 to develop a highly systematic and conservative framework for evaluating variants. The curation process involves applying 28 different codes, each with 4 strength levels (very strong, strong, moderate, supporting) across different domains of phenotype, population data, computational assessment, functional impact, and segregation. With RS1-specific rules, a total of 54 pilot variants were tested. These included 47 variants in ClinVar. Of these 21 variants were re-classified: 2 likely pathogenic variants and one likely benign were changed to variants of uncertain significance and 4 previously unclassified variants were changed to pathogenic, likely pathogenic and likely benign. Other changes resolved conflicts or multiple classifications.

Humans

Alcohol-induced brain damage and liver damage in young males.

37 alcoholic males under the age of 35 were examined clinically, by psychometric tests, by computerised tomography (CT scans), and by liver biopsy. Factors other than alcoholism that might have caused brain damage were excluded. The prevalence of brain damage in this group was far greater than that of severe liver damage: 59% were intellectually impaired and 49% had cerebral atrophy on CT scan, whereas only 19% had cirrhosis. There was no significant correlations between the degree of liver damage and the degree of intellectual impairment (p greater than 0-05), nor between the degree of intellectual impairment and the presence of cerebral atrophy. The CT scan is an inadequate measure of functional brain damage, psychometric testing is preferable. Other neurological complications of alcoholism were not impressive. Disabling intellectual impairment may be the earliest complication of chronic alcoholism and may arise early in the alcoholic career.

Adult

Mutagenicity of 22 N-nitrosamides and related compounds for Salmonella typhimurium TA1535.

Twenty-two N-nitrosamides and related compounds, including 14 nitrosoureas, 5 nitrosocarbamates, and one nitrosocyanamide, were tested at various concentrations for mutagenic activity towards Salmonella typhimurium TA1535 without the use of microsomes. The ether-water partition coefficient, solubility in water, and half-life in aqueous solution were also measured. Twenty compounds were mutagenic, with "standard mutagenic concentrations" (i.e. those producing 100 mutants/dish) of 0.0024--6500 micron. Standard mutagenic concentration was negatively correlated with the partition coefficient. Three compounds (ethyl 2-acetoxyethylnitrosocarbamate, nitrosocarbaryl, and methylnitrosobenzamide) were more active than the classic mutagen methylnitrosonitroguanidine. Nitrosocarbamates were at least 50 times more mutagenic than the corresponding nitrosoureas. Nitrosodihydrouracil and propylene-nitrosourea were more active than related compounds. Ethylnitrosocyanamide was 730 times more mutagenic than ethylnitrosourea. Fifteen of the test compounds (of which 14 were mutagenic) had previously been assayed in rats for carcinogenicity, all with positive results.

Amides