Laura Cifuentes C
@ucc.edu.co
Professor
Universidad Coperativa de Colombia
EDUCATION
PhD. in Science - Biology
Bachelor of Biology (Genetics)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Molecular Biology of Cancer
Cancer Genetics
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Zuray Corredor, Andrés Suarez-Molina, Cristian Fong, Laura Cifuentes-C, and Sandra Guauque-Olarte
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AbstractIt has been hypothesised that oral bacteria can migrate, through the blood, from the mouth to the arterial plaques, thus exacerbating atherosclerosis. This study compared bacteria present in the peripheral blood of individuals with and without coronary artery disease (CAD). RNA sequences obtained from blood were downloaded from GEO (GSE58150). Eight patients with coronary artery calcification (CAC) scoring > 500 and eight healthy individuals were analysed. After conducting quality control, the sequences were aligned to the hg38 reference genome using Hisat2. Bacterial taxa were analysed by inputting the unmapped sequences into Kraken. Ecological indices were calculated using Vegan. The package DESeq2 was used to compare the counts of bacteria per standard rank between groups. A total of 51 species were found only in patients with CAD and 41 were exclusively present in healthy individuals. The counts of one phylum, one class, three orders, two families and one genus were significantly different between the analysed groups (p < 0.00032, FDR < 10%), including the orders Cardiobacteriales, Corynebacteriales and Fusobacteriales. Twenty-three bacterial species belonging to the subgingival plaque bacterial complexes were also identified in the blood of individuals from both the groups; Fusobacterium nucleatum was significantly less frequent in patients with CAD (p = 0.0012, FDR = 4.8%). Furthermore, the frequency of another 11 bacteria differed significantly among patients with CAD than that among healthy individuals (p < 0.0030, FDR < 10%). These bacteria have not been previously reported in patients with atherosclerosis and periodontitis. The presence of members of the subgingival plaque bacterial complexes in the blood of patients with CAC supports the hypothesis that the periodontopathogens can be disseminated through the blood flow to other body parts where they may enhance inflammatory processes that can lead to the development or exacerbation of atherosclerosis.
Angela R. Solano, Edenir I. Palmero, Lucía Delgado, Dirce M. Carraro, Rocío Ortíz-López, Claudia L. Carranza, Carlos Santamaria, Laura Cifuentes, Lilian E. Jara Sosa, and Amanda E. Toland
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Laura Cifuentes-C, Carlos Humberto Martínez, and Herney Andrés García-Perdomo
FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
Renal Cell Cancer (RCC) is a heterogeneous disease that is characterized by distinct pathological phenotypes due to the differences in genetic alterations and signaling pathways affected (1). Bilateral renal tumors are often thought to be familial, however, they are only found in 14% of RCC cases and 4% of von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) cases. Therefore, most people with bilateral kidney tumors might have sporadic tumors caused by somatic mutations (2). These figures suggest that a deep genomic study is fundamental for understanding the cause of this disease. The objective of this report was to describe a clinical case of a patient with bilateral kidney tumors of different subtypes, and how the genetic abnormalities found in this patient relate to the clinical phenotype.
Carolina Cortés, Ana Lucía Rivera, David Trochez, Melissa Solarte, Daniela Gómez, Laura Cifuentes, and Guillermo Barreto
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
PurposeThe main risk factor for familial breast cancer is the presence of mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. The prevalence of mutations in these genes is heterogeneous and varies according to geographical origin of studied families. In Colombia mutations in these genes have been mainly studied on patients from Andean region. Bogotá and Medellin presented its own battery of mutations. This study aims to identify mutations in BRCA1–2 genes in women with familial breast cancer from different regions of Colombia.MethodsOne hundred four families with a history of breast cancer were sampled in different regions of Colombia, and the BRCA1 gene and exon 11 of the BRCA2 gene were sequenced. To predict the possible effects of sequence alterations found in protein function, different bioinformatics tools were used.ResultsA total of 33 variants were found; 18 in BRCA1 and 15 in BRCA2, of which 15 are unique variants of Colombia. In silico analysis established that alterations p.Thr790Ala, p.Arg959Lys and p.Glu1345Lys in the BRCA1 gene and variants p.Leu771Phe, p.Asn818Lys, p.Val859Ser*22 and p.Lys1032Ile in the BRCA2 gene are considered likely pathogenic. Both the mutations as the variants of unknown clinical significance, in their great majority, presented a specific region distribution and they were different from those reported in previous studies.ConclusionsIn this study we report the BRCA1 and BRCA2 spectrum of mutations and their distribution by regions in Colombia. Our results may help to design a diagnostic test including recurrent mutations for screening high risk to breast cancer families in Colombia.
Laura Cifuentes-C, Ana Lucia Rivera-Herrera, and Guillermo Barreto
Universidad del Valle
Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common neoplasia of women from all over the world especially women from Colombia. 5%10% of all cases are caused by hereditary factors, 25% of those cases have mutations in the BRCA1/BRCA2 genes. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the mutations associated with the risk of familial breast and/or ovarian cancer in a population of Colombian pacific. Methods: 58 high-risk breast and/or ovarian cancer families and 20 controls were screened for germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2, by Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) and sequencing. Results: Four families (6.9%) were found to carry BRCA1 mutations and eight families (13.8%) had mutations in BRCA2. In BRCA1, we found three Variants of Uncertain Significance (VUS), of which we concluded, using in silico tools, that c.8112C>G and c.3119G>A (p.Ser1040Asn) are probably deleterious, and c.3083G>A (p.Arg1028His) is probably neutral. In BRCA2, we found three variants of uncertain significance: two were previously described and one novel mutation. Using in silico analysis, we concluded that c.865A>G (p.Asn289Asp) and c.6427T>C (p.Ser2143Pro) are probably deleterious and c.125A>G (p.Tyr42Cys) is probably neutral. Only one of them has previously been reported in Colombia. We also identified 13 polymorphisms (4 in BRCA1 and 9 in BRCA2), two of them are associated with a moderate increase in breast cancer risk (BRCA2 c.1114A>C and c.875566T>C). Conclusion: According to our results, the Colombian pacific population presents diverse mutational spectrum for BRCA genes that differs from the findings in other regions in the country.
Ana-Lucia Rivera-Herrera, Laura Cifuentes-C, JA Gil-Vera, and Guillermo Barreto
F1000 Research Ltd
Background: BRCA1 and BRCA2 have been identified as high-penetrance breast cancer predisposition genes, but they only account for a small fraction of the inherited component of breast cancer. To explain the remaining cases, a polygenic model with a large number of low- to moderate-penetrance genes have been proposed; one of these, is the CHEK2 gene (Checkpoint Kinase 2). The objective of this study was to determine the role of the CHEK2 gene, specifically the c.1100delC mutation in familial breast cancer susceptibility in Colombian patients. Methods: We screened 131 high-risk breast and/or ovarian cancer patients (negative for mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2) and 131 controls for the germline mutation CHEK2 c.1100delC by allele-specific PCR. Results: None of the cases or controls showed the CHEK2 c.1100delC mutation, neither as a homozygote nor as a heterozygote. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the CHEK2 c.1100delC mutation is not a risk factor for genetic susceptibility to familial breast or ovarian cancer in the Colombian population. The absence of the CHEK2 c.1100delC mutation in our population show the importance of considering ethnic background before offering a genetic test.