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Detecting Mutational Signatures of Environmental Mutagens in Heathy Individuals for Personalized Cancer Prevention

Award Number: R01ES032547
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/22/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 10/31/2025

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Detecting Mutational Signatures of Environmental Mutagens in Heathy Individuals for Personalized Cancer Prevention - PROJECT SUMMARY Somatic mutations accumulate daily in every cell of the human body. These mutations originate from mutational processes due to environmental exposures, lifestyle choices, defective cellular machineries, and even normal cellular activities. Each mutational process imprints a characteristic pattern of mutations on the genome of somatic cells, termed “mutational signature”. Since somatic mutations are retained in the genomes of cells and their progenies, the presence of mutational signatures in a somatic genome serves as an “archaeological imprint” of the activities of the mutational processes that were operative during a person’s lifetime. Recent developments of computational tools have allowed identifying mutational signatures from the DNA sequences of cancer samples and quantifying the activities of different mutational processes in individual cancer patients. Analysis of many thousands of cancer patients across the world has now revealed almost 80 distinct mutational signatures. Importantly, for each of these patients, we now know the mutational processes that have caused their cancers and, for many of these patients, we could identify potential strategies to reduce environmental exposures and prevent their cancers. However, an effective and timely cancer prevention requires knowing the mutational processes operating in a healthy individual and eliminating or reducing the activities of these processes before that individual develops cancer. Unfortunately, currently, there are no approaches that allow quantifying mutational signatures of environmental exposures in a healthy individual and, thus, many opportunities for personalize cancer prevention are missed. Here, we propose to develop a novel computational approach that will allow noninvasive monitoring of mutational signatures in easily accessible normal somatic tissues of healthy individuals. Our approach will perform a direct detection of somatic mutational signatures from low coverage single-cell DNA sequencing data without relying on prior identification of somatic mutations. The approach will be optimized and validated using single-cell DNA sequencing data from: (i) in vitro cell lines exposed to environmental mutagens; (ii) an in vivo mouse model consuming water contaminated with a strong chemical mutagen; (iii) healthy individuals with established exposures to known environmental mutagens. Overall, this project will transform our ability to monitor the activities of the mutational processes in normal tissues of healthy individuals and it will open a plethora of opportunities for personalized cancer prevention through possible targeted interventions that reduce mutagenic exposures from environment agents and lifestyle choices.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2026	2025	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO	9500 GILMAN DR	LA JOLLA	CA	92093	SAN DIEGO	USA	Environmental Health	000	5	2/23/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $670,274 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO	9500 GILMAN DR	LA JOLLA	CA	92093	SAN DIEGO	USA	Environmental Health	000	5	11/1/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$670,274
														Subtotal = $670,274

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $681,334 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO	9500 GILMAN DRIVE	LA JOLLA	CA	92093	SAN DIEGO	USA	Environmental Health	000	4	10/31/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$681,334
														Subtotal = $681,334

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $690,814 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO	9500 GILMAN DR	LA JOLLA	CA	92093	SAN DIEGO	USA	Environmental Health	000	3	10/29/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$690,814
														Subtotal = $690,814

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $698,714 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO	9500 GILMAN DR	LA JOLLA	CA	92093	SAN DIEGO	USA	Environmental Health	000	2	10/25/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$698,714
														Subtotal = $698,714

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $708,650 )
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO	9500 GILMAN DR	LA JOLLA	CA	92093	SAN DIEGO	USA	Environmental Health	001	1	2/4/2021	NEW	$0
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO	9500 GILMAN DR	LA JOLLA	CA	92093	SAN DIEGO	USA	Environmental Health	000	1	1/22/2021	NEW	$708,650
														Subtotal = $708,650

Grand Total All Awards = $3,449,786

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Detecting Mutational Signatures of Environmental Mutagens in Heathy Individuals for Personalized Cancer Prevention

Award Number: R01ES032547

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/22/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 10/31/2025

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