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Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma nasal type (ENKL) is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that more frequently occurs in East Asia and Latin America. Even though its molecular background has been discussed in the last few years, the current knowledge does not explain the disease pathogenesis in most cases of ENKL. Here, we performed multiple types of next-generation sequencing on 34 ENKL samples, including wholeexome sequencing (9 cancer tissues and 4 cancer cell lines), targeted sequencing (21 cancer tissues), and RNA sequencing (3 cancer tissues and 4 cancer cell lines). Mutations were found most frequently in 3 genes, STAT3, BCOR, and MLL2 (which were present in 9, 7, and 6 cancer samples, respectively), whereas there were only 2 cases of JAK3 mutation. In total, JAK/STAT pathway-and histone modification-related genes accounted for 55.9% and 38.2% of cancer samples, respectively, and their involvement in ENKL pathogenesis was also supported by gene expression analysis. In addition, we provided 177 genes upregulated only in cancer tissues, which appear to be linked with angiocentric and angiodestructive growth of ENKL. In this study, we propose several novel driver genes of ENKL, and show that these genes and their functional groups may be future therapeutic targets of this disease.

Significance This study reports a previously unrecognized involvement of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), known as a bacterial endocellular storage polymer, in an insect–bacterium symbiosis. Many bacteria in the environment accumulate PHA granules within their cells, which provide resistance to nutritional depletion and other environmental stresses. Here we demonstrate that synthesis and accumulation of PHA in the symbiont cells are required for normal symbiotic association with, and, consequently, positive fitness effects for the host insect. The requirement of PHA for symbiosis suggests that, contrary to the general expectation, the within-host environment may be, at least in some aspects, stressful for the symbiotic bacteria.

Data on the trends in the prevalence of chronic liver disease (CLD) in Korea are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate whether the CLD prevalence changed between 1998–2001 and 2016–2017. Data were extracted from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1998–2001 to 2016–2017; n=25,893). Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was defined as a hepatic steatosis index >36 in the absence of any other evidence of CLD. The definition of alcoholrelated liver disease (ALD) was excessive alcohol consumption (≥210 g/week for men and ≥140 g/week for women) and an ALD/NAFLD index >0. The prevalence of NAFLD increased from 18.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.8–19.5%) in 1998–2001 to 21.5% (95% CI, 20.6–22.6%) in 2016–2017. During the same time period, increases were observed in the prevalence of obesity (27.0 vs. 35.1%), central obesity (29.4 vs. 36.0%), diabetes (7.5 vs. 10.6%), and excessive drinking (7.3 vs. 10.5%). ALD prevalence also increased from 3.8% (95% CI, 3.4–4.2%) to 7.0% (95% CI, 6.4–7.6%). In contrast, chronic hepatitis B decreased from 5.1% (95% CI, 4.6–5.5%) to 3.4% (95% CI, 3.0–3.8%). The prevalence of chronic hepatitis C was approximately 0.3% in 2016–2017. The prevalence of NAFLD and ALD increase among Korean adults. Our results suggest potential targets for interventions to reduce the future burden of CLD.

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