Jeffrey Townsend

One last point: don't use tobacco.

It causes cancer

doi.org/10.1093/molb...

(also respiratory and pulmonary diseases, cardiovascular and vascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and reproductive and sexual impairment).

Together, these findings support an interpretation that enhanced ICI response in KRAS G12C-mutant tumors arises from tobacco-driven mutagenesis and its immunogenic consequences, rather than from variant-specific oncogenic or immunologic properties.

authors.elsevier.com/a/1ls3ocYZOi...

By integrating published clinical outcome data, we have shown that increasing exposure to tobacco predicts lower hazard ratios and higher response rates to immune-checkpoint inhibition.

authors.elsevier.com/a/1ls3ocYZOi...

Our analyses point to the importance of mutagenic context: KRAS G12C is enriched for the tobacco-associated SBS4 mutational signature, which is strongly correlated with tumor mutation burden across lung adenocarcinomas.

authors.elsevier.com/a/1ls3ocYZOi...

To clarify the effect of tobacco-associated mutagenesis, we used data from Litchfield et al. to model the impact of tobacco-driven tumor mutational burden on immune-checkpoint inhibition. Predicted response rates increase sharply at low–moderate exposure to SBS4 (tobacco).

doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

To clarify the effect of tobacco-associated mutagenesis, we used data from Samstein et al. to model the impact of tobacco-driven tumor mutation burden on immune-checkpoint inhibition outcomes. As SBS4 (tobacco exposure) increases, the predicted hazard ratio declines.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Because tobacco smoke exposure contributes to both KRAS G12C mutations and to increased TMB, it follows that KRAS G12C-mutant tumors exhibit significantly increased TMB compared to KRAS G12D tumors.

authors.elsevier.com/a/1ls3ocYZOi...

Smoking is a major contributor to increased tumor mutational burden in non-small-cell lung cancer. Tobacco smoke-related SBS4-attributed mutation fraction and TMB were significantly correlated across LUAD tumors.

authors.elsevier.com/a/1ls3ocYZOi...

We examined the tobacco mutational signature and KRAS mutation frequency in tumors. KRAS G12C-mutant tumors showed a significantly higher proportion of mutations attributable to the SBS4 tobacco-associated mutational signature compared to KRAS G12D.

authors.elsevier.com/a/1ls3ocYZOi...

We analyzed 9,230 lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) tumors to assess the mutational context and oncogenic potential of KRAS G12A and G12V and G12C and G12D variants. Their cancer effect sizes were similar—large compared to variants at other sites of KRAS.

aacrjournals.org/cancerres/ar...

It has been unclear whether the better outcomes associated with KRAS G12C reflect

• G12C versus G12D allele-intrinsic biology or

• shared dependence on tobacco-induced mutagenesis and elevated tumor mutation burden (TMB).

authors.elsevier.com/a/1ls3ocYZOi...

KRAS G12C mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been associated with improved immune-checkpoint inhibition (ICI) outcomes.

doi.org/10.1016/j.lu...

Just out in Lung Cancer:

KRAS G12C-associated immunotherapy benefit in NSCLC
is substantially mediated by tobacco-induced tumor mutation burden—not allele-specific effects.

authors.elsevier.com/a/1ls3ocYZOi...

Flu & covid vax day — & I’m still uncertain which mRNA to ask for. Do I wait for Novavax availability? Last year the other place was all atweet with knowledgable opinions; this year I‘m lost.

“One of those” plus the added idiocy of my 4th guess.

Wordle 1,574 5/6*

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KRAS G12C-associated immunotherapy benefit in NSCLC is substantially mediated by tobacco-induced tumor mutation burden, not allele-specific effects KRAS G12C mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been associated with improved immune-checkpoint inhibition (ICI) outcomes. However, it remains unclear whether this benefit reflects alle...

Some #lungcancers with #KRAS G12C mutations respond to #immunotherapy bc of⬆️ mutation load from #tobacco exposure. Smoking history + overall mutation burden are better guides for treatment than KRAS status alone.
lungcancerjournal.info/article/S016...
@jeffreytownsend.bsky.social

DISNEY: "OK, we are putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air. You can resubscribe now."

ME: "I unsubscribed because you immorally bowed to fascism. I'm not going to resubscribe because you immorally bowed to finances."

Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars | Defector Mars does not have a magnetosphere. Any discussion of humans ever settling the red planet can stop right there, but of course it never does. Do you have a low-cost plan for, uh, creating a gigantic ac...

Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars - defector.com/neither-elon...

Bye bye, rodent nation.
#BoycottDisney

will be speaking in

The Distinguished Speaker Series: AI & Health Science

📅 September 19, on “Dismantling the Coarse Paradigm of Cancer ‘Drivers’ and ‘Passengers’”

📍 University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Science Institute

In person or Zoom — register 🔗: qrco.de/AIHS-DSS

The functional form of the association between K-12 student performance and household income in U.S. school districts It is well-known that income can correlate with the academic performance of K-12 students in the United States (U.S.). However, the mathematical relationship between income and K-12 performance, and h...

Student performance tracks district income—linear in some states, leveling in others. It’s steepest in less-affluent states, and math slips from grade 3→8. Our kids deserve better than fate by zip code—and the variance in slope tells us we can do better.

🔗 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Photo passed along from a federal employee from inside the Dept of Labor building, where a giant Orwellian image of Trump's face is now draped outside.

Big Brother is watching.

Sam Hart describes and applies a method to distinguish differences in mutational processes between groups of cancers without signature decomposition (joint work with @kelleyharris.bsky.social and in collaboration with @nalcala.bsky.social )! #Genomics 🖥️ 🧬

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Elena Romero led a new preprint detailing joint work with Lillian Cohn's lab at Fred Hutch describing really crazy parallelism in in vivo HIV escape from broadly neutralizing antibodies! #VirEvol #evoSky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

California, Oregon and Washington announced yesterday they’ve created their own health alliance, saying the CDC has become “a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science.”

New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island have now done the same.

YouTube video by Elle Cordova For our scientists

youtube.com/shorts/AYm9w...

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Friday morning explicitly allowing pharmacists to prescribe and administer the shot to New Yorkers who request it.

This is THE WAY, but build a Coastal Coalition including all Pacific, Atlantic, (& Great Lakes?) States. Everything that is defunded at the federal level we can build up Coastally. Because Coastal States are net givers federally, defunding federally then equals a net benefit for coastal states.

Assistant/ Associate Professor of Mycology at UGA - Go be part of a Legendary Fungal Group fungi.franklinresearch.uga.edu and dept of plant pathology plantpath.caes.uga.edu www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/445...

Boosting mRNA Vaccines with Cutting-Edge Technology Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines revolutionized public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, representing a groundbreaking shift away from traditional vaccine design. Unlike conventional vaccines that

scienmag.com/boosting-mrn...

Risk management: Making gene therapy safer and more effective Yale researchers have created a new RNA editing tool that can take some of the risk out of gene therapy.

news.yale.edu/2025/08/18/r...