| 1. |
- Merid, Simon Kebede, et al.
(författare)
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Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of blood DNA methylation in newborns and children identifies numerous loci related to gestational age
- 2020
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Ingår i: Genome Medicine. - Stockholm : Karolinska Institutet, Dept of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset. - 1756-994X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Preterm birth and shorter duration of pregnancy are associated with increased morbidity in neonatal and later life. As the epigenome is known to have an important role during fetal development, we investigated associations between gestational age and blood DNA methylation in children. Methods: We performed meta-analysis of Illumina's HumanMethylation450-array associations between gestational age and cord blood DNA methylation in 3648 newborns from 17 cohorts without common pregnancy complications, induced delivery or caesarean section. We also explored associations of gestational age with DNA methylation measured at 4-18 years in additional pediatric cohorts. Follow-up analyses of DNA methylation and gene expression correlations were performed in cord blood. DNA methylation profiles were also explored in tissues relevant for gestational age health effects: fetal brain and lung. Results: We identified 8899 CpGs in cord blood that were associated with gestational age (range 27-42 weeks), at Bonferroni significance, P < 1.06 × 10- 7, of which 3343 were novel. These were annotated to 4966 genes. After restricting findings to at least three significant adjacent CpGs, we identified 1276 CpGs annotated to 325 genes. Results were generally consistent when analyses were restricted to term births. Cord blood findings tended not to persist into childhood and adolescence. Pathway analyses identified enrichment for biological processes critical to embryonic development. Follow-up of identified genes showed correlations between gestational age and DNA methylation levels in fetal brain and lung tissue, as well as correlation with expression levels. Conclusions: We identified numerous CpGs differentially methylated in relation to gestational age at birth that appear to reflect fetal developmental processes across tissues. These findings may contribute to understanding mechanisms linking gestational age to health effects.
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| 2. |
- Almqvist, Elisabeth W., 1958-
(författare)
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A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of coenzyme Q10 and remacemide in Huntington's disease
- 2001
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Ingår i: Neurology. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0028-3878 .- 1526-632X. ; 57:3, s. 397-404
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: To determine whether chronic treatment with coenzyme Q10 or remacemide hydrochloride slows the functional decline of early Huntington's disease (HD).METHODS: The authors conducted a multicenter, parallel group, double-blind, 2 x 2 factorial, randomized clinical trial. Research participants with early HD (n = 347) were randomized to receive coenzyme Q10 300 mg twice daily, remacemide hydrochloride 200 mg three times daily, both, or neither treatment, and were evaluated every 4 to 5 months for a total of 30 months on assigned treatment. The prespecified primary measure of efficacy was the change in total functional capacity (TFC) between baseline and 30 months. Safety measures included the frequency of clinical adverse events.RESULTS: Neither intervention significantly altered the decline in TFC. Patients treated with coenzyme Q10 showed a trend toward slowing in TFC decline (13%) over 30 months (2.40- versus 2.74-point decline, p = 0.15), as well as beneficial trends in some secondary measures. There was increased frequency of nausea, vomiting, and dizziness with remacemide and increased frequency of stomach upset with coenzyme Q10.CONCLUSIONS: Neither remacemide nor coenzyme Q10, at the dosages studied, produced significant slowing in functional decline in early HD.
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| 3. |
- Almqvist, Elisabeth W., 1958-
(författare)
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Dosage effects of riluzole in Huntington's disease : a multicenter placebo-controlled study.
- 2003
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Ingår i: Neurology. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0028-3878 .- 1526-632X. ; 61:11, s. 1551-6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Riluzole retards striatal glutamate release and pathologic consequences in neurotoxic animal models of Huntington's disease (HD).OBJECTIVE: To determine the dosage-related impact of riluzole on chorea in HD.METHODS: An 8-week double-blind dose-ranging multicenter study of riluzole was conducted in 63 subjects (32 women, 31 men) with HD who were randomized to receive placebo, riluzole 100 mg/day, or riluzole 200 mg/day. The prespecified outcome measure was change in the total maximal chorea score of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS).RESULTS: Fifty-six (89%) subjects completed the study. A reduction (p < 0.01) in chorea at 8 weeks was found using a linear trend test with dose. Comparing the groups individually, the reduction in chorea for the riluzole 200-mg/day group (-2.2 +/- 3.3) was different (p = 0.01) from placebo (+0.7 +/- 3.4), but the riluzole 100-mg/day group (-0.2 +/- 2.9) was not. Riluzole did not improve other motor, cognitive, behavioral, or functional components of the UHDRS. Alanine aminotransferase was elevated in a dosage-dependent fashion (p = 0.01).CONCLUSIONS: Over 8 weeks of treatment, riluzole 200 mg/day ameliorated chorea intensity in HD without improving functional capacity or other clinical features of illness. Riluzole 200 mg/day was attended by reversible liver transaminase abnormalities that would require monitoring in long-term studies.
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| 4. |
- Djoussé, Luc, et al.
(författare)
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Evidence for a modifier of onset age in Huntington disease linked to the HD gene in 4p16.
- 2004
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Ingår i: Neurogenetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1364-6745 .- 1364-6753. ; 5:2, s. 109-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Huntington disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by the abnormal expansion of CAG repeats in the HD gene on chromosome 4p16.3. A recent genome scan for genetic modifiers of age at onset of motor symptoms (AO) in HD suggests that one modifier may reside in the region close to the HD gene itself. We used data from 535 HD participants of the New England Huntington cohort and the HD MAPS cohort to assess whether AO was influenced by any of the three markers in the 4p16 region: MSX1 (Drosophila homeo box homologue 1, formerly known as homeo box 7, HOX7), Delta2642 (within the HD coding sequence), and BJ56 ( D4S127). Suggestive evidence for an association was seen between MSX1 alleles and AO, after adjustment for normal CAG repeat, expanded repeat, and their product term (model P value 0.079). Of the variance of AO that was not accounted for by HD and normal CAG repeats, 0.8% could be attributed to the MSX1 genotype. Individuals with MSX1 genotype 3/3 tended to have younger AO. No association was found between Delta2642 (P=0.44) and BJ56 (P=0.73) and AO. This study supports previous studies suggesting that there may be a significant genetic modifier for AO in HD in the 4p16 region. Furthermore, the modifier may be present on both HD and normal chromosomes bearing the 3 allele of the MSX1 marker.
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| 5. |
- Li, Jian-Liang, et al.
(författare)
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A genome scan for modifiers of age at onset in Huntington disease : The HD MAPS study.
- 2003
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Ingår i: American Journal of Human Genetics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9297 .- 1537-6605. ; 73:3, s. 682-7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Huntington disease (HD) is caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat within the coding region of a novel gene on 4p16.3. Although the variation in age at onset is partly explained by the size of the expanded repeat, the unexplained variation in age at onset is strongly heritable (h2=0.56), which suggests that other genes modify the age at onset of HD. To identify these modifier loci, we performed a 10-cM density genomewide scan in 629 affected sibling pairs (295 pedigrees and 695 individuals), using ages at onset adjusted for the expanded and normal CAG repeat sizes. Because all those studied were HD affected, estimates of allele sharing identical by descent at and around the HD locus were adjusted by a positionally weighted method to correct for the increased allele sharing at 4p. Suggestive evidence for linkage was found at 4p16 (LOD=1.93), 6p21-23 (LOD=2.29), and 6q24-26 (LOD=2.28), which may be useful for investigation of genes that modify age at onset of HD.
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| 6. |
- Margolis, Russell L, et al.
(författare)
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Huntington's Disease-like 2 (HDL2) in North America and Japan.
- 2004
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Ingår i: Annals of Neurology. - : Wiley. - 0364-5134 .- 1531-8249. ; 56:5, s. 670-4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Huntington's Disease-like 2 (HDL2) is a progressive, autosomal dominant, neurodegenerative disorder with marked clinical and pathological similarities to Huntington's disease (HD). The causal mutation is a CTG/CAG expansion mutation on chromosome 16q24.3, in a variably spliced exon of junctophilin-3. The frequency of HDL2 was determined in nine independent series of patients referred for HD testing or selected for the presence of an HD-like phenotype in North America or Japan. The repeat length, ancestry, and age of onset of all North American HDL2 cases were determined. The results show that HDL2 is very rare, with a frequency of 0 to 15% among patients in the nine case series with an HD-like presentation who do not have the HD mutation. HDL2 is predominantly, and perhaps exclusively, found in individuals of African ancestry. Repeat expansions ranged from 44 to 57 triplets, with length instability in maternal transmission detected in a repeat of r2=0.29, p=0.0098). The results further support the evidence that the repeat expansion at the chromosome 16q24.3 locus is the direct cause of HDL2 and provide preliminary guidelines for the genetic testing of patients with an HD-like phenotype.
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| 7. |
- Squitieri, Ferdinando, et al.
(författare)
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Homozygosity for CAG mutation in Huntington disease is associated with a more severe clinical course.
- 2003
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Ingår i: Brain. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0006-8950 .- 1460-2156. ; 126:Pt 4, s. 946-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Huntington disease is caused by a dominantly transmitted CAG repeat expansion mutation that is believed to confer a toxic gain of function on the mutant protein. Huntington disease patients with two mutant alleles are very rare. In other poly(CAG) diseases such as the dominant ataxias, inheritance of two mutant alleles causes a phenotype more severe than in heterozygotes. In this multicentre study, we sought differences in the disease features between eight homozygotes and 75 heterozygotes for the Huntington disease mutation. We identified subjects homozygous for the Huntington disease mutation by DNA testing and compared their clinical features (age at onset, symptom presentation, disease severity and disease progression) with those of a group of heterozygotes, who were assessed longitudinally. The age at onset of symptoms in the homozygote cases was within the range expected for heterozygotes with the same CAG repeat lengths, whereas homozygotes had a more severe clinical course. The observation of a more rapid decline in motor, cognitive and behavioural symptoms in homozygotes was consistent with the extent of neurodegeneration as available at imaging in three patients, and at the post-mortem neuropathological report in one case. Our analysis suggests that although homozygosity for the Huntington disease mutation does not lower the age at onset of symptoms, it affects the phenotype and the rate of disease progression. These data, once confirmed in a larger series of patients, point to the possibility that the mechanisms underlying age at onset and disease progression in Huntington disease may differ.
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