| 41. |
- Buchhave, Peder, et al.
(författare)
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Longitudinal study of CSF biomarkers in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
- 2009
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Ingår i: PloS one. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 16:Suppl 3, s. 337-337
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The CSF biomarkers tau and Abeta42 can identify patients with AD, even during the preclinical stages. However, previous studies on longitudinal changes of tau and Abeta42 in individual patients with AD and elderly controls report somewhat inconsistent results. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated the levels of tau and Abeta42 at baseline and after 1 year in 100 patients with AD. In a second cohort of 45 AD patients we measured the CSF biomarkers at baseline and after 2 years. Moreover, in 34 healthy elderly controls the CSF biomarkers were followed for 4 years. The baseline levels of tau were increased with >60% in AD patients compared to controls (p<0.001), while baseline Abeta42 levels were decreased with >50% (p<0.001). In the AD group followed for 2 years, tau increased with 16% compared to the baseline levels (p<0.05). However, the levels of tau were stable over 4 years in the controls. The levels of Abeta42 did not change significantly over time in any of the groups. In the patients with AD, tau was moderately associated with worse cognitive performance already at baseline (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Tau and Abeta42 in CSF seem to reflect the underlying disease state in both early and late stages of AD. The slight increase in tau over time observed in the patients with AD is modest when compared to the relatively large difference in absolute tau levels between AD patients and controls. Therefore, these markers maintain their usefulness as state markers over time and might serve as surrogate markers for treatment efficacy in clinical trials.
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| 42. |
- Byrnes, Andrea, et al.
(författare)
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Gene expression in peripheral blood leukocytes in monozygotic twins discordant for chronic fatigue : no evidence of a biomarker
- 2009
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 4:6, s. e5805-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Chronic fatiguing illness remains a poorly understood syndrome of unknown pathogenesis. We attempted to identify biomarkers for chronic fatiguing illness using microarrays to query the transcriptome in peripheral blood leukocytes. METHODS: Cases were 44 individuals who were clinically evaluated and found to meet standard international criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome or idiopathic chronic fatigue, and controls were their monozygotic co-twins who were clinically evaluated and never had even one month of impairing fatigue. Biological sampling conditions were standardized and RNA stabilizing media were used. These methodological features provide rigorous control for bias resulting from case-control mismatched ancestry and experimental error. Individual gene expression profiles were assessed using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 arrays. FINDINGS: There were no significant differences in gene expression for any transcript. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to our expectations, we were unable to identify a biomarker for chronic fatiguing illness in the transcriptome of peripheral blood leukocytes suggesting that positive findings in prior studies may have resulted from experimental bias.
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| 43. |
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| 44. |
- Cao, Renhai, et al.
(författare)
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Hypoxia-induced retinal angiogenesis in zebrafish as a model to study retinopathy
- 2008
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 3:7, s. e2748-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mechanistic understanding and defining novel therapeutic targets of diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have been hampered by a lack of appropriate adult animal models. Here we describe a simple and highly reproducible adult fli-EGFP transgenic zebrafish model to study retinal angiogenesis. The retinal vasculature in the adult zebrafish is highly organized and hypoxia-induced neovascularization occurs in a predictable area of capillary plexuses. New retinal vessels and vascular sprouts can be accurately measured and quantified. Orally active anti-VEGF agents including sunitinib and ZM323881 effectively block hypoxia-induced retinal neovascularization. Intriguingly, blockage of the Notch signaling pathway by the inhibitor DAPT under hypoxia, results in a high density of arterial sprouting in all optical arteries. The Notch suppression-induced arterial sprouting is dependent on tissue hypoxia. However, in the presence of DAPT substantial endothelial tip cell formation was detected only in optic capillary plexuses under normoxia. These findings suggest that hypoxia shifts the vascular targets of Notch inhibitors. Our findings for the first time show a clinically relevant retinal angiogenesis model in adult zebrafish, which might serve as a platform for studying mechanisms of retinal angiogenesis, for defining novel therapeutic targets, and for screening of novel antiangiogenic drugs.
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| 45. |
- Carlsson, Beatrice, et al.
(författare)
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The G428A nonsense mutation in FUT2 provides strong but not absolute protection against symptomatic GII.4 Norovirus infection. : Novel GII.4 disease pattern
- 2009
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Ingår i: PloS one. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 4:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In November 2004, 116 individuals in an elderly nursing home in El Grao de Castellón, Spain were symptomatically infected with genogroup II.4 (GII.4) norovirus. The global attack rate was 54.2%. Genotyping of 34 symptomatic individuals regarding the FUT2 gene revealed that one patient was, surprisingly, a non-secretor, hence indicating secretor-independent infection. Lewis genotyping revealed that Lewis-positive and negative individuals were susceptible to symptomatic norovirus infection indicating that Lewis status did not predict susceptibility. Saliva based ELISA assays were used to determine binding of the outbreak virus to saliva samples. Saliva from a secretor-negative individual bound the authentic outbreak GII.4 Valencia/2004/Es virus, but did not in contrast to secretor-positive saliva bind VLP of other strains including the GII.4 Dijon strain. Amino acid comparison of antigenic A and B sites located on the external loops of the P2 domain revealed distinct differences between the Valencia/2004/Es and Dijon strains. All three aa in each antigenic site as well as 10/11 recently identified evolutionary hot spots, were unique in the Valencia/2004/Es strain compared to the Dijon strain. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of symptomatic GII.4 norovirus infection of a Le(a+b-) individual homozygous for the G428A nonsense mutation in FUT2. Taken together, our study provides new insights into the host genetic susceptibility to norovirus infections and evolution of the globally dominating GII.4 viruses.
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| 46. |
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| 47. |
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| 48. |
- Chen, Kevin, et al.
(författare)
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Reexamining microRNA site accessibility in Drosophila : a population genomics study.
- 2009
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 4:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Kertesz et al. (Nature Genetics 2008) described PITA, a miRNA target prediction algorithm based on hybridization energy and site accessibility. In this note, we used a population genomics approach to reexamine their data and found that the PITA algorithm had lower specificity than methods based on evolutionary conservation at comparable levels of sensitivity.We also showed that deeply conserved miRNAs tend to have stronger hybridization energies to their targets than do other miRNAs. Although PITA had higher specificity in predicting targets than a naïve seed-match method, this signal was primarily due to the use of a single cutoff score for all miRNAs and to the observed correlation between conservation and hybridization energy. Overall, our results clarify the accuracy of different miRNA target prediction algorithms in Drosophila and the role of site accessibility in miRNA target prediction.
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| 49. |
- Chickarmane, Vijay, et al.
(författare)
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A computational model for understanding stem cell, trophectoderm and endoderm lineage determination
- 2008
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - 1932-6203. ; 10:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background. Recent studies have associated the transcription factors, Oct4, Sox2 and Nanog as parts of a self-regulating network which is responsible for maintaining embryonic stem cell properties -- self renewal and pluripotency. In addition, mutual antagonism between two of these and other master regulators have been shown to regulate lineage determination. In particular, an excess of Cdx2 over Oct4 determines the trophectoderm lineage whereas an excess of Gata-6 over Nanog determines differentiation into the endoderm lineage. Also, under/over-expression studies of the master regulator Oct4 have revealed that some self-renewal/pluripotency as well as differentiation genes are expressed in a biphasic manner with respect to the concentration of Oct4. Methodology/Principal Findings. We construct a dynamical model of a minimalistic network, extracted from ChIP-on-chip and microarray data as well as literature studies. The model is based upon differential equations and makes two plausible assumptions: activation of Gata-6 by Oct4 and repression of Nanog by a Oct4--Gata-6 heterodimer. With these assumptions, the results of simulations successfully describe the biphasic behavior as well as lineage commitment. The model also predicts that reprogramming the network from a differentiated state, in particular the endoderm state, into a stem cell state, is best achieved by over-expressing Nanog, rather than by suppression of differentiation genes such as Gata-6. Conclusions. The computational model provides a mechanistic understanding of how different lineages arise from the dynamics of the underlying regulatory network. It provides a framework to explore strategies of reprogramming a cell from a differentiated state to a stem cell state through directed perturbations. Such an approach is highly relevant to regenerative medicine since it allows for a rapid search over the host of possibilities for reprogramming to a stem cell state.
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| 50. |
- Comstedt, Pär, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Complex population structure of Lyme borreliosis group spirochete Borrelia garinii in subarctic Eurasia.
- 2009
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Ingår i: PloS one. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 4:6, s. e5841-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Borrelia garinii, a causative agent of Lyme borreliosis in Europe and Asia, is naturally maintained in marine and terrestrial enzootic cycles, which primarily involve birds, including seabirds and migratory passerines. These bird groups associate with, correspondingly, Ixodes uriae and Ixodes ricinus ticks, of which the latter species may bite and transmit the infection to humans. Studies of the overlap between these two natural cycles of B. garinii have been limited, in part due to the absence of representative collections of this spirochete's samples, as well as of the lack of reliable measure of the genetic heterogeneity of its strains. As a prerequisite for understanding the epidemiological correlates of the complex maintenance of B. garinii, the present study sought to assess the diversity and phylogenetic relationships of this species' strains from its natural hosts and patients with Lyme borreliosis from subarctic Eurasia. We used sequence typing of the partial rrs-rrl intergenic spacer (IGS) of archived and prospective samples of B. garinii from I. uriae ticks collected predominantly on Commander Islands in North Pacific, as well as on the islands in northern Sweden and arctic Norway. We also typed B. garinii samples from patients with Lyme borreliosis and I. ricinus ticks infesting migratory birds in southern Sweden, or found questing in selected sites on the islands in the Baltic Sea and Lithuania. Fifty-two (68%) of 77 B. garinii samples representing wide geographical range and associated with I. ricinus and infection of humans contributed 12 (60%) of total 20 identified IGS variants. In contrast, the remaining 25 (32%) samples recovered from I. uriae ticks from a few islands accounted for as many as 10 (50%) IGS types, suggesting greater local diversity of B. garinii maintained by seabirds and their ticks. Two IGS variants of the spirochete in common for both tick species were found in I. ricinus larvae from migratory birds, an indication that B. garinii strains are exchanged between different ecological niches. Notably, B. garinii variants associated with I. uriae ticks were found in each of the six clusters, representing two phylogenetic lineages of this species identified among the studied samples. Our findings suggest that B. garinii in subarctic Eurasia comprises two partially overlapping populations with different levels of genetic heterogeneity, presumably, due to distinctive selective pressures on the spirochete in its marine and terrestrial enzootic cycles.
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