| 1. |
- Klaric, Lucija, et al.
(författare)
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Mendelian randomisation identifies alternative splicing of the FAS death receptor as a mediator of severe COVID-19.
- 2021
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Ingår i: medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. ; , s. 1-28
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Severe COVID-19 is characterised by immunopathology and epithelial injury. Proteomic studies have identified circulating proteins that are biomarkers of severe COVID-19, but cannot distinguish correlation from causation. To address this, we performed Mendelian randomisation (MR) to identify proteins that mediate severe COVID-19. Using protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) data from the SCALLOP consortium, involving meta-analysis of up to 26,494 individuals, and COVID-19 genome-wide association data from the Host Genetics Initiative, we performed MR for 157 COVID-19 severity protein biomarkers. We identified significant MR results for five proteins: FAS, TNFRSF10A, CCL2, EPHB4 and LGALS9. Further evaluation of these candidates using sensitivity analyses and colocalization testing provided strong evidence to implicate the apoptosis-associated cytokine receptor FAS as a causal mediator of severe COVID-19. This effect was specific to severe disease. Using RNA-seq data from 4,778 individuals, we demonstrate that the pQTL at the FAS locus results from genetically influenced alternate splicing causing skipping of exon 6. We show that the risk allele for very severe COVID-19 increases the proportion of transcripts lacking exon 6, and thereby increases soluble FAS. Soluble FAS acts as a decoy receptor for FAS-ligand, inhibiting apoptosis induced through membrane-bound FAS. In summary, we demonstrate a novel genetic mechanism that contributes to risk of severe of COVID-19, highlighting a pathway that may be a promising therapeutic target.
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| 2. |
- Zhou Hagström, Nanna, 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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Megahertz-rate Ultrafast X-ray Scattering and Holographic Imaging at the European XFEL
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The advent of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has revolutionized fundamental science, from atomic to condensed matter physics, from chemistry to biology, giving researchers access to X-rays with unprecedented brightness, coherence, and pulse duration. All XFEL facilities built until recently provided X-ray pulses at a relatively low repetition rate, with limited data statistics. Here, we present the results from the first megahertz repetition rate X-ray scattering experiments at the Spectroscopy and Coherent Scattering (SCS) instrument of the European XFEL. We illustrate the experimental capabilities that the SCS instrument offers, resulting from the operation at MHz repetition rates and the availability of the novel DSSC 2D imaging detector. Time-resolved magnetic X-ray scattering and holographic imaging experiments in solid state samples were chosen as representative examples, providing an ideal test-bed for operation at megahertz rates. Nevertheless, our results are relevant and applicable to any other non-destructive XFEL experiments in the soft X-ray range.
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| 3. |
- Arefalk, Gabriel, et al.
(författare)
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Smokeless Tobacco (Snus) and Outcome of Myocardial Infarction: a SWEDEHEART Study
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- BackgroundBased on effects of nicotine and snus (a smokeless tobacco) on hemodynamics, pro-arrhythmia and remodelling, in combination with indications of increased risk for fatal myocardial infarction (MI) in snus users; we hypothesised that the outcome of an MI may be worse in snus users.MethodsData was extracted from the SWEDEHEART registry for all patients who underwent coronary angiography in Sweden due to MI between December 2009 and December 2014. In snus users (n=4,950) relative to snus non-users (n=55,412), we compared risks of a large MI (defined as hs-cTnT of > 10,000 ng/L, cTnT > 10 μg/L or cTnI > 10 μg/L) and death in the acute (in-hospital) setting, and death+HF (a combined endpoint of all-cause death or hospitalization for heart failure) and all-cause death at short- (<28 days) and long-term follow-up. Relations of snus use to outcomes were also analysed in pre-specified subgroups of never, previous and current smokers.ResultsA large MI was diagnosed in 10,975 patients. During long-term follow-up (median 1.9 years), 7,758 either died (n=6,044) or were hospitalized due to heart failure (n=1,714). In models adjusting for age, gender, smoking, previous MI and occupational classification (employed, unemployed/sick leave and retired), snus use was not associated with risk of large MI (odds ratio 1.01; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.93-1.09) or death+HF (long-term Cox proportional hazard ratio (HR) 0.99; 95% CI 0.90-1.10). Nonetheless, among never-smokers snus use was associated with an increased risk for death+HF (long-term HR 1.26, 95% CI 1.03-1.55), driven by a higher mortality risk (long-term HR for death of any cause 1.29, 95% CI 1.02-1.64).ConclusionsIn this study, snus use was unrelated to acute, short-term or long-term adverse outcomes after an MI. Among never-smokers, snus use was associated with an increased risk of post-MI death.
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| 4. |
- Herrera-Rivero, Marisol, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring the genetics of lithium response in bipolar disorders.
- 2023
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Ingår i: Research square.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Lithium (Li) remains the treatment of choice for bipolar disorders (BP). Its mood-stabilizing effects help reduce the long-term burden of mania, depression and suicide risk in patients with BP. It also has been shown to have beneficial effects on disease-associated conditions, including sleep and cardiovascular disorders. However, the individual responses to Li treatment vary within and between diagnostic subtypes of BP (e.g. BP-I and BP-II) according to the clinical presentation. Moreover, long-term Li treatment has been linked to adverse side-effects that are a cause of concern and non-adherence, including the risk of developing chronic medical conditions such as thyroid and renal disease. In recent years, studies by the Consortium on Lithium Genetics (ConLiGen) have uncovered a number of genetic factors that contribute to the variability in Li treatment response in patients with BP. Here, we leveraged the ConLiGen cohort (N=2,064) to investigate the genetic basis of Li effects in BP. For this, we studied how Li response and linked genes associate with the psychiatric symptoms and polygenic load for medical comorbidities, placing particular emphasis on identifying differences between BP-I and BP-II.We found that clinical response to Li treatment, measured with the Alda scale, was associated with a diminished burden of mania, depression, substance and alcohol abuse, psychosis and suicidal ideation in patients with BP-I and, in patients with BP-II, of depression only. Our genetic analyses showed that a stronger clinical response to Li was modestly related to lower polygenic load for diabetes and hypertension in BP-I but not BP-II. Moreover, our results suggested that a number of genes that have been previously linked to Li response variability in BP differentially relate to the psychiatric symptomatology, particularly to the numbers of manic and depressive episodes, and to the polygenic load for comorbid conditions, including diabetes, hypertension and hypothyroidism.Taken together, our findings suggest that the effects of Li on symptomatology and comorbidity in BP are partially modulated by common genetic factors, with differential effects between BP-I and BP-II.
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| 5. |
- Herrera-Rivero, Marisol, et al.
(författare)
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Immunogenetics of lithium response and psychiatric phenotypes in patients with bipolar disorder.
- 2023
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Ingår i: Research square.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The link between bipolar disorder (BP) and immune dysfunction remains controversial. While epidemiological studies have long suggested an association, recent research has found only limited evidence of such a relationship. To clarify this, we investigated the contributions of immune-relevant genetic factors to the response to lithium (Li) treatment and the clinical presentation of BP. First, we assessed the association of a large collection of immune-related genes (4,925) with Li response, defined by the Retrospective Assessment of the Lithium Response Phenotype Scale (Alda scale), and clinical characteristics in patients with BP from the International Consortium on Lithium Genetics (ConLi+Gen, N = 2,374). Second, we calculated here previously published polygenic scores (PGSs) for immune-related traits and evaluated their associations with Li response and clinical features. We found several genes associated with Li response at p < 1×10- 4 values, including HAS3, CNTNAP5 and NFIB. Network and functional enrichment analyses uncovered an overrepresentation of pathways involved in cell adhesion and intercellular communication, which appear to converge on the well-known Li-induced inhibition of GSK-3β. We also found various genes associated with BP's age-at-onset, number of mood episodes, and presence of psychosis, substance abuse and/or suicidal ideation at the exploratory threshold. These included RTN4, XKR4, NRXN1, NRG1/3 and GRK5. Additionally, PGS analyses suggested serum FAS, ECP, TRANCE and cytokine ligands, amongst others, might represent potential circulating biomarkers of Li response and clinical presentation. Taken together, our results support the notion of a relatively weak association between immunity and clinically relevant features of BP at the genetic level.
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| 6. |
- Kelsoe, John, et al.
(författare)
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Lithium Response in Bipolar Disorder is Associated with Focal Adhesion and PI3K-Akt Networks: A Multi-omics Replication Study.
- 2023
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Ingår i: Research square.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Lithium is the gold standard treatment for bipolar disorder (BD). However, its mechanism of action is incompletely understood, and prediction of treatment outcomes is limited. In our previous multi-omics study of the Pharmacogenomics of Bipolar Disorder (PGBD) sample combining transcriptomic and genomic data, we found that focal adhesion, the extracellular matrix (ECM), and PI3K-Akt signaling networks were associated with response to lithium. In this study, we replicated the results of our previous study using network propagation methods in a genome-wide association study of an independent sample of 2,039 patients from the International Consortium on Lithium Genetics (ConLiGen) study. We identified functional enrichment in focal adhesion and PI3K-Akt pathways, but we did not find an association with the ECM pathway. Our results suggest that deficits in the neuronal growth cone and PI3K-Akt signaling, but not in ECM proteins, may influence response to lithium in BD.
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