| 1. |
- Shannon, Casey P., et al.
(författare)
-
HEARTBiT : A Transcriptomic Signature for Excluding Acute Cellular Rejection in Adult Heart Allograft Patients
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Canadian Journal of Cardiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0828-282X. ; 36:8, s. 1217-1227
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Nine mRNA transcripts associated with acute cellular rejection (ACR) in previous microarray studies were ported to the clinically amenable NanoString nCounter platform. Here we report the diagnostic performance of the resulting blood test to exclude ACR in heart allograft recipients: HEARTBiT. Methods: Blood samples for transcriptomic profiling were collected during routine post-transplantation monitoring in 8 Canadian transplant centres participating in the Biomarkers in Transplantation initiative, a large (n = 1622) prospective observational study conducted between 2009 and 2014. All adult cardiac transplant patients were invited to participate (median age = 56 [17 to 71]). The reference standard for rejection status was histopathology grading of tissue from endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). All locally graded ISHLT ≥ 2R rejection samples were selected for analysis (n = 36). ISHLT 1R (n = 38) and 0R (n = 86) samples were randomly selected to create a cohort approximately matched for site, age, sex, and days post-transplantation, with a focus on early time points (median days post-transplant = 42 [7 to 506]). Results: ISHLT ≥ 2R rejection was confirmed by EMB in 18 and excluded in 92 samples in the test set. HEARTBiT achieved 47% specificity (95% confidence interval [CI], 36%-57%) given ≥ 90% sensitivity, with a corresponding area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.69 (95% CI, 0.56-0.81). Conclusions: HEARTBiT's diagnostic performance compares favourably to the only currently approved minimally invasive diagnostic test to rule out ACR, AlloMap (CareDx, Brisbane, CA) and may be used to inform care decisions in the first 2 months post-transplantation, when AlloMap is not approved, and most ACR episodes occur.
|
|
| 2. |
- Apel, Maria, et al.
(författare)
-
Variants in RUNX3 Contribute to Susceptibility to Psoriatic Arthritis, Exhibiting Further Common Ground With Ankylosing Spondylitis
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Arthritis and Rheumatism. - : Wiley. - 0004-3591 .- 1529-0131. ; 65:5, s. 1224-1231
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a common inflammatory joint disease distinct from other chronic arthritides and frequently accompanied by psoriasis vulgaris. In a first genome-wide association study (GWAS), we were able to identify several genetic risk factors. However, even combined with previously identified factors, the genetic contribution to disease was not fully explained. Therefore, we undertook this study to investigate further 17 loci from our GWAS that did not reach genome-wide significance levels of association in the initial analysis. Methods Twenty-one of 22 single-nucleotide polymorphisms were successfully genotyped in independent cohorts of 1,398 PsA patients and 6,389 controls and in a group of 964 German patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Results Association with a RUNX3 variant, rs4649038, was replicated in independent patients and controls and resulted in a combined P value of 1.40 x 108 by Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test and an odds ratio (OR) of 1.24 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.151.33). Further analyses based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) at RUNX3 refined the most significant association to an LD block located in the first intron of one isoform. Weaker evidence for association was detected in German patients with psoriasis vulgaris (P = 5.89 x 102; OR 1.13 [95% CI 1.001.28]), indicating a role in the skin manifestations of psoriasis. Conclusion Our analyses identified variants in RUNX3 as susceptibility factors for PsA. RUNX3 has already been implicated in susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis, another spondyloarthritis, although its risk allele is independent from the one for PsA. RUNX-3 is involved in CD8+ T lymphocyte differentiation and is therefore a good candidate for involvement in PsA and psoriasis vulgaris as T cellmediated diseases.
|
|
| 3. |
- Bowes, John, et al.
(författare)
-
PTPN22 is associated with susceptibility to psoriatic arthritis but not psoriasis : evidence for a further PsA-specific risk locus
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. - : BMJ. - 0003-4967 .- 1468-2060. ; 74:10, s. 1882-1885
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory arthritis associated with psoriasis; it has a higher estimated genetic component than psoriasis alone, however most genetic susceptibility loci identified for PsA to date are also shared with psoriasis. Here we attempt to validate novel single nucleotide polymorphisms selected from our recent PsA Immunochip study and determine specificity to PsA. Methods A total of 15 single nucleotide polymorphisms were selected (P-Immunochip <1x10(-4)) for validation genotyping in 1177 cases and 2155 controls using TaqMan. Meta-analysis of Immunochip and validation data sets consisted of 3139 PsA cases and 11 078 controls. Novel PsA susceptibility loci were compared with data from two large psoriasis studies (WTCCC2 and Immunochip) to determine PsA specificity. Results We found genome-wide significant association to rs2476601, mapping to PTPN22 (p=1.49x10(-9), OR=1.32), but no evidence for association in the psoriasis cohort (p=0.34) and the effect estimates were significantly different between PsA and psoriasis (p=3.2x10(-4)). Additionally, we found genome-wide significant association to the previously reported psoriasis risk loci; NOS2 (rs4795067, p=5.27x10(-9)). Conclusions For the first time, we report genome-wide significant association of PTPN22 (rs2476601) to PsA susceptibility, but no evidence for association to psoriasis.
|
|
| 4. |
- Gustafsson Bragde, Hanna, 1979-
(författare)
-
Biomarkers of Inflammation and Intestinal Mucosa Pathology in Celiac Disease
- 2019
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic small intestinal immune-mediated enteropathy triggered by gluten. The only currently available treatment is complying with a lifelong gluten-free diet, which should not be commenced before a CD diagnosis has been established by diagnostic test results (including histopathologic assessment of small intestinal biopsies and CD-specific antibody levels). This makes diagnostic swiftness and accuracy important. In cases with low CD-specific antibody levels and/or low-grade intestinal injuries the diagnosis can be difficult to establish. The main objective of this thesis was to complement and improve CD diagnostics by identifying and implementing new biomarkers, mainly based on gene expression, in small intestinal biopsies and blood. In paper I, genes were selected to reflect villous height, crypt elongation, immune response, and epithelial integrity. The results showed that a subset of those genes could discriminate active CD mucosa from mucosa without CD-related changes and grade the intestinal injury. In paper III, an unbiased investigation of gene expression in CD mucosa was performed using transcriptome analysis. Active CD and non-CD mucosa showed differential expression in a subset of genes, and some were differentially expressed in CD mucosa before histopathologic assessment could confirm intestinal alterations compatible with a CD diagnosis. Gene set analysis revealed that there are many biological processes affected in CD mucosa, including those associated with immune response, microbial infection, phagocytosis, intestinal barrier function, metabolism, and transportation.In parallel, gene expression was investigated in stabilised whole blood. Blood is a more accessible sampling material than intestinal biopsies, and stabilised blood is suitable for routine diagnostics since transcript levels are preserved at sampling. In paper II, expressions from a selection of genes were quantified in stabilised whole blood (RNA) and/or plasma (protein). Three genes with differential expression in CD were identified. Compared to the CD-specific autoantibodies against tissue transglutaminase (anti-TG2) alone, the addition of the information from the new potential markers resulted in a nonsignificant contribution to the diagnostic capacity of anti-TG2. An unbiased investigation using transcriptome analysis (paper IV) showed that gene level expression differences in stabilised whole blood were small between CD and non-CD. However, expression differences on a gene set level could potentially be used in CD diagnostics. CD-associated biological processes suggested by the results included a pro-inflammatory response, negative regulation of viral replication, proliferation, differentiation, cell migration, cell survival, translation, and haemostasis.Expression analysis using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is easy to perform, with instrumentation available at most clinical laboratories. Although select solitary biomarkers could be very useful in the diagnosis of CD, basing gene expression profiles on pathway information instead of single genes might also disclose disease heterogeneity between patients and add stability to a diagnostic method based on gene expressions. In conclusion, the results of this work demonstrate that analysing the expression of a few small intestinal genes can complement CD diagnostics. The application of gene expression analysis in cases with minor small intestine histopathological changes shows promising results, but needs further investigations. Additionally, gene expressions in other inflammatory diseases of the small intestine need to be investigated and compared with CD to complete the picture. Moreover, the findings from this work give clues about the biological contexts in which CD resides, and the potential of gene expression in blood at a gene set level is of interest for further investigations.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
