| 1. |
- Al-Sabri, Mohamed H., et al.
(författare)
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Statins Induce Locomotion and Muscular Phenotypes in Drosophila melanogaster That Are Reminiscent of Human Myopathy : Evidence for the Role of the Chloride Channel Inhibition in the Muscular Phenotypes
- 2022
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Ingår i: Cells. - : MDPI. - 2073-4409. ; 11:22
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The underlying mechanisms for statin-induced myopathy (SIM) are still equivocal. In this study, we employ Drosophila melanogaster to dissect possible underlying mechanisms for SIM. We observe that chronic fluvastatin treatment causes reduced general locomotion activity and climbing ability. In addition, transmission microscopy of dissected skeletal muscles of fluvastatin-treated flies reveals strong myofibrillar damage, including increased sarcomere lengths and Z-line streaming, which are reminiscent of myopathy, along with fragmented mitochondria of larger sizes, most of which are round-like shapes. Furthermore, chronic fluvastatin treatment is associated with impaired lipid metabolism and insulin signalling. Mechanistically, knockdown of the statin-target Hmgcr in the skeletal muscles recapitulates fluvastatin-induced mitochondrial phenotypes and lowered general locomotion activity; however, it was not sufficient to alter sarcomere length or elicit myofibrillar damage compared to controls or fluvastatin treatment. Moreover, we found that fluvastatin treatment was associated with reduced expression of the skeletal muscle chloride channel, C1C-a (Drosophila homolog of CLCN1), while selective knockdown of skeletal muscle C1C-a also recapitulated fluvastatin-induced myofibril damage and increased sarcomere lengths. Surprisingly, exercising fluvastatin-treated flies restored C1C-a expression and normalized sarcomere lengths, suggesting that fluvastatin-induced myofibrillar phenotypes could be linked to lowered C1C-a expression. Taken together, these results may indicate the potential role of C1C-a inhibition in statinassociated muscular phenotypes. This study underlines the importance of Drosophila melanogaster as a powerful model system for elucidating the locomotion and muscular phenotypes, promoting a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying SIM.
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| 2. |
- Al-Sabri, Mohamed H., et al.
(författare)
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The regulatory role of AP-2 beta in monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems : insights on its signalling pathway, linked disorders and theragnostic potential
- 2022
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Ingår i: Cell & Bioscience. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 2045-3701. ; 12:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems play a central role in neuronal function and behaviour. Dysregulation of these systems gives rise to neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders with high prevalence and societal burden, collectively termed monoamine neurotransmitter disorders (MNDs). Despite extensive research, the transcriptional regulation of monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems is not fully explored. Interestingly, certain drugs that act on these systems have been shown to modulate central levels of the transcription factor AP-2 beta (AP-2 beta, gene: TFAP2B). AP-2 beta regulates multiple key genes within these systems and thereby its levels correlate with monoamine neurotransmitters measures; yet, its signalling pathways are not well understood. Moreover, although dysregulation of TFAP2B has been associated with MNDs, the underlying mechanisms for these associations remain elusive. In this context, this review addresses AP-2 beta, considering its basic structural aspects, regulation and signalling pathways in the controlling of monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems, and possible mechanisms underpinning associated MNDS. It also underscores the significance of AP-2 beta as a potential diagnostic biomarker and its potential and limitations as a therapeutic target for specific MNDs as well as possible pharmaceutical interventions for targeting it. In essence, this review emphasizes the role of AP-2 beta as a key regulator of the monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems and its importance for understanding the pathogenesis and improving the management of MNDs.
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| 3. |
- Attwood, Misty M., et al.
(författare)
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Orphan Drugs and Their Impact on Pharmaceutical Development
- 2018
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Ingår i: TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences. - : Elsevier BV. - 0165-6147 .- 1873-3735. ; 39:6, s. 525-535
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- High levels of productivity, with an increasing number of approvals for new molecular entities (NMEs) by the FDA during the past decade, have coincided with the emergence of innovative drugs for treatments of rare diseases that have utilized the FDA orphan drug program. Since 2000, NMEs with orphan designation encompass a significant portion of approved drugs and constitute about 80% of the approved drugs that have established novel human genome-encoded products in recent years. Biological approvals are also expanding, with 40% of the approved biological agents having orphan designation. This trend illustrates a pivot within the pharmaceutical industry: from research programs that focus on canonical blockbuster indications and targets, towards the establishment of new treatments for rare and difficult to treat diseases.
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| 4. |
- Attwood, Misty M., et al.
(författare)
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Soluble ligands as drug targets
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature reviews. Drug discovery. - : NATURE RESEARCH. - 1474-1776 .- 1474-1784. ; 19:10, s. 695-710
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Historically, the main classes of drug targets have been receptors, enzymes, ion channels and transporters. However, owing largely to the rise of antibody-based therapies in the past two decades, soluble protein ligands such as inflammatory cytokines have become an increasingly important class of drug targets. In this Review, we analyse drugs targeting ligands that have reached clinical development at some point since 1992. We identify 291 drugs that target 99 unique ligands, and we discuss trends in the characteristics of the ligands, drugs and indications for which they have been tested. In the last 5 years, the number of ligand-targeting drugs approved by the FDA has doubled to 34, while the number of clinically validated ligand targets has doubled to 22. Cytokines and growth factors are the predominant types of targeted ligands (70%), and inflammation and autoimmune disorders, cancer and ophthalmological diseases are the top therapeutic areas for both approved agents and agents in clinical studies, reflecting the central role of cytokine and/or growth factor pathways in such diseases. With the rise of antibody-based therapies in the past two decades, soluble protein ligands such as inflammatory cytokines have become an increasingly important class of drug targets. This Review analyses drugs targeting ligands that have reached clinical development in the past three decades and discusses strategic issues such as the pros and cons of different ligand-targeting therapeutic modalities.
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| 5. |
- Ciuculete, Diana-Maria, et al.
(författare)
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meQTL and ncRNA functional analyses of 102 GWAS-SNPs associated with depression implicate HACE1 and SHANK2 genes
- 2020
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Ingår i: Clinical Epigenetics. - : BMC. - 1868-7083 .- 1868-7075. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Little is known about how genetics and epigenetics interplay in depression. Evidence suggests that genetic variants may change vulnerability to depression by modulating DNA methylation (DNAm) and non-coding RNA (ncRNA) levels. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the genetic variation, previously identified in the largest genome-wide association study for depression, on proximal DNAm and ncRNA levels. Results We performed DNAm quantitative trait locus (meQTL) analysis in two independent cohorts (totaln= 435 healthy individuals), testing associations between 102 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and DNAm levels in whole blood. We identified and replicated 64 SNP-CpG pairs (p(adj.)< 0.05) with meQTL effect. Lower DNAm at cg02098413 located in theHACE1promoter conferred by the risk allele (C allele) at rs1933802 was associated with higher risk for depression (p(raw)= 0.014, DNAm = 2.3%). In 1202 CD14+ cells sorted from blood, DNAm at cg02088412 positively correlated withHACE1mRNA expression. Investigation in postmortem brain tissue of adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) indicated 1% higher DNAm at cg02098413 in neurons and lowerHACE1mRNA expression in CA1 hippocampus of MDD patients compared with healthy controls (p= 0.008 and 0.012, respectively). Expression QTL analysis in blood of 74 adolescent revealed that hsa-miR-3664-5p was associated with rs7117514 (SHANK2) (p(adj.)= 0.015, mRNA difference = 5.2%). Gene ontology analysis of the miRNA target genes highlighted implication in neuronal processes. Conclusions Collectively, our findings from a multi-tissue (blood and brain) and multi-layered (genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic) approach suggest that genetic factors may influence depression by modulating DNAm and miRNA levels. Alterations atHACE1andSHANK2loci imply potential mechanisms, such as oxidative stress in the brain, underlying depression. Our results deepened the knowledge of molecular mechanisms in depression and suggest new epigenetic targets that should be further evaluated.
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| 6. |
- Hauser, Alexander S, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in GPCR drug discovery : new agents, targets and indications
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nature reviews. Drug discovery. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1474-1776 .- 1474-1784. ; 16:12, s. 829-842
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the most intensively studied drug targets, mostly due to their substantial involvement in human pathophysiology and their pharmacological tractability. Here, we report an up-to-date analysis of all GPCR drugs and agents in clinical trials, which reveals current trends across molecule types, drug targets and therapeutic indications, including showing that 475 drugs (~34% of all drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)) act at 108 unique GPCRs. Approximately 321 agents are currently in clinical trials, of which ~20% target 66 potentially novel GPCR targets without an approved drug, and the number of biological drugs, allosteric modulators and biased agonists has increased. The major disease indications for GPCR modulators show a shift towards diabetes, obesity and Alzheimer disease, although several central nervous system disorders are also highly represented. The 224 (56%) non-olfactory GPCRs that have not yet been explored in clinical trials have broad untapped therapeutic potential, particularly in genetic and immune system disorders. Finally, we provide an interactive online resource to analyse and infer trends in GPCR drug discovery.
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| 7. |
- Mohammad, Salahuddin, et al.
(författare)
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Well-being spectrum traits are associated with polygenic scores for autism
- 2023
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Ingår i: Autism Research. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1939-3792 .- 1939-3806. ; 16:10, s. 1891-1902
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to experience lower well-being as demonstrated mostly for children and adolescents in epidemiological studies. A further investigation of inclusive well-being, in terms of five well-being spectrum (5-WBS) traits including neuroticism, depression, loneliness, life satisfaction, and positive affect, among adults with ASD may deepen our understanding of their well-being, and lead to the possibility to further modify societal supportive mechanisms for individuals with ASD. This study aims to investigate if a genetic predisposition for ASD is associated with 5-WBS traits using polygenic risk score (PRS) analysis. PRS for ASD were calculated based on the latest genome-wide association study of ASD by the Psychiatric Genetics Consortium (18,381 cases, 27,969 controls) and were created in the independent cohort UK Biobank. Regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between ASD PRS and 5-WBS traits in the UK Biobank population including 337,423 individuals. ASD PRS were significantly associated with all 5-WBS traits, showing a positive association with the negative WBS traits, neuroticism (max R2 = 0.04%, p < 1 × 10−4), depression (max R2 = 0.06%, p < 1 × 10−4), loneliness (max R2 = 0.04%, p < 1 × 10−4), and a negative association with the positive WBS traits, life satisfaction (max R2 = 0.08%, p < 1 × 10−4), positive affect (max R2 = 0.10%, p < 1 × 10−4). The findings suggest that adults carrying a high load of risk single nucleotide peptides (SNPs) for ASD are more likely to report decreased well-being. The study demonstrates a considerable connection between susceptibility to ASD, its underlying genetic etiology and well-being.
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| 8. |
- Rask-Andersen, Mathias, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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The STK33-linked SNP rs4929949 is associated with obesity and BMI in two independent cohorts of Swedish and Greek children
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 8:8, s. e71353-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a locus on chromosome 11p15.5, closely associated with serine/threonine kinase 33 (STK33), to be associated with body mass. STK33, a relatively understudied protein, has been linked to KRAS mutation-driven cancers and explored as a potential antineoplastic drug target. The strongest association with body mass observed at this loci in GWAS was rs4929949, a single nucleotide polymorphism located within intron 1 of the gene encoding STK33. The functional implications of rs4929949 or related variants have not been explored as of yet. We have genotyped rs4929949 in two cohorts, an obesity case-control cohort of 991 Swedish children, and a cross-sectional cohort of 2308 Greek school children. We found that the minor allele of rs4929949 was associated with obesity in the cohort of Swedish children and adolescents (OR=1.199 (95%CI: 1.002 – 1.434), p= 0.047), and with body mass in the cross-sectional cohort of Greek children (β = 0.08147 (95% CI: 0.1345-0.1618), p = 0.021). We observe the effects of rs4929949 on body mass to be detectable already at adolescence. Subsequent analysis did not detect any association of rs4929949 to phenotypic measurements describing body adiposity or to metabolic factors such as insulin levels, triglycerides and insulin resistance (HOMA).
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| 9. |
- Rukh, Gull, et al.
(författare)
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Personality, lifestyle and job satisfaction : causal association between neuroticism and job satisfaction using Mendelian randomisation in the UK biobank cohort
- 2020
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Ingår i: Translational Psychiatry. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2158-3188. ; 10:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Job-related stress has been associated with poor health outcomes but little is known about the causal nature of these findings. We employed Mendelian randomisation (MR) approach to investigate the causal effect of neuroticism, education, and physical activity on job satisfaction. Trait-specific genetic risk score (GRS) based on recent genome wide association studies were used as instrumental variables (IV) using the UK Biobank cohort (N = 315,536). Both single variable and multivariable MR analyses were used to determine the effect of each trait on job satisfaction. We observed a clear evidence of a causal association between neuroticism and job satisfaction. In single variable MR, one standard deviation (1 SD) higher genetically determined neuroticism score (4.07 units) was associated with -0.31 units lower job satisfaction (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.38 to -0.24; P = 9.5 x 10(-20)). The causal associations remained significant after performing sensitivity analyses by excluding invalid genetic variants from GRS(Neuroticism) (beta(95%CI): -0.28(-0.35 to -0.21); P = 3.4 x 10(-15)). Education (0.02; -0.08 to 0.12; 0.67) and physical activity (0.08; -0.34 to 0.50; 0.70) did not show any evidence for causal association with job satisfaction. When genetic instruments for neuroticism, education and physical activity were included together, the association of neuroticism score with job satisfaction was reduced by only -0.01 units, suggesting an independent inverse causal association between neuroticism score (P = 2.7 x 10(-17)) and job satisfaction. Our findings show an independent causal association between neuroticism score and job satisfaction. Physically active lifestyle may help to increase job satisfaction despite presence of high neuroticism scores. Our study highlights the importance of considering the confounding effect of negative personality traits for studies on job satisfaction.
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| 10. |
- Solstrand Dahlberg, Linda, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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Adolescents Newly Diagnosed with Eating Disorders have Structural Differences in Brain Regions linked with Eating Disorder Symptoms
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nordic Journal of Psychiatry. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0803-9488 .- 1502-4725. ; 71:3, s. 188-196
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Adults with eating disorders (ED) show brain volume reductions in the frontal, insular, cingulate, and parietal cortices, as well as differences in subcortical regions associated with reward processing. However, little is known about the structural differences in adolescents with behavioural indications of early stage ED.Aim: This is the first study to investigate structural brain changes in adolescents newly diagnosed with ED compared to healthy controls (HC), and to study whether ED cognitions correlate with structural changes in adolescents with ED of short duration.Methods: Fifteen adolescent females recently diagnosed with ED, and 28 age-matched HC individuals, were scanned with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Whole-brain and region-of-interest analyses were conducted using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). ED cognitions were measured with self-report questionnaires and working memory performance was measured with a neuropsychological computerized test.Results and conclusions: The left superior temporal gyrus had a smaller volume in adolescents with ED than in HC, which correlated with ED cognitions (concerns about eating, weight, and shape). Working memory reaction time correlated positively with insula volumes in ED participants, but not HC. In ED, measurements of restraint and obsession was negatively correlated with temporal gyrus volumes, and positively correlated with cerebellar and striatal volumes. Thus, adolescents with a recent diagnosis of ED had volumetric variations in brain areas linked to ED cognitions, obsessions, and working memory. The findings emphasize the importance of early identification of illness, before potential long-term effects on structure and behaviour occur.
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