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| 2. |
- Gowin, Joshua L., et al.
(författare)
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The Effect of Varenicline on the Neural Processing of Fearful Faces and the Subjective Effects of Alcohol in Heavy Drinkers
- 2016
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Ingår i: Alcoholism. - : WILEY-BLACKWELL. - 0145-6008 .- 1530-0277. ; 40:5, s. 979-987
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder have been shown to reduce hazardous drinking and improve overall health. The effect sizes for the effectiveness of these medications, however, are small, underscoring the need to expand the range of therapeutics and develop personalized treatment approaches. Recent studies have suggested that varenicline, an 42-nicotinic partial agonist widely used for smoking cessation, can help alcoholics reduce drinking, but the neurocognitive underpinnings of its effectiveness remain largely unexplored. Methods: In this double-blind study, 32 heavy drinkers were randomized to receive varenicline (2 mg/d) or placebo. After 2 weeks of dosing, participants underwent functional MRI scans, during which they viewed images of faces with either neutral or fearful expressions at baseline and following an intravenous alcohol infusion to a target breath alcohol concentration of 80 mg%. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response was analyzed with Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging software. Linear mixed-effects models were used to examine the effects of facial expression (fearful vs. neutral) and medication (placebo vs. varenicline) on BOLD response. The effect of medication on measures of subjective response to alcohol was also examined. Results: Results indicated a significant facial expression-by-medication interaction in the left amygdala. The groups showed equivalent activation to neutral faces, but, whereas the placebo group showed increased activation to fearful faces, the varenicline group showed no change in activation. Amygdala activation to fearful faces correlated with number of drinks in the previous 90 days and Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale scores. There was no effect of varenicline on subjective response to alcohol. Conclusions: Our results indicate that varenicline may disrupt amygdala response to fearful faces in heavy drinkers. Further, amygdala activation correlated with alcohol consumption, suggesting that the effects of varenicline may be related to aspects of drinking behavior. These results suggest that amygdala response to fearful faces may be developed as a biomarker of the effectiveness of medications being developed for the treatment of alcohol use disorder.
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| 3. |
- Grönwall, Caroline, et al.
(författare)
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A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Relationship Between Different IgG and IgA Anti-Modified Protein Autoantibodies in Rheumatoid Arthritis
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Immunology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-3224. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by the presence of rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated protein autoantibodies (ACPA) with different fine-specificities. Yet, other serum anti-modified protein autoantibodies (AMPA), e.g. anti-carbamylated (Carb), -acetylated (KAc), and malondialdehyde acetaldehyde (MAA) modified protein antibodies, have been described. In this comprehensive study, we analyze 30 different IgG and IgA AMPA reactivities to Cit, Carb, KAc, and MAA antigens detected by ELISA and autoantigen arrays in N=1985 newly diagnosed RA patients. Association with patient characteristics such as smoking and disease activity were explored. Carb and KAc reactivities by different assays were primarily seen in patients also positive for anti-citrulline reactivity. Modified vimentin (mod-Vim) peptides were used for direct comparison of different AMPA reactivities, revealing that IgA AMPA recognizing mod-Vim was mainly detected in subsets of patients with high IgG anti-Cit-Vim levels and a history of smoking. IgG reactivity to acetylation was mainly detected in a subset of patients with Cit and Carb reactivity. Anti-acetylated histone reactivity was RA-specific and associated with high anti-CCP2 IgG levels, multiple ACPA fine-specificities, and smoking status. This reactivity was also found to be present in CCP2+ RA-risk individuals without arthritis. Our data further demonstrate that IgG autoreactivity to MAA was increased in RA compared to controls with highest levels in CCP2+ RA, but was not RA-specific, and showed low correlation with other AMPA. Anti-MAA was instead associated with disease activity and was not significantly increased in CCP2+ individuals at risk of RA. Notably, RA patients could be subdivided into four different subsets based on their AMPA IgG and IgA reactivity profiles. Our serology results were complemented by screening of monoclonal antibodies derived from single B cells from RA patients for the same antigens as the RA cohort. Certain CCP2+ clones had Carb or Carb+KAc+ multireactivity, while such reactivities were not found in CCP2- clones. We conclude that autoantibodies exhibiting different patterns of ACPA fine-specificities as well as Carb and KAc reactivity are present in RA and may be derived from multireactive B-cell clones. Carb and KAc could be considered reactivities within the "Cit-umbrella" similar to ACPA fine-specificities, while MAA reactivity is distinctly different.
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| 4. |
- Joshua, Vijay
(författare)
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Antibody-associated inflammation in and outside the joint in rheumatoid arthritis
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by pain, chronic inflammation and joint destruction. Epidemiological investigations in large populationbased cohorts have identified both genetic (such as HLA-DRB1 Shared epitope, SE) and environmental (such as smoking) risk factors for the development of RA. One of the hallmarks of the disease is the presence of antibodies against a large array of citrullinated proteins (anti citrullinated protein antibodies, ACPA), which are present years before the onset of clinical symptoms. These findings suggest that RA-associated autoimmunity might be initiated somewhere else than the joints, possibly at the mucosal surfaces of the lungs. In the current thesis we aimed to investigate immunological events in the lungs contributing to ACPA generation and to identify novel targets for these antibodies. Presence of ACPA associates with parenchymal lung abnormalities (as detected by high resolution computed tomography, HRCT) in early-untreated RA. Recognition of more than one citrullinated target by ACPA and specifically recognition of citrullinated fibrinogen peptides increases the odds of detecting HRCT lung abnormalities. Beside HRCT abnormalities, significantly decreased microbial richness and diversity is present in the bronchoalveolar lavage of early-untreated RA patients as compared to healthy volunteers. Interestingly, a similar microbiota dysbiosis is also detected in the presence of overt lung inflammation in the bronchoalveolar lavage of patients with lung sarcoidosis, suggesting that similar inflammatory mechanisms might be active in both lung sarcoidosis and RA. To further explore the possibility that changes in the lungs contribute to generation of autoimmunity in RA, we investigated the presence of citrullinated targets in the mucosal biopsies of early-untreated RA. We identified several novel citrullinated targets, with two citrullinated vimentin peptides detected in a majority of the biopsies. Interestingly these two peptides were also identified in the inflamed synovial tissues of RA patients showing that shared immunological targets are present in the lungs and joints in RA patients. Antibodies against these novel targets were detectable in RA patients suggesting that they could act as immunological targets during disease development. Using a similar approach, we further screened for antibody-reactivity against novel citrullinated targets identified in the synovial fluid of RA patients. Several citrullinated fibrinogen peptides specifically reacted with the antibodies in RA serum, with varying proportion of reactivity for each of these peptides. Interestingly, these antibodies differ from the classical ACPA being associated with the PTPN22 risk allele but not with the HLA-DRB1 SE. As such RA patients carrying the PTPN22 risk allele displayed higher proportion of B cells reacting with citrullinated fibrinogen loaded B cell antigen tetramers than those lacking the risk allele. In conclusion, we provide evidence for a pathogenic link between early events in the lungs and autoimmunity in RA and identify several novel immunological targets for this autoimmunity. Our studies contribute to the understanding of the longitudinal development of RA, opening the possibility for future targeting of early pathogenic events in order to delay and/or prevent the disease.
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| 5. |
- Joshua, Vijay, et al.
(författare)
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Antibody responses to de novo identified citrullinated fibrinogen peptides in rheumatoid arthritis and visualization of the corresponding B cells
- 2016
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Ingår i: ARTHRITIS RESEARCH & THERAPY. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1478-6354 .- 1478-6362. ; 18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Antibodies against citrullinated proteins (ACPA) are common in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ACPA can appear before disease onset and target many self-antigens. Citrullinated fibrin/fibrinogen represents a classical ACPA target antigen, and mass spectrometry of RA synovial fluid reveals elevated citrullinated (cit) fibrinogen (Fib) peptides compared to non-RA controls. We investigated the extent to which these less-studied peptides represent autoantibody targets and sought to visualize the corresponding cit-Fib-reactive B cells in RA patients. Methods: An in-house ELISA was established against four cit-Fib alpha-subunit peptides (cit-Fib alpha-35; cit-Fib alpha-216,218; cit-Fib alpha-263,271 and cit-Fib alpha-425,426) and serum from patients with established RA (n = 347) and disease controls with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) or ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (n = 236) were analyzed. RA patients were genotyped for HLA-DR alleles, PTPN22 R620W and screened for anti-CCP2 and cit-Fib protein antibodies. The cit-Fib peptides were also used to assemble antigen tetramers to identify cit-Fib-reactive B cells in peripheral blood by flow cytometry. Results: The frequencies of autoantibodies against different cit-Fib epitopes in RA patients compared to PsA/AS patients were: cit-Fib alpha-35 (RA 20%, vs PsA/AS 1%); cit-Fib alpha-216,218 (13% vs 0.5%); cit-Fib alpha-263,271 (21% vs 0.5%) and cit-Fib alpha-425,426 (17% vs 1%). The presence of autoantibodies against these peptides was associated with presence of anti-CCP2 and anti-cit-Fib protein antibodies. No association was found between HLA-DR shared epitope and antibodies to the different cit-Fib peptides. However, association was observed between the PTPN22 risk allele and positivity to cit-Fib alpha-35 and cit-Fib alpha-263,271. B cells carrying surface Ig reactive to these cit-Fib peptides were found in RA peripheral blood and these tend to be more common in PTPN22 risk allele carriers. Conclusions: Our data show that several cit-Fib peptides are targeted by autoantibodies in RA, but not in PsA/AS, implicating that these are not due to arthritis but more specific for RA etiology. The RA-associated anti-cit protein response is broad with many parallel immune responses. The association between cit-Fib autoantibodies and the PTPN22 R620W risk allele supports the hypothesis of altered B cell regulation, such as autoreactive B cells evading tolerance checkpoints.
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| 9. |
- Kim, Min Seo, et al.
(författare)
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Global burden of peripheral artery disease and its risk factors, 1990-2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
- 2023
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Ingår i: The Lancet Global Health. - : Elsevier. - 2214-109X. ; 11:10, s. E1553-E1565
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Peripheral artery disease is a growing public health problem. We aimed to estimate the global disease burden of peripheral artery disease, its risk factors, and temporospatial trends to inform policy and public measures.Methods: Data on peripheral artery disease were modelled using the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 database. Prevalence, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and mortality estimates of peripheral artery disease were extracted from GBD 2019. Total DALYs and age-standardised DALY rate of peripheral artery disease attributed to modifiable risk factors were also assessed.Findings: In 2019, the number of people aged 40 years and older with peripheral artery disease was 113 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 99 center dot 2-128 center dot 4), with a global prevalence of 1 center dot 52% (95% UI 1 center dot 33-1 center dot 72), of which 42 center dot 6% was in countries with low to middle Socio-demographic Index (SDI). The global prevalence of peripheral artery disease was higher in older people, (14 center dot 91% [12 center dot 41-17 center dot 87] in those aged 80-84 years), and was generally higher in females than in males. Globally, the total number of DALYs attributable to modifiable risk factors in 2019 accounted for 69 center dot 4% (64 center dot 2-74 center dot 3) of total peripheral artery disease DALYs. The prevalence of peripheral artery disease was highest in countries with high SDI and lowest in countries with low SDI, whereas DALY and mortality rates showed U-shaped curves, with the highest burden in the high and low SDI quintiles.Interpretation: The total number of people with peripheral artery disease has increased globally from 1990 to 2019. Despite the lower prevalence of peripheral artery disease in males and low-income countries, these groups showed similar DALY rates to females and higher-income countries, highlighting disproportionate burden in these groups. Modifiable risk factors were responsible for around 70% of the global peripheral artery disease burden. Public measures could mitigate the burden of peripheral artery disease by modifying risk factors.
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