| 1. |
- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(författare)
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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy
- 2012
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Ingår i: Autophagy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1554-8635 .- 1554-8627. ; 8:4, s. 445-544
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.
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| 2. |
- Sampson, Joshua N., et al.
(författare)
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Analysis of Heritability and Shared Heritability Based on Genome-Wide Association Studies for 13 Cancer Types
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0027-8874 .- 1460-2105. ; 107:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Studies of related individuals have consistently demonstrated notable familial aggregation of cancer. We aim to estimate the heritability and genetic correlation attributable to the additive effects of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for cancer at 13 anatomical sites. Methods: Between 2007 and 2014, the US National Cancer Institute has generated data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for 49 492 cancer case patients and 34 131 control patients. We apply novel mixed model methodology (GCTA) to this GWAS data to estimate the heritability of individual cancers, as well as the proportion of heritability attributable to cigarette smoking in smoking-related cancers, and the genetic correlation between pairs of cancers. Results: GWAS heritability was statistically significant at nearly all sites, with the estimates of array-based heritability, h(l)(2), on the liability threshold (LT) scale ranging from 0.05 to 0.38. Estimating the combined heritability of multiple smoking characteristics, we calculate that at least 24% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 14% to 37%) and 7% (95% CI = 4% to 11%) of the heritability for lung and bladder cancer, respectively, can be attributed to genetic determinants of smoking. Most pairs of cancers studied did not show evidence of strong genetic correlation. We found only four pairs of cancers with marginally statistically significant correlations, specifically kidney and testes (rho = 0.73, SE = 0.28), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and pediatric osteosarcoma (rho = 0.53, SE = 0.21), DLBCL and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (rho = 0.51, SE = 0.18), and bladder and lung (rho = 0.35, SE = 0.14). Correlation analysis also indicates that the genetic architecture of lung cancer differs between a smoking population of European ancestry and a nonsmoking Asian population, allowing for the possibility that the genetic etiology for the same disease can vary by population and environmental exposures. Conclusion: Our results provide important insights into the genetic architecture of cancers and suggest new avenues for investigation.
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| 3. |
- Wang, Zhaoming, et al.
(författare)
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Imputation and subset-based association analysis across different cancer types identifies multiple independent risk loci in the TERT-CLPTM1L region on chromosome 5p15.33
- 2014
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 23:24, s. 6616-6633
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have mapped risk alleles for at least 10 distinct cancers to a small region of 63 000 bp on chromosome 5p15.33. This region harbors the TERT and CLPTM1L genes; the former encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase reverse transcriptase and the latter may play a role in apoptosis. To investigate further the genetic architecture of common susceptibility alleles in this region, we conducted an agnostic subset-based meta-analysis (association analysis based on subsets) across six distinct cancers in 34 248 cases and 45 036 controls. Based on sequential conditional analysis, we identified as many as six independent risk loci marked by common single-nucleotide polymorphisms: five in the TERT gene (Region 1: rs7726159, P = 2.10 × 10(-39); Region 3: rs2853677, P = 3.30 × 10(-36) and PConditional = 2.36 × 10(-8); Region 4: rs2736098, P = 3.87 × 10(-12) and PConditional = 5.19 × 10(-6), Region 5: rs13172201, P = 0.041 and PConditional = 2.04 × 10(-6); and Region 6: rs10069690, P = 7.49 × 10(-15) and PConditional = 5.35 × 10(-7)) and one in the neighboring CLPTM1L gene (Region 2: rs451360; P = 1.90 × 10(-18) and PConditional = 7.06 × 10(-16)). Between three and five cancers mapped to each independent locus with both risk-enhancing and protective effects. Allele-specific effects on DNA methylation were seen for a subset of risk loci, indicating that methylation and subsequent effects on gene expression may contribute to the biology of risk variants on 5p15.33. Our results provide strong support for extensive pleiotropy across this region of 5p15.33, to an extent not previously observed in other cancer susceptibility loci.
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| 4. |
- Yoo, Taekyeong, et al.
(författare)
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Disease-specific eQTL screening reveals an anti-fibrotic effect of AGXT2 in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of hepatology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1600-0641 .- 0168-8278. ; 75:3, s. 514-523
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) poses an impending clinical burden. Genome-wide association studies have revealed a limited contribution of genomic variants to the disease, requiring alternative but robust approaches to identify disease-associated variants and genes. We carried out a disease-specific expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) screen to identify novel genetic factors that specifically act on NAFLD progression on the basis of genotype.We recruited 125 Korean biopsy-proven NAFLD patients and healthy individuals and performed eQTL analyses using 21,272 transcripts and 3,234,941 genotyped and imputed SNPs. We then selected eQTLs that were detected only in the NAFLD group, but not in the control group (i.e., NAFLD-eQTLs). An additional cohort of 162 Korean NAFLD individuals was used for replication. The function of the selected eQTL toward NAFLD development was validated using HepG2, primary hepatocytes and NAFLD mouse models.The NAFLD-specific eQTL screening yielded 242 loci. Among them, AGXT2, encoding alanine-glyoxylate aminotransferase 2, displayed decreased expression in NAFLD patients homozygous for the non-reference allele of rs2291702, compared to no-NAFLD subjects with the same genotype (P = 4.79 × 10-6). This change was replicated in an additional 162 individuals, yielding a combined P-value of 8.05 × 10-8 from a total of 245 NAFLD patients and 48 controls. Knockdown of AGXT2 induced palmitate-overloaded hepatocyte death by increasing ER stress, and exacerbated NAFLD diet-induced liver fibrosis in mice. However, overexpression of AGXT2 reversely attenuated liver fibrosis and steatosis as well.We implicate a new molecular role of AGXT2 in NAFLD. Our overall approach will serve as an efficient tool for uncovering novel genetic factors that contribute to liver steatosis and fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.Elucidating causal genes for NAFLD has been challenging due to limited tissue availability and the polygenic nature of the disease. Using liver and blood samples from 125 biopsy-proven NAFLD and no-NAFLD Korean individuals and an additional 162 individuals for replication, we devised a new analytic method to identify causal genes. Among the candidates, we found that AGXT2-rs2291702 protects against liver fibrosis in a genotype-dependent manner with the potential for therapeutic interventions. Our approach enables the discovery of NAFLD causal genes that act on the basis of genotype.
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| 5. |
- Jeon, Iksoo, et al.
(författare)
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Neuronal Properties, In Vivo Effects, and Pathology of a Huntington's Disease Patient-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
- 2012
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Ingår i: Stem Cells. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1549-4918 .- 1066-5099. ; 30:9, s. 2054-2062
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from somatic cells of patients can be used to model different human diseases. They may also serve as sources of transplantable cells that can be used in novel cell therapies. Here, we analyzed neuronal properties of an iPSC line derived from a patient with a juvenile form of Huntington's disease (HD) carrying 72 CAG repeats (HD-iPSC). Although its initial neural inducing activity was lower than that of human embryonic stem cells, we found that HD-iPSC can give rise to GABAergic striatal neurons, the neuronal cell type that is most susceptible to degeneration in HD. We then transplanted HD-iPSC-derived neural precursors into a rat model of HD with a unilateral excitotoxic striatal lesion and observed a significant behavioral recovery in the grafted rats. Interestingly, during our in vitro culture and when the grafts were examined at 12 weeks after transplantation, no aggregate formation was detected. However, when the culture was treated with a proteasome inhibitor (MG132) or when the cells engrafted into neonatal brains were analyzed at 33 weeks, there were clear signs of HD pathology. Taken together, these results indicate that, although HD-iPSC carrying 72 CAG repeats can form GABAergic neurons and give rise to functional effects in vivo, without showing an overt HD phenotype, it is highly susceptible to proteasome inhibition and develops HD pathology at later stages of transplantation. These unique features of HD-iPSC will serve as useful tools to study HD pathology and develop novel therapeutics. Stem Cells 2012; 30: 20542062
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| 6. |
- Marras, Alessandro, et al.
(författare)
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Percival : A soft x-ray imager for synchrotron rings and free electron lasers
- 2019
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Ingår i: AIP Conference Proceedings. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 0094-243X. - 9780735417823
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we are presenting the Percival detector, a monolithic CMOS Imager for detection of soft x-rays in Synchrotron Rings and Free Electron Lasers. The imager consists in a 2D array of many (2M) small (27um pitch) pixels, without dead or blind zones in the imaging area. The imager achieves low noise and high dynamic range by means of an adaptive-gain in-pixel circuitry, that has been validated on prototypes. The imager features on-chip Analogue-to-Digital conversion to 12+1 bits, and has a readout speed which is compatible with most of Free Electron Laser Facilities. For direct detection of low-energy x-rays, the imager is back-illuminated and post-processed to achieve 100% fill factor.
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