| 1. |
- Broadaway, K Alaine, et al.
(författare)
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Loci for insulin processing and secretion provide insight into type 2 diabetes risk.
- 2023
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Ingår i: American Journal of Human Genetics. - : Elsevier. - 0002-9297 .- 1537-6605. ; 110:2, s. 284-299
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Insulin secretion is critical for glucose homeostasis, and increased levels of the precursor proinsulin relative to insulin indicate pancreatic islet beta-cell stress and insufficient insulin secretory capacity in the setting of insulin resistance. We conducted meta-analyses of genome-wide association results for fasting proinsulin from 16 European-ancestry studies in 45,861 individuals. We found 36 independent signals at 30 loci (p value < 5 × 10-8), which validated 12 previously reported loci for proinsulin and ten additional loci previously identified for another glycemic trait. Half of the alleles associated with higher proinsulin showed higher rather than lower effects on glucose levels, corresponding to different mechanisms. Proinsulin loci included genes that affect prohormone convertases, beta-cell dysfunction, vesicle trafficking, beta-cell transcriptional regulation, and lysosomes/autophagy processes. We colocalized 11 proinsulin signals with islet expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) data, suggesting candidate genes, including ARSG, WIPI1, SLC7A14, and SIX3. The NKX6-3/ANK1 proinsulin signal colocalized with a T2D signal and an adipose ANK1 eQTL signal but not the islet NKX6-3 eQTL. Signals were enriched for islet enhancers, and we showed a plausible islet regulatory mechanism for the lead signal in the MADD locus. These results show how detailed genetic studies of an intermediate phenotype can elucidate mechanisms that may predispose one to disease.
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| 2. |
- Guida, Florence, et al.
(författare)
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The blood metabolome of incident kidney cancer: A case-control study nested within the MetKid consortium
- 2021
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Ingår i: PLoS Medicine. - : Public Library of Science (PLOS). - 1549-1277 .- 1549-1676. ; 18:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Excess bodyweight and related metabolic perturbations have been implicated in kidney cancer aetiology, but the specific molecular mechanisms underlying these relationships are poorly understood. In this study, we sought to identify circulating metabolites that predispose kidney cancer and to evaluate the extent to which they are influenced by body mass index (BMI).Methods and findings: We assessed the association between circulating levels of 1,416 metabolites and incident kidney cancer using pre-diagnostic blood samples from up to 1,305 kidney cancer case–control pairs from 5 prospective cohort studies. Cases were diagnosed on average 8 years after blood collection. We found 25 metabolites robustly associated with kidney cancer risk. In particular, 14 glycerophospholipids (GPLs) were inversely associated with risk, including 8 phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and 2 plasmalogens. The PC with the strongest association was PC ae C34:3 with an odds ratio (OR) for 1 standard deviation (SD) increment of 0.75 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.68 to 0.83, p = 2.6 × 10−8). In contrast, 4 amino acids, including glutamate (OR for 1 SD = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.60, p = 1.6 × 10−5), were positively associated with risk. Adjusting for BMI partly attenuated the risk association for some—but not all—metabolites, whereas other known risk factors of kidney cancer, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, had minimal impact on the observed associations. A mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis of the influence of BMI on the blood metabolome highlighted that some metabolites associated with kidney cancer risk are influenced by BMI. Specifically, elevated BMI appeared to decrease levels of several GPLs that were also found inversely associated with kidney cancer risk (e.g., −0.17 SD change [ßBMI] in 1-(1-enyl-palmitoyl)-2-linoleoyl-GPC (P-16:0/18:2) levels per SD change in BMI, p = 3.4 × 10−5). BMI was also associated with increased levels of glutamate (ßBMI: 0.12, p = 1.5 × 10−3). While our results were robust across the participating studies, they were limited to study participants of European descent, and it will, therefore, be important to evaluate if our findings can be generalised to populations with different genetic backgrounds.Conclusions: This study suggests a potentially important role of the blood metabolome in kidney cancer aetiology by highlighting a wide range of metabolites associated with the risk of developing kidney cancer and the extent to which changes in levels of these metabolites are driven by BMI - the principal modifiable risk factor of kidney cancer.
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| 3. |
- Emery-Corbin, Samantha J., et al.
(författare)
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Eukaryote-conserved histone post-translational modification landscape in Giardia duodenalis revealed by mass spectrometry
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Parasitology. - : Elsevier. - 0020-7519 .- 1879-0135. ; 51:4, s. 225-239
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Diarrheal disease caused by Giardia duodenalis is highly prevalent, causing over 200 million cases globally each year. The processes that drive parasite virulence, host immune evasion and transmission involve coordinated gene expression and have been linked to epigenetic regulation. Epigenetic regulatory systems are eukaryote-conserved, including in deep branching excavates such as Giardia, with several studies already implicating histone post-translational modifications in regulation of its pathogenesis and life cycle. However, further insights into Giardia chromatin dynamics have been hindered by a lack of site-specific knowledge of histone modifications. Using mass spectrometry, we have provided the first known molecular map of histone methylation, acetylation and phosphorylation modifications in Giardia core histones. We have identified over 50 previously unreported histone modifications including sites with established roles in epigenetic regulation, and co-occurring modifications indicative of post-translational modification crosstalk. These demonstrate conserved histone modifications in Giardia which are equivalent to many other eukaryotes, and suggest that similar epigenetic mechanisms are in place in this parasite. Further, we used sequence, domain and structural homology to annotate putative histone enzyme networks in Giardia, highlighting representative chromatin modifiers which appear sufficient for identified sites, particularly those from H3 and H4 variants. This study is to our knowledge the first and most comprehensive, complete and accurate view of Giardia histone post-translational modifications to date, and a substantial step towards understanding their associations in parasite development and virulence.
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