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. |
- Blunden, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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State of the Climate in 2012
- 2013
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Ingår i: Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS). - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 94:8, s. S1-S258
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for northeastern Brazil. Central North America also experienced one of its most severe droughts on record. The Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and it was the Sahel's wettest rainy season in 50 years. Overall, the 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces ranked among the 10 warmest years on record. The global land surface temperature alone was also among the 10 warmest on record. In the upper atmosphere, the average stratospheric temperature was record or near-record cold, depending on the dataset. After a 30-year warming trend from 1970 to 1999 for global sea surface temperatures, the period 2000-12 had little further trend. This may be linked to the prevalence of La Ni a-like conditions during the 21st century. Heat content in the upper 700 m of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Net increases from 2011 to 2012 were observed at 700-m to 2000-m depth and even in the abyssal ocean below. Following sharp decreases in to the effects of La Ni a, sea levels rebounded to reach records highs in 2012. The increased hydrological cycle seen in recent years continued, with more evaporation in drier locations and more precipitation in rainy areas. In a pattern that has held since 2004, salty areas of the ocean surfaces and subsurfaces were anomalously salty on average, while fresher areas were anomalously fresh. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity. In this basin, Sandy brought devastation to Cuba and parts of the eastern North American seaboard. All other basins experienced either near-or below-normal tropical cyclone activity. Only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity-all in Bopha became the only storm in the historical record to produce winds greater than 130 kt south of 7 N. It was also the costliest storm to affect the Philippines and killed more than 1000 residents. Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June both reached new record lows. June snow cover extent is now declining at a faster rate (-17.6% per decade) than September sea ice extent (-13.0% per decade). Permafrost temperatures reached record high values in northernmost Alaska. A new melt extent record occurred on 11-12 July on the Greenland ice sheet; 97% of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt for this time of year. The climate in Antarctica was relatively stable overall. The largest maximum sea ice extent since records begain in 1978 was observed in September 2012. In the stratosphere, warm air led to the second smallest ozone hole in the past two decades. Even so, the springtime ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060. Following a slight decline associated with the global 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record 9.5 +/- 0.5 Pg C in 2011 and a new record of 9.7 +/- 0.5 Pg C is estimated for 2012. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, to 392.6 ppm. In spring 2012, 2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at 7 of the 13 Arctic observation sites. Globally, other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 32% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Concentrations of most ozone depleting substances continued to fall.
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3. |
- Antoniou, Antonis C., et al.
(författare)
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A locus on 19p13 modifies risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 mutation carriers and is associated with hormone receptor-negative breast cancer in the general population
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 42:10, s. 885-892
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Germline BRCA1 mutations predispose to breast cancer. To identify genetic modifiers of this risk, we performed a genome-wide association study in 1,193 individuals with BRCA1 mutations who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer under age 40 and 1,190 BRCA1 carriers without breast cancer diagnosis over age 35. We took forward 96 SNPs for replication in another 5,986 BRCA1 carriers (2,974 individuals with breast cancer and 3,012 unaffected individuals). Five SNPs on 19p13 were associated with breast cancer risk (P-trend = 2.3 x 10(-9) to Ptrend = 3.9 x 10(-7)), two of which showed independent associations (rs8170, hazard ratio (HR) = 1.26, 95% CI 1.17-1.35; rs2363956 HR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.80-0.89). Genotyping these SNPs in 6,800 population-based breast cancer cases and 6,613 controls identified a similar association with estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer (rs2363956 per-allele odds ratio (OR) = 0.83, 95% CI 0.75-0.92, P-trend = 0.0003) and an association with estrogen receptor-positive disease in the opposite direction (OR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.01-1.14, P-trend = 0.016). The five SNPs were also associated with triple-negative breast cancer in a separate study of 2,301 triple-negative cases and 3,949 controls (Ptrend = 1 x 10(-7) to Ptrend = 8 x 10(-5); rs2363956 per-allele OR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.74-0.87, P-trend = 1.1 x 10(-7)).
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4. |
- Ding, Yuan C, et al.
(författare)
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A nonsynonymous polymorphism in IRS1 modifies risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers in BRCA1 and ovarian cancer in BRCA2 mutation carriers
- 2012
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Ingår i: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. - : American Association for Cancer Research. - 1055-9965 .- 1538-7755. ; 21:8, s. 1362-1370
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: We previously reported significant associations between genetic variants in insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) and breast cancer risk in women carrying BRCA1 mutations. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether the IRS1 variants modified ovarian cancer risk and were associated with breast cancer risk in a larger cohort of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.METHODS: IRS1 rs1801123, rs1330645, and rs1801278 were genotyped in samples from 36 centers in the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA). Data were analyzed by a retrospective cohort approach modeling the associations with breast and ovarian cancer risks simultaneously. Analyses were stratified by BRCA1 and BRCA2 status and mutation class in BRCA1 carriers.RESULTS: Rs1801278 (Gly972Arg) was associated with ovarian cancer risk for both BRCA1 (HR, 1.43; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06-1.92; P = 0.019) and BRCA2 mutation carriers (HR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.39-3.52, P = 0.0008). For BRCA1 mutation carriers, the breast cancer risk was higher in carriers with class II mutations than class I mutations (class II HR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.28-2.70; class I HR, 0.86; 95%CI, 0.69-1.09; P(difference), 0.0006). Rs13306465 was associated with ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 class II mutation carriers (HR, 2.42; P = 0.03).CONCLUSION: The IRS1 Gly972Arg single-nucleotide polymorphism, which affects insulin-like growth factor and insulin signaling, modifies ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and breast cancer risk in BRCA1 class II mutation carriers.Impact: These findings may prove useful for risk prediction for breast and ovarian cancers in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.
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5. |
- Anney, Richard, et al.
(författare)
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A genome-wide scan for common alleles affecting risk for autism.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 19:20, s. 4072-4082
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have a substantial genetic basis, most of the known genetic risk has been traced to rare variants, principally copy number variants (CNVs). To identify common risk variation, the Autism Genome Project (AGP) Consortium genotyped 1558 rigorously defined ASD families for 1 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and analyzed these SNP genotypes for association with ASD. In one of four primary association analyses, the association signal for marker rs4141463, located within MACROD2, crossed the genome-wide association significance threshold of P < 5 × 10(-8). When a smaller replication sample was analyzed, the risk allele at rs4141463 was again over-transmitted; yet, consistent with the winner's curse, its effect size in the replication sample was much smaller; and, for the combined samples, the association signal barely fell below the P < 5 × 10(-8) threshold. Exploratory analyses of phenotypic subtypes yielded no significant associations after correction for multiple testing. They did, however, yield strong signals within several genes, KIAA0564, PLD5, POU6F2, ST8SIA2 and TAF1C.
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6. |
- Arridge, Christopher S., et al.
(författare)
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Uranus Pathfinder : exploring the origins and evolution of Ice Giant planets
- 2012
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Ingår i: Experimental astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 33:2-3, s. 753-791
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The "Ice Giants" Uranus and Neptune are a different class of planet compared to Jupiter and Saturn. Studying these objects is important for furthering our understanding of the formation and evolution of the planets, and unravelling the fundamental physical and chemical processes in the Solar System. The importance of filling these gaps in our knowledge of the Solar System is particularly acute when trying to apply our understanding to the numerous planetary systems that have been discovered around other stars. The Uranus Pathfinder (UP) mission thus represents the quintessential aspects of the objectives of the European planetary community as expressed in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025. UP was proposed to the European Space Agency's M3 call for medium-class missions in 2010 and proposed to be the first orbiter of an Ice Giant planet. As the most accessible Ice Giant within the M-class mission envelope Uranus was identified as the mission target. Although not selected for this call the UP mission concept provides a baseline framework for the exploration of Uranus with existing low-cost platforms and underlines the need to develop power sources suitable for the outer Solar System. The UP science case is based around exploring the origins, evolution, and processes at work in Ice Giant planetary systems. Three broad themes were identified: (1) Uranus as an Ice Giant, (2) An Ice Giant planetary system, and (3) An asymmetric magnetosphere. Due to the long interplanetary transfer from Earth to Uranus a significant cruise-phase science theme was also developed. The UP mission concept calls for the use of a Mars Express/Rosetta-type platform to launch on a Soyuz-Fregat in 2021 and entering into an eccentric polar orbit around Uranus in the 2036-2037 timeframe. The science payload has a strong heritage in Europe and beyond and requires no significant technology developments.
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7. |
- Gaudet, Mia M., et al.
(författare)
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Common Genetic Variants and Modification of Penetrance of BRCA2-Associated Breast Cancer
- 2010
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Ingår i: PLoS Genetics. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7404. ; 6:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The considerable uncertainty regarding cancer risks associated with inherited mutations of BRCA2 is due to unknown factors. To investigate whether common genetic variants modify penetrance for BRCA2 mutation carriers, we undertook a two-staged genome-wide association study in BRCA2 mutation carriers. In stage 1 using the Affymetrix 6.0 platform, 592,163 filtered SNPs genotyped were available on 899 young (, 40 years) affected and 804 unaffected carriers of European ancestry. Associations were evaluated using a survival-based score test adjusted for familial correlations and stratified by country of the study and BRCA2*6174delT mutation status. The genomic inflation factor (lambda) was 1.011. The stage 1 association analysis revealed multiple variants associated with breast cancer risk: 3 SNPs had p-values, 10 25 and 39 SNPs had p-values<10(-4). These variants included several previously associated with sporadic breast cancer risk and two novel loci on chromosome 20 (rs311499) and chromosome 10 (rs16917302). The chromosome 10 locus was in ZNF365, which contains another variant that has recently been associated with breast cancer in an independent study of unselected cases. In stage 2, the top 85 loci from stage 1 were genotyped in 1,264 cases and 1,222 controls. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for stage 1 and 2 were combined and estimated using a retrospective likelihood approach, stratified by country of residence and the most common mutation, BRCA2*6174delT. The combined per allele HR of the minor allele for the novel loci rs16917302 was 0.75 (95% CI 0.66-0.86, p = 3: 8 x 10(-5)) and for rs311499 was 0.72 (95% CI 0.61-0.85, p = 6: 6 x 10(-5)). FGFR2 rs2981575 had the strongest association with breast cancer risk (per allele HR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.18-1.39, p = 1: 2 x 10(-8)). These results indicate that SNPs that modify BRCA2 penetrance identified by an agnostic approach thus far are limited to variants that also modify risk of sporadic BRCA2 wild-type breast cancer.
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8. |
- Anney, Richard, et al.
(författare)
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Individual common variants exert weak effects on the risk for autism spectrum disorders.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 21:21, s. 4781-92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While it is apparent that rare variation can play an important role in the genetic architecture of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the contribution of common variation to ASD risk is less clear. To produce a more comprehensive picture, we report Stage 2 of the Autism Genome Project genome-wide association study, adding 1301 ASD families and bringing the total to 2705 families analysed (Stages 1 and 2). In addition to evaluating association of individual SNPs, we also sought evidence that common variants, en masse, might affect risk. Despite genotyping over a million SNPs covering the genome, no single SNP shows significant association with ASD or selected phenotypes at a genome-wide level. The SNP that achieves the smallest p-value from secondary analyses is rs1718101. It falls in CNTNAP2, a gene previously implicated in susceptibility for ASD. This SNP also shows modest association with age of word/phrase acquisition in ASD subjects, of interest because features of language development are also associated with other variation in CNTNAP2. By contrast, allele-scores derived from the transmission of common alleles to Stage 1 cases significantly predict case-status in the independent Stage 2 sample. Despite being significant, the variance explained by these allele scores was small (Vm< 1%). Based on results from individual SNPs and their en masse effect on risk, as inferred from the allele-score results, it is reasonable to conclude that common variants affect ASD risk but their individual effects are modest.
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9. |
- Genet, Nadine, et al.
(författare)
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Home care in Europe : a systematic literature review
- 2011
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Ingår i: BMC Health Services Research. - : BMC. - 1472-6963. ; 11:207
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Health and social services provided at home are becoming increasingly important. Hence, there is a need for information on home care in Europe. The objective of this literature review was to respond to this need, by systematically describing what has been reported on home care in Europe in the scientific literature over the past decade. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed for papers on home care published in English, using the following data bases: Cinahl, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, and Social Care Online. Studies were only included if they complied with the definition of home care, were published between January 1998 and October 2009, and dealt with at least one of the 31 specified countries. Clinical interventions, instrument developments, local projects and reviews were excluded. The data extracted included: the characteristics of the study and aspects of home care ‘policy & regulation’, 'financing', ‘organisation & service delivery’, and ‘clients & informal carers’. Results: Seventy-four out of 5,133 potentially relevant studies met the inclusion criteria, providing information on 18 countries. Many focused on the characteristics of home care recipients and on the organisation of home care. Geographical inequalities, market forces, quality and integration of services were also among the issues frequently discussed. Conclusions: It can be concluded that home care systems appeared to differ not just between but also within countries. The papers included, however, provided only a limited picture of home care. Many studies only focused on one aspect of the home care system and international comparative studies were rare. Furthermore, little information emerged on home care financing and on home care in general in Eastern Europe. This review clearly shows the need for more scientific publications on home care, especially papers comparing countries. A comprehensive and more complete insight into the state of home care in Europe requires gathering of information using a uniform framework and methodology.
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10. |
- Gold, Rinat, et al.
(författare)
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Auditory Emotion Recognition Impairments in Schizophrenia : Relationship to Acoustic Features and Cognition
- 2012
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Ingår i: American Journal of Psychiatry. - : American Psychiatric Association Publishing. - 0002-953X .- 1535-7228. ; 169:4, s. 424-432
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in the ability to perceive emotion based on tone of voice. The basis for this deficit remains unclear, however, and relevant assessment batteries remain limited. The authors evaluated performance in schizophrenia on a novel voice emotion recognition battery with well-characterized physical features, relative to impairments in more general emotional and cognitive functioning. Method: The authors studied a primary sample of 92 patients and 73 comparison subjects. Stimuli were characterized according to both intended emotion and acoustic features (e.g., pitch, intensity) that contributed to the emotional percept. Parallel measures of visual emotion-recognition, pitch perception, general cognition, and overall outcome were obtained. More limited measures were obtained in an independent replication sample of 36 patients, 31 age-matched comparison subjects, and 188 general comparison subjects. Results: Patients showed statistically significant large-effect-size deficits in voice emotion recognition (d=1.1) and were preferentially impaired in recognition of emotion based on pitch features but not intensity features. Emotion recognition deficits were significantly correlated with pitch perception impairments both across (r=0.56) and within (r=0.47) groups. Path analysis showed both sensory-specific and general cognitive contributions to auditory emotion recognition deficits in schizophrenia. Similar patterns of results were observed in the replication sample. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that patients with schizophrenia show a significant deficit in the ability to recognize emotion based on tone of voice and that this deficit is related to impairment in detecting the underlying acoustic features, such as change in pitch, required for auditory emotion recognition. This study provides tools for, and highlights the need for, greater attention to physical features of stimuli used in studying social cognition in neuropsychiatric disorders.
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11. |
- Heckman, Michael G., et al.
(författare)
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Population-specific Frequencies for LRRK2 Susceptibility Variants in the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease (GEO-PD) Consortium
- 2013
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Ingår i: Movement Disorders. - : Wiley. - 0885-3185. ; 28:12, s. 1740-1744
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundVariants within the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene are recognized as the most frequent genetic cause of Parkinson's disease. Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 variation related to disease susceptibility displays many features that reflect the nature of complex, late-onset sporadic disorders like Parkinson's disease. MethodsThe Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease Consortium recently performed the largest genetic association study for variants in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene across 23 different sites in 15 countries. ResultsHerein, we detail the allele frequencies for the novel risk factors (p.A419V and p.M1646T) and the protective haplotype (p.N551K-R1398H-K1423K) nominated in the original publication. Simple population allele frequencies not only can provide insight into the clinical relevance of specific variants but also can help genetically define patient groups. ConclusionsEstablishing individual patient-based genomic susceptibility profiles that incorporate both risk factors and protective factors will determine future diagnostic and treatment strategies. (c) 2013 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
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12. |
- Kessler, Jan H., et al.
(författare)
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Antigen processing by nardilysin and thimet oligopeptidase generates cytotoxic T cell epitopes
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nature Immunology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1529-2908 .- 1529-2916. ; 12:1, s. 45-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) recognize peptides presented by HLA class I molecules on the cell surface. The C terminus of these CTL epitopes is considered to be produced by the proteasome. Here we demonstrate that the cytosolic endopeptidases nardilysin and thimet oligopeptidase (TOP) complemented proteasome activity. Nardilysin and TOP were required, either together or alone, for the generation of a tumor-specific CTL epitope from PRAME, an immunodominant CTL epitope from Epstein-Barr virus protein EBNA3C, and a clinically important epitope from the melanoma protein MART-1. TOP functioned as C-terminal trimming peptidase in antigen processing, and nardilysin contributed to both the C-terminal and N-terminal generation of CTL epitopes. By broadening the antigenic peptide repertoire, nardilysin and TOP strengthen the immune defense against intracellular pathogens and cancer.
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13. |
- Metzger, Jennifer, et al.
(författare)
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Predicting Structural and Functional Properties of Membrane Proteins from Protein Sequence
- 2011
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Ingår i: Annual Reports in Computational Chemistry. - Amsterdam : Elsevier Science BV. - 9780444543028 ; , s. 39-64
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Integral transmembrane (TM) proteins are essential constituents of biological membranes where they fulfill a variety of important cellular functions. Because of difficulties with determining their structures by experimental techniques, comparably few 3D structures of membrane proteins are known so far. Therefore, computational methods trained on the available structures using only the protein sequence as input have become important tools in this field. In this chapter, we give a short introduction to the topic and then summarize recent bioinformatics tools for the prediction of structural as well as functional properties of alpha-helical and beta-barrel TM proteins. We present methods that allow predicting the locations of alpha-helical and beta-strand TM segments, to determine the exposure status of residues in the TM region to the surrounding lipids, and that allow functional annotations from the protein sequence.
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14. |
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15. |
- Ross, Owen A., et al.
(författare)
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Association of LRRK2 exonic variants with susceptibility to Parkinson's disease: a case-control study
- 2011
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Ingår i: Lancet Neurology. - 1474-4465. ; 10:10, s. 898-908
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene (LRRK2) harbours highly penetrant mutations that are linked to familial parkinsonism. However, the extent of its polymorphic variability in relation to risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) has not been assessed systematically. We therefore assessed the frequency of LRRK2 exonic variants in individuals with and without PD, to investigate the role of the variants in PD susceptibility. Methods LRRK2 was genotyped in patients with PD and controls from three series (white, Asian, and Arab-Berber) from sites participating in the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease Consortium. Genotyping was done for exonic variants of LRRK2 that were identified through searches of literature and the personal communications of consortium members. Associations with PD were assessed by use of logistic regression models. For variants that had a minor allele frequency of 0.5% or greater, single variant associations were assessed, whereas for rarer variants information was collapsed across variants. Findings 121 exonic LRRK2 variants were assessed in 15 540 individuals: 6995 white patients with PD and 5595 controls, 1376 Asian patients and 962 controls, and 240 Arab-Berber patients and 372 controls. After exclusion of carriers of known pathogenic mutations, new independent risk associations were identified for polymorphic variants in white individuals (M1646T, odds ratio 1.43, 95% CI 1.15-1.78; p=0.0012) and Asian individuals (A419V, 2.27, 1.35-3.83; p=0.0011). A protective haplotype (N551K-R1398H-K1423K) was noted at a frequency greater than 5% in the white and Asian series, with a similar finding in the Arab-Berber series (combined odds ratio 0.82, 0.72-0.94; p=0.0043). Of the two previously reported Asian risk variants, G2385R was associated with disease (1.73, 1.20-2.49; p=0.0026), but no association was noted for R1628P (0.62, 0.36-1.07; p=0.087). In the Arab-Berber series, Y2189C showed potential evidence of risk association with PD (4.48, 133-15.09; p=0.012). Interpretation The results for LRRK2 show that several rare and common genetic variants in the same gene can have independent effects on disease risk. LRRK2, and the pathway in which it functions, is important in the cause and pathogenesis of PD in a greater proportion of patients with this disease than previously believed. These results will help discriminate those patients who will benefit most from therapies targeted at LRRK2 pathogenic activity. Funding Michael J Fox Foundation and National Institutes of Health.
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