| 1. |
- Bonham, LW, et al.
(author)
-
Genetic variation across RNA metabolism and cell death gene networks is implicated in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia
- 2019
-
In: Scientific reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 9:1, s. 10854-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) is a clinical syndrome characterized by neurodegeneration and progressive loss of semantic knowledge. Unlike many other forms of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), svPPA has a highly consistent underlying pathology composed of TDP-43 (a regulator of RNA and DNA transcription metabolism). Previous genetic studies of svPPA are limited by small sample sizes and a paucity of common risk variants. Despite this, svPPA’s relatively homogenous clinicopathologic phenotype makes it an ideal investigative model to examine genetic processes that may drive neurodegenerative disease. In this study, we used GWAS metadata, tissue samples from pathologically confirmed frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and in silico techniques to identify and characterize protein interaction networks associated with svPPA risk. We identified 64 svPPA risk genes that interact at the protein level. The protein pathways represented in this svPPA gene network are critical regulators of RNA metabolism and cell death, such as SMAD proteins and NOTCH1. Many of the genes in this network are involved in TDP-43 metabolism. Contrary to the conventional notion that svPPA is a clinical syndrome with few genetic risk factors, our analyses show that svPPA risk is complex and polygenic in nature. Risk for svPPA is likely driven by multiple common variants in genes interacting with TDP-43, along with cell death,x` working in combination to promote neurodegeneration.
|
|
| 2. |
- Gao, YX, et al.
(author)
-
Mendelian randomization implies no direct causal association between leukocyte telomere length and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- 2020
-
In: Scientific reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 10:1, s. 12184-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We employed Mendelian randomization (MR) to evaluate the causal relationship between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (n = ~ 38,000 for LTL and ~ 81,000 for ALS in the European population; n = ~ 23,000 for LTL and ~ 4,100 for ALS in the Asian population). We further evaluated mediation roles of lipids in the pathway from LTL to ALS. The odds ratio per standard deviation decrease of LTL on ALS was 1.10 (95% CI 0.93–1.31, p = 0.274) in the European population and 0.75 (95% CI 0.53–1.07, p = 0.116) in the Asian population. This null association was also detected between LTL and frontotemporal dementia in the European population. However, we found that an indirect effect of LTL on ALS might be mediated by low density lipoprotein (LDL) or total cholesterol (TC) in the European population. These results were robust against extensive sensitivity analyses. Overall, our MR study did not support the direct causal association between LTL and the ALS risk in neither population, but provided suggestive evidence for the mediation role of LDL or TC on the influence of LTL and ALS in the European population.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Dewan, Ramita, et al.
(author)
-
Pathogenic Huntingtin Repeat Expansions in Patients with Frontotemporal Dementia and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
- 2021
-
In: Neuron. - : Elsevier BV. - 1097-4199 .- 0896-6273. ; 109:3, s. 448-460.e4
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We examined the role of repeat expansions in the pathogenesis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by analyzing whole-genome sequence data from 2,442 FTD/ALS patients, 2,599 Lewy body dementia (LBD) patients, and 3,158 neurologically healthy subjects. Pathogenic expansions (range, 40-64 CAG repeats) in the huntingtin (HTT) gene were found in three (0.12%) patients diagnosed with pure FTD/ALS syndromes but were not present in the LBD or healthy cohorts. We replicated our findings in an independent collection of 3,674 FTD/ALS patients. Postmortem evaluations of two patients revealed the classical TDP-43 pathology of FTD/ALS, as well as huntingtin-positive, ubiquitin-positive aggregates in the frontal cortex. The neostriatal atrophy that pathologically defines Huntington's disease was absent in both cases. Our findings reveal an etiological relationship between HTT repeat expansions and FTD/ALS syndromes and indicate that genetic screening of FTD/ALS patients for HTT repeat expansions should be considered.
|
|
| 5. |
- Ferrari, Raffaele, et al.
(author)
-
Frontotemporal dementia and its subtypes: a genome-wide association study.
- 2014
-
In: Lancet Neurology. - 1474-4465. ; 13:7, s. 686-699
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a complex disorder characterised by a broad range of clinical manifestations, differential pathological signatures, and genetic variability. Mutations in three genes-MAPT, GRN, and C9orf72-have been associated with FTD. We sought to identify novel genetic risk loci associated with the disorder.
|
|
| 6. |
- Paglione, M., et al.
(author)
-
Primary and secondary biomass burning aerosols determined by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-1-NMR) spectroscopy during the 2008 EUCAARI campaign in the Po Valley (Italy)
- 2014
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 14:10, s. 5089-5110
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Atmospheric organic aerosols are generally classified as primary and secondary (POA and SOA) according to their formation processes. An actual separation, however, is challenging when the timescales of emission and gas-to-particle formation overlap. The presence of SOA formation in biomass burning plumes leads to scientific questions about whether the oxidized fraction of biomass burning aerosol is rather of secondary or primary origin, as some studies would suggest, and about the chemical compositions of oxidized biomass burning POA and SOA. In this study, we apply nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to investigate the functional group composition of fresh and aged biomass burning aerosols during an intensive field campaign in the Po Valley, Italy. The campaign was part of the EUCAARI project and was held at the rural station of San Pietro Capofiume in spring 2008. Factor analysis applied to the set of NMR spectra was used to apportion the wood burning contribution and other organic carbon (OC) source contributions, including aliphatic amines. Our NMR results, referred to the polar, water-soluble fraction of OC, show that fresh wood burning particles are composed of polyols and aromatic compounds, with a sharp resemblance to wood burning POA produced in wood stoves, while aged samples are clearly depleted of alcohols and are enriched in aliphatic acids with a smaller contribution of aromatic compounds. The comparison with biomass burning organic aerosols (BBOA) determined by high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry (HR-TOF-AMS) at the site shows only a partial overlap between NMR BB-POA and AMS BBOA, which can be explained by either the inability of BBOA to capture all BB-POA composition, especially the alcohol fraction, or the fact that BBOA account for insoluble organic compounds unmeasured by the NMR. Therefore, an unambiguous composition for biomass burning POA could not be derived from this study, with NMR analysis indicating a higher O / C ratio compared to that measured for AMS BBOA. The comparison between the two techniques substantially improves when adding factors tracing possible contributions from biomass burning SOA, showing that the operational definitions of biomass burning organic aerosols are more consistent between techniques when including more factors tracing chemical classes over a range of oxidation levels. Overall, the non-fossil total carbon fraction was 50-57%, depending on the assumptions about the C-14 content of non-fossil carbon, and the fraction of organic carbon estimated to be oxidized organic aerosol (OOA) from HR-TOF-AMS measurements was 73-100% modern.
|
|
