1. |
- Itzhaki, Ruth F., et al.
(author)
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Microbes and Alzheimer's Disease
- 2016
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In: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 51:4, s. 979-984
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We are researchers and clinicians working on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or related topics, and we write to express our concern that one particular aspect of the disease has been neglected, even though treatment based on it might slow or arrest AD progression. We refer to the many studies, mainly on humans, implicating specific microbes in the elderly brain, notably herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), Chlamydia pneumoniae, and several types of spirochaete, in the etiology of AD [1–4]. Fungal infection of AD brain [5, 6] has also been described, as well as abnormal microbiota in AD patient blood [7]. The first observations of HSV1 in AD brain were reported almost three decades ago [8]. The ever-increasing number of these studies (now about 100 on HSV1 alone) warrants re-evaluation of the infection and AD concept.AD is associated with neuronal loss and progressive synaptic dysfunction, accompanied by the deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, a cleavage product of the amyloid-β protein precursor (AβPP), and abnormal forms of tau protein, markers that have been used as diagnostic criteria for the disease [9, 10]. These constitute the hallmarks of AD, but whether they are causes of AD or consequences is unknown. We suggest that these are indicators of an infectious etiology. In the case of AD, it is often not realized that microbes can cause chronic as well as acute diseases; that some microbes can remain latent in the body with the potential for reactivation, the effects of which might occur years after initial infection; and that people can be infected but not necessarily affected, such that ‘controls’, even if infected, are asymptomatic
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2. |
- Itzhaki, Ruth F., et al.
(author)
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Microbes and Alzheimer's disease
- 2017
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In: Handbook of infection and Alzheimer's disease. - : IOS Press. - 9781614997054 - 9781614997061 ; , s. 3-8
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)
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3. |
- Beecham, Ashley H, et al.
(author)
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Analysis of immune-related loci identifies 48 new susceptibility variants for multiple sclerosis.
- 2013
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In: Nature genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 45:11, s. 1353-60
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using the ImmunoChip custom genotyping array, we analyzed 14,498 subjects with multiple sclerosis and 24,091 healthy controls for 161,311 autosomal variants and identified 135 potentially associated regions (P < 1.0 × 10(-4)). In a replication phase, we combined these data with previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from an independent 14,802 subjects with multiple sclerosis and 26,703 healthy controls. In these 80,094 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 48 new susceptibility variants (P < 5.0 × 10(-8)), 3 of which we found after conditioning on previously identified variants. Thus, there are now 110 established multiple sclerosis risk variants at 103 discrete loci outside of the major histocompatibility complex. With high-resolution Bayesian fine mapping, we identified five regions where one variant accounted for more than 50% of the posterior probability of association. This study enhances the catalog of multiple sclerosis risk variants and illustrates the value of fine mapping in the resolution of GWAS signals.
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4. |
- Benjamin, Daniel J., et al.
(author)
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Redefine statistical significance
- 2018
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In: Nature Human Behaviour. - : Nature Research (part of Springer Nature). - 2397-3374. ; 2:1, s. 6-10
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)
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5. |
- Davies, John R., et al.
(author)
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An inherited variant in the gene coding for vitamin D-binding protein and survival from cutaneous melanoma: a BioGenoMEL study
- 2014
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In: Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research. - : Wiley. - 1755-148X .- 1755-1471. ; 27:2, s. 234-243
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An association between low serum vitamin D levels and poorer melanoma survival has been reported. We have studied inheritance of a polymorphism of the GC gene, rs2282679, coding for the vitamin D-binding protein, which is associated with lower serum levels of vitamin D, in a meta-analysis of 3137 melanoma patients. The aim was to investigate evidence for a causal relationship between vitamin D and outcome (Mendelian randomization). The variant was not associated with reduced overall survival (OS) in the UK cohort, per-allele hazard ratio (HR) for death 1.23 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.93, 1.64). In the smaller cohorts, HR in OS analysis was 1.07 (95% CI 0.88, 1.3) and for all cohorts combined, HR for OS was 1.09 (95% CI 0.93, 1.29). There was evidence of increased melanoma-specific deaths in the seven cohorts for which these data were available. The lack of unequivocal findings despite the large sample size illustrates the difficulties of implementing Mendelian randomization.
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6. |
- Ji, Xuemei, et al.
(author)
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Identification of susceptibility pathways for the role of chromosome 15q25.1 in modifying lung cancer risk
- 2018
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In: Nature Communications. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2041-1723. ; 9, s. 1-15
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified the chromosome 15q25.1 locus as a leading susceptibility region for lung cancer. However, the pathogenic pathways, through which susceptibility SNPs within chromosome 15q25.1 affects lung cancer risk, have not been explored. We analyzed three cohorts with GWAS data consisting 42,901 individuals and lung expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data on 409 individuals to identify and validate the underlying pathways and to investigate the combined effect of genes from the identified susceptibility pathways. The KEGG neuroactive ligand receptor interaction pathway, two Reactome pathways, and 22 Gene Ontology terms were identified and replicated to be significantly associated with lung cancer risk, with P values less than 0.05 and FDR less than 0.1. Functional annotation of eQTL analysis results showed that the neuroactive ligand receptor interaction pathway and gated channel activity were involved in lung cancer risk. These pathways provide important insights for the etiology of lung cancer.
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7. |
- Li, Yafang, et al.
(author)
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Genetic interaction analysis among oncogenesis-related genes revealed novel genes and networks in lung cancer development
- 2019
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In: Oncotarget. - : Impact Journals, LLC. - 1949-2553. ; 10:19, s. 1760-1774
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The development of cancer is driven by the accumulation of many oncogenesis-related genetic alterations and tumorigenesis is triggered by complex networks of involved genes rather than independent actions. To explore the epistasis existing among oncogenesis-related genes in lung cancer development, we conducted pairwise genetic interaction analyses among 35,031 SNPs from 2027 oncogenesis-related genes. The genotypes from three independent genome-wide association studies including a total of 24,037 lung cancer patients and 20,401 healthy controls with Caucasian ancestry were analyzed in the study. Using a two-stage study design including discovery and replication studies, and stringent Bonferroni correction for multiple statistical analysis, we identified significant genetic interactions between SNPs in RGL1:RAD51B (OR=0.44, p value=3.27x10-11 in overall lung cancer and OR=0.41, p value=9.71x10-11 in non-small cell lung cancer), SYNE1:RNF43 (OR=0.73, p value=1.01x10-12 in adenocarcinoma) and FHIT:TSPAN8 (OR=1.82, p value=7.62x10-11 in squamous cell carcinoma) in our analysis. None of these genes have been identified from previous main effect association studies in lung cancer. Further eQTL gene expression analysis in lung tissues provided information supporting the functional role of the identified epistasis in lung tumorigenesis. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed potential pathways and gene networks underlying molecular mechanisms in overall lung cancer as well as histology subtypes development. Our results provide evidence that genetic interactions between oncogenesis-related genes play an important role in lung tumorigenesis and epistasis analysis, combined with functional annotation, provides a valuable tool for uncovering functional novel susceptibility genes that contribute to lung cancer development by interacting with other modifier genes.
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8. |
- Li, Yafang, et al.
(author)
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Genome-wide interaction study of smoking behavior and non-small cell lung cancer risk in Caucasian population
- 2018
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In: Carcinogenesis. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0143-3334 .- 1460-2180. ; 39:3, s. 336-346
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer. Both environmental and genetic risk factors contribute to lung carcinogenesis. We conducted a genome-wide interaction analysis between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and smoking status (never- versus ever-smokers) in a European-descent population. We adopted a two-step analysis strategy in the discovery stage: we first conducted a case-only interaction analysis to assess the relationship between SNPs and smoking behavior using 13 336 non-small cell lung cancer cases. Candidate SNPs with P-value <0.001 were further analyzed using a standard case-control interaction analysis including 13 970 controls. The significant SNPs with P-value <3.5 × 10-5 (correcting for multiple tests) from the case-control analysis in the discovery stage were further validated using an independent replication dataset comprising 5377 controls and 3054 non-small cell lung cancer cases. We further stratified the analysis by histological subtypes. Two novel SNPs, rs6441286 and rs17723637, were identified for overall lung cancer risk. The interaction odds ratio and meta-analysis P-value for these two SNPs were 1.24 with 6.96 × 10-7 and 1.37 with 3.49 × 10-7, respectively. In addition, interaction of smoking with rs4751674 was identified in squamous cell lung carcinoma with an odds ratio of 0.58 and P-value of 8.12 × 10-7. This study is by far the largest genome-wide SNP-smoking interaction analysis reported for lung cancer. The three identified novel SNPs provide potential candidate biomarkers for lung cancer risk screening and intervention. The results from our study reinforce that gene-smoking interactions play important roles in the etiology of lung cancer and account for part of the missing heritability of this disease.
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9. |
- McKay, James D., et al.
(author)
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Large-scale association analysis identifies new lung cancer susceptibility loci and heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across histological subtypes
- 2017
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In: Nature Genetics. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 49:7, s. 1126-1132
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although several lung cancer susceptibility loci have been identified, much of the heritability for lung cancer remains unexplained. Here 14,803 cases and 12,262 controls of European descent were genotyped on the OncoArray and combined with existing data for an aggregated genomewide association study (GWAS) analysis of lung cancer in 29,266 cases and 56,450 controls. We identified 18 susceptibility loci achieving genome-wide significance, including 10 new loci. The new loci highlight the striking heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across the histological subtypes of lung cancer, with four loci associated with lung cancer overall and six loci associated with lung adenocarcinoma. Gene expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis in 1,425 normal lung tissue samples highlights RNASET2, SECISBP2L and NRG1 as candidate genes. Other loci include genes such as a cholinergic nicotinic receptor, CHRNA2, and the telomere-related genes OFBC1 and RTEL1. Further exploration of the target genes will continue to provide new insights into the etiology of lung cancer.
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10. |
- Quinn, Barry, et al.
(author)
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COVID-19 : The immediate response of european academic dental institutions and future implications for dental education
- 2020
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In: European journal of dental education. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1396-5883 .- 1600-0579. ; 24:4, s. 811-814
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The COVID-19 pandemic has had an immediate and dramatic impact on dental education. The Association of Dental Education in Europe decided to carry out an investigation to assess the immediate response of European Academic Dental Institutions. An online survey was sent to both member and non-member dental schools to investigate the impact on non-clinical and clinical education, assessment and the well-being/pastoral care measures implemented. The preliminary findings and discussion are presented in this paper, for the responses collected between the 25 March and 5 April 2020. The survey at this time of publication is ongoing, and detailed results can be accessed .
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