1. |
- Anderson, Beverley H., et al.
(author)
-
Mutations in CTC1, encoding conserved telomere maintenance component 1, cause Coats plus
- 2012
-
In: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 44:3, s. 338-342
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Coats plus is a highly pleiotropic disorder particularly affecting the eye, brain, bone and gastrointestinal tract. Here, we show that Coats plus results from mutations in CTC1, encoding conserved telomere maintenance component 1, a member of the mammalian homolog of the yeast heterotrimeric CST telomeric capping complex. Consistent with the observation of shortened telomeres in an Arabidopsis CTC1 mutant and the phenotypic overlap of Coats plus with the telomeric maintenance disorders comprising dyskeratosis congenita, we observed shortened telomeres in three individuals with Coats plus and an increase in spontaneous gamma H2AX-positive cells in cell lines derived from two affected individuals. CTC1 is also a subunit of the alpha-accessory factor (AAF) complex, stimulating the activity of DNA polymerase-alpha primase, the only enzyme known to initiate DNA replication in eukaryotic cells. Thus, CTC1 may have a function in DNA metabolism that is necessary for but not specific to telomeric integrity.
|
|
2. |
- Assimes, Themistocles L., et al.
(author)
-
Lack of Association Between the Trp719Arg Polymorphism in Kinesin-Like Protein-6 and Coronary Artery Disease in 19 Case-Control Studies
- 2010
-
In: Journal of the American College of Cardiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0735-1097. ; 56:19, s. 1552-1563
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives We sought to replicate the association between the kinesin-like protein 6 (KIF6) Trp719Arg polymorphism (rs20455), and clinical coronary artery disease (CAD). Background Recent prospective studies suggest that carriers of the 719Arg allele in KIF6 are at increased risk of clinical CAD compared with noncarriers. Methods The KIF6 Trp719Arg polymorphism (rs20455) was genotyped in 19 case-control studies of nonfatal CAD either as part of a genome-wide association study or in a formal attempt to replicate the initial positive reports. Results A total of 17,000 cases and 39,369 controls of European descent as well as a modest number of South Asians, African Americans, Hispanics, East Asians, and admixed cases and controls were successfully genotyped. None of the 19 studies demonstrated an increased risk of CAD in carriers of the 719Arg allele compared with noncarriers. Regression analyses and fixed-effects meta-analyses ruled out with high degree of confidence an increase of >= 2% in the risk of CAD among European 719Arg carriers. We also observed no increase in the risk of CAD among 719Arg carriers in the subset of Europeans with early-onset disease (younger than 50 years of age for men and younger than 60 years of age for women) compared with similarly aged controls as well as all non-European subgroups. Conclusions The KIF6 Trp719Arg polymorphism was not associated with the risk of clinical CAD in this large replication study. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2010;56:1552-63) (C) 2010 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation
|
|
3. |
|
|
4. |
- Docherty, Anna R, et al.
(author)
-
GWAS Meta-Analysis of Suicide Attempt: Identification of 12 Genome-Wide Significant Loci and Implication of Genetic Risks for Specific Health Factors.
- 2023
-
In: The American journal of psychiatry. - : American Psychiatric Association Publishing. - 1535-7228 .- 0002-953X. ; 180:10, s. 723-738
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Suicidal behavior is heritable and is a major cause of death worldwide. Two large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs) recently discovered and cross-validated genome-wide significant (GWS) loci for suicide attempt (SA). The present study leveraged the genetic cohorts from both studies to conduct the largest GWAS meta-analysis of SA to date. Multi-ancestry and admixture-specific meta-analyses were conducted within groups of significant African, East Asian, and European ancestry admixtures.This study comprised 22 cohorts, including 43,871 SA cases and 915,025 ancestry-matched controls. Analytical methods across multi-ancestry and individual ancestry admixtures included inverse variance-weighted fixed-effects meta-analyses, followed by gene, gene-set, tissue-set, and drug-target enrichment, as well as summary-data-based Mendelian randomization with brain expression quantitative trait loci data, phenome-wide genetic correlation, and genetic causal proportion analyses.Multi-ancestry and European ancestry admixture GWAS meta-analyses identified 12 risk loci at p values <5×10-8. These loci were mostly intergenic and implicated DRD2, SLC6A9, FURIN, NLGN1, SOX5, PDE4B, and CACNG2. The multi-ancestry SNP-based heritability estimate of SA was 5.7% on the liability scale (SE=0.003, p=5.7×10-80). Significant brain tissue gene expression and drug set enrichment were observed. There was shared genetic variation of SA with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, smoking, and risk tolerance after conditioning SA on both major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Genetic causal proportion analyses implicated shared genetic risk for specific health factors.This multi-ancestry analysis of suicide attempt identified several loci contributing to risk and establishes significant shared genetic covariation with clinical phenotypes. These findings provide insight into genetic factors associated with suicide attempt across ancestry admixture populations, in veteran and civilian populations, and in attempt versus death.
|
|
5. |
- Estes, James A., et al.
(author)
-
Trophic Downgrading of Planet Earth
- 2011
-
In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 333:6040, s. 301-306
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Until recently, large apex consumers were ubiquitous across the globe and had been for millions of years. The loss of these animals may be humankind's most pervasive influence on nature. Although such losses are widely viewed as an ethical and aesthetic problem, recent research reveals extensive cascading effects of their disappearance in marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems worldwide. This empirical work supports long-standing theory about the role of top-down forcing in ecosystems but also highlights the unanticipated impacts of trophic cascades on processes as diverse as the dynamics of disease, wildfire, carbon sequestration, invasive species, and biogeochemical cycles. These findings emphasize the urgent need for interdisciplinary research to forecast the effects of trophic downgrading on process, function, and resilience in global ecosystems.
|
|
6. |
|
|
7. |
- Laplante, Mathieu, et al.
(author)
-
Tissue-specific postprandial clearance is the major determinant of PPARgamma-induced triglyceride lowering in the rat
- 2009
-
In: American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology. - Bethesda, Md. : American Physiological Society. - 0363-6119 .- 1522-1490. ; 296:1, s. R57-R66
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) agonism potently reduces circulating triglycerides (TG) in rodents and more modestly so in humans. This study aimed to quantify in vivo the relative contribution of hepatic VLDL-TG secretion and tissue-specific TG clearance to such action. Rats were fed an obesogenic diet, treated with the PPARgamma full agonist COOH (30 mg.kg(-1).day(-1)) for 3 wk, and studied in both the fasted and refed (fat-free) states. Hepatic VLDL-TG secretion rate was not affected by chronic COOH in the fasted state and was only modestly decreased (-30%) in refed rats. In contrast, postprandial VLDL-TG clearance was increased 2.6-fold by COOH, which concomitantly stimulated adipose tissue TG-derived lipid uptake and one of its major determinants, lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity, in a highly depot-specific manner. TG-derived lipid uptake and LPL were indeed strongly increased in subcutaneous inguinal white adipose tissue and in brown adipose tissue, independently of the nutritional state, whereas of the three visceral fat depots examined (epididymal, retroperitoneal, mesenteric) only the latter responded consistently to COOH. Robust correlations (0.5 < r < 0.9) were observed between TG-derived lipid uptake and LPL in adipose tissues. The agonist did not increase LPL in muscle, and its enhancing action on postprandial muscle lipid uptake appeared to be mediated by post-LPL processes involving increased expression of fatty acid binding/transport proteins (aP2, likely in infiltrated adipocytes, FAT/CD36, and FATP-1). The study establishes in a diet-induced obesity model the major contribution of lipid uptake by specific, metabolically safe adipose depots to the postprandial hypotriglyceridemic action of PPARgamma agonism, and suggests a key role for LPL therein.
|
|
8. |
- Mullins, Niamh, et al.
(author)
-
Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors
- 2022
-
In: Biological Psychiatry. - : Elsevier. - 0006-3223 .- 1873-2402. ; 91:3, s. 313-327
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders.METHODS: We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors.RESULTS: Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged.CONCLUSIONS: Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.
|
|
9. |
- Reis, Edimara S., et al.
(author)
-
Safety profile after prolonged C3 inhibition
- 2018
-
In: Clinical Immunology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1521-6616 .- 1521-7035. ; 197, s. 96-106
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The central component of the complement cascade, C3, is involved in various biological functions, including opsonization of foreign bodies, clearance of waste material, activation of immune cells, and triggering of pathways controlling development. Given its broad role in immune responses, particularly in phagocytosis and the clearance of microbes, a deficiency in complement C3 in humans is often associated with multiple bacterial infections. Interestingly, an increased susceptibility to infections appears to occur mainly in the first two years of life and then wanes throughout adulthood. In view of the well-established connection between C3 deficiency and infections, therapeutic inhibition of complement at the level of C3 is often considered with caution or disregarded. We therefore set out to investigate the immune and biochemical profile of non-human primates under prolonged treatment with the C3 inhibitor compstatin (Cp40 analog). Cynomolgus monkeys were dosed subcutaneously with Cp40, resulting in systemic inhibition of C3, for 1 week, 2 weeks, or 3 months. Plasma concentrations of both C3 and Cp40 were measured periodically and complete saturation of plasma C3 was confirmed. No differences in hematological, biochemical, or immunological parameters were identified in the blood or tissues of animals treated with Cp40 when compared to those injected with vehicle alone. Further, skin wounds showed no signs of infection in those treated with Cp40. In fact, Cp40 treatment was associated with a trend toward accelerated wound healing when compared with the control group. In addition, a biodistribution study in a rhesus monkey indicated that the distribution of Cp40 in the body is associated with the presence of C3, concentrating in organs that accumulate blood and produce C3. Overall, our data suggest that systemic C3 inhibition in healthy adult non-human primates is not associated with a weakened immune system or susceptibility to infections.
|
|
10. |
- Ripple, William J., et al.
(author)
-
Status and Ecological Effects of the World's Largest Carnivores
- 2014
-
In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 343:6167, s. 151-
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Large carnivores face serious threats and are experiencing massive declines in their populations and geographic ranges around the world. We highlight how these threats have affected the conservation status and ecological functioning of the 31 largest mammalian carnivores on Earth. Consistent with theory, empirical studies increasingly show that large carnivores have substantial effects on the structure and function of diverse ecosystems. Significant cascading trophic interactions, mediated by their prey or sympatric mesopredators, arise when some of these carnivores are extirpated from or repatriated to ecosystems. Unexpected effects of trophic cascades on various taxa and processes include changes to bird, mammal, invertebrate, and herpetofauna abundance or richness; subsidies to scavengers; altered disease dynamics; carbon sequestration; modified stream morphology; and crop damage. Promoting tolerance and coexistence with large carnivores is a crucial societal challenge that will ultimately determine the fate of Earth's largest carnivores and all that depends upon them, including humans.
|
|