Publications

190 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 190

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND Individualization and patient-specific optimization of treatment is a major goal of modern health care. One way to achieve this goal is the application of high-resolution diagnostics togetherr with the application of targeted therapies. However, the rising number of different treatment modalities also induces new challenges: Whereas randomized clinical trials focus on proving average treatment effects in specific groups of patients, direct conclusions at the individual patient level are problematic. Thus, the identification of the best patient-specific treatment options remains an open question. Systems medicine, specifically mechanistic mathematical models, can substantially support individual treatment optimization. In addition to providing a better general understanding of disease mechanisms and treatment effects, these models allow for an identification of patient-specific parameterizations and, therefore, provide individualized predictions for the effect of different treatment modalities. RESULTS In the following we describe a software framework that facilitates the integration of mathematical models and computer simulations into routine clinical processes to support decision-making. This is achieved by combining standard data management and data exploration tools, with the generation and visualization of mathematical model predictions for treatment options at an individual patient level. CONCLUSIONS By integrating model results in an audit trail compatible manner into established clinical workflows, our framework has the potential to foster the use of systems-medical approaches in clinical practice. We illustrate the framework application by two use cases from the field of haematological oncology.

Authors: Katja Hoffmann, Katja Cazemier, Christoph Baldow, Silvio Schuster, Yuri Kheifetz, Sibylle Schirm, Matthias Horn, Thomas Ernst, Constanze Volgmann, Christian Thiede, Andreas Hochhaus, Martin Bornhäuser, Meinolf Suttorp, Markus Scholz, Ingmar Glauche, Markus Loeffler, Ingo Roeder

Date Published: 1st Dec 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Obesity is of complex origin, involving genetic and neurobehavioral factors. Genetic polymorphisms may increase the risk for developing obesity by modulating dopamine-dependent behaviors, such as reward processing. Yet, few studies have investigated the association of obesity, related genetic variants, and structural connectivity of the dopaminergic reward network. METHODS: We analyzed 347 participants (age range: 20-59 years, BMI range: 17-38 kg/m(2)) of the LIFE-Adult Study. Genotyping for the single nucleotid polymorphisms rs1558902 (FTO) and rs1800497 (near dopamine D2 receptor) was performed on a microarray. Structural connectivity of the reward network was derived from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T using deterministic tractography of Freesurfer-derived regions of interest. Using graph metrics, we extracted summary measures of clustering coefficient and connectivity strength between frontal and striatal brain regions. We used linear models to test the association of BMI, risk alleles of both variants, and reward network connectivity. RESULTS: Higher BMI was significantly associated with lower connectivity strength for number of streamlines (beta = -0.0025, 95%-C.I.: [-0.004, -0.0008], p = 0.0042), and, to lesser degree, fractional anisotropy (beta = -0.0009, 95%-C.I. [-0.0016, -0.00008], p = 0.031), but not clustering coefficient. Strongest associations were found for left putamen, right accumbens, and right lateral orbitofrontal cortex. As expected, the polymorphism rs1558902 in FTO was associated with higher BMI (F = 6.9, p < 0.001). None of the genetic variants was associated with reward network structural connectivity. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we provide evidence that higher BMI correlates with lower reward network structural connectivity. This result is in line with previous findings of obesity-related decline in white matter microstructure. We did not observe an association of variants in FTO or near DRD2 receptor with reward network structural connectivity in this population-based cohort with a wide range of BMI and age. Future research should further investigate the link between genetics, obesity and fronto-striatal structural connectivity.

Authors: F. Beyer, R. Zhang, M. Scholz, K. Wirkner, M. Loeffler, M. Stumvoll, A. Villringer, A. V. Witte

Date Published: 25th Oct 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Cortical thickness, surface area and volumes vary with age and cognitive function, and in neurological and psychiatric diseases. Here we report heritability, genetic correlations and genome-wide associations of these cortical measures across the whole cortex, and in 34 anatomically predefined regions. Our discovery sample comprises 22,824 individuals from 20 cohorts within the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium and the UK Biobank. We identify genetic heterogeneity between cortical measures and brain regions, and 160 genome-wide significant associations pointing to wnt/beta-catenin, TGF-beta and sonic hedgehog pathways. There is enrichment for genes involved in anthropometric traits, hindbrain development, vascular and neurodegenerative disease and psychiatric conditions. These data are a rich resource for studies of the biological mechanisms behind cortical development and aging.

Authors: E. Hofer, G. V. Roshchupkin, H. H. H. Adams, M. J. Knol, H. Lin, S. Li, H. Zare, S. Ahmad, N. J. Armstrong, C. L. Satizabal, M. Bernard, J. C. Bis, N. A. Gillespie, M. Luciano, A. Mishra, M. Scholz, A. Teumer, R. Xia, X. Jian, T. H. Mosley, Y. Saba, L. Pirpamer, S. Seiler, J. T. Becker, O. Carmichael, J. I. Rotter, B. M. Psaty, O. L. Lopez, N. Amin, S. J. van der Lee, Q. Yang, J. J. Himali, P. Maillard, A. S. Beiser, C. DeCarli, S. Karama, L. Lewis, M. Harris, M. E. Bastin, I. J. Deary, A. Veronica Witte, F. Beyer, M. Loeffler, K. A. Mather, P. R. Schofield, A. Thalamuthu, J. B. Kwok, M. J. Wright, D. Ames, J. Trollor, J. Jiang, H. Brodaty, W. Wen, M. W. Vernooij, A. Hofman, A. G. Uitterlinden, W. J. Niessen, K. Wittfeld, R. Bulow, U. Volker, Z. Pausova, G. Bruce Pike, S. Maingault, F. Crivello, C. Tzourio, P. Amouyel, B. Mazoyer, M. C. Neale, C. E. Franz, M. J. Lyons, M. S. Panizzon, O. A. Andreassen, A. M. Dale, M. Logue, K. L. Grasby, N. Jahanshad, J. N. Painter, L. Colodro-Conde, J. Bralten, D. P. Hibar, P. A. Lind, F. Pizzagalli, J. L. Stein, P. M. Thompson, S. E. Medland, P. S. Sachdev, W. S. Kremen, J. M. Wardlaw, A. Villringer, C. M. van Duijn, H. J. Grabe, W. T. Jr Longstreth, M. Fornage, T. Paus, S. Debette, M. Arfan Ikram, H. Schmidt, R. Schmidt, S. Seshadri

Date Published: 22nd Sep 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a high risk of premature cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and show increased mortality. Pro-Neurotensin (NT) was associated with metabolic diseasess and predicted incident CVD and mortality. However, Pro-NT regulation in CKD and its potential role linking CKD and mortality have not been investigated, so far. METHODS In a central lab, circulating Pro-NT was quantified in three independent cohorts comprising 4,715 participants (cohort 1: patients with CKD; cohort 2: general population study; cohort 3: non-diabetic population study). Urinary Pro-NT was assessed in part of the patients from cohort 1. Serum Pro-NT was further related to mortality in patients with advanced CKD. Tissue-specific Nts expression was investigated in two mouse models of diabetic CKD and compared to non-diabetic control mice. RESULTS Pro-NT significantly increased with deteriorating renal function (p\textless0.001). In meta-analysis of cohorts 1-3, Pro-NT was significantly and independently associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (p\leq0.002). Patients in the middle/high Pro-NT tertiles at baseline had a higher all-cause mortality compared to the low Pro-NT tertile (Hazard ratio: 2.11, p=0.046). Mice with severe diabetic CKD did not show increased Nts mRNA expression in different tissues compared to control animals. CONCLUSIONS Circulating Pro-NT is associated with impaired renal function in independent cohorts comprising 4,715 subjects and is related to all-cause mortality in patients with end-stage kidney disease. Our human and rodent data are in accordance with the hypotheses that Pro-NT is eliminated by the kidneys and could potentially contribute to increased mortality observed in patients with CKD.

Authors: Anke Toenjes, Annett Hoffmann, Susan Kralisch, Abdul Rashid Qureshi, Nora Klöting, Markus Scholz, Dorit Schleinitz, Anette Bachmann, Juergen Kratzsch, Marcin Nowicki, Sabine Paeschke, Kerstin Wirkner, Cornelia Enzenbach, Ronny Baber, Joachim Beige, Matthias Anders, Ingolf Bast, Matthias Blüher, Peter Kovacs, Markus Löffler, Ming-Zhi Zhang, Raymond C. Harris, Peter Stenvinkel, Michael Stumvoll, Mathias Fasshauer, Thomas Ebert

Date Published: 1st Sep 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Background The pathophysiology of arterial stiffness is not completely understood. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an established marker for arterial stiffness. We compare genetics of three PWV modes, namely carotid-femoral PWV (cfPWV), brachial-ankle (baPWV) and brachial-femoral (bfPWV), reflecting different vascular segments to analyse association with genetic variants, heritability and genetic correlation with other biological traits. Furthermore we searched for shared genetic architecture concerning PWV, blood pressure (BP) and coronary artery disease (CAD) and examined the causal relationship between PWV and BP. Methods and results We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for cfPWV, baPWV and bfPWV in LIFE-Adult (N = 3,643–6,734). We analysed the overlap of detected genetic loci with those of BP and CAD and performed genetic correlation analyses. By bidirectional Mendelian Randomization, we assessed the causal relationships between PWV and BP. For cfPWV we identified a new locus with genome-wide significance near SLC4A7 on cytoband 3p24.1 (lead SNP rs939834: p = 2.05x10-8). We replicated a known PWV locus on cytoband 14q32.2 near RP11-61O1.1 (lead SNPs: rs17773233, p = 1.38x10-4; rs1381289, p = 1.91x10-4) For baPWV we estimated a heritability of 28% and significant genetic correlation with hypertension (rg = 0.27, p = 6.65x10-8). We showed a positive causal effect of systolic blood pressure on PWV modes (cfPWV: p = 1.51x10-4; bfPWV: p = 1.45x10-3; baPWV: p = 6.82x10-15). Conclusions We identified a new locus for arterial stiffness and successfully replicated an earlier proposed locus. PWV shares common genetic architecture with BP and CAD. BP causally affects PWV. Larger studies are required to further unravel the genetic determinants and effects of PWV.

Authors: Michael Rode, Andrej Teren, Kerstin Wirkner, Katrin Horn, Holger Kirsten, Markus Loeffler, Markus Scholz, Janne Pott

Date Published: 13th Aug 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: arteriosclerosis, arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease

Abstract (Expand)

Purpose: The onset and progression of optic neuropathies like glaucoma often occurs asymmetrically between the two eyes of a patient. Interocular circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (cpRNFLT) differences could detect disease earlier. To apply such differences diagnostically, detailed location specific norms are necessary. Methods: Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography cpRNFLT circle scans from the population-based Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases–Adult study were selected. At each of the 768 radial scanning locations, normative interocular cpRNFLT difference distributions were calculated based on age and interocular radius difference. Results: A total of 8966 cpRNFLT scans of healthy eyes (4483 patients; 55% female; age range, 20–79 years) were selected. Global cpRNFLT average was 1.53 µm thicker in right eyes (P < 2.2 × 10–16). On 96% of the 768 locations, left minus right eye differences were significant (P < 0.05), varying between +11.6 µm (superonasal location) and −11.8 µm (nasal location). Increased age and difference in interocular scanning radii were associated with an increased mean and variance of interocular cpRNFLT difference at most retinal locations, apart from the area temporal to the inferior RNF bundle where cpRNFLT becomes more similar between eyes with age. Conclusions: We provide pointwise normative distributions of interocular cpRNFLT differences at an unprecedentedly high spatial resolution of 768 A-scans and reveal considerable location specific asymmetries as well as their associations with age and scanning radius differences between eyes. Translational Relevance: To facilitate clinical application, we implement these age- and radius-specific norms across all 768 locations in an open-source software to generate patient-specific normative color plots.

Authors: Neda Baniasadi, Franziska G. Rauscher, Dian Li, Mengyu Wang, Eun Young Choi, Hui Wang, Thomas Peschel, Kerstin Wirkner, Toralf Kirsten, Joachim Thiery, Christoph Engel, Markus Loeffler, Tobias Elze

Date Published: 3rd Aug 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

We have carried out meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) (n = 23 784) of the first two principal components (PCs) that group together cortical regions with shared variance in their surface area. PC1 (global) captured variations of most regions, whereas PC2 (visual) was specific to the primary and secondary visual cortices. We identified a total of 18 (PC1) and 17 (PC2) independent loci, which were replicated in another 25 746 individuals. The loci of the global PC1 included those associated previously with intracranial volume and/or general cognitive function, such as MAPT and IGF2BP1. The loci of the visual PC2 included DAAM1, a key player in the planar-cell-polarity pathway. We then tested associations with occupational aptitudes and, as predicted, found that the global PC1 was associated with General Learning Ability, and the visual PC2 was associated with the Form Perception aptitude. These results suggest that interindividual variations in global and regional development of the human cerebral cortex (and its molecular architecture) cascade-albeit in a very limited manner-to behaviors as complex as the choice of one’s occupation.

Authors: Jean Shin, Shaojie Ma, Edith Hofer, Yash Patel, Daniel E. Vosberg, Steven Tilley, Gennady V. Roshchupkin, André M. M. Sousa, Xueqiu Jian, Rebecca Gottesman, Thomas H. Mosley, Myriam Fornage, Yasaman Saba, Lukas Pirpamer, Reinhold Schmidt, Helena Schmidt, Amaia Carrion-Castillo, Fabrice Crivello, Bernard Mazoyer, Joshua C. Bis, Shuo Li, Qiong Yang, Michelle Luciano, Sherif Karama, Lindsay Lewis, Mark E. Bastin, Mathew A. Harris, Joanna M. Wardlaw, Ian E. Deary, Markus Scholz, Markus Loeffler, A. Veronica Witte, Frauke Beyer, Arno Villringer, Nicola J. Armstrong, Karen A. Mather, David Ames, Jiyang Jiang, John B. Kwok, Peter R. Schofield, Anbupalam Thalamuthu, Julian N. Trollor, Margaret J. Wright, Henry Brodaty, Wei Wen, Perminder S. Sachdev, Natalie Terzikhan, Tavia E. Evans, Hieab H. H. H. Adams, M. Arfan Ikram, Stefan Frenzel, Sandra van der Auwera-Palitschka, Katharina Wittfeld, Robin Bülow, Hans Jörgen Grabe, Christophe Tzourio, Aniket Mishra, Sophie Maingault, Stephanie Debette, Nathan A. Gillespie, Carol E. Franz, William S. Kremen, Linda Ding, Neda Jahanshad, Nenad Sestan, Zdenka Pausova, Sudha Seshadri, Tomas Paus

Date Published: 1st Jun 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

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