Publications

251 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 251

Abstract (Expand)

Progranulin is a glycoprotein marking chronic inflammation in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Previous studies suggested PSRC1 (proline and serine rich coiled-coil 1) to be a target of genetic variants associated with serum progranulin levels. We aimed to identify potentially functional variants and characterize their role in regulation of PSRC1. Phylogenetic module complexity analysis (PMCA) prioritized four polymorphisms (rs12740374, rs629301, rs660240, rs7528419) altering transcription factor binding sites with an overall score for potential regulatory function of Sall \textgreater 7.0. The effects of these variants on transcriptional activity and binding of transcription factors were tested by luciferase reporter and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA). In parallel, blood DNA promoter methylation of two regions was tested in subjects with a very high (N = 100) or a very low (N = 100) serum progranulin. Luciferase assays revealed lower activities in vectors carrying the rs629301-A compared with the C allele. Moreover, EMSA indicated a different binding pattern for the two rs629301 alleles, with an additional prominent band for the A allele, which was finally confirmed with the supershift for the Yin Yang 1 transcription factor (YY1). Subjects with high progranulin levels manifested a significantly higher mean DNA methylation (P \textless 1 \times 10-7) in one promoter region, which was in line with a significantly lower PSRC1 mRNA expression levels in blood (P = 1 \times 10-3). Consistently, rs629301-A allele was associated with lower PSRC1 mRNA expression (P \textless 1 \times 10-7). Our data suggest that the progranulin-associated variant rs629301 modifies the transcription of PSRC1 through alteration of YY1 binding capacity. DNA methylation studies further support the role of PSRC1 in regulation of progranulin serum levels. KEY MESSAGES: PSRC1 (proline and serine rich coiled-coil 1) SNPs are associated with serum progranulin levels. rs629301 regulates PSRC1 expression by affecting Yin Yang 1 transcription factor (YY1) binding. PSRC1 is also epigenetically regulated in subjects with high progranulin levels.

Authors: Maria Keller, Claudia Gebhardt, Sandra Huth, Dorit Schleinitz, Henrike Heyne, Markus Scholz, Michael Stumvoll, Yvonne Böttcher, Anke Tönjes, Peter Kovacs

Date Published: 1st Aug 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND The G-protein-coupled receptor Class C Group 6 Member A (GPRC6A) is activated by multiple ligands and is important for the regulation of calcium homeostasis. Extracellular calcium is capablee to increase NLRP3 inflammasome activity of the innate immune system and deletion of this proinflammatory pathway mitigated pancreatitis severity in vivo. As such this pathway and the GPRC6A receptor is a reasonable candidate gene for pancreatitis. Here we investigated the prevalence of sequence variants in the GPRC6A locus in different pancreatitis aetiologies. METHODS We selected 6 tagging SNPs with the SNPinfo LD TAG SNP Selection tool and the functional relevant SNP rs6907580 for genotyping. Cohorts from Germany, further European countries and China with up to 1,124 patients and 1,999 controls were screened for single SNPs with melting curve analysis. RESULTS We identified an association of rs1606365(G) with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis in a German (odds ratio (OR) 0.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.65-0.89, p = 8 \times 10-5) and a Chinese cohort (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.64-0.96, p = 0.02). However, this association was not replicated in a combined cohort of European patients (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.99-1.41, p = 0.07). Finally, no association was found with acute and non-alcoholic chronic pancreatitis. CONCLUSIONS Our results support a potential role of calcium sensing receptors and inflammasome activation in alcoholic chronic pancreatitis development. As the functional consequence of the associated variant is unclear, further investigations might elucidate the relevant mechanisms.

Authors: Tom Kaune, Claudia Ruffert, Nico Hesselbarth, Marko Damm, Sebastian Krug, Julian Cardinal von Widdern, Emmanuelle Masson, Jian-Min Chen, Vinciane Rebours, Louis Buscail, Claude Férec, Robert Grützmann, Rene H. M. Te Morsche, Joost Ph Drenth, Giulia Martina Cavestro, Raffaella Alessia Zuppardo, Adrian Saftoiu, Ewa Malecka-Panas, Stanislaw Głuszek, Peter Bugert, Markus M. Lerch, Matthias Sendler, Frank Ulrich Weiss, Wen-Bin Zou, Shun-Jiang Deng, Zhuan Liao, Markus Scholz, Holger Kirsten, Peter Hegyi, Heiko Witt, Patrick Michl, Heidi Griesmann, Jonas Rosendahl

Date Published: 1st Aug 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Glioblastoma is a common, malignant brain tumor whose disease incidence increases with age. Glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs) are thought to contribute to cancer therapy resistance and to be responsible for tumor initiation, maintenance, and recurrence. This study utilizes both SNP array and gene expression profiling to better understand GSCs and their relation to malignant disease. Peripheral blood and primary glioblastoma tumor tissue were obtained from patients, the latter of which was used to generate GSCs as well as a CD133pos./CD15pos. subpopulation. The stem cell features of GSCs were confirmed via the immunofluorescent expression of Nestin, SOX2, and CD133. Both tumor tissue and the isolated primary cells shared unique abnormal genomic characteristics, including a gain of chromosome 7 as well as either a partial or complete loss of chromosome 10. Individual genomic differences were also observed, including the loss of chromosome 4 and segmental uniparental disomy of 9p24.3-->p21.3 in GSCs. Gene expression profiling revealed 418 genes upregulated in tumor tissue vs. CD133pos./CD15pos. cells and 44 genes upregulated in CD133pos./CD15pos. cells vs. tumor tissue. Pathway analyses demonstrated that upregulated genes in CD133pos./CD15pos. cells are relevant to cell cycle processes and cancerogenesis. In summary, we detected previously undescribed genomic and gene expression differences when comparing tumor tissue and isolated stem-like subpopulations.

Authors: M. Wallenborn, L. X. Xu, H. Kirsten, L. Rohani, D. Rudolf, P. Ahnert, C. Schmidt, R. M. Schulz, M. Richter, W. Krupp, W. Mueller, A. A. Johnson, J. Meixensberger, H. Holland

Date Published: 8th Jul 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Periventricular white matter hyperintensities (WMH; PVWMH) and deep WMH (DWMH) are regional classifications of WMH and reflect proposed differences in cause. In the first study,, to date, we undertook genome-wide association analyses of DWMH and PVWMH to show that these phenotypes have different genetic underpinnings. METHODS Participants were aged 45 years and older, free of stroke and dementia. We conducted genome-wide association analyses of PVWMH and DWMH in 26,654 participants from CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology), ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro-Imaging Genetics Through Meta-Analysis), and the UKB (UK Biobank). Regional correlations were investigated using the genome-wide association analyses -pairwise method. Cross-trait genetic correlations between PVWMH, DWMH, stroke, and dementia were estimated using LDSC. RESULTS In the discovery and replication analysis, for PVWMH only, we found associations on chromosomes 2 (NBEAL), 10q23.1 (TSPAN14/FAM231A), and 10q24.33 (SH3PXD2A). In the much larger combined meta-analysis of all cohorts, we identified ten significant regions for PVWMH: chromosomes 2 (3 regions), 6, 7, 10 (2 regions), 13, 16, and 17q23.1. New loci of interest include 7q36.1 (NOS3) and 16q24.2. In both the discovery/replication and combined analysis, we found genome-wide significant associations for the 17q25.1 locus for both DWMH and PVWMH. Using gene-based association analysis, 19 genes across all regions were identified for PVWMH only, including the new genes: CALCRL (2q32.1), KLHL24 (3q27.1), VCAN (5q27.1), and POLR2F (22q13.1). Thirteen genes in the 17q25.1 locus were significant for both phenotypes. More extensive genetic correlations were observed for PVWMH with small vessel ischemic stroke. There were no associations with dementia for either phenotype. CONCLUSIONS Our study confirms these phenotypes have distinct and also shared genetic architectures. Genetic analyses indicated PVWMH was more associated with ischemic stroke whilst DWMH loci were implicated in vascular, astrocyte, and neuronal function. Our study confirms these phenotypes are distinct neuroimaging classifications and identifies new candidate genes associated with PVWMH only.

Authors: Nicola J. Armstrong, Karen A. Mather, Muralidharan Sargurupremraj, Maria J. Knol, Rainer Malik, Claudia L. Satizabal, Lisa R. Yanek, Wei Wen, Vilmundur G. Gudnason, Nicole D. Dueker, Lloyd T. Elliott, Edith Hofer, Joshua Bis, Neda Jahanshad, Shuo Li, Mark A. Logue, Michelle Luciano, Markus Scholz, Albert V. Smith, Stella Trompet, Dina Vojinovic, Rui Xia, Fidel Alfaro-Almagro, David Ames, Najaf Amin, Philippe Amouyel, Alexa S. Beiser, Henry Brodaty, Ian J. Deary, Christine Fennema-Notestine, Piyush G. Gampawar, Rebecca Gottesman, Ludovica Griffanti, Clifford R. Jack, Mark Jenkinson, Jiyang Jiang, Brian G. Kral, John B. Kwok, Leonie Lampe, David C M Liewald, Pauline Maillard, Jonathan Marchini, Mark E. Bastin, Bernard Mazoyer, Lukas Pirpamer, José Rafael Romero, Gennady V. Roshchupkin, Peter R. Schofield, Matthias L. Schroeter, David J. Stott, Anbupalam Thalamuthu, Julian Trollor, Christophe Tzourio, Jeroen van der Grond, Meike W. Vernooij, Veronica A. Witte, Margaret J. Wright, Qiong Yang, Zoe Morris, Siggi Siggurdsson, Bruce Psaty, Arno Villringer, Helena Schmidt, Asta K. Haberg, Cornelia M. van Duijn, J. Wouter Jukema, Martin Dichgans, Ralph L. Sacco, Clinton B. Wright, William S. Kremen, Lewis C. Becker, Paul M. Thompson, Thomas H. Mosley, Joanna M. Wardlaw, M. Arfan Ikram, Hieab H. H. Adams, Sudha Seshadri, Perminder S. Sachdev, Stephen M. Smith, Lenore Launer, William Longstreth, Charles DeCarli, Reinhold Schmidt, Myriam Fornage, Stephanie Debette, Paul A. Nyquist

Date Published: 1st Jul 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

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Carotid artery plaque is an established marker of subclinical atherosclerosis with pronounced sex-dimorphism. Here, we aimed to identify genetic variants associated with carotid plaque burden (CPB) and to examine potential sex-specific genetic effects on plaque sizes. METHODS AND RESULTS: We defined six operationalizations of CPB considering plaques in common carotid arteries, carotid bulb, and internal carotid arteries. We performed sex-specific genome-wide association analyses for all traits in the LIFE-Adult cohort (n = 727 men and n = 550 women) and tested significantly associated loci for sex-specific effects. In order to identify causal genes, we analyzed candidate gene expression data for correlation with CPB traits and corresponding sex-specific effects. Further, we tested if previously reported SNP associations with CAD and plaque prevalence are also associated with CBP. We found seven loci with suggestive significance for CPB (p<3.33x10-7), explaining together between 6 and 13% of the CPB variance. Sex-specific analysis showed a genome-wide significant hit for men at 5q31.1 (rs201629990, beta = -0.401, p = 5.22x10-9), which was not associated in women (beta = -0.127, p = 0.093) with a significant difference in effect size (p = 0.008). Analyses of gene expression data suggested IL5 as the most plausible candidate, as it reflected the same sex-specific association with CPBs (p = 0.037). Known plaque prevalence or CAD loci showed no enrichment in the association with CPB. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that CPB is a complementary trait in analyzing genetics of subclinical atherosclerosis. We detected a novel locus for plaque size in men only suggesting a role of IL5. Several estrogen response elements in this locus point towards a functional explanation of the observed sex-specific effect.

Authors: J. Pott, F. Beutner, K. Horn, H. Kirsten, K. Olischer, K. Wirkner, M. Loeffler, M. Scholz

Date Published: 30th May 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: cardiovascular system disease, atherosclerosis

Abstract (Expand)

Epidemiology studies suggested that low birthweight was associated with a higher risk of hypertension in later life. However, little is known about the causality of such associations. In our study, we evaluated the causal association of low birthweight with adulthood hypertension following a standard analytic protocol using the study-level data of 183,433 participants from 60 studies (CHARGE-BIG consortium), as well as that with blood pressure using publicly available summary-level genome-wide association data from EGG consortium of 153,781 participants, ICBP consortium and UK Biobank cohort together of 757,601 participants. We used seven SNPs as the instrumental variable in the study-level analysis and 47 SNPs in the summary-level analysis. In the study-level analyses, decreased birthweight was associated with a higher risk of hypertension in adults (the odds ratio per 1 standard deviation (SD) lower birthweight, 1.22; 95% CI 1.16 to 1.28), while no association was found between genetically instrumented birthweight and hypertension risk (instrumental odds ratio for causal effect per 1 SD lower birthweight, 0.97; 95% CI 0.68 to 1.41). Such results were consistent with that from the summary-level analyses, where the genetically determined low birthweight was not associated with blood pressure measurements either. One SD lower genetically determined birthweight was not associated with systolic blood pressure (\textgreekb = - 0.76, 95% CI - 2.45 to 1.08 mmHg), 0.06 mmHg lower diastolic blood pressure (\textgreekb = - 0.06, 95% CI - 0.93 to 0.87 mmHg), or pulse pressure (\textgreekb = - 0.65, 95% CI - 1.38 to 0.69 mmHg, all p \textgreater 0.05). Our findings suggest that the inverse association of birthweight with hypertension risk from observational studies was not supported by large Mendelian randomization analyses.

Authors: Yan Zheng, Tao Huang, Tiange Wang, Zhendong Mei, Zhonghan Sun, Tao Zhang, Christina Ellervik, Jin-Fang Chai, Xueling Sim, Rob M. van Dam, E-Shyong Tai, Woon-Puay Koh, Rajkumar Dorajoo, Seang-Mei Saw, Charumathi Sabanayagam, Tien Yin Wong, Preeti Gupta, Peter Rossing, Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia, Rebecca K. Vinding, Hans Bisgaard, Klaus Bønnelykke, Yujie Wang, Mariaelisa Graff, Trudy Voortman, Frank J. A. van Rooij, Albert Hofman, Diana van Heemst, Raymond Noordam, Angela C. Estampador, Tibor V. Varga, Cornelia Enzenbach, Markus Scholz, Joachim Thiery, Ralph Burkhardt, Marju Orho-Melander, Christina-Alexandra Schulz, Ulrika Ericson, Emily Sonestedt, Michiaki Kubo, Masato Akiyama, Ang Zhou, Tuomas O. Kilpeläinen, Torben Hansen, Marcus E. Kleber, Graciela Delgado, Mark McCarthy, Rozenn N. Lemaitre, Janine F. Felix, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, Ying Wu, Karen L. Mohlke, Terho Lehtimäki, Carol A. Wang, Craig E. Pennell, Heribert Schunkert, Thorsten Kessler, Lingyao Zeng, Christina Willenborg, Annette Peters, Wolfgang Lieb, Veit Grote, Peter Rzehak, Berthold Koletzko, Jeanette Erdmann, Matthias Munz, Tangchun Wu, Meian He, Caizheng Yu, Cécile Lecoeur, Philippe Froguel, Dolores Corella, Luis A. Moreno, Chao-Qiang Lai, Niina Pitkänen, Colin A. Boreham, Paul M. Ridker, Frits R. Rosendaal, Renée de Mutsert, Chris Power, Lavinia Paternoster, Thorkild I. A. Sørensen, Anne Tjønneland, Kim Overvad, Luc Djousse, Fernando Rivadeneira, Nanette R. Lee, Olli T. Raitakari, Mika Kähönen, Jorma Viikari, Jean-Paul Langhendries, Joaquin Escribano, Elvira Verduci, George Dedoussis, Inke König, Beverley Balkau, Oscar Coltell, Jean Dallongeville, Aline Meirhaeghe, Philippe Amouyel, Frédéric Gottrand, Katja Pahkala, Harri Niinikoski, Elina Hyppönen, Winfried März, David A. Mackey, Dariusz Gruszfeld, Katherine L. Tucker, Frédéric Fumeron, Ramon Estruch, Jose M. Ordovas, Donna K. Arnett, Dennis O. Mook-Kanamori, Dariush Mozaffarian, Bruce M. Psaty, Kari E. North, Daniel I. Chasman, Lu Qi

Date Published: 7th May 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Powered by
(v.1.13.0-master)
Copyright © 2008 - 2021 The University of Manchester and HITS gGmbH
Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology, University of Leipzig

By continuing to use this site you agree to the use of cookies