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    A proteogenomic view of Parkinson's disease causality and heterogeneity
    (Springer Nature, 2023-02-11) Kaiser, Sergio; Zhang, Luqing; Mollenhauer, Brit; Jacob, Jaison; Longerich, Simonne; Del-Aguila, Jorge; Marcus, Jacob; Raghavan, Neha; Stone, David; Fagboyegun, Olumide; Galasko, Douglas; Dakna, Mohammed; Bilican, Bilada; Dovlatyan, Mary; Kostikova, Anna; Li, Jingyao; Peterson, Brant; Rotte, Michael; Sanz, Vinicius; Foroud, Tatiana; Hutten, Samantha J.; Frasier, Mark; Iwaki, Hirotaka; Singleton, Andrew; Marek, Ken; Crawford, Karen; Elwood, Fiona; Messa, Mirko; Serrano-Fernandez, Pablo; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    The pathogenesis and clinical heterogeneity of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been evaluated from molecular, pathophysiological, and clinical perspectives. High-throughput proteomic analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) opened new opportunities for scrutinizing this heterogeneity. To date, this is the most comprehensive CSF-based proteomics profiling study in PD with 569 patients (350 idiopathic patients, 65 GBA + mutation carriers and 154 LRRK2 + mutation carriers), 534 controls, and 4135 proteins analyzed. Combining CSF aptamer-based proteomics with genetics we determined protein quantitative trait loci (pQTLs). Analyses of pQTLs together with summary statistics from the largest PD genome wide association study (GWAS) identified 68 potential causal proteins by Mendelian randomization. The top causal protein, GPNMB, was previously reported to be upregulated in the substantia nigra of PD patients. We also compared the CSF proteomes of patients and controls. Proteome differences between GBA + patients and unaffected GBA + controls suggest degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, altered dopamine metabolism and increased brain inflammation. In the LRRK2 + subcohort we found dysregulated lysosomal degradation, altered alpha-synuclein processing, and neurotransmission. Proteome differences between idiopathic patients and controls suggest increased neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction/oxidative stress, altered iron metabolism and potential neuroprotection mediated by vasoactive substances. Finally, we used proteomic data to stratify idiopathic patients into “endotypes”. The identified endotypes show differences in cognitive and motor disease progression based on previously reported protein-based risk scores.Our findings not only contribute to the identification of new therapeutic targets but also to shape personalized medicine in CNS neurodegeneration.
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    Single cell cortical bone transcriptomics define novel osteolineage gene sets altered in chronic kidney disease
    (Frontiers Media, 2023-01-26) Agoro, Rafiou; Nookaew, Intawat; Noonan, Megan L.; Megan L., Yamil G.; Liu, Sheng; Chang, Wennan; Gao, Hongyu; Hibbard, Lainey M.; Metzger, Corinne E.; Horan, Daniel; Thompson, William R.; Xuei, Xiaoling; Liu, Yunlong; Zhang, Chi; Robling, Alexander G.; Bonewald, Lynda F.; Wan, Jun; White, Kenneth E.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Due to a lack of spatial-temporal resolution at the single cell level, the etiologies of the bone dysfunction caused by diseases such as normal aging, osteoporosis, and the metabolic bone disease associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) remain largely unknown. Methods: To this end, flow cytometry and scRNAseq were performed on long bone cells from Sost-cre/Ai9+ mice, and pure osteolineage transcriptomes were identified, including novel osteocyte-specific gene sets. Results: Clustering analysis isolated osteoblast precursors that expressed Tnc, Mmp13, and Spp1, and a mature osteoblast population defined by Smpd3, Col1a1, and Col11a1. Osteocytes were demarcated by Cd109, Ptprz1, Ramp1, Bambi, Adamts14, Spns2, Bmp2, WasI, and Phex. We validated our in vivo scRNAseq using integrative in vitro promoter occupancy via ATACseq coupled with transcriptomic analyses of a conditional, temporally differentiated MSC cell line. Further, trajectory analyses predicted osteoblast-to-osteocyte transitions via defined pathways associated with a distinct metabolic shift as determined by single-cell flux estimation analysis (scFEA). Using the adenine mouse model of CKD, at a time point prior to major skeletal alterations, we found that gene expression within all stages of the osteolineage was disturbed. Conclusion: In sum, distinct populations of osteoblasts/osteocytes were defined at the single cell level. Using this roadmap of gene assembly, we demonstrated unrealized molecular defects across multiple bone cell populations in a mouse model of CKD, and our collective results suggest a potentially earlier and more broad bone pathology in this disease than previously recognized.
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    The Advisory Group on Risk Evidence Education for Dementia: Multidisciplinary and Open to All
    (IOS Press, 2022) Rosen, Allyson C.; Arias, Jalayne J.; Ashford, J. Wesson; Blacker, Deborah; Chhatwal, Jasmeer P.; Chin, Nathan A.; Clark, Lindsay; Denny, Sharon S.; Goldman, Jill S.; Gleason, Carey E.; Grill, Joshua D.; Heidebrink, Judith L.; Henderson, Victor W.; Lavacot, James A.; Lingler, Jennifer H.; Menon, Malavika; Nosheny, Rachel L.; Oliveira, Fabricio F.; Parker, Monica W.; Rahman-Filipiak, Annalise; Revoori, Anwita; Rumbaugh, Malia C.; Sanchez, Danurys L.; Schindler, Suzanne E.; Schwarz, Christopher G.; Toy, Leslie; Tyrone, Jamie; Walter, Sarah; Wang, Li-san; Wijsman, Ellen M.; Zallen, Doris T.; Aggarwal, Neelum T.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    The brain changes of Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative dementias begin long before cognitive dysfunction develops, and in people with subtle cognitive complaints, clinicians often struggle to predict who will develop dementia. The public increasingly sees benefits to accessing dementia risk evidence (DRE) such as biomarkers, predictive algorithms, and genetic information, particularly as this information moves from research to demonstrated usefulness in guiding diagnosis and clinical management. For example, the knowledge that one has high levels of amyloid in the brain may lead one to seek amyloid reducing medications, plan for disability, or engage in health promoting behaviors to fight cognitive decline. Researchers often hesitate to share DRE data, either because they are insufficiently validated or reliable for use in individuals, or there are concerns about assuring responsible use and ensuring adequate understanding of potential problems when one’s biomarker status is known. Concerns include warning people receiving DRE about situations in which they might be compelled to disclose their risk status potentially leading to discrimination or stigma. The Advisory Group on Risk Evidence Education for Dementia (AGREEDementia) welcomes all concerned with how best to share and use DRE. Supporting understanding in clinicians, stakeholders, and people with or at risk for dementia and clearly delineating risks, benefits, and gaps in knowledge is vital. This brief overview describes elements that made this group effective as a model for other health conditions where there is interest in unfettered collaboration to discuss diagnostic uncertainty and the appropriate use and communication of health-related risk information.
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    A 9.8 Mb deletion at 7q31.2q31.31 downstream of FOXP2 in an individual with speech and language impairment suggests a possible positional effect
    (Wiley, 2022-11-19) Iwata-Otsubo, Aiko; Klee, Victoria H.; Ahmad, Aaliya A.; Walsh, Laurence E.; Breman, Amy M.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Haploinsufficiency of FOXP2 causes FOXP2-related speech and language disorder. We report a 9.8 Mb deletion downstream of FOXP2 in a girl with speech and language impairment, developmental delay, and other features. We propose involvement of FOXP2 in pathogenesis of these phenotypes, likely due to positional effects on the gene.
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    A genetic risk score and diabetes predict development of alcohol-related cirrhosis in drinkers
    (Elsevier, 2022) Whitfield, John B.; Schwantes-An, Tae-Hwi; Darlay, Rebecca; Aithal, Guruprasad P.; Atkinson, Stephen R.; Bataller, Ramon; Botwin, Greg; Chalasani, Naga P.; Cordell, Heather J.; Daly, Ann K.; Day, Christopher P.; Eyer, Florian; Foroud, Tatiana; Gleeson, Dermot; Goldman, David; Haber, Paul S.; Jacquet, Jean-Marc; Liang, Tiebing; Liangpunsakul, Suthat; Masson, Steven; Mathurin, Philippe; Moirand, Romain; McQuillin, Andrew; Moreno, Christophe; Morgan, Marsha Y.; Mueller, Sebastian; Müllhaupt, Beat; Nagy, Laura E.; Nahon, Pierre; Nalpas, Bertrand; Naveau, Sylvie; Perney, Pascal; Pirmohamed, Munir; Seitz, Helmut K.; Soyka, Michael; Stickel, Felix; Thompson, Andrew; Thursz, Mark R.; Trépo, Eric; Morgan, Timothy R.; Seth, Devanshi; GenomALC Consortium; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Background & aims: Only a minority of excess alcohol drinkers develop cirrhosis. We developed and evaluated risk stratification scores to identify those at highest risk. Methods: Three cohorts (GenomALC-1: n = 1,690, GenomALC-2: n = 3,037, UK Biobank: relevant n = 6,898) with a history of heavy alcohol consumption (≥80 g/day (men), ≥50 g/day (women), for ≥10 years) were included. Cases were participants with alcohol-related cirrhosis. Controls had a history of similar alcohol consumption but no evidence of liver disease. Risk scores were computed from up to 8 genetic loci identified previously as associated with alcohol-related cirrhosis and 3 clinical risk factors. Score performance for the stratification of alcohol-related cirrhosis risk was assessed and compared across the alcohol-related liver disease spectrum, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Results: A combination of 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (PNPLA3:rs738409, SUGP1-TM6SF2:rs10401969, HSD17B13:rs6834314) and diabetes status best discriminated cirrhosis risk. The odds ratios (ORs) and (95% CIs) between the lowest (Q1) and highest (Q5) score quintiles of the 3-SNP score, based on independent allelic effect size estimates, were 5.99 (4.18-8.60) (GenomALC-1), 2.81 (2.03-3.89) (GenomALC-2), and 3.10 (2.32-4.14) (UK Biobank). Patients with diabetes and high risk scores had ORs of 14.7 (7.69-28.1) (GenomALC-1) and 17.1 (11.3-25.7) (UK Biobank) compared to those without diabetes and with low risk scores. Patients with cirrhosis and HCC had significantly higher mean risk scores than patients with cirrhosis alone (0.76 ± 0.06 vs. 0.61 ± 0.02, p = 0.007). Score performance was not significantly enhanced by information on additional genetic risk variants, body mass index or coffee consumption. Conclusions: A risk score based on 3 genetic risk variants and diabetes status enables the stratification of heavy drinkers based on their risk of cirrhosis, allowing for the provision of earlier preventative interventions. Lay summary: Excessive chronic drinking leads to cirrhosis in some people, but so far there is no way to identify those at high risk of developing this debilitating disease. We developed a genetic risk score that can identify patients at high risk. The risk of cirrhosis is increased >10-fold with just two risk factors - diabetes and a high genetic risk score. Risk assessment using this test could enable the early and personalised management of this disease in high-risk patients.
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    CRISPR-Cas9-mediated insertion of a short artificial intron for the generation of conditional alleles in mice
    (Elsevier, 2023) Cassidy, Annelise; Pelletier, Stephane; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    In this protocol, we describe the generation of conditional alleles in mice using the DECAI (DEgradation based on Cre-regulated Artificial Intron) approach. We detail steps for the CRISPR-mediated insertion of the short DECAI cassette within exon 3 of Scyl1 and the functional validation of alleles at genomic, transcriptomic, and protein levels. This strategy simplifies the process of generating mice with conditional alleles.
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    Deletion of the Alzheimer's disease risk gene Abi3 locus results in obesity and systemic metabolic disruption in mice
    (Frontiers Media, 2022-12-22) Smith, Daniel C.; Karahan, Hande; Sagara Wijeratne, H. R.; Al-Amin, Mamun; McCord, Brianne; Moon, Younghye; Kim, Jungsu; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Alzheimer’s disease (AD) genetics studies have identified a coding variant within ABI3 gene that increases the risk of developing AD. Recently, we demonstrated that deletion of the Abi3 gene locus dramatically exacerbates AD neuropathology in a transgenic mouse model of amyloidosis. In the course of this AD project, we unexpectedly found that deletion of the Abi3 gene locus resulted in a dramatic obese phenotype in non-transgenic mice. Here, we report our investigation into this serendipitous metabolic finding. Specifically, we demonstrate that mice with deletion of the Abi3 gene locus (Abi3–/–) have dramatically increased body weight and body fat. Further, we determined that Abi3–/– mice have impaired energy expenditure. Additionally, we found that deletion of the Abi3 gene locus altered gene expression within the hypothalamus, particularly within immune-related pathways. Subsequent immunohistological analysis of the central nervous system (CNS) revealed that microglia number and area were decreased specifically within the mediobasal hypothalamus of Abi3–/– mice. Altogether, this investigation establishes the functional importance of the Abi3 gene locus in the regulation of systemic metabolism and maintenance of healthy body weight. While our previous findings indicated the importance of Abi3 in neurodegeneration, this study indicates that Abi3 related functions are also essential for metabolic regulation.
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    Predicting melanoma survival and metastasis with interpretable histopathological features and machine learning models
    (Frontiers Media, 2023-01-06) Couetil, Justin; Liu, Ziyu; Huang, Kun; Zhang, Jie; Alomari, Ahmed K.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in US, and the incidence is increasing 1.4% annually. The overall survival rate for early-stage disease is 99.4%. However, melanoma can recur years later (in the same region of the body or as distant metastasis), and results in a dramatically lower survival rate. Currently there is no reliable method to predict tumor recurrence and metastasis on early primary tumor histological images. Methods: To identify rapid, accurate, and cost-effective predictors of metastasis and survival, in this work, we applied various interpretable machine learning approaches to analyze melanoma histopathological H&E images. The result is a set of image features that can help clinicians identify high-risk-of-metastasis patients for increased clinical follow-up and precision treatment. We use simple models (i.e., logarithmic classification and KNN) and "human-interpretable" measures of cell morphology and tissue architecture (e.g., cell size, staining intensity, and cell density) to predict the melanoma survival on public and local Stage I-III cohorts as well as the metastasis risk on a local cohort. Results: We use penalized survival regression to limit features available to downstream classifiers and investigate the utility of convolutional neural networks in isolating tumor regions to focus morphology extraction on only the tumor region. This approach allows us to predict survival and metastasis with a maximum F1 score of 0.72 and 0.73, respectively, and to visualize several high-risk cell morphologies. Discussion: This lays the foundation for future work, which will focus on using our interpretable pipeline to predict metastasis in Stage I & II melanoma.
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    Spillover: The Approval of New Medications for Alzheimer's Disease Dementia Will Impact Biomarker Disclosure Among Asymptomatic Research Participants
    (IOS Press, 2022) Mozersky, Jessica; Roberts, J. Scott; Rumbaugh, Malia; Chhatwal, Jasmeer; Wijsman, Ellen; Galasko, Douglas; Blacker, Deborah; AGREED; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    In this article we address how the recent, and anticipated upcoming, FDA approvals of novel anti-amyloid medications to treat individuals with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia could impact disclosure of biomarker results among asymptomatic research participants. Currently, research is typically the context where an asymptomatic individual may have the option to learn their amyloid biomarker status. Asymptomatic research participants who learn their amyloid status may have questions regarding the meaning of this result and the implications for accessing a potential intervention. After outlining our rationale, we provide examples of how current educational materials used in research convey messages regarding amyloid positivity and the availability of treatments, or lack thereof. We suggest language to improve messaging, as well as strengths of current materials, in addressing these issues for research participants. Although novel medications are currently only approved for use among symptomatic individuals, their availability may have implications for disclosure among asymptomatic research participants with evidence of amyloid deposition, who may be especially interested in information on these interventions for potential prevention, or future treatment, of mild cognitive impairment or dementia due to AD.
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    Osteocyte Egln1/Phd2 links oxygen sensing and biomineralization via FGF23
    (Springer Nature, 2023-01-18) Noonan, Megan L.; Ni, Pu; Solis, Emmanuel; Marambio, Yamil G.; Agoro, Rafiou; Chu, Xiaona; Wang, Yue; Gao, Hongyu; Xuei, Xiaoling; Clinkenbeard, Erica L.; Jiang, Guanglong; Liu, Sheng; Stegen, Steve; Carmeliet, Geert; Thompson, William R.; Liu, Yunlong; Wan, Jun; White, Kenneth E.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Osteocytes act within a hypoxic environment to control key steps in bone formation. FGF23, a critical phosphate-regulating hormone, is stimulated by low oxygen/iron in acute and chronic diseases, however the molecular mechanisms directing this process remain unclear. Our goal was to identify the osteocyte factors responsible for FGF23 production driven by changes in oxygen/iron utilization. Hypoxia-inducible factor-prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors (HIF-PHI) which stabilize HIF transcription factors, increased Fgf23 in normal mice, as well as in osteocyte-like cells; in mice with conditional osteocyte Fgf23 deletion, circulating iFGF23 was suppressed. An inducible MSC cell line ('MPC2') underwent FG-4592 treatment and ATACseq/RNAseq, and demonstrated that differentiated osteocytes significantly increased HIF genomic accessibility versus progenitor cells. Integrative genomics also revealed increased prolyl hydroxylase Egln1 (Phd2) chromatin accessibility and expression, which was positively associated with osteocyte differentiation. In mice with chronic kidney disease (CKD), Phd1-3 enzymes were suppressed, consistent with FGF23 upregulation in this model. Conditional loss of Phd2 from osteocytes in vivo resulted in upregulated Fgf23, in line with our findings that the MPC2 cell line lacking Phd2 (CRISPR Phd2-KO cells) constitutively activated Fgf23 that was abolished by HIF1α blockade. In vitro, Phd2-KO cells lost iron-mediated suppression of Fgf23 and this activity was not compensated for by Phd1 or -3. In sum, osteocytes become adapted to oxygen/iron sensing during differentiation and are directly sensitive to bioavailable iron. Further, Phd2 is a critical mediator of osteocyte FGF23 production, thus our collective studies may provide new therapeutic targets for skeletal diseases involving disturbed oxygen/iron sensing.