Association between de novo lipogenesis susceptibility genes and coronary artery disease

Background and aimsCoronary artery disease (CAD) is the principal cause of death in individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of this study was to use genetic epidemiology to study the association between de novo lipogenesis (DNL), one of the major pathways leading to NAFLD, and CAD risk.Methods and resultsDNL susceptibility genes were used as instruments and selected using three approaches: 1) genes that are associated with both high serum triglycerides and low sex hormone-binding globulin, both downstream consequences of DNL (unbiased approach), 2) genes that have a known role in DNL (biased approach), and 3) genes that have been associated with serum fatty acids, used as a proxy of DNL. Gene-CAD effect estimates were retrieved from the meta-analysis of CARDIoGRAM and the UK Biobank (～76014 cases and ～264785 controls). Effect estimates were clustered using a fixed-effects meta-analysis. Twenty-two DNL susceptibility genes were identified by the unbiased approach, nine genes by the biased approach and seven genes were associated with plasma fatty acids. Clustering of genes selected in the unbiased and biased approach showed a statistically significant association with CAD (OR:1.016, 95%CI:1.012; 1.020 and OR:1.013, 95%CI:1.007; 1.020, respectively), while clustering of fatty acid genes did not (OR:1.004, 95%CI:0.996–1.011). Subsequent exclusion of potential influential outliers did reveal a statistically significant association (OR:1.009, 95%CI:1.000; 1.018).ConclusionsDNL susceptibility genes are associated with an increased risk of CAD. These findings suggest that DNL may be involved in the pathogenesis of CAD and favor further development of strategies that target NAFLD through DNL.     

福建省原发性肝癌遗传因素分析

为了探讨遗传因素与福建省原发性肝癌的关系,应用多种对照配对的病例对照研究方法,对100个原发性肝癌和200个对照家系进行了遗传流行病学分析。结果显示,原发性肝癌先证者一、二级亲属患病率明显高于对照组患病率,分离比为0.04146～0.08654,遗传度加权均值为63.52±4.22％。提示原发性肝癌系多基因遗传病,遗传易感性是原发性肝癌的危险因素之一,原发性肝癌的发生是遗传和环境多种因素共同作用的结果。     

Linkage studies of psychiatric disorders

Summary Linkage analysis has been successful in identifying the genetic basis of numerous Mendelian diseases. These successes were due in part to the rapid developments in molecular biology, which have yielded a plethora of informative genetic markers. Although there is strong evidence that the manifestation of schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorders is controlled by genes, no evidence for linkage has been established. For psychiatric disorders, the most important limiting factor is likely to be the lack of single loci with very large effects that occur with any relevant frequency. The difficulties of linkage studies in psychiatric disorders are discussed with reference to non-psychiatric genetic diseases for which linkage to genetic markers has been successful. Recommendations for collecting information to clarify the patterns of transmission of the psychiatric disorders are described.     

Ethyl-EPA in Huntington disease—Potentially relevant mechanism of action

The pathomechanisms involved in the neuronal dysfunction in Huntington disease (HD) are still unresolved and may be heterogeneous. One potential mechanism might be related to the induction of mitochondrial dysfunction in the CNS. This might lead firstly to neuronal dysfunction and finally to the activation of apoptotic pathways. Several compounds, which should alleviate mitochondrial dysfunction, have been tested in preclinical models as well as in clinical trials of different scale. Recently we reported the efficacy of Ethyl-eicosapentaenoic acid (Ethyl-EPA) in patients with HD. Ethyl-EPA is a polyunsaturated fatty acid from the n − 3 group, which is in clinical development for HD and melancholic depression. In our trial with Ethyl-EPA in HD responding patients could be characterized by either a lower CAG repeat number or a chorea-predominant clinical expression of the disease. Here we would like to describe some evidence on the potential mechanism of action of Ethyl-EPA in HD. We specifically focus on pathways, which are known to be influenced in HD and are modified by Ethyl-EPA and which points to an involvement of mitochondrial function as a common target. Some attention is given to the NF-kappa B pathway and the c-Jun amino-terminal kinases (JNK) pathway, which both may lead to an activation of the antiproliferative factor p53 and consequently mitochondrial dysfunction. Further the effects of EPA or Ethyl-EPA in preclinical models of HD are described. The evidence from these studies led to the design of phase III clinical trials, which are ongoing.     

细胞荧光素酶报告基因试验受CpG岛甲基化状态影响

Objective To investigate the effects of methylation status of CpG islands of endogenous E-cadherin (CDH1) gene on the promoter activity of corresponding genes in reporter assays. Methods The methylation statuses of CpG island of CDHI in 8 different cell lines were detected by methylation-specific PCR. CDH1 protein was analyzed by Western blotting. Two sets of pGL3 reporter vectors with different genotypes/haplotypes of the CDH1 promoter were constructed [pGI3-A(-73)/-C(-73)pGL3-H1/-H4]and used to transfect these cell lines. The differences between these promoter reporter vectors were analyzed by t-test. Results (1) CDH1 CpG island was unmethylated in AGS, MCF7, MKN74, and PC-3 cell lines,expressed in MCF7, MKN74, and PC-3 ,but not in AGS. Expression of CDH1 was silenced by methylation in HeLa, BGC823, A549, and RKO cell lines. (2) In the four CDH1 -unmethylated MCFT, M KN74, PC-3, and AGS cell lines ,the promoter activities of pGI3-C(-73)(as 0. 78±0. 10,0. 17±0.01,0. 11±0. 01,1.19±0. 18)were significantly higher than those of pGL3-A(-73)(as 0. 30±0. 08,0. 07±0. 01,0. 07±0. 01,0. 39±0. 04) (t values are -6. 298, -12. 349, -8. 128, -7.388, and P<0. 01). However, in the four C DH1 -methylated HeLa, BGC823, A549, and RKO cell lines, the promoter activity of pGL3-C(-73)(as 0. 09±0. 02,0. 13±0. 02,0. 05±0. 01,0. 01±0. 00) was significantly lower than that of pGL3-A(-73)(as 0. 16±0. 01,0.25±0.01,0. 11±0.03,0.03±0.00) (t valued at 5.958,11. 189,3. 661,13. 866,and P<0.05). (3) In the unmethylated MKN74 and methylated RKO cell lines, the promoter activities of pGI3-H1/-H4 were obviously and contrarily different(as 1.57±0. 23/0. 94±0. 06 and 0. 38±0. 02/0. 50±0. 04 ,t values were 4. 577 and -4. 915 ,P values were 0. 010 and 0. 003). Conclusion The methylation status of CpG island of the target gene in the tested cell lines affects the promoter activity in Reporter Assay significantly. The most active one may be the most suppressive one.     

Complex Genetic Disease: Can Genetic Strategies in Alzheimer's Disease and New Genetic Mechanisms Be Applied to Epilepsy?

Summary: Strategies used in molecular genetics have changed modern neurology. The gene or genes responsible for several major neurologic diseases have now been identified using "reverse" or positional genetics. Unexpected new genetic mechanisms have been discovered in human neurologic diseases, including (a) identical mutations of the prion protein gene in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and fatal familial insomnia with the phenotypic expression directed by an accompanying polymorphism; (b) stable duplications of chromosome 17 in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (type 1 A) that involve many genes, only one of which appears to cause neuropathy; and (c) highly variable, dynamic mutations in myotonic dystrophy, fragile X syndrome, and Kennedy's syndrome that modulate variable expressivity in multiple tissues. There is growing recognition that neurologic diseases are often complex genetic diseases with multifactorial rather than simple modes of inheritance. For example, genetic association/linkage strategies have interacted with biochemistry and immunopathology studies to produce new insights into the disease mechanism of late-onset Alzheimer's disease. The role of apolipoprotein E in late-onset Alzheimer's disease is an example of how new analytical techniques of genetic disease can be applied to dissect multiple genes. Similar research strategies are suggested for the study of epilepsy as a complex disease.