Literature Watch

Novel variant in the FGD1 gene causing Aarskog-Scott syndrome.

Deep learning - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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Novel variant in the FGD1 gene causing Aarskog-Scott syndrome.

Exp Ther Med. 2017 Jun;13(6):2623-2628

Authors: Ge Y, Li N, Wang Z, Wang J, Cai H

Abstract
Aarskog-Scott syndrome (ASS) is a rare, X-linked recessive inherited disorder. Affected individuals may develop short stature and exhibit distinctive skeletal and genital development. Mutations in the FYVE, rhogef and pleckstrin homology domain-containing protein 1 (FGD1) gene, located within the Xp11.21 region, are responsible for the occurrence of ASS. Since it is rare and complex, it can take a long time to obtain a definitive clinical diagnosis unless clinicians are familiar with the disease. In the present study, whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed to screen for causal variants in a Chinese pediatric patient who exhibited a number of clinical symptoms of ASS, including short stature, facial abnormalities, stubby metacarpals and swollen testis. DNA sequencing revealed a novel c.1270 A>G mutation in exon 6 of the FGD1 gene, which led to an amino acid conversion of asparagine to aspartic acid on codon 424 and in silico analysis indicated that this novel missense mutation was pathogenic. The present study identified a novel variant of the FGD1 gene and to the best of our knowledge, is the first report of ASS in a Chinese individual. The results indicated that WES is an effective tool for the diagnosis of rare and complex syndromes such as ASS.

PMID: 28587322 [PubMed - in process]

Categories: Literature Watch

Rare variants in fox-1 homolog A (RBFOX1) are associated with lower blood pressure.

Deep learning - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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Rare variants in fox-1 homolog A (RBFOX1) are associated with lower blood pressure.

PLoS Genet. 2017 Mar;13(3):e1006678

Authors: He KY, Wang H, Cade BE, Nandakumar P, Giri A, Ware EB, Haessler J, Liang J, Smith JA, Franceschini N, Le TH, Kooperberg C, Edwards TL, Kardia SL, Lin X, Chakravarti A, Redline S, Zhu X

Abstract
Many large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified common blood pressure (BP) variants. However, most of the identified BP variants do not overlap with the linkage evidence observed from family studies. We thus hypothesize that multiple rare variants contribute to the observed linkage evidence. We performed linkage analysis using 517 individuals in 130 European families from the Cleveland Family Study (CFS) who have been genotyped on the Illumina OmniExpress Exome array. The largest linkage peak was observed on chromosome 16p13 (MLOD = 2.81) for systolic blood pressure (SBP). Follow-up conditional linkage and association analyses in the linkage region identified multiple rare, coding variants in RBFOX1 associated with reduced SBP. In a 17-member CFS family, carriers of the missense variant rs149974858 are normotensive despite being obese (average BMI = 60 kg/m2). Gene-based association test of rare variants using SKAT-O showed significant association with SBP (p-value = 0.00403) and DBP (p-value = 0.0258) in the CFS participants and the association was replicated in large independent replication studies (N = 57,234, p-value = 0.013 for SBP, 0.0023 for PP). RBFOX1 is expressed in brain tissues, the atrial appendage and left ventricle in the heart, and in skeletal muscle tissues, organs/tissues which are potentially related to blood pressure. Our study showed that associations of rare variants could be efficiently detected using family information.

PMID: 28346479 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Categories: Literature Watch

COLEC10 is mutated in 3MC patients and regulates early craniofacial development.

Deep learning - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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COLEC10 is mutated in 3MC patients and regulates early craniofacial development.

PLoS Genet. 2017 Mar;13(3):e1006679

Authors: Munye MM, Diaz-Font A, Ocaka L, Henriksen ML, Lees M, Brady A, Jenkins D, Morton J, Hansen SW, Bacchelli C, Beales PL, Hernandez-Hernandez V

Abstract
3MC syndrome is an autosomal recessive heterogeneous disorder with features linked to developmental abnormalities. The main features include facial dysmorphism, craniosynostosis and cleft lip/palate; skeletal structures derived from cranial neural crest cells (cNCC). We previously reported that lectin complement pathway genes COLEC11 and MASP1/3 are mutated in 3MC syndrome patients. Here we define a new gene, COLEC10, also mutated in 3MC families and present novel mutations in COLEC11 and MASP1/3 genes in a further five families. The protein products of COLEC11 and COLEC10, CL-K1 and CL-L1 respectively, form heteromeric complexes. We show COLEC10 is expressed in the base membrane of the palate during murine embryo development. We demonstrate how mutations in COLEC10 (c.25C>T; p.Arg9Ter, c.226delA; p.Gly77Glufs*66 and c.528C>G p.Cys176Trp) impair the expression and/or secretion of CL-L1 highlighting their pathogenicity. Together, these findings provide further evidence linking the lectin complement pathway and complement factors COLEC11 and COLEC10 to morphogenesis of craniofacial structures and 3MC etiology.

PMID: 28301481 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Categories: Literature Watch

Rare variant association test with multiple phenotypes.

Deep learning - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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Rare variant association test with multiple phenotypes.

Genet Epidemiol. 2017 Apr;41(3):198-209

Authors: Lee S, Won S, Kim YJ, Kim Y, T2D-Genes Consortium, Kim BJ, Park T

Abstract
Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have now discovered thousands of genetic variants associated with common traits, such variants cannot explain the large degree of "missing heritability," likely due to rare variants. The advent of next generation sequencing technology has allowed rare variant detection and association with common traits, often by investigating specific genomic regions for rare variant effects on a trait. Although multiple correlated phenotypes are often concurrently observed in GWAS, most studies analyze only single phenotypes, which may lessen statistical power. To increase power, multivariate analyses, which consider correlations between multiple phenotypes, can be used. However, few existing multivariant analyses can identify rare variants for assessing multiple phenotypes. Here, we propose Multivariate Association Analysis using Score Statistics (MAAUSS), to identify rare variants associated with multiple phenotypes, based on the widely used sequence kernel association test (SKAT) for a single phenotype. We applied MAAUSS to whole exome sequencing (WES) data from a Korean population of 1,058 subjects to discover genes associated with multiple traits of liver function. We then assessed validation of those genes by a replication study, using an independent dataset of 3,445 individuals. Notably, we detected the gene ZNF620 among five significant genes. We then performed a simulation study to compare MAAUSS's performance with existing methods. Overall, MAAUSS successfully conserved type 1 error rates and in many cases had a higher power than the existing methods. This study illustrates a feasible and straightforward approach for identifying rare variants correlated with multiple phenotypes, with likely relevance to missing heritability.

PMID: 28039885 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Categories: Literature Watch

Whole exome sequencing in patients with white matter abnormalities.

Deep learning - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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Whole exome sequencing in patients with white matter abnormalities.

Ann Neurol. 2016 Jun;79(6):1031-7

Authors: Vanderver A, Simons C, Helman G, Crawford J, Wolf NI, Bernard G, Pizzino A, Schmidt JL, Takanohashi A, Miller D, Khouzam A, Rajan V, Ramos E, Chowdhury S, Hambuch T, Ru K, Baillie GJ, Grimmond SM, Caldovic L, Devaney J, Bloom M, Evans SH, Murphy JL, McNeill N, Fogel BL, Leukodystrophy Study Group, Schiffmann R, van der Knaap MS, Taft RJ

Abstract
Here we report whole exome sequencing (WES) on a cohort of 71 patients with persistently unresolved white matter abnormalities with a suspected diagnosis of leukodystrophy or genetic leukoencephalopathy. WES analyses were performed on trio, or greater, family groups. Diagnostic pathogenic variants were identified in 35% (25 of 71) of patients. Potentially pathogenic variants were identified in clinically relevant genes in a further 7% (5 of 71) of cases, giving a total yield of clinical diagnoses in 42% of individuals. These findings provide evidence that WES can substantially decrease the number of unresolved white matter cases. Ann Neurol 2016;79:1031-1037.

PMID: 27159321 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Categories: Literature Watch

Bridging Plant and Human Radiation Response and DNA Repair through an In Silico Approach.

Systems Biology - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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Bridging Plant and Human Radiation Response and DNA Repair through an In Silico Approach.

Cancers (Basel). 2017 Jun 06;9(6):

Authors: Nikitaki Z, Pavlopoulou A, Holá M, Donà M, Michalopoulos I, Balestrazzi A, Angelis KJ, Georgakilas AG

Abstract
The mechanisms of response to radiation exposure are conserved in plants and animals. The DNA damage response (DDR) pathways are the predominant molecular pathways activated upon exposure to radiation, both in plants and animals. The conserved features of DDR in plants and animals might facilitate interdisciplinary studies that cross traditional boundaries between animal and plant biology in order to expand the collection of biomarkers currently used for radiation exposure monitoring (REM) in environmental and biomedical settings. Genes implicated in trans-kingdom conserved DDR networks often triggered by ionizing radiation (IR) and UV light are deposited into biological databases. In this study, we have applied an innovative approach utilizing data pertinent to plant and human genes from publicly available databases towards the design of a 'plant radiation biodosimeter', that is, a plant and DDR gene-based platform that could serve as a REM reliable biomarker for assessing environmental radiation exposure and associated risk. From our analysis, in addition to REM biomarkers, a significant number of genes, both in human and Arabidopsis thaliana, not yet characterized as DDR, are suggested as possible DNA repair players. Last but not least, we provide an example on the applicability of an Arabidopsis thaliana-based plant system monitoring the role of cancer-related DNA repair genes BRCA1, BARD1 and PARP1 in processing DNA lesions.

PMID: 28587301 [PubMed]

Categories: Literature Watch

Stem Cells in Neuroendocrinology

Systems Biology - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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Stem Cells in Neuroendocrinology

Book. 2016

Authors: Pfaff D, Christen Y

Abstract
The hypothalamus controls many homeostatic and instinctive physiological processes, including the sleep-wake cycle, food intake, and sexually dimorphic behaviors. These behaviors are regulated by environmental and physiological cues, although the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie these effects are still poorly understood. Recently, it has become clear that both the juvenile and adult hypothalamus exhibit neurogenesis, which modifies homeostatic neural circuitry. In this manuscript, we report data addressing the role of sex-specific and dietary factors in controlling neurogenesis in the mediobasal hypothalamus. We report that a high fat diet (HFD) activates neurogenesis in the median eminence (ME) of young adult female, but not male mice, and that focal irradiation of the ME in HFD-fed mice reduces weight gain in females, but not males. These results suggest that some physiological effects of HFD are mediated by sexually dimorphic neurogenesis in the ME. We present these findings in the context of other studies on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate neurogenesis in postnatal and adult hypothalamus.


PMID: 28590702

Categories: Literature Watch

A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Adding Omarigliptin to Antihyperglycemic Therapies in Japanese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Inadequate Glycemic Control.

Drug-induced Adverse Events - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Adding Omarigliptin to Antihyperglycemic Therapies in Japanese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Inadequate Glycemic Control.

Diabetes Ther. 2017 Jun 06;:

Authors: Gantz I, Okamoto T, Ito Y, Sato A, Okuyama K, O'Neill EA, Engel SS, Lai E, Omarigliptin Study 015 Group

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Daily dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are commonly used with other orally administered antihyperglycemic agents (AHA), as combination therapy, to treat Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes. When combination therapy is indicated, use of a once-weekly (q.w.) orally administered DPP-4 inhibitor might be an appropriate therapeutic option for some patients.
METHODS: A 52-week trial was conducted to assess the safety and tolerability (primary objectives) and glycemic efficacy (secondary objectives) of the q.w. DPP-4 inhibitor omarigliptin as add-on therapy to five different classes of orally administered AHA [sulfonylurea (SU), glinide (GL), biguanide (BG), thiazolidinedione (TZD), or α-glucosidase inhibitor (AGI)] commonly used in Japan and having different mechanisms of drug action from DPP-4 inhibitors. The trial consisted of an initial 24-week double-blind, placebo-controlled period during which patients (stratified by background AHA) were randomized to omarigliptin 25 mg q.w. or placebo, followed by a 28-week open-label period during which patients on placebo were switched to omarigliptin.
RESULTS: After 24 weeks, the percentages of patients with adverse events (AEs), serious AEs, drug-related AEs, AEs of symptomatic hypoglycemia, or who discontinued from trial medication because of an AE were generally similar in the omarigliptin and placebo groups, in all background AHA strata and in the overall population. From a mean baseline HbA1c of approximately 8.0%, the placebo-adjusted least-squares mean changes from baseline ranged from -0.80% (AGI stratum) to -1.16% (TZD stratum); p < 0.001 for all background AHA strata. During the open-label period, no safety signals emerged with longer-term treatment. At week 52, the change from baseline in HbA1c in the omarigliptin/omarigliptin group was similar to that of the placebo/omarigliptin group.
CONCLUSIONS: Addition of once-weekly omarigliptin to AHA therapy with an SU, GL, BG, TZD, or AGI for up to 52 weeks was generally safe and well tolerated, and provided persistent efficacy.
CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01697592.
FUNDING: MSD K.K., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.

PMID: 28589493 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

Pharmacovigilance Programme of India: Recent developments and future perspectives.

Drug-induced Adverse Events - Thu, 2017-06-08 08:22
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Pharmacovigilance Programme of India: Recent developments and future perspectives.

Indian J Pharmacol. 2016 Nov-Dec;48(6):624-628

Authors: Kalaiselvan V, Thota P, Singh GN

Abstract
Promoting safe use of medicines is a priority of Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission that functions as the National Coordination Center (NCC) for Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI). One hundred and seventy-nine adverse drug reactions (ADRs) monitoring centers currently report ADRs to NCC. Current India contribution to global safety database reaches 3% and the completeness score is 0.93 out of 1. NCC is taking several measures to enhance patient safety including capacity building for monitoring, surveillance, collaboration with national health programs and other organizations to increase ADR reporting and to ensure that PvPI is a vital knowledge database for Indian regulators. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization has notified important safety label changes on drugs such as carbamazepine and piperacillin + tazobactam in the year 2015, other drugs are under monitoring for regulatory interventions.

PMID: 28066097 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Categories: Literature Watch

Optimizing HIV Phylodynamics to Target and Interrogate Clusters (OPTICs) (R21)

Funding Opportunity PA-17-306 from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support exploratory basic research to develop innovative phylodynamic approaches to identify and prioritize the most rapidly growing HIV transmission clusters within a given population of individuals in near-real time.

Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR)(U54)

Funding Opportunity PAR-17-304 from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support the development of infrastructure and other resources required for the conduct of Clinical and Translational Research (CTR) in IDeA-eligible states. IDeA-CTR Centers are expected to provide added value to the biomedical research efforts in the participating institutions through support of activities that cannot easily be provided through standard research grant awards. The proposed activities will provide the infrastructure and resources that will enhance the competitiveness of the investigators to obtain additional funding for clinical and translational research. Applicants must establish a statewide network of collaborating and partnering institutions/organizations. Other institutions/organizations outside the state may be included if forming a network of wider reach. Since only one award will be made per IDeA-eligible state, only one application should be submitted per state.

Reproductive Scientist Development Program (RSDP) (K12)

Funding Opportunity RFA-HD-18-007 from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. The purpose of this FOA issued by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH is to announce the re-competition of the Reproductive Scientist Development Program (RSDP). This program constitutes a national network of mentors and scholars, in contrast to K12 programs that are based solely at a single applicant institution. The purpose of the RSDP is to provide career development support for obstetricians and gynecologists who have completed their clinical training, and who are committed to a career conducting basic science research in an academic setting. The overall goal of the Program is to strengthen the field of obstetrics and gynecology by encouraging the application of contemporary science advances to clinical practice and facilitating the transition to independence of physician-scientists in areas related to obstetrics and gynecology and its subspecialties.

Modeling the cis-regulatory modules of genes expressed in developmental stages of Drosophila melanogaster.

NIH Extramural Nexus News - Wed, 2017-06-07 07:42

Modeling the cis-regulatory modules of genes expressed in developmental stages of Drosophila melanogaster.

PeerJ. 2017;5:e3389

Authors: López Y, Vandenbon A, Nose A, Nakai K

Abstract
Because transcription is the first step in the regulation of gene expression, understanding how transcription factors bind to their DNA binding motifs has become absolutely necessary. It has been shown that the promoters of genes with similar expression profiles share common structural patterns. This paper presents an extensive study of the regulatory regions of genes expressed in 24 developmental stages of Drosophila melanogaster. It proposes the use of a combination of structural features, such as positioning of individual motifs relative to the transcription start site, orientation, pairwise distance between motifs, and presence of motifs anywhere in the promoter for predicting gene expression from structural features of promoter sequences. RNA-sequencing data was utilized to create and validate the 24 models. When genes with high-scoring promoters were compared to those identified by RNA-seq samples, 19 (79.2%) statistically significant models, a number that exceeds previous studies, were obtained. Each model yielded a set of highly informative features, which were used to search for genes with similar biological functions.

PMID: 28584716 [PubMed - in process]

Categories: Literature Watch

Distinct regulation of atonal in a visual organ of Drosophila: Organ-specific enhancer and lack of autoregulation in the larval eye.

NIH Extramural Nexus News - Wed, 2017-06-07 07:42
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Distinct regulation of atonal in a visual organ of Drosophila: Organ-specific enhancer and lack of autoregulation in the larval eye.

Dev Biol. 2017 Jan 01;421(1):67-76

Authors: Zhou Q, Yu L, Friedrich M, Pignoni F

Abstract
Drosophila has three types of visual organs, the larval eyes or Bolwig's organs (BO), the ocelli (OC) and the compound eyes (CE). In all, the bHLH protein Atonal (Ato) functions as the proneural factor for photoreceptors and effects the transition from progenitor cells to differentiating neurons. In this work, we investigate the regulation of ato expression in the BO primordium (BOP). Surprisingly, we find that ato transcription in the BOP is entirely independent of the shared regulatory DNA for the developing CE and OC. The core enhancer for BOP expression, ato(BO), lies ~6kb upstream of the ato gene, in contrast to the downstream location of CE and OC regulatory elements. Moreover, maintenance of ato expression in the neuronal precursors through autoregulation-a common and ancient feature of ato expression that is well-documented in eyes, ocelli and chordotonal organs-does not occur in the BO. We also show that the ato(BO) enhancer contains two binding sites for the transcription factor Sine oculis (So), a core component of the progenitor specification network in all three visual organs. These binding sites function in vivo and are specifically bound by So in vitro. Taken together, our findings reveal that the control of ato transcription in the evolutionarily derived BO has diverged considerably from ato regulation in the more ancestral compound eyes and ocelli, to the extent of acquiring what appears to be a distinct and evolutionarily novel cis-regulatory module.

PMID: 27693434 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Categories: Literature Watch

Streamlined scanning for enhancer elements in Drosophila melanogaster.

NIH Extramural Nexus News - Wed, 2017-06-07 07:42
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Streamlined scanning for enhancer elements in Drosophila melanogaster.

Biotechniques. 2016;60(3):141-4

Authors: Voutev R, Mann RS

Abstract
Enhancer elements in most eukaryotic organisms are often positioned at a great distance away from the transcription start site of the gene they regulate. Complex three-dimensional chromatin organization and insulators usually guide and limit the range of an enhancer's regulatory activity to a specific genetic locus. Rigorous testing of an entire genomic locus is often required in order to uncover the complete set of cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) regulating a gene, especially those with complex and dynamic expression patterns. Here we report a fast and efficient method for enhancer element identification by scanning large genomic regions using transgenic reporter genes.

PMID: 26956092 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Categories: Literature Watch

Building a semantic web-based metadata repository for facilitating detailed clinical modeling in cancer genome studies.

Semantic Web - Wed, 2017-06-07 07:42

Building a semantic web-based metadata repository for facilitating detailed clinical modeling in cancer genome studies.

J Biomed Semantics. 2017 Jun 05;8(1):19

Authors: Sharma DK, Solbrig HR, Tao C, Weng C, Chute CG, Jiang G

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Detailed Clinical Models (DCMs) have been regarded as the basis for retaining computable meaning when data are exchanged between heterogeneous computer systems. To better support clinical cancer data capturing and reporting, there is an emerging need to develop informatics solutions for standards-based clinical models in cancer study domains. The objective of the study is to develop and evaluate a cancer genome study metadata management system that serves as a key infrastructure in supporting clinical information modeling in cancer genome study domains.
METHODS: We leveraged a Semantic Web-based metadata repository enhanced with both ISO11179 metadata standard and Clinical Information Modeling Initiative (CIMI) Reference Model. We used the common data elements (CDEs) defined in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data dictionary, and extracted the metadata of the CDEs using the NCI Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR) CDE dataset rendered in the Resource Description Framework (RDF). The ITEM/ITEM_GROUP pattern defined in the latest CIMI Reference Model is used to represent reusable model elements (mini-Archetypes).
RESULTS: We produced a metadata repository with 38 clinical cancer genome study domains, comprising a rich collection of mini-Archetype pattern instances. We performed a case study of the domain "clinical pharmaceutical" in the TCGA data dictionary and demonstrated enriched data elements in the metadata repository are very useful in support of building detailed clinical models.
CONCLUSION: Our informatics approach leveraging Semantic Web technologies provides an effective way to build a CIMI-compliant metadata repository that would facilitate the detailed clinical modeling to support use cases beyond TCGA in clinical cancer study domains.

PMID: 28583204 [PubMed - in process]

Categories: Literature Watch

SCN5A Genetic Polymorphisms Associated With Increased Defibrillator Shocks in Brugada Syndrome.

Pharmacogenomics - Wed, 2017-06-07 07:42

SCN5A Genetic Polymorphisms Associated With Increased Defibrillator Shocks in Brugada Syndrome.

J Am Heart Assoc. 2017 Jun 05;6(6):

Authors: Makarawate P, Chaosuwannakit N, Vannaprasaht S, Sahasthas D, Koo SH, Lee EJD, Tassaneeyakul W, Barajas-Martinez H, Hu D, Sawanyawisuth K

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an inherited primary arrhythmia disorder leading to sudden cardiac arrest. SCN5A, encoding the α-subunit of the cardiac sodium channel (Nav1.5), is the most common pathogenic gene of BrS. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is the standard treatment for secondary prevention. This study aimed to evaluate association of the SCN5A variant with this cardiac conduction disturbance and appropriate ICD shock therapy in Thai symptomatic BrS patients with ICD implants.
METHODS AND RESULTS: Symptomatic BrS patients diagnosed at university hospital were enrolled from 2008 to 2011. The primary outcome of the study was an appropriate ICD shock defined as having non-pacing-associated ICD shock after the occurrence of ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Associations between SCN5A polymorphisms, cardiac conduction disturbance, and potential confounding factors associated with appropriate ICD shock therapy were analyzed. All 40 symptomatic BrS patients (median age, 43 years) with ICD implantations were followed for 24 months. There were 16 patients (40%) who had the appropriate ICD shock therapy after ICD treatment. An independent factor associated with appropriate ICD shock therapy was SCN5A-R1193Q with an adjusted hazard ratio of 10.550 (95% CI, 1.631-68.232).
CONCLUSIONS: SCN5A-R1193Q is associated with cardiac conduction disturbances. It may be a genetic marker associated with ventricular arrhythmia leading to appropriate ICD shock therapy in symptomatic BrS patients with ICD treatment. Because of the small sample size of study population and the appropriate ICD shock outcome, further large studies are needed to confirm the results of this study.

PMID: 28584071 [PubMed - in process]

Categories: Literature Watch

Prediction of synergistic anti-cancer drug combinations based on drug target network and drug induced gene expression profiles.

Pharmacogenomics - Wed, 2017-06-07 07:42

Prediction of synergistic anti-cancer drug combinations based on drug target network and drug induced gene expression profiles.

Artif Intell Med. 2017 Jun 02;:

Authors: Li X, Xu Y, Cui H, Huang T, Wang D, Lian B, Li W, Qin G, Chen L, Xie L

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Synergistic drug combinations are promising therapies for cancer treatment. However, effective prediction of synergistic drug combinations is quite challenging as mechanisms of drug synergism are still unclear. Various features such as drug response, and target networks may contribute to prediction of synergistic drug combinations. In this study, we aimed to construct a computational model to predict synergistic drug combinations.
METHODS: We designed drug physicochemical features and network features, including drug chemical structure similarity, target distance in protein-protein network and targeted pathway similarity. At the same time, we designed fifteen pharmacogenomics features using drug treated gene expression profiles based on the background of cancer-related biology network. Based on these eighteen features, we built a prediction model for Synergistic Drug combination using Random forest algorithm (SyDRa).
RESULTS: Our model achieved a quite good performance with AUC value of 0.89 and Out-of-bag estimate error rate of 0.15 in training dataset. Using the random anti-cancer drug combinations which have transcriptional profile data in the Connectivity Map dataset as the testing dataset, we identified 28 potentially synergistic drug combinations, three out of which had been reported to be effective drug combinations by literatures.
CONCLUSIONS: We studied eighteen features for drug combinations and built a computational model using random forest algorithm. The model was evaluated using an independent test dataset. Our model provides an efficient strategy to identify potentially synergistic drug combinations for cancer and may help reduce the search space for high-throughput synergistic drug combinations screening.

PMID: 28583437 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

Clinical and genetic factors associated with kidney tubular dysfunction in a real-life single centre cohort of HIV-positive patients.

Pharmacogenomics - Wed, 2017-06-07 07:42

Clinical and genetic factors associated with kidney tubular dysfunction in a real-life single centre cohort of HIV-positive patients.

BMC Infect Dis. 2017 Jun 05;17(1):396

Authors: Salvaggio SE, Giacomelli A, Falvella FS, Oreni ML, Meraviglia P, Atzori C, Clementi EGI, Galli M, Rusconi S

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Tenofovir (TDF) is one of the most widely used antiretroviral drug. Despite the high degree of tolerability a small percentage of patients experienced alteration in tubular function during TDF use. Intracellular TDF disposition is regulated by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) drug efflux transporters and, a reduced transport activity may be implicated in accumulation of TDF into the cells. The aim of our study was to assess the major determinants of TDF associated tubular dysfunction (KTD) in a real-life setting including the usefulness of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping into ABCC2, ABCC4 and ABCC10 genes.
METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed all HIV positive patients who were followed at the Infectious Diseases Unit, DIBIC Luigi Sacco, University of Milan from April 2013 to June 2016. All patients treated with TDF who underwent a genotypization for the functional variants mapping in ABCC2 rs717620 (-24 C > T), ABCC4 rs1751034 (3463 A > G) and ABCC10 rs2125739 (T > C) were evaluated. KTD was defined as the presence of urine phosphate wasting and/or proteinuria at 24 h urine analysis.
RESULTS: One hundred fifty-eight patients were genotyped, of which 42 (26.6%) experienced signs of KTD. No statistical significant differences were observed among patients with or without KTD regarding age, gender, ethnicity and comorbidities (hypertension and diabetes). The percentage of patients with KTD was higher among those with "GG" genotype at rs1751034 of ABCC4 compared to patients without KTD [6 (14.3%) vs 4 (3.5%), p = 0.01]. No statistical significant differences were observed regarding the distribution of ABCC2 and ABCC10 SNPs. Carriers of "G" allele in homozygous status at rs1751034 of ABCC4 showed a significant association with KTD (Odds Ratio 4.67, 95% CI 1.25-17.46, p = 0.02) in bivariate analysis, but this association was lost in multivariable analysis. A significant association between bone diseases and KTD was observed (Odds Ratio 3.178, 95%CI 1.529-6.603, p = 0.002).
CONCLUSIONS: According to our results ABCC4 rs1751034 could be a genetic determinant of KTD; however validation studies are needed for therapy personalization. Noteworthy, a strong association between bone disease and KTD was also observed.

PMID: 28583112 [PubMed - in process]

Categories: Literature Watch

Synthesis and in silico studies of novel sulfonamides having oxadiazole ring: As β-glucuronidase inhibitors.

Pharmacogenomics - Wed, 2017-06-07 07:42
Related Articles

Synthesis and in silico studies of novel sulfonamides having oxadiazole ring: As β-glucuronidase inhibitors.

Bioorg Chem. 2017 Apr;71:86-96

Authors: Taha M, Baharudin MS, Ismail NH, Selvaraj M, Salar U, Alkadi KA, Khan KM

Abstract
Novel sulfonamides having oxadiazole ring were synthesized by multistep reaction and evaluated to check in vitro β-glucuronidase inhibitory activity. Luckily, except compound 13, all compounds were found to demonstrate good inhibitory activity in the range of IC50=2.40±0.01-58.06±1.60μM when compared to the standard d-saccharic acid 1,4-lactone (IC50=48.4±1.25μM). Structure activity relationship was also presented. However, in order to ensure the SAR as well as the molecular interactions of compounds with the active site of enzyme, molecular docking studies on most active compounds 19, 16, 4 and 6 was carried out. All derivatives were fully characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and EI-MS spectroscopic techniques. CHN analysis was also presented.

PMID: 28160943 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Categories: Literature Watch

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