The triglycerides in chylomicrons are hydrolyzed by lipoprotein lipase (LpL) along the luminal surface of the capillaries. However, the endothelial cell molecule that facilitates chylomicron ...processing by LpL has not yet been defined. Here, we show that glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored high-density lipoprotein-binding protein 1 (GPIHBP1) plays a critical role in the lipolytic processing of chylomicrons.
Gpihbp1-deficient mice exhibit a striking accumulation of chylomicrons in the plasma, even on a low-fat diet, resulting in milky plasma and plasma triglyceride levels as high as 5000 mg/dl. Normally,
Gpihbp1 is expressed highly in heart and adipose tissue, the same tissues that express high levels of LpL. In these tissues, GPIHBP1 is located on the luminal face of the capillary endothelium. Expression of GPIHBP1 in cultured cells confers the ability to bind both LpL and chylomicrons. These studies strongly suggest that GPIHBP1 is an important platform for the LpL-mediated processing of chylomicrons in capillaries.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of subclinical interstitial lung disease (ILD), defined as high attenuation areas (HAA) on CT, in the population-based Multi-Ethnic Study of ...Atherosclerosis Study.
We measured the percentage of high attenuation areas (HAA) in the lung fields on cardiac CT scan defined as voxels with CT attenuation values between -600 and -250 HU. Genetic analyses were performed in MESA combined across race/ethnic groups: non-Hispanic White (n = 2,434), African American (n = 2,470), Hispanic (n = 2,065) and Chinese (n = 702), as well as stratified by race/ethnicity.
Among 7,671 participants, regions at genome-wide significance were identified for basilar peel-core ratio of HAA in FLJ35282 downstream of ANRIL (rs7852363, P = 2.1x10
) and within introns of SNAI3-AS1 (rs140142658, P = 9.6x10
) and D21S2088E (rs3079677, P = 2.3x10
). Within race/ethnic groups, 18 additional loci were identified at genome-wide significance, including genes related to development (FOXP4), cell adhesion (ALCAM) and glycosylation (GNPDA2, GYPC, GFPT1 and FUT10). Among these loci, SNP rs6844387 near GNPDA2 demonstrated nominal evidence of replication in analysis of n = 1,959 participants from the Framingham Heart Study (P = 0.029). FOXP4 region SNP rs2894439 demonstrated evidence of validation in analysis of n = 228 White ILD cases from the Columbia ILD Study compared to race/ethnicity-matched controls from MESA (one-sided P = 0.007). In lung tissue from 15 adults with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis compared to 15 adults without lung disease. ANRIL (P = 0.001), ALCAM (P = 0.03) and FOXP4 (P = 0.046) were differentially expressed.
Our results suggest novel roles for protein glycosylation and cell cycle disinhibition by long non-coding RNA in the pathogenesis of ILD.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Blood specimen collection at an early study visit is often included in observational studies or clinical trials for analysis of secondary outcome biomarkers. A common protocol is to store buffy coat ...specimens for future DNA isolation and these may remain in frozen storage for many years. It is uncertain if the DNA remains suitable for modern genome wide association (GWA) genotyping.
We isolated DNA from 120 Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) clinical trial buffy coats sampling a range of storage times up to 9 years and other factors that could influence DNA yield. We performed TaqMan SNP and GWA genotyping to test whether the DNA retained integrity for high quality genetic analysis.
We tested two QIAGEN automated protocols for DNA isolation, preferring the Compromised Blood Protocol despite similar yields. We isolated DNA from all 120 specimens (yield range 1.1-312 ug per 8.5 ml ACD tube of whole blood) with only 3/120 samples yielding < 10 ug DNA. Age of participant at blood draw was negatively associated with yield (mean change -2.1 ug/year). DNA quality was very good based on gel electrophoresis QC, TaqMan genotyping of 6 SNPs (genotyping no-call rate 1.1% in 702 genotypes), and excellent quality GWA genotyping data (maximum per sample genotype missing rate 0.64%).
When collected as a long term clinical trial or biobank specimen for DNA, buffy coats can be stored for up to 9 years in a -80°C frozen state and still produce high yields of DNA suitable for GWA analysis and other genetic testing.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is underexpressed in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) lung, but the role of RAGE in human lung fibrosis remains uncertain.
To examine (1) ...the association between IPF risk and variation at rs2070600, a functional missense variant in AGER (the gene that codes for RAGE), and (2) the associations between plasma-soluble RAGE (sRAGE) levels with disease severity and time to death or lung transplant in IPF.
We genotyped the rs2070600 single-nucleotide polymorphism in 108 adults with IPF and 324 race-/ethnicity-matched control subjects. We measured plasma sRAGE by ELISA in 103 adults with IPF. We used generalized linear and additive models as well as Cox models to control for potential confounders. We repeated our analyses in 168 (genetic analyses) and 177 (sRAGE analyses) adults with other forms of interstitial lung disease (ILD).
There was no association between rs2070600 variation among adults with IPF (P = 0.31). Plasma sRAGE levels were lower among adults with IPF and other forms of ILD than in control subjects (P < 0.001). The rs2070600 allele A was associated with a 49% lower sRAGE level (95% confidence interval CI, 11 to 71%; P = 0.02) among adults with IPF. In adjusted analyses, lower sRAGE levels were associated with greater disease severity (14% sRAGE decrement per 10% FVC decrement; 95% CI, 5 to 22%) and a higher rate of death or lung transplant at 1 year (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.9 per logarithmic unit of sRAGE decrement; 95% CI, 1.2-3.3) in IPF. Similar findings were observed in a heterogeneous group of adults with other forms of ILD.
Lower plasma sRAGE levels may be a biological measure of disease severity in IPF. Variation at the rs2070600 single-nucleotide polymorphism was not associated with IPF risk.
Lamin A, a key component of the nuclear lamina, is generated from prelamin A by four post-translational processing steps: farnesylation, endoproteolytic release of the last three amino acids of the ...protein, methylation of the C-terminal farnesylcysteine, and finally, endoproteolytic release of the last 15 amino acids of the protein (including the farnesylcysteine methyl ester). The last cleavage step, mediated by ZMPSTE24, releases mature lamin A. This processing scheme has been conserved through vertebrate evolution and is widely assumed to be crucial for targeting lamin A to the nuclear envelope. However, its physiologic importance has never been tested. To address this issue, we created mice with a “mature lamin A-only” allele (LmnaLAO), which contains a stop codon immediately after the last codon of mature lamin A. Thus, LmnaLAO/LAO mice synthesize mature lamin A directly, bypassing prelamin A synthesis and processing. The levels of mature lamin A in LmnaLAO/LAO mice were indistinguishable from those in “prelamin A-only” mice (LmnaPLAO/PLAO), where all of the lamin A is produced from prelamin A. LmnaLAO/LAO exhibited normal body weights and had no detectable disease phenotypes. A higher frequency of nuclear blebs was observed in LmnaLAO/LAO embryonic fibroblasts; however, the mature lamin A in the tissues of LmnaLAO/LAO mice was positioned normally at the nuclear rim. We conclude that prelamin A processing is dispensable in mice and that direct synthesis of mature lamin A has little if any effect on the targeting of lamin A to the nuclear rim in mouse tissues.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Hutchinson‐Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare precocious aging syndrome caused by mutations in LMNA that lead to synthesis of a mutant form of prelamin A, generally called progerin, that ...cannot be processed to mature lamin A. Most HGPS patients have a recurrent heterozygous de novo mutation in exon 11 of LMNA, c.1824C>T/p.G608G; this synonymous mutation activates a nearby cryptic splice donor site, resulting in synthesis of the mutant prelamin A, progerin, which lacks 50 amino acids within the carboxyl‐terminal domain. Abnormal splicing is incomplete, so the mutant allele produces some normally‐spliced transcripts. Nevertheless, the synthesis of progerin is sufficient to cause misshapen nuclei in cultured cells and severe disease phenotypes in affected patients. Here we present two patients with extraordinarily severe forms of progeria caused by unusual mutations in LMNA. One had a splice site mutation (c.1968+1G>A; or IVS11+1G>A), and the other had a novel synonymous coding region mutation (c.1821G>A/p.V607V). Both mutations caused very frequent use of the same exon 11 splice donor site that is activated in typical HGPS patients. As a consequence, the ratios of progerin mRNA and protein to wild‐type were higher than in typical HGPS patients. Fibroblasts from both patients exhibited nuclear shape abnormalities typical of HGPS, and cells treated with a protein farnesyltransferase inhibitor exhibited fewer misshapen nuclei. Thus, farnesyltransferase inhibitors may prove to be useful even when progerin expression levels are higher than those in typical HGPS patients. Hum Mutat 28(9), 882–889, 2007. Published 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
HIV protease inhibitors (HIV-PIs) are key components of highly active antiretroviral therapy, but they have been associated with adverse side effects, including partial lipodystrophy and metabolic ...syndrome. We recently demonstrated that a commonly used HIV-PI, lopinavir, inhibits ZMPSTE24, thereby blocking lamin A biogenesis and leading to an accumulation of prelamin A. ZMPSTE24 deficiency in humans causes an accumulation of prelamin A and leads to lipodystrophy and other disease phenotypes. Thus, an accumulation of prelamin A in the setting of HIV-PIs represents a plausible mechanism for some drug side effects. Here we show, with metabolic labeling studies, that lopinavir leads to the accumulation of the farnesylated form of prelamin A. We also tested whether a new and chemically distinct HIV-PI, darunavir, inhibits ZMPSTE24. We found that darunavir does not inhibit the biochemical activity of ZMPSTE24, nor does it lead to an accumulation of farnesyl-prelamin A in cells. This property of darunavir is potentially attractive. However, all HIV-PIs, including darunavir, are generally administered with ritonavir, an HIV-PI that is used to block the metabolism of other HIV-PIs. Ritonavir, like lopinavir, inhibits ZMPSTE24 and leads to an accumulation of prelamin A.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified hundreds of risk loci for coronary artery disease (CAD). However, non-European populations are underrepresented in GWASs, and the causal ...gene-regulatory mechanisms of these risk loci during atherosclerosis remain unclear. We incorporated local ancestry and haplotypes to identify quantitative trait loci for expression (eQTLs) and splicing (sQTLs) in coronary arteries from 138 ancestrally diverse Americans. Of 2,132 eQTL-associated genes (eGenes), 47% were previously unreported in coronary artery; 19% exhibited cell-type-specific expression. Colocalization revealed subgroups of eGenes unique to CAD and blood pressure GWAS. Fine-mapping highlighted additional eGenes, including TBX20 and IL5. We also identified sQTLs for 1,690 genes, among which TOR1AIP1 and ULK3 sQTLs demonstrated the importance of evaluating splicing to accurately identify disease-relevant isoform expression. Our work provides a patient-derived coronary artery eQTL resource and exemplifies the need for diverse study populations and multifaceted approaches to characterize gene regulation in disease processes.
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•Human coronary artery is a relevant tissue for profiling atherosclerosis gene expression•Multifaceted QTL mapping methodology improves discovery in diverse populations•Colocalization and epigenomic fine-mapping prioritize candidate risk variants and genes•Publicly available pipeline is generalizable across phenotypes and study designs
Hodonsky et al. perform gene expression profiling and a multifaceted genetic analysis of gene regulation in coronary artery tissues from an ancestrally diverse patient cohort. This new resource provides further insights into the heritable mechanisms of coronary artery disease risk and could serve as a template for multi-ancestry studies of other complex phenotypes.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia arises spontaneously in elderly Fischer (F344) rats. This rodent model has been shown to emulate many aspects of the natural killer (NK) variant of human LGL ...leukemia. Previous transplantation of leukemic material into young F344 rats resulted in several strains of rat NK (RNK) primary leukemic cells. One strain, RNK-16, was adapted into the RNK-16 cell line and established as an aggressive NK-LGL leukemia model. Whole genome sequencing of the RNK-16 cell line identified 255,838 locations where the RNK16 had an alternate allele that was different from F334, including a mutation in
1. Functional studies showed
1 Y1034C to be a somatic activating mutation that mediated increased STAT signaling, as assessed by phosphoprotein levels. Sanger sequencing of
1 in RNK-1, -3, -7, and -16 found only RNK-16 to harbor the Y1034C
1 mutation. In vivo studies revealed that rats engrafted with RNK-16 primary material developed leukemia more rapidly than those engrafted with RNK-1, -3, and -7. Additionally, ex vivo RNK-16 spleen cells from leukemic rats exhibited increased STAT1, STAT3, and STAT5 phosphorylation compared to other RNK strains. Therefore, we report and characterize a novel gain-of-function
1 mutation in a spontaneous LGL leukemia model that results in increased downstream STAT signaling.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Protein farnesyltransferase (FTase) inhibitors, generally called “FTIs,” block the farnesylation of prelamin A, inhibiting the biogenesis of mature lamin A and leading to an accumulation of prelamin ...A within cells. A recent report found that a GGTI, an inhibitor of protein geranylgeranyltransferase-I (GGTase-I), caused an exaggerated accumulation of prelamin A in the presence of low amounts of an FTI. This finding was interpreted as indicating that prelamin A can be alternately prenylated by GGTase-I and that inhibiting both protein prenyltransferases leads to more prelamin A accumulation than blocking FTase alone. Here, we tested an alternative hypothesis—GGTIs are not specific for GGTase-I, and they lead to prelamin A accumulation by inhibiting ZMPSTE24 (a zinc metalloprotease that converts farnesyl–prelamin A to mature lamin A). In our studies, commonly used GGTIs caused prelamin A accumulation in human fibroblasts, but the prelamin A in GGTI-treated cells exhibited a more rapid electrophoretic mobility than prelamin A from FTI-treated cells. The latter finding suggested that the prelamin A in GGTI-treated cells might be farnesylated (which would be consistent with the notion that GGTIs inhibit ZMPSTE24). Indeed, metabolic labeling studies revealed that the prelamin A in GGTI-treated fibroblasts is farnesylated. Moreover, biochemical assays of ZMPSTE24 activity showed that ZMPSTE24 is potently inhibited by a GGTI. Our studies show that GGTIs inhibit ZMPSTE24, leading to an accumulation of farnesyl–prelamin A. Thus, caution is required when interpreting the effects of GGTIs on prelamin A processing.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP