1
|
Dear R, Wagstyl K, Seidlitz J, Markello RD, Arnatkevičiūtė A, Anderson KM, Bethlehem RAI, Raznahan A, Bullmore ET, Vértes PE. Cortical gene expression architecture links healthy neurodevelopment to the imaging, transcriptomics and genetics of autism and schizophrenia. Nat Neurosci 2024; 27:1075-1086. [PMID: 38649755 PMCID: PMC11156586 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01624-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Human brain organization involves the coordinated expression of thousands of genes. For example, the first principal component (C1) of cortical transcription identifies a hierarchy from sensorimotor to association regions. In this study, optimized processing of the Allen Human Brain Atlas revealed two new components of cortical gene expression architecture, C2 and C3, which are distinctively enriched for neuronal, metabolic and immune processes, specific cell types and cytoarchitectonics, and genetic variants associated with intelligence. Using additional datasets (PsychENCODE, Allen Cell Atlas and BrainSpan), we found that C1-C3 represent generalizable transcriptional programs that are coordinated within cells and differentially phased during fetal and postnatal development. Autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia were specifically associated with C1/C2 and C3, respectively, across neuroimaging, differential expression and genome-wide association studies. Evidence converged especially in support of C3 as a normative transcriptional program for adolescent brain development, which can lead to atypical supragranular cortical connectivity in people at high genetic risk for schizophrenia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Richard Dear
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | | | - Jakob Seidlitz
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Ross D Markello
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Aurina Arnatkevičiūtė
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | | | | | - Armin Raznahan
- Section on Developmental Neurogenomics, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Petra E Vértes
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Liu J, Supekar K, El-Said D, de los Angeles C, Zhang Y, Chang H, Menon V. Neuroanatomical, transcriptomic, and molecular correlates of math ability and their prognostic value for predicting learning outcomes. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadk7220. [PMID: 38820151 PMCID: PMC11141625 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk7220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
Foundational mathematical abilities, acquired in early childhood, are essential for success in our technology-driven society. Yet, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in children's mathematical abilities and learning outcomes remain largely unexplored. Leveraging one of the largest multicohort datasets from children at a pivotal stage of knowledge acquisition, we first establish a replicable mathematical ability-related imaging phenotype (MAIP). We then show that brain gene expression profiles enriched for candidate math ability-related genes, neuronal signaling, synaptic transmission, and voltage-gated potassium channel activity contributed to the MAIP. Furthermore, the similarity between MAIP gene expression signatures and brain structure, acquired before intervention, predicted learning outcomes in two independent math tutoring cohorts. These findings advance our knowledge of the interplay between neuroanatomical, transcriptomic, and molecular mechanisms underlying mathematical ability and reveal predictive biomarkers of learning. Our findings have implications for the development of personalized education and interventions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jin Liu
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Kaustubh Supekar
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Dawlat El-Said
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Carlo de los Angeles
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Yuan Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Hyesang Chang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Vinod Menon
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Welton T, Chew G, Mai AS, Ng JH, Chan LL, Tan EK. Association of Gene Expression and Tremor Network Structure. Mov Disord 2024. [PMID: 38769620 DOI: 10.1002/mds.29831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2023] [Revised: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Transcriptomic changes in the essential tremor (ET)-associated cerebello-thalamo-cortical "tremor network" and their association to brain structure have not been investigated. OBJECTIVE The aim was to characterize molecular changes associated with network-level imaging-derived phenotypes (IDP) found in ET. METHODS We performed an imaging-transcriptomic study in British adults using imaging-genome-wide association study summary statistics (UK Biobank "BIG40" cohort; n = 33,224, aged 40-69 years). We imputed imaging-transcriptomic associations for 184 IDPs and analyzed functional enrichment of gene modules and aggregate network-level phenotypes. Validation was performed in cerebellar-tissue RNA-sequencing data from ET patients and controls (n = 55). RESULTS Among 237,896 individual predicted gene expression levels for 6063 unique genes/transcripts, we detected 2269 genome-wide significant associations (Bonferroni P < 2.102e-7, 0.95%). These were concentrated in intracellular volume fraction measures of white matter pathways and in genes with putative links to tremor (MAPT, ARL17A, KANSL1, SPPL2C, LRRC37A4P, PLEKHM1, and FMNL1). Whole-tremor-network cortical thickness was associated with a gene module linked to mitochondrial organization and protein quality control (r = 0.91, P = 2e-70), whereas white-gray T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast in the tremor network was associated with a gene module linked to sphingolipid synthesis and ethanolamine metabolism (r = -0.90, P = 2e-68). Imputed association effect sizes and RNA-sequencing log-fold change in the validation dataset were significantly correlated for cerebellar peduncular diffusion MRI phenotypes, and there was a close overlap of significant associations between both datasets for gray matter phenotypes (χ2 = 6.40, P = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS The identified genes and processes are potential treatment targets for ET, and our results help characterize molecular changes that could in future be used for patient treatment selection or prognosis prediction. © 2024 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Welton
- Department of Research, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore, Singapore
- Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Gabriel Chew
- Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Aaron Shengting Mai
- Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Jing Han Ng
- Department of Neurology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ling Ling Chan
- Department of Research, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore, Singapore
- Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Eng-King Tan
- Department of Research, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore, Singapore
- Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Neurology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Chen Z, Xu T, Liu X, Becker B, Li W, Xia L, Zhao W, Zhang R, Huo Z, Hu B, Tang Y, Xiao Z, Feng Z, Chen J, Feng T. Cortical gradient perturbation in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder correlates with neurotransmitter-, cell type-specific and chromosome- transcriptomic signatures. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2024; 78:309-321. [PMID: 38334172 DOI: 10.1111/pcn.13649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
AIMS This study aimed to illuminate the neuropathological landscape of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by a multiscale macro-micro-molecular perspective from in vivo neuroimaging data. METHODS The "ADHD-200 initiative" repository provided multi-site high-quality resting-state functional connectivity (rsfc-) neuroimaging for ADHD children and matched typically developing (TD) cohort. Diffusion mapping embedding model to derive the functional connectome gradient detecting biologically plausible neural pattern was built, and the multivariate partial least square method to uncover the enrichment of neurotransmitomic, cellular and chromosomal gradient-transcriptional signatures of AHBA enrichment and meta-analytic decoding. RESULTS Compared to TD, ADHD children presented connectopic cortical gradient perturbations in almost all the cognition-involved brain macroscale networks (all pBH <0.001), but not in the brain global topology. As an intermediate phenotypic variant, such gradient perturbation was spatially enriched into distributions of GABAA/BZ and 5-HT2A receptors (all pBH <0.01) and co-varied with genetic transcriptional expressions (e.g. DYDC2, ATOH7, all pBH <0.01), associated with phenotypic variants in episodic memory and emotional regulations. Enrichment models demonstrated such gradient-transcriptional variants indicated the risk of both cell-specific and chromosome- dysfunctions, especially in enriched expression of oligodendrocyte precursors and endothelial cells (all pperm <0.05) as well enrichment into chromosome 18, 19 and X (pperm <0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our findings bridged brain macroscale neuropathological patterns to microscale/cellular biological architectures for ADHD children, demonstrating the neurobiologically pathological mechanism of ADHD into the genetic and molecular variants in GABA and 5-HT systems as well brain-derived enrichment of specific cellular/chromosomal expressions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhiyi Chen
- Experimental Research Center of Medical and Psychological Science, School of Psychology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Ting Xu
- Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Xuerong Liu
- Experimental Research Center of Medical and Psychological Science, School of Psychology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Benjamin Becker
- Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Wei Li
- Experimental Research Center of Medical and Psychological Science, School of Psychology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Lei Xia
- Experimental Research Center of Medical and Psychological Science, School of Psychology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Wenqi Zhao
- Experimental Research Center of Medical and Psychological Science, School of Psychology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Rong Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Zhenzhen Huo
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Bowen Hu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Yancheng Tang
- School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhibing Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhengzhi Feng
- Experimental Research Center of Medical and Psychological Science, School of Psychology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Ji Chen
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Department of Psychiatry, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang, China
| | - Tingyong Feng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Cai M, Ji Y, Zhao Q, Xue H, Sun Z, Wang H, Zhang Y, Chen Y, Zhao Y, Zhang Y, Lei M, Wang C, Zhuo C, Liu N, Liu H, Liu F. Homotopic functional connectivity disruptions in schizophrenia and their associated gene expression. Neuroimage 2024; 289:120551. [PMID: 38382862 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 02/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
It has been revealed that abnormal voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) is present in patients with schizophrenia, yet there are inconsistencies in the relevant findings. Moreover, little is known about their association with brain gene expression profiles. In this study, transcription-neuroimaging association analyses using gene expression data from Allen Human Brain Atlas and case-control VMHC differences from both the discovery (meta-analysis, including 9 studies with a total of 386 patients and 357 controls) and replication (separate group-level comparisons within two datasets, including a total of 258 patients and 287 controls) phases were performed to identify genes associated with VMHC alterations. Enrichment analyses were conducted to characterize the biological functions and specific expression of identified genes, and Neurosynth decoding analysis was performed to examine the correlation between cognitive-related processes and VMHC alterations in schizophrenia. In the discovery and replication phases, patients with schizophrenia exhibited consistent VMHC changes compared to controls, which were correlated with a series of cognitive-related processes; meta-regression analysis revealed that illness duration was negatively correlated with VMHC abnormalities in the cerebellum and postcentral/precentral gyrus. The abnormal VMHC patterns were stably correlated with 1287 genes enriched for fundamental biological processes like regulation of cell communication, nervous system development, and cell communication. In addition, these genes were overexpressed in astrocytes and immune cells, enriched in extensive cortical regions and wide developmental time windows. The present findings may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying VMHC alterations in patients with schizophrenia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mengjing Cai
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Yuan Ji
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Qiyu Zhao
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Hui Xue
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Zuhao Sun
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - He Wang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Yijing Zhang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Yayuan Chen
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Yao Zhao
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Yujie Zhang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Minghuan Lei
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Chunyang Wang
- Department of Scientific Research, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China
| | - Chuanjun Zhuo
- Laboratory of Psychiatric-Neuroimaging-Genetic and Co-morbidity (PGNP_Lab), Tianjin Anding Hospital, Nankai University Affiliated Tianjin Anding Hospital, Tianjin Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China
| | - Nana Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China.
| | - Huaigui Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China.
| | - Feng Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Kesler SR, Harrison RA, Schutz ADLT, Michener H, Bean P, Vallone V, Prinsloo S. Strength of spatial correlation between gray matter connectivity and patterns of proto-oncogene and neural network construction gene expression is associated with diffuse glioma survival. Front Neurol 2024; 15:1345520. [PMID: 38601343 PMCID: PMC11004301 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1345520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Like other forms of neuropathology, gliomas appear to spread along neural pathways. Accordingly, our group and others have previously shown that brain network connectivity is highly predictive of glioma survival. In this study, we aimed to examine the molecular mechanisms of this relationship via imaging transcriptomics. Methods We retrospectively obtained presurgical, T1-weighted MRI datasets from 669 adult patients, newly diagnosed with diffuse glioma. We measured brain connectivity using gray matter networks and coregistered these data with a transcriptomic brain atlas to determine the spatial co-localization between brain connectivity and expression patterns for 14 proto-oncogenes and 3 neural network construction genes. Results We found that all 17 genes were significantly co-localized with brain connectivity (p < 0.03, corrected). The strength of co-localization was highly predictive of overall survival in a cross-validated Cox Proportional Hazards model (mean area under the curve, AUC = 0.68 +/- 0.01) and significantly (p < 0.001) more so for a random forest survival model (mean AUC = 0.97 +/- 0.06). Bayesian network analysis demonstrated direct and indirect causal relationships among gene-brain co-localizations and survival. Gene ontology analysis showed that metabolic processes were overexpressed when spatial co-localization between brain connectivity and gene transcription was highest (p < 0.001). Drug-gene interaction analysis identified 84 potential candidate therapies based on our findings. Discussion Our findings provide novel insights regarding how gene-brain connectivity interactions may affect glioma survival.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shelli R. Kesler
- Division of Adult Health, School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Rebecca A. Harrison
- Division of Neurology, BC Cancer, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Alexa De La Torre Schutz
- Division of Adult Health, School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Hayley Michener
- Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Paris Bean
- Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Veronica Vallone
- Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Sarah Prinsloo
- Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Pak V, Adewale Q, Bzdok D, Dadar M, Zeighami Y, Iturria-Medina Y. Distinctive whole-brain cell types predict tissue damage patterns in thirteen neurodegenerative conditions. eLife 2024; 12:RP89368. [PMID: 38512130 PMCID: PMC10957173 DOI: 10.7554/elife.89368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
For over a century, brain research narrative has mainly centered on neuron cells. Accordingly, most neurodegenerative studies focus on neuronal dysfunction and their selective vulnerability, while we lack comprehensive analyses of other major cell types' contribution. By unifying spatial gene expression, structural MRI, and cell deconvolution, here we describe how the human brain distribution of canonical cell types extensively predicts tissue damage in 13 neurodegenerative conditions, including early- and late-onset Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, mutations in presenilin-1, and 3 clinical variants of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (behavioral variant, semantic and non-fluent primary progressive aphasia) along with associated three-repeat and four-repeat tauopathies and TDP43 proteinopathies types A and C. We reconstructed comprehensive whole-brain reference maps of cellular abundance for six major cell types and identified characteristic axes of spatial overlapping with atrophy. Our results support the strong mediating role of non-neuronal cells, primarily microglia and astrocytes, in spatial vulnerability to tissue loss in neurodegeneration, with distinct and shared across-disorder pathomechanisms. These observations provide critical insights into the multicellular pathophysiology underlying spatiotemporal advance in neurodegeneration. Notably, they also emphasize the need to exceed the current neuro-centric view of brain diseases, supporting the imperative for cell-specific therapeutic targets in neurodegeneration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Veronika Pak
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill UniversityMontrealCanada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological InstituteMontrealCanada
- Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental HealthMontrealCanada
| | - Quadri Adewale
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill UniversityMontrealCanada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological InstituteMontrealCanada
- Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental HealthMontrealCanada
| | - Danilo Bzdok
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological InstituteMontrealCanada
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill UniversityMontrealCanada
- School of Computer Science, McGill UniversityMontrealCanada
- Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence InstituteMontrealCanada
| | | | | | - Yasser Iturria-Medina
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill UniversityMontrealCanada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological InstituteMontrealCanada
- Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental HealthMontrealCanada
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill UniversityMontrealCanada
- McGill Centre for Studies in AgingMontrealCanada
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Broce IJ, Sirkis DW, Nillo RM, Bonham LW, Lee SE, Miller BL, Castruita PA, Sturm VE, Sugrue LS, Desikan RS, Yokoyama JS. C9orf72 gene networks in the human brain correlate with cortical thickness in C9-FTD and implicate vulnerable cell types. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1258996. [PMID: 38469573 PMCID: PMC10925697 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1258996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction A hexanucleotide repeat expansion (HRE) intronic to chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72) is recognized as the most common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and ALS-FTD. Identifying genes that show similar regional co-expression patterns to C9orf72 may help identify novel gene targets and biological mechanisms that mediate selective vulnerability to ALS and FTD pathogenesis. Methods We leveraged mRNA expression data in healthy brain from the Allen Human Brain Atlas to evaluate C9orf72 co-expression patterns. To do this, we correlated average C9orf72 expression values in 51 regions across different anatomical divisions (cortex, subcortex, and cerebellum) with average gene expression values for 15,633 protein-coding genes, including 54 genes known to be associated with ALS, FTD, or ALS-FTD. We then performed imaging transcriptomic analyses to evaluate whether the identified C9orf72 co-expressed genes correlated with patterns of cortical thickness in symptomatic C9orf72 pathogenic HRE carriers (n = 19) compared to controls (n = 23). Lastly, we explored whether genes with significant C9orf72 imaging transcriptomic correlations (i.e., "C9orf72 imaging transcriptomic network") were enriched in specific cell populations in the brain and enriched for specific biological and molecular pathways. Results A total of 2,120 genes showed an anatomical distribution of gene expression in the brain similar to C9orf72 and significantly correlated with patterns of cortical thickness in C9orf72 HRE carriers. This C9orf72 imaging transcriptomic network was differentially expressed in cell populations previously implicated in ALS and FTD, including layer 5b cells, cholinergic neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem and medium spiny neurons of the striatum, and was enriched for biological and molecular pathways associated with protein ubiquitination, autophagy, cellular response to DNA damage, endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi vesicle-mediated transport, among others. Conclusion Considered together, we identified a network of C9orf72 associated genes that may influence selective regional and cell-type-specific vulnerabilities in ALS/FTD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Iris J. Broce
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Daniel W. Sirkis
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Ryan M. Nillo
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Luke W. Bonham
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Suzee E. Lee
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Bruce L. Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Patricia A. Castruita
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Virginia E. Sturm
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Leo S. Sugrue
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Rahul S. Desikan
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Jennifer S. Yokoyama
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Zhukovsky P, Ironside M, Duda JM, Moser AD, Null KE, Dhaynaut M, Normandin M, Guehl NJ, El Fakhri G, Alexander M, Holsen LM, Misra M, Narendran R, Hoye JM, Morris ED, Esfand SM, Goldstein JM, Pizzagalli DA. Acute Stress Increases Striatal Connectivity With Cortical Regions Enriched for μ and κ Opioid Receptors. Biol Psychiatry 2024:S0006-3223(24)00106-9. [PMID: 38395372 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding the neurobiological effects of stress is critical for addressing the etiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Using a dimensional approach involving individuals with differing degree of MDD risk, we investigated 1) the effects of acute stress on cortico-cortical and subcortical-cortical functional connectivity (FC) and 2) how such effects are related to gene expression and receptor maps. METHODS Across 115 participants (37 control, 39 remitted MDD, 39 current MDD), we evaluated the effects of stress on FC during the Montreal Imaging Stress Task. Using partial least squares regression, we investigated genes whose expression in the Allen Human Brain Atlas was associated with anatomical patterns of stress-related FC change. Finally, we correlated stress-related FC change maps with opioid and GABAA (gamma-aminobutyric acid A) receptor distribution maps derived from positron emission tomography. RESULTS Results revealed robust effects of stress on global cortical connectivity, with increased global FC in frontoparietal and attentional networks and decreased global FC in the medial default mode network. Moreover, robust increases emerged in FC of the caudate, putamen, and amygdala with regions from the ventral attention/salience network, frontoparietal network, and motor networks. Such regions showed preferential expression of genes involved in cell-to-cell signaling (OPRM1, OPRK1, SST, GABRA3, GABRA5), similar to previous genetic MDD studies. CONCLUSIONS Acute stress altered global cortical connectivity and increased striatal connectivity with cortical regions that express genes that have previously been associated with imaging abnormalities in MDD and are rich in μ and κ opioid receptors. These findings point to overlapping circuitry underlying stress response, reward, and MDD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peter Zhukovsky
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Maria Ironside
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Laureate Institute for Brain Research, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma
| | - Jessica M Duda
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Amelia D Moser
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado
| | - Kaylee E Null
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
| | - Maeva Dhaynaut
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Marc Normandin
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Nicolas J Guehl
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Georges El Fakhri
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Madeline Alexander
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Laura M Holsen
- Division of Women's Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Innovation Center on Sex Differences in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory of Sex Differences in the Brain, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Madhusmita Misra
- Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Rajesh Narendran
- Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Jocelyn M Hoye
- Yale Positron Emission Tomography Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Evan D Morris
- Yale Positron Emission Tomography Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Shiba M Esfand
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Jill M Goldstein
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; Division of Women's Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Innovation Center on Sex Differences in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory of Sex Differences in the Brain, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Diego A Pizzagalli
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Zheng J, Womer FY, Tang L, Guo H, Zhang X, Tang Y, Wang F. Integrative omics analysis reveals epigenomic and transcriptomic signatures underlying brain structural deficits in major depressive disorder. Transl Psychiatry 2024; 14:17. [PMID: 38195555 PMCID: PMC10776753 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-023-02724-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Several lines of evidence support the involvement of transcriptomic and epigenetic mechanisms in the brain structural deficits of major depressive disorder (MDD) separately. However, research in these two areas has remained isolated. In this study, we proposed an integrative strategy that combined neuroimaging, brain-wide gene expression, and peripheral DNA methylation data to investigate the genetic basis of gray matter abnormalities in MDD. The MRI T1-weighted images and Illumina 850 K DNA methylation microarrays were obtained from 269 patients and 416 healthy controls, and brain-wide transcriptomic data were collected from Allen Human Brain Atlas. The between-group differences in gray matter volume (GMV) and differentially methylated CpG positions (DMPs) were examined. The genes with their expression patterns spatially related to GMV changes and genes with DMPs were overlapped and selected. Using principal component regression, the associations between DMPs in overlapped genes and GMV across individual patients were investigated, and the region-specific correlations between methylation status and gene expression were examined. We found significant associations between the decreased GMV and DMPs methylation status in the anterior cingulate cortex, inferior frontal cortex, and fusiform face cortex regions. These DMPs genes were primarily enriched in the neurodevelopmental and synaptic transmission process. There was a significant negative correlation between DNA methylation and gene expression in genes associated with GMV changes of the frontal cortex in MDD. Our findings suggest that GMV abnormalities in MDD may have a transcriptomic and epigenetic basis. This imaging-transcriptomic-epigenetic integrative analysis provides spatial and biological links between cortical morphological deficits and peripheral epigenetic signatures in MDD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Junjie Zheng
- Early Intervention Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- Functional Brain Imaging Institute of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Fay Y Womer
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Lili Tang
- Early Intervention Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- Functional Brain Imaging Institute of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Huiling Guo
- Early Intervention Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- Functional Brain Imaging Institute of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xizhe Zhang
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yanqing Tang
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
- Brain Function Research Section, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
- Department of Gerontology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
- Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
| | - Fei Wang
- Early Intervention Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
- Functional Brain Imaging Institute of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
- Department of Mental Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Kesler SR, Harrison RA, Schultz ADLT, Michener H, Bean P, Vallone V, Prinsloo S. Strength of spatial correlation between structural brain network connectivity and brain-wide patterns of proto-oncogene and neural network construction gene expression is associated with diffuse glioma survival. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.11.27.23299085. [PMID: 38076940 PMCID: PMC10705651 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.27.23299085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Like other forms of neuropathology, gliomas appear to spread along neural pathways. Accordingly, our group and others have previously shown that brain network connectivity is highly predictive of glioma survival. In this study, we aimed to examine the molecular mechanisms of this relationship via imaging transcriptomics. We retrospectively obtained presurgical, T1-weighted MRI datasets from 669 adult patients, newly diagnosed with diffuse glioma. We measured brain connectivity using gray matter networks and coregistered these data with a transcriptomic brain atlas to determine the spatial co-localization between brain connectivity and expression patterns for 14 proto-oncogenes and 3 neural network construction genes. We found that all 17 genes were significantly co-localized with brain connectivity (p < 0.03, corrected). The strength of co-localization was highly predictive of overall survival in a cross-validated Cox Proportional Hazards model (mean area under the curve, AUC = 0.68 +/- 0.01) and significantly (p < 0.001) more so for a random forest survival model (mean AUC = 0.97 +/- 0.06). Bayesian network analysis demonstrated direct and indirect causal relationships among gene-brain co-localizations and survival. Gene ontology analysis showed that metabolic processes were overexpressed when spatial co-localization between brain connectivity and gene transcription was highest (p < 0.001). Drug-gene interaction analysis identified 84 potential candidate therapies based on our findings. Our findings provide novel insights regarding how gene-brain connectivity interactions may affect glioma survival.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shelli R Kesler
- Division of Adult Health, School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX USA
| | - Rebecca A Harrison
- BC Cancer, Division of Neurology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Hayley Michener
- Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Paris Bean
- Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Veronica Vallone
- Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Sarah Prinsloo
- Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Estevez-Fraga C, Altmann A, Parker CS, Scahill RI, Costa B, Chen Z, Manzoni C, Zarkali A, Durr A, Roos RAC, Landwehrmeyer B, Leavitt BR, Rees G, Tabrizi SJ, McColgan P. Genetic topography and cortical cell loss in Huntington's disease link development and neurodegeneration. Brain 2023; 146:4532-4546. [PMID: 37587097 PMCID: PMC10629790 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Cortical cell loss is a core feature of Huntington's disease (HD), beginning many years before clinical motor diagnosis, during the premanifest stage. However, it is unclear how genetic topography relates to cortical cell loss. Here, we explore the biological processes and cell types underlying this relationship and validate these using cell-specific post-mortem data. Eighty premanifest participants on average 15 years from disease onset and 71 controls were included. Using volumetric and diffusion MRI we extracted HD-specific whole brain maps where lower grey matter volume and higher grey matter mean diffusivity, relative to controls, were used as proxies of cortical cell loss. These maps were combined with gene expression data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas (AHBA) to investigate the biological processes relating genetic topography and cortical cell loss. Cortical cell loss was positively correlated with the expression of developmental genes (i.e. higher expression correlated with greater atrophy and increased diffusivity) and negatively correlated with the expression of synaptic and metabolic genes that have been implicated in neurodegeneration. These findings were consistent for diffusion MRI and volumetric HD-specific brain maps. As wild-type huntingtin is known to play a role in neurodevelopment, we explored the association between wild-type huntingtin (HTT) expression and developmental gene expression across the AHBA. Co-expression network analyses in 134 human brains free of neurodegenerative disorders were also performed. HTT expression was correlated with the expression of genes involved in neurodevelopment while co-expression network analyses also revealed that HTT expression was associated with developmental biological processes. Expression weighted cell-type enrichment (EWCE) analyses were used to explore which specific cell types were associated with HD cortical cell loss and these associations were validated using cell specific single nucleus RNAseq (snRNAseq) data from post-mortem HD brains. The developmental transcriptomic profile of cortical cell loss in preHD was enriched in astrocytes and endothelial cells, while the neurodegenerative transcriptomic profile was enriched for neuronal and microglial cells. Astrocyte-specific genes differentially expressed in HD post-mortem brains relative to controls using snRNAseq were enriched in the developmental transcriptomic profile, while neuronal and microglial-specific genes were enriched in the neurodegenerative transcriptomic profile. Our findings suggest that cortical cell loss in preHD may arise from dual pathological processes, emerging as a consequence of neurodevelopmental changes, at the beginning of life, followed by neurodegeneration in adulthood, targeting areas with reduced expression of synaptic and metabolic genes. These events result in age-related cell death across multiple brain cell types.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Estevez-Fraga
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Andre Altmann
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London, London WC1V 6LJ, UK
| | - Christopher S Parker
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London, London WC1V 6LJ, UK
| | - Rachael I Scahill
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Beatrice Costa
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK
- Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Zhongbo Chen
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Claudia Manzoni
- School of Pharmacy, University College London, London WC1N 1AX, UK
| | - Angeliki Zarkali
- Dementia Research Centre, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Alexandra Durr
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), AP-HP, Inserm, CNRS, Paris 75013, France
| | - Raymund A C Roos
- Department of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden 2333, The Netherlands
| | | | - Blair R Leavitt
- Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC V5Z 4H4Canada
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia Hospital, Vancouver BC V6T 2B5, Canada
| | - Geraint Rees
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Sarah J Tabrizi
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Peter McColgan
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Vogel JW, Corriveau-Lecavalier N, Franzmeier N, Pereira JB, Brown JA, Maass A, Botha H, Seeley WW, Bassett DS, Jones DT, Ewers M. Connectome-based modelling of neurodegenerative diseases: towards precision medicine and mechanistic insight. Nat Rev Neurosci 2023; 24:620-639. [PMID: 37620599 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00731-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
Neurodegenerative diseases are the most common cause of dementia. Although their underlying molecular pathologies have been identified, there is substantial heterogeneity in the patterns of progressive brain alterations across and within these diseases. Recent advances in neuroimaging methods have revealed that pathological proteins accumulate along specific macroscale brain networks, implicating the network architecture of the brain in the system-level pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the extent to which 'network-based neurodegeneration' applies across the wide range of neurodegenerative disorders remains unclear. Here, we discuss the state-of-the-art of neuroimaging-based connectomics for the mapping and prediction of neurodegenerative processes. We review findings supporting brain networks as passive conduits through which pathological proteins spread. As an alternative view, we also discuss complementary work suggesting that network alterations actively modulate the spreading of pathological proteins between connected brain regions. We conclude this Perspective by proposing an integrative framework in which connectome-based models can be advanced along three dimensions of innovation: incorporating parameters that modulate propagation behaviour on the basis of measurable biological features; building patient-tailored models that use individual-level information and allowing model parameters to interact dynamically over time. We discuss promises and pitfalls of these strategies for improving disease insights and moving towards precision medicine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jacob W Vogel
- Department of Clinical Sciences, SciLifeLab, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Nick Corriveau-Lecavalier
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Nicolai Franzmeier
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Acadamy, University of Gothenburg, Mölndal and Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Joana B Pereira
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
- Neuro Division, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jesse A Brown
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Anne Maass
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Hugo Botha
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - William W Seeley
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Dani S Bassett
- Departments of Bioengineering, Electrical and Systems Engineering, Physics and Astronomy, Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA
| | - David T Jones
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
- Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Michael Ewers
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Stabile AM, Pistilli A, Mariangela R, Rende M, Bartolini D, Di Sante G. New Challenges for Anatomists in the Era of Omics. Diagnostics (Basel) 2023; 13:2963. [PMID: 37761332 PMCID: PMC10529314 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics13182963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/10/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Anatomic studies have traditionally relied on macroscopic, microscopic, and histological techniques to investigate the structure of tissues and organs. Anatomic studies are essential in many fields, including medicine, biology, and veterinary science. Advances in technology, such as imaging techniques and molecular biology, continue to provide new insights into the anatomy of living organisms. Therefore, anatomy remains an active and important area in the scientific field. The consolidation in recent years of some omics technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics allows for a more complete and detailed understanding of the structure and function of cells, tissues, and organs. These have been joined more recently by "omics" such as radiomics, pathomics, and connectomics, supported by computer-assisted technologies such as neural networks, 3D bioprinting, and artificial intelligence. All these new tools, although some are still in the early stages of development, have the potential to strongly contribute to the macroscopic and microscopic characterization in medicine. For anatomists, it is time to hitch a ride and get on board omics technologies to sail to new frontiers and to explore novel scenarios in anatomy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Maria Stabile
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Human, Clinical and Forensic Anatomy, University of Perugia, 60132 Perugia, Italy; (A.M.S.); (A.P.); (R.M.); (M.R.)
| | - Alessandra Pistilli
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Human, Clinical and Forensic Anatomy, University of Perugia, 60132 Perugia, Italy; (A.M.S.); (A.P.); (R.M.); (M.R.)
| | - Ruggirello Mariangela
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Human, Clinical and Forensic Anatomy, University of Perugia, 60132 Perugia, Italy; (A.M.S.); (A.P.); (R.M.); (M.R.)
| | - Mario Rende
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Human, Clinical and Forensic Anatomy, University of Perugia, 60132 Perugia, Italy; (A.M.S.); (A.P.); (R.M.); (M.R.)
| | - Desirée Bartolini
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Human, Clinical and Forensic Anatomy, University of Perugia, 60132 Perugia, Italy; (A.M.S.); (A.P.); (R.M.); (M.R.)
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, 06126 Perugia, Italy
| | - Gabriele Di Sante
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Human, Clinical and Forensic Anatomy, University of Perugia, 60132 Perugia, Italy; (A.M.S.); (A.P.); (R.M.); (M.R.)
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Sebenius I, Seidlitz J, Warrier V, Bethlehem RAI, Alexander-Bloch A, Mallard TT, Garcia RR, Bullmore ET, Morgan SE. Robust estimation of cortical similarity networks from brain MRI. Nat Neurosci 2023; 26:1461-1471. [PMID: 37460809 PMCID: PMC10400419 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01376-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
Structural similarity is a growing focus for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of connectomes. Here we propose Morphometric INverse Divergence (MIND), a new method to estimate within-subject similarity between cortical areas based on the divergence between their multivariate distributions of multiple MRI features. Compared to the prior approach of morphometric similarity networks (MSNs) on n > 11,000 scans spanning three human datasets and one macaque dataset, MIND networks were more reliable, more consistent with cortical cytoarchitectonics and symmetry and more correlated with tract-tracing measures of axonal connectivity. MIND networks derived from human T1-weighted MRI were more sensitive to age-related changes than MSNs or networks derived by tractography of diffusion-weighted MRI. Gene co-expression between cortical areas was more strongly coupled to MIND networks than to MSNs or tractography. MIND network phenotypes were also more heritable, especially edges between structurally differentiated areas. MIND network analysis provides a biologically validated lens for cortical connectomics using readily available MRI data.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Isaac Sebenius
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Jakob Seidlitz
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Varun Warrier
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Richard A I Bethlehem
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Aaron Alexander-Bloch
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Travis T Mallard
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rafael Romero Garcia
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS) HUVR/CSIC/Universidad de Sevilla/CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Dpto. de Fisiología Médica y Biofísica, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Sarah E Morgan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Alan Turing Institute, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Cortical profiles of numerous psychiatric disorders and normal development share a common pattern. Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:698-709. [PMID: 36380235 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01855-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The neurobiological bases of the association between development and psychopathology remain poorly understood. Here, we identify a shared spatial pattern of cortical thickness (CT) in normative development and several psychiatric and neurological disorders. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to CT of 68 regions in the Desikan-Killiany atlas derived from three large-scale datasets comprising a total of 41,075 neurotypical participants. PCA produced a spatially broad first principal component (PC1) that was reproducible across datasets. Then PC1 derived from healthy adult participants was compared to the pattern of CT differences associated with psychiatric and neurological disorders comprising a total of 14,886 cases and 20,962 controls from seven ENIGMA disease-related working groups, normative maturation and aging comprising a total of 17,697 scans from the ABCD Study® and the IMAGEN developmental study, and 17,075 participants from the ENIGMA Lifespan working group, as well as gene expression maps from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. Results revealed substantial spatial correspondences between PC1 and widespread lower CT observed in numerous psychiatric disorders. Moreover, the PC1 pattern was also correlated with the spatial pattern of normative maturation and aging. The transcriptional analysis identified a set of genes including KCNA2, KCNS1 and KCNS2 with expression patterns closely related to the spatial pattern of PC1. The gene category enrichment analysis indicated that the transcriptional correlations of PC1 were enriched to multiple gene ontology categories and were specifically over-represented starting at late childhood, coinciding with the onset of significant cortical maturation and emergence of psychopathology during the prepubertal-to-pubertal transition. Collectively, the present study reports a reproducible latent pattern of CT that captures interregional profiles of cortical changes in both normative brain maturation and a spectrum of psychiatric disorders. The pubertal timing of the expression of PC1-related genes implicates disrupted neurodevelopment in the pathogenesis of the spectrum of psychiatric diseases emerging during adolescence.
Collapse
|
17
|
Mandal AS, Gandal M, Seidlitz J, Alexander-Bloch A. A Critical Appraisal of Imaging Transcriptomics. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 2:311-313. [PMID: 36324661 PMCID: PMC9616265 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ayan S. Mandal
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Address correspondence to Ayan S. Mandal, Ph.D.
| | - Michael Gandal
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Jakob Seidlitz
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Aaron Alexander-Bloch
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Aaron Alexander-Bloch, M.D., Ph.D., M.Phil.
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Hansen JY, Shafiei G, Vogel JW, Smart K, Bearden CE, Hoogman M, Franke B, van Rooij D, Buitelaar J, McDonald CR, Sisodiya SM, Schmaal L, Veltman DJ, van den Heuvel OA, Stein DJ, van Erp TGM, Ching CRK, Andreassen OA, Hajek T, Opel N, Modinos G, Aleman A, van der Werf Y, Jahanshad N, Thomopoulos SI, Thompson PM, Carson RE, Dagher A, Misic B. Local molecular and global connectomic contributions to cross-disorder cortical abnormalities. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4682. [PMID: 35948562 PMCID: PMC9365855 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32420-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous brain disorders demonstrate structural brain abnormalities, which are thought to arise from molecular perturbations or connectome miswiring. The unique and shared contributions of these molecular and connectomic vulnerabilities to brain disorders remain unknown, and has yet to be studied in a single multi-disorder framework. Using MRI morphometry from the ENIGMA consortium, we construct maps of cortical abnormalities for thirteen neurodevelopmental, neurological, and psychiatric disorders from N = 21,000 participants and N = 26,000 controls, collected using a harmonised processing protocol. We systematically compare cortical maps to multiple micro-architectural measures, including gene expression, neurotransmitter density, metabolism, and myelination (molecular vulnerability), as well as global connectomic measures including number of connections, centrality, and connection diversity (connectomic vulnerability). We find a relationship between molecular vulnerability and white-matter architecture that drives cortical disorder profiles. Local attributes, particularly neurotransmitter receptor profiles, constitute the best predictors of both disorder-specific cortical morphology and cross-disorder similarity. Finally, we find that cross-disorder abnormalities are consistently subtended by a small subset of network epicentres in bilateral sensory-motor, inferior temporal lobe, precuneus, and superior parietal cortex. Collectively, our results highlight how local molecular attributes and global connectivity jointly shape cross-disorder cortical abnormalities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Justine Y Hansen
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Golia Shafiei
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Jacob W Vogel
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Kelly Smart
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Carrie E Bearden
- Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Martine Hoogman
- Departments of Psychiatry and Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Barbara Franke
- Departments of Psychiatry and Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Daan van Rooij
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jan Buitelaar
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Carrie R McDonald
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Sanjay M Sisodiya
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Lianne Schmaal
- Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Dick J Veltman
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Odile A van den Heuvel
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Dan J Stein
- SA MRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, Dept of Psychiatry & Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Theo G M van Erp
- Clinical Translational Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, & Center for the Neurobiology of Leaning and Memory, University of California Irvine, 309 Qureshey Research Lab, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Christopher R K Ching
- Keck School of Medicine, Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Ole A Andreassen
- NORMENT Centre, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo and Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Tomas Hajek
- Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
| | - Nils Opel
- Institute of Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany & Department of Psychiatry, Jena University Hospital/Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Gemma Modinos
- Department of Psychosis Studies & MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
| | - André Aleman
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ysbrand van der Werf
- Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Neda Jahanshad
- Keck School of Medicine, Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Sophia I Thomopoulos
- Keck School of Medicine, Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Paul M Thompson
- Keck School of Medicine, Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Richard E Carson
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Alain Dagher
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Bratislav Misic
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|