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Porsch F, Binder CJ. Autoimmune diseases and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Nat Rev Cardiol 2024:10.1038/s41569-024-01045-7. [PMID: 38937626 DOI: 10.1038/s41569-024-01045-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/29/2024]
Abstract
Autoimmune diseases are associated with a dramatically increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and its clinical manifestations. The increased risk is consistent with the notion that atherogenesis is modulated by both protective and disease-promoting immune mechanisms. Notably, traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as dyslipidaemia and hypertension alone do not explain the increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with autoimmune diseases. Several mechanisms have been implicated in mediating the autoimmunity-associated cardiovascular risk, either directly or by modulating the effect of other risk factors in a complex interplay. Aberrant leukocyte function and pro-inflammatory cytokines are central to both disease entities, resulting in vascular dysfunction, impaired resolution of inflammation and promotion of chronic inflammation. Similarly, loss of tolerance to self-antigens and the generation of autoantibodies are key features of autoimmunity but are also implicated in the maladaptive inflammatory response during atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Therefore, immunomodulatory therapies are potential efficacious interventions to directly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, and biomarkers of autoimmune disease activity could be relevant tools to stratify patients with autoimmunity according to their cardiovascular risk. In this Review, we discuss the pathophysiological aspects of the increased cardiovascular risk associated with autoimmunity and highlight the many open questions that need to be answered to develop novel therapies that specifically address this unmet clinical need.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florentina Porsch
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christoph J Binder
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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Abbas M, Diallo A, Goodney G, Gaye A. Leveraging the transcriptome to further our understanding of GWAS findings: eQTLs associated with genes related to LDL and LDL subclasses, in a cohort of African Americans. Front Genet 2024; 15:1345541. [PMID: 38384714 PMCID: PMC10879560 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1345541] [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: 11/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Background: GWAS discoveries often pose a significant challenge in terms of understanding their underlying mechanisms. Further research, such as an integration with expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analyses, are required to decipher the mechanisms connecting GWAS variants to phenotypes. An eQTL analysis was conducted on genes associated with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and its subclasses, with the aim of pinpointing genetic variants previously implicated in GWAS studies focused on lipid-related traits. Notably, the study cohort consisted of African Americans, a population characterized by a heightened prevalence of hypercholesterolemia. Methods: A comprehensive differential expression (DE) analysis was undertaken, with a dataset of 17,948 protein-coding mRNA transcripts extracted from the whole-blood transcriptomes of 416 samples to identify mRNA transcripts associated with LDL, with further granularity delineated between small LDL and large LDL subclasses. Subsequently, eQTL analysis was conducted with a subset of 242 samples for which whole-genome sequencing data were available to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with the LDL-related mRNA transcripts. Lastly, plausible functional connections were established between the identified eQTLs and genetic variants reported in the GWAS catalogue. Results: DE analysis revealed 1,048, 284, and 94 mRNA transcripts that exhibited differential expression in response to LDL, small LDL, and large LDL, respectively. The eQTL analysis identified a total of 9,950 significant SNP-mRNA associations involving 6,955 SNPs including a subset 101 SNPs previously documented in GWAS of LDL and LDL-related traits. Conclusion: Through comprehensive differential expression analysis, we identified numerous mRNA transcripts responsive to LDL, small LDL, and large LDL. Subsequent eQTL analysis revealed a rich landscape of eQTL-mRNA associations, including a subset of eQTL reported in GWAS studies of LDL and related traits. The study serves as a testament to the important role of integrative genomics in unraveling the enigmatic GWAS relationships between genetic variants and the complex fabric of human traits and diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malak Abbas
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Ana Diallo
- School of Nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States
| | - Gabriel Goodney
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Amadou Gaye
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
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Wayland JL, Doll JR, Lawson MJ, Stankiewicz TE, Oates JR, Sawada K, Damen MSMA, Alarcon PC, Haslam DB, Trout AT, DeFranco EA, Klepper CM, Woo JG, Moreno-Fernandez ME, Mouzaki M, Divanovic S. Thermoneutral Housing Enables Studies of Vertical Transmission of Obesogenic Diet-Driven Metabolic Diseases. Nutrients 2023; 15:4958. [PMID: 38068816 PMCID: PMC10708424 DOI: 10.3390/nu15234958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2023] [Revised: 11/19/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Vertical transmission of obesity is a critical contributor to the unabated obesity pandemic and the associated surge in metabolic diseases. Existing experimental models insufficiently recapitulate "human-like" obesity phenotypes, limiting the discovery of how severe obesity in pregnancy instructs vertical transmission of obesity. Here, via utility of thermoneutral housing and obesogenic diet feeding coupled to syngeneic mating of WT obese female and lean male mice on a C57BL/6 background, we present a tractable, more "human-like" approach to specifically investigate how maternal obesity contributes to offspring health. Using this model, we found that maternal obesity decreased neonatal survival, increased offspring adiposity, and accelerated offspring predisposition to obesity and metabolic disease. We also show that severe maternal obesity was sufficient to skew offspring microbiome and create a proinflammatory gestational environment that correlated with inflammatory changes in the offspring in utero and adulthood. Analysis of a human birth cohort study of mothers with and without obesity and their infants was consistent with mouse study findings of maternal inflammation and offspring weight gain propensity. Together, our results show that dietary induction of obesity in female mice coupled to thermoneutral housing can be used for future mechanistic interrogations of obesity and metabolic disease in pregnancy and vertical transmission of pathogenic traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer L. Wayland
- Immunology Graduate Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Jessica R. Doll
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Matthew J. Lawson
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Traci E. Stankiewicz
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Jarren R. Oates
- Immunology Graduate Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Keisuke Sawada
- Immunology Graduate Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Michelle S. M. A. Damen
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Pablo C. Alarcon
- Immunology Graduate Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - David B. Haslam
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
| | - Andrew T. Trout
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
| | - Emily A. DeFranco
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
| | - Corie M. Klepper
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Jessica G. Woo
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Maria E. Moreno-Fernandez
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Marialena Mouzaki
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Senad Divanovic
- Immunology Graduate Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA
- Center for Inflammation and Tolerance, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
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