Extremely rare incidence of the UBQLN1 polymorphism (UBQ-8i) in Taiwan Chinese with Alzheimer's disease

NF-κB1 intronic region polymorphisms as risk factor for head and neck cancer in HPV-infected population from Pakistan

BACKGROUND

Head and neck cancer (HNC) developed due to the number of risk factors, including infection of Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The genetic predisposition also plays an important role in deregulating the NF-κB pathway, and certain polymorphisms are reported to affect the pathway genes.

OBJECTIVES

The present study was conducted for the detection of HPV and polymorphisms in the NF-κB1 gene of HNC patients in the Pakistani population.

METHODS

Genomic DNA from HNC tumors samples were extracted using the Exgene SV DNA extraction Kit. Allele-specific PCR and direct sequencing were done for analysis of NF-κB1 SNPs, 94ins/del (rs28362491), rs1598858, and rs4648068.

RESULTS

The genotypes AG (36.2%/ 12%) of rs1598858, and AG (28.3%/ 12%) and GG (28.3%/ 22%) of rs4648068 were associated with significantly (p≤0.05) increased risk of head and neck cancer in studied population. Furthermore, among the HNC cases, genotypes AGrs1598858 (p≤0.014) and GGrs4648068 (p≤0.001) had increased risk of HPV related cancers. Tobacco use (OR-3.158442; [1.140, 8.754]), lymph nodes involvement (OR 4.05128; [1.854, 8.852]), and poorly differentiated tumors (OR 1.997155; [0.940, 4.245]) were positively associated with HPV induced cancers.

CONCLUSION

It was the first comprehensive study from Pakistan, to evaluate the polymorphic variants of NF-κB1. Genotypes AGrs4648068, GGrs4648068, and AGrs1598858 of NF-κB1 gene are associated with increased risk of head and neck cancers in the Pakistani population. It can be concluded that HPV infection, lymph nodes and tobacco use can act synergetic to each other and add up in modulating HNC when present together with intronic SNPs of NF-κB1 gene.

Meta-analysis of Ubiquilin1 gene polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease risk

BACKGROUND

Some studies have evaluated the association between the Ubiquilin 1 (UBQLN1) gene UBQ-8i polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the results remain uncertain. We carried out a meta-analysis to derive a more comprehensive estimation of this association.

MATERIAL/METHODS

Case-control studies were identified by searching databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM, Wanfang, and VIP. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the association.

RESULTS

The UBQ-8i polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased AD risk (OR=1.15; 95%CI 1.05-1.25; P=0.002). The combination of adjusted ORs also found UBQ-8i polymorphism was significantly associated with AD risk (OR=1.15; 95%CI 1.02-1.30; P=0.02). When stratified by APOE ε4 status, both APOE ε4 carriers and APOE non-ε4 carriers with UBQ-8i polymorphism had significantly increased AD risk (OR=1.28; 95%CI 1.05-1.56; P=0.01 and OR=1.25; 95%CI 1.04-1.50; P=0.02). In the subgroup analysis according to age, UBQ-8i polymorphism was significantly associated with LOAD risk (OR=1.17; 95%CI 1.05-1.31; P=0.005), but not with EOAD risk (OR=1.12; 95%CI 0.95-1.31; P=0.17).

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that the UBQ-8i polymorphism is associated with AD risk.

Association of an NFKB1 intron SNP (rs4648068) with gastric cancer patients in the Han Chinese population

Background

Hyperactivation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is associated with various types of tumors. This study investigated the susceptibility of the rs4648068 A/G genotype in the intron region of NFKB1 to gastric cancer and the association of this polymorphism with clinicopathologic variables in gastric cancer patients.

Methods

A hospital-based case–control study of 248 gastric cancer patients and 192 control individuals was conducted in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (Shanghai, China). Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4648068 genotype in NFKB1 from blood samples of a total of 440 people was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-based genotyping.

Results

The frequencies of the AA, AG, and GG genotypes of the rs4648068 polymorphism were 31.5%, 47.2%, and 21.3% in the gastric cancer patients and 29.7%, 59.9%, and 10.4% in the control individuals, respectively. We found that the GG genotype was associated with a significantly increased risk of gastric cancer (P = 0.042). Furthermore, among the gastric cancer cases, the rs4648068 GG genotype was associated with high clinical stage (AOR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.11- 4.66), lymph node involvement (AOR = 2.90, 95% CI = 1.40- 6.03) and serosa invasion (AOR = 2.78, 95% CI = 1.34- 5.75). However, rs4648068 genotypes were not associated with tumor differentiation in gastric cancer patients.

Conclusions

Homozygous rs4648068 GG was associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer, especially for the lymph node status and serosa invasion in Han Chinese population.

Ubiquilin-1 is a molecular chaperone for the amyloid precursor protein

Alzheimer disease (AD) is associated with extracellular deposition of proteolytic fragments of amyloid precursor protein (APP). Although mutations in APP and proteases that mediate its processing are known to result in familial, early onset forms of AD, the mechanisms underlying the more common sporadic, yet genetically complex forms of the disease are still unclear. Four single-nucleotide polymorphisms within the ubiquilin-1 gene have been shown to be genetically associated with AD, implicating its gene product in the pathogenesis of late onset AD. However, genetic linkage between ubiquilin-1 and AD has not been confirmed in studies examining different populations. Here we show that regardless of genotype, ubiquilin-1 protein levels are significantly decreased in late onset AD patient brains, suggesting that diminished ubiquilin function may be a common denominator in AD progression. Our interrogation of putative ubiquilin-1 activities based on sequence similarities to proteins involved in cellular quality control showed that ubiquilin-1 can be biochemically defined as a bona fide molecular chaperone and that this activity is capable of preventing the aggregation of amyloid precursor protein both in vitro and in live neurons. Furthermore, we show that reduced activity of ubiquilin-1 results in augmented production of pathogenic amyloid precursor protein fragments as well as increased neuronal death. Our results support the notion that ubiquilin-1 chaperone activity is necessary to regulate the production of APP and its fragments and that diminished ubiquilin-1 levels may contribute to AD pathogenesis.