1
|
Zhang J, Wen J, Dai Z, Zhang H, Zhang N, Lei R, Liu Z, Peng L, Cheng Q. Causal association and shared genetics between telomere length and COVID-19 outcomes: New evidence from the latest large-scale summary statistics. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2024; 23:2429-2441. [PMID: 38882679 PMCID: PMC11176559 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2024.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Observational studies suggested that leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is shortened in COVID-19 patients. However, the genetic association and causality remained unknown. Methods Based on the genome-wide association of LTL (N = 472,174) and COVID-19 phenotypes (N = 1086,211-2597,856), LDSC and SUPERGNOVA were used to estimate the genetic correlation. Cross-trait GWAS meta-analysis, colocalization, fine-mapping analysis, and transcriptome-wide association study were conducted to explore the shared genetic etiology. Mendelian randomization (MR) was utilized to infer the causality. Upstream and downstream two-step MR was performed to investigate the potential mediating effects. Results LDSC identified a significant genetic association between LTL and all COVID-19 phenotypes (rG < 0, p < 0.05). Six significant regions were observed for LTL and COVID-19 susceptibility and hospitalization, respectively. Colocalization analysis found rs144204502, rs34517439, and rs56255908 were shared causal variants between LTL and COVID-19 phenotypes. Numerous biological pathways associated with LTL and COVID-19 outcomes were identified, mainly involved in -immune-related pathways. MR showed that longer LTL was significantly associated with a lower risk of COVID-19 severity (OR [95% CI] = 0.81 [0.71-0.92], p = 1.24 ×10-3) and suggestively associated with lower risks of COVID-19 susceptibility (OR [95% CI] = 0.96 [0.92-1.00], p = 3.44 ×10-2) and COVID-19 hospitalization (OR [95% CI] = 0.89 [0.80-0.98], p = 1.89 ×10-2). LTL partially mediated the effects of BMI, smoking, and education on COVID-19 outcomes. Furthermore, six proteins partially mediated the causality of LTL on COVID-19 outcomes, including BNDF, QPCT, FAS, MPO, SFTPB, and APOF. Conclusions Our findings suggested that shorter LTL was genetically associated with a higher risk of COVID-19 phenotypes, with shared genetic etiology and potential causality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jingwei Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hypothalamic Pituitary Research Centre, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jie Wen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hypothalamic Pituitary Research Centre, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Ziyu Dai
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hypothalamic Pituitary Research Centre, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Hao Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Nan Zhang
- College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Ruoyan Lei
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Zhixiong Liu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hypothalamic Pituitary Research Centre, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Luo Peng
- Department of Oncology, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Quan Cheng
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hypothalamic Pituitary Research Centre, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Simonetti A, Bernardi E, Sani G. Novel Advancements in COVID-19 and Neuroscience. J Pers Med 2024; 14:143. [PMID: 38392577 PMCID: PMC10890030 DOI: 10.3390/jpm14020143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
From an initial cluster of cases reported in Wuhan, the SARS-Cov-2 infection has since spread globally, causing a pandemic that began on 11 March 2020 [...].
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alessio Simonetti
- Department of Neurosciences, Sensory Organs and Chest, Section of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
- Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Evelina Bernardi
- Department of Neurosciences, Sensory Organs and Chest, Section of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Gabriele Sani
- Department of Neurosciences, Sensory Organs and Chest, Section of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
- Department of Neurosciences, Sensory Organs and Chest, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Aliska G, Putra AE, Anggrainy F, Lailani M. The exploration of glucocorticoid pathway based on disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Heliyon 2024; 10:e23579. [PMID: 38187222 PMCID: PMC10770556 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Systemic inflammation is a hallmark of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is the key to the pathophysiology of its severe cases with host cytokine involvement. Glucocorticoids can moderate this inflammatory effect due to receptor binding (NRC31-the gene encoded), influencing the expression of effector genes and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Another important pathway in the processes of the immune and inflammatory responses is nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling (NFKBIA-the gene encoded). We aimed to explore the expression of genes in the glucocorticoid pathway in mild and severe COVID-19. We performed a cross-sectional, observational study on COVID-19 cases, assessing the expression of RNA in white blood cells. The Illumina® platform was used for RNA sequencing, and FASTQ data were quality-checked with Multiqc. The raw data were analyzed using CLC Genomics Workbench®. Our study included 23 patients with severe COVID-19 and 21 patients with mild COVID-19 with an average age of 49.9 ± 18.2 years old. The NR3C1 and NFKBIA expressions did not show a significantly significant difference between groups (log2 fold change 0.5, p = 0.1; 0.82, p = 0.09). However, the expressions of TSC22D3, DUSP-1, JAK-1 and MAPK-1 were significantly higher in mild cases (log2 fold change 1.3, p < 0.001; 2.6, p < 0.001; 0.9, p < 0.001; 1.48, p-value<0.001; respectively). Furthermore, the TNF, IL-1β, and IL-6 expressions were significantly lower in mild cases (log2 fold change 4.05, p < 0.001; 3.33, p < 0.001; 6.86, p < 0.001; respectively). In conclusion, our results showed that although the NRC31 and NFKBIA expressions did not show a statistically significant difference between groups, the expression of TSC22D3 was higher in mild cases. These results highlight the importance of effector genes, specifically TSC22D3, in combatting systemic inflammation. Our recent findings have the potential to lead to the identification of novel pharmacological targets that could prove to be vital in the fight against diseases associated with inflammation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gestina Aliska
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang, 25176, Indonesia
- Centre for Diagnostic and Research on Infectious Disease (PDRPI), Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Dr. M. Djamil General Hospital, Padang, Indonesia
| | - Andani Eka Putra
- Centre for Diagnostic and Research on Infectious Disease (PDRPI), Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang, 2517, Indonesia
| | - Fenty Anggrainy
- Department of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang, 2517, Indonesia
| | - Mutia Lailani
- Centre for Diagnostic and Research on Infectious Disease (PDRPI), Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang, 2517, Indonesia
| |
Collapse
|