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Wang X, Wang B, Yang F, Shang K, Chen S, Zhang Y. Associations between plasma metal elements and risk of cognitive impairment among Chinese older adults. Front Aging Neurosci 2024; 16:1353286. [PMID: 38384934 PMCID: PMC10879289 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1353286] [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: 12/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Background The relationship between plasma metal elements and cognitive function is unclear, especially in extremely older individuals. This present study aimed to explore the association between plasma metal concentrations and the risk of cognitive impairment (CI) in Chinese extremely older adults. Methods Individuals aged ≥90 years with plasm metal concentration data from the fifth wave of the 2008 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey were included. Plasma selenium (Se), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) concentrations were measured using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. Cognitive function was assessed by the Chinese version of the mini-mental state examination. Results The study enrolled 408 participants. Participants with CI had significantly lower plasma Se, Mn, and Fe levels and higher Ca levels than those with normal cognitive function (p < 0.05). Plasma Se, Mn, Ca, and Fe concentrations were significantly associated with CI risk in both single- and multiple-element logistic regression models. Additionally, the multiple-element model results showed that the adjusted odds ratios for CI were 0.042 (95% confidence interval 0.016-0.109), 0.106 (0.044-0.255), 7.629 (3.211-18.124) and 0.092 (0.036-0.233) for the highest quartiles compared to the lowest quartiles of Se, Mn, Ca, and Fe, respectively. Moreover, subgroup analyses by age, sex, and body mass index suggested a consistent significant correlation (p < 0.05). Conclusion Therefore, decreased plasma Se, Mn, and Fe and increased plasma Ca levels were associated with CI risk in Chinese older adults. These findings are of great significance for the development of programs to delay cognitive decline in the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Wang
- Department of Neurology, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Binbin Wang
- School of Life Science, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Fuwen Yang
- Department of Neurology, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Kaijian Shang
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Shaowei Chen
- Department of Hematology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Yue Zhang
- School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Shanxi Medical University, Key Laboratory of Coal Environmental Pathogenicity and Prevention, Ministry Education, Taiyuan, China
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Gao F, Pan R, Fan T, Liu L, Pan H. Identification of heel bone mineral density as a risk factor of Alzheimer's disease by analyzing large-scale genome-wide association studies datasets. Front Cell Dev Biol 2023; 11:1247067. [PMID: 38099291 PMCID: PMC10720361 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1247067] [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: 06/25/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction: Both low bone mineral density (BMD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) commonly co_occur in the older adult. Until now, the association between AD and BMD has been widely reported by observational studies. However, Mendelian randomization (MR) studies did not support the causal association between BMD and AD. We think that the lack of significant causal association between AD and BMD identified by recent MR studies may be caused by small number of potential instrumental variables. Methods: We conduct a MR study to evaluate the causal effect of heel BMD on the risk of AD using 1,362 genome-wide significant and independent (p < 5.00E-08) heel BMD genetic variants as the potential instrumental variables, which are identified by a large-scale genome wide association study (GWAS) of heel BMD in 394,929 UK Biobank individuals. Using these 1,362 genome-wide significant and independent heel BMD genetic variants, we extracted their corresponding AD GWAS summary results in IGAP AD GWAS dataset (n = 63,926) and FinnGen AD GWAS dataset (n = 377,277). Five methods including inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis (IVW), weighted median, MR-Egger, MR-PRESSO, and MRlap were selected to perform the MR analysis. 951 of these 1,362 genetic variants are available in AD GWAS dataset. Results: We observed statistically significant causal effect of heel BMD on the risk of AD using IVW in IGAP AD GWAS dataset (OR = 1.048, 95%CI: 1.002-1.095, p = 0.04) and FinnGen AD GWAS dataset (OR = 1.053, 95% CI:1.011-1.098, p = 0.011). Importantly, meta-analysis of IVW estimates from IGAP and FinnGen further supported the causal effect of heel BMD on the risk of AD (OR = 1.051, 95% CI: 1.02-1.083, p = 0.0013). Discussion: Collectively, our current MR study supports heel BMD to be a risk factor of AD by analyzing the large-scale heel BMD and AD GWAS datasets. The potential mechanisms underlying the association between heel BMD and AD should be further evaluated in future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng Gao
- Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Rongrong Pan
- Department of Orthopedics, Huangshan People’s Hospital, Huangshan, China
| | - Taixuan Fan
- Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Lingling Liu
- Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Haile Pan
- Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
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Zhou C, Zhang Y, Yang S, Ye Z, Wu Q, Liu M, He P, Zhang Y, Qin X. Habitual glucosamine use, APOE genotypes, and risk of incident cause-specific dementia in the older population. Alzheimers Res Ther 2023; 15:152. [PMID: 37689747 PMCID: PMC10492372 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-023-01295-6] [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: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The relationship of glucosamine use with incident dementia in the older population remains uncertain. We aimed to evaluate the longitudinal association between habitual glucosamine supplement and the risk of cause-specific dementia and examine the possible effect modifiers on this association. METHODS The study included 214,945 participants over the age of 60 who had available information on glucosamine use and did not have dementia at baseline in the UK Biobank. The APOE genotypes were determined by a combination variant of rs429358 and rs7412. The primary outcome was incident vascular dementia, incident Alzheimer's disease, and incident frontotemporal dementia, respectively. RESULTS Over a median follow-up duration of 12 years, 1039, 1774, and 122 participants developed vascular dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and frontotemporal dementia, respectively. Overall, habitual glucosamine use was significantly associated with a lower risk of incident vascular dementia (adjusted HR, 0.82; 95%CI, 0.70-0.96), but not significantly associated with incident Alzheimer's disease (adjusted HR, 1.02; 95%CI, 0.92-1.14) and incident frontotemporal dementia (adjusted HR, 0.95; 95%CI, 0.63-1.43). Moreover, the inverse association between habitual glucosamine use and incident vascular dementia was more pronounced in participants with concomitant supplement of calcium (P-interaction = 0.011), and those without concomitant supplement of zinc (P-interaction = 0.018). However, APOE ε4 dosage and baseline cognitive function did not significantly modify the relationships of glucosamine use with incident vascular dementia or Alzheimer's disease (All P-interactions > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Regardless of APOE genotypes and baseline cognitive function, habitual glucosamine use was significantly inversely associated with incident vascular dementia in the older population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun Zhou
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | - Yanjun Zhang
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | - Sisi Yang
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | - Ziliang Ye
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | - Qimeng Wu
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | - Mengyi Liu
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | - Panpan He
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | - Yuanyuan Zhang
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | - Xianhui Qin
- National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Renal Failure Research, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China.
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Babić Leko M, Langer Horvat L, Španić Popovački E, Zubčić K, Hof PR, Šimić G. Metals in Alzheimer's Disease. Biomedicines 2023; 11:1161. [PMID: 37189779 PMCID: PMC10136077 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11041161] [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: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 04/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The role of metals in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is still debated. Although previous research has linked changes in essential metal homeostasis and exposure to environmental heavy metals to the pathogenesis of AD, more research is needed to determine the relationship between metals and AD. In this review, we included human studies that (1) compared the metal concentrations between AD patients and healthy controls, (2) correlated concentrations of AD cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers with metal concentrations, and (3) used Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess the potential metal contributions to AD risk. Although many studies have examined various metals in dementia patients, understanding the dynamics of metals in these patients remains difficult due to considerable inconsistencies among the results of individual studies. The most consistent findings were for Zn and Cu, with most studies observing a decrease in Zn levels and an increase in Cu levels in AD patients. However, several studies found no such relation. Because few studies have compared metal levels with biomarker levels in the CSF of AD patients, more research of this type is required. Given that MR is revolutionizing epidemiologic research, additional MR studies that include participants from diverse ethnic backgrounds to assess the causal relationship between metals and AD risk are critical.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirjana Babić Leko
- Department of Neuroscience, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Lea Langer Horvat
- Department of Neuroscience, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ena Španić Popovački
- Department of Neuroscience, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Klara Zubčić
- Department of Neuroscience, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Patrick R. Hof
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute and Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer’s Disease, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Goran Šimić
- Department of Neuroscience, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
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Yao Y, Gao F, Wu Y, Zhang X, Xu J, Du H, Wang X. Mendelian randomization analysis of the causal association of bone mineral density and fracture with multiple sclerosis. Front Neurol 2022; 13:993150. [PMID: 36188366 PMCID: PMC9519880 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.993150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disorder and an autoimmune disease. Until now, observational studies have indicated the association of bone mineral density (BMD) and fracture with the risk of MS. However, these studies indicated inconsistent findings. Until now, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been conducted in BMD, fracture, and MS, which provide large-scale datasets to investigate the causal association of BMD and fracture with the risk of MS using the Mendelian randomization (MR) study. Here, we performed an MR study to clarify the causal association between BMD/fracture and the risk of MS using large-scale publicly available GWAS datasets from BMD, fracture, and MS. We first evaluated the bidirectional causal effects of BMD and MS. The main analysis method inverse-variance weighted (IVW) showed no significant causal effect of BMD on the risk of MS (β = 0.058, and p = 1.98E-01), and MS on the risk of BMD (β = −0.001, and p = 7.83E-01). We then evaluated the bidirectional causal effects of fracture and MS. However, we only identified a significant causal effect of fracture on the risk of MS using IVW (β = −0.375, p = 0.002), but no significant causal effect of MS on the risk of the fracture using IVW (β = 0.011, p = 2.39E-01). Therefore, our main analysis method IVW only found a significant causal effect of fracture on MS using the threshold for the statistically significant association p < 0.05/4 = 0.0125. Meanwhile, multivariable MR analyses showed that the causal effect of fracture on MS was independent of smoking, drinking, and obesity, but dependent on BMD. In summary, our MR analysis demonstrates that genetically increased fracture may reduce the risk of MS. Our findings should be further verified and the underlying mechanisms should be further evaluated by future studies.
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Zhu Y, Li M, Zhang J, Huang X. Association Between C-Reactive Protein and Risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Mendelian Randomization Study. Front Genet 2022; 13:919031. [PMID: 35669191 PMCID: PMC9164009 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.919031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Until now, the relationship between C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) risk has not been fully established. It is necessary to assess whether there is a causal relationship between C-reactive protein levels and ALS risk. Objective and Methods: We aimed to determine whether CRP has causal effects on risk of ALS. In this present study, summary-level data for ALS (20,806 cases and 59,804 controls) was obtained from large analyses of genome-wide association studies. For instrumental variables, 37 single nucleotide polymorphisms that had been previously identified to be related to CRP levels were used, including 4 SNPs of conservative CRP genetic variants and 33 SNPs of liberal CRP genetic variants. MR estimates were calculated using the inverse-variance weighted method, supplemented by MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR-PRESSO methods. Results: There was no significant causal relationship between genetically predicted CRP levels and ALS risk (OR = 1.123, 95% CI = 0.963-1.309, p = 0.139) and results for the conservative CRP instruments were consistent (OR = 0.964, 95% CI = 0.830-1.119, p = 0.628). Pleiotropic bias was not observed in this study. Conclusions: This study suggests that genetically predicted CRP levels may not be a causal risk factor for ALS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yahui Zhu
- Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China
- Department of Neurology, The First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Mao Li
- Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China
- Department of Neurology, The First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Jinghong Zhang
- Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China
- Department of Neurology, The First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Xusheng Huang
- Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China
- Department of Neurology, The First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
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Zhu D, Wang C, Guo L, Si D, Liu M, Cai M, Ma L, Fu D, Fu J, Wang J, Liu F. Total Brain Volumetric Measures and Schizophrenia Risk: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study. Front Genet 2022; 13:782476. [PMID: 35432453 PMCID: PMC9008758 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.782476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SCZ) is an idiopathic psychiatric disorder with a heritable component and a substantial public health impact. Although abnormalities in total brain volumetric measures (TBVMs) have been found in patients with SCZ, it is still unknown whether these abnormalities have a causal effect on the risk of SCZ. Here, we performed a Mendelian randomization (MR) study to investigate the possible causal associations between each TBVM and SCZ risk. Specifically, genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics of total gray matter volume, total white matter volume, total cerebrospinal fluid volume, and total brain volume were obtained from the United Kingdom Biobank database (33,224 individuals), and SCZ GWAS summary statistics were provided by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (150,064 individuals). The main MR analysis was conducted using the inverse variance weighted method, and other MR methods, including MR-Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode methods, were performed to assess the robustness of our findings. For pleiotropy analysis, we employed three approaches: MR-Egger intercept, MR-PRESSO, and heterogeneity tests. No TBVM was causally associated with SCZ risk according to the MR results, and no significant pleiotropy or heterogeneity was found for instrumental variables. Taken together, this study suggested that alterations in TBVMs were not causally associated with the risk of SCZ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Zhu
- Department of Radiology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital Airport Hospital, Tianjin, China
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Chunyang Wang
- Department of Scientific Research, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Lining Guo
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Daojun Si
- National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, Tianjin, China
| | - Mengge Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Mengjing Cai
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Lin Ma
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Dianxun Fu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Jilian Fu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- *Correspondence: Feng Liu, ; Junping Wang, ; Jilian Fu,
| | - Junping Wang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- *Correspondence: Feng Liu, ; Junping Wang, ; Jilian Fu,
| | - Feng Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- *Correspondence: Feng Liu, ; Junping Wang, ; Jilian Fu,
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Lin Y, Yang Z, Li J, Sun Y, Zhang X, Qu Z, Luo Y, Zhang L. Effects of glutamate and aspartate on prostate cancer and breast cancer: a Mendelian randomization study. BMC Genomics 2022; 23:213. [PMID: 35296245 PMCID: PMC8925075 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-022-08442-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Respectively, prostate cancer (PCa) and breast cancer (BC) are the second most and most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and women, and they account for a majority of cancer-related deaths world-wide. Cancer cells typically exhibit much-facilitated growth that necessitates upregulated glycolysis and augmented amino acid metabolism, that of glutamine and aspartate in particular, which is tightly coupled with an increased flux of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Epidemiological studies have exploited metabolomics to explore the etiology and found potentially effective biomarkers for early detection or progression of prostate and breast cancers. However, large randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to establish causal associations between amino acid metabolism and prostate and breast cancers have not been reported. Objective Utilizing two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR), we aimed to estimate how genetically predicted glutamate and aspartate levels could impact upon prostate and breast cancers development. Methods Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as instrumental variables (IVs), associated with the serum levels of glutamate and aspartate were extracted from the publicly available genome-wide association studies (GWASs), which were conducted to associate genetic variations with blood metabolite levels using comprehensive metabolite profiling in 1,960 adults; and the glutamate and aspartate we have chosen were two of 644 metabolites. The summary statistics for the largest and latest GWAS datasets for prostate cancer (61,106 controls and 79,148 cases) were from the Prostate Cancer Association Group to Investigate Cancer Associated Alterations in the Genome (PRACTICAL) consortium, and datasets for breast cancer (113,789 controls and 133,384 cases) were from Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). The study was performed through two-sample MR method. Results Causal estimates were expressed as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) per standard deviation increment in serum level of aspartate or glutamate. Aspartate was positively associated with prostate cancer (Effect = 1.043; 95% confidence interval, 1.003 to 1.084; P = 0.034) and breast cancer (Effect = 1.033; 95% confidence interval, 1.004 to 1.063; P = 0.028); however, glutamate was neither associated with prostate cancer nor with breast cancer. The potential causal associations were robust to the sensitivity analysis. Conclusions Our study found that the level of serum aspartate could serve as a risk factor that contributed to the development of prostate and breast cancers. Efforts on a detailed description of the underlying biochemical mechanisms would be extremely valuable in early assessment and/or diagnosis, and strategizing clinical intervention, of both cancers. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08442-7.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yindan Lin
- Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Institute, (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention of China National MOE), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 866 Yuhangtang Road, Xihu District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang, 310058, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ze Yang
- Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Institute, (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention of China National MOE), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 866 Yuhangtang Road, Xihu District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang, 310058, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jingjia Li
- Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Institute, (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention of China National MOE), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 866 Yuhangtang Road, Xihu District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang, 310058, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yandi Sun
- Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Institute, (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention of China National MOE), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 866 Yuhangtang Road, Xihu District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang, 310058, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xueyun Zhang
- Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Institute, (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention of China National MOE), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 866 Yuhangtang Road, Xihu District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang, 310058, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zihao Qu
- Orthopedic Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, 310058, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yan Luo
- Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Institute, (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention of China National MOE), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 866 Yuhangtang Road, Xihu District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang, 310058, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Lihong Zhang
- Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Institute, (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention of China National MOE), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 866 Yuhangtang Road, Xihu District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang, 310058, Hangzhou, China.
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Yuan S, Yu L, Gou W, Wang L, Sun J, Li D, Lu Y, Cai X, Yu H, Yuan C, Zheng JS, Larsson SC, Theodoratou E, Li X. Health effects of high serum calcium levels: Updated phenome-wide Mendelian randomisation investigation and review of Mendelian randomisation studies. EBioMedicine 2022; 76:103865. [PMID: 35134646 PMCID: PMC8844774 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.103865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2021] [Revised: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Calcium plays a role in a wide range of biological functions. Here we conducted a phenome-wide Mendelian randomisation (MR-PheWAS) analysis and a systematic review for MR studies to comprehensively investigate the health effects of serum calcium. Methods One-hundred and thirty genetic variants strongly associated with serum calcium levels were used as instrumental variables. A phenome-wide association analysis (PheWAS) was conducted to examine the associations of genetically predicted serum calcium with 1473 distinct phenotypes in the UK Biobank including 339,197 individuals. Observed associations in PheWAS were further tested for replication in two-sample MR replication analysis. A systematic review for MR studies on serum calcium was performed to synthesize the published evidence and compare with the current MR-PheWAS findings. Findings Higher genetically predicted calcium levels were associated with decreased risk of 5 diseases in dermatologic and musculoskeletal systems and increased risk of 17 diseases in circulatory, digestive, endocrine, genitourinary and immune systems. Eight associations were replicated in two-sample MR analysis. These included decreased risk of osteoarthritis and increased risk of coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, coronary atherosclerosis, hyperparathyroidism, disorder of parathyroid gland, gout, and calculus of kidney and ureter with increased serum calcium. Systematic review of 25 MR studies provided supporting evidence on five out of the eight disease outcomes, while the increased risk of gout, hyperparathyroidism and disorder of parathyroid gland were novel findings. Interpretation This study found wide-ranged health effects of high serum calcium, which suggests that the benefits and adversities of strategies promoting calcium intake should be assessed. Funding ET is supported by a CRUK Career Development Fellowship (C31250/A22804). XL is supported by the Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Zhejiang Province. SCL acknowledges research funding from the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation (Hjärt-Lungfonden, 20210351), the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet, 2019-00977), and the Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden).
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuai Yuan
- Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China; Unit of Cardiovascular and Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Key Laboratory of Growth Regulation and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lili Yu
- Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wanglong Gou
- Key Laboratory of Growth Regulation and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lijuan Wang
- Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jing Sun
- Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Doudou Li
- Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ying Lu
- Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaxia Cai
- Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Huanling Yu
- Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Changzheng Yuan
- Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China; Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA
| | - Ju-Sheng Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Growth Regulation and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Susanna C Larsson
- Unit of Cardiovascular and Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Unit of Medical Epidemiology, Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Evropi Theodoratou
- Centre for Global Health, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, Medical Research Council Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Xue Li
- Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China; Centre for Global Health, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
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10
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Liu H, Hu Y, Zhang Y, Zhang H, Gao S, Wang L, Wang T, Han Z, Sun BL, Liu G. Mendelian randomization highlights significant difference and genetic heterogeneity in clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease GWAS and self-report proxy phenotype GWAX. Alzheimers Res Ther 2022; 14:17. [PMID: 35090530 PMCID: PMC8800228 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-022-00963-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Until now, Mendelian randomization (MR) studies have investigated the causal association of risk factors with Alzheimer's disease (AD) using large-scale AD genome-wide association studies (GWAS), GWAS by proxy (GWAX), and meta-analyses of GWAS and GWAX (GWAS+GWAX) datasets. However, it currently remains unclear about the consistency of MR estimates across these GWAS, GWAX, and GWAS+GWAX datasets. METHODS Here, we first selected 162 independent educational attainment genetic variants as the potential instrumental variables (N = 405,072). We then selected one AD GWAS dataset (N = 63,926), two AD GWAX datasets (N = 314,278 and 408,942), and three GWAS+GWAX datasets (N = 388,324, 455,258, and 472,868). Finally, we conducted a MR analysis to evaluate the impact of educational attainment on AD risk across these datasets. Meanwhile, we tested the genetic heterogeneity of educational attainment genetic variants across these datasets. RESULTS In AD GWAS dataset, MR analysis showed that each SD increase in years of schooling (about 3.6 years) was significantly associated with 29% reduced AD risk (OR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.60-0.84, and P=1.02E-04). In AD GWAX dataset, MR analysis highlighted that each SD increase in years of schooling significantly increased 84% AD risk (OR=1.84, 95% CI: 1.59-2.13, and P=4.66E-16). Meanwhile, MR analysis suggested the ambiguous findings in AD GWAS+GWAX datasets. Heterogeneity test indicated evidence of genetic heterogeneity in AD GWAS and GWAX datasets. CONCLUSIONS We highlighted significant difference and genetic heterogeneity in clinically diagnosed AD GWAS and self-report proxy phenotype GWAX. Our MR findings are consistent with recent findings in AD genetic variants. Hence, the GWAX and GWAS+GWAX findings and MR findings from GWAX and GWAS+GWAX should be carefully interpreted and warrant further investigation using the AD GWAS dataset.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haijie Liu
- grid.413259.80000 0004 0632 3337Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053 China
| | - Yang Hu
- grid.19373.3f0000 0001 0193 3564School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150080 China
| | - Yan Zhang
- grid.268079.20000 0004 1790 6079Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University, Weifang, 261053 China
| | - Haihua Zhang
- grid.24696.3f0000 0004 0369 153XBeijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069 China
| | - Shan Gao
- grid.24696.3f0000 0004 0369 153XBeijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069 China
| | - Longcai Wang
- grid.268079.20000 0004 1790 6079Department of Anesthesiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University, Weifang, 261053 China
| | - Tao Wang
- grid.510934.a0000 0005 0398 4153Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Zhifa Han
- grid.506261.60000 0001 0706 7839State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Bao-liang Sun
- grid.415440.0Key Laboratory of Cerebral Microcirculation in Universities of Shandong, Department of Neurology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Taian, 271000 Shandong China
| | - Guiyou Liu
- Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China. .,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China. .,Key Laboratory of Cerebral Microcirculation in Universities of Shandong, Department of Neurology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Taian, 271000, Shandong, China. .,Beijing Key Laboratory of Hypoxia Translational Medicine, National Engineering Laboratory of Internet Medical Diagnosis and Treatment Technology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
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11
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Chen Y, Forgetta V, Richards JB, Zhou S. Health Effects of Calcium: Evidence From Mendelian Randomization Studies. JBMR Plus 2021; 5:e10542. [PMID: 34761146 PMCID: PMC8567492 DOI: 10.1002/jbm4.10542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2021] [Revised: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Calcium is widely used in conjunction with vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis. The use of calcium supplementation is also promoted for its potential benefits in lowering the risk for metabolic syndromes and cancers. However, the causal link between calcium and various health outcomes remains unclear. This review focuses on the evidence from 24 Mendelian randomization (MR) studies that were designed to minimize bias from confounding and reverse causation. These MR studies evaluated the effect of lifelong genetically higher serum calcium levels on various health outcomes. Overall, available MR studies found no conclusive effects of serum calcium levels on bone mineral density and fracture, ischemic stroke and heart failure, cancers, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson disease, or offspring birth weight. However, a higher serum calcium concentration was reported to have estimated causal effects on increased risks for coronary artery disease (especially myocardial infarction), migraine, renal colic, allergy/adverse effect of penicillin, and reduced risks for osteoarthrosis and osteoarthritis. In conclusion, supplementation of calcium in individuals from the general population is not predicted to influence the risk of most investigated diseases to date. Moreover, long-term high serum calcium concentrations may result in adverse health outcomes. © 2021 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiheng Chen
- Department of Human GeneticsMcGill UniversityMontréalQCCanada
- Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General HospitalMcGill UniversityMontréalQCCanada
| | - Vincenzo Forgetta
- Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General HospitalMcGill UniversityMontréalQCCanada
| | - J. Brent Richards
- Department of Human GeneticsMcGill UniversityMontréalQCCanada
- Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General HospitalMcGill UniversityMontréalQCCanada
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational HealthMcGill UniversityMontréalQCCanada
- Department of Twin ResearchKing's College LondonLondonUK
| | - Sirui Zhou
- Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General HospitalMcGill UniversityMontréalQCCanada
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational HealthMcGill UniversityMontréalQCCanada
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12
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Wu P, Du B, Wang B, Yin R, Lv X, Dai Y, Zhang W, Xia K. Joint Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Data Reveals No Genetic Correlations Between Low Back Pain and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Front Genet 2021; 12:744299. [PMID: 34630533 PMCID: PMC8493037 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.744299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: We aimed to explore the genetic correlation and bidirectional causal relationships between low back pain (LBP) and three neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: Summary-level statistics were obtained from genome-wide association studies of LBP (n = 177,860), AD (n = 63,926), PD (n = 482,730), and ALS (n = 80,610). We implemented linkage disequilibrium score regression to calculate heritability estimates and genetic correlations. To investigate possible causal associations between LBP and three neurodegenerative diseases, we also conducted a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study. Inverse variance-weighted MR was employed as the primary method to generate overall estimates, whereas complementary approaches and sensitivity analyses were conducted to confirm the consistency and robustness of the findings. Results: There was no evidence of genetic correlations between LBP and AD (Rg = −0.033, p = 0.766). MR analyses did not support the causal effect of LBP on AD (OR = 1.031; 95% CI, 0.924–1.150; p = 0.590) or the effect of AD on LBP (OR = 0.963; 95% CI, 0.923–1.006; p = 0.090). Likewise, this study failed to identify genetic correlations between LBP and two other neurodegenerative diseases. MR results of the associations of LBP with PD and ALS, and the reverse associations, did not reach Bonferroni-corrected significance. Conclusion: The study did not support genetic correlations or causations between LBP and three common neurodegenerative diseases, AD, PD, and ALS in the European population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pengfei Wu
- Center for Medical Genetics & Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Bing Du
- Center for Medical Genetics & Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Bing Wang
- Department of Spine Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Center for Digital Spine Surgery, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Rui Yin
- Department of Biomedical Informatics and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Xin Lv
- Department of Spine Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yuliang Dai
- Department of Spine Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Center for Digital Spine Surgery, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Wan Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.,Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Kun Xia
- Center for Medical Genetics & Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Shanghai, China.,Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
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13
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Shi Y, Liu R, Guo Y, Li Q, Zhou H, Yu S, Liang H, Li Z. An Updated Mendelian Randomization Analysis of the Association Between Serum Calcium Levels and the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease. Front Genet 2021; 12:731391. [PMID: 34567081 PMCID: PMC8457382 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.731391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been a long time that the relationship between serum calcium levels and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remains unclear. Until recently, observational studies have evaluated the association between serum calcium levels and the risk of AD, however, reported inconsistent findings. Meanwhile, a Mendelian randomization (MR) study had been conducted to test the causal association between serum calcium levels and AD risk, however, only selected 6 serum calcium SNPs as the instrumental variables. Hence, these findings should be further verified using additional more genetic variants and large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) dataset to increase the statistical power. Here, we conduct an updated MR analysis of the causal association between serum calcium levels and the risk of AD using a two-stage design. In discovery stage, we conducted a MR analysis using 14 SNPs from serum calcium GWAS dataset (N = 61,079), and AD GWAS dataset (N = 63,926, 21,982 cases, 41,944 cognitively normal controls). All four MR methods including IVW, weighted median, MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO showed a reduced trend of AD risk with the increased serum calcium levels. In the replication stage, we performed a MR analysis using 166 SNPs from serum calcium GWAS dataset (N = 305,349), and AD GWAS dataset (N = 63,926, 21,982 cases, 41,944 cognitively normal controls). Only the weighted median indicated that genetically increased serum calcium level was associated with the reduced risk of AD. Hence, additional studies are required to investigate these findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuchen Shi
- Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
| | - Ruifei Liu
- Second Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
| | - Ying Guo
- First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
| | - Qiwei Li
- Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
| | - Haichun Zhou
- Second Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
| | - Shaolei Yu
- Second Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
| | - Hua Liang
- Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
| | - Zeguang Li
- First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
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14
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Wu PF, Zhang XH, Zhou P, Yin R, Zhou XT, Zhang W. Growth Differentiation Factor 15 Is Associated With Alzheimer's Disease Risk. Front Genet 2021; 12:700371. [PMID: 34484296 PMCID: PMC8414585 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.700371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Previous observational studies have suggested that associations exist between growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) and neurodegenerative diseases. We aimed to investigate the causal relationships between GDF-15 and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods Using summary-level datasets from genome-wide association studies of European ancestry, we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study. Genetic variants significantly associated (p < 5 × 10–8) with GDF-15 were selected as instrumental variables (n = 5). An inverse-variance weighted method was implemented as the primary MR approach, while weighted median, MR–Egger, leave-one-out analysis, and Cochran’s Q-test were conducted as sensitivity analyses. All analyses were performed using R 3.6.1 with relevant packages. Results MR provided evidence for the association of elevated GDF-15 levels with a higher risk of AD (odds ratio = 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.24; p = 0.004). In the reverse direction, Mendelian randomization suggested no causal effect of genetically proxied risk of AD on circulating GDF-15 (p = 0.450). The causal effects of GDF-15 on PD (p = 0.597) or ALS (p = 0.120) were not identified, and the MR results likewise did not support the association of genetic liability to PD or ALS with genetically predicted levels of GDF-15. No evident heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy was revealed by multiple sensitivity analyses. Conclusion We highlighted the role of GDF-15 in AD as altogether a promising diagnostic marker and a therapeutic target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng-Fei Wu
- Hunan Key Laboratory of Animal Models for Human Diseases, Department of Laboratory Animals, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Xing-Hao Zhang
- Department of Ultrasound, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Ping Zhou
- Department of Ultrasound, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Rui Yin
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Xiao-Ting Zhou
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Friedman Brain Institute, New York, NY, United States
| | - Wan Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.,Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
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15
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Zhang Z, Wang M, Yuan S, Larsson SC, Liu X. Genetically Predicted Milk Intake and Risk of Neurodegenerative Diseases. Nutrients 2021; 13:nu13082893. [PMID: 34445060 PMCID: PMC8398304 DOI: 10.3390/nu13082893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 08/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Milk intake has been associated with risk of neurodegenerative diseases in observational studies. Nevertheless, whether the association is causal remains unknown. We adopted Mendelian randomization design to evaluate the potential causal association between milk intake and common neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Genetic associations for neurodegenerative diseases were obtained from the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (n = 80,094), FinnGen consortium (n = 176,899), AD GWAS (n = 63,926), Web-Based Study of Parkinson’s Disease (n = 308,518), PDGene (n = 108,990), and ALS GWAS (n = 80,610). Lactase persistence variant rs4988235 (LCT-13910 C > T) was used as the instrumental variable for milk intake. Genetically predicted higher milk intake was associated with a decreased risk of MS and AD and with an increased risk of PD. For each additional milk intake increasing allele, the odds ratios were 0.94 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.91–0.97; p = 1.51 × 10−4) for MS, 0.97 (0.94–0.99; p = 0.019) for AD and 1.09 (95%CI: 1.06–1.12, p = 9.30 × 10−9) for PD. Genetically predicted milk intake was not associated with ALS (odds ratio: 0.97, 95%CI: 0.94–1.01, p = 0.135). Our results suggest that genetically predicted milk intake is associated with a decreased risk of MS and AD but with an increased risk of PD. Further investigations are needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhizhong Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China;
| | - Mengmeng Wang
- Department of Neurology, The First People’s Hospital of Changzhou, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou 213004, China;
| | - Shuai Yuan
- Unit of Cardiovascular and Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden; (S.Y.); (S.C.L.)
| | - Susanna C. Larsson
- Unit of Cardiovascular and Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden; (S.Y.); (S.C.L.)
| | - Xinfeng Liu
- Department of Neurology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China;
- Correspondence:
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16
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Liu H, Zhang Y, Zhang H, Wang L, Wang T, Han Z, Wu L, Liu G. Effect of plasma vitamin C levels on Parkinson's disease and age at onset: a Mendelian randomization study. J Transl Med 2021; 19:221. [PMID: 34030714 PMCID: PMC8142636 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-021-02892-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Until now, epidemiological evidence regarding the association between vitamin C intake (both diet and supplements) and Parkinson's disease (PD) remains inconsistent. Hence, it is necessary to establish the causal link between vitamin C levels and PD, and further develop effective therapies or prevention. METHODS We selected 11 newly identified plasma vitamin C genetic variants from a large-scale plasma vitamin C GWAS dataset (n = 52,018) as the effective instrumental variables, and extracted their corresponding GWAS summary statistics from PD (33,674 PD cases and 449,056 controls) and PD age at onset (AAO) (n = 28,568). We then performed a Mendelian randomization (MR) study to evaluate the causal association of plasma vitamin C levels with PD and PD AAO using inverse-variance weighted (IVW), the weighted median, MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO test. RESULTS We did not observe any significant association between genetically increased vitamin C levels and PD. Interestingly, we found a reduced trend of PD AAO (1.134 years) with 1 SD genetically increased vitamin C levels using IVW (beta = - 1.134, 95% CI: [- 2.515, 0.248], P = 0.108). Importantly, this trend was further successfully verified using both weighted median and MR-Egger. Each 1 SD genetically increased vitamin C levels could reduce PD AAO 1.75 and 2.592 years using weighted median (beta = - 1.750, 95% CI: [- 3.396, - 0.105], P = 0.037) and MR-Egger (beta = - 2.592, 95% CI: [- 4.623, - 0.560], P = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated the causal association between genetically increased plasma vitamin C levels and reduced PD AAO in people of European descent. Randomized controlled trials are required to clarify whether diet intake or supplement, or both could reduce the AAO of PD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haijie Liu
- Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China
| | - Yan Zhang
- Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University, Weifang, 261053, China
| | - Haihua Zhang
- Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
| | - Longcai Wang
- Department of Anesthesiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University, Weifang, 261053, China
| | - Tao Wang
- Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Zhifa Han
- School of Medicine, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, THU-PKU Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Liyong Wu
- Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
| | - Guiyou Liu
- Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China. .,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China. .,Beijing Key Laboratory of Hypoxia Translational Medicine, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China. .,National Engineering Laboratory of Internet Medical Diagnosis and Treatment TechnologyXuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
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17
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Sun JY, Zhang H, Zhang Y, Wang L, Sun BL, Gao F, Liu G. Impact of serum calcium levels on total body bone mineral density: A mendelian randomization study in five age strata. Clin Nutr 2021; 40:2726-2733. [PMID: 33933738 DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2021.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Revised: 03/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS Mendelian randomization (MR) studies have reported the causal association between serum calcium levels and bone mineral density (BMD). The results showed that genetically increased serum calcium levels in individuals with normal calcium levels did not increase BMD and could even reduce BMD. However, whether there are differences in the association between serum calcium and BMD in different age strata remains unclear. METHODS We selected eight serum calcium genetic variants with genome-wide significance (P < 5.00E-08) as the potential instrumental variables. We conducted an MR analysis to evaluate the impact of serum calcium levels on total body BMD in five age strata, 0-15, 15-30, 30-45, 45-60, and ≥60 years, using large-scale serum calcium (61,079 individuals) and total body BMD genome-wide association study (66,628 individuals) datasets. For pleiotropy analysis, we used a manual method and four common statistical methods, namely the MR-Egger intercept, MR-PRESSO, heterogeneity, and Steiger filtering tests. For MR analysis, we selected four MR methods, namely inverse-variance weighted, weighted median, MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO. In addition to the univariable MR analysis, we conducted a multivariate MR analysis taking into account the effect of serum parathyroid hormone levels. RESULTS Univariable MR analysis using the inverse-variance weighted method indicated that per 0.5-mg/dL increase (about 1 standard deviation) in serum calcium levels was statistically significantly associated with reduced total body BMD only in the ≥60 years stratum (effect estimate (beta) = -0.545, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.892 to -0.198, P = 0.002). The weighted median regression (beta = -0.446, 95% CI: -0.821 to -0.094, P = 1.40E-02) and MR-PRESSO (beta = -0.545, 95% CI: -0.892 to -0.198, P = 0.022) MR methods further supported this suggestive association. The multivariable MR analysis also found a significant association between increased serum calcium levels and reduced total body BMD in the ≥60 years stratum (beta = -0.547, 95% CI: -0.934 to -0.16, P = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS Our results provide genetic evidence that increased serum calcium levels did not improve BMD in the general population and that the elevated serum calcium levels in generally healthy populations, especially in adults older than 60 years, may even reduce the BMD. Our results are comparable with those of recent MR findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing-Yi Sun
- Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, 250021, China
| | - Haihua Zhang
- Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
| | - Yan Zhang
- Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University, Weifang, 261053, China
| | - Longcai Wang
- Department of Anesthesiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University, Weifang, 261053, China
| | - Bao-Liang Sun
- Key Laboratory of Cerebral Microcirculation in Universities of Shandong, Department of Neurology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Taian, 271000, Shandong, China
| | - Feng Gao
- Department of Trauma and Emergency Surgeon, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
| | - Guiyou Liu
- Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China; Key Laboratory of Cerebral Microcirculation in Universities of Shandong, Department of Neurology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Taian, 271000, Shandong, China; National Engineering Laboratory of Internet Medical Diagnosis and Treatment Technology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Hypoxia Translational Medicine, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
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18
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Zheng K, Lin L, Cui P, Liu T, Chen L, Yang C, Jiang W. Association of Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 With Ischemic Stroke and Its Subtypes: A Mendelian Randomization Study. Front Genet 2020; 11:608517. [PMID: 33424930 PMCID: PMC7785587 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.608517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 12/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), which is involved in the regulation of vitamin D, is an emerging independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Previous studies have demonstrated a positive association between FGF23 and stroke. In this study, we aimed to assess the association of FGF23 with ischemic stroke and its subtypes by applying a Mendelian randomization (MR) framework. Five genetic variants obtained from a genome-wide association study involving 16,624 European subjects were used as valid instruments of circulating FGF23 levels. MR was applied to infer the causality of FGF23 levels and the risk of ischemic stroke using data from the MEGASTROKE consortium. Subsequently, several MR analyses, including inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis, MR-Egger, weighted median estimate (WME), MR Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier were performed. The heterogeneity test analysis, including Cochran's Q, I 2 test and leave-one-out analysis were also applied. Furthermore, potential horizontal/vertical pleiotropy was assessed. Lastly, the power of MR analysis was tested. Three validated variants were found to be associated with circulating FGF23 levels and were used for further investigation. We found that high expression level of FGF23 was not associated with any ischemic stroke. However, a causal association between genetically predicted FGF23 levels and the risk of large-artery atherosclerotic stroke (LAS) was significant, with an odds ratio of 1.74 (95% confidence interval = 1.08-2.81) per standard deviation increase in circulating FGF23 levels. Our findings provide support for the causal association between FGF23 and LAS, and therefore, offer potential therapeutic targets for LAS. The specific roles of FGF23 in LAS and associated molecules require further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai Zheng
- Department of Neurology, Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Lingmin Lin
- Department of Neurology, Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Pan Cui
- Department of Neurology, Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Tao Liu
- Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Lin Chen
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Chunsheng Yang
- Department of Neurology, Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Wei Jiang
- Department of Neurology, Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
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Meng Q, Huang L, Tao K, Liu Y, Jing J, Wang W, Qin H, Feng D, Cai Q. Integrated Genetics and Micronutrient Data to Inform the Causal Association Between Serum Calcium Levels and Ischemic Stroke. Front Cell Dev Biol 2020; 8:590903. [PMID: 33262986 PMCID: PMC7686510 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2020.590903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
There has been an increased interest for observational studies or randomized controlled trials exploring the impact of calcium intake on cardiovascular diseases (CVD) including coronary artery disease (CAD) and ischemic stroke (IS). However, a direct relationship between total calcium intake and CVD has not been well established and remains controversial. Mendelian randomization (MR) studies have been performed to evaluate the causal association between serum calcium levels and CAD risk and found that increased serum calcium levels could increase the risk of CAD. However, MR analysis found no significant association between genetically higher serum calcium levels and IS as well as its subtypes. Hence, three MR studies reported inconsistent effects of serum calcium levels on CAD and IS. Here, we performed an updated MR study to investigate the association of serum calcium levels with the risk of IS using large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets. We selected 14 independent genetic variants as the potential instrumental variables from a large-scale serum calcium GWAS dataset and extracted summary statistics corresponding to the 14 serum calcium genetic variants from the MEGASTROKE Consortium IS GWAS dataset. Interestingly, we found a significant association between serum calcium levels and IS risk using the robust inverse-variance weighted (IVW) and penalized robust IVW methods, with β = 0.243 and P = 0.002. Importantly, the MR results from the robust MR-Egger and penalized robust MR-Egger methods further supported the causal association between serum calcium levels and IS risk, with β = 0.256 and P = 0.005. Meanwhile, the estimates from other MR methods are also consistent with the above findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Meng
- Department of Neurosurgery and Institute for Functional Brain Disorders, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Lu Huang
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Kai Tao
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Yong Liu
- Department of Neurosurgery and Institute for Functional Brain Disorders, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jiangpeng Jing
- Department of Neurosurgery and Institute for Functional Brain Disorders, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Wen Wang
- Department of Radiology & Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Lab of Shaanxi Province, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Huaizhou Qin
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Dayun Feng
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Qing Cai
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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