Search

Smoking is a leading global cause of disease and mortality. We established the Oxford-GlaxoSmithKline study (Ox-GSK) to perform a genome-wide meta-analysis of SNP association with smoking-related behavioral traits. Our final data set included 41,150 individuals drawn from 20 disease, population and control cohorts. Our analysis confirmed an effect on smoking quantity at a locus on 15q25 (P = 9.45 × 10−19) that includes CHRNA5, CHRNA3 and CHRNB4, three genes encoding neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits. We used data from the 1000 Genomes project to investigate the region using imputation, which allowed for analysis of virtually all common SNPs in the region and offered a fivefold increase in marker density over HapMap2 (ref. 2) as an imputation reference panel. Our fine-mapping approach identified a SNP showing the highest significance, rs55853698, located within the promoter region of CHRNA5. Conditional analysis also identified a secondary locus (rs6495308) in CHRNA3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Relapsing COVID-19 infections have been reported, but their etiology and severity are still unknown. In addition, there have been no cases in the literature that associate relapsing infection with immunosuppression, either from a disease course or medications., Case Presentation: This case series illustrates two patients who developed a relapsed infection, likely from recent rituximab infusions. In addition, both cases depicted a severe form of infection than the initial one. Laboratory investigations revealed these patients were unable to produce COVID-19 antibodies, even though one of the patients received convalescent plasma., Conclusion: Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of relapsing COVID-19, especially in immunosuppressed patients. Because rituximab induces B-cell depletion, it can also decrease the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, these patients should receive the vaccine before their scheduled rituximab infusion.

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is critical to atherosclerosis in hyperlipidemia. Bone marrow (BM)-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are important to preventing atherosclerosis, and significantly decreased in hyperlipidemia. This study was to demonstrate ox-LDL and hyperlipidemia could exhibit similar effect on EPC population and the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS production in BM and blood was significantly increased in male C57BL/6 mice with intravenous ox-LDL treatment, and in hyperlipidemic LDL receptor knockout mice with 4-month high-fat diet. ROS formation was effectively blocked with overexpression of antioxidant enzymes or N-acetylcysteine treatment. In hyperlipidemic and ox-LDL-treated mice, c-Kit(+)/CD31(+) cell number in BM and blood, and Sca-1(+)/Flk-1(+) cell number in blood, not in BM, were significantly decreased, which were not affected by inhibiting ROS production, while blood CD34(+)/Flk-1(+) cell number was significantly increased that was prevented with reduced ROS formation. However, blood CD34(+)/CD133(+) cell number increased in ox-LDL-treated mice, while decreased in hyperlipidemic mice. These data suggested that ox-LDL produced significant changes in BM and blood EPC populations similar (but not identical) to chronic hyperlipidemia with predominantly ROS-independent mechanism(s).

Rationale: Genomic loci are associated with FEV1 or the ratio of FEV1 to FVC in population samples, but their association with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not yet been proven, nor have their combined effects on lung function and COPD been studied., Objectives: To test association with COPD of variants at five loci (TNS1, GSTCD, HTR4, AGER, and THSD4) and to evaluate joint effects on lung function and COPD of these single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and variants at the previously reported locus near HHIP., Methods: By sampling from 12 population-based studies (n = 31,422), we obtained genotype data on 3,284 COPD case subjects and 17,538 control subjects for sentinel SNPs in TNS1, GSTCD, HTR4, AGER, and THSD4. In 24,648 individuals (including 2,890 COPD case subjects and 13,862 control subjects), we additionally obtained genotypes for rs12504628 near HHIP. Each allele associated with lung function decline at these six SNPs contributed to a risk score. We studied the association of the risk score to lung function and COPD., Measurements and Main Results: Association with COPD was significant for three loci (TNS1, GSTCD, and HTR4) and the previously reported HHIP locus, and suggestive and directionally consistent for AGER and TSHD4. Compared with the baseline group (7 risk alleles), carrying 10-12 risk alleles was associated with a reduction in FEV1 (β = -72.21 ml, P = 3.90 × 10(-4)) and FEV1/FVC (β = -1.53%, P = 6.35 × 10(-6)), and with COPD (odds ratio = 1.63, P = 1.46 × 10(-5))., Conclusions: Variants in TNS1, GSTCD, and HTR4 are associated with COPD. Our highest risk score category was associated with a 1.6-fold higher COPD risk than the population average score.

Pulmonary function measures reflect respiratory health and are used in the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We tested genome-wide association with forced expiratory volume in 1 second and the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second to forced vital capacity in 48,201 individuals of European ancestry with follow up of the top associations in up to an additional 46,411 individuals. We identified new regions showing association (combined P < 5 × 10(-8)) with pulmonary function in or near MFAP2, TGFB2, HDAC4, RARB, MECOM (also known as EVI1), SPATA9, ARMC2, NCR3, ZKSCAN3, CDC123, C10orf11, LRP1, CCDC38, MMP15, CFDP1 and KCNE2. Identification of these 16 new loci may provide insight into the molecular mechanisms regulating pulmonary function and into molecular targets for future therapy to alleviate reduced lung function.