TIMP-2 SNPs rs7342880 and rs4789936 are linked to risk of knee osteoarthritis in the Chinese Han Population

Structural Brain Architectures Match Intrinsic Functional Networks and Vary across Domains: A Study from 15 000+ Individuals

Brain structural networks have been shown to consistently organize in functionally meaningful architectures covering the entire brain. However, to what extent brain structural architectures match the intrinsic functional networks in different functional domains remains under explored. In this study, based on independent component analysis, we revealed 45 pairs of structural-functional (S-F) component maps, distributing across nine functional domains, in both a discovery cohort (n = 6005) and a replication cohort (UK Biobank, n = 9214), providing a well-match multimodal spatial map template for public use. Further network module analysis suggested that unimodal cortical areas (e.g., somatomotor and visual networks) indicate higher S-F coherence, while heteromodal association cortices, especially the frontoparietal network (FPN), exhibit more S-F divergence. Collectively, these results suggest that the expanding and maturing brain association cortex demonstrates a higher degree of changes compared with unimodal cortex, which may lead to higher interindividual variability and lower S-F coherence.

Proteolysis is the most fundamental property of malignancy and its inhibition may be used therapeutically (Review)

The mortality rates of cancer patients decreased by ~1.5% per year between 2001 and 2015, although the decrease depends on patient sex, ethnic group and type of malignancy. Cancer remains a significant global health problem, requiring a search for novel treatments. The most common property of malignant tumors is their capacity to invade adjacent tissue and to metastasize, and this cancer aggressiveness is contingent on overexpression of proteolytic enzymes. The components of the plasminogen activation system (PAS) and the metal-loproteinase family [mainly matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)] are overexpressed in malignant tumors, driving the local invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. This is the case for numerous types of cancer, such as breast, colon, prostate and oral carcinoma, among others. Present chemotherapeutics agents typically attack all dividing cells; however, for future therapeutic agents to be clinically successful, they need to be highly selective for a specific protein(s) and act on the cancerous tissues without adverse systemic effects. Inhibition of proteolysis in cancerous tissue has the ability to attenuate tumor invasion, angiogenesis and migration. For that purpose, inhibiting both PAS and MMPs may be another approach, since the two groups of enzymes are overexpressed in cancer. In the present review, the roles and new findings on PAS and MMP families in cancer formation, growth and possible treatments are discussed.

Association of SNPs in the TIMP-2 gene and large artery atherosclerotic stroke in southern Chinese Han population

Tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP-2) regulates the extracellular matrix degradation, which involved in vascular remodeling and dysfunction, destabilization of atherosclerotic plaque and many other pathological processes. The rupture of atherosclerotic plaque is the trigger of Large artery atherosclerotic (LAA) stroke. We speculate that the Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in TIMP-2 may have an association with LAA stroke. To prove this hypothesis, we conducted this case-control study. 250 LAA stroke patients and 250 healthy controls were collected for the analysis of TIMP-2 polymorphisms. Among six SNPs, we detected no deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in control group. There was a significant difference in rs4789936 T allele frequency between patient and control groups (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.51-0.91, P = 0.009), which means lower risk of LAA stroke. We observed the rs4789936 had a decreased risk of LAA stroke according to the codominant (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.44-0.92, P = 0.026), dominant (OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.43-0.88, P = 0.008), overdominant (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.48-0.98, P = 0.039), log-additive (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.51-0.91, P = 0.009) models analyses. However, these findings could only validate under dominant model (OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.42-1.00, P = 0.049) after adjustment of gender and age. The results indicate a potential association between TIMP-2 variants and LAA stroke risk in southern Chinese Han population.