Single nucleotide polymorphisms in CIDEC gene are associated with metabolic syndrome components risks and antihypertensive drug efficacy

A Genome-Wide Analysis of a Sudden Cardiac Death Cohort: Identifying Novel Target Variants in the Era of Molecular Autopsy

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an unexpected natural death due to cardiac causes, usually happening within one hour of symptom manifestation or in individuals in good health up to 24 h before the event. Genomic screening has been increasingly applied as a useful approach to detecting the genetic variants that potentially contribute to SCD and helping the evaluation of SCD cases in the post-mortem setting. Our aim was to identify the genetic markers associated with SCD, which might enable its target screening and prevention. In this scope, a case-control analysis through the post-mortem genome-wide screening of 30 autopsy cases was performed. We identified a high number of novel genetic variants associated with SCD, of which 25 polymorphisms were consistent with a previous link to cardiovascular diseases. We ascertained that many genes have been already linked to cardiovascular system functioning and diseases and that the metabolisms most implicated in SCD are the lipid, cholesterol, arachidonic acid, and drug metabolisms, suggesting their roles as potential risk factors. Overall, the genetic variants pinpointed herein might be useful markers of SCD, but the novelty of these results requires further investigations.

TBXAS1 Gene Polymorphism Is Associated with the Risk of Ischemic Stroke of Metabolic Syndrome in a Chinese Han Population

Objective

To investigate the association between thromboxane A synthase 1 (TBXAS1) gene polymorphism and metabolic syndrome (MS) and explore whether gene polymorphism could act as biomarkers in MS and its components or whether it could play a role in MS-related damage.

Methods

A total of 3072 eligible subjects were obtained, of which 1079 cases were controls and 1993 cases were MS patients. Subjects were followed up for 5 years, and the endpoint were recorded. The gene polymorphism of TBXAS1 was detected by using the Sequenom MassArray method.

Results

Significant differences were observed in ischemic stroke and NC_000007.14: g.139985896C>T (P < 0.05). The incidence of ischemic stroke was significantly higher in T allele carriers than in C (P < 0.05). C allele was the protective factor of the onset of ischemic stroke. There were negative interactions between C allele and waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and fasting plasma glucose (FPG).

Conclusion

These findings suggest that NC_000007.14: g.139985896C>T was related to the incidence of ischemic stroke in the whole and MS population, and individuals who carry the C allele have a reduced risk of ischemic stroke, which may be used as a promising biomarker of disease risk in patients with MS.

CIDEC silencing attenuates diabetic nephropathy via inhibiting apoptosis and promoting autophagy

OBJECTIVE

The role of cell death-inducing DFF45-like effector C (CIDEC) in insulin resistance has been established, and it is considered to be an important trigger factor for the progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN). We intend to explore whether CIDEC plays an important role in the regulation of DN and its potential mechanism.

METHODS

High-fat diet and low dose streptozotocin were used to establish type 2 diabetic rat model. We investigate the role of CIDEC in the pathogenesis and process of DN through histopathological analysis, western blot and gene silencing. Meanwhile, the effect of CIDEC on renal tubular epithelial cells stimulated by high glucose was also verified.

RESULTS

DM group exhibited glucose and lipid metabolic disturbance, with hypertrophy of kidneys, damaged renal function, increased apoptosis, decreased autophagy, glomerulosclerosis and interstitial fibrosis. CIDEC gene silencing improved metabolic disorder and insulin resistance, alleviated renal hypertrophy and renal function damage, decreased glomerular and tubular apoptosis, increased autophagy and inhibited renal fibrosis. At the cellular level, high glucose stimulation increased CIDEC expression in renal tubular epithelial cells, accompanied by increased apoptosis and decreased autophagy. CIDEC gene silencing can improve autophagy and reduce apoptosis. At the molecular level, CIDEC gene silencing also decreased the expression of early growth response factor (EGR)1 and increased the expression of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL).

CONCLUSION

CIDEC gene silencing may delay the progression of DN by restoring autophagy activity and inhibiting apoptosis with the participation of EGR1and ATGL.

Development and validation of a 4-gene combination for the prognostication in lung adenocarcinoma patients

Objective: To identify a multi-gene prognostic factor in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).

Materials and methods Prognosis-related genes were screened in the TCGA-LUAD cohort. Then, patients in this cohort were randomly separated into training set and test set. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was performed to the penalized the Cox proportional hazards regression (CPH) model on the training set, and a prognostication combination based on the result of LASSO analysis was developed. By performing Kaplan-Meier curve analysis, univariate and multivariable CPH model on the overall survival (OS) as well as recurrence free survival (RFS), the prognostication performance of the multigene combination were evaluated. Moreover, we constructed a nomogram and performed decision curve analysis to evaluate the clinical application of the multigene combination.

Results We obtained 99 prognosis-related genes and screened out a 4-gene combination (including CIDEC, ZFP3, DKK1, and USP4) according to the LASSO analysis. The results of survival analyses suggested that patients in the 4-gene combination low-risk group had better OS and RFS than those in the 4-gene combination high-risk group. The 4-gene mentioned was demonstrated to be independent prognostic factor of patients with LUAD in the training set(OS, HR=11.962, P<0.001; RFS, HR=9.281, P<0.001) and test set (OS, HR=5.377, P=0.003; RFS, HR=2.949, P=0.104). More importantly, its prognosis performance was well in the validation set (OS, HR=0.955, P=0.002; RFS, HR=1.042, P<0.001).

Conclusions We introduced a 4-gene combination which could predict the survival of LUAD patients and might be an independent prognostic factor in LUAD.

Therapeutic silencing of FSP27 reduces the progression of atherosclerosis in Ldlr-/- mice

Background and aims

Obesity, hepatosteatosis, and hypertriglyceridemia are components of the metabolic syndrome and independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The lipid droplet-associated protein CIDEC (cell death-inducing DFFA-like effector C), known in mice as FSP27 (fat-specific protein 27), plays a key role in maintaining triacylglyceride (TAG) homeostasis in adipose tissue and liver, and controls circulating TAG levels in mice. Importantly, mutations and SNPs in CIDEC are associated with dyslipidemia and altered metabolic function in humans. Here we tested whether systemic silencing of Fsp27 using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) was atheroprotective in LDL receptor knock-out (Ldlr^−/−) mice.

Methods

Atheroprone Ldlr^−/− mice were fed a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet for 12 weeks while simultaneously dosed with saline, ASO-ctrl, or ASO-Fsp27.

Results

Data show that, compared to control treatments, silencing Fsp27 significantly reduced body weight gain and visceral adiposity, prevented diet-induced hypertriglyceridemia, and reduced athero-sclerotic lesion size both in en face aortas and in the aortic root.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that therapeutic silencing of Fsp27 with ASOs may be beneficial in the prevention and management of atherogenic disease in patients with metabolic syndrome.