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Disease Markers 2019Multiple Sclerosis (MS) displays a heterogeneous clinical onset and progression, which are mostly unpredictable, but demyelination of the central nervous system (CNS)... (Review)
Review Meta-Analysis
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) displays a heterogeneous clinical onset and progression, which are mostly unpredictable, but demyelination of the central nervous system (CNS) leads to substantial deficits of sensory, motor, autonomic, and neurocognitive functions. Considering all genetic studies on MS, including the advanced genome-wide association studies, the risk linked to HLA alleles remains the highest among other susceptibility genetic variants. However, given the genetic variability of HLA alleles in different ethnic groups, we conducted a systematic review of reviews and meta-analyses aiming at summarizing all the results on the association between MS and HLA class II genes. We systematically searched meta-analyses and systematic reviews dealing with MS and HLA in all ethnicities. From 154 records, we included 5 articles collecting HLA data from 15,232 MS patients and 24,194 ethnically matched controls. DRB1∗15 (OR ranging from 1.39 in Chinese Han to 2.59 in Caucasians) and DQB1∗06:02 (OR ranging from 1.91 in Caucasians to 2.49 in Colombian) alleles confer an increased risk for MS transethnically (Caucasians, Chinese, South Americans, Carribeans, Middle Easterners, Japanese, and North Africans). DRB1∗01, DRB1∗09, DRB1∗11, DRB1∗12, and DRB1∗16 alleles were protective, in agreement with the type of amino-acidic (aa) residues (ranging from position 9 to 90) included in pockets 1, 4, 6, 7, and 9, which are most involved in peptide presentation. Changes in aa residues affect the capability of HLA molecules in binding myelin peptides. DQB1∗06:02 risk allele seems to be the most interesting target as humanized mice expressing only DQB1∗06:02 develop MS-like disease mediated by autoimmune reactions against myelin oligodendrocytic basic protein that stabilizes the myelin. Our summary of results from a high number of patients and controls suggests that allelic variants from both DQB1 and DRB1 genes are equally involved in MS susceptibility/protection transethnically.
Topics: Alleles; Animals; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genome-Wide Association Study; HLA-DQ beta-Chains; HLA-DRB1 Chains; Humans; Multiple Sclerosis; Risk Factors
PubMed: 31781296
DOI: 10.1155/2019/1409069 -
Current Radiopharmaceuticals 2020Radiolabeled prostate-specific membrane antigen PSMA-based PET/CT or PET/MRI is a whole-body imaging technique currently performed for the detection of prostate cancer...
BACKGROUND
Radiolabeled prostate-specific membrane antigen PSMA-based PET/CT or PET/MRI is a whole-body imaging technique currently performed for the detection of prostate cancer lesions. PSMA has been also demonstrated to be expressed by the neovasculature of many other solid tumors.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this review is to evaluate the possible diagnostic role of radiolabeled PSMA PET/CT or PET/MRI in patients with gliomas and glioblastomas, by summarizing the available literature data.
METHODS
A comprehensive literature search of the PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase and Cochrane library databases was conducted to find relevant published articles about the diagnostic performance of radiolabeled PSMA binding agents in PET/CT or PET/MRI imaging of patients with suspected gliomas or glioblastomas.
RESULTS
Seven case reports or case series and 3 studies enrolling more than 10 patients showed that gliomas and glioblastoma are PSMA-avid tumors.
CONCLUSION
Radiolabeled PSMA imaging seems to be useful in analyzing glioma/glioblastoma. Further studies enrolling a wider population are needed to clarify the real clinical and diagnostic role of radiolabeled PSMA in this setting and its possible position in the diagnostic flow-chart.
Topics: Brain Neoplasms; Glioblastoma; Glioma; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Multimodal Imaging; Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; Positron-Emission Tomography; Prostate-Specific Antigen; Radiopharmaceuticals; Whole Body Imaging
PubMed: 31625482
DOI: 10.2174/1874471012666191017093721 -
BMC Medical Genomics Sep 2019Pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, and empyema due to Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. We provide a systemic overview of genetic... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, and empyema due to Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. We provide a systemic overview of genetic variants associated with susceptibility, phenotype and outcome of community acquired pneumococcal pneumonia (CAP) and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD).
METHODS
We searched PubMed for studies on the influence of host genetics on susceptibility, phenotype, and outcome of CAP and IPD between Jan 1, 1983 and Jul 4, 2018. We listed methodological characteristics and when genetic data was available we calculated effect sizes. We used fixed or random effect models to calculate pooled effect sizes in the meta-analysis.
RESULTS
We identified 1219 studies of which 60 studies involving 15,358 patients were included. Twenty-five studies (42%) focused on susceptibility, 8 (13%) on outcome, 1 (2%) on disease phenotype, and 26 (43%) on multiple categories. We identified five studies with a hypothesis free approach of which one resulted in one genome wide significant association in a gene coding for lincRNA with pneumococcal disease susceptibility. We performed 17 meta-analyses of which two susceptibility polymorphisms had a significant overall effect size: variant alleles of MBL2 (odds ratio [OR] 1·67, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1·04-2·69) and a variant in CD14 (OR 1·77, 95% CI 1·18-2·66) and none of the outcome polymorphisms.
CONCLUSIONS
Studies have identified several host genetics factors influencing risk of pneumococcal disease, but many result in non-reproducible findings due to methodological limitations. Uniform case definitions and pooling of data is necessary to obtain more robust findings.
Topics: Disease Susceptibility; Humans; Lipopolysaccharide Receptors; Mannose-Binding Lectin; Odds Ratio; Phenotype; Pneumococcal Infections; Polymorphism, Genetic; RNA, Long Noncoding; Risk Factors
PubMed: 31519222
DOI: 10.1186/s12920-019-0572-x -
International Journal of Molecular... Aug 2019L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) is a glycoprotein involved in cancer development and is associated with metastases and poor prognosis. Cellular processing of L1CAM...
L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) is a glycoprotein involved in cancer development and is associated with metastases and poor prognosis. Cellular processing of L1CAM results in expression of either full-length or cleaved forms of the protein. The different forms of L1CAM may localize at the plasma membrane as a transmembrane protein, or in the intra- or extracellular environment as cleaved or exosomal forms. Here, we systematically analyze available literature that directly relates to L1CAM domains and associated signaling pathways in cancer. Specifically, we chart its domain-specific functions in relation to cancer progression, and outline pre-clinical assays used to assess L1CAM. It is found that full-length L1CAM has both intracellular and extracellular targets, including interactions with integrins, and linkage with ezrin. Cellular processing leading to proteolytic cleavage and/or exosome formation results in extracellular soluble forms of L1CAM that may act through similar mechanisms as compared to full-length L1CAM, such as integrin-dependent signals, but also through distinct mechanisms. We provide an algorithm to guide a step-wise analysis on L1CAM in clinical samples, to promote interpretation of domain-specific expression. This systematic review infers that L1CAM has an important role in cancer progression that can be attributed to domain-specific forms. Most studies focus on the full-length plasma membrane L1CAM, yet knowledge on the domain-specific forms is a prerequisite for selective targeting treatment.
Topics: Animals; Biomarkers; Carrier Proteins; Cell Adhesion; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; Humans; Neoplasms; Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1; Protein Binding; Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 31455004
DOI: 10.3390/ijms20174180