Riccardo Bellazzi

Association of the FOXO3A locus with extreme longevity in a southern Italian centenarian study.

A number of potential candidate genes in a variety of biological pathways have been associated with longevity in model organisms. Many of these genes have human homologs and thus have the potential to provide insights into human longevity. Recently, several studies suggested that FOXO3A functions as a key bridge for various signaling pathways that influence aging and longevity. Interestingly, Willcox and colleagues identified several variants that displayed significant genotype-gender interaction in male human longevity. In particular, a nested case-control study was performed in an ethnic Japanese population in Hawaii, and five candidate longevity genes were chosen based on links to the insulin-insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway. In the Willcox study, the investigated genetic variations (rs2802292, rs2764264, and rs13217795) within the FOXO3A gene were significantly associated with longevity in male centenarians. We validated the association of FOXO3A polymorphisms with extreme longevity in males from the Southern Italian Centenarian Study. Particularly, rs2802288, a proxy of rs2802292, showed the best allelic association--minor allele frequency (MAF) = 0.49; p = 0.003; odds ratio (OR) = 1.51; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.15-1.98). Furthermore, we undertook a meta-analysis to explore the significance of rs2802292 association with longevity by combining the association results of the current study and the findings coming from the Willcox et al. investigation. Our data point to a key role of FOXO3A in human longevity and confirm the feasibility of the identification of such genes with centenarian-controls studies. Moreover, we hypothesize the susceptibility to the longevity phenotype may well be the result of complex interactions involving genes and environmental factors but also gender.

Atlas of the clinical genetics of human dilated cardiomyopathy

AIM Numerous genes are known to cause dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, until now technological limitations have hindered elucidation of the contribution of all clinically relevant disease genes to DCM phenotypes in larger cohorts. We now utilized next-generation sequencing to overcome these limitations and screened all DCM disease genes in a large cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS In this multi-centre, multi-national study, we have enrolled 639 patients with sporadic or familial DCM. To all samples, we applied a standardized protocol for ultra-high coverage next-generation sequencing of 84 genes, leading to 99.1% coverage of the target region with at least 50-fold and a mean read depth of 2415. In this well characterized cohort, we find the highest number of known cardiomyopathy mutations in plakophilin-2, myosin-binding protein C-3, and desmoplakin. When we include yet unknown but predicted disease variants, we find titin, plakophilin-2, myosin-binding protein-C 3, desmoplakin, ryanodine receptor 2, desmocollin-2, desmoglein-2, and SCN5A variants among the most commonly mutated genes. The overlap between DCM, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and channelopathy causing mutations is considerably high. Of note, we find that >38% of patients have compound or combined mutations and 12.8% have three or even more mutations. When comparing patients recruited in the eight participating European countries we find remarkably little differences in mutation frequencies and affected genes. CONCLUSION This is to our knowledge, the first study that comprehensively investigated the genetics of DCM in a large-scale cohort and across a broad gene panel of the known DCM genes. Our results underline the high analytical quality and feasibility of Next-Generation Sequencing in clinical genetic diagnostics and provide a sound database of the genetic causes of DCM.

Polymorphisms in the NOS1AP Gene Modulate QT Interval Duration and Risk of Arrhythmias in the Long QT Syndrome

OBJECTIVES We investigated the role of nitric oxide 1 adaptor protein (NOS1AP) as a genetic modifier of long QT syndrome (LQTS). BACKGROUND LQTS risk stratification is complicated by the phenotype variability that limits prediction of life-threatening arrhythmic events based on available metrics. Thus, the identification of new markers is desirable. Recent studies have shown that NOS1AP variations in the gene modulate QT interval in healthy and 1 LQTS kindred, and occurrence of cardiac events in healthy subjects. METHODS The study included 901 patients enrolled in a prospective LQTS registry. Three NOS1AP marker SNPs (rs4657139, rs16847548, and rs10494366) were genotyped to assess the effect of variant alleles on QTc and on the incidence of cardiac events. We quantified the association between variant alleles, QTc, and outcomes to assess whether NOS1AP is a useful risk stratifier in LQTS. RESULTS Variant alleles tagged by SNPs rs4657139 and rs16847548 were associated with an average QTc prolongation of 7 and 8 ms, respectively (p < 0.05; p < 0.01); whereas rs4657139 and rs10494366 were associated with increased incidence of cardiac events (25.2% vs. 18.0%, p < 0.05 and 24.8% vs. 17.8% p < 0.05). Cox multivariate analysis identified rs10494366 minor allele as an independent prognostic marker among patients with QTc <500 ms (hazard ratio: 1.63; 95% confidence interval: 1.06 to 2.5; p < 0.05) but not in the entire cohort. CONCLUSIONS Our results provide the first demonstration, to our knowledge, of a risk-conferring genetic modifier in a large LQTS cohort. Subject to confirmation in additional cohorts, we suggest that the NOS1AP tag SNP genotype may provide an additional clinical dimension, which helps assess risk and choice of therapeutic strategies in LQTS.

The subcutaneous route to insulin dependent diabetes therapy

Discusses closed-loop and partially closed-loop control strategies for insulin delivery and measuring glucose concentration. The authors review the subcutaneous closed- and partially closed-loop strategies that have been proposed and tested in recent years for insulin-dependent diabetes therapy. Focus is on control, modeling, and information technology aspects, and future directions of research are also outlined. This survey complements earlier reviews concerning control approaches and application of computers in diabetes care.

A telemedicine support for diabetes management: the T-IDDM project

In the context of the EU funded Telematic Management of Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (T-IDDM) project, we have designed, developed and evaluated a telemedicine system for insulin dependent diabetic patients management. The system relies on the integration of two modules, a Patient Unit (PU) and a Medical Unit (MU), able to communicate over the Internet and the Public Switched Telephone Network. Using the PU, patients are allowed to automatically download their monitoring data from the blood glucose monitoring device, and to send them to the hospital data-base; moreover, they are supported in their every day self monitoring activity. The MU provides physicians with a set of tools for data visualization, data analysis and decision support, and allows them to send messages and/or therapeutic advice to the patients. The T-IDDM service has been evaluated through the application of a formal methodology, and has been used by European patients and physicians for about 18 months. The results obtained during the project demonstration, even if obtained on a pilot study of 12 subjects, show the feasibility of the T-IDDM telemedicine service, and seem to substantiate the hypothesis that the use of the system could present an advantage in the management of insulin dependent diabetic patients, by improving communications and, potentially, clinical outcomes.

Web-based telemedicine systems for home-care: technical issues and experiences

The use of the Web for telemedicine applications seems nowadays a compulsory solution: the Web has become a standardized infrastructure for giving access to sophisticated telemedicine applications from virtually any machine and operating system. Such standardized communication platform guarantees accessibility and usability advantages to both customers and providers (patients and physicians). However, there are several issues that should be discussed in depth, with particular reference to all the applications related to the provision of care at distance, nowadays called telecare applications. In telecare applications the role of the patient becomes central, since he/she is actively involved in the process of managing care and treatments, and since he/she (or his/her families) is responsible for collecting some measurements and related information. In this paper we will discuss the general architectural and technical issues related to the development of Web-based systems for telecare applications, relying on the experience we gained within the telecare project T-IDDM (Telematic Management of Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus), devoted to assist the management and home-monitoring of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus patients.

Data mining with Temporal Abstractions: learning rules from time series

A large volume of research in temporal data mining is focusing on discovering temporal rules from time-stamped data. The majority of the methods proposed so far have been mainly devoted to the mining of temporal rules which describe relationships between data sequences or instantaneous events and do not consider the presence of complex temporal patterns into the dataset. Such complex patterns, such as trends or up and down behaviors, are often very interesting for the users. In this paper we propose a new kind of temporal association rule and the related extraction algorithm; the learned rules involve complex temporal patterns in both their antecedent and consequent. Within our proposed approach, the user defines a set of complex patterns of interest that constitute the basis for the construction of the temporal rule; such complex patterns are represented and retrieved in the data through the formalism of knowledge-based Temporal Abstractions. An Apriori-like algorithm looks then for meaningful temporal relationships (in particular, precedence temporal relationships) among the complex patterns of interest. The paper presents the results obtained by the rule extraction algorithm on a simulated dataset and on two different datasets related to biomedical applications: the first one concerns the analysis of time series coming from the monitoring of different clinical variables during hemodialysis sessions, while the other one deals with the biological problem of inferring relationships between genes from DNA microarray data.

The MOGE(S) Classification for a Phenotype–Genotype Nomenclature of Cardiomyopathy: Endorsed by the World Heart Federation

In 1956, Blankerhorn and Gall (1) proposed the term myocarditis for inflammatory heart muscle disease, and myocardiosis for other heart muscle diseases. A year thereafter, Brigden (2) defined cardiomyopathies as uncommon, non-coronary heart muscle diseases. Subsequently, Goodwin and Oakley (3) defined cardiomyopathies as myocardial diseases of unknown origin, and proposed categorization of the disorders as dilated (DCM), hypertrophic (HCM), and restrictive (or obliterative) (RCM) cardiomyopathies. In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Society and Federation of Cardiology (ISFC) established the definition of cardiomyopathies as myocardial diseases of unknown etiology, reflecting the general lack of information about the mechanism(s) of disease (4). Although WHO-ISFC retained the 3 morphological types of cardiomyopathies proposed by Goodwin and Oakley, it also introduced the term specific heart muscle disease, where the cause of myocardial dysfunction was known. The WHO-ISFC classification subsequently expanded the definition of cardiomyopathies by adding the functional component and defined cardiomyopathy as the diseases of myocardium associated with myocardial dysfunction. Two additional classes, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) and unclassified cardiomyopathy, were introduced during the revision, and the category of the specific heart muscle disease was excluded (5). The ISFC changed its name to the World Heart Federation (WHF) in 1998 (6), and did not indulge in further revision of the recommendations for either diagnosis or management of cardiomyopathies. A substantial increase in the knowledge of the genetic basis of cardiomyopathy has occurred, and noninvasive phenotypic characterization has become significantly more sophisticated. Therefore, the American Heart Association (AHA) (7) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) (8) in the last decade have proposed revisions to the classification of cardiomyopathic disorders. Whereas both systems have substantial similarities and have made important recommendations, the former has described cardiomyopathies starting from the genetic basis of the etiology followed by the phenotypic description of myocardial involvement. Conversely, the ESC has retained the description in original morphofunctional categories with further subclassification into genetic (familial) and nongenetic (nonfamilial) groups. Both classifications continue to exclude specific heart muscle disease (resulting from coronary, hypertensive, valvular, and congenital heart disease) from consideration as a cardiomyopathic disorder. There is no denying the fact that most cardiomyopathies are genetic diseases, which in the real life are brought to clinical attention (and diagnosed and managed) based on a phenotypic diagnosis. More than 60 disease genes have been identified to date (9); genes such as MYBPC3 may be associated with different phenotypes (HCM, RCM, DCM), and genes such as DYS may cause a unique phenotype (DCM only). The penetrance of the genetic mutation is variable, and phenotypic manifestations are often age dependent. Most genetic cardiomyopathies are inherited as autosomal dominant traits, with a minority of families demonstrating autosomal recessive, X-linked recessive or dominant (rare), and matrilineal inheritance. Cascade family screening and follow-up have become mandatory (10). It has become necessary for a more descriptive nosology to be developed that may encompass either all attributes of the individual patient cardiomyopathy or allow a common platform for collaborative research efforts. A number of experts, including clinical cardiologists, heart failure–transplantation physicians, geneticists, and cardiovascular imagers, have proposed a systematic nomenclature endorsed by the WHF Scientific Committee. The proposed classification is a descriptive presentation of the cardiomyopathic process, which is flexibly modifiable and expandable. This nosology is inspired from the TNM staging of tumors and is being simultaneously published by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and the official journal of the WHF, Global Heart.

TWEAK is a positive regulator of cardiomyocyte proliferation

AIMS Proliferation of mammalian cardiomyocytes stops during the first weeks after birth, preventing the heart from regenerating after injury. Recently, several studies have indicated that induction of cardiomyocyte proliferation can be utilized to regenerate the mammalian heart. Thus, it is important to identify novel factors that can induce proliferation of cardiomyocytes. Here, we determine the effect of TNF-related weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) on cardiomyocytes, a cytokine known to regulate proliferation in several other cell types. METHODS AND RESULTS Stimulation of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes with TWEAK resulted in increased DNA synthesis, increased expression of the proliferative markers Cyclin D2 and Ki67, and downregulation of the cell cycle inhibitor p27KIP1. Importantly, TWEAK stimulation resulted also in mitosis (H3P), cytokinesis (Aurora B), and increased cardiomyocyte numbers. Loss of function experiments revealed that re-induction of proliferation was dependent on tumour necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 12A (FN14) signalling. Downstream signalling was mediated through activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase as well as inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta. In contrast to neonatal cardiomyocytes, TWEAK had no effect on adult rat cardiomyocytes due to developmental downregulation of its receptor FN14. However, adenoviral expression of FN14 enabled efficient induction of cell cycle re-entry in adult cardiomyocytes after TWEAK stimulation. CONCLUSION Our data establish TWEAK as a positive regulator of cardiomyocyte proliferation.

Maternal Oct-4 is a potential key regulator of the developmental competence of mouse oocytes

BackgroundThe maternal contribution of transcripts and proteins supplied to the zygote is crucial for the progression from a gametic to an embryonic control of preimplantation development. Here we compared the transcriptional profiles of two types of mouse MII oocytes, one which is developmentally competent (MIISN oocyte), the other that ceases development at the 2-cell stage (MIINSN oocyte), with the aim of identifying genes and gene expression networks whose misregulated expression would contribute to a reduced developmental competence.ResultsWe report that: 1) the transcription factor Oct-4 is absent in MIINSN oocytes, accounting for 2) the down-regulation of Stella, a maternal-effect factor required for the oocyte-to-embryo transition and of which Oct-4 is a positive regulator; 3) eighteen Oct-4-regulated genes are up-regulated in MIINSN oocytes and are part of gene expression networks implicated in the activation of adverse biochemical pathways such as oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis.ConclusionThe down-regulation of Oct-4 plays a crucial function in a sequence of molecular processes that leads to the developmental arrest of MIINSN oocytes. The use of a model study in which the MII oocyte ceases development consistently at the 2-cell stage has allowed to attribute a role to the maternal Oct-4 that has never been described before. Oct-4 emerges as a key regulator of the molecular events that govern the establishment of the developmental competence of mouse oocytes.