Browsing by Author "Aarsland, Dag"

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    Differential methylation analysis in neuropathologically confirmed dementia with Lewy bodies
    (Springer Nature, 2024-01-05) Reho, Paolo; Saez-Atienzar, Sara; Ruffo, Paola; Solaiman, Sultana; Shah, Zalak; Chia, Ruth; Kaivola, Karri; Traynor, Bryan J.; Tilley, Bension S.; Gentleman, Steve M.; Hodges, Angela K.; Aarsland, Dag; Monuki, Edwin S.; Newell, Kathy L.; Woltjer, Randy; Albert, Marilyn S.; Dawson, Ted M.; Rosenthal, Liana S.; Troncoso, Juan C.; Pletnikova, Olga; Serrano, Geidy E.; Beach, Thomas G.; Easwaran, Hariharan P.; Scholz, Sonja W.; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a common form of dementia in the elderly population. We performed genome-wide DNA methylation mapping of cerebellar tissue from pathologically confirmed DLB cases and controls to study the epigenetic profile of this understudied disease. After quality control filtering, 728,197 CpG-sites in 278 cases and 172 controls were available for the analysis. We undertook an epigenome-wide association study, which found a differential methylation signature in DLB cases. Our analysis identified seven differentially methylated probes and three regions associated with DLB. The most significant CpGs were located in ARSB (cg16086807), LINC00173 (cg18800161), and MGRN1 (cg16250093). Functional enrichment evaluations found widespread epigenetic dysregulation in genes associated with neuron-to-neuron synapse, postsynaptic specialization, postsynaptic density, and CTCF-mediated synaptic plasticity. In conclusion, our study highlights the potential importance of epigenetic alterations in the pathogenesis of DLB and provides insights into the modified genes, regions and pathways that may guide therapeutic developments.
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    Genetic associations with psychosis and affective disturbance in Alzheimer's disease
    (Wiley, 2024-05-23) Antonsdottir, Inga Margret; Creese, Byron; Klei, Lambertus; DeMichele-Sweet, Mary Ann A.; Weamer, Elise A.; Garcia-Gonzalez, Pablo; Marquie, Marta; Boada, Mercè; Alarcón-Martín, Emilio; Valero, Sergi; NIA-LOAD Family Based Study Consortium; Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC); AddNeuroMed Consortium; Liu, Yushi; Hooli, Basavaraj; Aarsland, Dag; Selbaek, Geir; Bergh, Sverre; Rongve, Arvid; Saltvedt, Ingvild; Skjellegrind, Håvard K.; Engdahl, Bo; Andreassen, Ole A.; Borroni, Barbara; Mecocci, Patrizia; Wedatilake, Yehani; Mayeux, Richard; Foroud, Tatiana; Ruiz, Agustín; Lopez, Oscar L.; Kamboh, M. Ilyas; Ballard, Clive; Devlin, Bernie; Lyketsos, Constantine; Sweet, Robert A.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) commonly experience neuropsychiatric symptoms of psychosis (AD+P) and/or affective disturbance (depression, anxiety, and/or irritability, AD+A). This study's goal was to identify the genetic architecture of AD+P and AD+A, as well as their genetically correlated phenotypes. Methods: Genome-wide association meta-analysis of 9988 AD participants from six source studies with participants characterized for AD+P AD+A, and a joint phenotype (AD+A+P). Results: AD+P and AD+A were genetically correlated. However, AD+P and AD+A diverged in their genetic correlations with psychiatric phenotypes in individuals without AD. AD+P was negatively genetically correlated with bipolar disorder and positively with depressive symptoms. AD+A was positively correlated with anxiety disorder and more strongly correlated than AD+P with depressive symptoms. AD+P and AD+A+P had significant estimated heritability, whereas AD+A did not. Examination of the loci most strongly associated with the three phenotypes revealed overlapping and unique associations. Discussion: AD+P, AD+A, and AD+A+P have both shared and divergent genetic associations pointing to the importance of incorporating genetic insights into future treatment development. Highlights: It has long been known that psychotic and affective symptoms are often comorbid in individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Here we examined for the first time the genetic architecture underlying this clinical observation, determining that psychotic and affective phenotypes in Alzheimer's disease are genetically correlated. Nevertheless, psychotic and affective phenotypes in Alzheimer's disease diverged in their genetic correlations with psychiatric phenotypes assessed in individuals without Alzheimer's disease. Psychosis in Alzheimer's disease was negatively genetically correlated with bipolar disorder and positively with depressive symptoms, whereas the affective phenotypes in Alzheimer's disease were positively correlated with anxiety disorder and more strongly correlated than psychosis with depressive symptoms. Psychosis in Alzheimer's disease, and the joint psychotic and affective phenotype, had significant estimated heritability, whereas the affective in AD did not. Examination of the loci most strongly associated with the psychotic, affective, or joint phenotypes revealed overlapping and unique associations.
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    Genome sequencing analysis identifies new loci associated with Lewy body dementia and provides insights into its genetic architecture
    (Springer Nature, 2021-03) Chia, Ruth; Sabir, Marya S.; Bandres-Ciga, Sara; Saez-Atienzar, Sara; Reynolds, Regina H.; Gustavsson, Emil; Walton, Ronald L.; Ahmed, Sarah; Viollet, Coralie; Ding, Jinhui; Makarious, Mary B.; Diez-Fairen, Monica; Portley, Makayla K.; Shah, Zalak; Abramzon, Yevgeniya; Hernandez, Dena G.; Blauwendraat, Cornelis; Stone, David J.; Eicher, John; Parkkinen, Laura; Ansorge, Olaf; Clark, Lorraine; Honig, Lawrence S.; Marder, Karen; Lemstra, Afina; St. George-Hyslop, Peter; Londos, Elisabet; Morgan, Kevin; Lashley, Tammaryn; Warner, Thomas T.; Jaunmuktane, Zane; Galasko, Douglas; Santana, Isabel; Tienari, Pentti J.; Myllykangas, Liisa; Oinas, Minna; Cairns, Nigel J.; Morris, John C.; Halliday, Glenda M.; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M.; Trojanowski, John Q.; Grassano, Maurizio; Calvo, Andrea; Mora, Gabriele; Canosa, Antonio; Floris, Gianluca; Bohannan, Ryan C.; Brett, Francesca; Gan-Or, Ziv; Geiger, Joshua T.; Moore, Anni; May, Patrick; Krüger, Rejko; Goldstein, David S.; Lopez, Grisel; Tayebi, Nahid; Sidransky, Ellen; Norcliffe-Kaufmann, Lucy; Palma, Jose-Alberto; Kaufmann, Horacio; Shakkottai, Vikram G.; Perkins, Matthew; Newell, Kathy L.; Gasser, Thomas; Schulte, Claudia; Landi, Francesco; Salvi, Erika; Cusi, Daniele; Masliah, Eliezer; Kim, Ronald C.; Caraway, Chad A.; Monuki, Edwin S.; Brunetti, Maura; Dawson, Ted M.; Rosenthal, Liana S.; Albert, Marilyn S.; Pletnikova, Olga; Troncoso, Juan C.; Flanagan, Margaret E.; Mao, Qinwen; Bigio, Eileen H.; Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Eloy; Infante, Jon; Lage, Carmen; González-Aramburu, Isabel; Sanchez-Juan, Pascual; Ghetti, Bernardino; Keith, Julia; Black, Sandra E.; Masellis, Mario; Rogaeva, Ekaterina; Duyckaerts, Charles; Brice, Alexis; Lesage, Suzanne; Xiromerisiou, Georgia; Barrett, Matthew J.; Tilley, Bension S.; Gentleman, Steve; Logroscino, Giancarlo; Serrano, Geidy E.; Beach, Thomas G.; McKeith, Ian G.; Thomas, Alan J.; Attems, Johannes; Morris, Christopher M.; Palmer, Laura; Love, Seth; Troakes, Claire; Al-Sarraj, Safa; Hodges, Angela K.; Aarsland, Dag; Klein, Gregory; Kaiser, Scott M.; Woltjer, Randy; Pastor, Pau; Bekris, Lynn M.; Leverenz, James B.; Besser, Lilah M.; Kuzma, Amanda; Renton, Alan E.; Goate, Alison; Bennett, David A.; Scherzer, Clemens R.; Morris, Huw R.; Ferrari, Raffaele; Albani, Diego; Pickering-Brown, Stuart; Faber, Kelley; Kukull, Walter A.; Morenas-Rodriguez, Estrella; Lleó, Alberto; Fortea, Juan; Alcolea, Daniel; Clarimon, Jordi; Nalls, Mike A.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Resnick, Susan M.; Tanaka, Toshiko; Foroud, Tatiana M.; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Wszolek, Zbigniew K.; Ferman, Tanis; Boeve, Bradley F.; Hardy, John A.; Topol, Eric J.; Torkamani, Ali; Singleton, Andrew B.; Ryten, Mina; Dickson, Dennis W.; Chiò, Adriano; Ross, Owen A.; Gibbs, J. Raphael; Dalgard, Clifton L.; Traynor, Bryan J.; Scholz, Sonja W.; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    The genetic basis of Lewy body dementia (LBD) is not well understood. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing in large cohorts of LBD cases and neurologically healthy controls to study the genetic architecture of this understudied form of dementia, and to generate a resource for the scientific community. Genome-wide association analysis identified five independent risk loci, whereas genome-wide gene-aggregation tests implicated mutations in the gene GBA. Genetic risk scores demonstrate that LBD shares risk profiles and pathways with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, providing a deeper molecular understanding of the complex genetic architecture of this age-related neurodegenerative condition.
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    Genome-wide association identifies the first risk loci for psychosis in Alzheimer disease
    (Springer Nature, 2021) DeMichele-Sweet, Mary Ann A.; Klei, Lambertus; Creese, Byron; Harwood, Janet C.; Weamer, Elise A.; McClain, Lora; Sims, Rebecca; Hernandez, Isabel; Moreno-Grau, Sonia; Tárraga, Lluís; Boada, Mercè; Alarcón-Martín, Emilio; Valero, Sergi; NIA-LOAD Family Based Study Consortium; Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC); Liu, Yushi; Hooli, Basavaraj; Aarsland, Dag; Selbaek, Geir; Bergh, Sverre; Rongve, Arvid; Saltvedt, Ingvild; Skjellegrind, Håvard K.; Engdahl, Bo; Stordal, Eystein; Andreassen, Ole A.; Djurovic, Srdjan; Athanasiu, Lavinia; Seripa, Davide; Borroni, Barbara; Albani, Diego; Forloni, Gianluigi; Mecocci, Patrizia; Serretti, Alessandro; De Ronchi, Diana; Politis, Antonis; Williams, Julie; Mayeux, Richard; Foroud, Tatiana; Ruiz, Agustín; Ballard, Clive; Holmans, Peter; Lopez, Oscar L.; Kamboh, M. Ilyas; Devlin, Bernie; Sweet, Robert A.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Psychotic symptoms, defined as the occurrence of delusions or hallucinations, are frequent in Alzheimer disease (AD with psychosis, AD + P). AD + P affects ~50% of individuals with AD, identifies a subgroup with poor outcomes, and is associated with a greater degree of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms, compared to subjects without psychosis (AD - P). Although the estimated heritability of AD + P is 61%, genetic sources of risk are unknown. We report a genome-wide meta-analysis of 12,317 AD subjects, 5445 AD + P. Results showed common genetic variation accounted for a significant portion of heritability. Two loci, one in ENPP6 (rs9994623, O.R. (95%CI) 1.16 (1.10, 1.22), p = 1.26 × 10-8) and one spanning the 3'-UTR of an alternatively spliced transcript of SUMF1 (rs201109606, O.R. 0.65 (0.56-0.76), p = 3.24 × 10-8), had genome-wide significant associations with AD + P. Gene-based analysis identified a significant association with APOE, due to the APOE risk haplotype ε4. AD + P demonstrated negative genetic correlations with cognitive and educational attainment and positive genetic correlation with depressive symptoms. We previously observed a negative genetic correlation with schizophrenia; instead, we now found a stronger negative correlation with the related phenotype of bipolar disorder. Analysis of polygenic risk scores supported this genetic correlation and documented a positive genetic correlation with risk variation for AD, beyond the effect of ε4. We also document a small set of SNPs likely to affect risk for AD + P and AD or schizophrenia. These findings provide the first unbiased identification of the association of psychosis in AD with common genetic variation and provide insights into its genetic architecture.
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    New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
    (Springer Nature, 2022) Bellenguez, Céline; Küçükali, Fahri; Jansen, Iris E.; Kleineidam, Luca; Moreno-Grau, Sonia; Amin, Najaf; Naj, Adam C.; Campos-Martin, Rafael; Grenier-Boley, Benjamin; Andrade, Victor; Holmans, Peter A.; Boland, Anne; Damotte, Vincent; van der Lee, Sven J.; Costa, Marcos R.; Kuulasmaa, Teemu; Yang, Qiong; de Rojas, Itziar; Bis, Joshua C.; Yaqub, Amber; Prokic, Ivana; Chapuis, Julien; Ahmad, Shahzad; Giedraitis, Vilmantas; Aarsland, Dag; Garcia-Gonzalez, Pablo; Abdelnour, Carla; Alarcón-Martín, Emilio; Alcolea, Daniel; Alegret, Montserrat; Alvarez, Ignacio; Álvarez, Victoria; Armstrong, Nicola J.; Tsolaki, Anthoula; Antúnez, Carmen; Appollonio, Ildebrando; Arcaro, Marina; Archetti, Silvana; Arias Pastor, Alfonso; Arosio, Beatrice; Athanasiu, Lavinia; Bailly, Henri; Banaj, Nerisa; Baquero, Miquel; Barral, Sandra; Beiser, Alexa; Belén Pastor, Ana; Below, Jennifer E.; Benchek, Penelope; Benussi, Luisa; Berr, Claudine; Besse, Céline; Bessi, Valentina; Binetti, Giuliano; Bizarro, Alessandra; Blesa, Rafael; Boada, Mercè; Boerwinkle, Eric; Borroni, Barbara; Boschi, Silvia; Bossù, Paola; Bråthen, Geir; Bressler, Jan; Bresner, Catherine; Brodaty, Henry; Brookes, Keeley J.; Brusco, Luis Ignacio; Buiza-Rueda, Dolores; Bûrger, Katharina; Burholt, Vanessa; Bush, William S.; Calero, Miguel; Cantwell, Laura B.; Chene, Geneviève; Chung, Jaeyoon; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Carracedo, Ángel; Cecchetti, Roberta; Cervera-Carles, Laura; Charbonnier, Camille; Chen, Hung-Hsin; Chillotti, Caterina; Ciccone, Simona; Claassen, Jurgen A. H. R.; Clark, Christopher; Conti, Elisa; Corma-Gómez, Anaïs; Costantini, Emanuele; Custodero, Carlo; Daian, Delphine; Dalmasso, Maria Carolina; Daniele, Antonio; Dardiotis, Efthimios; Dartigues, Jean-François; de Deyn, Peter Paul; de Paiva Lopes, Katia; de Witte, Lot D.; Debette, Stéphanie; Deckert, Jürgen; Del Ser, Teodoro; Denning, Nicola; DeStefano, Anita; Dichgans, Martin; Diehl-Schmid, Janine; Diez-Fairen, Mónica; Dionigi Rossi, Paolo; Djurovic, Srdjan; Duron, Emmanuelle; Düzel, Emrah; Dufouil, Carole; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Engelborghs, Sebastiaan; Escott-Price, Valentina; Espinosa, Ana; Ewers, Michael; Faber, Kelley M.; Fabrizio, Tagliavini; Fallgaard Nielsen, Sune; Fardo, David W.; Farotti, Lucia; Fenoglio, Chiara; Fernández-Fuertes, Marta; Ferrari, Raffaele; Ferreira, Catarina B.; Ferri, Evelyn; Fin, Bertrand; Fischer, Peter; Fladby, Tormod; Fließbach, Klaus; Fongang, Bernard; Fornage, Myriam; Fortea, Juan; Foroud, Tatiana M.; Fostinelli, Silvia; Fox, Nick C.; Franco-Macías, Emlio; Bullido, María J.; Frank-García, Ana; Froelich, Lutz; Fulton-Howard, Brian; Galimberti, Daniela; García-Alberca, Jose Maria; García-González, Pablo; Garcia-Madrona, Sebastian; Garcia-Ribas, Guillermo; Ghidoni, Roberta; Giegling, Ina; Giorgio, Giaccone; Goate, Alison M.; Goldhardt, Oliver; Gomez-Fonseca, Duber; González-Pérez, Antonio; Graff, Caroline; Grande, Giulia; Green, Emma; Grimmer, Timo; Grünblatt, Edna; Grunin, Michelle; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Guetta-Baranes, Tamar; Haapasalo, Annakaisa; Hadjigeorgiou, Georgios; Haines, Jonathan L.; Hamilton-Nelson, Kara L.; Hampel, Harald; Hanon, Olivier; Hardy, John; Hartmann, Annette M.; Hausner, Lucrezia; Harwood, Janet; Heilmann-Heimbach, Stefanie; Helisalmi, Seppo; Heneka, Michael T.; Hernández, Isabel; Herrmann, Martin J.; Hoffmann, Per; Holmes, Clive; Holstege, Henne; Huerto Vilas, Raquel; Hulsman, Marc; Humphrey, Jack; Jan Biessels, Geert; Jian, Xueqiu; Johansson, Charlotte; Jun, Gyungah R.; Kastumata, Yuriko; Kauwe, John; Kehoe, Patrick G.; Kilander, Lena; Kinhult Ståhlbom, Anne; Kivipelto, Miia; Koivisto, Anne; Kornhuber, Johannes; Kosmidis, Mary H.; Kukull, Walter A.; Kuksa, Pavel P.; Kunkle, Brian W.; Kuzma, Amanda B.; Lage, Carmen; Laukka, Erika J.; Launer, Lenore; Lauria, Alessandra; Lee, Chien-Yueh; Lehtisalo, Jenni; Lerch, Ondrej; Lleó, Alberto; Longstreth, William, Jr.; Lopez, Oscar; Lopez de Munain, Adolfo; Love, Seth; Löwemark, Malin; Luckcuck, Lauren; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Ma, Yiyi; Macías, Juan; MacLeod, Catherine A.; Maier, Wolfgang; Mangialasche, Francesca; Spallazzi, Marco; Marquié, Marta; Marshall, Rachel; Martin, Eden R.; Martín Montes, Angel; Martínez Rodríguez, Carmen; Masullo, Carlo; Mayeux, Richard; Mead, Simon; Mecocci, Patrizia; Medina, Miguel; Meggy, Alun; Mehrabian, Shima; Mendoza, Silvia; Menéndez-González, Manuel; Mir, Pablo; Moebus, Susanne; Mol, Merel; Molina-Porcel, Laura; Montrreal, Laura; Morelli, Laura; Moreno, Fermin; Morgan, Kevin; Mosley, Thomas; Nöthen, Markus M.; Muchnik, Carolina; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Nacmias, Benedetta; Ngandu, Tiia; Nicolas, Gael; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Olaso, Robert; Orellana, Adelina; Orsini, Michela; Ortega, Gemma; Padovani, Alessandro; Paolo, Caffarra; Papenberg, Goran; Parnetti, Lucilla; Pasquier, Florence; Pastor, Pau; Peloso, Gina; Pérez-Cordón, Alba; Pérez-Tur, Jordi; Pericard, Pierre; Peters, Oliver; Pijnenburg, Yolande A. L.; Pineda, Juan A.; Piñol-Ripoll, Gerard; Pisanu, Claudia; Polak, Thomas; Popp, Julius; Posthuma, Danielle; Priller, Josef; Puerta, Raquel; Quenez, Olivier; Quintela, Inés; Qvist Thomassen, Jesper; Rábano, Alberto; Rainero, Innocenzo; Rajabli, Farid; Ramakers, Inez; Real, Luis M.; Reinders, Marcel J. T.; Reitz, Christiane; Reyes-Dumeyer, Dolly; Ridge, Perry; Riedel-Heller, Steffi; Riederer, Peter; Roberto, Natalia; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Eloy; Rongve, Arvid; Rosas Allende, Irene; Rosende-Roca, Maitée; Royo, Jose Luis; Rubino, Elisa; Rujescu, Dan; Sáez, María Eugenia; Sakka, Paraskevi; Saltvedt, Ingvild; Sanabria, Ángela; Sánchez-Arjona, María Bernal; Sanchez-Garcia, Florentino; Sánchez Juan, Pascual; Sánchez-Valle, Raquel; Sando, Sigrid B.; Sarnowski, Chloé; Satizabal, Claudia L.; Scamosci, Michela; Scarmeas, Nikolaos; Scarpini, Elio; Scheltens, Philip; Scherbaum, Norbert; Scherer, Martin; Schmid, Matthias; Schneider, Anja; Schott, Jonathan M.; Selbæk, Geir; Seripa, Davide; Serrano, Manuel; Sha, Jin; Shadrin, Alexey A.; Skrobot, Olivia; Slifer, Susan; Snijders, Gijsje J. L.; Soininen, Hilkka; Solfrizzi, Vincenzo; Solomon, Alina; Song, Yeunjoo; Sorbi, Sandro; Sotolongo-Grau, Oscar; Spalletta, Gianfranco; Spottke, Annika; Squassina, Alessio; Stordal, Eystein; Tartan, Juan Pablo; Tárraga, Lluís; Tesí, Niccolo; Thalamuthu, Anbupalam; Thomas, Tegos; Tosto, Giuseppe; Traykov, Latchezar; Tremolizzo, Lucio; Tybjærg-Hansen, Anne; Uitterlinden, Andre; Ullgren, Abbe; Ulstein, Ingun; Valero, Sergi; Valladares, Otto; Van Broeckhoven, Christine; Vance, Jeffery; Vardarajan, Badri N.; van der Lugt, Aad; Van Dongen, Jasper; van Rooij, Jeroen; van Swieten, John; Vandenberghe, Rik; Verhey, Frans; Vidal, Jean-Sébastien; Vogelgsang, Jonathan; Vyhnalek, Martin; Wagner, Michael; Wallon, David; Wang, Li-San; Wang, Ruiqi; Weinhold, Leonie; Wiltfang, Jens; Windle, Gill; Woods, Bob; Yannakoulia, Mary; Zare, Habil; Zhao, Yi; Zhang, Xiaoling; Zhu, Congcong; Zulaica, Miren; EADB; GR@ACE; DEGESCO; EADI; GERAD; Demgene; FinnGen; ADGC; CHARGE; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Psaty, Bruce M.; Ghanbari, Mohsen; Raj, Towfique; Sachdev, Perminder; Mather, Karen; Jessen, Frank; Ikram, M. Arfan; de Mendonça, Alexandre; Hort, Jakub; Tsolaki, Magda; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Amouyel, Philippe; Williams, Julie; Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth; Clarimon, Jordi; Deleuze, Jean-François; Rossi, Giacomina; Seshadri, Sudha; Andreassen, Ole A.; Ingelsson, Martin; Hiltunen, Mikko; Sleegers, Kristel; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Sims, Rebecca; van der Flier, Wiesje M.; Ruiz, Agustín; Ramirez, Alfredo; Lambert, Jean-Charles; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/‘proxy’ AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele.
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    (-)-Phenserine and Inhibiting Pre-Programmed Cell Death: In Pursuit of a Novel Intervention for Alzheimer's Disease
    (Bentham Science Publishers, 2018) Becker, Robert E.; Greig, Nigel H.; Schneider, Lon S.; Ballard, Clive; Aarsland, Dag; Lahiri, Debomoy K.; Flanagan, Douglas; Govindarajan, Ramprakash; Sano, Mary; Kapogiannis, Dimitrios; Ferrucci, Luigi; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: Concussion (mild) and other moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) share overlapping neuropathologies, including neuronal pre-programmed cell death (PPCD), and clinical impairments and disabilities. Multiple clinical trials targeting mechanisms based on the Amyloid Hypothesis of AD have so far failed, indicating that it is prudent for new drug developments to also pursue mechanisms independent of the Amyloid Hypothesis. To address these issues, we have proposed the use of an animal model of concussion/TBI as a supplement to AD transgenic mice to provide an indication of an AD drug candidate's potential for preventing PPCD and resulting progression towards dementia in AD. METHODS: We searched PubMed/Medline and the references of identified articles for background on the neuropathological progression of AD and its implications for drug target identification, for AD clinical trial criteria used to assess disease modification outcomes, for plasma biomarkers associated with AD and concussion/TBI, neuropathologies and especially PPCD, and for methodological critiques of AD and other neuropsychiatric clinical trial methods. RESULTS: We identified and address seven issues and highlight the Thal-Sano AD 'Time to Onset of Impairment' Design for possible applications in our clinical trials. Diverse and significant pathological cascades and indications of self-induced neuronal PPCD were found in concussion/TBI, anoxia, and AD animal models. To address the dearth of peripheral markers of AD and concussion/TBI brain pathologies and PPCD we evaluated Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) enriched for neuronal origin, including exosomes. In our concussion/TBI, anoxia and AD animal models we found evidence consistent with the presence of time-dependent PPCD and (-)-phenserine suppression of neuronal self-induced PPCD. We hence developed an extended controlled release formulation of (-)-phenserine to provide individualized dosing and stable therapeutic brain concentrations, to pharmacologically interrogate PPCD as a drug development target. To address the identified problems potentially putting any clinical trial at risk of failure, we developed exploratory AD and concussion/TBI clinical trial designs. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings inform the biomarker indication of progression of pathological targets in neurodegenerations and propose a novel approach to these conditions through neuronal protection against self-induced PPCD.