Browsing by Author "Baras, Aris"

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    A multiancestry genome-wide association study of unexplained chronic ALT elevation as a proxy for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with histological and radiological validation
    (Springer Nature, 2022) Vujkovic, Marijana; Ramdas, Shweta; Lorenz, Kim M.; Guo, Xiuqing; Darlay, Rebecca; Cordell, Heather J.; He, Jing; Gindin, Yevgeniy; Chung, Chuhan; Myers, Robert P.; Schneider, Carolin V.; Park, Joseph; Lee, Kyung Min; Serper, Marina; Carr, Rotonya M.; Kaplan, David E.; Haas, Mary E.; MacLean, Matthew T.; Witschey, Walter R.; Zhu, Xiang; Tcheandjieu, Catherine; Kember, Rachel L.; Kranzler, Henry R.; Verma, Anurag; Giri, Ayush; Klarin, Derek M.; Sun, Yan V.; Huang, Jie; Huffman, Jennifer E.; Townsend Creasy, Kate; Hand, Nicholas J.; Liu, Ching-Ti; Long, Michelle T.; Yao, Jie; Budoff, Matthew; Tan, Jingyi; Li, Xiaohui; Lin, Henry J.; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Taylor, Kent D.; Chang, Ruey-Kang; Krauss, Ronald M.; Vilarinho, Silvia; Brancale, Joseph; Nielsen, Jonas B.; Locke, Adam E.; Jones, Marcus B.; Verweij, Niek; Baras, Aris; Reddy, K. Rajender; Neuschwander-Tetri, Brent A.; Schwimmer, Jeffrey B.; Sanyal, Arun J.; Chalasani, Naga; Ryan, Kathleen A.; Mitchell, Braxton D.; Gill, Dipender; Wells, Andrew D.; Manduchi, Elisabetta; Saiman, Yedidya; Mahmud, Nadim; Miller, Donald R.; Reaven, Peter D.; Phillips, Lawrence S.; Muralidhar, Sumitra; DuVall, Scott L.; Lee, Jennifer S.; Assimes, Themistocles L.; Pyarajan, Saiju; Cho, Kelly; Edwards, Todd L.; Damrauer, Scott M.; Wilson, Peter W.; Gaziano, J. Michael; O'Donnell, Christopher J.; Khera, Amit V.; Grant, Struan F. A.; Brown, Christopher D.; Tsao, Philip S.; Saleheen, Danish; Lotta, Luca A.; Bastarache, Lisa; Anstee, Quentin M.; Daly, Ann K.; Meigs, James B.; Rotter, Jerome I.; Lynch, Julie A.; Regeneron Genetics Center; Geisinger-Regeneron DiscovEHR Collaboration; EPoS Consortium; VA Million Veteran Program; Rader, Daniel J.; Voight, Benjamin F.; Chang, Kyong-Mi; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a growing cause of chronic liver disease. Using a proxy NAFLD definition of chronic elevation of alanine aminotransferase (cALT) levels without other liver diseases, we performed a multiancestry genome-wide association study (GWAS) in the Million Veteran Program (MVP) including 90,408 cALT cases and 128,187 controls. Seventy-seven loci exceeded genome-wide significance, including 25 without prior NAFLD or alanine aminotransferase associations, with one additional locus identified in European American-only and two in African American-only analyses (P < 5 × 10-8). External replication in histology-defined NAFLD cohorts (7,397 cases and 56,785 controls) or radiologic imaging cohorts (n = 44,289) replicated 17 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (P < 6.5 × 10-4), of which 9 were new (TRIB1, PPARG, MTTP, SERPINA1, FTO, IL1RN, COBLL1, APOH and IFI30). Pleiotropy analysis showed that 61 of 77 multiancestry and all 17 replicated SNPs were jointly associated with metabolic and/or inflammatory traits, revealing a complex model of genetic architecture. Our approach integrating cALT, histology and imaging reveals new insights into genetic liability to NAFLD.
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    Agonist antibody to guanylate cyclase receptor NPR1 regulates vascular tone
    (Springer Nature, 2024) Dunn, Michael E.; Kithcart, Aaron; Kim, Jee Hae; Ho, Andre Jo-Hao; Franklin, Matthew C.; Romero Hernandez, Annabel; de Hoon, Jan; Botermans, Wouter; Meyer, Jonathan; Jin, Ximei; Zhang, Dongqin; Torello, Justin; Jasewicz, Daniel; Kamat, Vishal; Garnova, Elena; Liu, Nina; Rosconi, Michael; Pan, Hao; Karnik, Satyajit; Burczynski, Michael E.; Zheng, Wenjun; Rafique, Ashique; Nielsen, Jonas B.; De, Tanima; Verweij, Niek; Pandit, Anita; Locke, Adam; Chalasani, Naga; Melander, Olle; Schwantes-An, Tae-Hwi; Penn Medicine Biobank; Baras, Aris; Lotta, Luca A.; Musser, Bret J.; Mastaitis, Jason; Devalaraja-Narashimha, Kishor B.; Rankin, Andrew J.; Huang, Tammy; Herman, Gary; Olson, William; Murphy, Andrew J.; Yancopoulos, George D.; Olenchock, Benjamin A.; Morton, Lori; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality1,2. Elevated intracardiac pressures and myocyte stretch in heart failure trigger the release of counter-regulatory natriuretic peptides, which act through their receptor (NPR1) to affect vasodilation, diuresis and natriuresis, lowering venous pressures and relieving venous congestion3-8. Recombinant natriuretic peptide infusions were developed to treat heart failure but have been limited by a short duration of effect9,10. Here we report that in a human genetic analysis of over 700,000 individuals, lifelong exposure to coding variants of the NPR1 gene is associated with changes in blood pressure and risk of heart failure. We describe the development of REGN5381, an investigational monoclonal agonist antibody that targets the membrane-bound guanylate cyclase receptor NPR1. REGN5381, an allosteric agonist of NPR1, induces an active-like receptor conformation that results in haemodynamic effects preferentially on venous vasculature, including reductions in systolic blood pressure and venous pressure in animal models. In healthy human volunteers, REGN5381 produced the expected haemodynamic effects, reflecting reductions in venous pressures, without obvious changes in diuresis and natriuresis. These data support the development of REGN5381 for long-lasting and selective lowering of venous pressures that drive symptomatology in patients with heart failure.