Browsing by Author "Liu, Peng"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Difference in regional neural fluctuations and functional connectivity in Crohn’s disease: a resting-state functional MRI study
    (Springer, 2018) Bao, Chunhui; Liu, Peng; Liu, Huirong; Jin, Xiaoming; Shi, Yin; Wu, Luyi; Zeng, Xiaoqing; Zhang, Jianye; Wang, Di; Calhoun, Vince D.; Tian, Jie; Wu, Huangan; Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine
    Patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) are shown to have abnormal changes in brain structures. This study aimed to further investigate whether these patients have abnormal brain activities and network connectivity. Sixty patients with CD and 40 healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and seed-based functional connectivity (FC) were used to assess differences in spontaneous regional brain activity and functional connectivity. Compared to the HCs, patients with CD showed significantly higher ALFF values in hippocampus and parahippocampus (HIPP/paraHIPP), anterior cingulate cortex, insula, superior frontal cortex and precuneus. The ALFF values were significantly lower in secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), precentral gyrus, and medial prefrontal cortex. Functional connectivities between left HIPP and left inferior temporal cortex, and right middle cingulate cortex, HIPP, and fusiform area were significantly lower. The functional connectivities between right HIPP and right inferior orbitofrontal cortex and left HIPP were also significantly lower. Patients with CD showed higher or lower spontaneous activity in multiple brain regions. Altered activities in these brain regions may collectively reflect abnormal function and regulation of visceral pain and sensation, external environmental monitoring, and cognitive processing in these patients. Lower functional connectivity of the hippocampus-limbic system was observed in these patients. These findings may provide more information to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms of the disease.
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    Differences in brain gray matter volume in patients with Crohn’s disease with and without abdominal pain
    (Impact Journals, 2017-09-22) Bao, Chunhui; Liu, Peng; Shi, Yin; Wu, Luyi; Jin, Xiaoming; Zeng, Xiaoqing; Zhang, Jianye; Wang, Di; Liu, Huirong; Wu, Huangan; Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine
    Increasing evidence indicates that abnormal pain processing is present in the central nervous system of patients with Crohn’s disease (CD). The purposes of this study were to assess changes in gray matter (GM) volumes in CD patients in remission and to correlate structural changes in the brain with abdominal pain. We used a 3.0 T magnetic resonance scanner to examine the GM structures in 21 CD patients with abdominal pain, 26 CD patients without abdominal pain, and 30 healthy control subjects (HCs). Voxel-based morphometric analyses were used to assess the brain GM volumes. Patients with abdominal pain exhibited higher CD activity index and lower inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire scores than those of the patients without abdominal pain. Compare to HCs and to patients without abdominal pain, patients with abdominal pain exhibited lower GM volumes in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); whereas compare to HCs and to patients with abdominal pain, the patients without abdominal pain exhibited higher GM volumes in the hippocampal and parahippocampal cortex. The GM volumes in the insula and ACC were significantly negatively correlated with daily pain scores. These results suggest that differences exist in the brain GM volume between CD patients in remission with and without abdominal pain. The negative correlation between the GM volumes in the insula and ACC and the presence and severity of abdominal pain in CD suggests these structures are closely related to visceral pain processing.
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    Differences in regional homogeneity between patients with Crohn's disease with and without abdominal pain revealed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2016-05) Bao, Chun-Hui; Liu, Peng; Liu, Hui-Rong; Wu, Lu-Yi; Jin, Xiao-Ming; Wang, Si-Yao; Shi, Yin; Zhang, Jian-Ye; Zeng, Xiao-Qing; Ma, Li-Li; Qin, Wei; Zhao, Ji-Meng; Calhoun, Vince D.; Tian, Jie; Wu, Huan-Gan; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Abnormal pain processing in the central nervous system may be related to abdominal pain in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in resting-state brain activity in patients with CD in remission and its relationship with the presence of abdominal pain. Twenty-five patients with CD and with abdominal pain, 25 patients with CD and without abdominal pain, and 32 healthy subjects were scanned using a 3.0-T functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was used to assess resting-state brain activity. Daily pain scores were collected 1 week before functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that patients with abdominal pain exhibited lower ReHo values in the insula, middle cingulate cortex (MCC), and supplementary motor area and higher ReHo values in the temporal pole. In contrast, patients without abdominal pain exhibited lower ReHo values in the hippocampal/parahippocampal cortex and higher ReHo values in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (all P < 0.05, corrected). The ReHo values of the insula and MCC were significantly negatively correlated with daily pain scores for patients with abdominal pain (r = -0.53, P = 0.008 and r = -0.61, P = 0.002, respectively). These findings suggest that resting-state brain activities are different between remissive patients with CD with and without abdominal pain and that abnormal activities in insula and MCC are closely related to the severity of abdominal pain.
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    Different brain responses to electro-acupuncture and moxibustion treatment in patients with Crohn's disease
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2016-11-18) Bao, Chunhui; Liu, Peng; Liu, Huirong; Jin, Xiaoming; Calhoun, Vince D.; Wu, Luyi; Shi, Yin; Zhang, Jianye; Zeng, Xiaoqing; Ma, Lili; Qin, Wei; Zhang, Jingzhi; Liu, Xiaoming; Tian, Jie; Wu, Huangan; Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine
    This study aimed to investigate changes in resting state brain activity in remissive Crohn's Disease (CD) patients after electro-acupuncture or moxibustion treatment. Fifty-two CD patients and 36 healthy subjects were enrolled, and 36 patients were equally and randomly assigned to receive either electro-acupuncture or moxibustion treatment for twelve weeks. We used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess Regional Homogeneity (ReHo) levels, and Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) scores to evaluate disease severity and quality of life. The results show that (i) The ReHo levels in CD patients were significantly increased in cortical but decreased in subcortical areas, and the coupling between them was declined. (ii) Both treatments decreased CDAI, increased IBDQ scores, and normalized the ReHo values of the cortical and subcortical regions. (iii) ReHo changes in multiple cortical regions were significantly correlated with CDAI score decreases. ReHo changes in several subcortical regions in the electro-acupuncture group, and those of several cortical regions in the moxibustion group, were correlated with reduced CDAI. These findings suggest that both treatments improved cortex-subcortical coupling in remissive CD patients, but electro-acupuncture regulated homeostatic afferent processing network, while moxibustion mainly regulated the default mode network of the brain.
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    Effect of Electro-Acupuncture and Moxibustion on Brain Connectivity in Patients with Crohn’s Disease: A Resting-State fMRI Study
    (Frontiers Media, 2017-11-17) Bao, Chunhui; Wang, Di; Liu, Peng; Shi, Yin; Jin, Xiaoming; Wu, Luyi; Zeng, Xiaoqing; Zhang, Jianye; Liu, Huirong; Wu, Huangan; Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine
    Acupuncture and moxibustion have been shown to be effective in treating Crohn’s disease (CD), but their therapeutic mechanisms remain unclear. Here we compared brain responses to either electro-acupuncture or moxibustion treatment in CD patients experiencing remission. A total of 65 patients were randomly divided into an electro-acupuncture group (n = 32) or a moxibustion group (n = 33), and treated for 12 weeks. Eighteen patients in the electro-acupuncture group and 20 patients in the moxibustion group underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and after treatment. Seed-based analysis was used to compare the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between bilateral hippocampus and other brain regions before and after the treatments, as well as between the two groups. The CD activity index (CDAI) and inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (IBDQ) were used to evaluate disease severity and patient quality of life. Electro-acupuncture and moxibustion both significantly reduced CDAI values and increased IBDQ scores. In the electro-acupuncture group, the rsFC values between bilateral hippocampus and anterior middle cingulate cortex (MCC) and insula were significantly increased, and the changes were negatively correlated with the CDAI scores. In the moxibustion group, the rsFC values between bilateral hippocampus and precuneus as well as inferior parietal lobe (IPC) were significantly elevated, and the changes were negatively correlated with the CDAI scores. We conclude that the therapeutic effects of electro-acupuncture and moxibustion on CD may involve the differently modulating brain homeostatic afferent processing network and default mode network (DMN), respectively.
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    MR1 overexpression correlates with poor clinical prognosis in glioma patients
    (Oxford University Press, 2021-02-20) Kubica, Phillip; Lara-Velazquez, Montserrat; Bam, Marpe; Siraj, Seema; Ong, Irene; Liu, Peng; Priya, Raj; Salamat, Shahriar; Brutkiewicz, Randy R.; Dey, Mahua; Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
    Background: Glioblastoma is the most common adult primary brain tumor with near-universal fatality. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules are important mediators of CD8 activation and can be downregulated by cancer cells to escape immune surveillance. MR1 is a nonclassical MHC-I-like molecule responsible for the activation of a subset of T cells. Although high levels of MR1 expression should enhance cancer cell recognition, various tumors demonstrate MR1 overexpression with unknown implications. Here, we study the role of MR1 in glioma. Methods: Using multi-omics data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we studied MR1 expression patterns and its impact on survival for various solid tumors. In glioma specifically, we validated MR1 expression by histology, elucidate transcriptomic profiles of MR1 high versus low gliomas. To understand MR1 expression, we analyzed the methylation status of the MR1 gene and MR1 gene-related transcription factor (TF) expression. Results: MR1 is overexpressed in all grades of glioma and many other solid cancers. However, only in glioma, MR1 overexpression correlated with poor overall survival and demonstrated global dysregulation of many immune-related genes in an MR1-dependent manner. MR1 overexpression correlated with decreased MR1 gene methylation and upregulation of predicted MR1 promoter binding TFs, implying MR1 gene methylation might regulate MR1 expression in glioma. Conclusions: Our in silico analysis shows that MR1 expression is a predictor of clinical outcome in glioma patients and is potentially regulated at the epigenetic level, resulting in immune-related genes dysregulation. These findings need to be validated using independent in vitro and in vivo functional studies.
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    Untargeted plasma metabolome identifies biomarkers in patients with extracranial arteriovenous malformations
    (Frontiers Media, 2023-09-01) Fan, Xueqiang; Gao, Xixi; Deng, Yisen; Ma, Bo; Liu, Jingwen; Zhang, Zhaohua; Zhang, Dingkai; Yang, Yuguang; Wang, Cheng; He, Bin; Nie, Qiangqiang; Ye, Zhidong; Liu, Peng; Wen, Jianyan; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Objective: This study aimed to investigate the plasma metabolic profile of patients with extracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVM). Method: Plasma samples were collected from 32 AVM patients and 30 healthy controls (HC). Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) was employed to analyze the metabolic profiles of both groups. Metabolic pathway enrichment analysis was performed through Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database and MetaboAnalyst. Additionally, machine learning algorithms such as Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) and random forest (RF) were conducted to screen characteristic metabolites. The effectiveness of the serum biomarkers for AVM was evaluated using a receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curve. Result: In total, 184 differential metabolites were screened in this study, with 110 metabolites in positive ion mode and 74 metabolites in negative mode. Lipids and lipid-like molecules were the predominant metabolites detected in both positive and negative ion modes. Several significant metabolic pathways were enriched in AVMs, including lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and protein translation. Through machine learning algorithms, nine metabolites were identify as characteristic metabolites, including hydroxy-proline, L-2-Amino-4-methylenepentanedioic acid, piperettine, 20-hydroxy-PGF2a, 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-6-(1-oxobutyl)-1,3,5-cyclohexanetrione, DL-tryptophan, 9-oxoODE, alpha-Linolenic acid, and dihydrojasmonic acid. Conclusion: Patients with extracranial AVMs exhibited significantly altered metabolic patterns compared to healthy controls, which could be identified using plasma metabolomics. These findings suggest that metabolomic profiling can aid in the understanding of AVM pathophysiology and potentially inform clinical diagnosis and treatment.
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    Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis for RNA-Sequencing Data of the Varicose Veins Transcriptome
    (Frontiers, 2019-03-19) Zhang, Jianbin; Nie, Qiangqiang; Si, Chaozeng; Wang, Cheng; Chen, Yang; Sun, Weiliang; Pan, Lin; Guo, Jing; Kong, Jie; Cui, Yiyao; Wang, Feng; Fan, Xueqiang; Ye, Zhidong; Wen, Jianyan; Liu, Peng; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Objective: Varicose veins are a common problem worldwide and can cause significant impairments in health-related quality of life, but the etiology and pathogenesis remain not well defined. This study aims to elucidate transcriptomic regulations of varicose veins by detecting differentially expressed genes, pathways and regulator genes. Methods: We harvested great saphenous veins (GSV) from patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and varicose veins from conventional stripping surgery. RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) technique was used to obtain the complete transcriptomic data of both GSVs from CABG patients and varicose veins. Weighted Gene Co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and further analyses were then carried out with the aim to elucidate transcriptomic regulations of varicose veins by detecting differentially expressed genes, pathways and regulator genes. Results: From January 2015 to December 2016, 7 GSVs from CABG patients and 13 varicose veins were obtained. WGCNA identified 4 modules. In the brown module, gene ontology (GO) analysis showed that the biological processes were focused on response to stimulus, immune response and inflammatory response, etc. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis showed that the biological processes were focused on cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and TNF signaling pathway, etc. In the gray module, GO analysis showed that the biological processes were skeletal myofibril assembly related. The immunohistochemistry staining showed that the expression of ASC, Caspase-1 and NLRP3 were increased in GSVs from CABG patients compared with varicose veins. Histopathological analysis showed that in the varicose veins group, the thickness of vascular wall, tunica intima, tunica media and collagen/smooth muscle ratio were significantly increased, and that the elastic fiber/internal elastic lamina ratio was decreased. Conclusion: This study shows that there are clear differences in transcriptomic information between varicose veins and GSVs from CABG patients. Some inflammatory RNAs are down-regulated in varicose veins compared with GSVs from CABG patients. Skeletal myofibril assembly pathway may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of varicose veins. Characterization of these RNAs may provide new targets for understanding varicose veins diagnosis, progression, and treatment.