Browsing by Author "Vacher, Michael"

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    Comprehensive analysis of epigenetic clocks reveals associations between disproportionate biological ageing and hippocampal volume
    (Springer, 2022) Milicic, Lidija; Vacher, Michael; Porter, Tenielle; Doré, Vincent; Burnham, Samantha C.; Bourgeat, Pierrick; Shishegar, Rosita; Doecke, James; Armstrong, Nicola J.; Tankard, Rick; Maruff, Paul; Masters, Colin L.; Rowe, Christopher C.; Villemagne, Victor L.; Laws, Simon M.; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) Study; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    The concept of age acceleration, the difference between biological age and chronological age, is of growing interest, particularly with respect to age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Whilst studies have reported associations with AD risk and related phenotypes, there remains a lack of consensus on these associations. Here we aimed to comprehensively investigate the relationship between five recognised measures of age acceleration, based on DNA methylation patterns (DNAm age), and cross-sectional and longitudinal cognition and AD-related neuroimaging phenotypes (volumetric MRI and Amyloid-β PET) in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Significant associations were observed between age acceleration using the Hannum epigenetic clock and cross-sectional hippocampal volume in AIBL and replicated in ADNI. In AIBL, several other findings were observed cross-sectionally, including a significant association between hippocampal volume and the Hannum and Phenoage epigenetic clocks. Further, significant associations were also observed between hippocampal volume and the Zhang and Phenoage epigenetic clocks within Amyloid-β positive individuals. However, these were not validated within the ADNI cohort. No associations between age acceleration and other Alzheimer's disease-related phenotypes, including measures of cognition or brain Amyloid-β burden, were observed, and there was no association with longitudinal change in any phenotype. This study presents a link between age acceleration, as determined using DNA methylation, and hippocampal volume that was statistically significant across two highly characterised cohorts. The results presented in this study contribute to a growing literature that supports the role of epigenetic modifications in ageing and AD-related phenotypes.
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    Comprehensive genetic analysis of the human lipidome identifies loci associated with lipid homeostasis with links to coronary artery disease
    (Springer Nature, 2022-06-06) Cadby, Gemma; Giles, Corey; Melton, Phillip E.; Huynh, Kevin; Mellett, Natalie A.; Duong, Thy; Nguyen, Anh; Cinel, Michelle; Smith, Alex; Olshansky, Gavriel; Wang, Tingting; Brozynska, Marta; Inouye, Mike; McCarthy, Nina S.; Ariff, Amir; Hung, Joseph; Hui, Jennie; Beilby, John; Dubé, Marie-Pierre; Watts, Gerald F.; Shah, Sonia; Wray, Naomi R.; Lim, Wei Ling Florence; Chatterjee, Pratishtha; Martins, Ian; Laws, Simon M.; Porter, Tenielle; Vacher, Michael; Bush, Ashley I.; Rowe, Christopher C.; Villemagne, Victor L.; Ames, David; Masters, Colin L.; Taddei, Kevin; Arnold, Matthias; Kastenmüller, Gabi; Nho, Kwangsik; Saykin, Andrew J.; Han, Xianlin; Kaddurah-Daouk, Rima; Martins, Ralph N.; Blangero, John; Meikle, Peter J.; Moses, Eric K.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine
    We integrated lipidomics and genomics to unravel the genetic architecture of lipid metabolism and identify genetic variants associated with lipid species putatively in the mechanistic pathway for coronary artery disease (CAD). We quantified 596 lipid species in serum from 4,492 individuals from the Busselton Health Study. The discovery GWAS identified 3,361 independent lipid-loci associations, involving 667 genomic regions (479 previously unreported), with validation in two independent cohorts. A meta-analysis revealed an additional 70 independent genomic regions associated with lipid species. We identified 134 lipid endophenotypes for CAD associated with 186 genomic loci. Associations between independent lipid-loci with coronary atherosclerosis were assessed in ∼456,000 individuals from the UK Biobank. Of the 53 lipid-loci that showed evidence of association (P < 1 × 10-3), 43 loci were associated with at least one lipid endophenotype. These findings illustrate the value of integrative biology to investigate the aetiology of atherosclerosis and CAD, with implications for other complex diseases.