Browsing by Subject "Target identification"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Integrative analysis of loss-of-function variants in clinical and genomic data reveals novel genes associated with cardiovascular traits
    (Biomed Central, 2019-07-25) Glicksberg, Benjamin S.; Amadori, Letizia; Akers, Nicholas K.; Sukhavasi, Katyayani; Franzén, Oscar; Li, Li; Belbin, Gillian M.; Akers, Kristin L.; Shameer, Khader; Badgeley, Marcus A.; Johnson, Kipp W.; Readhead, Ben; Darrow, Bruce J.; Kenny, Eimear E.; Betsholtz, Christer; Ermel, Raili; Skogsberg, Josefin; Ruusalepp, Arno; Schadt, Eric E.; Dudley, Joel T.; Ren, Hongxia; Kovacic, Jason C.; Giannarelli, Chiara; Li, Shuyu D.; Björkegren, Johan L. M.; Chen, Rong; Pediatrics, IU School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: Genetic loss-of-function variants (LoFs) associated with disease traits are increasingly recognized as critical evidence for the selection of therapeutic targets. We integrated the analysis of genetic and clinical data from 10,511 individuals in the Mount Sinai BioMe Biobank to identify genes with loss-of-function variants (LoFs) significantly associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) traits, and used RNA-sequence data of seven metabolic and vascular tissues isolated from 600 CVD patients in the Stockholm-Tartu Atherosclerosis Reverse Network Engineering Task (STARNET) study for validation. We also carried out in vitro functional studies of several candidate genes, and in vivo studies of one gene. RESULTS: We identified LoFs in 433 genes significantly associated with at least one of 10 major CVD traits. Next, we used RNA-sequence data from the STARNET study to validate 115 of the 433 LoF harboring-genes in that their expression levels were concordantly associated with corresponding CVD traits. Together with the documented hepatic lipid-lowering gene, APOC3, the expression levels of six additional liver LoF-genes were positively associated with levels of plasma lipids in STARNET. Candidate LoF-genes were subjected to gene silencing in HepG2 cells with marked overall effects on cellular LDLR, levels of triglycerides and on secreted APOB100 and PCSK9. In addition, we identified novel LoFs in DGAT2 associated with lower plasma cholesterol and glucose levels in BioMe that were also confirmed in STARNET, and showed a selective DGAT2-inhibitor in C57BL/6 mice not only significantly lowered fasting glucose levels but also affected body weight. CONCLUSION: In sum, by integrating genetic and electronic medical record data, and leveraging one of the world's largest human RNA-sequence datasets (STARNET), we identified known and novel CVD-trait related genes that may serve as targets for CVD therapeutics and as such merit further investigation.
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    M1 muscarinic receptor is a key target of neuroprotection, neuroregeneration and memory recovery by i-Extract from Withania somnifera
    (Nature Research, 2019-09-30) Konar, Arpita; Gupta, Richa; Shukla, Rajendra K.; Maloney, Bryan; Khanna, Vinay K.; Wadhwa, Renu; Lahiri, Debomoy K.; Thakur, Mahendra K.; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Memory loss is one of the most tragic symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Our laboratory has recently demonstrated that 'i-Extract' of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) restores memory loss in scopolamine (SC)-induced mice. The prime target of i-Extract is obscure. We hypothesize that i-Extract may primarily target muscarinic subtype acetylcholine receptors that regulate memory processes. The present study elucidates key target(s) of i-Extract via cellular, biochemical, and molecular techniques in a relevant amnesia mouse model and primary hippocampal neuronal cultures. Wild type Swiss albino mice were fed i-Extract, and hippocampal cells from naïve mice were treated with i-Extract, followed by muscarinic antagonist (dicyclomine) and agonist (pilocarpine) treatments. We measured dendritic formation and growth by immunocytochemistry, kallikrein 8 (KLK8) mRNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and levels of KLK8 and microtubule-associated protein 2, c isoform (MAP2c) proteins by western blotting. We performed muscarinic receptor radioligand binding. i-Extract stimulated an increase in dendrite growth markers, KLK8 and MAP2. Scopolamine-mediated reduction was significantly reversed by i-Extract in mouse cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Our study identified muscarinic receptor as a key target of i-Extract, providing mechanistic evidence for its clinical application in neurodegenerative cognitive disorders.
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    Small molecule target identification using photo-affinity chromatography
    (Elsevier, 2019) Seo, Seung-Yong; Corson, Timothy W.; Ophthalmology, School of Medicine
    Identification of the protein targets of bioactive small molecules is a routine challenge in chemical biology and phenotype-based drug discovery. Recent years have seen an explosion of approaches to meeting this challenge, but the traditional method of affinity pulldowns remains a practical choice in many contexts. This technique can be used as long as an affinity probe can be synthesized, usually with a crosslinking moiety to enable photo-affinity pulldowns. It can be applied to varied tissue types and can be performed with minimal specialized equipment. Here, we provide our protocol for photo-affinity pulldown experiments, with notes on making this method generally applicable to varied target identification challenges.