Genetic Variants For Head Size Share Genes and Pathways With Cancer

The size of the human head is highly heritable, but genetic drivers of its variation within the general population remain unmapped. We perform a genome-wide association study on head size (N = 80,890) and identify 67 genetic loci, of which 50 are novel. Neuroimaging studies show that 17 variants affect specific brain areas, but most have widespread effects. Gene set enrichment is observed for various cancers and the p53, Wnt, and ErbB signaling pathways. Genes harboring lead variants are enriched for macrocephaly syndrome genes (37-fold) and high-fidelity cancer genes (9-fold), which is not seen for human height variants. Head size variants are also near genes preferentially expressed in intermediate progenitor cells, neural cells linked to evolutionary brain expansion. Our results indicate that genes regulating early brain and cranial growth incline to neoplasia later in life, irrespective of height. This warrants investigation of clinical implications of the link between head size and cancer

Cerebral small vessel disease genomics and its implications across the lifespan

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are the most common brain-imaging feature of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), hypertension being the main known risk factor. Here, we identify 27 genome-wide loci for WMH-volume in a cohort of 50,970 older individuals, accounting for modification/confounding by hypertension. Aggregated WMH risk variants were associated with altered white matter integrity (p = 2.5×10-7) in brain images from 1,738 young healthy adults, providing insight into the lifetime impact of SVD genetic risk. Mendelian randomization suggested causal association of increasing WMH-volume with stroke, Alzheimer-type dementia, and of increasing blood pressure (BP) with larger WMH-volume, notably also in persons without clinical hypertension. Transcriptome-wide colocalization analyses showed association of WMH-volume with expression of 39 genes, of which four encode known drug targets. Finally, we provide insight into BP-independent biological pathways underlying SVD and suggest potential for genetic stratification of high-risk individuals and for genetically-informed prioritization of drug targets for prevention trials.Peer reviewe

Cerebral small vessel disease genomics and its implications across the lifespan

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are the most common brain-imaging feature of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), hypertension being the main known risk factor. Here, we identify 27 genome-wide loci for WMH-volume in a cohort of 50,970 older individuals, accounting for modification/confounding by hypertension. Aggregated WMH risk variants were associated with altered white matter integrity (p = 2.5×10-7) in brain images from 1,738 young healthy adults, providing insight into the lifetime impact of SVD genetic risk. Mendelian randomization suggested causal association of increasing WMH-volume with stroke, Alzheimer-type dementia, and of increasing blood pressure (BP) with larger WMH-volume, notably also in persons without clinical hypertension. Transcriptome-wide colocalization analyses showed association of WMH-volume with expression of 39 genes, of which four encode known drug targets. Finally, we provide insight into BP-independent biological pathways underlying SVD and suggest potential for genetic stratification of high-risk individuals and for genetically-informed prioritization of drug targets for prevention trials.</p

Melphalan 140 mg/m(2) or 200 mg/m(2) for autologous transplantation in myeloma: results from the Collaboration to Collect Autologous Transplant Outcomes in Lymphoma and Myeloma (CALM) study. A report by the EBMT Chronic Malignancies Working Party

Contains fulltext : 190028.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Long-term outcome of a randomized controlled study in patients with newly diagnosed severe aplastic anemia treated with antithymocyte globuline, cyclosporine, with or without G-CSF: a Severe Aplastic Anemia Working Party Trial from the European Group of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

This follow-up study of the randomized prospective trial included 192 patients with newly diagnosed severe aplastic anemia receiving Antithymoglobulin and Cyclosporine, with and without G-CSF. We aimed to evaluate the long-term effect of G-CSF on overall survival, event-free survival, probability of secondary myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia, clinical paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, relapse, avascular osteonecrosis and chronic kidney disease. The median follow-up was 11.7 years (10.9-12.5). Overall survival at 15 years was 57±12% for the G-CSF and 63±12% for the non-G-CSF group (P=0.92), event-free survival 24±10% for the G-CSF, and 23±10% for the non-G-CSF group (P=0.36). In total, 9 patients developed myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia, and 10 clonal cytogenetic abnormality only, 7 solid cancer, 18 clinical paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, 8 osteonecrosis, and 12 chronic kidney disease, without any difference between patients treated with or without G-CSF. Cumulative incidence at 15 years of myelodysplastic syndrome, acute myeloid leukemia or isolated cytogenetic abnormality was 8.5±3% for the G-CSF, and 8.2±3% for the non-G-CSF group (P=0.90). Cumulative incidence of any late event including myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia , isolated cytogenetic abnormalities, solid cancer, clinical paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, aseptic osteonecrosis, chronic kidney disease and relapse was 50±12% for the G-CSF, and 49±12% for the non-G-CSF group (P=0.65). Our results demonstrate that it is unlikely that G-CSF impacts on the outcome of severe aplastic anemia; nevertheless, very late events are common and eventually impact on the prognosis of these patients, irrespectively of their age at immunosuppressive therapy (NCT01163942)

Melphalan 140 mg/m2or 200 mg/m2for autologous transplantation in myeloma: Results from the collaboration to collect autologous transplant outcomes in Lymphoma and Myeloma (CALM) study. A report by the EBMT chronic malignancies working party

Melphalan at a dose of 200 mg/m2 is standard conditioning prior to autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma, but a dose of 140 mg/m2 is often used in clinical practice in patients perceived to be at risk of excess toxicity. To determine whether melphalan 200 mg/m2 and melphalan 140 mg/m2 are equally effective and tolerable in clinically relevant patient subgroups we analyzed 1964 first single autologous transplantation episodes using a series of Cox proportional-hazards models. Overall survival, progression-free survival, cumulative incidence of relapse, non-relapse mortality, hematopoietic recovery and second primary malignancy rates were not significantly different between the melphalan 140 mg/m2 (n=245) and melphalan 200 mg/m2 (n=1719) groups. Multivariable subgroup analysis showed that disease status at transplantation interacted with overall survival, progression-free survival, and cumulative incidence of relapse, with a significant advantage associated with melphalan 200 mg/m2 in patients transplanted in less than partial response (adjusted hazard ratios for melphalan 200 mg/m2 versus melphalan 140 mg/m2 : 0.5, 0.54, and 0.56). In contrast, transplantation in very good partial or complete response significantly favored melphalan 140 mg/m2 for overall survival (adjusted hazard ratio: 2.02). Age, renal function, prior proteasome inhibitor treatment, gender, or Karnofsky score did not interact with overall/progression-free survival or relapse rate in the melphalan dose groups. There were no significant survival or relapse rate differences between melphalan 200 mg/m2 and melphalan 140 mg/m2 patients with high-risk or standard-risk chromosomal abnormalities. In conclusion, remission status at the time of transplantation may favor the use of melphalan 200 mg/m2 or melphalan 140 mg/m2 for key transplant outcomes (NCT01362972)