Immunohistochemical characterization of the 'intimal proliferation' phenomenon in Sneddon's syndrome and essential thrombocythaemia

Cellular changes were immunocytochemically characterized in skin vessels of five patients with idiopathic generalized racemose livedo (Sneddon's syndrome), and one patient with localized racemose livedo associated with essential thrombocythaemia. Antibodies against alpha-smooth muscle-actin, tropomyosin, desmin, vimentin, factor VIII-related antigen, human endothelial cells (CD31), human macrophages (CD68), and HLA-DR positive cells (CR3/43) were used. Conventional light microscopy showed, in all cases, intimal thickening of ascending arteries and arterioles as a result of an accumulation of cells and extracellular hyalinized material. None of the specimens showed infiltration with polymorphonuclear leucocytes or macrophages. The cells in the region of the intimal hyperplasia showed intense positive immunostaining for alpha-smooth muscle actin and tropomyosin. Staining for the intermediate filament desmin was localized to the resident smooth muscle cells of the media, whereas staining for vimentin was found in all types of cells in both the intima and media. Positive immunostaining for factor VIII-related antigen and CD31 was strictly confined to the endothelial cells lining the narrowed lumina of the vessels. No positive staining with either antibody was observed in totally occluded vessels. Cells in the subintimal space did not show reactivity for CD68 in any of the specimens, but two cases showed solitary cells with positive staining for HLA-DR in this region. There were no differences in staining pattern between Sneddon's syndrome and essential thrombocythaemia with any of the antibodies. Our results support the assumption that the 'intimal proliferation' in both diseases is caused by colonization of the subendothelial space with contractile cells of possible smooth muscle origin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS

Deletion of chromosomal region 8p21 confers resistance to Bortezomib and is associated with upregulated Decoy trail receptor expression in patients with multiple myeloma

Loss of the chromosomal region 8p21 negatively effects survival in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) that undergo autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). In this study, we aimed to identify the immunological and molecular consequences of del(8)(p21) with regards to treatment response and bortezomib resistance. In patients receiving bortezomib as a single first line agent without any high-dose therapy, we have observed that patients with del(8)(p21) responded poorly to bortezomib with 50% showing no response while patients without the deletion had a response rate of 90%. In vitro analysis revealed a higher resistance to bortezomib possibly due to an altered gene expression profile caused by del(8)(p21) including genes such as TRAIL-R4, CCDC25, RHOBTB2, PTK2B, SCARA3, MYC, BCL2 and TP53. Furthermore, while bortezomib sensitized MM cells without del(8)(p21) to TRAIL/APO2L mediated apoptosis, in cells with del(8)(p21) bortezomib failed to upregulate the pro-apoptotic death receptors TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 which are located on the 8p21 region. Also expressing higher levels of the decoy death receptor TRAIL-R4, these cells were largely resistant to TRAIL/APO2L mediated apoptosis. Corroborating the clinical outcome of the patients, our data provides a potential explanation regarding the poor response of MM patients with del(8)(p21) to bortezomib treatment. Furthermore, our clinical analysis suggests that including immunomodulatory agents such as Lenalidomide in the treatment regimen may help to overcome this negative effect, providing an alternative consideration in treatment planning of MM patients with del(8)(p21)

Systematic Identification of Novel, Essential Host Genes Affecting Bromovirus RNA Replication

Positive-strand RNA virus replication involves viral proteins and cellular proteins at nearly every replication step. Brome mosaic virus (BMV) is a well-established model for dissecting virus-host interactions and is one of very few viruses whose RNA replication, gene expression and encapsidation have been reproduced in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Previously, our laboratory identified ∼100 non-essential host genes whose loss inhibited or enhanced BMV replication at least 3-fold. However, our isolation of additional BMV-modulating host genes by classical genetics and other results underscore that genes essential for cell growth also contribute to BMV RNA replication at a frequency that may be greater than that of non-essential genes. To systematically identify novel, essential host genes affecting BMV RNA replication, we tested a collection of ∼900 yeast strains, each with a single essential gene promoter replaced by a doxycycline-repressible promoter, allowing repression of gene expression by adding doxycycline to the growth medium. Using this strain array of ∼81% of essential yeast genes, we identified 24 essential host genes whose depleted expression reproducibly inhibited or enhanced BMV RNA replication. Relevant host genes are involved in ribosome biosynthesis, cell cycle regulation and protein homeostasis, among other cellular processes. BMV 2aPol levels were significantly increased in strains depleted for a heat shock protein (HSF1) or proteasome components (PRE1 and RPT6), suggesting these genes may affect BMV RNA replication by directly or indirectly modulating 2aPol localization, post-translational modification or interacting partners. Investigating the diverse functions of these newly identified essential host genes should advance our understanding of BMV-host interactions and normal cellular pathways, and suggest new modes of virus control

Genome-wide Association Study of Borderline Personality Disorder Reveals Genetic Overlap with Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression and Schizophrenia

Borderline personality disorder (BOR) is determined by environmental and genetic factors, and characterized by affective instability and impulsivity, diagnostic symptoms also observed in manic phases of bipolar disorder (BIP). Up to 20% of BIP patients show comorbidity with BOR. This report describes the first case–control genome-wide association study (GWAS) of BOR, performed in one of the largest BOR patient samples worldwide. The focus of our analysis was (i) to detect genes and gene sets involved in BOR and (ii) to investigate the genetic overlap with BIP. As there is considerable genetic overlap between BIP, major depression (MDD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) and a high comorbidity of BOR and MDD, we also analyzed the genetic overlap of BOR with SCZ and MDD. GWAS, gene-based tests and gene-set analyses were performed in 998 BOR patients and 1545 controls. Linkage disequilibrium score regression was used to detect the genetic overlap between BOR and these disorders. Single marker analysis revealed no significant association after correction for multiple testing. Gene-based analysis yielded two significant genes: DPYD (P=4.42 × 10−7) and PKP4 (P=8.67 × 10−7); and gene-set analysis yielded a significant finding for exocytosis (GO:0006887, PFDR=0.019; FDR, false discovery rate). Prior studies have implicated DPYD, PKP4 and exocytosis in BIP and SCZ. The most notable finding of the present study was the genetic overlap of BOR with BIP (rg=0.28 [P=2.99 × 10−3]), SCZ (rg=0.34 [P=4.37 × 10−5]) and MDD (rg=0.57 [P=1.04 × 10−3]). We believe our study is the first to demonstrate that BOR overlaps with BIP, MDD and SCZ on the genetic level. Whether this is confined to transdiagnostic clinical symptoms should be examined in future studies

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

HSP90 regulates temperature-dependent seedling growth in Arabidopsis by stabilizing the auxin co-receptor F-box protein TIR1

Recent studies have revealed that a mild increase in environmental temperature stimulates the growth of Arabidopsis seedlings by promoting biosynthesis of the plant hormone auxin. However, little is known about the role of other factors in this process. In this report we show that increased temperature promotes rapid accumulation of the TIR1 auxin co-receptor, an effect that is dependent on the molecular chaperone HSP90. In addition, we show that HSP90 and the co-chaperone SGT1 each interact with TIR1, confirming that TIR1 is an HSP90 client. Inhibition of HSP90 activity results in degradation of TIR1 and interestingly, defects in a range of auxin-mediated growth processes at lower as well as higher temperatures. Our results indicate that HSP90 and SGT1 integrate temperature and auxin signaling in order to regulate plant growth in a changing environment

Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty

This study explores how researchers’ analytical choices affect the reliability of scientific findings. Most discussions of reliability problems in science focus on systematic biases. We broaden the lens to emphasize the idiosyncrasy of conscious and unconscious decisions that researchers make during data analysis. We coordinated 161 researchers in 73 research teams and observed their research decisions as they used the same data to independently test the same prominent social science hypothesis: that greater immigration reduces support for social policies among the public. In this typical case of social science research, research teams reported both widely diverging numerical findings and substantive conclusions despite identical start conditions. Researchers’ expertise, prior beliefs, and expectations barely predict the wide variation in research outcomes. More than 95% of the total variance in numerical results remains unexplained even after qualitative coding of all identifiable decisions in each team’s workflow. This reveals a universe of uncertainty that remains hidden when considering a single study in isolation. The idiosyncratic nature of how researchers’ results and conclusions varied is a previously underappreciated explanation for why many scientific hypotheses remain contested. These results call for greater epistemic humility and clarity in reporting scientific findings

Posterior attachment of ciliary muscle in young, accommodating old, presbyopic monkeys

The authors studied the posterior attachment of the ciliary muscle in seven young (3-10 yr) and five old (26-34 yr) rhesus monkeys by light microscopy and electron microscopy. Posterior attachment of the muscle bundles consisted of elastic tendons, exclusively. The elastic tendons were continuous with the elastic lamina of Bruch's membrane and were also connected by smaller elastic fibers to an elastic meshwork that surrounds the pars plana vessels. In some areas, the tendons formed focal contacts with the endothelial cells. The authors found that in old eyes, the tendons and the elastic fibers of the posterior ciliary body showed pronounced structural changes. The tendons appeared thickened, showed increased amounts of associated microfibrils, and were surrounded by dense layers of thick collagen fibrils. An increased amount of collagen fibrils was also seen between the elastic layer of Bruch's membrane and the pigmented epithelium. A mechanical link between those collagen fibrils and the elastic fibers is suggested by the presence of osmiophilic points of contact. The age-related increase in elastic fibrillar material could cause decreased compliance of the posterior insertion of ciliary muscle and could be an essential factor for presbyopia in rhesus monkeys

Increase in types IV and VI collagen in cherry haemangiomas

The capillaries in cherry haemangiomas show perivascular hyalinized sheaths. In order to clarify the nature of this sheath material, the extracellular matrix of cherry haemangiomas from 20 normal volunteers (age range 30-64 years) was investigated using immunohistochemical and electronmicroscopical methods. Antibodies against collagen types III, IV and VI and laminin were used. Hyaluronic acid was visualized using the hyaluronic acid binding region of the cartilage proteoglycan as ligand. Electronmicroscopically, the sheaths contained multilaminated basement membrane-like material, collagen fibres 20-25 nm thick with a periodicity of 67 nm and broad-banded aggregates with a periodicity of 100 nm (zebra bodies or fibrous long-spacing fibres). Immunohistochemically, type IV collagen was stained throughout the whole sheath material. Staining for laminin was more confined to the endothelial side of the sheath. Intense staining for type III collagen and hyaluronic acid was found in the connective tissue of the subpapillary layer and between the cherry haemangioma capillaries. Much weaker staining for type III collagen and no staining for hyaluronic acid were found invariably in an area 4-10 microns thick directly around the capillaries. Both sheath material and intercapillary connective tissue of the haemangiomas showed pronounced staining for collagen type VI. Immunogold staining revealed that type VI collagen was localized to microfibrils 5-6 nm thick and to the broad-banded aggregates with 100 nm periodicity. These findings further underline the assumption that the broad-banded aggregates consist of type VI collagen

Age-related loss of ciliary muscle mobility in the rhesus monkey. Role of the choroid

Ciliary muscle topography was studied in rhesus monkey eyes (aged 6 to 29 years) bisected meridionally through cornea and optic nerve head. Half of each eye was incubated in atropine sulfate, the other in pilocarpine hydrochloride, and both were then processed for histologic study. Several ciliary muscle sections from the original cut margin and the middle of the half eyes were traced and compared quantitatively. In sections from the middle, where the attachments of the muscle were presumably intact, the pilocarpine effect on ciliary muscle topography was lost with age. In sections near the cut margin, where some of the posterior attachments were disrupted and the choroid had detached from the sclera, the pilocarpine effect persisted with age. These findings suggest that loss of ciliary muscle movement with age is caused by decreased compliance of its posterior attachment