Development of a polygenic risk score to improve screening for fracture risk: A genetic risk prediction study

Background Since screening programs identify only a small proportion of the population as eligible for an intervention, genomic prediction of heritable risk factors could decrease the number needing to be screened by removing individuals at low genetic risk. We therefore tested whether a polygenic risk score for heel quantitative ultrasound speed of sound (SOS)—a heritable risk factor for osteoporotic fracture—can identify low-risk individuals who can safely be excluded from a fracture risk screening program. Methods and findings A polygenic risk score for SOS was trained and selected in 2 separate subsets of UK Biobank (comprising 341,449 and 5,335 individuals). The top-performing prediction model was termed “gSOS”, and its utility in fracture risk screening was tested in 5 validation cohorts using the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group clinical guidelines (N = 10,522 eligible participants). All individuals were genome-wide genotyped and had measured fracture risk factors. Across the 5 cohorts, the average age ranged from 57 to 75 years, and 54% of studied individuals were women. The main outcomes were the sensitivity and specificity to correctly identify individuals requiring treatment with and without genetic prescreening. The reference standard was a bone mineral density (BMD)–based Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) score. The secondary outcomes were the proportions of the screened population requiring clinical-risk-factor-based FRAX (CRF-FRAX) screening and BMD-based FRAX (BMD-FRAX) screening. gSOS was strongly correlated with measured SOS (r2 = 23.2%, 95% CI 22.7% to 23.7%). Without genetic prescreening, guideline recommendations achieved a sensitivity and specificity for correct treatment assignment of 99.6% and 97.1%, respectively, in the validation cohorts. However, 81% of the population required CRF-FRAX tests, and 37% required BMD-FRAX tests to achieve this accuracy. Using gSOS in prescreening and limiting further assessment to those with a low gSOS resulted in small changes to the sensitivity and specificity (93.4% and 98.5%, respectively), but the proportions of individuals requiring CRF-FRAX tests and BMD-FRAX tests were reduced by 37% and 41%, respectively. Study limitations include a reliance on cohorts of predominantly European ethnicity and use of a proxy of fracture risk. Conclusions Our results suggest that the use of a polygenic risk score in fracture risk screening could decrease the number of individuals requiring screening tests, including BMD measurement, while maintaining a high sensitivity and specificity to identify individuals who should be recommended an intervention

Genetic Sharing with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Diabetes Reveals Novel Bone Mineral Density Loci.

Bone Mineral Density (BMD) is a highly heritable trait, but genome-wide association studies have identified few genetic risk factors. Epidemiological studies suggest associations between BMD and several traits and diseases, but the nature of the suggestive comorbidity is still unknown. We used a novel genetic pleiotropy-informed conditional False Discovery Rate (FDR) method to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with BMD by leveraging cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated disorders and metabolic traits. By conditioning on SNPs associated with the CVD-related phenotypes, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, triglycerides and waist hip ratio, we identified 65 novel independent BMD loci (26 with femoral neck BMD and 47 with lumbar spine BMD) at conditional FDR < 0.01. Many of the loci were confirmed in genetic expression studies. Genes validated at the mRNA levels were characteristic for the osteoblast/osteocyte lineage, Wnt signaling pathway and bone metabolism. The results provide new insight into genetic mechanisms of variability in BMD, and a better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of clinical comorbidity

The selective response of photographic emulsions to ion structure

The simultaneous exposure of a photographic emulsion to naphthalene and Xe ions, i.e. polyat. and monoat. ions of the same nominal mass, demonstrated a 250% higher emulsion response to the naphthalene mol. ion than to Xe+. Also, the more compact naphthalene mol. ion tended to give a darker image on the emulsion than the more conformationally mobile n-nonane ion. However, the emulsion response was essentially the same for the naphthalene and quinoline ions, which have similar shape and size

Ion detection in mass spectrometry. The dependence of ion-sensitive plate response on ion structure and composition

The response of various types of ion-sensitive plates as a function of ion structure and composition has been investigated. Several ions of similar nominal mass and equal energy covering a wide variation in structure have been studied. It has been found that the response of the emulsion is dependent on the structure and composition of the impinging ion. The selectivity of emulsion response to molecular ions of variant structure is discussed in terms of a mathematical model proposed by Honig. The experimental results suggest that monoatomic ions and ions generally containing a smaller number of atoms produce darker photographic images than ions of the same mass and energy, but of more polyatomic nature. Ions of similar structure produce images of equal relative intensity but a dependence on chemical composition is also apparent. The evaporated silver bromide plates exhibited a linear relationship of total peak area versus log relative exposure over a dynamic range of at least 100

CD97 antibody depletes granulocytes in mice under conditions of acute inflammation via a Fc receptor-dependent mechanism.

Item does not contain fulltextAntibodies to the pan-leukocyte adhesion-GPCR CD97 efficiently block neutrophil recruitment in mice, thereby reducing antibacterial host defense, inflammatory disease, and hematopoietic stem cell mobilization. Here, we investigated the working mechanism of the CD97 antibody 1B2. Applying sterile models of inflammation, intravital microscopy, and mice deficient for the CD97L CD55, the complement component C3, or the FcR common gamma-chain, we show that 1B2 acts in vivo independent of ligand-binding interference by depleting PMN granulocytes in bone marrow and blood. Granulocyte depletion with 1B2 involved FcR but not complement activation and was associated with increased serum levels of TNF and other proinflammatory cytokines. Notably, depletion of granulocytes by CD97 antibody required acute inflammation, suggesting a mechanism of conditional, antibody-mediated granulocytopenia.1 maart 201