Project description:Genetic variation in the androgen receptor (AR) gene may be associated with endometrial cancer risk based on the role of AR in regulating androgen levels. However, endometrial cancer studies reported inconsistent associations for a CAG repeat polymorphism in exon 1. Only one of these studies measured haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNP) in AR and found statistically nonsignificant, decreased associations with endometrial cancer risk. In a population-based case-control study of 497 cases and 1,024 controls, we examined the CAG repeat polymorphism and six htSNPs (rs962458, rs6152, rs1204038, rs2361634, rs1337080, and rs1337082), which cover an estimated 80% of the known common variation in AR among Caucasian populations. CAG repeat length was not significantly associated with endometrial cancer [odds ratio per unit increase in the average number of repeats, 1.02 (95% confidence interval, 0.97-1.08); P(trend) = 0.29]. Minor alleles in three correlated htSNPs (rs6152, rs1204038, and rs1337082; r(2) >0.6) were associated with increased risk for endometrial cancer. The strongest association was observed for rs6152, with the odds ratios (95% confidence interval) being 1.13 (0.89-1.44) for heterozygous and 2.40 (1.28-4.51) for homozygous minor genotypes (P(trend) = 0.02) compared with homozygous major allele genotype. However, these associations were not statistically significant after permutation adjustment for multiple comparisons (P(trend) > 0.09). Haplotype analyses did not reveal any additional associations with endometrial cancer. Results from our study, taken together with previously published studies, provide little evidence of a consistent association between common genetic variation in AR and endometrial cancer risk.
Project description:Together, steroidogenic acute regulator (StAR) and the cholesterol side chain cleavage enzyme (P450scc), which is encoded by CYP11A1, mediate the initial and rate-limiting step in steroidogenesis. Given the role of estrogens in endometrial carcinogenesis, we hypothesized that genetic variation in StAR and CYP11A1 genes may influence endometrial cancer risk.We genotyped four CYP11A1 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two StAR SNPs in endometrial cancer case-control studies nested within the Nurses' Health Study (553 cases and 1339 controls) and the Women's Health Study (137 cases and 411 controls). We calculated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using conditional and unconditional logistic regression adjusted for endometrial cancer risk factors to examine the association between SNPs/haplotypes and endometrial cancer.We observed an increased risk for women carrying the variant allele for rs4555110 (odds ratio (OR)=1.3, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.1-1.7), rs3825944 (OR=1.4, 95% CI=1.1-1.8), and rs7173655 (OR=1.3, 95% CI=1.0-1.7) CYP11A1 SNPs but no significant associations with CYP11A1 haplotypes. CYP11A1 SNPs were not predictive of plasma estradiol levels. We observed no associations between StAR SNPs and endometrial cancer risk.Genetic variants in CYP11A1 may influence endometrial cancer risk or may be markers for causal variants elsewhere. Polymorphisms in StAR are not associated with endometrial cancer risk, but further research is needed.
Project description:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to more than 6.4 million deaths worldwide. The prevalent comorbidity between hypertension and severe COVID-19 suggests common genetic factors may affect the outcome of both diseases. As both hypertension and severe COVID-19 demonstrate sex-biased prevalence, common genetic factors between the two diseases may display sex-biased differential associations. By evaluating COVID-19 association signals of 172-candidate hypertension single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) derived from more than 1 million European individuals in two sex-stratified severe COVID-19 genome-wide association studies from UK BioBank with European ancestry, we revealed one functional cis expression quantitative trait locus of SPEG (rs12474050) showing sex-biased association with severe COVID-19 in women. The risk allele rs12474050*T associates with higher blood pressure. In our study, we found it is significantly correlated with lower SPEG expression in muscle-skeletal but with higher expression in both brain cerebellum and cerebellar hemisphere. Additionally, nominal significances were detected for the association between rs12474050*T and lower SPEG expression in both heart left ventricle and atrial appendage; among these tissues, the SPEG expression is nominally significantly higher in females than in males. Further analysis revealed SPEG is mainly expressed in cardiomyocytes in heart and is upregulated upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, with significantly higher upregulation of SPEG only observed in female but not in male COVID-19 patients compared to both normal female and male individuals, suggesting upregulation of SPEG is a female-specific protective mechanism against COVID-19 induced heart damage. Taken together, our analyses suggest the involvement of SPEG in both hypertension and severe COVID-19 in women, which provides new insights for sex-biased effect of severe COVID-19 in women.
Project description:The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is associated with secondary bacterial and fungal infections globally. In India, inappropriate use of glucocorticoids, high prevalence of diabetes mellitus and a conducive environment for fungal growth are considered as the main factors for increased incidence of COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM). Few cases of CAM without steroid abuse and normal blood glucose levels were also reported during the pandemic. This study was designed to explore whether altered immune responses due to severe COVID-19 infection predisposes towards development of mucormycosis. The global transcriptome profiling of monocytes and granulocytic cells derived from CAM, Mucormycosis, COVID-19 and healthy control groups were performed to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in dysregulated host immune response towards respective diseased and healthy conditions.
Project description:The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway plays a critical role in the growth and development of the uterus and is believed to function as a mediator of steroid hormone actions in the endometrium. The local expression of genes encoding IGFs and IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) is important in determining IGF bioactivity in the uterus. Genetic variation in key genes within the IGF pathway may influence the rate of cellular proliferation and differentiation in the uterus and ultimately affect the risk of endometrial cancer. Our hypothesis is that variant alleles in key genes involved in the IGF pathway will influence the development of endometrial cancer.We conducted a case-control study nested within the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and the Women's Health Study (WHS) to investigate the association between forty-four polymorphisms within IGFI, IGFII, IGFBP-1, and IGFBP-3 with endometrial cancer risk using 692 invasive endometrial cancer cases and 1723 matched controls. We used conditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the risk of endometrial cancer.We observed an inverse association with IGFII rs3741211 and endometrial cancer risk (OR=0.79 (95% CI: 0.63, 0.99)) and IGFII rs1004446 and endometrial cancer risk (OR=0.80 (95% CI: 0.68, 0.94)). We also observed an inverse association with IGFBP-3 rs2453839 and endometrial cancer risk (OR=0.81 (95%CI: 0.67, 0.98). However, we did not observe any statistically significant associations with the polymorphisms in IGFI and IGFBP1 and endometrial cancer risk.Genetic variation with IGFII and IGFBP-3 may influence endometrial cancer risk in Caucasians. Polymorphisms in IGFI and IGFBP-1 were not associated with endometrial cancer risk, but further research is needed.