Project description:LC-MS/MS analysis formula was performed for sera from 22 mother-infant dyads with HLA-conferred susceptibility to type 1 diabetes that were weaned to either an extensively hydrolyzed or regular infant milk. The samples included three samples from each mother (at the beginning of third trimester, at the time of delivery and 3 months postpartum) and five samples from each child (cord blood, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months). Targeted proteomics was used to validate differences observed between the feeding groups.Correlations in protein intensities within the dyads were detected together with perinatal and age-related changes.
Project description:In this project we will investigate the peptides present by HLA-DQ8. We will identify linear, spliced and PTM peptides from one cell line.
Project description:Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae. Genetic association studies indicated that leprosy risk is strongly associated with variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region, but the full number of variants in this region has yet to be elucidated. To identify further susceptibility loci or loss of function variants for this disease, we performed fine-mapping analysis of the MHC region using a Han Chinese reference panel (n= 10,689 patients, 29,948 genetic markers) in the data sets from our previous leprosy studies. Then, a fixed-effect meta-analysis was carried out separately for Chinese (case=2,901, control=3,801) and North Chinese (case=1,983, control=2,635) participants. The meta-analysis of Chinese participants identified 10 HLA-type or amino acid variants with lower than the genome-wide significant susceptibility signal. Next, gene-by-gene step-wise conditional analysis was performed in the combined dataset of these cohorts. Finally, we identified four new independent susceptibility loci (HLA-DQA1, HLA-C, rs3129063, and rs58327373) and confirmed one previously reported locus (HLA-DRB1) that significantly associated with leprosy in the Chinese Han population. Thus the results of this study increase knowledge about leprosy risk variants and illustrate the value of HLA imputation for fine mapping of causal variants in the MHC.
Project description:Type 1 diabetes (T1D) usually has a preclinical phase identified by the presence of circulating autoantibodies to pancreatic islet antigens, and most young children who have multiple autoantibodies progress to diabetes within 10 years. While autoantibodies denote underlying islet autoimmunity, how this process is initiated and then progresses to clinical diabetes on a background of genetic susceptibility is not clearly understood. We analysed gene expression by RNA-seq in four types of immune cells from five genetically at-risk children with islet autoantibodies who progressed to diabetes in ≤ 3 years (‘progressors’) and in five at-risk children matched for sex, age and HLA who had not progressed to diabetes (‘non-progressors’).
Project description:The complex milieu of inflammatory mediators associated with many diseases is often too dilute to directly measure in the periphery, necessitating development of more sensitive measurements suitable for mechanistic studies, earlier diagnosis, guiding selection of therapy, and monitoring interventions. Previously, we determined that plasma of recent-onset (RO) Type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients induce a proinflammatory transcriptional signature in fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) relative to that of unrelated healthy controls (HC). Here, using an optimized cryopreserved PBMC-based protocol, we analyzed larger RO T1D, HC, and healthy T1D sibling cohorts. In addition, we examined T1D progression by looking at longitudinal samples. UPN727 cells were stimulated with Auto-antibody-negative (AA-) High HLA Risk Siblings plasma (n=30), Auto-antibody-negative (AA-) Low HLA Risk Siblings plasma (n=42), Recent onset T1DM plasma cultured with IL1RA (n=42), or longitudinal series plasma on T1DM progressor (n=27 chips, 5 series), on auto-antibody-positive (AA+) High HLA Risk Siblings (n=54 chips, 9 series), on auto-antibody-negative (AA-) High HLA Risk Siblings (n=60 chips, 12 series), on auto-antibody-negative (AA-) Low HLA Risk Siblings (n=31 chips, 6 series). Gene expression analysis was perfromed in order to evaluate the transcriptional signature associated with T1D.