Publications

958 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 958

Abstract

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Authors: L. Felsberg, B. Grünewald, N. Honisch, R. Repges, T. Tolxdorff, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 1983

Publication Type: Misc

Abstract

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Authors: B. Schreiweis, D. Ammon, M. Sedlmayr, F. Albashiti, T. Wendt

Date Published: 2019

Publication Type: InBook

Abstract

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Authors: Alfred Winter, L. Ißler, Franziska Jahn, A. Strübing, T. Wendt

Date Published: 2010

Publication Type: Misc

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Authors: Reinhold Haux, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 29

Publication Type: Misc

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Authors: H. Janßen, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 1990

Publication Type: InCollection

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Authors: F. Stephan, R. Hussein, Alfred Winter, Franziska Jahn, Sebastian Stäubert, Alexander Strübing

Date Published: 2010

Publication Type: InCollection

Abstract

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Authors: Alfred Winter, R. Zimmerling, O. Bott, S. Gräber, W. Hasselbring, Reinhold Haux, A. Heinrich, R. Jaeger, I. Kock, D. P. F. Möller, O. Penger, J. Ritter, A. Terstappen

Date Published: 1997

Publication Type: InCollection

Abstract

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Authors: Alfred Winter, R.-D. Hilgers, R. Hofestädt, Petra Knaup-Gregori, C. Ose, A. Timmer

Date Published: 8th Jan 2018

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: The secondary use of deidentified but not anonymized patient data is a promising approach for enabling precision medicine and learning health care systems. In most national jurisdictions (e.g., in Europe), this type of secondary use requires patient consent. While various ethical, legal, and technical analyses have stressed the opportunities and challenges for different types of consent over the past decade, no country has yet established a national consent standard accepted by the relevant authorities. METHODS: A working group of the national Medical Informatics Initiative in Germany conducted a requirements analysis and developed a GDPR-compliant broad consent standard. The development included consensus procedures within the Medical Informatics Initiative, a documented consultation process with all relevant stakeholder groups and authorities, and the ultimate submission for approval via the national data protection authorities. RESULTS: This paper presents the broad consent text together with a guidance document on mandatory safeguards for broad consent implementation. The mandatory safeguards comprise i) independent review of individual research projects, ii) organizational measures to protect patients from involuntary disclosure of protected information, and iii) comprehensive information for patients and public transparency. This paper further describes the key issues discussed with the relevant authorities, especially the position on additional or alternative consent approaches such as dynamic consent. DISCUSSION: Both the resulting broad consent text and the national consensus process are relevant for similar activities internationally. A key challenge of aligning consent documents with the various stakeholders was explaining and justifying the decision to use broad consent and the decision against using alternative models such as dynamic consent. Public transparency for all secondary use projects and their results emerged as a key factor in this justification. While currently largely limited to academic medicine in Germany, the first steps for extending this broad consent approach to wider areas of application, including smaller institutions and medical practices, are currently under consideration.

Authors: Sven Zenker, Daniel Strech, Kristina Ihrig, Roland Jahns, Gabriele Müller, Christoph Schickhardt, Georg Schmidt, Ronald Speer, Eva Winkler, Sebastian Graf von Kielmansegg, Johannes Drepper

Date Published: 1st Jul 2022

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Introduction LIFE child as a part of the 'Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases' is a longitudinal cohort study aiming, inter alia, at monitoring normal development in children and adolescents from fetal life to adulthood. As an important part of the study, anthropometric dimensions are measured via classic methods, e.g. stadiometer or tape measure (ca. 15 items), but also via 3D body scanner technology (ca. 150 items). Because of missing standards data quality control and analysis of the latter one is a particular challenge. Methods We address the problem of absent reference values by using the data itself as a reference sample. Applying the LMS-method using the VGAM/GAMLSS packages [XXX] on a reference sample which is large enough results in age and gender corrected standard deviation scores (SDS) respectively percentile curves. A combination of variable clustering and clustering of values using these SDS is applied to the detect groups of dependend variables and peculiar cases respectively. Results In LIFE child the current reference sample consists of around 4000 scans of 1700 children. The age dependend l, m, and s values for each item are generated by dedicated R-routines and stored in a relational database system. The transformation algorithm by Cole is implemented as database function and dynamically applied on all associated raw data. Conspiciuous values can be detected using the SDS itself or the SDS in comparison with the belonging variable cluster and/or taking into account the follow-up data of the respective participant. These values can be reported and visualized using automated routines.

Authors: M. Vogel, A.L. Fischer, C. Bucher, W. Kiess, Toralf Kirsten

Date Published: 1st Nov 2014

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Coeliac disease (CD) is a clinically heterogeneous autoimmune disease with variable presentation and progression triggered by gluten intake. Molecular or genetic factors contribute to disease heterogeneity, but the reasons for different outcomes are poorly understood. Transcriptome studies of tissue biopsies from CD patients are scarce. Here, we present a high-resolution analysis of the transcriptomes extracted from duodenal biopsies of 24 children and adolescents with active CD and 21 individuals without CD but with intestinal afflictions as controls. The transcriptomes of CD patients divide into three groups-a mixed group presenting the control cases, and CD-low and CD-high groups referring to lower and higher levels of CD severity. Persistence of symptoms was weakly associated with subgroup, but the highest marsh stages were present in subgroup CD-high, together with the highest cell cycle rates as an indicator of virtually complete villous atrophy. Considerable variation in inflammation-level between subgroups was further deciphered into immune cell types using cell type de-convolution. Self-organizing maps portrayal was applied to provide high-resolution landscapes of the CD-transcriptome. We find asymmetric patterns of miRNA and long non-coding RNA and discuss the effect of epigenetic regulation. Expression of genes involved in interferon gamma signaling represent suitable markers to distinguish CD from non-CD cases. Multiple pathways overlay in CD biopsies in different ways, giving rise to heterogeneous transcriptional patterns, which potentially provide information about etiology and the course of the disease.

Authors: J. Wolf, E. Willscher, H. Loeffler-Wirth, M. Schmidt, G. Flemming, M. Zurek, H. H. Uhlig, N. Handel, H. Binder

Date Published: 4th Mar 2021

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Computer-based clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are still today not in widespread use, although there has been extensive research and development for several decades. We have, based on the literature of the last years, summarised some of the problems that may lead to low user acceptance and that should be addressed more extensive in future developments of CDSSs. We describe different aspects of the usefulness of CDSSs according to the elements (relevance, validity, and work) of a formula of usefulness of information, and, in a short section, refer to the discussion about clinical guidelines.

Authors: T. Wendt, Petra Knaup-Gregori, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 2000

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract

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Authors: Thomas Wendt, Petra Knaup-Gregori, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 2000

Publication Type: InProceedings

Abstract (Expand)

Infrared (IR) spectroscopic imaging coupled with microscopy has been used to investigate thin sections of cervix uteri encompassing normal tissue, precancerous structures, and squamous cell carcinoma. Methods for unsupervised distinction of tissue types based on IR spectroscopy were developed. One-hundred and twenty-two images of cervical tissue were recorded by an FTIR spectrometer with a 64x64 focal plane array detector. The 499,712 IR spectra obtained were grouped by an approach which used fuzzy C-means clustering followed by hierarchical cluster analysis. The resulting false color maps were correlated with the morphological characteristics of an adjacent section of hematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue. In the first step, cervical stroma, epithelium, inflammation, blood vessels, and mucus could be distinguished in IR images by analysis of the spectral fingerprint region (950-1480 cm(-1)). In the second step, analysis in the spectral window 1420-1480 cm(-1) enables, for the first time, IR spectroscopic distinction between the basal layer, dysplastic lesions and squamous cell carcinoma within a particular sample. The joint application of IR microspectroscopic imaging and multivariate spectral processing combines diffraction-limited lateral optical resolution on the single cell level with highly specific and sensitive spectral classification on the molecular level. Compared with previous reports our approach constitutes a significant progress in the development of optical molecular spectroscopic techniques toward an additional diagnostic tool for the early histopathological characterization of cervical cancer.

Authors: W. Steller, J. Einenkel, L. C. Horn, U. D. Braumann, H. Binder, R. Salzer, C. Krafft

Date Published: 6th Dec 2005

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: cervical cancer

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Authors: T. Ganslandt, M. Boeker, Matthias Löbe, F. Prasser, J. Schepers, S. C. Semler, S. Thun, U. Sax

Date Published: 2018

Publication Type: InBook

Abstract

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Authors: D. Ammon, A. Bietenbeck, M. Boeker, T. Ganslandt, S. Heckmann, K. Heitmann, U. Sax, J. Schepers, S. C. Semler, S. Thun, S. Zautke

Date Published: 2019

Publication Type: Misc

Abstract

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Authors: J. Pilz, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 25

Publication Type: Misc

Abstract (Expand)

Die Notwendigkeit des Managements von Forschungsdaten ist von der Forschungscommunity erkannt – Sponsoren, Gesetzgeber, Verlage erwarten und fördern die Einhaltung der guten wissenschaftlichen Praxis, was nicht nur die Archivierung umfasst, sondern auch die Verfügbarkeit von Forschungsdaten- und ergebnissen im Sinne der FAIR-Prinzipien. Der Leipzig Health Atlas (LHA) ist ein Projekt zur Präsentation und zum Austausch eines breiten Spektrums von Publikationen, (bio) medizinischen Daten (z.B. klinisch, epidemiologisch, molekular), Modellen und Tools z.B. zur Risikoberechnung in der Gesundheitsforschung. Die Verbundpartner decken hierbei einen breiten Bereich wissenschaftlicher Disziplinen ab, beginnend von medizinischer Systembiologie über klinische und epidemiologische Forschung bis zu ontologischer und dynamischer Modellierung. Derzeit sind 18 Forschungskonsortien beteiligt (u.a. zu den Domänen Lymphome, Gliome, Sepsis, Erblicher Darm- und Brustkrebs), die Daten aus klinischen Studien, Patientenkohorten, epidemiologischen Kohorten, teilweise mit umfangreichen molekularen und genetischen Profilen, sammeln. Die Modellierung umfasst algorithmische Phänotypklassifizierung, Risikovorhersage und Krankheitsdynamik. Wir konnten in einer ersten Entwicklungsphase zeigen, dass unsere webbasierte Plattform geeignet ist, um (1) Methoden zur Verfügung zu stellen, um individuelle Patientendaten aus Publikationen für eine Weiternutzung zugänglich zu machen, (2) algorithmische Werkzeuge zur Phänotypisierung und Risikoprofilerstellung zu präsentieren, (3) Werkzeuge zur Durchführung dynamischer Krankheits- und Therapiemodelle interaktiv verfügbar zu machen und (4) strukturierte Metadaten zu quantitativen und qualitativen Merkmalen bereit zu stellen. Die semantische Datenintegration liefert hierzu die Technologien (Ontologien und Datamining Werkzeuge) für die (semantische) Datenintegration und Wissensanreicherung. Darüber hinaus stellt sie Werkzeuge zur Verknüpfung eigener Daten, Analyseergebnisse, öffentlich zugänglicher Daten- und Metadaten-Repositorien sowie zur Verdichtung komplexer Daten zur Verfügung. Eine Arbeitsgruppe zur Applikationsentwicklung und –validierung entwickelt innovative paradigmatische Anwendungen für (1) die klinische Entscheidungsfindung für Krebsstudien, die genetische Beratung, für Risikovorhersagemodelle sowie Gewebe- und Krankheitsmodelle und (2) Anwendungen (sog. Apps), die sich auf die Charakterisierung neuer Phänotypen (z.B. ‚omics‘-Merkmale, Körpertypen, Referenzwerte) aus epidemiologischen Studien konzentrieren. Diese Anwendungen werden gemeinsam mit klinischen Experten, Genetikern, Systembiologen, Biometrikern und Bioinformatikern spezifiziert. Der LHA stellt Integrationstechnologie bereit und implementiert die Anwendungen für die User Communities unter Verwendung verschiedener Präsentationswerkzeuge bzw. Technologien (z.B. R-Shiny, i2b2, Kubernetes, SEEK). Dazu ist es erforderlich, die Daten und Metadaten vor dem Hochladen zu kuratieren, Erlaubnisse der Datenbesitzer einzuholen, die erforderlichen Datenschutzkriterien zu berücksichtigen und semantische Annotationen zu überprüfen. Zudem werden die zugelieferten Modellalgorithmen in einer qualitätsgesicherten Weise aufbereitet und, soweit anwendbar, online interaktiv zur Verfügung gestellt. Der LHA richtet sich insbesondere an die Zielgruppen Kliniker, Epidemiologen, Molekulargenetiker, Humangenetiker, Pathologen, Biostatistiker und Modellierer ist aber unter www.healthatlas.de öffentlich zugänglich – aus rechtlichen Gründen erfordert der Zugriff auf bestimmte Applikationen und Datensätze zusätzliche Autorisierung. Das Projekt wird über das BMBF Programm i:DSem (Integrative Datensemantik für die Systemmedizin, Förderkennzeichen 031L0026) gefördert.

Authors: F. A. Meineke, Sebastian Stäubert, Matthias Löbe, C. Beger, René Hänsel, A. Uciteli, H. Binder, T. Kirsten, M. Scholz, H. Herre, C. Engel, Markus Löffler

Date Published: 19th Sep 2019

Publication Type: Misc

Abstract (Expand)

Phenotyping means the determination of clinical relevant phenotypes, e.g. by classification or calculation based on EHR data. Within the German Medical Informatics Initiative, the SMITH consortium is working on the implementation of a phenotyping pipeline. to extract, structure and normalize information from the EHR data of the hospital information systems of the participating sites; to automatically apply complex algorithms and models and to enrich the data within the research data warehouses of the distributed data integration centers with the computed results. Here we present the overall picture and essential building blocks and workflows of this concept.

Authors: Frank A Meineke, Sebastian Stäubert, Matthias Löbe, Alexandr Uciteli, Markus Löffler

Date Published: 1st Sep 2019

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Phenotyping means the determination of clinical relevant phenotypes, e.g. by classification or calculation based on EHR data. Within the German Medical Informatics Initiative, the SMITH consortium is working on the implementation of a phenotyping pipeline. to extract, structure and normalize information from the EHR data of the hospital information systems of the participating sites; to automatically apply complex algorithms and models and to enrich the data within the research data warehouses of the distributed data integration centers with the computed results. Here we present the overall picture and essential building blocks and workflows of this concept.

Authors: F. A. Meineke, S. Staubert, M. Lobe, A. Uciteli, M. Loffler

Date Published: 3rd Sep 2019

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Healthcare and medical research in Germany are heading to more interconnected systems. New initiatives are funded by the German government to encourage the development of Integrated Research and Treatment Centers (IFB). Within an IFB new organizational structures and infrastructures for interdisciplinary, translational and trans-sectoral working relationship between existing rigid separated sectors are intended and needed. This paper describes how an IT-infrastructure of an IFB could look like, what major challenges have to be solved and what methods can be used to plan such a complex IT-infrastructure in the field of healthcare. By means of project management, system analyses, process models, 3LGM\textlesssup\textgreater2\textless/sup\textgreater-models and resource plans an appropriate concept with different views is created. This concept supports the information management in its enterprise architecture planning activities and implies a first step of implementing a connected healthcare and medical research platform.

Authors: Sebastian Stäubert, Alfred Winter, R. Speer, M. Loffler

Date Published: 2010

Publication Type: InCollection

Abstract (Expand)

Secondary use of electronic health record (EHR) data requires a detailed description of metadata, especially when data collection and data re-use are organizationally and technically far apart. This paper describes the concept of the SMITH consortium that includes conventions, processes, and tools for describing and managing metadata using common standards for semantic interoperability. It deals in particular with the chain of processing steps of data from existing information systems and provides an overview of the planned use of metadata, medical terminologies, and semantic services in the consortium.

Authors: M. Lobe, O. Beyan, S. Staubert, F. Meineke, D. Ammon, A. Winter, S. Decker, M. Loffler, T. Kirsten

Date Published: 21st Aug 2019

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Astrocytomas represent the largest and most common subgroup of brain tumors. Anaplastic astrocytoma (WHO grade III) may arise from low-grade diffuse astrocytoma (WHO grade II) or as primary tumors without any precursor lesion. Comprehensive analyses of anaplastic astrocytomas combining both cytogenetic and molecular cytogenetic techniques are rare. Therefore, we analyzed genomic alterations of five anaplastic astrocytomas using high-density single nucleotide polymorphism arrays combined with GTG-banding and FISH-techniques. By cytogenetics, we found 169 structural chromosomal aberrations most frequently involving chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, and 12, including two not previously described alterations, a nonreciprocal translocation t(3;11)(p12;q13), and one interstitial chromosomal deletion del(2)(q21q31). Additionally, we detected previously not documented loss of heterozygosity (LOH) without copy number changes in 4/5 anaplastic astrocytomas on chromosome regions 5q11.2, 5q22.1, 6q21, 7q21.11, 7q31.33, 8q11.22, 14q21.1, 17q21.31, and 17q22, suggesting segmental uniparental disomy (UPD), applying high-density single nucleotide polymorphism arrays. UPDs are currently considered to play an important role in the initiation and progression of different malignancies. The significance of previously not described genetic alterations in anaplastic astrocytomas presented here needs to be confirmed in a larger series.

Authors: Heidrun Holland, Peter Ahnert, Ronald Koschny, Holger Kirsten, Manfred Bauer, Ralf Schober, Jürgen Meixensberger, Dominik Fritzsch, Wolfgang Krupp

Date Published: 1st Jun 2012

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Analyses of the pore size distribution in 3D matrices such as the cell-hydrogel interface are very useful when studying changes and modifications produced as a result of cellular growth and proliferation within the matrix, as pore size distribution plays an important role in the signaling and microenvironment stimuli imparted to the cells. However, the majority of the methods for the assessment of the porosity in biomaterials are not suitable to give quantitative information about the textural properties of these nano-interfaces. FINDINGS: Here, we report a methodology for determining pore size distribution at the cell-hydrogel interface, and the depth of the matrix modified by cell growth by entrapped HepG(2) cells in microcapsules made of 0.8% and 1.4% w/v alginate. The method is based on the estimation of the shortest distance between two points of the fibril-like network hydrogel structures using image analysis of TEM pictures. Values of pore size distribution determined using the presented method and those obtained by nitrogen physisorption measurements were compared, showing good agreement. A combination of these methodologies and a study of the cell-hydrogel interface at various cell culture times showed that after three days of culture, HepG(2) cells growing in hydrogels composed of 0.8% w/v alginate had more coarse of pores at depths up to 40 nm inwards (a phenomenon most notable in the first 20 nm from the interface). This coarsening phenomenon was weakly observed in the case of cells cultured in hydrogels composed of 1.4% w/v alginate. CONCLUSIONS: The method purposed in this paper allows us to obtain information about the radial deformation of the hydrogel matrix due to cell growth, and the consequent modification of the pore size distribution pattern surrounding the cells, which are extremely important for a wide spectrum of biotechnological, pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

Authors: A. Leal-Egana, U. D. Braumann, A. Diaz-Cuenca, M. Nowicki, A. Bader

Date Published: 27th May 2011

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Introduction: Evidence-based health informatics needs easy access to published health IT evaluation studies. The indexing of health IT evaluation studies by using MeSH terms is not specific enough which makes retrieval difficult [ref:1]. To solve this problem, we want to support the retrieval[for full text, please go to the a.m. URL]

Authors: Verena Dornauer, Maryam Ghalandari, Konrad Höffner, Franziska Jahn, Alfred Winter, Elske Ammenwerth

Date Published: 2019

Publication Type: Misc

Abstract (Expand)

Background and objectives: Obesity has been associated with increased risk of dementia. Grey and white matter (WM) of the brain are commonly used as biomarkers for early detection of dementia. However, considering WM, available neuroimaging studies had mainly small sample size and yielded less conclusive results (Kullmann et al., 2015). Recently, a positive correlation between obesity and fractional anisotropy (FA) in a middle age group was reported (Birdsill et al. 2017). Furthermore, obesity is related to many medical problems such as diabetes and hypertension. Diabetes and hypertension were found to be correlated with brain structures independently (de Leeuw et al., 2002; Weinstein et al., 2015). Yet, studies rarely investigated non-lesion WM microstructure and its association with diabetes and blood pressure. Therefore we aim to investigate the relation between abdominal obesity, diabetes, blood pressure and WM microstructural variability in a large cohort of community-dwelling healthy adults. Methods: The sample included dementia-free participants (mean age 55 ± 16 years; 50.7% women) of the LIFE cohort with brain MRI scans (n = 1255). WM microstructure was measured with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Mean FA was derived from the individual WM skeleton processed by tract-based-spatial-statistic method. Linear regression models were used to assess the relationships between diabetes, blood pressure, waist to hip ratio (WHR) and DTI parameters. Adjustments were made for age, sex, education and Apoe4. Results: The preliminary result indicated diabetes, systolic blood pressure and WHR were independently associated with lower FA, and diabetes explained the most variance besides age. Subgroup analysis revealed both systolic blood pressure and WHR were negatively associated with mean FA in the non-diabetes group (n=1101). Conclusions: The preliminary result of our study indicates that diabetes accelerated brain aging on directional diffusion of WM. Abdominal fat and blood pressure were associated with WM variabilities independently from age, sex and diabetes. With subsequent analysis of additional DTI measures, blood parameters, WM hyperintensity maps and voxel-based microstructural WM “integrity”, we aim to further characterize the associations between obesity, diabetes, blood pressure and WM microstructure. This will contribute to the existing literature and help to disentangle the underlying mechanism.

Authors: Rui Zhang, Frauke Beyer, L. Lampe, T. Luck, S. G. Riedel-Heller, M. Stumvoll, Markus Löffler, M. L. Schroeter, A. Villringer, A. V. Witte

Date Published: 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension

Abstract (Expand)

The Li-Fraumeni cancer predisposition syndrome (LFS1) presents with a variety of tumor types and the TP53 gene is covered by most diagnostic cancer gene panels. We demonstrate that deleterious TP53 variants identified in blood-derived DNA of 523 patients with ovarian cancer (AGO-TR1 trial) were not causal for the patients’ ovarian cancer in three out of six TP53-positive cases. In three out of six patients, deleterious TP53 mutations were identified with low variant fractions in blood-derived DNA but not in the tumor of the patient seeking advice. The analysis of the TP53 and PPM1D genes, both intimately involved in chemotherapy-induced and/or age-related clonal hematopoiesis (CH), in 523 patients and 1,053 age-matched female control individuals revealed that CH represents a frequent event following chemotherapy, affecting 26 of the 523 patients enrolled (5.0%). Considering that TP53 mutations may arise from chemotherapy-induced CH, our findings help to avoid false-positive genetic diagnoses of LFS1.

Authors: Konstantin Weber-Lassalle, Philipp Harter, Jan Hauke, Corinna Ernst, Stefan Kommoss, Frederik Marmé, Nana Weber-Lassalle, Katharina Prieske, Dimo Dietrich, Julika Borde, Esther Pohl-Rescigno, Alexander Reuss, Beyhan Ataseven, Christoph Engel, Julia C. Stingl, Rita K. Schmutzler, Eric Hahnen

Date Published: 1st Dec 2018

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Abstract

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Authors: Alfred Winter, R. Zimmerling

Date Published: 1995

Publication Type: InCollection

Abstract

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Authors: Ulrike Müller, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 2007

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract

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Author: Alfred Winter

Date Published: 1990

Publication Type: Phd Thesis

Abstract (Expand)

Prognostically relevant risk factors in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have predominantly been evaluated in elderly populations. We tested whether previously described risk factors are also valid in younger, poor-prognosis DLBCL patients. Paraffin-embedded samples from 112 patients with de novo DLBCL, enrolled in the R-MegaCHOEP trial of the German High Grade Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group (DSHNHL) were investigated using immunohistochemistry (MYC, FOXP1, LMO2, GCET1, CD5, CD10, BCL2, BCL6, IRF4/MUM1) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (MYC, BCL2, BCL6). MYC, BCL2 and BCL6 breaks occurred in 14, 21 and 31%, respectively. In the majority of cases, MYC was simultaneously rearranged with BCL2 and/or BCL6. The adverse impact of MYC rearrangements was confirmed, but the sole presence of BCL2 breaks emerged as a novel prognostic marker associated with inferior overall survival (OS) (P=0.002). Combined overexpression of MYC and BCL2 showed only limited association with inferior OS. All immunohistochemical cell of origin classifiers applied failed to predict survival time. DLBCL tumors with significant proportion of immunoblastic and/or immunoblastic-plasmacytoid cells had inferior OS, independently from from BCL2 break. Younger, poor-prognosis DLBCL patients, therefore, display different biological risk factors compared with an elderly population, with BCL2 translocations emerging as a powerful negative prognostic marker.

Authors: H. Horn, M. Ziepert, M. Wartenberg, A. M. Staiger, T. F. Barth, H. W. Bernd, A. C. Feller, W. Klapper, C. Stuhlmann-Laeisz, M. Hummel, H. Stein, D. Lenze, S. Hartmann, M. L. Hansmann, P. Moller, S. Cogliatti, M. Pfreundschuh, L. Trumper, M. Loeffler, B. Glass, N. Schmitz, G. Ott, A. Rosenwald

Date Published: 18th Feb 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Abstract (Expand)

An important area of genetic research is the identification of functional mechanisms in polymorphisms associated with diseases. A highly relevant functional mechanism is the influence of polymorphisms on gene expression levels (differential allelic expression, DAE). The coding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) CSF2(rs25882) and IL13(rs20541) have been associated with asthma. In this work, we investigated whether the mRNA expression levels of CSF2 or IL13 were correlated with these SNPs. Samples were analyzed by mass spectrometry-based quantification of gene expression. Both SNPs influenced gene expression levels (CSF2(rs25882): p(overall) = 0.008 and p(DAE samples) = 0.00006; IL13(rs20541): p(overall) = 0.059 and p(DAE samples) = 0.036). For CSF2, the expression level was increased by 27.4% (95% CI: 18.5%-35.4%) in samples with significant DAE in the presence of one copy of risk variant CSF2(rs25882-T). The average expression level of IL13 was increased by 29.8% (95% CI: 3.1%-63.4%) in samples with significant DAE in the presence of one copy of risk variant IL13(rs20541-A). Enhanced expression of CSF2 could stimulate macrophages and neutrophils during inflammation and may be related to the etiology of asthma. For IL-13, higher expression could enhance the functional activity of the asthma-associated isoform. Overall, the analysis of DAE provides an efficient approach for identifying possible functional mechanisms that link disease-associated variants with altered gene expression levels.

Authors: Jana Burkhardt, Holger Kirsten, Grit Wolfram, Elfi Quente, Peter Ahnert

Date Published: 2012

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to investigate how different mentally demanding work conditions during the professional life-i.e., enriched environments at work-might influence the rate of cognitive decline in old age. METHODS: Individuals (n = 1,054) of the Leipzig Longitudinal Study of the Aged, a representative population-based cohort study of individuals aged 75 years and older, underwent cognitive testing via the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in up to 6 measurement waves. Type and level of mentally demanding work conditions in the participants' former professional life were classified based on the O*NET job descriptor database. RESULTS: In multivariate mixed-model analyses (controlling for sociodemographic and health-related factors), a high level of mentally demanding work tasks stimulating verbal intelligence was significantly associated with a better cognitive functioning at baseline (on average 5 MMSE points higher) as well as a lower rate of cognitive decline (on average 2 MMSE points less) over the 8-year follow-up period compared with a low level. The rate of cognitive decline in old age was also significantly lower (on average 3 MMSE points less) in individuals who had a high level of mentally demanding work tasks stimulating executive functions than those who had a low level. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a professional life enriched with work tasks stimulating verbal intelligence and executive functions may help to sustain a good cognitive functioning in old age (75+ years). The findings thus emphasize that today's challenging work conditions may also promote positive health effects.

Authors: F. S. Then, T. Luck, M. Luppa, H. H. Konig, M. C. Angermeyer, S. G. Riedel-Heller

Date Published: 26th May 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: dementia

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether longitudinal stability versus instability in subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a modifying factor of the association between SCD and risk of incident Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. OBJECTIVE: We tested the modifying role of temporal stability of the SCD report on AD dementia risk in cognitively normal elderly individuals. METHODS: We analyzed data of 1,990 cognitively normal participants from the longitudinal AgeCoDe Study. We assessed SCD with/without associated worries both at baseline and first follow-up 18 months later. Participants were then classified either as (a) Controls (CO, with no SCD at both baseline and follow-up 1, n = 613), (b) inconsistent SCD (with SCD reported only at baseline or at follow-up 1, n = 637), (c) consistent SCD but without/or with inconsistent worries (n = 610) or (d) consistent SCD with worries (n = 130). We estimated incident AD dementia risk over up to 6 years for each group with Cox-Proportional Hazard Regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, education, ApoE4 status, and depression. RESULTS: Compared to CO, inconsistent SCD was not associated with increased risk of incident AD dementia. In contrast, risk was doubled in the group of consistent SCD without/ with inconsistent worries, and almost 4-fold in the group of consistent SCD with worries. These results could be replicated when using follow-up 1 to follow-up 2 response patterns for group definition. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that longitudinal stability versus instability is an important modifying factor of the association between SCD and AD dementia risk. Worrisome SCD that is also consistently reported over time is associated with greatly increased risk of AD dementia.

Authors: S. Wolfsgruber, L. Kleineidam, M. Wagner, E. Mosch, H. Bickel, D. Lupsilonhmann, A. Ernst, B. Wiese, S. Steinmann, H. H. Konig, C. Brettschneider, T. Luck, J. Stein, S. Weyerer, J. Werle, M. Pentzek, A. Fuchs, W. Maier, M. Scherer, S. G. Riedel-Heller, F. Jessen

Date Published: 4th Oct 2016

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: dementia, Alzheimer's disease

Abstract (Expand)

The large number of inpatient and outpatient treatments in university hospitals leads to a high expense of medical documentation and consequently to an increasing number and size of medical documents. Due to legal regulations, these documents, which are mostly collected in patient-oriented folders (medical records), in general have to be stored for 30 years. This implies several spatial, organizational, and economical problems. Today, conventional archiving in hospitals often does not satisfy the medical needs to make available medical records for health care professionals in a systematic manner and in time. From 1989 to 1993 a prolective pilot study on ’digital optical archiving of medical records’ was carried out at Heidelberg University Hospital. The study results have made evident the feasibility of digital optical archiving in hospitals. Assumed that at least 40 percent of medical documents are originally produced in a digital format and that application systems generating these documents can be linked on-line to application systems for digital optical archiving via a communication system, it can be expected that the costs and organizational efforts for digital optical archiving will not exceed those of conventional archiving. In 1995, Heidelberg University Hospital will establish the information procedure ’digital optical archiving of medical records’. The digital optical archive will first be filled up with the medical records of the clinic for neurosurgery, and the endoscopic and sonographic films and reports of the clinic for internal medicine. The authors expect, that this procedure stepwise will lead to an integrated functionality on health (*) care professional workstations, to a hospital-wide use of medical documents, and to media-independent document management systems. The authors focus on the potentials of digital optical archiving, regarding this information procedure as an integral part of hospital information systems, and requirements on the systematic management of hospital information systems with respect to digital optical archiving. Keywords: Hospital information systems, medical records, archives, digital optical archiving, computer-based patient records.

Authors: C. Dujat, P. Schmücker, Reinhold Haux, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 1995

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

This article is part of a For-Discussion-Section of Methods of Information in Medicine about the paper \textquotedblRepresentation of People’s Decisions in Health Information Systems: A Complementary Approach for Understanding Health Care Systems and Population Health\textquotedbl written by Fernan Gonzalez Bernaldo de Quiros, Adriana Ruth Dawidowski, and Silvana Figar. It is introduced by an editorial. This article contains the combined commentaries invited to independently comment on the paper of de Quiros, Dawidowski, and Figar. In subsequent issues the discussion can continue through letters to the editor.

Authors: Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, Elizabeth M. Borycki, Michio Kimura, Christoph U. Lehmann, Nancy M. Lorenzi, Lincoln A. Moura, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 31st Jan 2018

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Corticobasal degeneration is a scarce neurodegenerative disease, which can only be confirmed by histopathological examination. Reported to be associated with various clinical syndromes, its classical clinical phenotype is corticobasal syndrome. Due to the rareness of corticobasal syndrome/corticobasal degeneration and low numbers of patients included in single studies, meta-analyses are particularly suited to disentangle features of the clinical syndrome and histopathology. Using PubMed, we identified 11 magnetic resonance imaging studies measuring atrophy in 22 independent cohorts with 200 patients contrasted to 318 healthy controls. The anatomic likelihood estimation method was applied to reveal affected brain regions across studies. Corticobasal syndrome was related to gray matter loss in the basal ganglia/thalamus, frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes. In corticobasal degeneration patients, atrophy in the thalamus, frontal, temporal, and occipital lobes were found. Finally, in a conjunction analysis, the bilateral thalamus, the bilateral posterior frontomedian cortex, posterior midcingulate cortex and premotor area/supplementary motor area, and the left posterior superior and middle frontal gyrus/precentral gyrus were identified as areas associated with both, corticobasal syndrome and corticobasal degeneration. Remarkably, atrophy in the premotor area/supplementary motor area and posterior midcingulate/frontomedian cortex seems to be specific for corticobasal syndrome/corticobasal degeneration, whereas atrophy in the thalamus and the left posterior superior and middle frontal gyrus/precentral gyrus are also associated with other neurodegenerative diseases according to anatomic likelihood estimation method meta-analyses. Our study creates a new conceptual framework to understand, and distinguish between clinical features (corticobasal syndrome) and histopathological findings (corticobasal degeneration) by powerful data-driven meta-analytic approaches. Furthermore, it proposes regional-specific atrophy as an imaging biomarker for diagnosis of corticobasal syndrome/corticobasal degeneration ante-mortem.

Authors: F. Albrecht, S. Bisenius, R. Morales Schaack, J. Neumann, M. L. Schroeter

Date Published: 27th Jun 2017

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: neurodegenerative disease

Abstract (Expand)

Genetics of gene expression (eQTLs or expression QTLs) has proved an indispensable tool for understanding biological pathways and pathomechanisms of trait-associated SNPs. However, power of most genome-wide eQTL studies is still limited. We performed a large eQTL study in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 2112 individuals increasing the power to detect trans-effects genome-wide. Going beyond univariate SNP-transcript associations, we analyse relations of eQTLs to biological pathways, polygenetic effects of expression regulation, trans-clusters and enrichment of co-localized functional elements. We found eQTLs for about 85% of analysed genes, and 18% of genes were trans-regulated. Local eSNPs were enriched up to a distance of 5 Mb to the transcript challenging typically implemented ranges of cis-regulations. Pathway enrichment within regulated genes of GWAS-related eSNPs supported functional relevance of identified eQTLs. We demonstrate that nearest genes of GWAS-SNPs might frequently be misleading functional candidates. We identified novel trans-clusters of potential functional relevance for GWAS-SNPs of several phenotypes including obesity-related traits, HDL-cholesterol levels and haematological phenotypes. We used chromatin immunoprecipitation data for demonstrating biological effects. Yet, we show for strongly heritable transcripts that still little trans-chromosomal heritability is explained by all identified trans-eSNPs; however, our data suggest that most cis-heritability of these transcripts seems explained. Dissection of co-localized functional elements indicated a prominent role of SNPs in loci of pseudogenes and non-coding RNAs for the regulation of coding genes. In summary, our study substantially increases the catalogue of human eQTLs and improves our understanding of the complex genetic regulation of gene expression, pathways and disease-related processes.

Authors: H. Kirsten, H. Al-Hasani, L. Holdt, A. Gross, F. Beutner, K. Krohn, K. Horn, P. Ahnert, R. Burkhardt, K. Reiche, J. Hackermuller, M. Loffler, D. Teupser, J. Thiery, M. Scholz

Date Published: 15th Aug 2015

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Recently, biomarkers have been suggested to be incorporated into diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Regarding disease-specific brain amyloid-beta deposition these comprise low amyloid-beta 1-42 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and positive positron emission tomography (PET) amyloid imaging, while neuronal degeneration is evidenced by high total and phosphorylated tau levels in CSF (t-/p-tau), regional hypometabolism ([(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET, FDG-PET) and characteristic atrophy-patterns (magnetic resonance imaging, MRI). CASE PRESENTATION: Here we present a case of clinically and biomarker supported AD (CSF t-/p-tau, MRI, FDG-PET) in a 59-year-old Caucasian man in whom indicators of amyloid-beta deposition dissociated between CSF parameters and the respective PET imaging. CONCLUSIONS: Such cases highlight the necessity to better understand potential dissociations between PET and CSF data for amyloid-beta biomarkers, because they are currently considered interchangeably valid with regard to in-vivo evidence for AD pathology. This is more important since amyloid deposition markers can be considered a very first prognostic indicator of imminent AD, prior to neurodegenerative biomarkers and cognitive symptoms. The case illustrates the need for further longitudinal data on potential dissociations of AD biomarkers to devise recommendations for their better prognostic and diagnostic interpretation in the future.

Authors: M. L. Schroeter, S. Tiepolt, A. Marschhauser, A. Thone-Otto, K. T. Hoffmann, H. Barthel, H. Obrig, O. Sabri

Date Published: 26th Aug 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: Alzheimer's disease

Abstract (Expand)

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes involved in the DNA Base Excision Repair (BER) pathway could be associated with cancer risk in carriers of mutations in the high-penetrance susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, given the relation of synthetic lethality that exists between one of the components of the BER pathway, PARP1 (poly ADP ribose polymerase), and both BRCA1 and BRCA2. In the present study, we have performed a comprehensive analysis of 18 genes involved in BER using a tagging SNP approach in a large series of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. 144 SNPs were analyzed in a two stage study involving 23,463 carriers from the CIMBA consortium (the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1 and BRCA2). Eleven SNPs showed evidence of association with breast and/or ovarian cancer at p\textless0.05 in the combined analysis. Four of the five genes for which strongest evidence of association was observed were DNA glycosylases. The strongest evidence was for rs1466785 in the NEIL2 (endonuclease VIII-like 2) gene (HR: 1.09, 95% CI (1.03-1.16), p = 2.7 \times 10(-3)) for association with breast cancer risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers, and rs2304277 in the OGG1 (8-guanine DNA glycosylase) gene, with ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 mutation carriers (HR: 1.12 95%CI: 1.03-1.21, p = 4.8 \times 10(-3)). DNA glycosylases involved in the first steps of the BER pathway may be associated with cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and should be more comprehensively studied.

Authors: Ana Osorio, Roger L. Milne, Karoline Kuchenbaecker, Tereza Vaclová, Guillermo Pita, Rosario Alonso, Paolo Peterlongo, Ignacio Blanco, Miguel de La Hoya, Mercedes Duran, Orland Díez, Teresa Ramón y Cajal, Irene Konstantopoulou, Cristina Martínez-Bouzas, Raquel Andrés Conejero, Penny Soucy, Lesley McGuffog, Daniel Barrowdale, Andrew Lee, Swe-Brca, Brita Arver, Johanna Rantala, Niklas Loman, Hans Ehrencrona, Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, Mary S. Beattie, Susan M. Domchek, Katherine Nathanson, Timothy R. Rebbeck, Banu K. Arun, Beth Y. Karlan, Christine Walsh, Jenny Lester, Esther M. John, Alice S. Whittemore, Mary B. Daly, Melissa Southey, John Hopper, Mary B. Terry, Saundra S. Buys, Ramunas Janavicius, Cecilia M. Dorfling, Elizabeth J. van Rensburg, Linda Steele, Susan L. Neuhausen, Yuan Chun Ding, Thomas v. O. Hansen, Lars Jønson, Bent Ejlertsen, Anne-Marie Gerdes, Mar Infante, Belén Herráez, Leticia Thais Moreno, Jeffrey N. Weitzel, Josef Herzog, Kisa Weeman, Siranoush Manoukian, Bernard Peissel, Daniela Zaffaroni, Giulietta Scuvera, Bernardo Bonanni, Frederique Mariette, Sara Volorio, Alessandra Viel, Liliana Varesco, Laura Papi, Laura Ottini, Maria Grazia Tibiletti, Paolo Radice, Drakoulis Yannoukakos, Judy Garber, Steve Ellis, Debra Frost, Radka Platte, Elena Fineberg, Gareth Evans, Fiona Lalloo, Louise Izatt, Ros Eeles, Julian Adlard, Rosemarie Davidson, Trevor Cole, Diana Eccles, Jackie Cook, Shirley Hodgson, Carole Brewer, Marc Tischkowitz, Fiona Douglas, Mary Porteous, Lucy Side, Lisa Walker, Patrick Morrison, Alan Donaldson, John Kennedy, Claire Foo, Andrew K. Godwin, Rita Katharina Schmutzler, Barbara Wappenschmidt, Kerstin Rhiem, Christoph Engel, Alfons Meindl, Nina Ditsch, Norbert Arnold, Hans Jörg Plendl, Dieter Niederacher, Christian Sutter, Shan Wang-Gohrke, Doris Steinemann, Sabine Preisler-Adams, Karin Kast, Raymonda Varon-Mateeva, Andrea Gehrig, Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet, Olga M. Sinilnikova, Sylvie Mazoyer, Francesca Damiola, Bruce Poppe, Kathleen Claes, Marion Piedmonte, Kathy Tucker, Floor Backes, Gustavo Rodríguez, Wendy Brewster, Katie Wakeley, Thomas Rutherford, Trinidad Caldés, Heli Nevanlinna, Kristiina Aittomäki, Matti A. Rookus, Theo A. M. van Os, Lizet van der Kolk, J. L. de Lange, Hanne E. J. Meijers-Heijboer, A. H. van der Hout, Christi J. van Asperen, Encarna B. Gómez Garcia, Nicoline Hoogerbrugge, J. Margriet Collée, Carolien H. M. van Deurzen, Rob B. van der Luijt, Peter Devilee, Hebon, Edith Olah, Conxi Lázaro, Alex Teulé, Mireia Menéndez, Anna Jakubowska, Cezary Cybulski, Jacek Gronwald, Jan Lubinski, Katarzyna Durda, Katarzyna Jaworska-Bieniek, Oskar Th Johannsson, Christine Maugard, Marco Montagna, Silvia Tognazzo, Manuel R. Teixeira, Sue Healey, Kconfab Investigators, Curtis Olswold, Lucia Guidugli, Noralane Lindor, Susan Slager, Csilla I. Szabo, Joseph Vijai, Mark Robson, Noah Kauff, Liying Zhang, Rohini Rau-Murthy, Anneliese Fink-Retter, Christian F. Singer, Christine Rappaport, Daphne Geschwantler Kaulich, Georg Pfeiler, Muy-Kheng Tea, Andreas Berger, Catherine M. Phelan, Mark H. Greene, Phuong L. Mai, Flavio Lejbkowicz, Irene Andrulis, Anna Marie Mulligan, Gord Glendon, Amanda Ewart Toland, Anders Bojesen, Inge Sokilde Pedersen, Lone Sunde, Mads Thomassen, Torben A. Kruse, Uffe Birk Jensen, Eitan Friedman, Yael Laitman, Shani Paluch Shimon, Jacques Simard, Douglas F. Easton, Kenneth Offit, Fergus J. Couch, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Antonis C. Antoniou, Javier Benitez

Date Published: 3rd Apr 2014

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Abstract (Expand)

Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women worldwide. Changes in DNA methylation in peripheral blood could be associated with malignancy at early stage. However, the BC-associated DNA methylation signatures in peripheral blood were largely unknown. Here, we performed a genome-wide methylation screening and identified a BC-associated differentially methylated CpG site cg27091787 in the hyaluronoglucosaminidase 2 gene (HYAL2) (discovery round with 72 BC case and 24 controls: p = 2.61 \times 10(-9) adjusted for cell-type proportions). The substantially decreased methylation of cg27091787 in BC cases was confirmed in two validation rounds (first validation round with 338 BC case and 507 controls: p \textless 0.0001; second validation round with 189 BC case and 189 controls: p \textless 0.0001). In addition to cg27091787, the decreased methylation of a 650-bp CpG island shore of HYAL2 was also associated with increased risk of BC. Moreover, the expression and methylation of HYAL2 were inversely correlated with a p-value of 0.006. To note, the BC-associated decreased HYAL2 methylation was replicated in the T-cell fraction (p = 0.034). The cg27091787 methylation level enabled a powerful discrimination of early-stage BC cases (stages 0 and I) from healthy controls [area under curve (AUC) = 0.89], and was robust for the detection of BC in younger women as well (age \textless 50, AUC = 0.87). Our study reveals a strong association between decreased HYAL2 methylation in peripheral blood and BC, and provides a promising blood-based marker for the detection of early BC.

Authors: Rongxi Yang, Katrin Pfütze, Manuela Zucknick, Christian Sutter, Barbara Wappenschmidt, Frederik Marme, Bin Qu, Katarina Cuk, Christoph Engel, Sarah Schott, Andreas Schneeweiss, Hermann Brenner, Rainer Claus, Christoph Plass, Peter Bugert, Markus Hoth, Christof Sohn, Rita Schmutzler, Claus R. Bartram, Barbara Burwinkel

Date Published: 15th Apr 2015

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Diffuse lower WHO grade II and III gliomas (LGG) are slowly progressing brain tumors, many of which eventually transform into a more aggressive type. LGG is characterized by widespread genetic and transcriptional heterogeneity, yet little is known about the heterogeneity of the DNA methylome, its function in tumor biology, coupling with the transcriptome and tumor microenvironment and its possible impact for tumor development. METHODS: We here present novel DNA methylation data of an LGG-cohort collected in the German Glioma Network containing about 85% isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutated tumors and performed a combined bioinformatics analysis using patient-matched genome and transcriptome data. RESULTS: Stratification of LGG based on gene expression and DNA-methylation provided four consensus subtypes. We characterized them in terms of genetic alterations, functional context, cellular composition, tumor microenvironment and their possible impact for treatment resistance and prognosis. Glioma with astrocytoma-resembling phenotypes constitute the largest fraction of nearly 60%. They revealed largest diversity and were divided into four expression and three methylation groups which only partly match each other thus reflecting largely decoupled expression and methylation patterns. We identified a novel G-protein coupled receptor and a cancer-related 'keratinization' methylation signature in in addition to the glioma-CpG island methylator phenotype (G-CIMP) signature. These different signatures overlap and combine in various ways giving rise to diverse methylation and expression patterns that shape the glioma phenotypes. The decrease of global methylation in astrocytoma-like LGG associates with higher WHO grade, age at diagnosis and inferior prognosis. We found analogies between astrocytoma-like LGG with grade IV IDH-wild type tumors regarding possible worsening of treatment resistance along a proneural-to-mesenchymal axis. Using gene signature-based inference we elucidated the impact of cellular composition of the tumors including immune cell bystanders such as macrophages. CONCLUSIONS: Genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic factors act in concert but partly also in a decoupled fashion what underpins the need for integrative, multidimensional stratification of LGG by combining these data on gene and cellular levels to delineate mechanisms of gene (de-)regulation and to enable better patient stratification and individualization of treatment.

Authors: H. Binder, E. Willscher, H. Loeffler-Wirth, L. Hopp, D. T. W. Jones, S. M. Pfister, M. Kreuz, D. Gramatzki, E. Fortenbacher, B. Hentschel, M. Tatagiba, U. Herrlinger, H. Vatter, J. Matschke, M. Westphal, D. Krex, G. Schackert, J. C. Tonn, U. Schlegel, H. J. Steiger, W. Wick, R. G. Weber, M. Weller, M. Loeffler

Date Published: 25th Apr 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: brain glioma

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Alfred Winter, Birgit Brigl, Thomas Wendt

Date Published: 2006

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Double heterozygosity for disease-causing BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations is a very rare condition in most populations. Here we describe genetic and clinical data of eight female double heterozygotes (DH) for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations found in a cohort of 8162 German breast/ovarian cancer families and compare it with the data of their single heterozygous relatives and of the index patients of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer. Furthermore, we analyze the phenotypic features of these patients with respect to age at onset of first cancer, first breast/ovarian cancer and the number of disease manifestations and compare them to that of published Caucasian female DHs and their single heterozygous female relatives. German DHs were not significantly younger at diagnosis of first breast cancer than the single heterozygous index patients of the German Consortium. However, if the data of our study were pooled with that of the literature, DHs were substantially younger at onset of first cancer (mean age 40.4 years, 95 % CI = 36.6-44.1) than their single heterozygous female relatives (mean age 51.9 years, 95 % CI = 46.8-57.0). The two groups also differed concerning the onset of first breast cancer (mean age 40.6 years, 95 % CI = 36.6-44.5 vs. 52.6, 95 % CI = 47.5-57.6). In addition, DHs had a more severe disease than their female relatives carrying a single BRCA mutation (1.4 vs. 0.6 manifestations per person). In contrast to Ashkenazi Jewish females, Caucasian DH females might develop breast cancer at an earlier age and have a more severe disease than single heterozygous BRCA mutation carriers. Therefore, DHs may benefit from more intensive surveillance programs/follow-up care and prophylactic surgery.

Authors: Simone Heidemann, Christine Fischer, Christoph Engel, Barbara Fischer, Lana Harder, Brigitte Schlegelberger, Dieter Niederacher, Timm O. Goecke, Sandra C. Doelken, Nicola Dikow, Walter Jonat, Susanne Morlot, Rita C. Schmutzler, Norbert K. Arnold

Date Published: 1st Aug 2012

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a severe and often rapidly deteriorating disease. To better understand its dynamics and potential causal relationships, we analyzed time series data off cytokines, blood and clinical parameters in hospitalized CAP patients. METHODS Time series data of 10 circulating cytokines, blood counts and clinical parameters were related to baseline characteristics of 403 CAP patients using univariate mixed models. Bivariate mixed models were applied to analyze correlations between the time series. To identify potential causal relationships, we inferred cross-lagged relationships between pairs of parameters using latent curve models with structured residuals. RESULTS IL-6 levels decreased faster over time in younger patients (Padj = 0.06). IL-8, VCAM-1, and IL-6 correlated strongly with disease severity as assessed by the sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score (r = 0.49, 0.48, 0.46, respectively; all Padj \textless 0.001). IL-6 and bilirubin correlated with respect to their mean levels and slopes over time (r = 0.36 and r = 0.46, respectively; Padj \textless 0.001). A number of potential causal relationships were identified, e.g., a negative effect of ICAM-1 on MCP-1, or a positive effect of the level of creatinine on the subsequent VCAM-1 concentration (P \textless 0.001). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that IL-6 trajectories of CAP patients are associated with age and run parallel to bilirubin levels. The time series analysis also unraveled directed, potentially causal relationships between cytokines, blood parameters and clinical outcomes. This will facilitate the development of mechanistic models of CAP, and with it, improvements in treatment or surveillance strategies for this disease. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov NCT02782013, May 25, 2016, retrospectively registered.

Authors: Maciej Rosolowski, Volker Oberle, Peter Ahnert, Petra Creutz, Martin Witzenrath, Michael Kiehntopf, Markus Loeffler, Norbert Suttorp, Markus Scholz

Date Published: 1st Dec 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

Dyslexia is a reading disorder with strong associations with KIAA0319 and DCDC2. Both genes play a functional role in spike time precision of neurons. Strikingly, poor readers show an imprecise encoding of fast transients of speech in the auditory brainstem. Whether dyslexia risk genes are related to the quality of sound encoding in the auditory brainstem remains to be investigated. Here, we quantified the response consistency of speech-evoked brainstem responses to the acoustically presented syllable [da] in 159 genotyped, literate and preliterate children. When controlling for age, sex, familial risk and intelligence, partial correlation analyses associated a higher dyslexia risk loading with KIAA0319 with noisier responses. In contrast, a higher risk loading with DCDC2 was associated with a trend towards more stable responses. These results suggest that unstable representation of sound, and thus, reduced neural discrimination ability of stop consonants, occurred in genotypes carrying a higher amount of KIAA0319 risk alleles. Current data provide the first evidence that the dyslexia-associated gene KIAA0319 can alter brainstem responses and impair phoneme processing in the auditory brainstem. This brain-gene relationship provides insight into the complex relationships between phenotype and genotype thereby improving the understanding of the dyslexia-inherent complex multifactorial condition.

Authors: Nicole E. Neef, Bent Müller, Johanna Liebig, Gesa Schaadt, Maren Grigutsch, Thomas C. Gunter, Arndt Wilcke, Holger Kirsten, Michael A. Skeide, Indra Kraft, Nina Kraus, Frank Emmrich, Jens Brauer, Johannes Boltze, Angela D. Friederici

Date Published: 1st Apr 2017

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

An increasing number of genetic variants involved in dyslexia development were discovered during the last years, yet little is known about the molecular functional mechanisms of these SNPs. In this study we investigated whether dyslexia candidate SNPs have a direct, disease-specific effect on local expression levels of the assumed target gene by using a differential allelic expression assay. In total, 12 SNPs previously associated with dyslexia and related phenotypes were suitable for analysis. Transcripts corresponding to four SNPs were sufficiently expressed in 28 cell lines originating from controls and a family affected by dyslexia. We observed a significant effect of rs600753 on expression levels of DYX1C1 in forward and reverse sequencing approaches. The expression level of the rs600753 risk allele was increased in the respective seven cell lines from members of the dyslexia family which might be due to a disturbed transcription factor binding sites. When considering our results in the context of neuroanatomical dyslexia-specific findings, we speculate that this mechanism may be part of the pathomechanisms underlying the dyslexia-specific brain phenotype. Our results suggest that allele-specific DYX1C1 expression levels depend on genetic variants of rs600753 and contribute to dyslexia. However, these results are preliminary and need replication.

Authors: Bent Müller, Johannes Boltze, Ivonne Czepezauer, Volker Hesse, Arndt Wilcke, Holger Kirsten

Date Published: 1st Mar 2018

Publication Type: Journal article

Abstract (Expand)

By the modern molecular biological approaches that exploit the availability of high quality gene expression data, it is made clear that flexible and robust responses of cellular programs are encoded in the relations between gene expression values. These relations naturally define a network where they stand for edges between the nodes that stand for the genes. The wiring of these networks often found to be dysregulated in cancer. Different system biological approaches that rely on correlations, differential equations and logical analysis are used to probe these relations in gene expression data especially. In our work we investigated selected biological functions in aggressive germinal center B-cell lymphoma in terms of a logical analysis of gene-regulation in Boolean space and a signal propagation algorithm considering network topology based on gene expression data. We especially aimed at studying the activity of the MYC gene as a key player. It is shown that the functional output of a gene network is affected by the states of the genes and also by the wirings between them. Our results support the key function of MYC in lymphoma biology. In addition, we showed that genes can alter functional output of the network by alternative mechanisms like reducing the variance in propagating signal and locking it to a certain level.

Authors: V. Cakir, H. Loeffler-Wirth, A. Arakelyan, H. Binder

Date Published: 17th May 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: B-cell lymphoma

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