Dr. Kesheng Wang Co-Authors Article in Journal of Neural Transmission
Dr. Kesheng Wang, an Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the College of Public Health at East Tennessee State University, has co-authored a paper in the Journal of Neural Transmission. The paper, “Genome-wide significant, replicated and functional risk variants for Alzheimer's disease,” studies the relationship between genetic risk variants and Alzheimer’s disease.
The study was led by Dr. Xinggung Luo of Yale University School of Medicine and was additionally co-authored by researchers at a range of institutions including Peking Union Medical College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing Medical University, Fudan University School of Medicine, Shanghai Mental Health Center, and Beijing Huilongguan Hospital.
Genome-wide association studies have reported numerous associations between risk variants and Alzheimer's disease. However, these associations do not necessarily indicate a causal relationship. If the risk variants can be demonstrated to be biologically functional, the possibility of a causal relationship would be increased. In this article, the authors reviewed all published genome-wide association studies from 2007-2017 on Alzheimer’s disease and/or associated biomarkers.
The authors identified 17 genetic variants – single nucleotide polymorphisms—that were potentially associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Most of the protein-coding genes regulated by the risk single nucleotide polymorphisms were expressed in the human brain and correlated with Apolipoprotein E gene expression.
The researchers concluded that these variants were the most robust risk markers for Alzheimer’s disease, and their contributions to Alzheimer’s disease risk was likely to be causal. As expected, the Apolipoprotein E gene and the lipoprotein metabolism pathway possess the highest weight among these contributions.
The Journal of Neural Transmission aims to establish an interface between basic sciences and clinical neurology and psychiatry. It intends to put a special emphasis on translational publications of the newest developments in the field.