TY - JOUR A1 - Stepniak, Beata A1 - Kästner, Anne A1 - Poggi, Giulia A1 - Mitjans, Marina A1 - Begemann, Martin A1 - Hartmann, Annette A1 - Van der Auwera, Sandra A1 - Sananbenesi, Farahnaz A1 - Krüger-Burg, Dilja A1 - Matuszko, Gabriela A1 - Brosi, Cornelia A1 - Homuth, Georg A1 - Völzke, Henry A1 - Benseler, Fritz A1 - Bagni, Claudia A1 - Fischer, Utz A1 - Dityatev, Alexander A1 - Grabe, Hans-Jörgen A1 - Rujescu, Dan A1 - Fischer, Andre A1 - Ehrenreich, Hannelore T1 - Accumulated common variants in the broader fragile X gene family modulate autistic phenotypes JF - EMBO Molecular Medicine N2 - Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is mostly caused by a CGG triplet expansion in the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1). Up to 60% of affected males fulfill criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), making FXS the most frequent monogenetic cause of syndromic ASD. It is unknown, however, whether normal variants (independent of mutations) in the fragile X gene family (FMR1, FXR1, FXR2) and in FMR2 modulate autistic features. Here, we report an accumulation model of 8 SNPs in these genes, associated with autistic traits in a discovery sample of male patients with schizophrenia (N = 692) and three independent replicate samples: patients with schizophrenia (N = 626), patients with other psychiatric diagnoses (N = 111) and a general population sample (N = 2005). For first mechanistic insight, we contrasted microRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of selected extreme group subjects with high-versus low-risk constellation regarding the accumulation model. Thereby, the brain-expressed miR-181 species emerged as potential "umbrella regulator", with several seed matches across the fragile X gene family and FMR2. To conclude, normal variation in these genes contributes to the continuum of autistic phenotypes. KW - permutation KW - miR-181 KW - PGAS KW - FXR2 KW - FXR1 KW - FMR2 KW - FMR1 KW - identification KW - protein KW - fraxe mental retardation KW - CGG repeat KW - CPG Island KW - schizophrenia KW - expression KW - males Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-136893 VL - 7 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Solimando, Antonio G. A1 - Bittrich, Max A1 - Shahini, Endrit A1 - Albanese, Federica A1 - Fritz, Georg A1 - Krebs, Markus T1 - Determinants of COVID-19 disease severity – lessons from primary and secondary immune disorders including cancer JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients with primary and secondary immune disorders — including patients suffering from cancer — were generally regarded as a high-risk population in terms of COVID-19 disease severity and mortality. By now, scientific evidence indicates that there is substantial heterogeneity regarding the vulnerability towards COVID-19 in patients with immune disorders. In this review, we aimed to summarize the current knowledge about the effect of coexistent immune disorders on COVID-19 disease severity and vaccination response. In this context, we also regarded cancer as a secondary immune disorder. While patients with hematological malignancies displayed lower seroconversion rates after vaccination in some studies, a majority of cancer patients’ risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease were either inherent (such as metastatic or progressive disease) or comparable to the general population (age, male gender and comorbidities such as kidney or liver disease). A deeper understanding is needed to better define patient subgroups at a higher risk for severe COVID-19 disease courses. At the same time, immune disorders as functional disease models offer further insights into the role of specific immune cells and cytokines when orchestrating the immune response towards SARS-CoV-2 infection. Longitudinal serological studies are urgently needed to determine the extent and the duration of SARS-CoV-2 immunity in the general population, as well as immune-compromised and oncological patients. KW - COVID-19 KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - disorder of immunity KW - cancer Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-319412 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 24 IS - 10 ER -