Detection of Significant Pneumococcal Meningitis Biomarkers by Ego Network
INDIAN JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS
Authors: Wang, Qian; Lou, Zhifeng; Zhai, Liansuo; Zhao, Haibin
Abstract
Objective To identify significant biomarkers for detection of pneumococcal meningitis based on ego network. Methods Based on the gene expression data of pneumococcal meningitis and global protein-protein interactions PPIs) data recruited from open access databases, the authors constructed a differential co-expression network (DCN) to identify pneumococcal meningitis biomarkers in a network view. Here EgoNet algorithm was employed to screen the significant ego networks that could accurately distinguish pneumococcal meningitis from healthy controls, by sequentially seeking ego genes, searching candidate ego networks, refinement of candidate ego networks and significance analysis to identify ego networks. Finally, the functional inference of the ego networks was performed to identify significant pathways for pneumococcal meningitis. Results By differential co-expression analysis, the authors constructed the DCN that covered 1809 genes and 3689 interactions. From the DCN, a total of 90 ego genes were identified. Starting from these ego genes, three significant ego networks (Module 19, Module 70 and Module 71) that could predict clinical outcomes for pneumococcal meningitis were identified by EgoNet algorithm, and the corresponding ego genes were GMNN, MAD2L1 and TPX2, respectively. Pathway analysis showed that these three ego networks were related to CDT1 association with the CDC6: ORC: origin complex, inactivation of APC/C via direct inhibition of the APC/C complex pathway, and DNA strand elongation, respectively. Conclusions The authors successfully screened three significant ego modules which could accurately predict the clinical outcomes for pneumococcal meningitis and might play important roles in host response to pathogen infection in pneumococcal meningitis.
The DNA methylome in panic disorder: a case-control and longitudinal psychotherapy-epigenetic study
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
Authors: Ziegler, Christiane; Grundner-Culemann, Franziska; Schiele, Miriam A.; Schlosser, Pascal; Kollert, Leonie; Mahr, Marina; Gajewska, Agnieszka; Lesch, Klaus-Peter; Deckert, Juergen; Koettgen, Anna; Domschke, Katharina
Abstract
In panic disorder (PD), epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation of candidate genes have been suggested to play a key role at the intersection of genetic and environmental factors. On an epigenome-wide level, however, only two studies in PD patients have been published so far, while to date no study has intra-individually analyzed dynamic epigenetic correlates of treatment-response in PD on a DNA methylome level. Here, an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) was performed in a sample of 57 PD patients and matched healthy controls using the Illumina MethylationEPIC BeadChip, along with a longitudinal approach assessing changes on the DNA methylome level corresponding to clinical effects of a manualized six-week cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in PD. While no epigenome-wide significant hits could be discerned, top suggestive evidence was observed for decreased methylation in PD at cg19917903 in the Cilia and Flagella Associated Protein 46 (CFAP46) gene, and for an increase in methylation after CBT at cg06943668 in the Interleukin 1 Receptor Type 1 (IL1R1) gene in treatment responders to CBT. Additional exploratory analyses based on biological validity and a combined statistical/biological ranking point to further new potential PD risk genes such as the CCL4L1 or GMNN genes, and suggest dynamic methylation of, e.g., the ZFP622 and the SLC43A2 genes along with response to CBT. These EWAS and first longitudinal epigenome-wide pilot data in PD add to the emerging candidate gene-based body of evidence for epigenetic mechanisms to be involved in PD pathogenesis and to possibly constitute dynamic biological correlates of therapeutic interventions.