In search of a marker of altered cerebrovascular function in hypertension: Analysis of the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in UK Biobank resting state fMRI data.

The selfish brain mechanism proposes that in some patients with impaired cerebral blood flow (CBF) or cerebrovascular function, hypertension may develop as a compensatory mechanism that aims to maintain CBF by increasing systemic blood pressure through an increase in cardiovascular sympathetic tone. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) in the resting state blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI signal has been previously posited as an index of cerebrovascular reactivity. We investigated whether regional fractional ALFF (fALFF) differs between 2054 hypertensives and 1724 normotensives using data from the UK Biobank dataset. Our primary hypothesis was that cerebrovascular function in the medulla and other regions involved in sympathetic regulation differs between hypertensives and normotensives, and that this is reflected by regional variations in fALFF. There is a significant regional variation in fALFF (F(14) =1126.17, p < 2 × 10-16, partial η2 = 0.22), but this regional variation does not differ between hypertensives and normotensives (F(14) = 0.23, p = 0.99, partial η2 = 8 × 10-5). Prospective longitudinal studies of cerebral haemodynamics in hypertensives and normotensives are required to further investigate the selfish brain mechanism.

Proof-of-concept recall-by-genotype study of extremely low and high Alzheimer's polygenic risk reveals autobiographical deficits and cingulate cortex correlates.

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies demonstrate that Alzheimer's disease (AD) has a highly polygenic architecture, where thousands of independent genetic variants explain risk with high classification accuracy. This AD polygenic risk score (AD-PRS) has been previously linked to preclinical cognitive and neuroimaging features observed in asymptomatic individuals. However, shared variance between AD-PRS and neurocognitive features are small, suggesting limited preclinical utility. METHODS: Here, we recruited sixteen clinically asymptomatic individuals (mean age 67; range 58-76) with either extremely low / high AD-PRS (defined as at least 2 standard deviations from the wider sample mean (N = 4504; N EFFECTIVE = 90)) with comparable age sex and education level. We assessed group differences in autobiographical memory and T1-weighted structural neuroimaging features. RESULTS: We observed marked reductions in autobiographical recollection (Cohen's d = - 1.66; P FDR = 0.014) and midline structure (cingulate) thickness (Cohen's d = - 1.55, P FDR = 0.05), with no difference in hippocampal volume (P > 0.3). We further confirm the negative association between AD-PRS and cingulate thickness in a larger study with a comparable age (N = 31,966, ß = - 0.002, P = 0.011), supporting the validity of our approach. CONCLUSIONS: These observations conform with multiple streams of prior evidence suggesting alterations in cingulate structures may occur in individuals with higher AD genetic risk. We were able to use a genetically informed research design strategy that significantly improved the efficiency and power of the study. Thus, we further demonstrate that the recall-by-genotype of AD-PRS from wider samples is a promising approach for the detection, assessment, and intervention in specific individuals with increased AD genetic risk.

Assessment of brainstem function and haemodynamics by MRI: challenges and clinical prospects.

MRI offers techniques for non-invasively measuring a range of aspects of brain tissue function. Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is widely used to assess neural activity, based on the brain's haemodynamic response, while arterial spin labelling (ASL) MRI is a non-invasive method of quantitatively mapping cerebral perfusion. Both techniques can be applied to measure cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), an important marker of the health of the cerebrovascular system. BOLD, ASL and CVR have been applied to study a variety of disease processes and are already used in certain clinical circumstances. The brainstem is a critical component of the central nervous system and is implicated in a variety of disease processes. However, its function is difficult to study using MRI because of its small size and susceptibility to physiological noise. In this article, we review the physical and biological underpinnings of BOLD and ASL and their application to measure CVR, discuss the challenges associated with applying them to the brainstem and the opportunities for brainstem MRI in the research and clinical settings. With further optimisation, functional MRI techniques could feasibly be used to assess brainstem haemodynamics and neural activity in the clinical setting.

An autocrine signaling circuit in hepatic stellate cells underlies advanced fibrosis in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Advanced hepatic fibrosis, driven by the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), affects millions worldwide and is the strongest predictor of mortality in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH); however, there are no approved antifibrotic therapies. To identify antifibrotic drug targets, we integrated progressive transcriptomic and morphological responses that accompany HSC activation in advanced disease using single-nucleus RNA sequencing and tissue clearing in a robust murine NASH model. In advanced fibrosis, we found that an autocrine HSC signaling circuit emerged that was composed of 68 receptor-ligand interactions conserved between murine and human NASH. These predicted interactions were supported by the parallel appearance of markedly increased direct stellate cell-cell contacts in murine NASH. As proof of principle, pharmacological inhibition of one such autocrine interaction, neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 3-neurotrophin 3, inhibited human HSC activation in culture and reversed advanced murine NASH fibrosis. In summary, we uncovered a repertoire of antifibrotic drug targets underlying advanced fibrosis in vivo. The findings suggest a therapeutic paradigm in which stage-specific therapies could yield enhanced antifibrotic efficacy in patients with advanced hepatic fibrosis.

Multi-centre, multi-vendor reproducibility of 7T QSM and R2* in the human brain: Results from the UK7T study.

INTRODUCTION: We present the reliability of ultra-high field T2* MRI at 7T, as part of the UK7T Network's "Travelling Heads" study. T2*-weighted MRI images can be processed to produce quantitative susceptibility maps (QSM) and R2* maps. These reflect iron and myelin concentrations, which are altered in many pathophysiological processes. The relaxation parameters of human brain tissue are such that R2* mapping and QSM show particularly strong gains in contrast-to-noise ratio at ultra-high field (7T) vs clinical field strengths (1.5-3T). We aimed to determine the inter-subject and inter-site reproducibility of QSM and R2* mapping at 7T, in readiness for future multi-site clinical studies. METHODS: Ten healthy volunteers were scanned with harmonised single- and multi-echo T2*-weighted gradient echo pulse sequences. Participants were scanned five times at each "home" site and once at each of four other sites. The five sites had 1× Philips, 2× Siemens Magnetom, and 2× Siemens Terra scanners. QSM and R2* maps were computed with the Multi-Scale Dipole Inversion (MSDI) algorithm (https://github.com/fil-physics/Publication-Code). Results were assessed in relevant subcortical and cortical regions of interest (ROIs) defined manually or by the MNI152 standard space. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Mean susceptibility (χ) and R2* values agreed broadly with literature values in all ROIs. The inter-site within-subject standard deviation was 0.001-0.005 ppm (χ) and 0.0005-0.001 ms-1 (R2*). For χ this is 2.1-4.8 fold better than 3T reports, and 1.1-3.4 fold better for R2*. The median ICC from within- and cross-site R2* data was 0.98 and 0.91, respectively. Multi-echo QSM had greater variability vs single-echo QSM especially in areas with large B0 inhomogeneity such as the inferior frontal cortex. Across sites, R2* values were more consistent than QSM in subcortical structures due to differences in B0-shimming. On a between-subject level, our measured χ and R2* cross-site variance is comparable to within-site variance in the literature, suggesting that it is reasonable to pool data across sites using our harmonised protocol. CONCLUSION: The harmonized UK7T protocol and pipeline delivers on average a 3-fold improvement in the coefficient of reproducibility for QSM and R2* at 7T compared to previous reports of multi-site reproducibility at 3T. These protocols are ready for use in multi-site clinical studies at 7T.

Corrigendum: Cerebral Autoregulation Evidenced by Synchronized Low Frequency Oscillations in Blood Pressure and Resting-State fMRI.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00433.].

Most Small Cerebral Cortical Veins Demonstrate Significant Flow Pulsatility: A Human Phase Contrast MRI Study at 7T.

Phase contrast MRI (pcMRI) has been used to investigate flow pulsatility in cerebral arteries, larger cerebral veins, and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Such measurements of intracranial pulsatility and compliance are beginning to inform understanding of the pathophysiology of conditions including normal pressure hydrocephalus, multiple sclerosis, and dementias. We demonstrate the presence of flow pulsatility in small cerebral cortical veins, for the first time using pcMRI at 7 T, with the aim of improving our understanding of the hemodynamics of this little-studied vascular compartment. A method for establishing where venous flow is pulsatile is introduced, revealing significant pulsatility in 116 out of 146 veins, across eight healthy participants, assessed in parietal and frontal regions. Distributions of pulsatility index (PI) and pulse waveform delay were characterized, indicating a small, but statistically significant (p < 0.05), delay of 59 ± 41 ms in cortical veins with respect to the superior sagittal sinus, but no differences between veins draining different arterial supply territories. Measurements of pulsatility in smaller cortical veins, a hitherto unstudied compartment closer to the capillary bed, could lead to a better understanding of intracranial compliance and cerebrovascular (patho)physiology.

Vascular physiology drives functional brain networks.

We present the first evidence for vascular regulation driving fMRI signals in specific functional brain networks. Using concurrent neuronal and vascular stimuli, we collected 30 BOLD fMRI datasets in 10 healthy individuals: a working memory task, flashing checkerboard stimulus, and CO2 inhalation challenge were delivered in concurrent but orthogonal paradigms. The resulting imaging data were averaged together and decomposed using independent component analysis, and three "neuronal networks" were identified as demonstrating maximum temporal correlation with the neuronal stimulus paradigms: Default Mode Network, Task Positive Network, and Visual Network. For each of these, we observed a second network component with high spatial overlap. Using dual regression in the original 30 datasets, we extracted the time-series associated with these network pairs and calculated the percent of variance explained by the neuronal or vascular stimuli using a normalized R2 parameter. In each pairing, one network was dominated by the appropriate neuronal stimulus, and the other was dominated by the vascular stimulus as represented by the end-tidal CO2 time-series recorded in each scan. We acquired a second dataset in 8 of the original participants, where no CO2 challenge was delivered and CO2 levels fluctuated naturally with breathing variations. Although splitting of functional networks was not robust in these data, performing dual regression with the network maps from the original analysis in this new dataset successfully replicated our observations. Thus, in addition to responding to localized metabolic changes, the brain's vasculature may be regulated in a coordinated manner that mimics (and potentially supports) specific functional brain networks. Multi-modal imaging and advances in fMRI acquisition and analysis could facilitate further study of the dual nature of functional brain networks. It will be critical to understand network-specific vascular function, and the behavior of a coupled vascular-neural network, in future studies of brain pathology.

Dynamic changes in the regulatory T-cell heterogeneity and function by murine IL-2 mutein.

The therapeutic expansion of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) shows promise for treating autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. Yet, how this treatment affects the heterogeneity and function of Tregs is not clear. Using single-cell RNA-seq analysis, we characterized 31,908 Tregs from the mice treated with a half-life extended mutant form of murine IL-2 (IL-2 mutein, IL-2M) that preferentially expanded Tregs, or mouse IgG Fc as a control. Cell clustering analysis revealed that IL-2M specifically expands multiple sub-states of Tregs with distinct expression profiles. TCR profiling with single-cell analysis uncovered Treg migration across tissues and transcriptional changes between clonally related Tregs after IL-2M treatment. Finally, we identified IL-2M-expanded Tnfrsf9+Il1rl1+ Tregs with superior suppressive function, highlighting the potential of IL-2M to expand highly suppressive Foxp3+ Tregs.

Venous contribution to sodium MRI in the human brain.

PURPOSE: Sodium MRI shows great promise as a marker for cerebral metabolic dysfunction in stroke, brain tumor, and neurodegenerative pathologies. However, cerebral blood vessels, whose volume and function are perturbed in these pathologies, have elevated sodium concentrations relative to surrounding tissue. This study aims to assess whether this fluid compartment could bias measurements of tissue sodium using MRI. METHODS: Density-weighted and B1 corrected sodium MRI of the brain was acquired in 9 healthy participants at 4.7T. Veins were identified using co-registered 1 H T2∗ -weighted images and venous partial volume estimates were calculated by down-sampling the finer spatial resolution venous maps from the T2∗ -weighted images to the coarser spatial resolution of the sodium data. Linear regressions of venous partial volume estimates and sodium signal were performed for regions of interest including just gray matter, just white matter, and all brain tissue. RESULTS: Linear regression demonstrated a significant venous sodium contribution above the underlying tissue signal. The apparent venous sodium concentrations derived from regression were 65.8 ± 4.5 mM (all brain tissue), 71.0 ± 7.4 mM (gray matter), and 55.0 ± 4.7 mM (white matter). CONCLUSION: Although the partial vein linear regression did not yield the expected sodium concentration in blood (~87 mM), likely the result of point spread function smearing, this regression highlights that blood compartments may bias brain tissue sodium signals across neurological conditions where blood volumes may differ.

Whole brain 31 P MRSI at 7T with a dual-tuned receive array.

PURPOSE: The design and performance of a novel head coil setup for 31 P spectroscopy at ultra-high field strengths (7T) is presented. The described system supports measurements at both the 1 H and 31 P resonance frequencies. METHODS: The novel coil consists of 2, actively detunable, coaxial birdcage coils to give homogeneous transmit, combined with a double resonant 30 channel receive array. This allows for anatomical imaging combined with 31 P acquisitions over the whole head, without changing coils or disturbing the subject. A phosphate buffer phantom and 3 healthy volunteers were scanned with a pulse acquire CSI sequence using both the novel array coil and a conventional transceiver birdcage. Four different methods of combining the array channels were compared at 3 different levels of SNR. RESULTS: The novel coil setup delivers significantly increased 31 P SNR in the peripheral regions of the brain, reaching up to factor 8, while maintaining comparable performance relative to the birdcage in the center. CONCLUSIONS: The new system offers the potential to acquire whole brain 31 P MRSI with superior signal relative to the standard options.

Multi-site harmonization of 7 tesla MRI neuroimaging protocols.

Increasing numbers of 7 T (7 T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners are in research and clinical use. 7 T MRI can increase the scanning speed, spatial resolution and contrast-to-noise-ratio of many neuroimaging protocols, but technical challenges in implementation have been addressed in a variety of ways across sites. In order to facilitate multi-centre studies and ensure consistency of findings across sites, it is desirable that 7 T MRI sites implement common high-quality neuroimaging protocols that can accommodate different scanner models and software versions. With the installation of several new 7 T MRI scanners in the United Kingdom, the UK7T Network was established with an aim to create a set of harmonized structural and functional neuroimaging sequences and protocols. The Network currently includes five sites, which use three different scanner platforms, provided by two different vendors. Here we describe the harmonization of functional and anatomical imaging protocols across the three different scanner models, detailing the necessary changes to pulse sequences and reconstruction methods. The harmonized sequences are fully described, along with implementation details. Example datasets acquired from the same subject on all Network scanners are made available. Based on these data, an evaluation of the harmonization is provided. In addition, the implementation and validation of a common system calibration process is described.

LILRB1 Blockade Enhances Bispecific T Cell Engager Antibody-Induced Tumor Cell Killing by Effector CD8+ T Cells.

Elicitation of tumor cell killing by CD8+ T cells is an effective therapeutic approach for cancer. In addition to using immune checkpoint blockade to reinvigorate existing but unresponsive tumor-specific T cells, alternative therapeutic approaches have been developed, including stimulation of polyclonal T cell cytolytic activity against tumors using bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) molecules that simultaneously engage the TCR complex and a tumor-associated Ag. BiTE molecules are efficacious against hematologic tumors and are currently being explored as an immunotherapy for solid tumors. To understand mechanisms regulating BiTE molecule--mediated CD8+ T cell activity against solid tumors, we sought to define human CD8+ T cell populations that efficiently respond to BiTE molecule stimulation and identify factors regulating their cytolytic activity. We find that human CD45RA+CCR7- CD8+ T cells are highly responsive to BiTE molecule stimulation, are enriched in genes associated with cytolytic effector function, and express multiple unique inhibitory receptors, including leukocyte Ig-like receptor B1 (LILRB1). LILRB1 and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) were found to be expressed by distinct CD8+ T cell populations, suggesting different roles in regulating the antitumor response. Engaging LILRB1 with its ligand HLA-G on tumor cells significantly inhibited BiTE molecule-induced CD8+ T cell activation. Blockades of LILRB1 and PD1 induced greater CD8+ T cell activation than either treatment alone. Together, our data suggest that LILRB1 functions as a negative regulator of human CD8+ effector T cells and that blocking LILRB1 represents a unique strategy to enhance BiTE molecule therapeutic activity against solid tumors.

Cerebral Autoregulation Evidenced by Synchronized Low Frequency Oscillations in Blood Pressure and Resting-State fMRI.

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is a widely used technique for mapping the brain's functional architecture, so delineating the main sources of variance comprising the signal is crucial. Low frequency oscillations (LFO) that are not of neural origin, but which are driven by mechanisms related to cerebral autoregulation (CA), are present in the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal within the rs-fMRI frequency band. In this study we use a MR compatible device (Caretaker, Biopac) to obtain a non-invasive estimate of beat-to-beat mean arterial pressure (MAP) fluctuations concurrently with rs-fMRI at 3T. Healthy adult subjects (n = 9; 5 male) completed two 20-min rs-fMRI scans. MAP fluctuations were decomposed into different frequency scales using a discrete wavelet transform, and oscillations at approximately 0.1 Hz show a high degree of spatially structured correlations with matched frequency fMRI fluctuations. On average across subjects, MAP fluctuations at this scale of the wavelet decomposition explain ∼2.2% of matched frequency fMRI signal variance. Additionally, a simultaneous multi-slice multi-echo acquisition was used to collect 10-min rs-fMRI at three echo times at 7T in a separate group of healthy adults (n = 5; 5 male). Multiple echo times were used to estimate the R2 ∗ decay at every time point, and MAP was shown to strongly correlate with this signal, which suggests a purely BOLD (i.e., blood flow related) origin. This study demonstrates that there is a significant component of the BOLD signal that has a systemic physiological origin, and highlights the fact that not all localized BOLD signal changes necessarily reflect blood flow supporting local neural activity. Instead, these data show that a proportion of BOLD signal fluctuations in rs-fMRI are due to localized control of blood flow that is independent of local neural activity, most likely reflecting more general systemic autoregulatory processes. Thus, fMRI is a promising tool for studying flow changes associated with cerebral autoregulation with high spatial resolution.

Coupling between cerebral blood flow and cerebral blood volume: Contributions of different vascular compartments.

A better understanding of the coupling between changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) is vital for furthering our understanding of the BOLD response. The aim of this study was to measure CBF-CBV coupling in different vascular compartments during neural activation. Three haemodynamic parameters were measured during a visual stimulus. Look-Locker flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery was used to measure changes in CBF and arterial CBV (CBVa ) using sequence parameters optimized for each contrast. Changes in total CBV (CBVtot ) were measured using a gadolinium-based contrast agent technique. Haemodynamic changes were extracted from a region of interest based on voxels that were activated in the CBF experiments. The CBF-CBVtot coupling constant αtot was measured as 0.16 ± 0.14 and the CBF-CBVa coupling constant αa was measured as 0.65 ± 0.24. Using a two-compartment model of the vasculature (arterial and venous), the change in venous CBV (CBVv ) was predicted for an assumed value of baseline arterial and venous blood volume. These results will enhance the accuracy and reliability of applications that rely on models of the BOLD response, such as calibrated BOLD.

Changes in arterial cerebral blood volume during lower body negative pressure measured with MRI.

Cerebral Autoregulation (CA), defined as the ability of the cerebral vasculature to maintain stable levels of blood flow despite changes in systemic blood pressure, is a critical factor in neurophysiological health. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful technique for investigating cerebrovascular function, offering high spatial resolution and wide fields of view (FOV), yet it is relatively underutilized as a tool for assessment of CA. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the potential of using MRI to measure changes in cerebrovascular resistance in response to lower body negative pressure (LBNP). A Pulsed Arterial Spin Labeling (PASL) approach with short inversion times (TI) was used to estimate cerebral arterial blood volume (CBVa) in eight healthy subjects at baseline and -40mmHg LBNP. We estimated group mean CBVa values of 3.13 ± 1.00 and 2.70 ± 0.38 for baseline and lbnp respectively, which were the result of a differential change in CBVa during -40mmHg LBNP that was dependent on baseline CBVa. These data suggest that the PASL CBVa estimates are sensitive to the complex cerebrovascular response that occurs during the moderate orthostatic challenge delivered by LBNP, which we speculatively propose may involve differential changes in vascular tone within different segments of the arterial vasculature. These novel data provide invaluable insight into the mechanisms that regulate perfusion of the brain, and establishes the use of MRI as a tool for studying CA in more detail.

Profiling human breast epithelial cells using single cell RNA sequencing identifies cell diversity.

Breast cancer arises from breast epithelial cells that acquire genetic alterations leading to subsequent loss of tissue homeostasis. Several distinct epithelial subpopulations have been proposed, but complete understanding of the spectrum of heterogeneity and differentiation hierarchy in the human breast remains elusive. Here, we use single-cell mRNA sequencing (scRNAseq) to profile the transcriptomes of 25,790 primary human breast epithelial cells isolated from reduction mammoplasties of seven individuals. Unbiased clustering analysis reveals the existence of three distinct epithelial cell populations, one basal and two luminal cell types, which we identify as secretory L1- and hormone-responsive L2-type cells. Pseudotemporal reconstruction of differentiation trajectories produces one continuous lineage hierarchy that closely connects the basal lineage to the two differentiated luminal branches. Our comprehensive cell atlas provides insights into the cellular blueprint of the human breast epithelium and will form the foundation to understand how the system goes awry during breast cancer.