Granulosa cells express three inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor isoforms: cytoplasmic and nuclear Ca2+ mobilization.

BACKGROUND: Granulosa cells play an important endocrine role in folliculogenesis. They mobilize Ca2+ from intracellular stores by a coordinated action between 1,4,5 inositol trisphosphate and ryanodine receptors (IP3R and RyR). The aim of this study was to explore the isoforms of IP3Rs expressed in mouse C57BL/6 NHsd granulosa cells, characterizing their intranuclear localization and the relation with other Ca2+-handling proteins. METHODS: Ovarian tissue and granulosa cells were analyzed by multiphotonic and confocal microscopy to determine the intracellular presence of IP3R types 1, 2 and 3, RyR, thapsigargin-sensitive Ca2+-ATPase, and endomembranes. Cellular fractionation and Western blot assays were also used to further confirm the nuclear occurrence of the three IP3R isoforms. Free nuclear and cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations were measured using Fluo-4 AM by confocal microscopy. RESULTS: By using antibodies and specific fluorophores, was shown that granulosa cells endomembranes contain three isoforms of IP3R, the RyR, and the thapsigargin-sensitive Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA). Interestingly, all these proteins were also detected in the nuclear envelope and in well-defined intranuclear structures. Microsomal membranes depicted characteristic bands of the 3 types of IP3R, but also variants of lower molecular weight. Analysis of nuclear membranes and nucleoplasmic fraction confirmed the nuclear localization of the IP3R types 1, 2 and 3. We demonstrated ATP-induced Ca2+ transients in the nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments. Remarkably, the inhibitory effect on ATP-induced Ca2+ mobilization of brefeldin A was more accentuated in the cytoplasm than in the nucleus. CONCLUSION: These findings provide evidence that granulosa cells, including nuclei, express the Ca2+-handling proteins that allow Ca2+ mobilization. All three IP3R were also detected in ovarian slices, including the nuclei of granulosa cells, suggesting that these cells use the three IP3R in situ to achieve their physiological responses.

Risk Model for Colorectal Cancer in Spanish Population Using Environmental and Genetic Factors: Results from the MCC-Spain study.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening of the average risk population is only indicated according to age. We aim to elaborate a model to stratify the risk of CRC by incorporating environmental data and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). The MCC-Spain case-control study included 1336 CRC cases and 2744 controls. Subjects were interviewed on lifestyle factors, family and medical history. Twenty-one CRC susceptibility SNPs were genotyped. The environmental risk model, which included alcohol consumption, obesity, physical activity, red meat and vegetable consumption, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, contributed to CRC with an average per factor OR of 1.36 (95% CI 1.27 to 1.45). Family history of CRC contributed an OR of 2.25 (95% CI 1.87 to 2.72), and each additional SNP contributed an OR of 1.07 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.10). The risk of subjects with more than 25 risk alleles (5th quintile) was 82% higher (OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.98) than subjects with less than 19 alleles (1st quintile). This risk model, with an AUROC curve of 0.63 (95% CI 0.60 to 0.66), could be useful to stratify individuals. Environmental factors had more weight than the genetic score, which should be considered to encourage patients to achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Identification of misdiagnosed fronto-temporal dementia using APOE genotype and phenotype-genotype correlation analyses.

OBJECTIVE: Postmortem and genetic studies of clinically diagnosed Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients suggest that a number of clinically diagnosed FTD patients are actually "frontal variants" of Alzheimer's disease (fvAD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate this hypothesis by combining neuropathological data, genetic association studies of APOE, phenotype-APOE genotype correlations and discriminant analysis techniques. METHODS: Neuropathological information on 24 FTD cases, genetic association studies of APOE (168 FTD, 3083 controls and 2528 AD), phenotypegenotype correlations and discriminant techniques (LDA, logistic regression and decision trees) were combined to identify fvAD patients within a clinical FTD series. RESULTS: Four of 24 FTLD patients (16.6%) met criteria for definite AD. By comparing allele and genotype frequencies of APOE in controls, FTD and AD groups and by applying the Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium law (HWE), we inferred a consistent (17.2%) degree of AD contamination in clinical FTD. A penetrance analysis for APOE ε4 genotype in the FTD series identified 14 features for discrimination analysis. These features were compared between clinical AD (n=332) and clinical FTD series (n=168) and classifiers were constructed usinglinear discriminant analysis logistic regression or decision tree techniques. The classifier had 92.8% sensitivity to FTD and 93.4% sensitivity to AD relative to neuropathology (global AUC=0.939, p<<0.001). We identified 30 potential fvAD cases (17.85%) in the clinical FTD sample. CONCLUSION: The APOE locus association in clinical FTD might be entirely explained by the existence of "hidden" fvAD cases within an FTD sample. The degree of fvAD contamination can be inferred from APOE genotypes.

The membrane-spanning 4-domains, subfamily A (MS4A) gene cluster contains a common variant associated with Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: In order to identify novel loci associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in the Spanish population. METHODS: We genotyped 1,128 individuals using the Affymetrix Nsp I 250K chip. A sample of 327 sporadic AD patients and 801 controls with unknown cognitive status from the Spanish general population were included in our initial study. To increase the power of the study, we combined our results with those of four other public GWAS datasets by applying identical quality control filters and the same imputation methods, which were then analyzed with a global meta-GWAS. A replication sample with 2,200 sporadic AD patients and 2,301 controls was genotyped to confirm our GWAS findings. RESULTS: Meta-analysis of our data and independent replication datasets allowed us to confirm a novel genome-wide significant association of AD with the membrane-spanning 4-domains subfamily A (MS4A) gene cluster (rs1562990, P = 4.40E-11, odds ratio = 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.85 to 0.91, n = 10,181 cases and 14,341 controls). CONCLUSIONS: Our results underscore the importance of international efforts combining GWAS datasets to isolate genetic loci for complex diseases.