SORD-deficient rats develop a motor-predominant peripheral neuropathy unveiling novel pathophysiological insights.

Biallelic SORD mutations cause one of the most frequent forms of recessive hereditary neuropathy, estimated to affect approximately 10,000 patients in North America and Europe alone. Pathogenic SORD loss-of-function changes in the encoded enzyme sorbitol dehydrogenase result in abnormally high sorbitol levels in cells and serum. How sorbitol accumulation leads to peripheral neuropathy remains to be elucidated. A reproducible animal model for SORD neuropathy is essential to illuminate the pathogenesis of SORD deficiency and for preclinical studies of potential therapies. Therefore, we have generated a Sord knockout (KO), Sord-/-, Sprague Dawley rat, to model the human disease and to investigate the pathophysiology underlying SORD deficiency. We have characterized the phenotype in these rats with a battery of behavioral tests as well as biochemical, physiological, and comprehensive histological examinations. Sord-/- rats had remarkably increased levels of sorbitol in serum, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and peripheral nerve. Moreover, serum from Sord-/- rats contained significantly increased levels of neurofilament light chain, NfL, an established biomarker for axonal degeneration. Motor performance significantly declined in Sord-/- animals starting at ∼7 months of age. Gait analysis evaluated with video motion tracking confirmed abnormal gait patterns in the hindlimbs. Motor nerve conduction velocities of the tibial nerves were slowed. Light and electron microscopy of the peripheral nervous system revealed degenerating myelinated axons, de- and remyelinated axons, and a likely pathognomonic finding - enlarged "ballooned" myelin sheaths. These findings mainly affected myelinated motor axons; myelinated sensory axons were largely spared. In summary, Sord-/- rats develop a motor-predominant neuropathy that closely resembles the human phenotype. Our studies revealed novel significant aspects of SORD deficiency, and this model will lead to an improved understanding of the pathophysiology and the therapeutic options for SORD neuropathy.

A locus at 19q13.31 significantly reduces the ApoE ε4 risk for Alzheimer's Disease in African Ancestry.

African descent populations have a lower Alzheimer disease risk from ApoE ε4 compared to other populations. Ancestry analysis showed that the difference in risk between African and European populations lies in the ancestral genomic background surrounding the ApoE locus (local ancestry). Identifying the mechanism(s) of this protection could lead to greater insight into the etiology of Alzheimer disease and more personalized therapeutic intervention. Our objective is to follow up the local ancestry finding and identify the genetic variants that drive this risk difference and result in a lower risk for developing Alzheimer disease in African ancestry populations. We performed association analyses using a logistic regression model with the ApoE ε4 allele as an interaction term and adjusted for genome-wide ancestry, age, and sex. Discovery analysis included imputed SNP data of 1,850 Alzheimer disease and 4,331 cognitively intact African American individuals. We performed replication analyses on 63 whole genome sequenced Alzheimer disease and 648 cognitively intact Ibadan individuals. Additionally, we reproduced results using whole-genome sequencing of 273 Alzheimer disease and 275 cognitively intact admixed Puerto Rican individuals. A further comparison was done with SNP imputation from an additional 8,463 Alzheimer disease and 11,365 cognitively intact non-Hispanic White individuals. We identified a significant interaction between the ApoE ε4 allele and the SNP rs10423769_A allele, (ß = -0.54,SE = 0.12,p-value = 7.50x10-6) in the discovery data set, and replicated this finding in Ibadan (ß = -1.32,SE = 0.52,p-value = 1.15x10-2) and Puerto Rican (ß = -1.27,SE = 0.64,p-value = 4.91x10-2) individuals. The non-Hispanic Whites analyses showed an interaction trending in the "protective" direction but failing to pass a 0.05 significance threshold (ß = -1.51,SE = 0.84,p-value = 7.26x10-2). The presence of the rs10423769_A allele reduces the odds ratio for Alzheimer disease risk from 7.2 for ApoE ε4/ε4 carriers lacking the A allele to 2.1 for ApoE ε4/ε4 carriers with at least one A allele. This locus is located approximately 2 mB upstream of the ApoE locus, in a large cluster of pregnancy specific beta-1 glycoproteins on chromosome 19 and lies within a long noncoding RNA, ENSG00000282943. This study identified a new African-ancestry specific locus that reduces the risk effect of ApoE ε4 for developing Alzheimer disease. The mechanism of the interaction with ApoEε4 is not known but suggests a novel mechanism for reducing the risk for ε4 carriers opening the possibility for potential ancestry-specific therapeutic intervention.

MethReg: estimating the regulatory potential of DNA methylation in gene transcription.

Epigenome-wide association studies often detect many differentially methylated sites, and many are located in distal regulatory regions. To further prioritize these significant sites, there is a critical need to better understand the functional impact of CpG methylation. Recent studies demonstrated that CpG methylation-dependent transcriptional regulation is a widespread phenomenon. Here, we present MethReg, an R/Bioconductor package that analyzes matched DNA methylation and gene expression data, along with external transcription factor (TF) binding information, to evaluate, prioritize and annotate CpG sites with high regulatory potential. At these CpG sites, TF-target gene associations are often only present in a subset of samples with high (or low) methylation levels, so they can be missed by analyses that use all samples. Using colorectal cancer and Alzheimer's disease datasets, we show MethReg significantly enhances our understanding of the regulatory roles of DNA methylation in complex diseases.

Generation and characterization of a P2rx2 V60L mouse model for DFNA41.

P2RX2 encodes the P2X2 receptor, which is an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) gated (purinoreceptor) ion channel. P2RX2 c. 178G > T (p.V60L) mutation was previously identified in two unrelated Chinese families, as the cause of human DFNA41, a form of dominant, early-onset and progressive sensorineural hearing loss. We generated and characterized a knock-in mouse model based on human p.V60L mutation that recapitulates the human phenotype. Heterozygous KI mice started to exhibit hearing loss at 21-day-old and progressed to deafness by 6-month-old. Vestibular dysfunction was also observed in mutant mice. Abnormal morphology of the inner hair cells and ribbon synapses was progressively observed in KI animals suggesting that P2rx2 plays a role in the membrane spatial location of the ribbon synapses. These results suggest that P2rx2 is essential for acoustic information transfer, which can be the molecular mechanism related to hearing loss.

Aging gene signature of memory CD8+ T cells is associated with neurocognitive functioning in Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Memory CD8+ T cells expand with age. We previously demonstrated an age-associated expansion of effector memory (EM) CD8+ T cells expressing low levels of IL-7 receptor alpha (IL-7Rαlow) and the presence of its gene signature (i.e., IL-7Rαlow aging genes) in peripheral blood of older adults without Alzheimer's disease (AD). Considering age as the strongest risk factor for AD and the recent finding of EM CD8+ T cell expansion, mostly IL-7Rαlow cells, in AD, we investigated whether subjects with AD have alterations in IL-7Rαlow aging gene signature, especially in relation to genes possibly associated with AD and disease severity. RESULTS: We identified a set of 29 candidate genes (i.e., putative AD genes) which could be differentially expressed in peripheral blood of patients with AD through the systematic search of publicly available datasets. Of the 29 putative AD genes, 9 genes (31%) were IL-7Rαlow aging genes (P < 0.001), suggesting the possible implication of IL-7Rαlow aging genes in AD. These findings were validated by RT-qPCR analysis of 40 genes, including 29 putative AD genes, additional 9 top IL-7R⍺low aging but not the putative AD genes, and 2 inflammatory control genes in peripheral blood of cognitively normal persons (CN, 38 subjects) and patients with AD (40 mild cognitive impairment and 43 dementia subjects). The RT-qPCR results showed 8 differentially expressed genes between AD and CN groups; five (62.5%) of which were top IL-7Rαlow aging genes (FGFBP2, GZMH, NUAK1, PRSS23, TGFBR3) not previously reported to be altered in AD. Unbiased clustering analysis revealed 3 clusters of dementia patients with distinct expression levels of the 40 analyzed genes, including IL-7Rαlow aging genes, which were associated with neurocognitive function as determined by MoCA, CDRsob and neuropsychological testing. CONCLUSIONS: We report differential expression of "normal" aging genes associated with IL-7Rαlow EM CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood of patients with AD, and the significance of such gene expression in clustering subjects with dementia due to AD into groups with different levels of cognitive functioning. These results provide a platform for studies investigating the possible implications of age-related immune changes, including those associated with CD8+ T cells, in AD.

Ancestry-related differences in chromatin accessibility and gene expression of APOE ε4 are associated with Alzheimer's disease risk.

INTRODUCTION: European local ancestry (ELA) surrounding apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 confers higher risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to African local ancestry (ALA). We demonstrated significantly higher APOE ε4  expression in ELA versus ALA in AD brains from APOE ε4/ε4 carriers. Chromatin accessibility differences could contribute to these expression changes. METHODS: We performed single nuclei assays for transposase accessible chromatin sequencing from the frontal cortex of six ALA and six ELA AD brains, homozygous for local ancestry and APOE ε4. RESULTS: Our results showed an increased chromatin accessibility at the APOE ε4  promoter area in ELA versus ALA astrocytes. This increased accessibility in ELA astrocytes extended genome wide. Genes with increased accessibility in ELA in astrocytes were enriched for synapsis, cholesterol processing, and astrocyte reactivity. DISCUSSION: Our results suggest that increased chromatin accessibility of APOE ε4  in ELA astrocytes contributes to the observed elevated APOE ε4  expression, corresponding to the increased AD risk in ELA versus ALA APOE ε4/ε4 carriers.

Implication of IL-7 receptor alpha chain expression by CD8+ T cells and its signature in defining biomarkers in aging.

CD8+ T cells play an important role in host defense against infections and malignancies as well as contribute to the development of inflammatory disorders. Alterations in the frequency of naïve and memory CD8+ T cells are one of the most significant changes in the immune system with age. As the world population rapidly ages, a better understanding of aging immune function or immunosenescence could become a basis for discovering treatments of illnesses that commonly occur in older adults. In particular, biomarkers for immune aging could be utilized to identify individuals at high risk of developing age-associated conditions and help monitor the efficacy of therapeutic interventions targeting such conditions. This review details the possible role of CD8+ T cell subsets expressing different levels of the cytokine receptor IL-7 receptor alpha chain (IL-7Rα) and the gene signature associated with IL-7Rα as potential biomarkers for immune aging given the association of CD8+ T cells in host defense, inflammation, and immunosenescence.

Identifying differential regulatory control of APOE ɛ4 on African versus European haplotypes as potential therapeutic targets.

We previously demonstrated that in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, European apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 carriers express significantly more APOE ε4 in their brains than African AD carriers. We examined single nucleotide polymorphisms near APOE with significant frequency differences between African and European/Japanese APOE ε4 haplotypes that could contribute to this difference in expression through regulation. Two enhancer massively parallel reporter assay (MPRA) approaches were performed, supplemented with single fragment reporter assays. We used Capture C analyses to support interactions with the APOE promoter. Introns within TOMM40 showed increased enhancer activity in the European/Japanese versus African haplotypes in astrocytes and microglia. This region overlaps with APOE promoter interactions as assessed by Capture C analysis. Single variant analyses pinpoints rs2075650/rs157581, and rs59007384 as functionally different on these haplotypes. Identification of the mechanisms for differential regulatory function for APOE expression between African and European/Japanese haplotypes could lead to therapeutic targets for APOE ε4 carriers.

coMethDMR: accurate identification of co-methylated and differentially methylated regions in epigenome-wide association studies with continuous phenotypes.

Recent technology has made it possible to measure DNA methylation profiles in a cost-effective and comprehensive genome-wide manner using array-based technology for epigenome-wide association studies. However, identifying differentially methylated regions (DMRs) remains a challenging task because of the complexities in DNA methylation data. Supervised methods typically focus on the regions that contain consecutive highly significantly differentially methylated CpGs in the genome, but may lack power for detecting small but consistent changes when few CpGs pass stringent significance threshold after multiple comparison. Unsupervised methods group CpGs based on genomic annotations first and then test them against phenotype, but may lack specificity because the regional boundaries of methylation are often not well defined. We present coMethDMR, a flexible, powerful, and accurate tool for identifying DMRs. Instead of testing all CpGs within a genomic region, coMethDMR carries out an additional step that selects co-methylated sub-regions first. Next, coMethDMR tests association between methylation levels within the sub-region and phenotype via a random coefficient mixed effects model that models both variations between CpG sites within the region and differential methylation simultaneously. coMethDMR offers well-controlled Type I error rate, improved specificity, focused testing of targeted genomic regions, and is available as an open-source R package.

Increased APOE ε4 expression is associated with the difference in Alzheimer's disease risk from diverse ancestral backgrounds.

INTRODUCTION: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 confers less risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in carriers with African local genomic ancestry (ALA) than APOE ε4 carriers with European local ancestry (ELA). Cell type specific transcriptional variation between the two local ancestries (LAs) could contribute to this disease risk differences. METHODS: Single-nucleus RNA sequencing was performed on frozen frontal cortex of homozygous APOE ε4/ε4 AD patients: seven with ELA, four with ALA. RESULTS: A total of 60,908 nuclei were sequenced. Within the LA region (chr19:44-46Mb), APOE was the gene most differentially expressed, with ELA carriers having significantly more expression (overall P < 1.8E-317 ) in 24 of 32 cell clusters. The transcriptome of one astrocyte cluster, with high APOE ε4 expression and specific to ELA, is suggestive of A1 reactive astrocytes. DISCUSSION: AD patients with ELA expressed significantly greater levels of APOE than ALA APOE ε4 carriers. These differences in APOE expression could contribute to the reduced risk for AD seen in African APOE ε4 carriers.

GATAD2B-associated neurodevelopmental disorder (GAND): clinical and molecular insights into a NuRD-related disorder.

PURPOSE: Determination of genotypic/phenotypic features of GATAD2B-associated neurodevelopmental disorder (GAND). METHODS: Fifty GAND subjects were evaluated to determine consistent genotypic/phenotypic features. Immunoprecipitation assays utilizing in vitro transcription-translation products were used to evaluate GATAD2B missense variants' ability to interact with binding partners within the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex. RESULTS: Subjects had clinical findings that included macrocephaly, hypotonia, intellectual disability, neonatal feeding issues, polyhydramnios, apraxia of speech, epilepsy, and bicuspid aortic valves. Forty-one novelGATAD2B variants were identified with multiple variant types (nonsense, truncating frameshift, splice-site variants, deletions, and missense). Seven subjects were identified with missense variants that localized within two conserved region domains (CR1 or CR2) of the GATAD2B protein. Immunoprecipitation assays revealed several of these missense variants disrupted GATAD2B interactions with its NuRD complex binding partners. CONCLUSIONS: A consistent GAND phenotype was caused by a range of genetic variants in GATAD2B that include loss-of-function and missense subtypes. Missense variants were present in conserved region domains that disrupted assembly of NuRD complex proteins. GAND's clinical phenotype had substantial clinical overlap with other disorders associated with the NuRD complex that involve CHD3 and CHD4, with clinical features of hypotonia, intellectual disability, cardiac defects, childhood apraxia of speech, and macrocephaly.

Correction: GATAD2B-associated neurodevelopmental disorder (GAND): clinical and molecular insights into a NuRD-related disorder.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Systematic review of benzodiazepines for anxiety disorders in late life.

BACKGROUND: Benzodiazepines are currently the most commonly prescribed medication for the treatment of anxiety in older adults, although there is a dearth of good-quality data on this subject. The aim of this review was to systematically review studies examining the efficacy and tolerability of benzodiazepines for the treatment of anxiety disorders among older adults. METHODS: The authors conducted a systematic review, searching PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. All searches were limited to English-language articles. The quality of each study was appraised using criteria developed by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine for randomized controlled trials. RESULTS: A total of 8,785 citations were retrieved and pooled in EndNote and de-duplicated to 3,753. This set was uploaded to Covidence for screening. Two separate screeners (AG and SAF) evaluated the titles, abstracts, and full text of the eligible articles. Five studies met the inclusion criteria. Across all studies, benzodiazepines were associated with decreased anxiety at the end of the study period. The limited tolerability data show mild adverse effects from the benzodiazepines studied. Limitations of the trials included limited data on the long-term use of benzodiazepines for anxiety and a preponderance of trials examining generalized anxiety disorder, with relatively less data on other anxiety disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Benzodiazepines are effective for treating anxiety disorders in late life, at least in the short term, but more data is needed to establish tolerability and their long-term benefits.

The NuRD complex and macrocephaly associated neurodevelopmental disorders.

The nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex is a major regulator of gene expression involved in pluripotency, lineage commitment, and corticogenesis. This important complex is composed of seven different proteins, with mutations in CHD3, CHD4, and GATAD2B being associated with neurodevelopmental disorders presenting with macrocephaly and intellectual disability similar to other overgrowth and intellectual disability (OGID) syndromes. Pathogenic variants in CHD3 and CHD4 primarily involve disruption of enzymatic function. GATAD2B variants include loss-of-function mutations that alter protein dosage and missense variants that involve either of two conserved domains (CR1 and CR2) known to interact with other NuRD proteins. In addition to macrocephaly and intellectual disability, CHD3 variants are associated with inguinal hernias and apraxia of speech; whereas CHD4 variants are associated with skeletal anomalies, deafness, and cardiac defects. GATAD2B-associated neurodevelopmental disorder (GAND) has phenotypic overlap with both of these disorders. Of note, structural models of NuRD indicate that CHD3 and CHD4 require direct contact with the GATAD2B-CR2 domain to interact with the rest of the complex. Therefore, the phenotypic overlaps of CHD3- and CHD4-related disorders with GAND are consistent with a loss in the ability of GATAD2B to recruit CHD3 or CHD4 to the complex. The shared features of these neurodevelopmental disorders may represent a new class of OGID syndrome: the NuRDopathies.

Antidepressants for anxiety disorders in late-life: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety in late-life is a frequently encountered condition. The aim of this review is to systematically examine the efficacy and tolerability of antidepressants for treating anxiety disorders among older adults. METHODS: Electronic searches of The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and the standard bibliographic databases PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO were performed in August 2018 and updated in October 2018 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating antidepressants for late-life anxiety. The quality of each study was appraised using criteria developed by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. RESULTS: Data from 12 papers describing 10 RCTs of antidepressants for late-life anxiety are included in this review. There were 2 studies each of sertraline, escitalopram, and duloxetine, and 1 study each of citalopram, paroxetine, venlafaxine, and imipramine. Across all trials, antidepressants were associated with a significant reduction in anxiety symptoms at the end of the study period. Limitations of the trials include a preponderance of generalized anxiety disorder and relatively less data on other anxiety disorders, and limited data on long-term use of antidepressants for anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Antidepressants are beneficial for treating anxiety disorders in late life and are generally well tolerated.

Ethical, Legal and Forensic Issues in Geriatric Psychiatry.

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: To evaluate the ethical, legal and forensic issues that is faced by the older adult population. RECENT FINDINGS: Many older individuals will face a host of ethical, medical and legal issues associated with their care. Most prominent among these issues are the maintenance of autonomy while ensuring their safety and the safety of individuals who care for them. Decisions regarding end of life including the formulation of advance directives add to the complexity of care for these older adults. A significant portion of individuals in the criminal justice system are aging and many of these individuals have psychiatric disorders. Their care is compromised due to the lack of appropriate services within criminal justice system for providing care for these individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Ethical, legal and forensic issues among older are not uncommon and complicate the care of these vulnerable individuals.

Neuronal SIRT1 (Silent Information Regulator 2 Homologue 1) Regulates Glycolysis and Mediates Resveratrol-Induced Ischemic Tolerance.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Resveratrol, at least in part via SIRT1 (silent information regulator 2 homologue 1) activation, protects against cerebral ischemia when administered 2 days before injury. However, it remains unclear if SIRT1 activation must occur, and in which brain cell types, for the induction of neuroprotection. We hypothesized that neuronal SIRT1 is essential for resveratrol-induced ischemic tolerance and sought to characterize the metabolic pathways regulated by neuronal Sirt1 at the cellular level in the brain. METHODS: We assessed infarct size and functional outcome after transient 60 minute middle cerebral artery occlusion in control and inducible, neuronal-specific SIRT1 knockout mice. Nontargeted primary metabolomics analysis identified putative SIRT1-regulated pathways in brain. Glycolytic function was evaluated in acute brain slices from adult mice and primary neuronal-enriched cultures under ischemic penumbra-like conditions. RESULTS: Resveratrol-induced neuroprotection from stroke was lost in neuronal Sirt1 knockout mice. Metabolomics analysis revealed alterations in glucose metabolism on deletion of neuronal Sirt1, accompanied by transcriptional changes in glucose metabolism machinery. Furthermore, glycolytic ATP production was impaired in acute brain slices from neuronal Sirt1 knockout mice. Conversely, resveratrol increased glycolytic rate in a SIRT1-dependent manner and under ischemic penumbra-like conditions in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that resveratrol requires neuronal SIRT1 to elicit ischemic tolerance and identify a novel role for SIRT1 in the regulation of glycolytic function in brain. Identification of robust neuroprotective mechanisms that underlie ischemia tolerance and the metabolic adaptations mediated by SIRT1 in brain are crucial for the translation of therapies in cerebral ischemia and other neurological disorders.

Correct developmental expression level of Rai1 in forebrain neurons is required for control of body weight, activity levels and learning and memory.

Potocki-Lupski syndrome (PTLS) is a genomic disorder associated with an ∼3 Mb duplication in 17p11.2. Clinical features include leanness, intellectual disability, autistic features and developmental deficits. RAI1 gene dosage is associated with the PTLS phenotypes. To understand where and when Rai1 overexpression is detrimental, we generated a mouse that over-expresses Rai1 conditionally in forebrain neurons (I-Rai1). Phenotypic characterization of I-Rai1 mice showed significant underweight, hyperactivity and impaired learning and memory ability compared with wild-type littermates. Doxycycline administration can turn off the transgene expression allowing the restoration of Rai1 normal expression levels. When the transgene was turned off from conception to 3 months of age, no phenotypic differences were observed between I-Rai1 and their wild-type littermates. Surprisingly, we found that turning off the transgene expression before the onset of the phenotypes (1-3 months) or after the onset of the phenotypes (3-5 months) cannot prevent nor reverse the phenotypic outcomes. Our results indicate that Rai1 dosage in forebrain neurons is critical during the development and is related to body weight regulation, activity levels and learning and memory.

Transgenic overexpression of Niemann-Pick C2 protein promotes cholesterol gallstone formation in mice.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Niemann-Pick C2 (NPC2) is a lysosomal protein involved in the egress of low-density lipoprotein-derived cholesterol from lysosomes to other intracellular compartments. NPC2 has been detected in several tissues and is also secreted from the liver into bile. We have previously shown that NPC2-deficient mice fed a lithogenic diet showed reduced biliary cholesterol secretion as well as cholesterol crystal and gallstone formation. This study aimed to investigate the consequences of NPC2 hepatic overexpression on liver cholesterol metabolism, biliary lipid secretion, gallstone formation and the effect of NPC2 on cholesterol crystallization in model bile. METHODS: We generated NPC2 transgenic mice (Npc2.Tg) and fed them either chow or lithogenic diets. We studied liver cholesterol metabolism, biliary lipid secretion, bile acid composition and gallstone formation. We performed cholesterol crystallization studies in model bile using a recombinant NPC2 protein. RESULTS: No differences were observed in biliary cholesterol content or secretion between wild-type and Npc2.Tg mice fed the chow or lithogenic diets. Interestingly, Npc2.Tg mice showed an increased susceptibility to the lithogenic diet, developing more cholesterol gallstones at early times, but did not show differences in the bile acid hydrophobicity and gallbladder cholesterol saturation indices compared to wild-type mice. Finally, recombinant NPC2 decreased nucleation time in model bile. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that NPC2 promotes cholesterol gallstone formation by decreasing the cholesterol nucleation time, indicating a pro-nucleating function of NPC2 in bile.

Regulation of the Epigenome by Vitamin C.

Emerging evidence suggests that ascorbate, the dominant form of vitamin C under physiological pH conditions, influences activity of the genome via regulating epigenomic processes. Ascorbate serves as a cofactor for Ten-eleven translocation (TET) dioxygenases that catalyze the oxidation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) into 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), and further to 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and to 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC), which are ultimately replaced by unmodified cytosine. The Jumonji C (JmjC)-domain-containing histone demethylases also require ascorbate as a cofactor for histone demethylation. Thus, by primarily participating in the demethylation of both DNA and histones, ascorbate appears to be a mediator of the interface between the genome and environment. Furthermore, redox status has a profound impact on the bioavailability of ascorbate in the nucleus. In order to bridge the gap between redox biology and genomics, we suggest an interdisciplinary research field that can be termed redox genomics to study dynamic redox processes in health and diseases. This review examines the evidence and potential molecular mechanism of ascorbate in the demethylation of the genome, and it highlights potential epigenetic roles of ascorbate in various diseases.