Biomarkers of geroprotection and cardiovascular health: An overview of omics studies and established clinical biomarkers in the context of diet.

The slowdown, inhibition, or reversal of age-related decline (as a composite of disease, dysfunction, and, ultimately, death) by diet or natural compounds can be defined as dietary geroprotection. While there is no single reliable biomarker to judge the effects of dietary geroprotection, biomarker signatures based on omics (epigenetics, gene expression, microbiome composition) are promising candidates. Recently, omic biomarkers started to supplement established clinical ones such as lipid profiles and inflammatory cytokines. In this review, we focus on human data. We first summarize the current take on genetic biomarkers based on epidemiological studies. However, most of the remaining biomarkers that we describe, whether omics-based or clinical, are related to intervention studies. Then, because of their promising potential in the context of dietary geroprotection, we focus on the effects of berry-based interventions, which up to now have been mostly described employing clinical markers. We provide an aggregation and tabulation of all the recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses that we could find related to this topic. Finally, we present evidence for the importance of the "nutribiography," that is, the influence that an individual's history of diet and natural compound consumption can have on the effects of dietary geroprotection.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2021.1975638.

Gene-mapping study of extremes of cerebral small vessel disease reveals TRIM47 as a strong candidate.

Cerebral small vessel disease is a leading cause of stroke and a major contributor to cognitive decline and dementia, but our understanding of specific genes underlying the cause of sporadic cerebral small vessel disease is limited. We report a genome-wide association study and a whole-exome association study on a composite extreme phenotype of cerebral small vessel disease derived from its most common MRI features: white matter hyperintensities and lacunes. Seventeen population-based cohorts of older persons with MRI measurements and genome-wide genotyping (n = 41 326), whole-exome sequencing (n = 15 965), or exome chip (n = 5249) data contributed 13 776 and 7079 extreme small vessel disease samples for the genome-wide association study and whole-exome association study, respectively. The genome-wide association study identified significant association of common variants in 11 loci with extreme small vessel disease, of which the chr12q24.11 locus was not previously reported to be associated with any MRI marker of cerebral small vessel disease. The whole-exome association study identified significant associations of extreme small vessel disease with common variants in the 5' UTR region of EFEMP1 (chr2p16.1) and one probably damaging common missense variant in TRIM47 (chr17q25.1). Mendelian randomization supports the causal association of extensive small vessel disease severity with increased risk of stroke and Alzheimer's disease. Combined evidence from summary-based Mendelian randomization studies and profiling of human loss-of-function allele carriers showed an inverse relation between TRIM47 expression in the brain and blood vessels and extensive small vessel disease severity. We observed significant enrichment of Trim47 in isolated brain vessel preparations compared to total brain fraction in mice, in line with the literature showing Trim47 enrichment in brain endothelial cells at single cell level. Functional evaluation of TRIM47 by small interfering RNAs-mediated knockdown in human brain endothelial cells showed increased endothelial permeability, an important hallmark of cerebral small vessel disease pathology. Overall, our comprehensive gene-mapping study and preliminary functional evaluation suggests a putative role of TRIM47 in the pathophysiology of cerebral small vessel disease, making it an important candidate for extensive in vivo explorations and future translational work.

Genome-wide interaction study with major depression identifies novel variants associated with cognitive function.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) often is associated with significant cognitive dysfunction. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide interaction of MDD and cognitive function using data from four large European cohorts in a total of 3510 MDD cases and 6057 controls. In addition, we conducted analyses using polygenic risk scores (PRS) based on data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) on the traits of MDD, Bipolar disorder (BD), Schizophrenia (SCZ), and mood instability (MIN). Functional exploration contained gene expression analyses and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA®). We identified a set of significantly interacting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between MDD and the genome-wide association study (GWAS) of cognitive domains of executive function, processing speed, and global cognition. Several of these SNPs are located in genes expressed in brain, with important roles such as neuronal development (REST), oligodendrocyte maturation (TNFRSF21), and myelination (ARFGEF1). IPA® identified a set of core genes from our dataset that mapped to a wide range of canonical pathways and biological functions (MPO, FOXO1, PDE3A, TSLP, NLRP9, ADAMTS5, ROBO1, REST). Furthermore, IPA® identified upstream regulator molecules and causal networks impacting on the expression of dataset genes, providing a genetic basis for further clinical exploration (vitamin D receptor, beta-estradiol, tadalafil). PRS of MIN and meta-PRS of MDD, MIN and SCZ were significantly associated with all cognitive domains. Our results suggest several genes involved in physiological processes for the development and maintenance of cognition in MDD, as well as potential novel therapeutic agents that could be explored in patients with MDD associated cognitive dysfunction.