Publications by authors named "JuJiao Kang"

Pathophysiological evolutions in early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) are not well understood. We used data of 2923 Olink plasma proteins from 51,296 non-demented middle-aged adults. During a follow-up of 15 years, 689 incident AD cases occurred.

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  • Previous studies on depression focused mainly on common genetic variants, but this research uses whole-exome sequencing to explore rare coding variants and their effects on depression.
  • A large-scale study involving 296,199 UK Biobank participants found 22 genes linked to depressive symptoms, including six new ones (TRIM27, UBD, SVOP, ADGRB2, IRF2BPL, and ANKRD12).
  • The study revealed that these genes are connected to immune responses and regions of the brain tied to depression, offering new insights into the genetic factors and mechanisms behind depressive symptoms.
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Proteomic alterations preceding the onset of depression offer valuable insights into its development and potential interventions. Leveraging data from 46,165 UK Biobank participants and 2920 plasma proteins profiled at baseline, we conducted a longitudinal analysis with a median follow-up of 14.5 years to explore the relationship between plasma proteins and incident depression.

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  • This study investigates structural brain aging by analyzing both cross-sectional and longitudinal data from over 37,000 healthy individuals in the UK Biobank, identifying two distinct patterns of brain aging.
  • Participants showing signs of accelerated brain aging also experienced faster biological aging, cognitive decline, and higher genetic risks for neuropsychiatric disorders.
  • The research supports the 'last in, first out' hypothesis linking brain aging to brain development, and includes genomic analysis to uncover genetic factors influencing both accelerated brain aging and delayed development.
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Educational attainment (EA), socioeconomic status (SES) and cognition are phenotypically and genetically linked to health outcomes. However, the role of copy number variations (CNVs) in influencing EA/SES/cognition remains unclear. Using a large-scale (n = 305,401) genome-wide CNV-level association analysis, we discovered 33 CNV loci significantly associated with EA/SES/cognition, 20 of which were novel (deletions at 2p22.

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  • - The heritability of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is high, estimated between 58%-79%, but known genes only explain part of this risk, prompting further genetic studies.
  • - A gene-based exome-wide association study identified 11 genes linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer's and related dementias, including five novel genes, while a single-variant analysis found two additional novel genes.
  • - The identified genes are mostly involved in processes related to amyloid-β, microglia, and the hippocampus, suggesting that some of these genes could serve as potential targets for drug development.
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  • - The study examined the genetic links of protein-coding variants to immune-mediated diseases (IMDs) by analyzing whole exome sequencing data from over 350,000 UK Biobank participants and discovered 162 unique genes across 35 IMDs, with 124 of those being previously unknown.
  • - Key genes, including FLG associated with atopic dermatitis and asthma, were found to influence both rare and common genetic variants, while 91 genes significantly affected health outcomes over time.
  • - The research also revealed five causal genes that correspond to approved drug targets and highlighted how mutations in certain genes might impact protein expression related to various IMDs, ultimately suggesting new avenues for targeted therapies.
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Adolescents exhibit remarkable heterogeneity in the structural architecture of brain development. However, due to limited large-scale longitudinal neuroimaging studies, existing research has largely focused on population averages, and the neurobiological basis underlying individual heterogeneity remains poorly understood. Here we identify, using the IMAGEN adolescent cohort followed up over 9 years (14-23 y), three groups of adolescents characterized by distinct developmental patterns of whole-brain gray matter volume (GMV).

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  • * Utilizing data from over 304,000 individuals, researchers identified 25 variants and 13 genes related to alcohol consumption, including two previously unrecognized genes, GIGYF1 and ANKRD12.
  • * The findings highlight the genes' involvement in brain function pathways and suggest connections between alcohol consumption and various health issues, such as brain integrity and gastrointestinal and mental health diseases.
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  • Varicose veins (VV) are common, and their genetic causes remain unclear, prompting a study using whole-exome sequencing from the UK Biobank.
  • The study identified 36 common genetic variants linked to VV across 34 genes and three rare variants, with PIEZO1 showing the strongest association.
  • Findings suggest that genes related to VV are also connected to factors like body size and inflammation, indicating potential new avenues for treatment.
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Background And Objectives: Identification of individuals at high risk of developing Parkinson disease (PD) several years before diagnosis is crucial for developing treatments to prevent or delay neurodegeneration. This study aimed to develop predictive models for PD risk that combine plasma proteins and easily accessible clinical-demographic variables.

Methods: Using data from the UK Biobank (UKB), which recruited participants across the United Kingdom, we conducted a longitudinal study to identify predictors for incident PD.

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  • Researchers conducted a large study analyzing brain iron levels in over 26,000 participants, identifying 36 genes related to brain iron regulation, 29 of which are new discoveries.
  • Some identified genes are linked to specific disorders like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and depression, highlighting their role beyond just iron transport.
  • The study suggests potential causal links between regional brain iron levels and certain brain disorders, opening up new avenues for targeted treatments.
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Background: Dementia has a long prodromal stage with various pathophysiological manifestations; however, the progression of pre-diagnostic changes remains unclear. We aimed to determine the evolutional trajectories of multiple-domain clinical assessments and health conditions up to 15 years before the diagnosis of dementia.

Methods: Data was extracted from the UK-Biobank, a longitudinal cohort that recruited over 500,000 participants from March 2006 to October 2010.

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While numerous genomic loci have been identified for neuropsychiatric conditions, the contribution of protein-coding variants has yet to be determined. Here we conducted a large-scale whole-exome-sequencing study to interrogate the impact of protein-coding variants on 46 neuropsychiatric diseases and 23 traits in 350,770 adults from the UK Biobank. Twenty new genes were associated with neuropsychiatric diseases through coding variants, among which 16 genes had impacts on the longitudinal risks of diseases.

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Previous genetic studies of venous thromboembolism (VTE) have been largely limited to common variants, leaving the genetic determinants relatively incomplete. We performed an exome-wide association study of VTE among 14,723 cases and 334,315 controls. Fourteen known and four novel genes (SRSF6, PHPT1, CGN, and MAP3K2) were identified through protein-coding variants, with broad replication in the FinnGen cohort.

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  • - This study investigates structural brain aging by analyzing data from 37,013 healthy individuals in the UK Biobank, focusing on both cross-sectional changes and longitudinal patterns to identify two distinct aging trajectories.
  • - Participants showing signs of accelerated brain aging also face faster biological aging, cognitive decline, and greater genetic risks for neuropsychiatric disorders.
  • - The research validates the "last in, first out" hypothesis regarding brain development and aging, along with genomic analyses that reveal specific genes and risk factors tied to these processes, shedding light on the biological mechanisms involved.
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Sleep is vital for human health and has a moderate heritability. Previous genome-wide association studies have limitations in capturing the role of rare genetic variants in sleep-related traits. Here we conducted a large-scale exome-wide association study of eight sleep-related traits (sleep duration, insomnia symptoms, chronotype, daytime sleepiness, daytime napping, ease of getting up in the morning, snoring and sleep apnoea) among 450,000 participants from UK Biobank.

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Developing a single-domain assay to identify individuals at high risk of future events is a priority for multi-disease and mortality prevention. By training a neural network, we developed a disease/mortality-specific proteomic risk score (ProRS) based on 1461 Olink plasma proteins measured in 52,006 UK Biobank participants. This integrative score markedly stratified the risk for 45 common conditions, including infectious, hematological, endocrine, psychiatric, neurological, sensory, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, cutaneous, musculoskeletal, and genitourinary diseases, cancers, and mortality.

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  • The study analyzes genetic and neuroimaging data from nearly 62,000 participants to understand how genetics influences the shape and size of cerebral ventricles, which are critical for brain health and development.
  • Researchers identified 62 genetic loci and 785 candidate genes associated with ventricular morphology and found a significant overlap with neuropsychiatric traits, highlighting the genetic connections between brain structure and mental health.
  • The findings suggest that measuring the volume of lateral ventricles could serve as a heritable marker for predicting Alzheimer's disease risk, offering insights into the genetic factors involved in both brain development and degenerative processes throughout life.
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Adolescents exhibit remarkable heterogeneity in the structural architecture of brain development. However, due to the lack of large-scale longitudinal neuroimaging studies, existing research has largely focused on population averages and the neurobiological basis underlying individual heterogeneity remains poorly understood. Using structural magnetic resonance imaging from the IMAGEN cohort (n=1,543), we show that adolescents can be clustered into three groups defined by distinct developmental patterns of whole-brain gray matter volume (GMV).

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Background: A growing body of neuroimaging studies has reported common neural abnormalities among mental disorders in adults. However, it is unclear whether the distinct disorder-specific mechanisms operate during adolescence despite the overlap among disorders.

Methods: We studied a large cohort of more than 11 000 preadolescent (age 9-10 yr) children from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development cohort.

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Background: Comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception for childhood and adolescent onset mental disorders, but we cannot predict its occurrence and do not know the neural mechanisms underlying comorbidity. We investigate if the effects of comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorders on anatomical differences represent a simple aggregate of the effects on each disorder and if these comorbidity-associated cortical surface differences relate to a distinct genetic underpinning.

Methods: We studied the cortical surface area (SA) and thickness (CT) of 11,878 preadolescents (9-10 years) from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study.

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Background: Childhood is a crucial neurodevelopmental period. We investigated whether childhood reading for pleasure (RfP) was related to young adolescent assessments of cognition, mental health, and brain structure.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional and longitudinal study in a large-scale US national cohort (10 000 + young adolescents), using the well-established linear mixed model and structural equation methods for twin study, longitudinal and mediation analyses.

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