Publications by authors named "M Buttigieg"

Article Synopsis
  • Somatic mutations in the TET2 gene increase with age, leading to clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), which raises the risk of myeloid neoplasms and other age-related illnesses.
  • Research suggests that higher levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in older individuals support the expansion of TET2-mutant hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in living organisms.
  • Findings indicate that targeting TNF could be a promising therapeutic strategy to manage TET2-mutant CHIP, potentially reducing the risk associated with these mutations in humans.
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Individuals with clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) are at increased risk of aging related health conditions and all-cause mortality, but whether CHIP affects risk of infection is much less clear. Using UK Biobank data, we revealed a positive association between CHIP and incident pneumonia in 438,421 individuals. We show that inflammation enhanced pneumonia risk, as CHIP carriers with a hypomorphic IL6 receptor polymorphism were protected.

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Small particulate matter air pollution (PM ) is a recognized driver of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) among non-smoking individuals. Inhaled PM recruits pro-inflammatory macrophages to the air-lung interface, which promotes malignant lung epithelial cell growth and progression to overt cancer. We sought to determine whether clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), a common age-related condition characterized by hyperinflammatory macrophages, exacerbates PM -associated NSCLC in non-smokers using genetic, environmental, and phenotypic data from 413,901 individuals in the UK Biobank.

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Recent larger-scale studies of patients with cancer and longitudinal population cohorts have revealed how age-related expansions of mutant hematopoietic cells (clonal hematopoiesis [CH]) have differential associations with incident and prevalent cancers and their outcomes. Increasing recognition and deeper understanding of genetic subtypes of CH are yielding insights into the tumor-immune interface that may help to explain the heterogeneous impact of CH on tumorigenesis and treatment. Herein, we update the expanding influence of CH in precision oncology and propose important research and clinical questions to address to effectively manage and harness CH in oncology patients.

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The creation of a centralised national livestock database for the islands of Malta and Gozo is of crucial importance for the identification and traceability of bovines. It is also important for compliance with the legal obligations that followed Malta's accession to the European Union in May 2004. This paper describes how the processes of identification, registration and traceability of bovines have changed since Malta's accession.

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