Publications by authors named "Tenghao Zheng"
Constipation is associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiac events in a UK population.
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol
October 2024
Article Synopsis
- Traditional cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension don’t fully explain the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs), indicating the need to explore additional risk factors.
- The study investigates the link between constipation and MACE using data from the UK Biobank, revealing that individuals with constipation have a significantly higher risk of developing conditions like heart failure, ischemic stroke, and acute coronary syndrome.
- Positive genetic correlations were found between constipation and these MACE subgroups, suggesting that constipation may be an underestimated risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, prompting the need for more research into its implications and underlying mechanisms.
Background & Aims: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) shows genetic predisposition, and large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are emerging, based on heterogeneous disease definitions. We investigated the genetic architecture of IBS defined according to gold standard Rome Criteria.
Methods: We conducted GWAS meta-analyses of Rome III IBS and its subtypes in 24,735 IBS cases and 77,149 asymptomatic control subjects from 2 independent European cohorts (UK Biobank and Lifelines).
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how angiotensin II treatment affects the gut microbiome using a large cohort of 303 male and female mice, addressing the limitations of previous smaller studies.
- The analysis revealed that angiotensin II significantly influenced the diversity and composition of the microbiome, but other factors like diet, age, and sampling site had a much greater impact.
- The findings highlight the importance of considering various experimental factors when studying microbiome changes related to hypertension, as angiotensin II's effects were modest compared to these factors.
Article Synopsis
- Microscopic colitis (MC) includes two subtypes: collagenous colitis (CC) and lymphocytic colitis (LC), and their relationship as either distinct entities or a continuum needs further investigation.
- A genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving nearly 15,000 individuals found a strong link between HLA alleles and collagenous colitis, highlighting specific alleles and their variants as significant factors.
- The findings suggest that CC and LC have different biological mechanisms, particularly with HLA's relevant role in CC, which raises questions about current definitions and classifications of microscopic colitis.
A pilot genome-wide association study meta-analysis of gastroparesis.
United European Gastroenterol J
October 2023
Article Synopsis
- Gastroparesis (GP) is a condition marked by delayed gastric emptying, and this study aimed to investigate the genetic factors contributing to it using a genome-wide association study (GWAS).
- The research involved comparing genetic data from 880 GP patients and over 58,000 controls, leading to the identification of nine genomic loci that showed suggestive associations with GP, particularly focusing on immune and motor dysregulation pathways.
- Notably, the gene PXDNL was linked to increased abdominal pain severity in GP patients, suggesting a possible target for future research on GP treatments.
Article Synopsis
- * The gut microbiome influences blood pressure through mechanisms like changes in microbiome-associated gene pathways and the production of beneficial or detrimental metabolites, which can trigger key signaling pathways.
- * There are still challenges in gut microbiome research, including establishing causality and increasing sample diversity, but advancements like precision microbiome medicine and new clinical trials could help use the microbiome to manage blood pressure effectively.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a gut-brain disorder of multifactorial origin. Evidence of disturbed serotonergic function in IBS accumulated for the 5-HT receptor family. 5-HTRs are encoded by HTR3 genes and control GI function, and peristalsis and secretion, in particular.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGiven the highly variable clinical phenotype of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a deeper analysis of the host genetic contribution to severe COVID-19 is important to improve our understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we describe an extended genome-wide association meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3255 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12 488 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, including stratified analyses based on age, sex and disease severity, as well as targeted analyses of chromosome Y haplotypes, the human leukocyte antigen region and the SARS-CoV-2 peptidome. By inversion imputation, we traced a reported association at 17q21.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the serotonin type 3 receptor subunit () genes have been associated with psychosomatic symptoms, but it is not clear whether these associations exist in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Aim: To assess the association of polymorphisms with depressive, anxiety, and somatization symptoms in individuals with IBS.
Methods: In this retrospective study, 623 participants with IBS were recruited from five specialty centers in Germany, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Article Synopsis
- Gut dysmotility affects conditions like constipation and diarrhea, linked to functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but the molecular causes are still not well understood.
- A large study analyzed stool frequency data from nearly 168,000 individuals to identify 14 genetic loci related to bowel movements, shedding light on genetic factors influencing gut motility.
- The research suggests that the genetic basis of stool frequency is connected to IBS, especially with a higher risk of IBS with diarrhea in those with certain genetic traits, highlighting potential targets for future treatments.
Article Synopsis
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is linked to dysfunctional brain-gut communication, and pinpointing genetic factors can shed light on its underlying causes.
- A genome-wide association study involving over 53,000 IBS cases and 433,000 controls identified six genetic loci associated with IBS, some of which are related to mood and anxiety disorders.
- The study found a strong connection between IBS risk and mental health issues like anxiety and depression, indicating that these conditions may share common biological pathways rather than one causing the other.
Background & Aims: The gut virome includes eukaryotic viruses and bacteriophages that can shape the gut bacterial community and elicit host responses. The virome can be implicated in diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), where gut bacteria play an important role in pathogenesis. We provide a comprehensive and longitudinal characterization of the virome, including DNA and RNA viruses and paired multi-omics data in a cohort of healthy subjects and patients with IBS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- IBS is a gut-brain disorder where symptoms are influenced by a chemical called serotonin, and a particular gene related to serotonin (SLC6A4) may be involved in causing IBS.
- Researchers found a specific gene change (called SNP rs2020938) that seems to be linked to constipation-predominant IBS, especially in females.
- Further studies showed that this gene change affects how the SLC6A4 gene works in the intestines, which helps explain why it might be important for understanding IBS.
Objective: Haemorrhoidal disease (HEM) affects a large and silently suffering fraction of the population but its aetiology, including suspected genetic predisposition, is poorly understood. We report the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis to identify genetic risk factors for HEM to date.
Design: We conducted a GWAS meta-analysis of 218 920 patients with HEM and 725 213 controls of European ancestry.
The gut microbiome has been implicated in multiple human chronic gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Determining its mechanistic role in disease has been difficult due to apparent disconnects between animal and human studies and lack of an integrated multi-omics view of disease-specific physiological changes. We integrated longitudinal multi-omics data from the gut microbiome, metabolome, host epigenome, and transcriptome in the context of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) host physiology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is considerable variation in disease behavior among patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Genomewide association analysis may allow for the identification of potential genetic factors involved in the development of Covid-19.
Methods: We conducted a genomewide association study involving 1980 patients with Covid-19 and severe disease (defined as respiratory failure) at seven hospitals in the Italian and Spanish epicenters of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Europe.
The Ca-activated Cl channel, anoctamin 1 (Ano1, also known as transmembrane protein 16A) contributes to intestinal pacemaking, fluid secretion, cellular excitability, and tissue development. The human promoter contains binding sites for the glioma-associated oncogene (Gli) proteins. We investigated regulation of transcription by Gli.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Aims: Genetic factors are believed to affect risk for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but there have been no sufficiently powered and adequately sized studies. To identify DNA variants associated with IBS risk, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of the large UK Biobank population-based cohort, which includes genotype and health data from 500,000 participants.
Methods: We studied 7,287,191 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms in individuals who self-reported a doctor's diagnosis of IBS (cases; n = 9576) compared to the remainder of the cohort (controls; n = 336,499) (mean age of study subjects, 40-69 years).