Project description:Cannabis use has been controversial, largely having been designated a controlled substance over the last century. The link between cannabis smoking and disease pathogenesis may best be explored through DNA methylation, an epigentic mechanism. We investigated the relationship between epigenetic age and cannabis smoking in participants within the Canadian Cohort of Obstructive Lung Disease (CanCOLD) cohort (n=93) (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00920348). Blood samples were profiled for DNA methylation using the Illumina MethylationEPIC BeadChipv1 at two separate laboratories and the blood epigenetic age of each sample was calculated using the Clock Foundation tool (https://dnamage.clockfoundation.org). An ANOVA was used to identify differences in the age acceleration residuals associated with cannabis smoking status (never, former, and current), adjusted for chronological age, sex, body mass index (BMI), batch, cigarette smoking status, and the first two principal components of blood cell proportions. Our observations indicated that current cannabis smoking and higher joint-years exposure are associated with epigenetic age acceleration; cessation, however, may help to normalize in part this age acceleration.
Project description:Background. The growing popularity of cannabis smoking in an era of legalization has prompted concerns about respiratory health. Objective. To investigate clinical and airway epithelial transcriptomic features associated with cannabis smoking. Methods. This cross-sectional study analyzed 139 cannabis-smoking participants categorized by joint-year exposure (low: ≤5; moderate: >5-20; high: >20), and 57 never-smokers. We evaluated respiratory symptom questionnaire scores, lung function measurements, and chest computed tomography and hyperpolarized 129Xe pulmonary magnetic resonance imaging measurements across groups. We compared the expression of immune response signatures and mucin genes in airway epithelial brushings collected from bronchoscopy. Using air-liquid interface (ALI) cell cultures, we quantified epithelial MUC5AC protein and correlated its expression with clinical outcomes. Results. Among cannabis-smoking individuals (48% male and median age of 27 years), 84% reported current or former cigarette smoking or vaping. Cannabis-smoking groups reported worse respiratory symptoms than never-smokers. High joint-year cannabis-smoking participants showed lower pre-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC and FEF25-75, more radiographic emphysema, and more ventilation abnormalities than never-smokers. Airway epithelial brushings from cannabis-smoking individuals demonstrated increased type 2 immune response, decreased type 17 immune response, and higher MUC5AC gene expression than non-cannabis-smoking individuals. Epithelial MUC5AC protein expression in cell cultures correlated with worse clinical outcomes and imaging abnormalities. Conclusions. Cannabis smoking, particularly at high exposures, is associated with worse respiratory symptoms, lower lung function, functional imaging abnormalities, and dysregulated immune responses in the airway epithelium. These observations suggest respiratory harm associated with cannabis smoking and underscore the concerns for future respiratory morbidities related to persistent cannabis use.
Project description:Even if a large amount of high-throughput functional genomic data exists, most researchers feature a strong background in molecular biology but lack advanced bioinformatics skills. In this work, publicly available gene expression datasets have been analyzed giving rise to a total of 40,224 gene expression profiles within different Cannabis tissues/developmental stages. The resource here proposed will provide researchers with a starting point for future investigations of Cannabis sativa.
Project description:In this study, we evaluated the common proteomic profile, as well as, the exclusively deregulated proteins in ON cells from healthy controls cannabis users (HC/c), SCZ patients non-cannabis users (SCZ/nc) and SCZ patients cannabis users (SCZ/c) as compared to healthy controls non-cannabis users (HC/nc). Moreover, we investigated quantitative and functional differences between HC/c and SCZ, and we characterized the distinct effect of cannabis in SCZ comparing SCZ/nc and SCZ/c.
Project description:In a cross-sectional approach, we analyzed the influence of age, sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and education on salivary protein signatures in whole saliva samples of 187 individuals. Subjects were randomly selected from the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP-Trend).
Project description:Advanced paternal age has been shown to be a significant risk factor for neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders, particularly autism. We have recently shown that mice conceived by old fathers display behavioral abnormalities which resemble key diagnostic symptoms of human autism. De novo mutations and epigenetic alterations increase in the male germ line during ageing and are thought to mediate the effect of paternal age on occurrence of diseases occurrence. Because the placenta carry a predominantly fetal genetic background, age-related mutagenesis and epigenetic errors might negatively influence placental physiology and in turn perturb fetal brain development. Here, we examined the impact of paternal age on placental mRNA transcriptome. This work was supported by Programme FP7-KBBE-2012.1.3-04, GA no. 312097 Acronym: FECUND, to GEP; MIUR/CNR, Programme FIRB. GA n. B81J12002520001 Acronym: GenHome, to PL. This study was also partially financed by the IGAB PAS project (S.III.1.3), Polish Scientific Committee Grant 2011/03/N/NZ29/05222, Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Grants N N519 657940 and N N311 604938. We compared gene expression patterns of mouse placentas harvested from either advanced paternal age model (APA) of autism or control animals. We included 2 comparisons: 1) placenta of female APA vs placenta of female control; 2) placenta of male APA vs placenta of male control. Each comparison was composed of 3 biological replicates. To minimize family bias, poolings contained at most one placenta per sex from each dam to a minimum of one and a maximum of three placentas per group/sex.
Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the following subset Series: GSE29454: Effect of Advanced Paternal Age on Copy Number Variation in Offspring (custom array) GSE29455: Effect of Advanced Paternal Age on Copy Number Variation in Offspring (commercial array) Refer to individual Series
Project description:In a cross-sectional approach, we analyzed the influence of age, sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and education on salivary protein signatures in whole saliva samples of 187 individuals. Subjects were randomly selected from the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP-Trend).