Genetic characterization of comorbidity patterns in aging associated diseases using integrative genomics

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dc.contributor.advisorPhillips, Nicole R.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberPlanz, John V.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberBarber, Robert C.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberZhou, Zhengyang
dc.contributor.committeeMemberGryczynski, Ignacy
dc.creatorPathak, Gita A.
dc.creator.orcid0000-0003-3943-0895
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-13T21:17:27Z
dc.date.available2021-05-13T21:17:27Z
dc.date.issued2019-08
dc.description.abstractThe aging population in the US continues to grow at an exponential rate estimated to reach more than 90 million by 2060. The coexistence of two or more diseases (comorbidity) is prevalent in ages 65 years and above, and the number of comorbidities increases with age. The genetic factors underlying presence and absence of comorbidities is a severely understudied research domain. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a type of dementia affecting 5.5 million people with an average age of diagnosis at 70 years. Hypertension is a coexisting condition in 60% AD individuals, also known as direct comorbidity. On the other hand, cancer is reported to be inversely comorbid with AD; individuals with cancer history have been reported to have lower risk of AD and vice versa. Furthermore, individuals with cancer history are diagnosed with long term side effects of radiation therapy — radiotoxicity. Twin-based studies have reported that certain gene variants are associated with radiotoxicity phenotypes with a heritability of 66%. This study proposes to investigate genetic factors associated with the direct and inverse comorbidity of AD with hypertension and cancer, and proctitis — a radiotoxicity phenotype observed in survivors of prostate cancer. The study aims to integrate gene variants, derived-gene expression and copy number variation (CNV), followed by functional and pathway-based prioritization of observed findings. We used genome-wide and cerebral spinal fluid profile to investigate presence of hypertension with AD to evaluate individual-level differences, followed by targeted investigation of neighboring gene expression profiles of identified variants. We found several novel genes associated with AD-hypertension comorbidity. The investigation between AD and cancer identified regions in chromosomes 4, 5 and 19 that are targeted by miRNA-17 family along with other miRNAs reported to be inversely expressed and play opposite role in pathogenicity of both diseases. The SNP-derived transcriptomic profile between AD and cancer highlighted involvement of sirtuin signaling. The findings together indicate involvement of mitochondrial and metabolic dysregulation which possibly contribute in differences of the epithelial-mesenchymal-transition. The SNP-derived expression and CNV association with proctitis highlighted genes involved in DNA-repair and mitochondrial ROS damage pathways.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12503/30751
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectAlzheimer's disease
dc.subjectbreast cancer
dc.subjecthypertension
dc.subjectmiRNAs
dc.subjectproctitis
dc.subjectprostate cancer
dc.subject.meshAlzheimer Disease
dc.subject.meshComorbidity
dc.subject.meshMicroRNAs
dc.titleGenetic characterization of comorbidity patterns in aging associated diseases using integrative genomics
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialtext
thesis.degree.departmentGraduate School of Biomedical Sciences
thesis.degree.disciplineMicrobiology and Immunology
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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