Biomarkers articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sex differences in fasting glucose and insulin have been identified, but the genetic loci underlying these differences have not. Here, the authors perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies to detect sex-specific and sex-dimorphic loci associated with fasting glucose and insulin.

    • Vasiliki Lagou
    • , Reedik Mägi
    •  & Inga Prokopenko

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Ketamine is associated with rapid antidepressant effects and temporary dissociative experiences, and this review examines whether these dissociative symptoms are necessary for antidepressant efficacy. Although the current literature does not support this relationship, further work is needed to explore possible associations at the molecular, biomarker, and psychological levels.

    • Elizabeth D. Ballard
    •  & Carlos A. Zarate Jr.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Finding effective treatments for COVID-19 depends upon understanding genetic regulation of proteins involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection and host response. Here, the authors identify genetic variants linked to expression of such proteins, data which could lead to the discovery of therapeutic targets.

    • Maik Pietzner
    • , Eleanor Wheeler
    •  & Claudia Langenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The human proteome represents a crucial link between complex disease and genetic/environmental factors. Here, the authors investigate 257 cardiometabolic-relevant protein biomarkers in whole genome sequencing data from 1328 individuals, revealing the genetic architecture underlying biomarker variation.

    • Arthur Gilly
    • , Young-Chan Park
    •  & Eleftheria Zeggini

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Many fluid biomarker findings have had low reproducibility despite initially promising results. Here, the authors review possible sources for low reproducibility of studies on fluid biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases and suggest guidelines for the biomarker community to agree on and implement.

    • Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren
    • , Sebastian Palmqvist
    •  & Oskar Hansson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent evidence has suggested that blood type may be associated with severe COVID-19. Here, the authors use data from ~14,000 individuals tested for SARS-CoV-2 at a New York City hospital, and find that certain ABO and Rh blood types are associated with infection, intubation, and death.

    • Michael Zietz
    • , Jason Zucker
    •  & Nicholas P. Tatonetti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The onset and pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with changes to lipid metabolism. Here, the authors analysed 569 lipids from 32 classes and subclasses in two independent patient cohorts to identify key lipid pathways to link the plasma lipidome with AD and the future onset of AD.

    • Kevin Huynh
    • , Wei Ling Florence Lim
    •  & Peter J. Meikle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diverse toxicological mechanisms may mediate the impact of environmental toxicants on pregnancy outcomes. In this study the authors introduce an analytical framework for multivariate mediation analysis to identify mediation pathways in the relationship between environmental toxicants and gestational age at delivery.

    • Max T. Aung
    • , Yanyi Song
    •  & Bhramar Mukherjee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, Massachusetts Consortium for Pathogen Readiness (MassCPR) investigators assess the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 viral load and COVID-19 disease severity and report that the levels of detectable viral RNA, especially in plasma, correlates with severity of respiratory disease, inflammatory markers and predicted risk of death.

    • Jesse Fajnzylber
    • , James Regan
    •  & Alex Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantifying lipid and water content in tissues non-invasively is difficult, and no method exists to quantify lipids in blood non-invasively. Here the authors develop an imaging approach called shortwave infrared meso-patterned imaging (SWIR-MPI) to detect and spatially map tissue water and lipids in preclinical models.

    • Yanyu Zhao
    • , Anahita Pilvar
    •  & Darren Roblyer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Methods to stratify patients according to mortality risk are essential to allocate limited heath resources during the COVID-19 crisis. Here, using machine learning methods, the authors present a mortality risk prediction model for COVID-19 that uses patients’ clinical data on admission to stratify patients by mortality risk.

    • Yue Gao
    • , Guang-Yao Cai
    •  & Qing-Lei Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A molecular tumor board (MTB) is often used as a platform that integrates clinical and molecular parameters for clinical decision making. Here, the authors review the outcome of 715 cancer patients presented at their institution’s MTB, and demonstrate that patients who received a MTB-recommended regimen received therapy that was better matched to their alterations and achieved better clinical outcomes.

    • Shumei Kato
    • , Ki Hwan Kim
    •  & Razelle Kurzrock

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tumours are made up of heterogeneous subclones. Here, the authors show using breast cancer imaging and gene expression datasets that these subclones can be inferred by the deconvolution of gene expression data, mapped to MRI derived radiogenomic signatures and used to estimate prognosis.

    • Ming Fan
    • , Pingping Xia
    •  & Lihua Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are currently only a few biomarkers to predict the response of muscle invasive bladder cancer to therapy. Here, the authors analyse 300 tumors using exome and RNA sequencing and find that tumors with a high degree of genomic instability and a non-basal/squamous gene expression subtype are most likely to respond to treatment.

    • Ann Taber
    • , Emil Christensen
    •  & Lars Dyrskjøt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cardiotoxic adverse events associated with kinase inhibitors are a growing concern in clinical oncology. Here the authors use cellular transcriptomic responses of human cardiomyocytes treated with protein kinase inhibitors and the associated drug structural signatures to determine an integrated predictive signature of cardiotoxicity.

    • J. G. Coen van Hasselt
    • , Rayees Rahman
    •  & Ravi Iyengar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Culture-based diagnostic methods for microorganism detection are time-consuming but still the gold standard for conditions such as sepsis. Here the authors present an amplification and purification-free method to detect microorganisms in bodily fluids with high sensitivity: Single MOLecule Tethering (SMOLT).

    • Wen-Chih Cheng
    • , Troy Horn
    •  & Alfredo Celedon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Highly accurate antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2 are needed for surveillance in low-prevalence populations. Here, the authors find seroprevalence of less than 1% in two San Francisco Bay Area populations at the beginning of April, and that seroreactivity is generally predictive of in vitro neutralising activity.

    • Dianna L. Ng
    • , Gregory M. Goldgof
    •  & Charles Y. Chiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A biologically-interpretable and robust metric that provides insight into one’s health status from a gut microbiome sample is an important clinical goal in current human microbiome research. Herein, the authors introduce a species-level index that predicts the likelihood of having a disease.

    • Vinod K. Gupta
    • , Minsuk Kim
    •  & Jaeyun Sung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are present in circulation at relatively early stages of disease, providing potential opportunities for early cancer diagnosis. Here, the authors report a covalent chemistry-based hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-specific EV purification system for early detection of HCC by performing digital scoring on the purified EVs.

    • Na Sun
    • , Yi-Te Lee
    •  & Yazhen Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the context of diseases impairing movement, quantitative assessment of motion is critical to medical decision-making but is currently possible only with expensive motion capture systems and trained personnel. Here, the authors present a method for predicting clinically relevant motion parameters from an ordinary video of a patient.

    • Łukasz Kidziński
    • , Bryan Yang
    •  & Michael H. Schwartz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Top-down proteomics can provide unique insights into the biological variations of protein biomarkers but detecting low-abundance proteins in body fluids remains challenging. Here, the authors develop a nanoparticle-based top-down proteomics approach enabling enrichment and detailed analysis of cardiac troponin I in human serum.

    • Timothy N. Tiambeng
    • , David S. Roberts
    •  & Ying Ge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Supercentenarians are approaching the current longevity limit by avoiding or surviving major illness, thus identifying biomarkers for exceptional survival might provide insights into the protection against disease of aging. Here, the authors show low NT-proBNP and high albumin in plasma are the biological correlates of survival to the highest ages.

    • Takumi Hirata
    • , Yasumichi Arai
    •  & Nobuyoshi Hirose

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Targeting mitochondrial metabolism in cancer cells has shown promising therapeutic potential. Here, the authors screen FDA-approved compound library and show that the β1-blocker nebivolol inhibits oxidative phosphorylation and angiogenesis in cancer cells and can be re-purposed for cancer therapy.

    • Cristina Nuevo-Tapioles
    • , Fulvio Santacatterina
    •  & José M. Cuezva

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Congenital CMV infection can result in sensorineural hearing loss, but predicting this outcome is not yet possible. Here, the authors show that while blood gene expression profiles are not substantially different between symptomatic and asymptomatic infants with congenital CMV infection, a 16-gene signature is identified and able to predict late-onset hearing loss in these children.

    • Christopher P. Ouellette
    • , Pablo J. Sánchez
    •  & Asuncion Mejias

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advanced ovarian cancer usually spreads to the omentum. Here, the authors show that circulating intelectin-1 (ITLN1) has prognostic significance in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, and that mesothelial cell-derived ITLN1 in the omental tumor microenvironment suppresses ovarian cancer progression.

    • Chi-Lam Au-Yeung
    • , Tsz-Lun Yeung
    •  & Samuel C. Mok

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spatial information in the tumour microenvironment may be exploited to optimise diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Here, the authors develop a spatial analytics computational and systems pathology platform (SpAn) based on highly multiplexed antibody imaging on colorectal cancer samples to infer emergent network biology and predict 5-year risk of recurrence.

    • Shikhar Uttam
    • , Andrew M. Stern
    •  & S. Chakra Chennubhotla

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metastatic dissemination contributes to the lethality in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Here, the authors perform RNA-sequencing on patient derived circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and identify three major CTC subgroups, and show the therapeutic potential of targeting LIN28B/let-7 pathway to halt cancer metastasis.

    • Joseph W. Franses
    • , Julia Philipp
    •  & David T. Ting

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The shortage of viable donated livers limits patient access to liver transplantation. Here the authors report the use of normothermic machine perfusion to help identify viable organs from livers discarded based on current clinical criteria, which are then transplanted to recipients in a single-arm clinical trial.

    • Hynek Mergental
    • , Richard W. Laing
    •  & Darius F. Mirza

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Linking epigenetic marks to clinical outcomes promises insight into the underlying processes. Here, the authors introduce a statistical approach to estimate associations between a phenotype and all epigenetic probes jointly, and to estimate the proportion of variation captured by epigenetic effects.

    • Daniel Trejo Banos
    • , Daniel L. McCartney
    •  & Matthew R. Robinson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    α-Syn in CSF is a biomarker of neurodegenerative diseases; however, the detection of clinically relevant species is difficult. Here, the authors create a nanobody biosensor that reveals the presence of α-Syn in cells, which allow the detection of transmittable forms of α-Syn present in human CSF.

    • Christoph Gerdes
    • , Natalia Waal
    •  & Felipe Opazo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gut microbiome has been linked to cavernous angioma (CA), a common vascular disease, but the role in humans remains unclear. Here, the authors combine 16S rRNA sequencing and shotgun metagenomics to profile the microbiome in a large cohort of human subjects with and without CA, and among subjects with different CA clinical features.

    • Sean P. Polster
    • , Anukriti Sharma
    •  & Issam A. Awad

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are no reliable tests for placental insufficiency, which can lead to fetal growth restriction and stillbirth. Here the authors demonstrate that low levels of circulating SPINT1 are associated to low birthweight, and several ultrasound and neonatal anthropomorphic indicators of placental insufficiency.

    • Tu’uhevaha J. Kaitu’u-Lino
    • , Teresa M. MacDonald
    •  & Stephen Tong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The gut microbiota has been reported to regulate the efficacy of cancer therapy. Here, the authors show that short-chain fatty acids, which are generated through bacterial fermentation, increases immune tolerance leading to resistance to anti-CTLA-4 immunotherapy in mice and patients with metastatic melanoma.

    • Clélia Coutzac
    • , Jean-Mehdi Jouniaux
    •  & Nathalie Chaput

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular analysis of archival formalin-fixed clinical tissues can be difficult. Here, researchers have developed MethCORR, an approach that infers gene expression from DNA methylation data and use the approach for molecular characterization and prognostication of colorectal cancer using archival samples.

    • Trine B. Mattesen
    • , Mads H. Rasmussen
    •  & Jesper B. Bramsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scavenger receptor-A (SR-A) is mostly expressed by myeloid cells and has been attributed a variety of biological functions. Here the authors assess SR-A as a biomarker for diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using large-scale training and validation cohorts and show that modulating SR-A levels can alter progression of collagen-induced arthritis in mice.

    • Fanlei Hu
    • , Xiang Jiang
    •  & Zhanguo Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In breast cancer, the claudin-low breast cancer subtype is remarkably diverse. Here, the authors propose that claudin-low is not a classical intrinsic breast cancer subtype, but rather a complex additional phenotype that can occur across intrinsic subtypes.

    • Christian Fougner
    • , Helga Bergholtz
    •  & Therese Sørlie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The gold standard for diagnosis and monitoring of myocardial infarction is a chemiluminescence assay based on the detection of cardian troponin I (cTnI). Here, the authors develop a plasmonic gold nano-island chip assay for ultrasensitive detection of cTnI in as little as 10 μL of serum.

    • Wei Xu
    • , Lin Wang
    •  & Kun Qian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is not fully understood why some patients respond or do not respond to antidepressant treatment. Here the authors show that in the blood of individuals with depression, GPR56 expression increases in responders to antidepressant treatment, but not in non-responders.

    • Raoul Belzeaux
    • , Victor Gorgievski
    •  & Gustavo Turecki

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