BackgroundExcessive sleepiness (ES) is a common symptom of OSA, which often persists despite primary OSA therapy. This phase III randomized withdrawal trial evaluated solriamfetol (JZP-110) for the treatment of ES in adults with OSA.MethodsAfter 2 weeks of clinical titration (n = 174) and 2 weeks of stable dose administration (n = 148), participants who reported improvement on the Patient Global Impression of Change (PGI-C) and had numerical improvements on the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were randomly assigned to placebo (n = 62) or solriamfetol (n = 62) for 2 additional weeks. Coprimary end points were change from weeks 4 to 6 in MWT and ESS.ResultsIn the modified intention-to-treat population (n = 122), MWT mean sleep latencies and ESS scores improved from baseline to week 4 (from 12.3-13.1 to 29.0-31.7 minutes and from 15.3-16.0 to 5.9-6.4, respectively). From weeks 4 to 6, participants treated with solriamfetol maintained improvements (least squares [LS] mean [SE] changes of −1.0 [1.4] minutes on MWT and −0.1 [0.7] on ESS), whereas participants treated with placebo worsened (LS mean [SE] change of −12.1 [1.3] minutes on MWT and 4.5 [0.7] on ESS); LS mean differences between treatments were 11.2 minutes (95% CI, 7.8-14.6) and −4.6 (95% CI, −6.4 to −2.8) on MWT and ESS, respectively. Fewer participants treated with solriamfetol reported worsening on the PGI-C from weeks 4 to 6 (20% vs 50%; P = .0005). Common adverse events included headache, dry mouth, nausea, dizziness, and insomnia.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated maintenance of solriamfetol efficacy and safety over 6 weeks.Trial RegistryClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT02348619; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov; EudraCT No.: 2014-005515-16 Excessive sleepiness (ES) is a common symptom of OSA, which often persists despite primary OSA therapy. This phase III randomized withdrawal trial evaluated solriamfetol (JZP-110) for the treatment of ES in adults with OSA. After 2 weeks of clinical titration (n = 174) and 2 weeks of stable dose administration (n = 148), participants who reported improvement on the Patient Global Impression of Change (PGI-C) and had numerical improvements on the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were randomly assigned to placebo (n = 62) or solriamfetol (n = 62) for 2 additional weeks. Coprimary end points were change from weeks 4 to 6 in MWT and ESS. In the modified intention-to-treat population (n = 122), MWT mean sleep latencies and ESS scores improved from baseline to week 4 (from 12.3-13.1 to 29.0-31.7 minutes and from 15.3-16.0 to 5.9-6.4, respectively). From weeks 4 to 6, participants treated with solriamfetol maintained improvements (least squares [LS] mean [SE] changes of −1.0 [1.4] minutes on MWT and −0.1 [0.7] on ESS), whereas participants treated with placebo worsened (LS mean [SE] change of −12.1 [1.3] minutes on MWT and 4.5 [0.7] on ESS); LS mean differences between treatments were 11.2 minutes (95% CI, 7.8-14.6) and −4.6 (95% CI, −6.4 to −2.8) on MWT and ESS, respectively. Fewer participants treated with solriamfetol reported worsening on the PGI-C from weeks 4 to 6 (20% vs 50%; P = .0005). Common adverse events included headache, dry mouth, nausea, dizziness, and insomnia. This study demonstrated maintenance of solriamfetol efficacy and safety over 6 weeks.
Abstract Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are associated with self-reported problems with cognition as well as risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Overlapping symptom profiles observed in cognitive disorders, psychiatric disorders, and environmental exposures (e.g., head injury) can complicate the detection of early signs of ADRD. The interplay between PTSD, head injury, subjective (self-reported) cognitive concerns and genetic risk for ADRD is also not well understood, particularly in diverse ancestry groups. Methods Using data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Million Veteran Program (MVP), we examined the relationship between dementia risk factors ( APOE ε4 , PTSD, TBI) and subjective cognitive concerns (SCC) measured in individuals of European ( n = 140,921), African ( n = 15,788), and Hispanic ( n = 8,064) ancestry (EA, AA, and HA, respectively). We then used data from the VA electronic medical record to perform a retrospective survival analysis evaluating PTSD, TBI, APOE ε4, and SCC and their associations with risk of conversion to ADRD in Veterans aged 65 and older. Results PTSD symptoms (B = 0.50–0.52, p < 1E-250) and probable TBI (B = 0.05–0.19, p = 1.51E-07 – 0.002) were positively associated with SCC across all three ancestry groups. APOE ε4 was associated with greater SCC in EA Veterans aged 65 and older (B = 0.037, p = 1.88E-12). Results of Cox models indicated that PTSD symptoms (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.13–1.21), APOE ε4 (HR = 1.73–2.05) and SCC (HR = 1.18–1.37) were positively associated with risk for ADRD across all three ancestry groups. In the EA group, probable TBI also contributed to increased risk of ADRD (HR = 1.18). Conclusions The findings underscore the value of SCC as an indicator of ADRD risk in Veterans 65 and older when considered in conjunction with other influential genetic, clinical, and demographic risk factors.
Elevated Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a causal risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, but the mechanisms of risk are debated. Studies have found inconsistent associations between Lp(a) and measurements of atherosclerosis. We aimed to assess the relationship between Lp(a), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and coronary artery plaque severity.
Background: The risk of arterial diseases may be elevated among family members of individuals having multifocal fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD). We sought to investigate the risk of arterial diseases in families of individuals with FMD. Methods: Family histories for 73 probands with FMD were obtained, which included an analysis of 463 total first-degree relatives focusing on FMD and related arterial disorders. A polygenic risk score for FMD (PRS FMD ) was constructed from prior genome-wide association findings of 584 FMD cases and 7139 controls and evaluated for association with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in a cohort of 9693 AAA cases and 294 049 controls. A previously published PRS AAA was also assessed among the FMD cases and controls. Results: Of all first degree relatives of probands, 9.3% were diagnosed with FMD, aneurysms, and dissections. Aneurysmal disease occurred in 60.5% of affected relatives and 5.6% of all relatives. Among 227 female first-degree relatives of probands, 4.8% (11) had FMD, representing a relative risk (RR) FMD of 1.5 ([95% CI, 0.75–2.8]; P =0.19) compared with the estimated population prevalence of 3.3%, though not of statistical significance. Of all fathers of FMD probands, 11% had AAAs resulting in a RR AAA of 2.3 ([95% CI, 1.12–4.6]; P =0.014) compared with population estimates. The PRS FMD was found to be associated with an AAA (odds ratio, 1.03 [95% CI, 1.01–1.05]; P =2.6×10 −3 ), and the PRS AAA was found to be associated with FMD (odds ratio, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.2–1.9]; P =9.0×10 −5 ) as well. Conclusions: FMD and AAAs seem to be sex-dimorphic manifestations of a heritable arterial disease with a partially shared complex genetic architecture. Excess risk of having an AAA according to a family history of FMD may justify screening in family members of individuals having FMD.
Importance Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) may have nephroprotective properties beyond those related to weight loss and glycemic control. Objective To investigate the association of genetically proxied GLP-1RAs with kidney disease progression. Design, Setting, and Participants This genetic association study assembled a national retrospective cohort of veterans aged 18 years or older from the US Department of Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program between January 10, 2011, and December 31, 2021. Data were analyzed from November 2023 to February 2024. Exposures Genetic risk score for systemic GLP1R gene expression that was calculated for each study participant based on genetic variants associated with GLP1R mRNA levels across all tissue samples within the Genotype-Tissue Expression project. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary composite outcome was incident end-stage kidney disease or a 40% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate. Cox proportional hazards regression survival analysis assessed the association between genetically proxied GLP-1RAs and kidney disease progression. Results Among 353 153 individuals (92.5% men), median age was 66 years (IQR, 58.0-72.0 years) and median follow-up was 5.1 years (IQR, 3.1-7.2 years). Overall, 25.7% had diabetes, and 45.0% had obesity. A total of 4.6% experienced kidney disease progression. Overall, higher genetic GLP1R gene expression was associated with a lower risk of kidney disease progression in the unadjusted model (hazard ratio [HR], 0.96; 95% CI, 0.92-0.99; P = .02) and in the fully adjusted model accounting for baseline patient characteristics, body mass index, and the presence or absence of diabetes (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.92-1.00; P = .04). The results were similar in sensitivity analyses stratified by diabetes or obesity status. Conclusions and Relevance In this genetic association study, higher GLP1R gene expression was associated with a small reduction in risk of kidney disease progression. These findings support pleiotropic nephroprotective mechanisms of GLP-1RAs independent of their effects on body weight and glycemic control.
Abstract Background Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS) aims to uncover the link between genomic variation and phenotype. They have been actively applied in cancer biology to investigate associations between variations and cancer phenotypes, such as susceptibility to certain types of cancer and predisposed responsiveness to specific treatments. Since GWAS primarily focuses on finding associations between individual genomic variations and cancer phenotypes, there are limitations in understanding the mechanisms by which cancer phenotypes are cooperatively affected by more than one genomic variation. Results This paper proposes a network representation learning approach to learn associations among genomic variations using a prostate cancer cohort. The learned associations are encoded into representations that can be used to identify functional modules of genomic variations within genes associated with early- and late-onset prostate cancer. The proposed method was applied to a prostate cancer cohort provided by the Veterans Administration’s Million Veteran Program to identify candidates for functional modules associated with early-onset prostate cancer. The cohort included 33,159 prostate cancer patients, 3181 early-onset patients, and 29,978 late-onset patients. The reproducibility of the proposed approach clearly showed that the proposed approach can improve the model performance in terms of robustness. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to use a network representation learning approach to learn associations among genomic variations within genes. Associations learned in this way can lead to an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of how genomic variations cooperatively affect each cancer phenotype. This method can reveal unknown knowledge in the field of cancer biology and can be utilized to design more advanced cancer-targeted therapies.
Abstract The Phenome-Wide Association Study (PheWAS) is increasingly used to broadly screen for potential treatment effects, e.g., IL6R variant as a proxy for IL6R antagonists. This approach offers an opportunity to address the limited power in clinical trials to study differential treatment effects across patient subgroups. However, limited methods exist to efficiently test for differences across subgroups in the thousands of multiple comparisons generated as part of a PheWAS. In this study, we developed an approach that maximizes the power to test for heterogeneous genotype–phenotype associations and applied this approach to an IL6R PheWAS among individuals of African (AFR) and European (EUR) ancestries. We identified 29 traits with differences in IL6R variant-phenotype associations, including a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in AFR (OR 0.96) vs EUR (OR 1.0, p-value for heterogeneity = 8.5 × 10 –3 ), and higher white blood cell count (p-value for heterogeneity = 8.5 × 10 –131 ). These data suggest a more salutary effect of IL6R blockade for T2D among individuals of AFR vs EUR ancestry and provide data to inform ongoing clinical trials targeting IL6 for an expanding number of conditions. Moreover, the method to test for heterogeneity of associations can be applied broadly to other large-scale genotype–phenotype screens in diverse populations.
Sickle cell trait (SCT), defined as the presence of 1 hemoglobin beta sickle allele (rs334-T) and 1 normal beta allele, is prevalent in millions of people in the US, particularly in individuals of African and Hispanic ancestry. However, the association of SCT with COVID-19 is unclear.
Objective
To assess the association of SCT with the prepandemic health conditions in participants of the Million Veteran Program (MVP) and to assess the severity and sequelae of COVID-19.
Design, Setting, and Participants
COVID-19 clinical data include 2729 persons with SCT, of whom 353 had COVID-19, and 129 848 SCT-negative individuals, of whom 13 488 had COVID-19. Associations between SCT and COVID-19 outcomes were examined using firth regression. Analyses were performed by ancestry and adjusted for sex, age, age squared, and ancestral principal components to account for population stratification. Data for the study were collected between March 2020 and February 2021.
Exposures
The hemoglobin beta S (HbS) allele (rs334-T).
Main Outcomes and Measures
This study evaluated 4 COVID-19 outcomes derived from the World Health Organization severity scale and phenotypes derived fromInternational Classification of Diseasescodes in the electronic health records.
Results
Of the 132 577 MVP participants with COVID-19 data, mean (SD) age at the index date was 64.8 (13.1) years. Sickle cell trait was present in 7.8% of individuals of African ancestry and associated with a history of chronic kidney disease, diabetic kidney disease, hypertensive kidney disease, pulmonary embolism, and cerebrovascular disease. Among the 4 clinical outcomes of COVID-19, SCT was associated with an increased COVID-19 mortality in individuals of African ancestry (n = 3749; odds ratio, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.13 to 2.77;P = .01). In the 60 days following COVID-19, SCT was associated with an increased incidence of acute kidney failure. A counterfactual mediation framework estimated that on average, 20.7% (95% CI, −3.8% to 56.0%) of the total effect of SCT on COVID-19 fatalities was due to acute kidney failure.
Conclusions and Relevance
In this genetic association study, SCT was associated with preexisting kidney comorbidities, increased COVID-19 mortality, and kidney morbidity.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) confers significant risk of acute kidney injury (AKI). Patients with COVID-19 with AKI have high mortality rates.Individuals with African ancestry with 2 copies of apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) variants G1 or G2 (high-risk group) have significantly increased rates of kidney disease. We tested the hypothesis that the APOL1 high-risk group is associated with a higher-risk of COVID-19-associated AKI and death.This retrospective cohort study included 990 participants with African ancestry enrolled in the Million Veteran Program who were hospitalized with COVID-19 between March 2020 and January 2021 with available genetic information.The primary exposure was having 2 APOL1 risk variants (RV) (APOL1 high-risk group), compared with having 1 or 0 risk variants (APOL1 low-risk group).The primary outcome was AKI. The secondary outcomes were stages of AKI severity and death. Multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusted for preexisting comorbidities, medications, and inpatient AKI risk factors; 10 principal components of ancestry were performed to study these associations. We performed a subgroup analysis in individuals with normal kidney function prior to hospitalization (estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2).Of the 990 participants with African ancestry, 905 (91.4%) were male with a median (IQR) age of 68 (60-73) years. Overall, 392 (39.6%) patients developed AKI, 141 (14%) developed stages 2 or 3 AKI, 28 (3%) required dialysis, and 122 (12.3%) died. One hundred twenty-five (12.6%) of the participants were in the APOL1 high-risk group. Patients categorized as APOL1 high-risk group had significantly higher odds of AKI (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.95; 95% CI, 1.27-3.02; P = .002), higher AKI severity stages (OR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.37-2.99; P < .001), and death (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.22-3.72; P = .007). The association with AKI persisted in the subgroup with normal kidney function (OR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.15-3.26; P = .01). Data analysis was conducted between February 2021 and April 2021.In this cohort study of veterans with African ancestry hospitalized with COVID-19 infection, APOL1 kidney risk variants were associated with higher odds of AKI, AKI severity, and death, even among individuals with prior normal kidney function.
'%3e%3cpath fill='%23012169' d='M0 0v30h60V0z'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' stroke-width='6' d='m0 0 60 30m0-30L0 30'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23C8102E' stroke-width='4' d='m0 0 60 30m0-30L0 30' clip-path='url(%23b)'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' stroke-width='10' d='M30 0v30M0 15h60'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23C8102E' stroke-width='6' d='M30 0v30M0 15h60'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)