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Thanks for tuning in to the FAIR-CF newsletter - where the goal is to explore data reuse research projects and show how reusing public data can accelerate research and translational progress.
There are important changes coming soon to the newsletter!
From the next edition on, the name of the newsletter will change from ‘FAIR-CF’ to ‘The Data Reuse Digest’. There are a couple reasons for this change. The first is that there simply aren’t that many data re-use projects going on in the CF research space (yet) - so in order to show CF researchers what data reuse can do (and have enough material to write about in future editions), we need to go bigger and explore data reuse efforts in other fields.
Read the FAIR-CF manifesto here
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News from the Field
(A) Checking Household Chemicals for Endocrine Effects
Are your household products causing you harm? Certain products contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that may interfere with body development, behavior, or reproductive health.
To assess the risk posed by household chemicals, scientists screened a public database of more than 11 thousand chemical products. They identified 293 different EDCs in total – and alarmingly, almost 2/3 of the products in the database contained more than one.
Featured Article: Identification of combinations of endocrine disrupting chemicals in household chemical products that require mixture toxicity testing 🇰🇷
💾 Public Data: Household chemical products and ingredients (Living Environment Safety Information System), Chemical toxicity data (EPA)
To be clear, the fact that certain products contain EDCs does not mean the dose is high enough that they will have dangerous physiological effects. However, it is worth determining what kind of dose is dangerous – and how certain combinations of EDCs may have surprising negative effects that go beyond the known effects of single EDCs. In related news…
To consider how product use may contribute to health disparities – scientists have started exploring the EDC content of products used by certain segments of the population. In this study: the EDC content of hair products used commonly by black women in the US. 🇺🇸
Another group has zeroed in on several specific EDCs – including bisphenol A (BPA) and parabens – found in socks purchased for infants in Spain. The socks were taken apart for chemical analysis, which involved testing the ability of EDCs from the socks to disrupt reproductive hormone activity. 🇪🇸
How likely are these chemicals to breach the body’s physical barriers? To answer this question, a third research team designed artificial structures in the lab that mimicked the membranes of the GI tract and the skin. Then they screened a number of chemicals from consumer products (including parabens and BPA) for their ability to pass through these membrane models. 🇰🇷
(B) Repurposing Drugs to Treat Endocrine Tumors
Many endocrine tumors – which affect endocrine organs like the thyroid or the pituitary gland – become treatment-resistant. There is hope, however, in efforts to repurpose existing drugs used to treat other cancers or even different diseases.
A team of researchers have profiled the expression of genes in endocrine tumors. Specifically, they looked at genes encoding G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) proteins. These receptors are common in endocrine organs, allowing the organs to respond to incoming signals from other parts of the body. The researchers found that two GPCRs – DRD2 and ADORA2B – are highly upregulated in thyroid cancer tumors. Both are known targets of existing drugs, which could be repurposed to treat thyroid cancer.
Featured Article: Identification of Dysregulated Expression of G Protein Coupled Receptors in Endocrine Tumors by Bioinformatics Analysis: Potential Drug Targets? 🇫🇷
💾 Public Data: Endocrine tumor gene expression datasets (GEO, TCGA) ; databases of existing drugs (ChEMBL, DrugBank)
These results – and the rest of the researchers’ data (they explored gene expression in other endocrine tumors as well) – will spur on drug repurposing efforts. But they can also point the way to new drug targets and new drugs: GPCRs over-expressed in endocrine tumors that are not targeted by existing drugs offer new objectives for drug developers. In related news…
Another research group created an atlas of GPCR expression in thyroid tumor tissue - gathering samples from patients with several kinds of thyroid cancer. 🇫🇷
Going beyond GCPRs, a team of Chinese scientists downloaded thyroid tissue sample data and looked at all kinds of genes and genetic pathways that are more highly expressed in thyroid tumors. 🇨🇳
Others are working with computers to model the interactions of chemical compounds with GCPRs. Those compounds that bind the GCPRs best could serve as new drug candidates. 🇨🇭🇮🇹
(C) Exploring the Long-Term Impact of Exercise on Health
How does exercise impact health in the long term? No one needs a scientist to tell them that exercise is good for you. But understanding how exercise impacts different organ systems – such as the thyroid gland or the immune system – can help improve public health recommendations for people with specific conditions.
Using accelerometer measurements (for context - accelerometers are the movement trackers embedded in Apple Watches and other similar devices), and thyroid hormone levels, a team of scientists showed that daily physical activity was associated with lower levels of the thyroid hormone T4. Daily exercise was also associated with lower levels of certain immune cells.
Featured Article: Daily physical activity is negatively associated with thyroid hormone levels, inflammation, and immune system markers among men and women in the NHANES dataset 🇺🇸
💾 Public Data: US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
Though this analysis is based on data from healthy individuals and focuses on physical activity in general, a logical next step would be to consider whether these results hold for specific forms of exercise (like biking or rowing), and what their implications are for people with health conditions (such as people with thyroid disorders or who are immuno-compromised). In related news….
Getting more specific, researchers have studied elite swimmers and found that the exercise load (shorter vs. longer swimming distances) can impact thyroid hormone levels significantly. 🇹🇷🇦🇿
What else can the NHANES tell you? Quite a lot, it turns out. One research group has found that exposure to 12 different metals had a significant impact on thyroid hormone levels. 🇺🇸
And another used NHANES data to show that levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were associated with risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. 🇨🇳
(D) Scientists Find Gene That Explains Age-Related Risk of Type II Diabetes
Type II diabetes becomes more common with age. Why? Scientists are looking at genes that may play a role. One gene of interest is FHL2, which tends to be expressed more in humans as they grow older.
Using public gene expression data from human pancreatic tissue samples, a team of researchers discovered that people with higher blood sugar tend to express more FHL2 – and further predicted that FHL2 over-expression impairs insulin secretion, which leads to higher blood sugar. Subsequent experiments performed on mice supported this prediction: mice that expressed more FHL2 produced less insulin and were worse at managing their blood sugar.
Featured Article: Glucose-mediated insulin secretion is improved in FHL2-deficient mice and elevated FHL2 expression in humans is associated with type 2 diabetes 🇳🇱
💾 Public Data: Pancreatic islet gene expression datasets (GEO)
This information is useful for diabetes diagnosis and management – FHL2 expression levels may serve as an early warning for the onset of type II diabetes. The experimental approach taken here could also be applied to learn more about other diseases whose risk increases with age – like cancer, or heart disease.
Researchers have identified many other genes associated with insulin secretion already. The gene Nrd1 is one example. When this gene is lacking, researchers find that insulin secretion is impaired. 🇯🇵
Nrd1 is known to regulate MafA, which is also critical for insulin secretion. Scientists have shown that MafA expression is diminished in the pancreatic beta cells of type 2 diabetics. 🇯🇵🇺🇸
Other researchers are exploring how exposure to environmental factors can bring about diabetes. One research group found that exposure to arsenic impairs insulin secretion in mice. They even identified a mechanism of action - arsenic exposure raises levels of miRNA miR-149, which shuts down the expression of the aforementioned gene MafA. 🇨🇳🇺🇸
Research Map
For the latest version of the ‘Microbiome’ research map, see the previous edition of the newsletter:
Research Community
This month’s featured research and related studies involve researchers in 11 countries, including 5 US states
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