Publications

Publication: Nature Communications

M. Kelemen, J. Danesh, E. Di Angelantonio, M. Inouye, J. O’Sullivan, L. Pennells, T. Roychowdhury, M. J. Sweeting, A. M. Wood, S. Harrison & L. G. Kim,

14 September 2024

Summary

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a serious condition where the abdominal aorta enlarges and can rupture.  AAA usually causes no symptoms; therefore, screening is important. 

AAA has a heritable element of up to 70% multiple genetic variants contribute to the genetic risk. Researchers used a polygenic risk score (PRS), a method that aggregates the propensity for a trait, to capture the genetic risk for AAA. Using a computer simulation model, we explore the possibility of using the PRS to inform the age for AAA screening and compare this to the current strategy in England.

Publication: Nature Communications

Samantha Ip, Teri-Louise North, Fatemeh Torabi, Yangfan Li, Hoda Abbasizanjani, Ashley Akbari, Elsie Horne, Rachel Denholm, Spencer Keene, Spiros Denaxas, Amitava Banerjee, Kamlesh Khunti, Cathie Sudlow, William N. Whiteley, Jonathan A. C. Sterne, Angela M. Wood, Venexia Walker, the CVD-COVID-UK/COVID-IMPACT Consortium & the Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing COVID-19 National Core Study

31 July 2024

Summary

A new study has found heart attacks and strokes were lower after COVID-19 vaccination than before or without vaccination.

Publication: Nature aging

Yang Liu, Scott C. Ritchie, Shu Mei Teo, Matti O. Ruuskanen, Oleg Kambur, Qiyun Zhu, Jon Sanders, Yoshiki Vázquez-Baeza, Karin Verspoor, Pekka Jousilahti, Leo Lahti, Teemu Niiranen, Veikko Salomaa, Aki S. Havulinna, Rob Knight, Guillaume Méric & Michael Inouye

25 March 2024

Summary

Researchers have shown that risk scores based on our genes and gut bacteria can improve the prediction of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and prostate cancer over traditional risk factors alone.

Publication: Nature Communications

Genevieve I. Cezard, Rachel E. Denholm, Rochelle Knight, Yinghui Wei, Lucy Teece, Renin Toms, Harriet J. Forbes, Alex J. Walker, Louis Fisher, Jon Massey, Lisa E. M. Hopcroft, Elsie M. F. Horne, Kurt Taylor, Tom Palmer, Marwa Al Arab, Jose Ignacio Cuitun Coronado, Samantha H. Y. Ip, Simon Davy, Iain Dillingham, Sebastian Bacon, Amir Mehrkar, Caroline E. Morton, Felix Greaves, Catherine Hyams, George Davey Smith, John Macleod, Nishi Chaturvedi, Ben Goldacre, William N. Whiteley, Angela M. Wood, Jonathan A. C. Sterne & Venexia Walker On behalf of the Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing and Data and Connectivity UK COVID-19 National Core Studies, CONVALESCENCE study and the OpenSAFELY collaborative

11 March 2024

Summary

Researchers looked at cardiovascular diseases in different vaccination and variant eras using linked electronic health records for ~40% of the English population. They studied distinct groups: a ‘pre-vaccination’ cohort in the wild-type/Alpha variant eras and ‘vaccinated’ and ‘unvaccinated’ cohorts in the Delta variant era.

They showed that people with COVID-19 are more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases in the first 4 weeks after diagnosis compared to people without COVID-19. The effects can be long lasting. The excess risk of cardiovascular disease remains elevated up to 6 months after COVID-19 diagnosis but it reduces over time. People who had COVID-19 in the wild-type/Alpha variant eras (before vaccination became available to them) are at higher risk of cardiovascular events up to two years after COVID-19.

Publication: Stem Cell Reports

Maha Al-Thani Mary Goodwin-Trotma Steven Bel Krushangi Pate Lauren K. Flemin Catheline Vilain, Marc Abramowicz, Stuart M. Allan, Tao Wang, M. Zameel Cader, Karen Horsburgh, Tom Van Agtmael, Sanjay Sinha, Hugh S. Markus, Alessandra Granata,

16 November 2023

Summary
Cambridge scientists have grown small blood vessel-like models in the lab and used them to show how damage to the scaffolding that support these vessels can cause them to leak, leading to conditions such as vascular dementia and stroke.

Publication: Journal of Internal Medicine

Youngwon Kim, Haeyoon Jang, Mengyao Wang, Qiaoxin Shi, Tessa Strain, Stephen J Sharp, Shiu Lun Au Yeung, Shan Luo, Simon Griffin, Nicholas J. Wareham, Katrien Wijndaele, Soren Brage

23 August 2023

Summary

Excess sedentary time (ST) is recognized as an important modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, whether the associations of genetic susceptibility with CHD incidence can be modified by replacing wearable-device-measured ST with physical activity (PA) is unknown.

Publication: Nature Nanotechnology

Filip Bošković, Jinbo Zhu, Ran Tivony, Alexander Ohmann, Kaikai Chen, Mohammed F. Alawami, Milan Đorđević, Niklas Ermann, Joana Pereira Dias, Michael Fairhead, Mark Howarth, Stephen Baker, Ulrich F. Keyser

16 January 2023

Respiratory infections are the major cause of death from infectious disease worldwide. Multiplexed diagnostic approaches are essential as many respiratory viruses have indistinguishable symptoms.

We created self-assembled DNA nanobait that can simultaneously identify multiple short RNA targets. The nanobait approach relies on specific target selection via toehold-mediated strand displacement and rapid read-out via nanopore sensing. Here, we show this platform can concurrently identify several common respiratory viruses, detecting a panel of short targets of viral nucleic acids from multiple viruses.

Our nanobait can be easily reprogrammed to discriminate viral variants, as we demonstrated for several key SARS-CoV-2 variants with single-nucleotide resolution. Lastly, we show that nanobait discriminates
between samples extracted from oropharyngeal swabs from negative and positive SARS-CoV-2 patients
without pre-amplification.

Our system allows for multiplexed identification of native RNA molecules, providing a new scalable approach for diagnostics of multiple respiratory viruses in a single assay.

Publication: J Biomech Eng.

Aziz Tokgoz,  Shuo Wang,  Priya Sastry,  Chang Sun, Nichola L. Figg,  Yuan Huang,  Martin R. Bennett, Sanjay Sinha, Jonathan H. Gillard, Michael P. F. Sutcliffe,  Zhongzhao Teng

25 April 2022

Summary

Fiber structures and pathological features, e.g., inflammation and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) deposition, are the primary determinants of aortic mechanical properties which are associated with the development of an aneurysm. This study is designed to quantify the association of tissue ultimate strength and extensibility with the structural percentage of different components, in particular, GAG, and local fiber orientation.

Publication: BMJ Open

Christian Philip Stickels, Ramesh Nadarajah, Chris P Gale, Houyuan Jiang, Kieran J Sharkey, Ben Gibbison, Nick Holliman, Sara Lombardo, Lars Schewe, Matteo Sommacal, Louise Sun, Jonathan Weir-McCall, Katherine Cheema, James H F Rudd, Mamas Mamas, Feryal Erhun

17 June 2022

Summary

An international team of researchers has modelled the impact that increasing treatment capacity and using a quicker, less invasive treatment option would have on waiting lists. Even in the best-case scenario, they found that the waiting list would take nearly a year to clear.

The traditional treatment for aortic stenosis involves replacing the narrowed valve, most commonly through open heart surgery (a surgical aortic valve replacement, SAVR). However, a newer keyhole procedure called a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is increasingly being used and is now recommended for patients aged 75 and over.

The researchers investigated the impact that increasing treatment capacity and converting a proportion of operations to the quicker TAVI procedure would have on the backlog. They looked at how long it would take to clear the backlog and found that the best and most achievable option involved a combination of increasing capacity by 20 per cent and converting 40 per cent of procedures from SAVR to TAVI. This would clear the backlog within 343 days with 784 deaths while people wait for treatment. Read the full story.

Publication: ESC Heart Failure

Faye Forsyth, James Brimicombe, Joseph Cheriyan, Duncan Edwards, F. D. Richard Hobbs, Navazh Jalaludeen, Jonathan Mant, Mark Pilling, Rebekah Schiff, Clare J. Taylor,M. Justin Zaman, Christi Deaton

21 September 2021

Summary

This paper illustrates the challenges of finding patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) in primary care, and that many patients with likely HFpEF will not have their diagnosis confirmed. Greater awareness of HFpEF in primary care and improved diagnostic pathways are needed.

Publication: BJGP Open

Faye Forsyth, James Brimicombe, Joseph Cheriyan, Duncan Edwards, FD Richard Hobbs, Navazh Jalaludeen, Jonathan Mant, Mark Pilling, Rebekah Schiff, Clare J Taylor, M Justin Zaman, Christi Deaton

14 December 2021

Summary

Compared with patients with other heart failure diagnoses in primary care, those with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) are more likely to be women, obese, prefrail/frail, more functionally impaired and report more symptoms.

Publication: European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing

Helen Lin, Peter Hartley, Faye Forsyth, Mark Pilling, F D Richard Hobbs, Clare J Taylor, Rebekah Schiff, Christi Deaton

9 April 2021

Summary

This is a baseline analysis of physical activity (measured by accelerometer) of 124 patients, comparing those with confirmed heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and those without  HFpEF but with other HF diagnoses.

Publication: Nature Metabolism

Scott C. Ritchie, Samuel A. Lambert, Matthew Arnold, Shu Mei Teo, Sol Lim, Petar Scepanovic, Jonathan Marten, Sohail Zahid, Mark Chaffin, Yingying Liu, Gad Abraham, Willem H. Ouwehand, David J. Roberts, Nicholas A. Watkins, Brian G. Drew, Anna C. Calkin, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, Nicole Soranzo, Stephen Burgess, Michael Chapman, Sekar Kathiresan, Amit V. Khera, John Danesh, Adam S. Butterworth & Michael Inouye

8 November 2021

Summary

For the first time, scientists have used polygenic scoring to identify molecular drivers of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which could be targeted to help prevent or treat some of these conditions.

Publication: NEJM Evidence

Tian X. Zhao, Rouchelle S. Sriranjan, Zewen Kelvin Tuong, Yuning Lu, Andrew P. Sage, Meritxell Nus, Annette Hubsch, Fotini Kaloyirou, Evangelia Vamvaka, Joanna Helmy, Michalis Kostapanos, Navazh Jalaludeen, David Klatzmann, Alain Tedgui, James H.F. Rudd, Sarah J. Horton, Brian J.P. Huntly, Stephen P. Hoole, Simon P. Bond,  Menna R. Clatworthy, Joseph Cheriyan, and Ziad Mallat,

22 November 2021

Summary

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the artery wall. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) limit inflammation and promote tissue healing. Low doses of interleukin (IL)-2 have the potential to increase Tregs, but its use is contraindicated for patients with ischemic heart disease.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation trial, researchers tested low-dose subcutaneous aldesleukin (recombinant IL-2), given once daily for 5 consecutive days.

Publication: European Heart Journal

SCORE2 working group and ESC Cardiovascular risk collaboration

13 June 2021

Summary

The researchers analysed data from nearly 700,000 mainly middle-aged participants in 45 large-scale studies to develop risk prediction models (SCORE2) tailored for use in European countries.

The participants did not have previous history of CVD at the outset and 30,000 had a CVD event (heart attack or stroke) during the first 10 years of follow up.

These risk models were then statistically adapted or ‘recalibrated’ to more accurately estimate CVD risk for contemporary populations in four European risk regions, using data on population-specific CVD incidence rates and risk factor values from 10.8 million individuals. Read the full story

Publication: bioRxiv Preprint

Thomas L. Williams, Maria T. Colzani, Robyn G.C. Macrae, Emma L. Robinson, Stuart Bloor, Edward J. D. Greenwood, Jun Ru Zhan, Gregory Strachan, Rhoda E. Kuc, VDuuamene Nyimanu, View Janet J. Maguire, Paul J. Lehner, Sanjay Sinha, Anthony P. Davenport

21 January 2021

Summary:

Patients with heart disease are more susceptible to severe infection with SARS CoV-2, and the virus is thought to damage cardiovascular tissue. Researchers developed a test to screen medicines that are currently in use for other conditions to see if they would block the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and protect the heart and surrounding tissues.

Researchers found beating heart cells have the same special proteins SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to enter the patient’s tissues and used these cells to model a new system. Safely done in the laboratory, researchers looked at a virus and concentrated on the spike protein so it can infect the cells, but once inside the virus was unable to make copies of itself.

The researchers were then able to test compounds and licenced medicines to block the virus entering the heart cells in order to find a suitable treatment. This new screening gives the opportunity to test a wide range of medicines as well as new anti-viral drugs that are currently being developed.

Doing this and blocking entry of the virus can protect the heart and other tissues during infection. It will also help finding the best medicine to help stop patients getting seriously ill from SARS CoV-2.

Publication: Clinical Kidney Journal

Toby J L Humphrey, Glen James, Eric T Wittbrodt, Donna Zarzuela, Thomas F Hiemstra

30 January 2021

Summary:

In an observational study analysing data from over 430,000 patients, those who had their RAASi – blood pressure medications – interrupted or stopped, were found to have worse outcomes than those who continued with their treatment.

The patients who had medication interruptions or discontinuated were more likely to be hospitalised, to have a cardiac arrest or develop kidney damage than those who continued on their RAASi medications throughout the study.

This study highlights that the potential risks for and against RAASi treatment interruption or discontinuation be very carefully considered in patients for whom guideline-recommended RAAS inhibitor therapy is indicated.

Publication: JAMA

Eric L. Harshfield, Lisa Pennells, Joseph, Schwartz, Peter Willeit, Stephen Kaptoge, Steven Bell, Jonathan A. Shaffer, Thomas Bolton, Sarah Spackman, Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Frank Kee, Philippe Amouyel, Steven J. Shea, Lewis H. Kuller,  Jussi Kauhanen,  E. M. van Zutphen, Dan G. Blazer, Harlan Krumholz, Paul J. Nietert, Daan Kromhout, MD19; Gail Laughlin, Lisa Berkman, Robert B. Wallace, Leon A. Simons, Elaine M. Dennison, Elizabeth L. M. Barr,  Haakon E. Meyer, Angela M. Wood, John Danesh, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, Karina W. Davidson

15 December 2020

Summary

People who experience symptoms of depression are more likely to go on to develop heart disease or suffer a stroke than those who report good mental health.

Researchers analysed the health records of over half a million people, with no prior history of heart and circulatory disease, who were enrolled to two different studies.

Upon joining the studies, participants were given a score based on questionnaires assessing their mood and any symptoms of depression that they had experienced over the previous one to two weeks.

Over 10, researchers have found that those in the highest scoring group, and with most severe symptoms of depression, were more likely to have since developed heart disease or to have had a stroke, compared to people with the lowest scores.

Publication: Nature Genetics

Praveen Surendran, Joanna M. M. Howson et al

23 November 2020

Increased blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related disability worldwide. Identifying biological pathways associated with blood pressure is important to understand the aetiology of CVD.

In this study involving collaborators from across the globe, and participants from diverse ancestries, researchers investigated whether genetic variants that a small proportion of people carry have an impact on blood pressure regulation and more readily implicate the genes underlying blood pressure regulation.

They identified 87 such genetic variants influencing blood pressure regulation that only a small proportion of people carry. In addition to identifying novel candidate genes associated with blood pressure, they showed a potential link between foetal development and an inverse relationship between systolic and diastolic blood pressure with stroke.

As shown in this study, a complex outcome like blood pressure requires large sample sizes to detect genetic variation associated with blood pressure that are rare in humans; studies to date have mainly looked at genetic variants that are carried by many people and therefore have very small effects on blood pressure regulation.

This study contributes to a significant improvement in researchers’ understanding of key genes controlling a risk factor like BP so they can better understand complex diseases like CVD and help identify new blood pressure therapies.

Publication: European Respiratory Journal

Anthony W. Martinelli, Tejas Ingle, Joseph Newman, Iftikhar Nadeem, Karl Jackson, Nicholas D. Lane, James Melhorn, Helen E. Davies, Anthony J. Rostron, Aldrin Adeni, Kevin Conroy, Nicholas Woznitza, Matthew Matson, Simon E. Brill, James Murray, Amar Shah, Revati Naran, Samanjit S. Hare, Oliver Collas, Sarah Bigham, Michael Spiro, Margaret M. Huang, Beenish Iqbal, Sarah Trenfield, Stephane Ledot, Sujal Desai, Lewis Standing, Judith Babar, Razeen Mahroof, Ian Smith, Kai Lee, Nairi Tchrakian, Stephanie Uys, William Ricketts, Anant R.C. Patel, Avinash Aujayeb, Maria Kokosi, Alexander J.K. Wilkinson, Stefan J. Marciniak

10 September 2020

Summary

Pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum have both been noted to complicate cases of COVID-19 requiring hospital admission. The research team reported the largest case series yet described of patients with both these pathologies that includes non-ventilated patients.

Cases were collected retrospectively from UK hospitals with inclusion criteria limited to a diagnosis of COVID-19 and the presence of either pneumothorax or pneumomediastinum. Patients included in the study presented between March and June 2020. Details obtained from the medical record included demographics, radiology, laboratory investigations, clinical management and survival.

Seventy-one patients from 16 centres were included in the study, of whom 60 patients had pneumothoraces (six also with pneumomediastinum), whilst 11 patients had pneumomediastinum alone.

Survival at 28 days was not significantly different following pneumothorax or isolated pneumomediastinum. The incidence of pneumothorax was higher in males. The 28-day survival was not different between the sexes. Patients above the age of 70 had a significantly lower 28-day survival than younger individuals.

These cases suggest that pneumothorax is a complication of COVID-19. Pneumothorax does not seem to be an independent marker of poor prognosis and the researchers encourage active treatment to be continued where clinically possible.

Anthony Martinelli and Margaret Huang are supported by the Wellcome Trust. Stefan Marciniak is supported by the Medical Research Council, NIHR Cambridge BRC, Royal Papworth Hospital and the Alpha1-Foundation.

Click to read: Punctured lung affects almost one in a hundred hospitalised COVID-19 patients

Publication: Nature

Duuamene Nyimanu, Richard G. Kay, Petra Sulentic, Rhoda E. Kuc, Philip Ambery, Lutz Jermutus, Frank Reimann, Fiona M. Gribble, Joseph Cheriyan, Janet J. Maguire, Anthony P. Davenport

27 December 2019

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Summary:

An LC-MS method was developed to measure Apelin in human plasma, and demonstrate apelin dosing achieved the correct concentration in volunteers. The extracts were also analysed on an LC-MS system to identify break-down products of the peptide that were produced in the body. The researchers found out that apelin is broken down from both ends of the peptide, but more so from the C-terminal. This information can be used to develop a better peptide that is stabilised against degradation, therefore improving its characteristics as a drug; and apelin-derived peptides may be potential new drugs for cardiovascular disease.

Publication: The Lancet Global Health

Stephen Kaptoge, Lisa Pennells, Dirk De Bacquer, Marie Therese Cooney, Maryam Kavousi, Oyere Onuma, Mark Woodward, Goodarz Danaei, Gregory Roth, Shanthi Mendis, Ian Graham, Cherian Varghese, Majid Ezzati, Rod Jackson, John Danesh & Emanuele Di Angelantonio

1 September 2019

Summary:

Cambridge-led researchers have updated World Health Organisation (WHO) cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk prediction charts to aid efforts to reduce the burden of CVD, one of the most common non-communicable diseases world-wide and responsible for an estimated 17.8 million deaths in 2017.

The research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, WHO, British Heart Foundation (BHF), BHF Cambridge Centre for Research Excellence and UK Medical Research Council.

The revised risk models will help particularly middle- to low-income countries in their efforts to prevent and control CVD. Full story here

Publication: Nature Biotechnology

Johannes Bargehr, Lay Ping Ong, Maria Colzani, Hongorzul Davaapil, Peter Hofsteen, Shiv Bhandari, Laure Gambardella, Nicolas Le Novère, Dharini Iyer, Fotios Sampaziotis, Florian Weinberger, Alessandro Bertero, Andrea Leonard, William G. Bernard, Amy Martinson, Nichola Figg, Michael Regnier, Martin R. Bennett, Charles E. Murry & Sanjay Sinha

2 August 2019

Summary:

Transplanting an area of damaged tissue with a combination of both heart and muscle cells and supportive cells taken from the outer layer of the heart wall, may be able to help the organs recover from the damage caused by a heart attack. Part funded by the BHF and NIHR and supported by the NIHR Cambridge BRC, researchers have used supportive epicardial cells developed from human stem cells to help transplanted heart cells live longer. Full story here

Publication: Nature Medicine

Felipe A. Vieira Braga, Gozde Kar, Marijn Berg, Orestes A. Carpaij, Krzysztof Polanski, Lukas M. Simon, Sharon Brouwer, Tomás Gomes, Laura Hesse, Jian Jiang, Eirini S. Fasouli, Mirjana Efremova, Roser Vento-Tormo, Carlos Talavera-López, Marnix R. Jonker, Karen Affleck, Subarna Palit, Paulina M. Strzelecka, Helen V. Firth, Krishnaa T. Mahbubani, Ana Cvejic, Kerstin B. Meyer, Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, Marjan Luinge, Corry-Anke Brandsma, Wim Timens, Ilias Angelidis, Maximilian Strunz, Gerard H. Koppelman, Antoon J. van Oosterhout, Herbert B. Schiller, Fabian J. Theis, Maarten van den Berge, Martijn C. Nawijn, Sarah A. Teichmann

17 June 2019

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Summary:

This research carried out a survey of structural and immune cells in the airways of healthy and asthmatic lungs and identified a novel set of T cells resident in asmatic airways. There is altered communication between immune and structural cells in asthmatic airways and these changes underlie the inflammation in these airways.

Publication: Neuroimage

Grist JT, McLean MA, Riemer F, Schulte RF, Deen SS, Zaccagna F, et al.

1 April 2019

Publication: Journal of the American College of Cardiology Volume 73, Issue 10, 19 March 2019, Pages 1107-1119

Cartlidge TRG, Doris MK, Sellers SL, Pawade TA, White AC, Pessotto R, Kwiecinski J, Fletcher A, Alcaide C, Lucatelli .

19 March 2019

Publication: J Proteome Res

Harshfield EL, Koulman A, Ziemek D, Marney L, Fauman EB, Paul DS, et al.

19 March 2019

Publication: Journal of Hypertension

Li Y, Hickson SS, McEniery CM, Wilkinson IB, Khir AW.

February 2019

Publication: Nature Genetics

Shrine N, Guyatt AL, Erzurumluoglu AM, Jackson VE, Hobbs BD, Melbourne CA, et al.

25 February 2019

Publication: Ultrasound Obstetrics Gynecology

Bijl RC, Valensise H, Novelli GP, Vasapollo B, Wilkinson I, Thilaganathan B, et al.

8 February 2019

Publication: European Respiratory Journal

Nathan SD, Barbera JA, Gaine SP, Harari, S, Martinez FJ, Olschewski H, Olsson KM, Peacock AJ, Pepke-Zaba J, Provencher S, Weissmann N, Werner Seeger W.

13 December 2018

Publication: American Heart Journal

Mukhtar O, Cheriyan J, Cockcroft JR, Collier D, Coulson JM, Dasgupta I, et al.

October 2018

Publication: International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Early F, Wellwood I, Kuhn I, Deaton C, Fuld J.Int

29 October 2018

Publication: Nature

Sun BB, Maranville JC, Peters JE, Stacey D, Staley JR, Blackshaw J, et al.

6 June 2018

Publication: BMJ

R El-Damanawi, M Lee, T Harris, L Mader, S Bond, H Pavey, et al.

9 May 2018

Publication: The Lancet

Angela M Wood PhD, P, Stephen Kaptoge, PhD, Adam S Butterworth, PhD, Peter Willeit, MD, Samantha Warnakula, PhD, Thomas Bolton, MMath, Ellie Paige, PhD, Dirk S Paul, PhD, Michael Sweeting, PhD, Stephen Burgess, PhD, Steven Bell, PhD, William Astle, PhD, David Stevens, MSc, Albert Koulman, PhD, Randi M Selmer, PhD, Prof W M Monique Verschuren, PhD, Prof Shinichi Sato, MD, Prof Inger Njølstad, MD, Prof Mark Woodward, PhD, Prof Veikko Salomaa, MD, Prof Børge G Nordestgaard, MD, Prof Bu B Yeap, MBBS, Prof Astrid Fletcher, PhD, Prof Olle Melander, MD, Prof Lewis H Kuller, MD, Beverley Balkau, PhD, Prof Michael Marmot, FMedSci, Prof Wolfgang Koenig, MD, Prof Edoardo Casiglia, MD, Prof Cyrus Cooper, FMedSci, Volker Arndt, MD, Prof Oscar H Franco, MD, Patrik Wennberg, MD, Prof John Gallacher, PhD, Agustín Gómez de la Cámara, MD, Prof Henry Völzke, MD, Christina C Dahm, PhD, Caroline E Dale, PhD, Manuela M Bergmann, PhD, Carlos J Crespo, PhD, Prof Yvonne T van der Schouw, PhD, Prof Rudolf Kaaks, MD, Leon A Simons, MD, Pagona Lagiou, MD, Josje D Schoufour, PhD, Jolanda M A Boer, PhD, Prof Timothy J Key, DPhil, Beatriz Rodriguez, MD, Conchi Moreno-Iribas, PhD, Karina W Davidson, PhD, James O Taylor, MD, Carlotta Sacerdote, PhD, Prof Robert B Wallace, MD, J Ramon Quiros, MD, Prof Rosario Tumino, MD, Dan G Blazer II, MD, Prof Allan Linneberg, MD, Makoto Daimon, MD, Salvatore Panico, MD, Barbara Howard, PhD, Guri Skeie, PhD, Prof Timo Strandberg, MD, Prof Elisabete Weiderpass, PhD, Prof Paul J Nietert, PhD, Prof Bruce M Psaty, MD, Prof Daan Kromhout, PhD, Elena Salamanca-Fernandez, MSc, Prof Stefan Kiechl, MD, Prof Harlan M Krumholz, MD, Sara Grioni, BSc, Domenico Palli, MD, José M Huerta, PhD, Prof Jackie Price, MD, Prof Johan Sundström, MD, Larraitz Arriola, MD, Prof Hisatomi Arima, MD, Ruth C Travis, DPhil, Prof Demosthenes B Panagiotakos, PhD, Anna Karakatsani, MD, Prof Antonia Trichopoulou, MD, Tilman Kühn, PhD, Prof Diederick E Grobbee, MD, Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, Natasja van Schoor, MD, Prof Heiner Boeing, PhD, Prof Kim Overvad, MD, Prof Jussi Kauhanen, MD, Prof Nick Wareham, MD, Claudia Langenberg, MD, Prof Nita Forouhi, PhD, Maria Wennberg, PhD, Prof Jean-Pierre Després, DPhil, Prof Mary Cushman, MD, Jackie A Cooper, MSc, Prof Carlos J Rodriguez, MD, Masaru Sakurai, MD, Jonathan E Shaw, PhD, Prof Matthew Knuiman, PhD, Trudy Voortman, PhD, Prof Christa Meisinger, MD, Anne Tjønneland, MD, Prof Hermann Brenner, MD, Luigi Palmieri, PhD, Jean Dallongeville, MD, Prof Eric J Brunner, PhD, Prof Gerd Assmann, MD, Maurizio Trevisan, MD, Richard F Gillum, MD, Prof Ian Ford, PhD, Prof Naveed Sattar, FMedSci, Mariana Lazo, MD, Prof Simon G Thompson, FMedSci, Pietro Ferrari, PhD, Prof David A Leon, PhD, Prof George Davey Smith, MD, Prof Richard Peto, FRS, Prof Rod Jackson, PhD, Prof Emily Banks, PhD, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, MD, Prof John Danesh

14 April 2018

Summary:

Regularly drinking more than the recommended UK guidelines for alcohol could take years off your life, according to new research from the University of Cambridge. The study shows that drinking more alcohol is associated with a higher risk of stroke, fatal aneurysm, heart failure and death.

Publication: Nature Communications

Stefan Gräf, Matthias Haimel, Marta Bleda, Charaka Hadinnapola, Laura Southgate, Wei Li, Joshua Hodgson, Bin Liu, Richard M. Salmon, Mark Southwood, Rajiv D. Machado, Jennifer M. Martin, Carmen M. Treacy, Katherine Yates, Louise C. Daugherty, Olga Shamardina, Deborah Whitehorn, Simon Holden, Micheala Aldred, Harm J. Bogaard, Colin Church, Gerry Coghlan, Robin Condliffe, Paul A. Corris, Cesare Danesino, Mélanie Eyries, Henning Gall, Stefano Ghio, Hossein-Ardeschir Ghofrani, J. Simon R. Gibbs, Barbara Girerd, Arjan C. Houweling, Luke Howard, Marc Humbert, David G. Kiely, Gabor Kovacs, Robert V. MacKenzie Ross, Shahin Moledina, David Montani, Michael Newnham, Andrea Olschewski, Horst Olschewski, Andrew J. Peacock, Joanna Pepke-Zaba, Inga Prokopenko, Christopher J. Rhodes, Laura Scelsi, Werner Seeger, Florent Soubrier, Dan F. Stein, Jay Suntharalingam, Emilia M. Swietlik, Mark R. Toshner, David A. van Heel, Anton Vonk Noordegraaf, Quinten Waisfisz, John Wharton, Stephen J. Wort, Willem H. Ouwehand, Nicole Soranzo, Allan Lawrie, Paul D. Upton, Martin R. Wilkins, Richard C. Trembath & Nicholas W. Morrell

12 April 2018

Summary:

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a fatal lung disease and causes the walls of the arteries become thick and stiff, narrowing the space for blood to pass through and increasing blood pressure then leading to heart failure.

The disease kills 50% of those affected within five years, but little was known about what caused the condition in some people. Now experts say they have discovered five genes that cause the illness and could pave the way for more treatments.

Scientists carried out the largest ever genetic study of the disease by analysing the genomes – the unique sequence of a person’s DNA – of more than 1,000 PAH patients for whom the cause of the illness was unknown.

They found that mutations in five genes were responsible for causing the illness in these people, including in four genes that were not previously known to be involved in the disease. In people with the condition these genes fail to effectively produce the proteins that are required for the structure, function and regulation of the body’s tissues, researchers found.

Publication: Nature Reviews Neurology

Evans NR, Tarkin JM, Buscombe JR, Markus HS, Rudd JHF, Warburton EA.

3 April 2018

Publication: Nature Communications

Hurst LA, Dunmore BJ, Long L, Crosby A, Al-Lamki R, Deighton J, Southwood M, Yang X, Nikolic MZ, Herrera B, Inman GJ, Bradley JR, Rana AA, Upton PD, Morrell NW

13 January 2017

Publication: Circ Cardiovasc Imaging

Huang Y, Teng Z, Elkhawad M, Tarkin JM, Joshi N, Boyle JR, Buscombe JR, Fryer TD, Zhang Y, Park AY, Wilkinson IB, Newby DE, Gillard JH, Rudd JH.

November 2016

Publication: Am J Respir Crit Care Med

Juss JK, House D, Amour A, Begg M, Herre J, Storisteanu DM, Hoenderdos K, Bradley G, Lennon M, Summers C, Hessel EM, Condliffe A, Chilvers ER.

15 October 2016

Publication: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Cowburn AS, Crosby A, Macias D, Branco C, Colaço RD, Southwood M, Toshner M, Crotty Alexander LE, Morrell NW, Chilvers ER, Johnson RS.

18 July 2016

Publication: Circ Cardiovasc Imaging

Brown AJ, Teng Z, Calvert PA, Rajani NK, Hennessy O, Nerlekar N, Obaid DR, Costopoulos C, Huang Y, Hoole SP, Goddard M, West NE, Gillard JH, Bennett MR.

June 2016

Publication: Lancet Respir Med

Evans JD, Girerd B, Montani D, Wang XJ, Galiè N, Austin ED, Elliott G, Asano K, Grünig E, Yan Y, Jing ZC, Manes A, Palazzini M, Wheeler LA, Nakayama I, Satoh T, Eichstaedt C, Hinderhofer K, Wolf M, Rosenzweig EB, Chung WK, Soubrier F, Simonneau G, Sitbon O, Gräf S, Kaptoge S, Di Angelantonio E, Humbert M, Morrell NW.

19 January 2016

Publication: Circ Cardiovasc Imaging

Brown AJ, Obaid DR, Costopoulos C, Parker RA, Calvert PA, Teng Z, Hoole SP, West NE, Goddard M, Bennett MR.

8 October 2015

Publication: Nat Commun

Irkle A, Vesey AT, Lewis DY, Skepper JN, Bird JL, Dweck MR, Joshi FR, Gallagher FA, Warburton EA, Bennett MR, Brindle KM, Newby DE, Rudd JH, Davenport AP.

7 July 2015

Publication: Thorax

Loutsios C, Farahi N, Simmonds R, Cullum I, Gillett D, Solanki C, Solanki K, Buscombe J, Condliffe AM, Peters AM, Chilvers ER.

24 June 2015

Publication: Nat Med.

Long L, Ormiston ML, Yang X, Southwood M, Gräf S, Machado RD, Mueller M, Kinzel B, Yung LM, Wilkinson JM, Moore SD, Drake KM, Aldred MA, Yu PB, Upton PD, Morrell NW.

15 June 2015