Publications

2025

Kang, Minkyung, Ava Nasrollahi, Feng Cheng, and Yao Yao. (2025) 2025. “Screening and Identification of Brain Pericyte-Selective Markers”. CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics 2025 Feb;31(2):e70247. doi: 10.1111/cns.70247. (2).
Publisher's Version

Background: Pericytes, a type of mural cells, exert important functions in the CNS. One major challenge in pericyte research is the lack of pericyte-specific and subpopulation-specific markers.

Methods: To address this knowledge gap, we first generated a novel transgenic mouse line in which vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) are permanently labeled with tdTomato. Next, we isolated PDGFRβ+tdTomato- pericytes and PDGFRβ+tdTomato+ vSMCs from the brains of these mice and subsequently performed RNAseq analysis to identify pericyte-enriched genes.

Results: Using this approach, we successfully identified 40 pericyte-enriched genes and 158 vSMC-enriched genes, which are involved in different biological processes and molecular functions. Using ISH/IHC analysis, we found that Pla1a and Cox4i2 were predominantly enriched in subpopulations of brain pericytes, although they also marked some non-vascular parenchymal cells.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that Pla1a and Cox4i2 preferably label subpopulations of pericytes in the brain compared to vSMCs, and thus, they may be useful in distinguishing these populations.

Yang, Jin. (2025) 2025. “Genetically Predicted Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations in Related to Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Mendelian Randomization Study.”. Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism 8 (4): e70050. https://doi.org/10.1002/edm2.70050.
Publisher's Version

BACKGROUND: In several observational studies, vitamins B6, B9, B12, C and 25-hydroxyvitamin D[25(OH)D] concentrations were associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Although vitamins play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), their associations remain unclear.

OBJECTIVE: This study employed Mendelian randomisation (MR) to explore the causal relationships between circulating concentrations of vitamins B6, B9, B12, C, 25-hydroxyvitamin D and T2DM.

METHODS: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked to vitamin B6, vitamin B9, vitamin B12, vitamin C and 25(OH)D levels were used as instrumental variables (IVs) in this study. We have two outcomes related to T2DM derived from two genome-wide association studies (GWAS). The first study, referenced by PMID: 3417140, encompasses a cohort of 406,831 individuals of European descent. The second study, identified by PMID: 29892013, includes a sample size of 468,298 Europeans.

RESULTS: Both univariable Mendelian randomization (UVMR) and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR) analyses demonstrate that genetically predicted elevated levels of serum 25(OH)D are consistently associated with a reduced risk of T2DM. In the UVMR analyses, A 1-SD increase in genetically predicted serum 25(OH)D levels, the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) p = 3.8 × 10-7, pfdr = 7.6 × 10-7, the odds ratio(OR) of T2DM (GCST90013942) was 0.67, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.57-0.78. Furthermore, a 1-SD increase in genetically predicted serum 25(OH)D levels was associated with an OR of 0.987 for T2DM (GCST90029024), the IVW p = 1.1 × 10-4, pfdr = 1.1 × 10-4 with a 95% CI of 0.981-0.994. In the MVMR analyses, genetically predicted higher serum 25(OH)D levels were associated with a decreased risk of T2DM by the IVW p = 1.2 × 10-5, pfdr = 5.9 × 10-5 in GCST90013942 and IVW p = 4.9 × 10-4, pfdr = 2.5 × 10-3 in GCST90029024. In contrast, levels of vitamins B6, B9, B12, and C did not domenstrate a significant association with T2DM.

CONCLUSION: Our research reveals that higher circulating serum 25(OH)D levels reduce the possibility of T2DM.