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A single-cell multiomic immune cell atlas from 235 Japanese, including patients with COVID-19 and healthy individuals, linked with host genetics including germline and somatic mutation, plasma proteomics and metagenomics data reveals that immune cells are dynamically regulated in a cell state-dependent manner.

Genetic mechanisms influencing COVID-19 susceptibility are not well understood. Here, the authors analyzed whole blood RNA-seq data of 465 Japanese individuals with COVID-19, highlighting thousands of fine-mapped variants affecting expression and splicing of genes, as well as the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs.

A genome-wide association study highlights a variant in DOCK2, which is common in East Asian populations but rare in Europeans, as a host genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 73 Japanese patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 75 healthy controls were analyzed using single-cell transcriptomics. Combining these data with genotyping data highlights the interplay between host genetics and the immune response in modulating disease severity.

By integrating large-scale genomic and proteomic data in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma, the authors identify 49 proteins linked to MRI markers of cerebral small vessel disease, highlighting extracellular matrix and immune pathways, with biomarker and therapeutic potential.

Analysis of the blood DNA virome in patients with COVID-19 and autoimmune disease associates endogenous HHV-6 (eHHV-6) and high anellovirus load with increased disease risk, most notably for systemic lupus erythematosus. eHHV-6 carriers show a distinct immune response.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Acquisition of mesenchymal properties by cancer cells is a critical event for the development of malignancy. Here, the authors show that in renal cancer cells, lysosphosphatidic acid does not utilize the RhoA pathway but specifically activates the Arf6 mesenchymal pathway via its GPCRs and EFA6 to promote invasion, metastasis and drug resistance.

Here, the authors identify six risk SNPs for systemic sclerosis by performing GWAS on Japanese patients and meta-analyzing Japanese and European GWAS datasets. Downstream analyses indicate that B cells contribute to pathogenesis.

Mammalian genomes are scattered with repetitive sequences, but their biology remains largely elusive. Here, the authors show that transcription can initiate from short tandem repetitive sequences, and that genetic variants linked to human diseases are preferentially found at repeats with high transcription initiation level.

The Ca²⁺-permeable channel TRPM2 stimulates monocytes to produce chemokines in response to reactive oxygen species, and channel inhibition attenuates inflammatory disease in mice. TRPM2 could be a new target for treating inflammatory diseases.

A total of 1074 patients with a history of ischemic stroke enrolled in The Recurrent Stroke Prevention Clinical Outcome (RESPECT) Study were assigned to intensive blood pressure (BP) control group (blood pressure < 120/80 mmHg) or standard blood pressure control group (blood pressure < 140/90 mmHg) and were followed up for a mean of 3.9 years. Seventy-eight first recurrent strokes occurred, including 70 ischemic stroke and 8 intracerebral hemorrhage. Intensive treatment did not change annual risk of ischemic stroke (1.74% vs. 1.75%, P = 0.999), but markedly reduced risk of hemorrhagic stroke (0.00% vs. 0.39%, P = 0.005). Beneficial effect of intensive BP control were observed for risk of hemorrhagic stroke in the patients with a history of ischemic stroke.

A study from the FANTOM consortium using single-molecule cDNA sequencing of transcription start sites and their usage in human and mouse primary cells, cell lines and tissues reveals insights into the specificity and diversity of transcription patterns across different mammalian cell types.

Yuta Kochi and colleagues perform expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis on five subsets of immune cells individually sorted from blood from 105 individuals. They develop an integrated analysis pipeline of expression and epigenomic data along with gene association to identify cell-specific candidate causal genes and apply this to rheumatoid arthritis.

High pulse pressure was significantly associated with an increased risk of acute kidneyinjury following intracranial hemorrhage. Pulse pressure should be recognized as anovel potential risk factor and one of the predictors of acute kidney injury afterintracranial hemorrhage.

10,10′-(1,4-Phenylene)bis(5,7,9-decatriynyl N-(butoxycarbonylmethyl)carbamate) 1 and its perfluorophenylene derivative 2 were synthesized. Upon UV irradiation, both of them showed excitonic absorption of polydiacetylene. In particular, 2 showed an absorption maximum at 743 nm, which was approximately 100 nm longer than that of conventional polydiacetylenes, and its solid-state polymerization scheme was investigated.

The 1:1 mixtures of zinc diacrylate (ZDA) and zinc dialkanoate (ZDC_x) was found to start melting at lower temperature than the melting points of the original components and polymerization of acrylate portions progressed in the molten state at lower temperature than the polymerization temperature of ZDA, In this process, ion exchange between ZDA and ZDC_x was confirmed to accelerate the reaction.

Five asymmetric diacetylene carbamates that possessed a 9-phenyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl (PhCz) group as an aromatic donor that was directly attached to the diacetylene moiety were designed and synthesized. Upon UV irradiation, the highest conversion to the corresponding polydiacetylene was obtained for the benzyl carbamate derivative, and its regular 1,4-addition was confirmed by formation of a greenish-blue polymer that exhibited characteristic excitonic absorption bands. In addition, a small ionization potential of 5.2 eV was observed for this polydiacetylene.

Zinc diacrylate (ZDA) gave the polymer as shown in the scheme by heating in the solid state. When additives like diphenyl disulfide (DPDS), thiophenol (TP) and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) were mixed in 1/60 molar ratio to ZDA, qualitative order of the polymerization rate was obtained to be ZDA < ZDA-DPDS(or TP) << ZDA-DPDS(or TP)-DCP < ZDA-DCP. Namely, mixing these additives to ZDA accelerated the solid-state polymerization.