Microglia have emerged as important players in brain aging and pathology. To understand how genetic risk for neurological and psychiatric disorders is related to microglial function, large transcriptome studies are essential. Here, we describe the transcriptome analysis of 255 primary human microglia samples isolated at autopsy from multiple brain regions of 100 human subjects. We performed systematic analyses to investigate various aspects of microglial heterogeneities, including brain region and aging. We mapped expression and splicing quantitative trait loci and showed that many neurological disease susceptibility loci are mediated through gene expression or splicing in microglia. Fine-mapping of these loci nominated candidate causal variants that are within microglia-specific enhancers, finding associations with microglia expression of USP6NL for Alzheimer’s disease and P2RY12 for Parkinson’s disease. We have built the most comprehensive catalog to date of genetic effects on the microglia transcriptome and propose candidate functional variants in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

2020). A characterization of the molecular phenotype and inflammatory response of schizophrenia patient-derived microglia-like cells. Brain behavior and immunity, 90, 196-207.

Background The COVID‐19 pandemic is an ongoing global health threat, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). Questions remain about how SARS‐CoV‐2 impacts pregnant individuals and their children. Objective To expand our understanding of the effects of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection during pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes, regardless of symptomatology, by using serological tests to measure IgG antibody levels. Methods The Generation C Study is an ongoing prospective cohort study conducted at the Mount Sinai Health System. All pregnant individuals receiving obstetrical care at the Mount Sinai Healthcare System from 20 April 2020 onwards are eligible for participation. For the current analysis, we included participants who had given birth to a liveborn singleton infant on or before 22 September 2020. For each woman, we tested the latest prenatal blood sample available to establish seropositivity using a SARS‐CoV‐2 serologic enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Additionally, RT‐PCR testing was performed on a nasopharyngeal swab taken during labour. Pregnancy outcomes of interest (i.e., gestational age at delivery, preterm birth, small for gestational age, Apgar scores, maternal and neonatal intensive care unit admission, and length of neonatal hospital stay) and covariates were extracted from medical records. Excluding individuals who tested RT‐PCR positive at delivery, we conducted crude and adjusted regression models to compare antibody positive with antibody negative individuals at delivery. We stratified analyses by race/ethnicity to examine potential effect modification. Results The SARS‐CoV‐2 seroprevalence based on IgG measurement was 16.4% (95% confidence interval 13.7, 19.3; n=116). Twelve individuals (1.7%) were SARS‐CoV‐2 RT‐PCR positive at delivery. Seropositive individuals were generally younger, more often Black or Hispanic, and more often had public insurance and higher pre‐pregnancy BMI compared with seronegative individuals. None of the examined pregnancy outcomes differed by seropositivity, overall or stratified by race/ethnicity. Conclusion Seropositivity for SARS‐CoV‐2 without RT‐PCR positivity at delivery (suggesting that infection occurred earlier during pregnancy) was not associated with selected adverse maternal or neonatal outcomes among live births in a cohort sample from New York City.

Microglial cells have emerged as potential key players in brain aging and pathology. To capture the heterogeneity of microglia across ages and regions, and to understand how genetic risk for neurological and psychiatric brain disorders is related to microglial function, large transcriptome studies are essential. Here, we describe the transcriptome analysis of 255 primary human microglia samples isolated at autopsy from multiple brain regions of 100 human subjects. We performed systematic analyses to investigate various aspects of microglial heterogeneities, including brain region, age and sex. We mapped expression and splicing quantitative trait loci and showed that many neurological disease susceptibility loci are mediated through gene expression or splicing in microglia. Fine-mapping of these loci nominated candidate causal variants that are within microglia-specific enhancers, including novel associations with microglia expression of USP6NL for Alzheimer′s disease, and P2RY12 for Parkinson′s disease. In summary, we have built the most comprehensive catalog to date of genetic effects on the microglia transcriptome and propose molecular mechanisms of action of candidate functional variants in several neurological and psychiatric diseases.

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Background: Drug-ethanol interaction can result in hepatotoxicity. The liver is capable of metabolizing both acetaminophen and ethanol; however, severe acute or moderate chronic simultaneous exposure can cause cell and tissue damage. Therapeutic doses can become harmful if gene activity is altered via competition for metabolic pathways. Simultaneous intake of ethanol and acetaminophen results in overactive CYP2E1 and depletion of glutathione, leaving NAPQI to build up in the liver. NAPQI is a hepatotoxic substance typically neutralized by glutathione. Methods: Bioinformatics tools including PharmGKB, Chemical Annotation Retrieval Toolkit, Transcriptome Analysis Console 4.0 (TAC), wikipathways, STRING, and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) were used to explore interactive metabolic pathways of ethanol-acetaminophen exposure as a proof of concept for assessing drug-drug or drug-alcohol interactions. Results: As the ethanol-acetaminophen comparison indicates, bioinformatics tools may be used to understand interactive pathways following exposure to ethanol and acetaminophen, with potential extrapolation to other drug-drug/drug-ethanol interactions. Conclusions: Direct interactive effects were not able to be confirmed through this bioinformatics study due to the lack of existing ethanol-acetaminophen simultaneous exposure data. This work suggests that a battery of software applications should be used to assess interactive effects.

Background: In May-July 2020 in the New York City area, up to 16% of pregnant women had reportedly been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Prior studies found associations between SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and certain adverse outcomes (e.g., preterm birth, cesarean delivery). These studies relied on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing to establish SARS-CoV-2 infection. This led to overrepresentation of symptomatic or acutely ill cases in scientific studies. Objective: To expand our understanding of the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes, regardless of symptomatology and stage of infection, by using serological tests to measure IgG antibody levels. Study Design: The Generation C Study is an ongoing prospective cohort study conducted at the Mount Sinai Health System. All pregnant women receiving obstetrical care at the Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai West Hospital from April 20, 2020 onwards are eligible for participation. For the current analysis, we included participants who had given birth to a liveborn singleton infant on or before August 15, 2020. Blood was drawn as part of routine clinical care; for each woman, we tested the latest sample available to establish seropositivity using a SARS-CoV-2 serologic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Additionally, RT-PCR testing was performed on a nasopharyngeal swab taken during labor and delivery. Pregnancy outcomes of interest (i.e., gestational age at delivery, birth weight, mode of delivery, Apgar score, ICU/NICU admission, and neonatal hospital length of stay) and covariates were extracted from electronic medical records. Among all Generation C participants who had given birth by August 15, 2020 (n=708), we established the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence. Excluding women who tested RT-PCR positive at delivery, we conducted crude and adjusted linear and logistic regression models to compare antibody positive women without RT-PCR positivity at delivery with antibody negative women without RT-PCR positivity at delivery. We stratified analyses by race/ethnicity to examine potential effect modification. Results: The SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence based on IgG measurement was 16.4% (n=116, 95% CI 13.7-19.3). Twelve women (1.7%) were SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive at delivery (11 of these women were seropositive). Seropositive women were generally younger, more often Black or Hispanic, and more often had public insurance and higher pre-pregnancy BMI compared with seronegative women. SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity without RT-PCR positivity at delivery was associated with decreased odds of caesarean delivery (aOR 0.48, 95%CI 0.27; 0.84) compared with seronegative women without RT-PCR positivity at delivery. Stratified by race/ethnicity, the association between seropositivity and decreased odds of caesarean delivery remained for non-Hispanic Black/African-American and Hispanic women, but not for non-Hispanic White women. No other pregnancy outcomes differed by seropositivity, overall or stratified by race/ethnicity. Conclusion: Seropositivity for SARS-CoV-2 without RT-PCR positivity at delivery, suggesting that infection occurred earlier during pregnancy, was not associated with selected adverse maternal or neonatal outcomes among live births in a cohort sample of women from New York City. While non-Hispanic Black and Latina women in our cohort had a higher rate of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity compared with non-Hispanic White women, we found no increase in adverse maternal or neonatal outcomes among these groups due to infection.

Objective: Dysregulation of the immune system during pregnancy is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Recent studies report cytokine changes during the acute phase of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. We examine whether there is a lasting association between SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and peripheral blood cytokine levels. Study design: We conducted a case-control study at the Mount Sinai health system in NYC including 100 SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody positive people matched to 100 SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody negative people on age, race/ethnicity, parity, and insurance status. Blood samples were collected at a median gestational age of 34 weeks. Levels of 14 cytokines were measured. Results: Individual cytokine levels and cytokine cluster Eigenvalues did not differ significantly between groups, indicating no persisting maternal cytokine changes after SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the acute inflammatory response after SARS-CoV-2 infection may be restored to normal values during pregnancy.