Biomedical subjects

Josef M Penninger

Publications and source records attributed to Josef M Penninger.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Urinary multi-omics reveal non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common kidney malignancy. Yet, no rapid, non-invasive biomarkers are available for diagnosis or screening. Urine represents an ideal analyte matrix due to its accessibility, low invasiveness, longitudinal sampling, and the kidney's central role in filtration. Here, we integrated proteomic, lipidomic, and metabolomic analyses of urine from ccRCC patients and controls to identify diagnostic biomarkers. Multi-omics profiling revealed urogenital metabolic dysregulation in ccRCC, including increased lipid metabolism, altered mitochondrial respiration signatures, and elevated urinary lipid content. We identified three urinary protein biomarkers: serum amyloid A1 (SAA1), haptoglobin (HP), and lipocalin 15 (LCN15). Using a parallel reaction monitoring mass spectrometry workflow, we developed a rapid and sensitive assay and combined these markers into a diagnostic UrineScore. The UrineScore achieved 0.96 in an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis in the discovery cohort, and 0.95 in an independent validation cohort. Together, these results support the feasibility of multi-omics-guided urinary biomarker discovery and represent a step toward accessible diagnostic platforms for ccRCC.

Humans↗

PubMed2026

Deletion of neurosecretory proteins GL and GM drives dual anti-obesity effects via appetite suppression and enhanced energy expenditure.

Obesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure and is regulated by hypothalamic neuropeptide systems. The neurosecretory proteins GL (NPGL) and GM (NPGM) are expressed in the hypothalamus and promote feeding in gain-of-function studies; however, their endogenous physiological roles remain unclear. Here, we show that mice lacking both NPGL and NPGM display a lean phenotype driven by reduced food intake and increased energy expenditure. This anti-obesity phenotype is associated with increased expression of anorexigenic pro-opiomelanocortin in the hypothalamus and enhanced thermogenic activity in brown adipose tissue, marked by elevated uncoupling protein 1. Consistent with these findings, suppression of NPGL/NPGM signaling reduces feeding and alters sympathetic nerve activity. In addition, genome-wide association analysis identifies an obesity-associated variant near the human NPGM locus, suggesting relevance to human energy balance. Together, these findings identify NPGL and NPGM as endogenous regulators of energy homeostasis with potential relevance to obesity.

Animals↗