Biomedical subjects

Lei Zheng

Publications and source records attributed to Lei Zheng.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

[Analysis of clinical phenotypes and pathogenicity of a c.4476+5G>T variant of SCN1A gene in a Chinese pedigree affected with Genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the pathogenicity and characteristics of a heterozygous splicing variant of SCN1A gene in a Chinese pedigree affected with Genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was carried out on the clinical data and results of genetic testing of a GEFS+ pedigree consisting of 5 members who had visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University on July 1, 2024. Pathogenicity of the splicing variant of the SCN1A gene was validated with a minigene splicing assay. This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (Ethics No.: KS-2018-KY-36). RESULTS: The proband, a 24-year-old female, presented with FS in conjunct with focal seizures, and both of her younger brothers had Dravet syndrome. All of the three patients had carried a c.4476+5G>T variant of the SCN1A gene, which was unreported previously. Minigene experiment verified that the variant could cause loss of the first 7 bps of exon 24 and 138 bps from exon 23 of the SCN1A gene, resulting in alteration p.V1447_1495delfs*6 and affecting splicing. Based on the guidelines from American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), the variant was predicted as likely pathogenic (PVS1+PM2_Supporting). CONCLUSION: The c.4476+5G>T variant at an intronic site of the SCN1A gene probably underlay the pathogenesis of GEFS+ in this pedigree.

Adult↗

PubMed2026

Effects of Time-Based and Distance-Based Repeated Sprint Training on Physical and Physiological Adaptations in Collegiate Basketball Players.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the effects of time-based (TB) and distance-based (DB) repeated-sprint training (RST) on athletic performance adaptations in collegiate basketball players during preseason and to examine whether the 2 training prescriptions produce different levels of homogeneity in the magnitude of individual adaptations. METHODS: Thirty young male basketball players (age = 21.3 [1.4] y) were randomly and equally assigned to 3 groups (n = 10): DB-RST, TB-RST, and an active control group. Participants completed a 7-week RST program performed 3 times per week, consisting of 4 sets of 4 to 9 repetitions per session. The DB-RST group completed each sprint by covering a fixed 35-m distance, whereas the TB-RST group performed each sprint maximally for a fixed 5-second duration. Performance assessments including countermovement vertical jump, 20-m sprint, Illinois change-of-direction speed, reactive strength index, Wingate anaerobic power, and cardiorespiratory fitness were conducted before and after the 7-week training period. RESULTS: Both training groups demonstrated significant performance improvements over the 7-week intervention and relative to the control group (P < .05). Similar gains were observed in the magnitude of adaptations in the countermovement vertical jump, 20-m sprint, Illinois change-of-direction speed, and reactive strength index for the DB-RST and TB-RST groups. Interestingly, the TB-RST group showed more gains than the DB-RST in the magnitude of adaptations in the peak and mean power outputs, as well as cardiorespiratory fitness. Moreover, the TB-RST group showed lower intersubject variability in adaptive responses across the measured performance outcomes following the training intervention. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that RST effectively enhances the performance of basketball players, and that implementing a TB-RST protocol is more effective than a DB-RST approach for producing greater adaptations in physiological variables-specifically anaerobic power output and cardiorespiratory fitness-over the 7-week preseason period.

Humans↗

PubMed2026

Clinical and molecular characterization of TCF12 variants in an Asian pediatric cohort with craniosynostosis.

BACKGROUND: Craniosynostosis is a genetically heterogeneous craniofacial disorder caused by the premature fusion of one or more cranial sutures. Pathogenic variants in TCF12, encoding a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor, represent a major cause of autosomal dominant coronal craniosynostosis and are characterized by incomplete penetrance and marked phenotypic variability. However, clinical and molecular data from Asian pediatric populations remain limited. METHODS: Trio-based whole-exome sequencing was performed on ten pediatric patients with cranial deformities and their parents. The identified TCF12 variants were classified according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines and validated by Sanger sequencing. Detailed clinical and radiological data were collected. In addition, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to summarize previously reported TCF12 variants and associated phenotypes. RESULTS: Ten distinct heterozygous TCF12 variants were identified in ten unrelated pediatric patients, all of which were classified as pathogenic or likely pathogenic according to ACMG criteria. Six variants were inherited, and four occurred de novo. Seven patients had imaging-confirmed craniosynostosis, predominantly involving the coronal sutures (five bilateral and one unilateral), while one patient presented with multisuture craniosynostosis (left coronal and sagittal sutures). Three patients showed cranial deformities without radiographic evidence of suture fusion. Phenotypic heterogeneity and incomplete penetrance were observed, including a mildly affected parent. Most pathogenic variants were truncating variants distributed mainly across exons 14-19 and predicted to induce loss of function, either through nonsense-mediated mRNA decay or the production of truncated proteins lacking the entire C-terminal bHLH domain. Structural modeling analysis further indicated that the bHLH-domain-located missense variant p.Arg603Trp alters the local DNA-binding conformation of TCF12 and impairs its binding affinity to the E-box DNA motif. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides additional clinical and molecular data on TCF12-related craniosynostosis in a pediatric cohort from an Asian population. Our findings support haploinsufficiency as the central pathogenic mechanism, primarily driven by truncating variants affecting the C-terminal bHLH domain. The marked clinical heterogeneity, the presence of mild or evolving phenotypes, and incomplete penetrance observed in our cohort underscore the importance of early diagnosis and longitudinal clinical surveillance in affected families.

Humans↗

PubMed2025

Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Promotes the Formation of Mature Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in a Remodeled Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a rapidly progressing cancer that responds poorly to immunotherapies. Intratumoral tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) have been associated with rare long-term PDAC survivors, but the role of TLS in PDAC and their spatial relationships within the context of the broader tumor microenvironment remain unknown. In this study, we report the generation of a spatial multiomic atlas of PDAC tumors and tumor-adjacent lymph nodes from patients treated with combination neoadjuvant immunotherapies. Using machine learning-enabled hematoxylin and eosin image classification models, imaging mass cytometry, and unsupervised gene expression matrix factorization methods for spatial transcriptomics, we characterized cellular states within and adjacent to TLS spanning distinct spatial niches and pathologic responses. Unsupervised learning identified TLS-specific spatial gene expression signatures that are significantly associated with improved survival in patients with PDAC. We identified spatial features of pathologic immune responses, including intratumoral TLS-associated B-cell maturation colocalizing with IgG dissemination and extracellular matrix remodeling. Our findings offer insights into the cellular and molecular landscape of TLS in PDACs during immunotherapy treatment.

Humans↗

PubMed2025

BIWT: a bioinformatics walkthrough for embedding spatial multiomics in agent-based models for virtual cells.

SUMMARY: Whereas transcriptomic and spatial profiling offer static snapshots of tissue structure, mechanistic models use biological rules to predict how tissues evolve. We present the BioInformatics WalkThrough (BIWT) software to directly initialize spatial agent-based models from single-cell and spatial molecular data. We demonstrate how initialization strategies affect tumor-immune dynamics and spatial clustering, positioning BIWT as a software suite to generate data-driven virtual cells representing both experimental and clinical contexts. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The BIWT software is available at https://github.com/PhysiCell-Tools/PhysiCell-Studio. The sample dataset for running the BIWT is available at https://zenodo.org/records/16365625. The code and instructions for reproducing the use case example is available at https://github.com/drbergman/BIWT-Paper.

Software↗

PubMed2024

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) are associated with the PI3K-AKT pathway activation.

AIMS: We aimed to elucidate the mechanism leading to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). BACKGROUND: PCOS is an endocrine disorder. Patients with RSA also have a high incidence rate of PCOS, implying that PCOS and RSA may share the same pathological mechanism. OBJECTIVE: The single-cell RNA-seq datasets of PCOS (GSE168404 and GSE193123) and RSA GSE113790 and GSE178535) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. METHODS: Datasets of PSCO and RSA patients were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The "WGCNA" package was used to determine the module eigengenes associated with the PCOS and RSA phenotypes and the gene functions were analyzed using the "DAVID" database. The GSEA analysis was performed in "clusterProfiler" package, and key genes in the activated pathways were identified using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was conducted to determine the mRNA level. Cell viability and apoptosis were measured by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and flow cytometry, respectively. RESULTS: The modules related to PCOS and RSA were sectioned by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and positive correlation modules of PCOS and RSA were all enriched in angiogenesis and Wnt pathways. The GSEA further revealed that these biological processes of angiogenesis, Wnt and regulation of cell cycle were significantly positively correlated with the PCOS and RSA phenotypes. The intersection of the positive correlation modules of PCOS and RSA contained 80 key genes, which were mainly enriched in kinase-related signal pathways and were significant high-expressed in the disease samples. Subsequently, visualization of these genes including PDGFC, GHR, PRLR and ITGA3 showed that these genes were associated with the PI3K-AKT signal pathway. Moreover, the experimental results showed that PRLR had a higher expression in KGN cells, and that knocking PRLR down suppressed cell viability and promoted apoptosis of KGN cells. CONCLUSION: This study revealed the common pathological mechanisms between PCOS and RSA and explored the role of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway in the two diseases, providing a new direction for the clinical treatment of PCOS and RSA.

Humans↗