👤 Kateryna Sopova

National epidemiologic data are needed to inform country-specific healthcare policies for prevention and new developing treatments. We aimed to analyze Greek epidemiologic data in clinically relevant special populations for targeted treatments and to evaluate the utility of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] as a risk enhancer METHODS: Two independent cohorts were included in this analysis: (1) consecutively recruited patients assessed in a tertiary outpatients' lipid clinic (Athens Angiometabolic cohort [AAC], n = 1106) with available peripheral vascular markers, and (2) sample of the Greek general population (ATTICA study [AS], n = 2682) with available 20-year follow-up data for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) events. Increased Lp(a) was found in 8.3% of the AS (≥50 mg/dL) and in 18.9% of the AAC (≥125 nmol/L) (16.0% without ASCVD and 22.1% with ASCVD, P = .006). Elevated Lp(a) levels were associated with increased carotid, coronary artery, and lower extremity atherosclerosis (P < .05 for all). Both the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) recommendations (net reclassification index [NRI]: 0.170) and a derived sex-specific inflation factor for HellenicSCOREII+ (NRI: 0.176) were efficient in incorporating Lp(a) as a risk enhancer over HellenicSCOREII+ for 20-year major adverse cardiovascular events. For 10-year cardiovascular death, only the EAS consensus provided significant reclassification. Finally, Lp(a) conferred increased eligibility for more aggressive primary prevention measures both by EAS recommendations (23.6% in AAC/13.6% in AS) and by sex-specific inflation factors (25.6% in AAC/22.3% in AS). Elevated Lp(a) levels were observed in 8.3% of the general population cohort and up to 23.9% in participants with ASCVD from the lipid clinic cohort, highlighting a risk gradient across ASCVD categories. Incorporating Lp(a) as a risk enhancer improves ASCVD risk reclassification beyond the validated HellenicSCOREII+. Show less

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have emerged as critical regulators of bone development and remodeling. In this study, we aimed to identify specific GPCR mutations in osteoporotic patients via next-generation sequencing (NGS). We performed NGS sequencing of six genomic DNA samples taken from osteoporotic patients and two genomic DNA samples from healthy donors. Next, we searched for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in GPCR genes that are associated with osteoporosis. For three osteoporotic patients and one healthy donor, bone biopsies were used to generate patient-specific mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) lines, and their ability to undergo osteodifferentiation was analyzed. We found that MSCs derived from osteoporotic patients have a different response to osteoinductive factors and impaired osteogenic differentiation using qPCR and histochemical staining assays. The NGS analysis revealed specific combinations of SNPs in GPCR genes in these patients, where SNPs in Show less