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Pompe Disease (PD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by lysosomal enzyme acid-alpha-glucosidase (GAA) deficiency, which leads to lysosomal glycogen accumulation, swelling, cellular damage and dysfunction of cardiac, respiratory and muscular tissue. In Mexico, 95% of their genetic component was of Native Mexican origin, while

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the accumulation of extra fat in liver cells not caused by alcohol. Elevated transaminase levels are common indicators of liver disease, including NAFLD. Previously, we demonstrated that PNPLA3 (rs738409), LYPLAL1 (rs12137855), PPP1R3B (rs4240624), and GCKR (rs780094) are associated with elevated transaminase levels in overweight/obese Mexican adults. We investigated the association between 288 SNPs identified in genome-wide association studies and risk of elevated transaminase levels in an admixed Mexican-Mestizo sample of 178 cases of NAFLD and 454 healthy controls. The rs2896019, rs12483959, and rs3810622 SNPs in PNPLA3 and rs1227756 in COL13A1 were associated with elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT, ≥40 IU/L). A polygenic risk score (PRS) based on six SNPs in the ADIPOQ, COL13A1, PNPLA3, and SAMM50 genes was also associated with elevated ALT. Individuals carrying 9–12 risk alleles had 65.8% and 48.5% higher ALT and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, respectively, than those with 1–4 risk alleles. The PRS showed the greatest risk of elevated ALT levels, with a higher level of significance than the individual variants. Our findings suggest a significant association between variants in COL13A1, ADIPOQ, SAMM50, and PNPLA3, and risk of NAFLD/elevated transaminase levels in Mexican adults with an admixed ancestry. This is the first study to examine high-density single nucleotide screening for genetic variations in a Mexican-Mestizo population. The extent of the effect of these variations on the development and progression of NAFLD in Latino populations requires further analysis.

Osteosarcoma is the most common malignant bone tumor. Early diagnosis remains a major challenge, mainly because of the lack of specific biomarkers. We performed miRNAs expression analysis through qPCR in affected and paired healthy bone derived from osteosarcoma patients. Hierarchical clustering using the top ten miRNAs with differential expression showed two main clusters. One integrated by patients with the presence of metastasis or relapse and the other without these complications. Further pathway enrichment analysis reduced to four main miRNAs, hsa-miR-486-3p, hsa-miR-355-5p, hsa-miR-34a-5p and hsa-miR-1228-3p. Afterwards, we compared patients with and without metastasis, the function enrichment analysis along with review of relevant literature, showed that hsa-miR-93-5p and hsa-miR-28-5p were associated with metastasis development. Our results support the relevance of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma and contribute with evidence regarding the potential role of miRNAs as potential biomarkers. More studies are needed to define the most informative miRNAs in osteosarcoma patients.

Genome-wide association studies have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near/in PNPLA3, NCAN, LYPLAL1, PPP1R3B, and GCKR genes associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) mainly in individuals of European ancestry. The aim of the study was to test whether these genetic variants and a genetic risk score (GRS) are associated with elevated liver fat content and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in Mexicans with morbid obesity.130 morbidly obese Mexican individuals were genotyped for six SNPs in/near PNPLA3, NCAN, LYPLAL1, PPP1R3B, and GCKR genes. Hepatic fat content [triglyceride (HTG) and total cholesterol (HTC)] was quantified directly in liver biopsies and NASH was diagnosed by histology. A GRS was tested for association with liver fat content and NASH using logistic regression models. In addition, 95 ancestry-informative markers were genotyped to estimate population admixture proportions.After adjusting for age, sex and admixture, PNPLA3, LYPLAL1, GCKR and PPP1R3B polymorphisms were associated with higher HTG content (P0.05 for PNPLA3, LYPLAL1, GCKR polymorphisms and P = 0.086 for PPP1R3B). The GRS was significantly associated with higher HTG and HTC content (P = 1.0 × 10(-4) and 0.048, respectively), steatosis stage (P = 0.029), and higher ALT levels (P = 0.002). Subjects with GRS ≥ 6 showed a significantly increased risk of NASH (OR = 2.55, P = 0.045) compared to those with GRS ≤ 5. However, the GRS did not predict NASH status, as AUC of ROC curves was 0.56 (P = 0.219).NAFLD associated loci in Europeans and a GRS based on these loci contribute to the accumulation of hepatic lipids and NASH in morbidly obese Mexican individuals.

There is a great deal of evidence that points to the association of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha ( TNF- α) gene as a common genetic factor in the pathogenesis of diseases that are caused by inflammatory and/or autoimmune etiologies. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified in the TNF -α promoter region have been associated with disease susceptibility and severity. We investigated whether −308G/A and −238G/A TNF-α polymorphisms were associated with asthma, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) in a pediatric Mexican population. In a case-control study of 725 patients (asthma: 226, JRA: 171, and SLE: 328) and 400 control subjects, the participants were analyzed using the allelic discrimination technique. The genotype distribution of both TNF -α polymorphisms was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in each group. However, there were significant differences in the allele frequency of TNF -α-308A between the patients and the healthy controls. This allele was detected in 2.9% of the controls, 6.0% of asthmatic and JRA patients ( p = 0.002 and p = 0.0086), and 6.7% of SLE patients ( p = 0.00049); statistical significance was maintained after ancestry stratification (asthma: p = 0.0143, JRA: p = 0.0083, and SLE: p = 0.0026). Stratification by gender showed that the risk for the −308A allele in asthma and JRA was greater in females (OR = 4.16, p = 0.0008 and OR = 4.4, p = 0.0002, respectively). The TNF -α -238A allele showed an association only with JRA in males (OR = 2.89, p = 0.004). These results support the concept that the TNF-α gene is a genetic risk factor for asthma, SLE, and JRA in the pediatric Mexican population.

This study was conducted to determine the frequency of the most common fusion genes in Mexican pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Molecular analysis using RT-PCR was carried out in 53-blood samples: 52 patients with de novo ALL and one with relapsed ALL. The ETV6-RUNX1 fusion was found in 7 cases (13.5%), BCR-ABL fusion was detected in 2 cases (3.8%), and 6 patients (11.5%) expressed the chimeric gene E2A-PBX1. The prevalence of E2A-PBX1 is one of the highest that has been described thus far in childhood ALL. Furthermore, we detected both the BCR-ABL, and E2A-PBX1 fusion in the relapsed patient. With regards to the immunophenotype, ETV6-RUNX1 was expressed in both pre-B and T-cell cases, while the presence of E2A-PBX1 and BCR-ABL was associated with the pre-B ALL phenotype. The prevalence of E2A-PBX1 in Mexican pediatric cases supports the existence of ethnic differences in the frequency of molecular markers of ALL.