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Sugie K, Funaya S, Kawamura M, Nakamura T, Suzuki MG, Aoki F. Expression of Dux family genes in early preimplantation embryos. Sci Rep 2020; 10:19396. [PMID: 33173118 PMCID: PMC7655946 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76538-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
After fertilization, the zygotic genome is activated through two phases, minor zygotic activation (ZGA) and major ZGA.
Recently, it was suggested that DUX is expressed during minor ZGA and activates some genes during major ZGA. However, it has not been proven that Dux is expressed during minor ZGA and functions to activate major ZGA genes, because there are several Dux paralogs that may be expressed in zygotes instead of Dux. In this study, we found that more than a dozen Dux paralogs, as well as Dux, are expressed during minor ZGA. Overexpression of some of these genes induced increased expression of major ZGA genes. These results suggest that multiple Dux paralogs are expressed to ensure a sufficient amount of functional Dux and its paralogs which are generated during a short period of minor ZGA with a low transcriptional activity. The mechanism by which multiple Dux paralogs are expressed is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenta Sugie
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Seimei-Building 302, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, 277-8562, Japan
| | - Satoshi Funaya
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Seimei-Building 302, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, 277-8562, Japan
| | - Machika Kawamura
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Seimei-Building 302, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, 277-8562, Japan
| | - Toshinobu Nakamura
- Department of Bio-Science, Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, Nagahama, Shiga, 526-0829, Japan
| | - Masataka G Suzuki
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Seimei-Building 302, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, 277-8562, Japan
| | - Fugaku Aoki
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Seimei-Building 302, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, 277-8562, Japan.
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DeSimone AM, Cohen J, Lek M, Lek A. Cellular and animal models for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Dis Model Mech 2020; 13:13/10/dmm046904. [PMID: 33174531 PMCID: PMC7648604 DOI: 10.1242/dmm.046904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy and presents with weakness of the facial, scapular and humeral muscles, which frequently progresses to the lower limbs and truncal areas, causing profound disability. Myopathy results from epigenetic de-repression of the D4Z4 microsatellite repeat array on chromosome 4, which allows misexpression of the developmentally regulated DUX4 gene. DUX4 is toxic when misexpressed in skeletal muscle and disrupts several cellular pathways, including myogenic differentiation and fusion, which likely underpins pathology. DUX4 and the D4Z4 array are strongly conserved only in primates, making FSHD modeling in non-primate animals difficult. Additionally, its cytotoxicity and unusual mosaic expression pattern further complicate the generation of in vitro and in vivo models of FSHD. However, the pressing need to develop systems to test therapeutic approaches has led to the creation of multiple engineered FSHD models. Owing to the complex genetic, epigenetic and molecular factors underlying FSHD, it is difficult to engineer a system that accurately recapitulates every aspect of the human disease. Nevertheless, the past several years have seen the development of many new disease models, each with their own associated strengths that emphasize different aspects of the disease. Here, we review the wide range of FSHD models, including several in vitro cellular models, and an array of transgenic and xenograft in vivo models, with particular attention to newly developed systems and how they are being used to deepen our understanding of FSHD pathology and to test the efficacy of drug candidates. Summary: Owing to its complex etiology and the toxicity of DUX4, modeling facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is uniquely challenging. Here, we review the approaches that overcame these difficulties to develop highly relevant FSHD models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alec M DeSimone
- Yale School of Medicine, Department of Genetics, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Justin Cohen
- Yale School of Medicine, Department of Genetics, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Monkol Lek
- Yale School of Medicine, Department of Genetics, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Angela Lek
- Yale School of Medicine, Department of Genetics, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
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Rehn JA, O’Connor MJ, White DL, Yeung DT. DUX Hunting-Clinical Features and Diagnostic Challenges Associated with DUX4-Rearranged Leukaemia. Cancers (Basel) 2020; 12:cancers12102815. [PMID: 33007870 PMCID: PMC7599557 DOI: 10.3390/cancers12102815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2020] [Revised: 09/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary DUX4-rearrangement (DUX4r) is a recently discovered recurrent genomic lesion reported in 4–7% of childhood B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) cases. This subtype has favourable outcomes, especially in children and adolescents treated with intensive chemotherapy. The fusion most commonly links the hypervariable IGH gene to DUX4 a gene located within the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat on chromosome 4. DUX4r is cryptic to most standard diagnostic techniques, and difficult to identify even with next generation sequencing assays. This review summarises the clinical features and molecular genetics of DUX4r B-ALL and proposes prospective new diagnostic methods. Abstract DUX4-rearrangement (DUX4r) is a recently discovered recurrent genomic lesion reported in 4–7% of childhood B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) cases. This subtype has favourable outcomes, especially in children and adolescents treated with intensive chemotherapy. The fusion most commonly links the hypervariable IGH gene to DUX4 a gene located within the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat on chromosome 4, with a homologous polymorphic repeat on chromosome 10. DUX4r is cryptic to most standard diagnostic techniques, and difficult to identify even with next generation sequencing assays. This review summarises the clinical features and molecular genetics of DUX4r B-ALL and proposes prospective new diagnostic methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline A. Rehn
- Cancer Program, Precision Medicine Theme, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; (J.A.R.); (D.T.Y.)
- Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Matthew J. O’Connor
- Cancer Program, Precision Medicine Theme, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; (J.A.R.); (D.T.Y.)
- Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
- Michael Rice Centre for Haematology and Oncology, Womens’s & Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide, SA 5006, Australia
| | - Deborah L. White
- Cancer Program, Precision Medicine Theme, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; (J.A.R.); (D.T.Y.)
- Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
- Australian Genomics, The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
- Australian and New Zealand Children’s Oncology Group (ANZCHOG), Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
- Correspondence:
| | - David T. Yeung
- Cancer Program, Precision Medicine Theme, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; (J.A.R.); (D.T.Y.)
- Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
- Department of Haematology, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
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54
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Therapeutic Strategies Targeting DUX4 in FSHD. J Clin Med 2020; 9:jcm9092886. [PMID: 32906621 PMCID: PMC7564105 DOI: 10.3390/jcm9092886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Revised: 08/20/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a common muscle dystrophy typically affecting patients within their second decade. Patients initially exhibit asymmetric facial and humeral muscle damage, followed by lower body muscle involvement. FSHD is associated with a derepression of DUX4 gene encoded by the D4Z4 macrosatellite located on the subtelomeric part of chromosome 4. DUX4 is a highly regulated transcription factor and its expression in skeletal muscle contributes to multiple cellular toxicities and pathologies ultimately leading to muscle weakness and atrophy. Since the discovery of the FSHD candidate gene DUX4, many cell and animal models have been designed for therapeutic approaches and clinical trials. Today there is no treatment available for FSHD patients and therapeutic strategies targeting DUX4 toxicity in skeletal muscle are being actively investigated. In this review, we will discuss different research areas that are currently being considered to alter DUX4 expression and toxicity in muscle tissue and the cell and animal models designed to date.
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DUX4 Expression in FSHD Muscles: Focus on Its mRNA Regulation. J Pers Med 2020; 10:jpm10030073. [PMID: 32731450 PMCID: PMC7564753 DOI: 10.3390/jpm10030073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Revised: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 07/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) is the most frequent muscular disease in adults. FSHD is characterized by a weakness and atrophy of a specific set of muscles located in the face, the shoulder, and the upper arms. FSHD patients may present different genetic defects, but they all present epigenetic alterations of the D4Z4 array located on the subtelomeric part of chromosome 4, leading to chromatin relaxation and, ultimately, to the aberrant expression of one gene called DUX4. Once expressed, DUX4 triggers a cascade of deleterious events, eventually leading to muscle dysfunction and cell death. Here, we review studies on DUX4 expression in skeletal muscle to determine the genetic/epigenetic factors and regulatory proteins governing DUX4 expression, with particular attention to the different transcripts and their very low expression in muscle.
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56
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Lim KRQ, Maruyama R, Echigoya Y, Nguyen Q, Zhang A, Khawaja H, Sen Chandra S, Jones T, Jones P, Chen YW, Yokota T. Inhibition of DUX4 expression with antisense LNA gapmers as a therapy for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:16509-16515. [PMID: 32601200 PMCID: PMC7368245 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1909649117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), characterized by progressive muscle weakness and deterioration, is genetically linked to aberrant expression of DUX4 in muscle. DUX4, in its full-length form, is cytotoxic in nongermline tissues. Here, we designed locked nucleic acid (LNA) gapmer antisense oligonucleotides (AOs) to knock down DUX4 in immortalized FSHD myoblasts and the FLExDUX4 FSHD mouse model. Using a screening method capable of reliably evaluating the knockdown efficiency of LNA gapmers against endogenous DUX4 messenger RNA in vitro, we demonstrate that several designed LNA gapmers selectively and effectively reduced DUX4 expression with nearly complete knockdown. We also found potential functional benefits of AOs on muscle fusion and structure in vitro. Finally, we show that one of the LNA gapmers was taken up and induced effective silencing of DUX4 upon local treatment in vivo. The LNA gapmers developed here will help facilitate the development of FSHD therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenji Rowel Q Lim
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2H7, Canada
| | - Rika Maruyama
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2H7, Canada
| | - Yusuke Echigoya
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2H7, Canada
- Laboratory of Biomedical Science, Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 252-0880, Japan
| | - Quynh Nguyen
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2H7, Canada
| | - Aiping Zhang
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Health System, Washington, DC 20010
- Department of Integrative Systems Biology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
| | - Hunain Khawaja
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Health System, Washington, DC 20010
- Department of Integrative Systems Biology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
| | - Sreetama Sen Chandra
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Health System, Washington, DC 20010
- Department of Integrative Systems Biology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
| | - Takako Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, Reno, NV 89557-0318
| | - Peter Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, Reno, NV 89557-0318
| | - Yi-Wen Chen
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Health System, Washington, DC 20010;
- Department of Genomics and Precision Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Science, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
| | - Toshifumi Yokota
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2H7, Canada;
- The Friends of Garrett Cumming Research & Muscular Dystrophy Canada HM Toupin Neurological Science Research Chair, Edmonton, AB T6G2H7, Canada
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Induction of a local muscular dystrophy using electroporation in vivo: an easy tool for screening therapeutics. Sci Rep 2020; 10:11301. [PMID: 32647247 PMCID: PMC7347864 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68135-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2020] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Intramuscular injection and electroporation of naked plasmid DNA (IMEP) has emerged as a potential alternative to viral vector injection for transgene expression into skeletal muscles. In this study, IMEP was used to express the DUX4 gene into mouse tibialis anterior muscle. DUX4 is normally expressed in germ cells and early embryo, and silenced in adult muscle cells where its pathological reactivation leads to Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. DUX4 encodes a potent transcription factor causing a large deregulation cascade. Its high toxicity but sporadic expression constitutes major issues for testing emerging therapeutics. The IMEP method appeared as a convenient technique to locally express DUX4 in mouse muscles. Histological analyses revealed well delineated muscle lesions 1-week after DUX4 IMEP. We have therefore developed a convenient outcome measure by quantification of the damaged muscle area using color thresholding. This method was used to characterize lesion distribution and to assess plasmid recirculation and dose–response. DUX4 expression and activity were confirmed at the mRNA and protein levels and through a quantification of target gene expression. Finally, this study gives a proof of concept of IMEP model usefulness for the rapid screening of therapeutic strategies, as demonstrated using antisense oligonucleotides against DUX4 mRNA.
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58
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Karpukhina A, Vassetzky Y. DUX4, a Zygotic Genome Activator, Is Involved in Oncogenesis and Genetic Diseases. Russ J Dev Biol 2020. [DOI: 10.1134/s1062360420030078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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59
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Abstract
In this issue of Developmental Cell, Chew et al. (2019) show that the pioneer factor DUX4 is misexpressed in tumors, where it suppresses anti-tumor immune activity. Their findings provide a new mechanism for immune evasion in cancer and highlight the pathogenic effects of re-expressing an embryonic program in adult cells.
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Bosnakovski D, Shams AS, Yuan C, da Silva MT, Ener ET, Baumann CW, Lindsay AJ, Verma M, Asakura A, Lowe DA, Kyba M. Transcriptional and cytopathological hallmarks of FSHD in chronic DUX4-expressing mice. J Clin Invest 2020; 130:2465-2477. [PMID: 32250341 PMCID: PMC7190912 DOI: 10.1172/jci133303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Accepted: 01/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by loss of repression of the DUX4 gene; however, the DUX4 protein is rare and difficult to detect in human muscle biopsies, and pathological mechanisms are obscure. FSHD is also a chronic disease that progresses slowly over decades. We used the sporadic, low-level, muscle-specific expression of DUX4 enabled by the iDUX4pA-HSA mouse to develop a chronic long-term muscle disease model. After 6 months of extremely low sporadic DUX4 expression, dystrophic muscle presented hallmarks of FSHD histopathology, including muscle degeneration, capillary loss, fibrosis, and atrophy. We investigated the transcriptional profile of whole muscle as well as endothelial cells and fibroadiopogenic progenitors (FAPs). Strikingly, differential gene expression profiles of both whole muscle and, to a lesser extent, FAPs, showed significant overlap with transcriptional profiles of MRI-guided human FSHD muscle biopsies. These results demonstrate a pathophysiological similarity between disease in muscles of iDUX4pA-HSA mice and humans with FSHD, solidifying the value of chronic rare DUX4 expression in mice for modeling pathological mechanisms in FSHD and highlighting the importance FAPs in this disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darko Bosnakovski
- Lillehei Heart Institute and
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Goce Delcev, Stip, North Macedonia
| | - Ahmed S. Shams
- Lillehei Heart Institute and
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Human Anatomy and Embryology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
| | - Ce Yuan
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program
| | - Meiricris T. da Silva
- Lillehei Heart Institute and
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Elizabeth T. Ener
- Lillehei Heart Institute and
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | | | | | - Mayank Verma
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Atsushi Asakura
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | | | - Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute and
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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61
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Jones TI, Chew GL, Barraza-Flores P, Schreier S, Ramirez M, Wuebbles RD, Burkin DJ, Bradley RK, Jones PL. Transgenic mice expressing tunable levels of DUX4 develop characteristic facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy-like pathophysiology ranging in severity. Skelet Muscle 2020; 10:8. [PMID: 32278354 PMCID: PMC7149937 DOI: 10.1186/s13395-020-00227-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Background All types of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) are caused by the aberrant activation of the somatically silent DUX4 gene, the expression of which initiates a cascade of cellular events ultimately leading to FSHD pathophysiology. Typically, progressive skeletal muscle weakness becomes noticeable in the second or third decade of life, yet there are many individuals who are genetically FSHD but develop symptoms much later in life or remain relatively asymptomatic throughout their lives. Conversely, FSHD may clinically present prior to 5–10 years of age, ultimately manifesting as a severe early-onset form of the disease. These phenotypic differences are thought to be due to the timing and levels of DUX4 misexpression. Methods FSHD is a dominant gain-of-function disease that is amenable to modeling by DUX4 overexpression. We have recently created a line of conditional DUX4 transgenic mice, FLExDUX4, that develop a myopathy upon induction of human DUX4-fl expression in skeletal muscle. Here, we use the FLExDUX4 mouse crossed with the skeletal muscle-specific and tamoxifen-inducible line ACTA1-MerCreMer to generate a highly versatile bi-transgenic mouse model with chronic, low-level DUX4-fl expression and cumulative mild FSHD-like pathology that can be reproducibly induced to develop more severe pathology via tamoxifen induction of DUX4-fl in skeletal muscles. Results We identified conditions to generate FSHD-like models exhibiting reproducibly mild, moderate, or severe DUX4-dependent pathophysiology and characterized progression of pathology. We assayed DUX4-fl mRNA and protein levels, fitness, strength, global gene expression, and histopathology, all of which are consistent with an FSHD-like myopathic phenotype. Importantly, we identified sex-specific and muscle-specific differences that should be considered when using these models for preclinical studies. Conclusions The ACTA1-MCM;FLExDUX4 bi-transgenic mouse model has mild FSHD-like pathology and detectable muscle weakness. The onset and progression of more severe DUX4-dependent pathologies can be controlled via tamoxifen injection to increase the levels of mosaic DUX4-fl expression, providing consistent and readily screenable phenotypes for assessing therapies targeting DUX4-fl mRNA and/or protein and are useful to investigate certain conserved downstream FSHD-like pathophysiology. Overall, this model supports that DUX4 expression levels in skeletal muscle directly correlate with FSHD-like pathology by numerous metrics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takako I Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Guo-Liang Chew
- Computational Biology Program, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, 98109, USA.,Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, 98109, USA.,Current Address: The Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Pamela Barraza-Flores
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Spencer Schreier
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Monique Ramirez
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Ryan D Wuebbles
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Dean J Burkin
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Robert K Bradley
- Computational Biology Program, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, 98109, USA.,Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, 98109, USA
| | - Peter L Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA.
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Banerji CRS, Zammit PS. PAX7 target gene repression is a superior FSHD biomarker than DUX4 target gene activation, associating with pathological severity and identifying FSHD at the single-cell level. Hum Mol Genet 2020; 28:2224-2236. [PMID: 31067297 PMCID: PMC6586142 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddz043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2019] [Revised: 02/13/2019] [Accepted: 02/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a prevalent, incurable skeletal myopathy. The condition is linked to hypomethylation of the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat at chromosome 4q35, leading to epigenetic derepression of the transcription factor DUX4; coupled with a permissive 4qA haplotype supplying a poly(A) signal. DUX4 may drive FSHD pathology via both induction of target genes and inhibition of the function of the myogenic master regulator PAX7. Biomarkers for FSHD have focused on DUX4 target gene expression. We have, however, reported that PAX7 target gene repression is a hallmark of FSHD skeletal muscle. Here we demonstrate that PAX7 target gene repression is an equivalent biomarker to DUX4 target gene expression when considering RNA-Sequencing data from magnetic resonance imaging-guided muscle biopsies. Moreover, PAX7 target gene repression correlates with active disease, independent to DUX4 target gene expression. PAX7 target genes are also repressed in RNA-Sequencing data from single cells, representing a significantly better biomarker of FSHD cells than DUX4 target gene expression. Importantly, PAX7 target gene repression is a significant biomarker in the majority of FSHD cells that are DUX4 target gene negative, and on which the DUX4 biomarker is indiscriminate. To facilitate the evaluation of validated biomarkers we provide a simple tool that outputs biomarker values from a normalized expression data matrix. In summary, PAX7 target gene repression in FSHD correlates with disease severity, independently of DUX4 target gene expression. At the single-cell level, PAX7 target gene repression can efficiently discriminate FSHD cells, even when no DUX4 target genes are detectable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher R S Banerji
- King's College London, Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London, UK.,Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Level, Faculty Building, South Kensington Campus, London, UK
| | - Peter S Zammit
- King's College London, Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London, UK
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Le R, Huang Y, Zhao A, Gao S. Lessons from expanded potential of embryonic stem cells: Moving toward totipotency. J Genet Genomics 2020; 47:123-130. [PMID: 32305172 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgg.2020.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2019] [Revised: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Embryonic stem cells possess fascinating capacity of self-renewal and developmental potential, leading to significant progress in understanding the molecular basis of pluripotency, disease modeling, and reprogramming technology. Recently, 2-cell-like embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and expanded potential stem cells or extended pluripotent stem cells (EPSCs) generated from early-cleavage embryos display some features of totipotent embryos. These cell lines provide valuable in vitro models to study underlying principles of totipotency, cell plasticity, and lineage segregation. In this review, we summarize the current progress in this filed and highlight the application potentials of these cells in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rongrong Le
- Clinical and Translational Research Center of Shanghai First Maternity & Infant Hospital, Frontier Science Center for Stem Cell Research, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Yixin Huang
- Clinical and Translational Research Center of Shanghai First Maternity & Infant Hospital, Frontier Science Center for Stem Cell Research, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Anqi Zhao
- Clinical and Translational Research Center of Shanghai First Maternity & Infant Hospital, Frontier Science Center for Stem Cell Research, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Shaorong Gao
- Clinical and Translational Research Center of Shanghai First Maternity & Infant Hospital, Frontier Science Center for Stem Cell Research, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
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64
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Greco A, Goossens R, van Engelen B, van der Maarel SM. Consequences of epigenetic derepression in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Clin Genet 2020; 97:799-814. [PMID: 32086799 PMCID: PMC7318180 DOI: 10.1111/cge.13726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Revised: 02/08/2020] [Accepted: 02/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a common hereditary myopathy, is caused either by the contraction of the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat at the distal end of chromosome 4q to a size of 1 to 10 repeat units (FSHD1) or by mutations in D4Z4 chromatin modifiers such as Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes Hinge Domain Containing 1 (FSHD2). These two genotypes share a phenotype characterized by progressive and often asymmetric muscle weakening and atrophy, and common epigenetic alterations of the D4Z4 repeat. All together, these epigenetic changes converge the two genetic forms into one disease and explain the derepression of the DUX4 gene, which is otherwise kept epigenetically silent in skeletal muscle. DUX4 is consistently transcriptionally upregulated in FSHD1 and FSHD2 skeletal muscle cells where it is believed to exercise a toxic effect. Here we provide a review of the recent literature describing the progress in understanding the complex genetic and epigenetic architecture of FSHD, with a focus on one of the consequences that these epigenetic changes inflict, the DUX4‐induced immune deregulation cascade. Moreover, we review the latest therapeutic strategies, with particular attention to the potential of epigenetic correction of the FSHD locus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Greco
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Experimental Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Remko Goossens
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Baziel van Engelen
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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65
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Klingler C, Ashley J, Shi K, Stiefvater A, Kyba M, Sinnreich M, Aihara H, Kinter J. DNA aptamers against the DUX4 protein reveal novel therapeutic implications for FSHD. FASEB J 2020; 34:4573-4590. [PMID: 32020675 PMCID: PMC7079142 DOI: 10.1096/fj.201902696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2019] [Accepted: 01/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Aberrant expression of the transcription factor double homeobox protein 4 (DUX4) can lead to a number of diseases including facio‐scapulo‐humeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and sarcomas. Inhibition of DUX4 may represent a therapeutic strategy for these diseases. By applying Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential Enrichment (SELEX), we identified aptamers against DUX4 with specific secondary structural elements conveying high affinity to DUX4 as assessed by fluorescence resonance energy transfer and fluorescence polarization techniques. Sequences analysis of these aptamers revealed the presence of two consensus DUX4 motifs in a reverse complementary fashion forming hairpins interspersed with bulge loops at distinct positions that enlarged the binding surface with the DUX4 protein, as determined by crystal structure analysis. We demonstrate that insertion of specific structural elements into transcription factor binding oligonucleotides can enhance specificity and affinity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Klingler
- Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.,Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Jon Ashley
- Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.,Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.,Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Ke Shi
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Adeline Stiefvater
- Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.,Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Michael Sinnreich
- Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.,Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Hideki Aihara
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Jochen Kinter
- Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.,Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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66
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DUX4 Signalling in the Pathogenesis of Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:ijms21030729. [PMID: 31979100 PMCID: PMC7037115 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21030729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2019] [Revised: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a disabling inherited muscular disorder characterized by asymmetric, progressive muscle weakness and degeneration. Patients display widely variable disease onset and severity, and sometimes present with extra-muscular symptoms. There is a consensus that FSHD is caused by the aberrant production of the double homeobox protein 4 (DUX4) transcription factor in skeletal muscle. DUX4 is normally expressed during early embryonic development, and is then effectively silenced in all tissues except the testis and thymus. Its reactivation in skeletal muscle disrupts numerous signalling pathways that mostly converge on cell death. Here, we review studies on DUX4-affected pathways in skeletal muscle and provide insights into how understanding these could help explain the unique pathogenesis of FSHD.
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67
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Lee JK, Bosnakovski D, Toso EA, Dinh T, Banerjee S, Bohl TE, Shi K, Orellana K, Kyba M, Aihara H. Crystal Structure of the Double Homeodomain of DUX4 in Complex with DNA. Cell Rep 2019; 25:2955-2962.e3. [PMID: 30540931 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.11.060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2018] [Revised: 11/10/2018] [Accepted: 11/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Double homeobox (DUX) transcription factors are unique to eutherian mammals. DUX4 regulates expression of repetitive elements during early embryogenesis, but misexpression of DUX4 causes facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) and translocations overexpressing the DUX4 double homeodomain cause B cell leukemia. Here, we report the crystal structure of the tandem homeodomains of DUX4 bound to DNA. The homeodomains bind DNA in a head-to-head fashion, with the linker making anchoring DNA minor-groove interactions and unique protein contacts. Remarkably, despite being tandem duplicates, the DUX4 homeodomains recognize different core sequences. This results from an arginine-to-glutamate mutation, unique to primates, causing alternative positioning of a key arginine side chain in the recognition helix. Mutational studies demonstrate that this primate-specific change is responsible for the divergence in sequence recognition that likely drove coevolution of embryonically regulated repeats in primates. Our work provides a framework for understanding the endogenous function of DUX4 and its role in FSHD and cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- John K Lee
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Darko Bosnakovski
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Faculty of Medical Sciences, Goce Delcev University-Stip, Krste Misirkov b.b., 2000 Stip, Republic of Macedonia
| | - Erik A Toso
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Tracy Dinh
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Surajit Banerjee
- Northeastern Collaborative Access Team, Cornell University, Advanced Photon Source, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
| | - Thomas E Bohl
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Ke Shi
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Kayo Orellana
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
| | - Hideki Aihara
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
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68
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DeSimone AM, Leszyk J, Wagner K, Emerson CP. Identification of the hyaluronic acid pathway as a therapeutic target for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaaw7099. [PMID: 31844661 PMCID: PMC6905861 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is linked to epigenetic derepression of the germline/embryonic transcription factor DUX4 in skeletal muscle. However, the etiology of muscle pathology is not fully understood, as DUX4 misexpression is not tightly correlated with disease severity. Using a DUX4-inducible cell model, we show that multiple DUX4-induced molecular pathologies that have been observed in patient-derived disease models are mediated by the signaling molecule hyaluronic acid (HA), which accumulates following DUX4 induction. These pathologies include formation of RNA granules, FUS aggregation, DNA damage, caspase activation, and cell death. We also observe previously unidentified pathologies including mislocalization of mitochondria and the DUX4- and HA-binding protein C1QBP. These pathologies are prevented by 4-methylumbelliferone, an inhibitor of HA biosynthesis. Critically, 4-methylumbelliferone does not disrupt DUX4-C1QBP binding and has only a limited effect on DUX4 transcriptional activity, establishing that HA signaling has a central function in pathology and is a target for FSHD therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alec M. DeSimone
- Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Program, Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - John Leszyk
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Kathryn Wagner
- Center for Genetic Muscle Disorders, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Charles P. Emerson
- Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Program, Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
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69
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Dion C, Roche S, Laberthonnière C, Broucqsault N, Mariot V, Xue S, Gurzau AD, Nowak A, Gordon CT, Gaillard MC, El-Yazidi C, Thomas M, Schlupp-Robaglia A, Missirian C, Malan V, Ratbi L, Sefiani A, Wollnik B, Binetruy B, Salort Campana E, Attarian S, Bernard R, Nguyen K, Amiel J, Dumonceaux J, Murphy JM, Déjardin J, Blewitt ME, Reversade B, Robin JD, Magdinier F. SMCHD1 is involved in de novo methylation of the DUX4-encoding D4Z4 macrosatellite. Nucleic Acids Res 2019; 47:2822-2839. [PMID: 30698748 PMCID: PMC6451109 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2018] [Revised: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 01/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The DNA methylation epigenetic signature is a key determinant during development. Rules governing its establishment and maintenance remain elusive especially at repetitive sequences, which account for the majority of methylated CGs. DNA methylation is altered in a number of diseases including those linked to mutations in factors that modify chromatin. Among them, SMCHD1 (Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes Hinge Domain Containing 1) has been of major interest following identification of germline mutations in Facio-Scapulo-Humeral Dystrophy (FSHD) and in an unrelated developmental disorder, Bosma Arhinia Microphthalmia Syndrome (BAMS). By investigating why germline SMCHD1 mutations lead to these two different diseases, we uncovered a role for this factor in de novo methylation at the pluripotent stage. SMCHD1 is required for the dynamic methylation of the D4Z4 macrosatellite upon reprogramming but seems dispensable for methylation maintenance. We find that FSHD and BAMS patient's cells carrying SMCHD1 mutations are both permissive for DUX4 expression, a transcription factor whose regulation has been proposed as the main trigger for FSHD. These findings open new questions as to what is the true aetiology for FSHD, the epigenetic events associated with the disease thus calling the current model into question and opening new perspectives for understanding repetitive DNA sequences regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Dion
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France
| | - Stéphane Roche
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France
| | | | - Natacha Broucqsault
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France
| | - Virginie Mariot
- NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK
| | - Shifeng Xue
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Singapore. Institute of Medical Biology, A*STAR, Singapore
| | - Alexandra D Gurzau
- The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia; The Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Agnieszka Nowak
- Institut de Génétique Humaine UMR9002 CNRS-Université de Montpellier. France
| | - Christopher T Gordon
- Laboratory of Embryology and Genetics of Human Malformation, INSERM UMR 1163, Institut Imagine, Paris, France.,Paris Descartes-Sorbonne Paris Cité University, Institut Imagine, Paris, France
| | | | - Claire El-Yazidi
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France
| | - Morgane Thomas
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France
| | - Andrée Schlupp-Robaglia
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France.,Département de Génétique Médicale et Biologie Cellulaire, AP-HM, Hôpital de la Timone enfants, Marseille, France.,Centre de ressources biologiques, AP-HM, Hôpital de la Timone enfants, Marseille, France
| | - Chantal Missirian
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France.,Département de Génétique Médicale et Biologie Cellulaire, AP-HM, Hôpital de la Timone enfants, Marseille, France
| | - Valérie Malan
- Laboratory of Embryology and Genetics of Human Malformation, INSERM UMR 1163, Institut Imagine, Paris, France.,Département de Génétique, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Liham Ratbi
- Centre de Génomique Humaine et Genopath, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université Mohammed V, 10100 Rabat, Morocco
| | - Abdelaziz Sefiani
- Centre de Génomique Humaine et Genopath, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université Mohammed V, 10100 Rabat, Morocco
| | - Bernd Wollnik
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Medical Campus Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Bernard Binetruy
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France
| | - Emmanuelle Salort Campana
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France.,Centre de références pour les maladies neuromusculaires et la SLA, AP-HM, Hôpital de la Timone, Marseille, France
| | - Shahram Attarian
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France.,Centre de références pour les maladies neuromusculaires et la SLA, AP-HM, Hôpital de la Timone, Marseille, France
| | - Rafaelle Bernard
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France.,Département de Génétique Médicale et Biologie Cellulaire, AP-HM, Hôpital de la Timone enfants, Marseille, France
| | - Karine Nguyen
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France.,Département de Génétique Médicale et Biologie Cellulaire, AP-HM, Hôpital de la Timone enfants, Marseille, France
| | - Jeanne Amiel
- Laboratory of Embryology and Genetics of Human Malformation, INSERM UMR 1163, Institut Imagine, Paris, France.,Paris Descartes-Sorbonne Paris Cité University, Institut Imagine, Paris, France.,Département de Génétique, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Julie Dumonceaux
- NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK
| | - James M Murphy
- The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia; The Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Jérôme Déjardin
- Institut de Génétique Humaine UMR9002 CNRS-Université de Montpellier. France
| | - Marnie E Blewitt
- The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia; The Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Bruno Reversade
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Singapore. Institute of Medical Biology, A*STAR, Singapore.,Department of Paediatrics, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.,Medical Genetics Department, Koç University School of Medicine (KUSOM), Istanbul, Turkey.,Reproductive Biology Laboratory, Academic Medical Center (AMC), Amsterdam-Zuidoost, The Netherlands
| | - Jérôme D Robin
- Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM MMG, Nerve and Muscle Department, Marseille, France
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Bosnakovski D, da Silva MT, Sunny ST, Ener ET, Toso EA, Yuan C, Cui Z, Walters MA, Jadhav A, Kyba M. A novel P300 inhibitor reverses DUX4-mediated global histone H3 hyperacetylation, target gene expression, and cell death. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaaw7781. [PMID: 31535023 PMCID: PMC6739093 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2019] [Accepted: 08/07/2019] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) results from mutations causing overexpression of the transcription factor, DUX4, which interacts with the histone acetyltransferases, EP300 and CBP. We describe the activity of a new spirocyclic EP300/CBP inhibitor, iP300w, which inhibits the cytotoxicity of the DUX4 protein and reverses the overexpression of most DUX4 target genes, in engineered cell lines and FSHD myoblasts, as well as in an FSHD animal model. In evaluating the effect of iP300w on global histone H3 acetylation, we discovered that DUX4 overexpression leads to a dramatic global increase in the total amount of acetylated histone H3. This unexpected effect requires the C-terminus of DUX4, is conserved with mouse Dux, and may facilitate zygotic genome activation. This global increase in histone H3 acetylation is reversed by iP300w, highlighting the central role of EP300 and CBP in the transcriptional mechanism underlying DUX4 cytotoxicity and the translational potential of blocking this interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darko Bosnakovski
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Goce Delcev—Štip, Štip 2000, Republic of North Macedonia
| | - Meiricris T. da Silva
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Sithara T. Sunny
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Elizabeth T. Ener
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Erik A. Toso
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Ce Yuan
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Ziyou Cui
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Michael A. Walters
- Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Ajit Jadhav
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Corresponding author.
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71
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Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a progressive myopathy that afflicts individuals of all ages, provides a powerful model of the complex interplay between genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of chromatin regulation. FSHD is caused by dysregulation of a macrosatellite repeat, either by contraction of the repeat or by mutations in silencing proteins. Both cases lead to chromatin relaxation and, in the context of a permissive allele, aberrant expression of the DUX4 gene in skeletal muscle. DUX4 is a pioneer transcription factor that activates a program of gene expression during early human development, after which its expression is silenced in most somatic cells. When misexpressed in FSHD skeletal muscle, the DUX4 program leads to accumulated muscle pathology. Epigenetic regulators of the disease locus represent particularly attractive therapeutic targets for FSHD, as many are not global modifiers of the genome, and altering their expression or activity should allow correction of the underlying defect.
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MESH Headings
- CRISPR-Cas Systems
- Chromatin/chemistry
- Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone/genetics
- Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone/metabolism
- Chromosomes, Human, Pair 4
- DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases/genetics
- DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases/metabolism
- DNA Methylation
- Epigenesis, Genetic
- Gene Editing
- Genetic Loci
- Genome, Human
- Homeodomain Proteins/genetics
- Homeodomain Proteins/metabolism
- Humans
- Muscle, Skeletal/metabolism
- Muscle, Skeletal/pathology
- Muscular Dystrophy, Facioscapulohumeral/classification
- Muscular Dystrophy, Facioscapulohumeral/genetics
- Muscular Dystrophy, Facioscapulohumeral/metabolism
- Muscular Dystrophy, Facioscapulohumeral/pathology
- Mutation
- Severity of Illness Index
- DNA Methyltransferase 3B
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Affiliation(s)
- Charis L Himeda
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA;
| | - Peter L Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA;
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72
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Velmourougane K, Prasanna R, Supriya P, Ramakrishnan B, Thapa S, Saxena AK. Transcriptome profiling provides insights into regulatory factors involved in Trichoderma viride-Azotobacter chroococcum biofilm formation. Microbiol Res 2019; 227:126292. [PMID: 31421719 DOI: 10.1016/j.micres.2019.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2019] [Revised: 04/30/2019] [Accepted: 06/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Azotobacter chroococcum (Az) and Trichoderma viride (Tv) represent agriculturally important and beneficial plant growth promoting options which contribute towards nutrient management and biocontrol, respectively. When Az and Tv are co-cultured, they form a biofilm, which has proved promising as an inoculant in several crops; however, the basic aspects related to regulation of biofilm formation were not investigated. Therefore, whole transcriptome sequencing (Illumina NextSeq500) and gene expression analyses were undertaken, related to biofilm formation vis a vis Tv and Az growing individually. Significant changes in the transcriptome profiles of biofilm were recorded and validated through qPCR analyses. In-depth evaluation also identified several genes (phoA, phoB, glgP, alg8, sipW, purB, pssA, fadD) specifically involved in biofilm formation in Az, Tv and Tv-Az. Genes coding for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, ABC transporters, translation elongation factor EF-1, molecular chaperones and double homeobox 4 were either up-regulated or down-regulated during biofilm formation. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the modulation of gene expression in an agriculturally beneficial association, as a biofilm. Our results provide insights into the regulatory factors involved during biofilm formation, which can help to improve the beneficial effects and develop more effective and promising plant- microbe associations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Radha Prasanna
- Division of Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
| | - Puram Supriya
- Centre for Agricultural Bioinformatics, ICAR- Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi, India
| | | | - Shobit Thapa
- Division of Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India
| | - Anil Kumar Saxena
- ICAR-National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (NBAIM), Kusmaur, PO Kaitholi, Mau Nath Bhanjan, Uttar Pradesh 275101, India
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73
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Chew GL, Campbell AE, De Neef E, Sutliff NA, Shadle SC, Tapscott SJ, Bradley RK. DUX4 Suppresses MHC Class I to Promote Cancer Immune Evasion and Resistance to Checkpoint Blockade. Dev Cell 2019; 50:658-671.e7. [PMID: 31327741 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2018] [Revised: 04/22/2019] [Accepted: 06/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Advances in cancer immunotherapies make it critical to identify genes that modulate antigen presentation and tumor-immune interactions. We report that DUX4, an early embryonic transcription factor that is normally silenced in somatic tissues, is re-expressed in diverse solid cancers. Both cis-acting inherited genetic variation and somatically acquired mutations in trans-acting repressors contribute to DUX4 re-expression in cancer. Although many DUX4 target genes encode self-antigens, DUX4-expressing cancers were paradoxically characterized by reduced markers of anti-tumor cytolytic activity and lower major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I gene expression. We demonstrate that DUX4 expression blocks interferon-γ-mediated induction of MHC class I, implicating suppressed antigen presentation in DUX4-mediated immune evasion. Clinical data in metastatic melanoma confirmed that DUX4 expression was associated with significantly reduced progression-free and overall survival in response to anti-CTLA-4. Our results demonstrate that cancers can escape immune surveillance by reactivating a normal developmental pathway and identify a therapeutically relevant mechanism of cell-intrinsic immune evasion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guo-Liang Chew
- Computational Biology Program, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Amy E Campbell
- Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Emma De Neef
- Computational Biology Program, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Nicholas A Sutliff
- Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Sean C Shadle
- Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Stephen J Tapscott
- Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Department of Neurology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
| | - Robert K Bradley
- Computational Biology Program, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
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74
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Mueller AL, O'Neill A, Jones TI, Llach A, Rojas LA, Sakellariou P, Stadler G, Wright WE, Eyerman D, Jones PL, Bloch RJ. Muscle xenografts reproduce key molecular features of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Exp Neurol 2019; 320:113011. [PMID: 31306642 DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2019.113011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2019] [Revised: 06/17/2019] [Accepted: 07/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/07/2022]
Abstract
Aberrant expression of DUX4, a gene unique to humans and primates, causes Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy-1 (FSHD), yet the pathogenic mechanism is unknown. As transgenic overexpression models have largely failed to replicate the genetic changes seen in FSHD, many studies of endogenously expressed DUX4 have been limited to patient biopsies and myogenic cell cultures, which never fully differentiate into mature muscle fibers. We have developed a method to xenograft immortalized human muscle precursor cells from patients with FSHD and first-degree relative controls into the tibialis anterior muscle compartment of immunodeficient mice, generating human muscle xenografts. We report that FSHD cells mature into organized and innervated human muscle fibers with minimal contamination of murine myonuclei. They also reconstitute the satellite cell niche within the xenografts. FSHD xenografts express DUX4 and DUX4 downstream targets, retain the 4q35 epigenetic signature of their original donors, and express a novel protein biomarker of FSHD, SLC34A2. Ours is the first scalable, mature in vivo human model of FSHD. It should be useful for studies of the pathogenic mechanism of the disease as well as for testing therapeutic strategies targeting DUX4 expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amber L Mueller
- Department of Physiology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 655 W, Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201, United States of America
| | - Andrea O'Neill
- Department of Physiology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 655 W, Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201, United States of America
| | - Takako I Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, 1664 North Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, United States of America
| | - Anna Llach
- Department of Physiology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 655 W, Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201, United States of America
| | - Luis Alejandro Rojas
- Fulcrum Therapeutics, 26 Landsdowne St., Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of America
| | - Paraskevi Sakellariou
- Department of Physiology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 655 W, Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201, United States of America; FAME Laboratory Department of Exercise Science, University of Thessaly, Karies, Trikala 42100, Greece
| | - Guido Stadler
- Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX 75390, United States of America
| | - Woodring E Wright
- Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX 75390, United States of America
| | - David Eyerman
- Fulcrum Therapeutics, 26 Landsdowne St., Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of America
| | - Peter L Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, 1664 North Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, United States of America
| | - Robert J Bloch
- Department of Physiology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 655 W, Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201, United States of America.
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75
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Lemmers RJLF, van der Vliet PJ, Vreijling JP, Henderson D, van der Stoep N, Voermans N, van Engelen B, Baas F, Sacconi S, Tawil R, van der Maarel SM. Cis D4Z4 repeat duplications associated with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy type 2. Hum Mol Genet 2019; 27:3488-3497. [PMID: 30281091 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddy236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2018] [Accepted: 06/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, known in genetic forms FSHD1 and FSHD2, is associated with D4Z4 repeat array chromatin relaxation and somatic derepression of DUX4 located in D4Z4. A complete copy of DUX4 is present on 4qA chromosomes, but not on the D4Z4-like repeats of chromosomes 4qB or 10. Normally, the D4Z4 repeat varies between 8 and 100 units, while in FSHD1 it is only 1-10 units. In the rare genetic form FSHD2, a combination of a 4qA allele with a D4Z4 repeat size of 8-20 units and heterozygous pathogenic variants in the chromatin modifier SMCHD1 causes DUX4 derepression and disease. In this study, we identified 11/79 (14%) FSHD2 patients with unusually large 4qA alleles of 21-70 D4Z4 units. By a combination of Southern blotting and molecular combing, we show that 8/11 (73%) of these unusually large 4qA alleles represent duplication alleles in which the long D4Z4 repeat arrays are followed by a small FSHD-sized D4Z4 repeat array duplication. We also show that these duplication alleles are associated with DUX4 expression. This duplication allele frequency is significantly higher than in controls (2.9%), FSHD1 patients (1.4%) and in FSHD2 patients with typical 4qA alleles of 8-20 D4Z4 units (1.5%). Segregation analysis shows that, similar to typical 8-20 units FSHD2 alleles, duplication alleles only cause FSHD in combination with a pathogenic variant in SMCHD1. We conclude that cis duplications of D4Z4 repeats explain DUX4 expression and disease presentation in FSHD2 families with unusual long D4Z4 repeats on 4qA chromosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jeroen P Vreijling
- Laboratory for Diagnostic Genome Analysis, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, RC, Netherlands
| | - Don Henderson
- Neuromuscular Disease Unit, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Nienke van der Stoep
- Laboratory for Diagnostic Genome Analysis, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, RC, Netherlands
| | - Nicol Voermans
- Neuromuscular Centre Nijmegen, Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, HB, Netherlands
| | - Baziel van Engelen
- Neuromuscular Centre Nijmegen, Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, HB, Netherlands
| | - Frank Baas
- Laboratory for Diagnostic Genome Analysis, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, RC, Netherlands
| | - Sabrina Sacconi
- Centre de Référence des Maladies Neuromusculaires and CNRS UMR6543, Nice University Hospital, Nice, France
| | - Rabi Tawil
- Neuromuscular Disease Unit, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
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76
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Cortesi A, Pesant M, Sinha S, Marasca F, Sala E, Gregoretti F, Antonelli L, Oliva G, Chiereghin C, Soldà G, Bodega B. 4q-D4Z4 chromatin architecture regulates the transcription of muscle atrophic genes in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Genome Res 2019; 29:883-895. [PMID: 31097473 PMCID: PMC6581056 DOI: 10.1101/gr.233288.117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2017] [Accepted: 05/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Despite increasing insights in genome structure organization, the role of DNA repetitive elements, accounting for more than two thirds of the human genome, remains elusive. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is associated with deletion of D4Z4 repeat array below 11 units at 4q35.2. It is known that the deletion alters chromatin structure in cis, leading to gene up-regulation. Here we show a genome-wide role of 4q-D4Z4 array in modulating gene expression via 3D nuclear contacts. We have developed an integrated strategy of 4q-D4Z4–specific 4C-seq and chromatin segmentation analyses, showing that 4q-D4Z4 3D interactome and chromatin states of interacting genes are impaired in FSHD1 condition; in particular, genes that have lost the 4q-D4Z4 interaction and with a more active chromatin state are enriched for muscle atrophy transcriptional signature. Expression level of these genes is restored by the interaction with an ectopic 4q-D4Z4 array, suggesting that the repeat directly modulates the transcription of contacted targets. Of note, the up-regulation of atrophic genes is a common feature of several FSHD1 and FSHD2 patients, indicating that we have identified a core set of deregulated genes involved in FSHD pathophysiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Cortesi
- Istituto Nazionale di Genetica Molecolare "Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi" (INGM), 20122, Milan, Italy
| | - Matthieu Pesant
- Istituto Nazionale di Genetica Molecolare "Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi" (INGM), 20122, Milan, Italy
| | - Shruti Sinha
- Istituto Nazionale di Genetica Molecolare "Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi" (INGM), 20122, Milan, Italy
| | - Federica Marasca
- Istituto Nazionale di Genetica Molecolare "Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi" (INGM), 20122, Milan, Italy
| | - Eleonora Sala
- Istituto Nazionale di Genetica Molecolare "Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi" (INGM), 20122, Milan, Italy
| | - Francesco Gregoretti
- CNR Institute for High Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR), 8013, Naples, Italy
| | - Laura Antonelli
- CNR Institute for High Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR), 8013, Naples, Italy
| | - Gennaro Oliva
- CNR Institute for High Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR), 8013, Naples, Italy
| | - Chiara Chiereghin
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, 20090, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Italy.,Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, 20089, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
| | - Giulia Soldà
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, 20090, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Italy.,Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, 20089, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
| | - Beatrice Bodega
- Istituto Nazionale di Genetica Molecolare "Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi" (INGM), 20122, Milan, Italy
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77
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Abstract
Background Facial-scapular-humeral myodystrophy Landouzy-Dejerine (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant disease, the basis of its pathogenesis is ectopic expression of the transcription factor DUX4 in skeletal muscle. There are two types of the disease: FSHD1 (MIM:158900) and FSHD2 (MIM: 158901), which have different genetic causes but are phenotypically indistinguishable. In FSHD1, partial deletion of the D4Z4 repeats on the 4th chromosome affects the expression of DUX4, whereas FSHD2 is caused by the mutations in the protein regulating the methylation status of chromatin - SMCHD1. High variability of clinical picture, both intra - and inter-family indicates a large number of factors influencing clinical picture. There are key genetic, epigenetic and gender factors that influence the expressivity and penetrance of the disease. Using only one of these factors allows just a rough prediction of the course of the disease, which indicates the combined effect of all of the factors on the DUX4 expression and on the clinical picture. Results In this paper, we analyzed the impact of genetic, epigenetic and gender differences on phenotype and the possibility of using them for disease prognosis and family counselling. Conclusions Key pathogenesis factors have been identified for FSHD. However, the pronounced intra - and inter-family polymorphism of manifestations indicates a large number of modifiers of the pathological process, many of which remain unknown.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mikhail Skoblov
- Research Center for Medical Genetics, Moscow, Russia.,School of Biomedicine, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia
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78
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Bosnakovski D, Gearhart MD, Toso EA, Ener ET, Choi SH, Kyba M. Low level DUX4 expression disrupts myogenesis through deregulation of myogenic gene expression. Sci Rep 2018; 8:16957. [PMID: 30446688 PMCID: PMC6240038 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-35150-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Loss of silencing of the DUX4 gene on chromosome 4 causes facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. While high level DUX4 expression induces apoptosis, the effects of low level DUX4 expression on human myogenic cells are not well understood. Low levels and sporadic expression of DUX4 have been reported in FSHD biopsy samples and myoblast cultures. Here, we show that a large set of human myogenic genes is rapidly deregulated by DUX4, including MYOD1 and MYF5, which are efficiently repressed even by low, non-toxic levels of DUX4. Human myoblasts modified to express low nontoxic levels of DUX4 were significantly impaired from differentiating into myotubes in vitro. Surprisingly, inhibition of differentiation does not require the transcriptional activation domain, thus is likely a feature of all mammalian DUX genes. DUX4 does not bind near the MYF5 gene, but has a prominent ChIP-seq peak within the MYF5 −118 kb enhancer. We find that when DUX4 binds at this site, it directs enhancer activity towards a nearby transcriptional start site for a noncoding nonfunctional RNA we name DIME (DUX4-induced MYF5 enhancer) transcript. These data highlight the anti-myogenic properties of DUX4 in human myogenic progenitor cells, and provide an example of enhancer disruption in the downregulation of MYF5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darko Bosnakovski
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,University Goce Delcev - Stip, Faculty of Medical Sciences, 2000, Stip, Macedonia
| | - Micah D Gearhart
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Erik A Toso
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Elizabeth T Ener
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Si Ho Choi
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Research Center, Dongnam Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences (DIRAMS), Busan, South Korea
| | - Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA. .,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.
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79
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Giesige CR, Wallace LM, Heller KN, Eidahl JO, Saad NY, Fowler AM, Pyne NK, Al-Kharsan M, Rashnonejad A, Chermahini GA, Domire JS, Mukweyi D, Garwick-Coppens SE, Guckes SM, McLaughlin KJ, Meyer K, Rodino-Klapac LR, Harper SQ. AAV-mediated follistatin gene therapy improves functional outcomes in the TIC-DUX4 mouse model of FSHD. JCI Insight 2018; 3:123538. [PMID: 30429376 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.123538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2018] [Accepted: 10/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant or digenic disorder linked to derepression of the toxic DUX4 gene in muscle. There is currently no pharmacological treatment. The emergence of DUX4 enabled development of cell and animal models that could be used for basic and translational research. Since DUX4 is toxic, animal model development has been challenging, but progress has been made, revealing that tight regulation of DUX4 expression is critical for creating viable animals that develop myopathy. Here, we report such a model - the tamoxifen-inducible FSHD mouse model called TIC-DUX4. Uninduced animals are viable, born in Mendelian ratios, and overtly indistinguishable from WT animals. Induced animals display significant DUX4-dependent myopathic phenotypes at the molecular, histological, and functional levels. To demonstrate the utility of TIC-DUX4 mice for therapeutic development, we tested a gene therapy approach aimed at improving muscle strength in DUX4-expressing muscles using adeno-associated virus serotype 1.Follistatin (AAV1.Follistatin), a natural myostatin antagonist. This strategy was not designed to modulate DUX4 but could offer a mechanism to improve muscle weakness caused by DUX4-induced damage. AAV1.Follistatin significantly increased TIC-DUX4 muscle mass and strength even in the presence of DUX4 expression, suggesting that myostatin inhibition may be a promising approach to treat FSHD-associated weakness. We conclude that TIC-DUX4 mice are a relevant model to study DUX4 toxicity and, importantly, are useful in therapeutic development studies for FSHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlee R Giesige
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.,Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Lindsay M Wallace
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Kristin N Heller
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Jocelyn O Eidahl
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Nizar Y Saad
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Allison M Fowler
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Nettie K Pyne
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Mustafa Al-Kharsan
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Afrooz Rashnonejad
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | | | - Jacqueline S Domire
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Diana Mukweyi
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Sara E Garwick-Coppens
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Susan M Guckes
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - K John McLaughlin
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Kathrin Meyer
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Louise R Rodino-Klapac
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Scott Q Harper
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.,Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
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80
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Ferguson MR, Poliachik SL, Budech CB, Gove NE, Carter GT, Wang LH, Miller DG, Shaw DW, Friedman SD. MRI change metrics of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy: Stir and T1. Muscle Nerve 2018; 57:905-912. [DOI: 10.1002/mus.26038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2017] [Revised: 12/04/2017] [Accepted: 12/09/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark R. Ferguson
- Department of Radiology; Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sandpoint Way, Room: L-MA.6.226; Seattle Washington 98105 USA
- Department of Radiology; University of Washington; Seattle Washington USA
| | - Sandra L. Poliachik
- Department of Radiology; Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sandpoint Way, Room: L-MA.6.226; Seattle Washington 98105 USA
| | - Christopher B. Budech
- Department of Radiology; Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sandpoint Way, Room: L-MA.6.226; Seattle Washington 98105 USA
| | - Nancy E. Gove
- Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute; Seattle Washington USA
| | | | - Leo H. Wang
- Department of Neurology; University of Washington; Seattle Washington USA
| | - Daniel G. Miller
- Genome Sciences, University of Washington; Seattle Washington USA
| | - Dennis W.W. Shaw
- Department of Radiology; Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sandpoint Way, Room: L-MA.6.226; Seattle Washington 98105 USA
- Department of Radiology; University of Washington; Seattle Washington USA
| | - Seth D. Friedman
- Department of Radiology; Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sandpoint Way, Room: L-MA.6.226; Seattle Washington 98105 USA
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81
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Eidahl JO, Giesige CR, Domire JS, Wallace LM, Fowler AM, Guckes SM, Garwick-Coppens SE, Labhart P, Harper SQ. Mouse Dux is myotoxic and shares partial functional homology with its human paralog DUX4. Hum Mol Genet 2018; 25:4577-4589. [PMID: 28173143 PMCID: PMC5409219 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddw287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2015] [Revised: 08/19/2016] [Accepted: 08/25/2016] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
D4Z4 repeats are present in at least 11 different mammalian species, including humans and mice. Each repeat contains an open reading frame encoding a double homeodomain (DUX) family transcription factor. Aberrant expression of the D4Z4 ORF called DUX4 is associated with the pathogenesis of Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). DUX4 is toxic to numerous cell types of different species, and over-expression caused dysmorphism and developmental arrest in frogs and zebrafish, embryonic lethality in transgenic mice, and lesions in mouse muscle. Because DUX4 is a primate-specific gene, questions have been raised about the biological relevance of over-expressing it in non-primate models, as DUX4 toxicity could be related to non-specific cellular stress induced by over-expressing a DUX family transcription factor in organisms that did not co-evolve its regulated transcriptional networks. We assessed toxic phenotypes of DUX family genes, including DUX4, DUX1, DUX5, DUXA, DUX4-s, Dux-bl and mouse Dux. We found that DUX proteins were not universally toxic, and only the mouse Dux gene caused similar toxic phenotypes as human DUX4. Using RNA-seq, we found that 80% of genes upregulated by Dux were similarly increased in DUX4-expressing cells. Moreover, 43% of Dux-responsive genes contained ChIP-seq binding sites for both Dux and DUX4, and both proteins had similar consensus binding site sequences. These results suggested DUX4 and Dux may regulate some common pathways, and despite diverging from a common progenitor under different selective pressures for millions of years, the two genes maintain partial functional homology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jocelyn O Eidahl
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Carlee R Giesige
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.,Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Jacqueline S Domire
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Lindsay M Wallace
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Allison M Fowler
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Susan M Guckes
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Sara E Garwick-Coppens
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
| | | | - Scott Q Harper
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.,Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA,Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
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82
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Dmitriev P, Kiseleva E, Kharchenko O, Ivashkin E, Pichugin A, Dessen P, Robert T, Coppée F, Belayew A, Carnac G, Laoudj-Chenivesse D, Lipinski M, Vasiliev A, Vassetzky YS. Dux4 controls migration of mesenchymal stem cells through the Cxcr4-Sdf1 axis. Oncotarget 2018; 7:65090-65108. [PMID: 27556182 PMCID: PMC5323140 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.11368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2016] [Accepted: 08/10/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We performed transcriptome profiling of human immortalized myoblasts (MB) transiently expressing double homeobox transcription factor 4 (DUX4) and double homeobox transcription factor 4 centromeric (DUX4c) and identified 114 and 70 genes differentially expressed in DUX4- and DUX4c-transfected myoblasts, respectively. A significant number of differentially expressed genes were involved in inflammation, cellular migration and chemotaxis suggesting a role for DUX4 and DUX4c in these processes. DUX4 but not DUX4c overexpression resulted in upregulation of the CXCR4 (C-X-C motif Receptor 4) and CXCL12 (C-X-C motif ligand 12 also known as SDF1) expression in human immortalized myoblasts. In a Transwell cell migration assay, human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) were migrating more efficiently towards human immortalized myoblasts overexpressing DUX4 as compared to controls; the migration efficiency of DUX4-transfected BMSCs was also increased. DUX4c overexpression in myoblasts or in BMSCs had no impact on the rate of BMSC migration. Antibodies against SDF1 and CXCR4 blocked the positive effect of DUX4 overexpression on BMSC migration. We propose that DUX4 controls the cellular migration of mesenchymal stem cells through the CXCR4 receptor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petr Dmitriev
- UMR 8126, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France.,LIA1066 Laboratoire Franco-Russe de Recherches en Oncologie, Villejuif, France
| | - Ekaterina Kiseleva
- LIA1066 Laboratoire Franco-Russe de Recherches en Oncologie, Villejuif, France.,N.K. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, RAS, Moscow, Russia
| | - Olga Kharchenko
- LIA1066 Laboratoire Franco-Russe de Recherches en Oncologie, Villejuif, France.,N.K. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, RAS, Moscow, Russia
| | - Evgeny Ivashkin
- LIA1066 Laboratoire Franco-Russe de Recherches en Oncologie, Villejuif, France.,N.K. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, RAS, Moscow, Russia
| | - Andrei Pichugin
- LIA1066 Laboratoire Franco-Russe de Recherches en Oncologie, Villejuif, France.,N.K. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, RAS, Moscow, Russia.,Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Philippe Dessen
- Functional Genomics Unit, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France
| | - Thomas Robert
- Functional Genomics Unit, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France
| | - Frédérique Coppée
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium
| | - Alexandra Belayew
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium
| | - Gilles Carnac
- PhyMedExp, University of Montpellier, INSERM U1046, CNRS UMR 9214, Montpellier, France
| | | | - Marc Lipinski
- UMR 8126, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France.,LIA1066 Laboratoire Franco-Russe de Recherches en Oncologie, Villejuif, France
| | - Andrei Vasiliev
- N.K. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, RAS, Moscow, Russia
| | - Yegor S Vassetzky
- UMR 8126, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France.,LIA1066 Laboratoire Franco-Russe de Recherches en Oncologie, Villejuif, France.,N.K. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, RAS, Moscow, Russia
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83
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Jones T, Jones PL. A cre-inducible DUX4 transgenic mouse model for investigating facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0192657. [PMID: 29415061 PMCID: PMC5802938 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2017] [Accepted: 01/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Double homeobox 4 (DUX4) gene is an important regulator of early human development and its aberrant expression is causal for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). The DUX4-full length (DUX4-fl) mRNA splice isoform encodes a transcriptional activator; however, DUX4 and its unique DNA binding preferences are specific to old-world primates. Regardless, the somatic cytotoxicity caused by DUX4 expression is conserved when expressed in cells and animals ranging from fly to mouse. Thus, viable animal models based on DUX4-fl expression have been difficult to generate due in large part to overt developmental toxicity of low DUX4-fl expression from leaky transgenes. We have overcome this obstacle and here we report the generation and initial characterization of a line of conditional floxed DUX4-fl transgenic mice, FLExDUX4, that is viable and fertile. In the absence of cre, these mice express a very low level of DUX4-fl mRNA from the transgene, resulting in mild phenotypes. However, when crossed with appropriate cre-driver lines of mice, the double transgenic offspring readily express DUX4-fl mRNA, protein, and target genes with the spatiotemporal pattern of nuclear cre expression dictated by the chosen system. When cre is expressed from the ACTA1 skeletal muscle-specific promoter, the double transgenic animals exhibit a developmental myopathy. When crossed with tamoxifen-inducible cre lines, DUX4-mediated pathology can be induced in adult animals. Thus, the appearance and progression of pathology can be controlled to provide readily screenable phenotypes useful for assessing therapeutic approaches targeting DUX4-fl mRNA and protein. Overall, the FLExDUX4 line of mice is quite versatile and will allow new investigations into mechanisms of DUX4-mediated pathophysiology as well as much-needed pre-clinical testing of DUX4-targeted FSHD interventions in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takako Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, Center for Molecular Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Reno, Nevada, United States of America
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Peter L. Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, Center for Molecular Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Reno, Nevada, United States of America
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
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84
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Vanderplanck C, Tassin A, Ansseau E, Charron S, Wauters A, Lancelot C, Vancutsem K, Laoudj-Chenivesse D, Belayew A, Coppée F. Overexpression of the double homeodomain protein DUX4c interferes with myofibrillogenesis and induces clustering of myonuclei. Skelet Muscle 2018; 8:2. [PMID: 29329560 PMCID: PMC5767009 DOI: 10.1186/s13395-017-0148-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2017] [Accepted: 12/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is associated with DNA hypomethylation at the 4q35 D4Z4 repeat array. Both the causal gene DUX4 and its homolog DUX4c are induced. DUX4c is immunodetected in every myonucleus of proliferative cells, while DUX4 is present in only 1/1000 of myonuclei where it initiates a gene deregulation cascade. FSHD primary myoblasts differentiate into either atrophic or disorganized myotubes. DUX4 expression induces atrophic myotubes and associated FSHD markers. Although DUX4 silencing normalizes the FSHD atrophic myotube phenotype, this is not the case for the disorganized phenotype. DUX4c overexpression increases the proliferation rate of human TE671 rhabdomyosarcoma cells and inhibits their differentiation, suggesting a normal role during muscle differentiation. METHODS By gain- and loss-of-function experiments in primary human muscle cells, we studied the DUX4c impact on proliferation, differentiation, myotube morphology, and FSHD markers. RESULTS In primary myoblasts, DUX4c overexpression increased the staining intensity of KI67 (a proliferation marker) in adjacent cells and delayed differentiation. In differentiating cells, DUX4c overexpression led to the expression of some FSHD markers including β-catenin and to the formation of disorganized myotubes presenting large clusters of nuclei and cytoskeletal defects. These were more severe when DUX4c was expressed before the cytoskeleton reorganized and myofibrils assembled. In addition, endogenous DUX4c was detected at a higher level in FSHD myotubes presenting abnormal clusters of nuclei and cytoskeletal disorganization. We found that the disorganized FSHD myotube phenotype could be rescued by silencing of DUX4c, not DUX4. CONCLUSION Excess DUX4c could disturb cytoskeletal organization and nuclear distribution in FSHD myotubes. We suggest that DUX4c up-regulation could contribute to DUX4 toxicity in the muscle fibers by favoring the clustering of myonuclei and therefore facilitating DUX4 diffusion among them. Defining DUX4c functions in the healthy skeletal muscle should help to design new targeted FSHD therapy by DUX4 or DUX4c inhibition without suppressing DUX4c normal function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Céline Vanderplanck
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Alexandra Tassin
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Eugénie Ansseau
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Sébastien Charron
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Armelle Wauters
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Céline Lancelot
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Kelly Vancutsem
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | | | - Alexandra Belayew
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Frédérique Coppée
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, 6, Avenue du Champs de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
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85
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86
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Pre-clinical Safety and Off-Target Studies to Support Translation of AAV-Mediated RNAi Therapy for FSHD. MOLECULAR THERAPY-METHODS & CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT 2017; 8:121-130. [PMID: 29387734 PMCID: PMC5787672 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2017.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2017] [Accepted: 12/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
RNAi emerged as a prospective molecular therapy nearly 15 years ago. Since then, two major RNAi platforms have been under development: oligonucleotides and gene therapy. Oligonucleotide-based approaches have seen more advancement, with some promising therapies that may soon reach market. In contrast, vector-based approaches for RNAi therapy have remained largely in the pre-clinical realm, with limited clinical safety and efficacy data to date. We are developing a gene therapy approach to treat the autosomal-dominant disorder facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Our strategy involves silencing the myotoxic gene DUX4 using adeno-associated viral vectors to deliver targeted microRNA expression cassettes (miDUX4s). We previously demonstrated proof of concept for this approach in mice, and we are now taking additional steps here to assess safety issues related to miDUX4 overexpression and sequence-specific off-target silencing. In this study, we describe improvements in vector design and expansion of our miDUX4 sequence repertoire and report differential toxicity elicited by two miDUX4 sequences, of which one was toxic and the other was not. This study provides important data to help advance our goal of translating RNAi gene therapy for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.
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87
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Lemmers RJ, van der Vliet PJ, Balog J, Goeman JJ, Arindrarto W, Krom YD, Straasheijm KR, Debipersad RD, Özel G, Sowden J, Snider L, Mul K, Sacconi S, van Engelen B, Tapscott SJ, Tawil R, van der Maarel SM. Deep characterization of a common D4Z4 variant identifies biallelic DUX4 expression as a modifier for disease penetrance in FSHD2. Eur J Hum Genet 2017; 26:94-106. [PMID: 29162933 DOI: 10.1038/s41431-017-0015-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2017] [Revised: 09/07/2017] [Accepted: 09/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is caused by incomplete repression of the transcription factor DUX4 in skeletal muscle as a consequence of D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat contraction in chromosome 4q35 (FSHD1) or variants in genes encoding D4Z4 chromatin repressors (FSHD2). A clinical hallmark of FSHD is variability in onset and progression suggesting the presence of disease modifiers. A well-known cis modifier is the polymorphic DUX4 polyadenylation signal (PAS) that defines FSHD permissive alleles: D4Z4 chromatin relaxation on non-permissive alleles which lack the DUX4-PAS cannot cause disease in the absence of stable DUX4 mRNA. We have explored the nature and relevance of a common variant of the major FSHD haplotype 4A161, which is defined by 1.6 kb size difference of the most distal D4Z4 repeat unit. While the short variant (4A161S) has been extensively studied, we demonstrate that the long variant (4A161L) is relatively common in the European population, is capable of expressing DUX4, but that DUX4 mRNA processing differs from 4A161S. While we do not find evidence for a difference in disease severity between FSHD carriers of an 4A161S or 4A161L allele, our study does uncover biallelic DUX4 expression in FSHD2 patients. Compared to control individuals, we observed an increased frequency of FSHD2 patients homozygous for disease permissive alleles, and who are thus capable of biallelic DUX4 expression, while SMCHD1 variant carriers with only one permissive allele were significantly more often asymptomatic. This suggests that biallelic DUX4 expression lowers the threshold for disease presentation and is a modifier for disease severity in FSHD2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Jlf Lemmers
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
| | | | - Judit Balog
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Jelle J Goeman
- Medical Statistics and Bioinformatics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Wibowo Arindrarto
- Department of Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Yvonne D Krom
- Department of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | | | - Rashmie D Debipersad
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Gizem Özel
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Janet Sowden
- Neuromuscular Disease Unit, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Lauren Snider
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Karlien Mul
- Neuromuscular Centre Nijmegen, Department of Neurology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Sabrina Sacconi
- Centre de référence des Maladies neuromusculaires and CNRS UMR6543, Nice University Hospital, Nice, France
| | - Baziel van Engelen
- Neuromuscular Centre Nijmegen, Department of Neurology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Stephen J Tapscott
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Rabi Tawil
- Neuromuscular Disease Unit, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
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88
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Bosnakovski D, Toso EA, Hartweck LM, Magli A, Lee HA, Thompson ER, Dandapat A, Perlingeiro RCR, Kyba M. The DUX4 homeodomains mediate inhibition of myogenesis and are functionally exchangeable with the Pax7 homeodomain. J Cell Sci 2017; 130:3685-3697. [PMID: 28935672 PMCID: PMC5702055 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.205427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by inappropriate expression of the double homeodomain protein DUX4. DUX4 has bimodal effects, inhibiting myogenic differentiation and blocking MyoD at low levels of expression, and killing myoblasts at high levels. Pax3 and Pax7, which contain related homeodomains, antagonize the cell death phenotype of DUX4 in C2C12 cells, suggesting some type of competitive interaction. Here, we show that the effects of DUX4 on differentiation and MyoD expression require the homeodomains but do not require the C-terminal activation domain of DUX4. We tested the set of equally related homeodomain proteins (Pax6, Pitx2c, OTX1, Rax, Hesx1, MIXL1 and Tbx1) and found that only Pax3 and Pax7 display phenotypic competition. Domain analysis on Pax3 revealed that the Pax3 homeodomain is necessary for phenotypic competition, but is not sufficient, as competition also requires the paired and transcriptional activation domains of Pax3. Remarkably, substitution mutants in which DUX4 homeodomains are replaced by Pax7 homeodomains retain the ability to inhibit differentiation and to induce cytotoxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darko Bosnakovski
- Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Goce Delcev-Stip, 2000 Stip, R. Macedonia
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55014, USA
| | - Erik A Toso
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55014, USA
| | - Lynn M Hartweck
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55014, USA
| | - Alessandro Magli
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55104, USA
| | - Heather A Lee
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55014, USA
| | - Eliza R Thompson
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55014, USA
| | - Abhijit Dandapat
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55014, USA
| | - Rita C R Perlingeiro
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55104, USA
| | - Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55014, USA
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89
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Bosnakovski D, Chan SSK, Recht OO, Hartweck LM, Gustafson CJ, Athman LL, Lowe DA, Kyba M. Muscle pathology from stochastic low level DUX4 expression in an FSHD mouse model. Nat Commun 2017; 8:550. [PMID: 28916757 PMCID: PMC5601940 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00730-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2017] [Accepted: 07/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a slowly progressive but devastating myopathy caused by loss of repression of the transcription factor DUX4; however, DUX4 expression is very low, and protein has not been detected directly in patient biopsies. Efforts to model DUX4 myopathy in mice have foundered either in being too severe, or in lacking muscle phenotypes. Here we show that the endogenous facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy-specific DUX4 polyadenylation signal is surprisingly inefficient, and use this finding to develop an facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy mouse model with muscle-specific doxycycline-regulated DUX4 expression. Very low expression levels, resulting in infrequent DUX4 + myonuclei, evoke a slow progressive degenerative myopathy. The degenerative process involves inflammation and a remarkable expansion in the fibroadipogenic progenitor compartment, leading to fibrosis. These animals also show high frequency hearing deficits and impaired skeletal muscle regeneration after injury. This mouse model will facilitate in vivo testing of therapeutics, and suggests the involvement of fibroadipogenic progenitors in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a severe myopathy that is caused by abnormal activation of DUX4, and for which a suitable mouse model does not exist. Here, the authors generate a novel mouse model with titratable expression of DUX4, and show that it recapitulates several features of the human pathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darko Bosnakovski
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Goce Delcev - Stip, Stip, 2000, Macedonia
| | - Sunny S K Chan
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Olivia O Recht
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Lynn M Hartweck
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Collin J Gustafson
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Laura L Athman
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Dawn A Lowe
- Division of Rehabilitation Science and Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA. .,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.
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90
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DeSimone AM, Pakula A, Lek A, Emerson CP. Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy. Compr Physiol 2017; 7:1229-1279. [PMID: 28915324 DOI: 10.1002/cphy.c160039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy is a common form of muscular dystrophy that presents clinically with progressive weakness of the facial, scapular, and humeral muscles, with later involvement of the trunk and lower extremities. While typically inherited as autosomal dominant, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) has a complex genetic and epigenetic etiology that has only recently been well described. The most prevalent form of the disease, FSHD1, is associated with the contraction of the D4Z4 microsatellite repeat array located on a permissive 4qA chromosome. D4Z4 contraction allows epigenetic derepression of the array, and possibly the surrounding 4q35 region, allowing misexpression of the toxic DUX4 transcription factor encoded within the terminal D4Z4 repeat in skeletal muscles. The less common form of the disease, FSHD2, results from haploinsufficiency of the SMCHD1 gene in individuals carrying a permissive 4qA allele, also leading to the derepression of DUX4, further supporting a central role for DUX4. How DUX4 misexpression contributes to FSHD muscle pathology is a major focus of current investigation. Misexpression of other genes at the 4q35 locus, including FRG1 and FAT1, and unlinked genes, such as SMCHD1, has also been implicated as disease modifiers, leading to several competing disease models. In this review, we describe recent advances in understanding the pathophysiology of FSHD, including the application of MRI as a research and diagnostic tool, the genetic and epigenetic disruptions associated with the disease, and the molecular basis of FSHD. We discuss how these advances are leading to the emergence of new approaches to enable development of FSHD therapeutics. © 2017 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 7:1229-1279, 2017.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alec M DeSimone
- Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Program, Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Anna Pakula
- Division of Genetics and Genomics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Department of Pediatrics and Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Angela Lek
- Division of Genetics and Genomics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Department of Pediatrics and Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Charles P Emerson
- Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Program, Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
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91
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Nguyen K, Puppo F, Roche S, Gaillard MC, Chaix C, Lagarde A, Pierret M, Vovan C, Olschwang S, Salort-Campana E, Attarian S, Bartoli M, Bernard R, Magdinier F, Levy N. Molecular combing reveals complex 4q35 rearrangements in Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy. Hum Mutat 2017; 38:1432-1441. [DOI: 10.1002/humu.23304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2016] [Revised: 07/19/2017] [Accepted: 07/22/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Karine Nguyen
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
- APHM; Département de Génétique Médicale; Hôpital d'enfants de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
| | - Francesca Puppo
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
| | - Stéphane Roche
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
| | | | - Charlène Chaix
- APHM; Département de Génétique Médicale; Hôpital d'enfants de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
| | - Arnaud Lagarde
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
| | | | - Catherine Vovan
- APHM; Département de Génétique Médicale; Hôpital d'enfants de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
| | - Sylviane Olschwang
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
- APHM; Département de Génétique Médicale; Hôpital d'enfants de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
- Groupe Ramsay Générale de Santé; Hôpital Clairval; Marseille France
| | - Emmanuelle Salort-Campana
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
- APHM; Centre de Référence des Maladies Neuromusculaires et de la SLA; Hôpital de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
| | - Shahram Attarian
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
- APHM; Centre de Référence des Maladies Neuromusculaires et de la SLA; Hôpital de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
| | - Marc Bartoli
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
| | - Rafaëlle Bernard
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
- APHM; Département de Génétique Médicale; Hôpital d'enfants de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
| | | | - Nicolas Levy
- Aix Marseille Université; INSERM GMGF UMR S_910; Marseille 13385 France
- APHM; Département de Génétique Médicale; Hôpital d'enfants de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
- APHM; Centre de Ressources Biologiques; Hôpital de la Timone; Marseille 13385 France
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92
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Bosnakovski D, Gearhart MD, Toso EA, Recht OO, Cucak A, Jain AK, Barton MC, Kyba M. p53-independent DUX4 pathology in cell and animal models of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Dis Model Mech 2017; 10:1211-1216. [PMID: 28754837 PMCID: PMC5665455 DOI: 10.1242/dmm.030064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2017] [Accepted: 07/26/2017] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a genetically dominant myopathy caused by mutations that disrupt repression of the normally silent DUX4 gene, which encodes a transcription factor that has been shown to interfere with myogenesis when misexpressed at very low levels in myoblasts and to cause cell death when overexpressed at high levels. A previous report using adeno-associated virus to deliver high levels of DUX4 to mouse skeletal muscle demonstrated severe pathology that was suppressed on a p53-knockout background, implying that DUX4 acted through the p53 pathway. Here, we investigate the p53 dependence of DUX4 using various in vitro and in vivo models. We find that inhibiting p53 has no effect on the cytoxicity of DUX4 on C2C12 myoblasts, and that expression of DUX4 does not lead to activation of the p53 pathway. DUX4 does lead to expression of the classic p53 target gene Cdkn1a (p21) but in a p53-independent manner. Meta-analysis of 5 publicly available data sets of DUX4 transcriptional profiles in both human and mouse cells shows no evidence of p53 activation, and further reveals that Cdkn1a is a mouse-specific target of DUX4. When the inducible DUX4 mouse model is crossed onto the p53-null background, we find no suppression of the male-specific lethality or skin phenotypes that are characteristic of the DUX4 transgene, and find that primary myoblasts from this mouse are still killed by DUX4 expression. These data challenge the notion that the p53 pathway is central to the pathogenicity of DUX4. Summary: DUX4 is thought to mediate cytopathology through p53. Here, DUX4 is shown to kill primary myoblasts and promote pathological phenotypes in the iDUX4[2.7] mouse model on the p53-null background, calling into question this notion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darko Bosnakovski
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.,University Goce Delcev - Stip, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Krste Misirkov b.b., 2000 Stip, Republic of Macedonia
| | - Micah D Gearhart
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Erik A Toso
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Olivia O Recht
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Anja Cucak
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Abhinav K Jain
- Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Michelle C Barton
- Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA .,Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 312 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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93
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Mah JK, Chen YW. A Pediatric Review of Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy. JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY 2017; 16:222-231. [PMID: 30923442 DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1604197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy is one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophies worldwide. It is a complex and heterogeneous disease secondary to insufficient epigenetic repression of D4Z4 repeats and aberrant expression of DUX4 in skeletal muscles. Type 1 facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by contraction of D4Z4 repeats on 4q35, whereas type 2 FSHD is associated with mutations of the SMCHD1 or DNMT3B gene in the presence of a disease-permissive 4qA haplotype. Classical FSHD is a slowly progressive disorder with gradual-onset of muscle atrophy and a descending pattern of muscle weakness. In contrast, early-onset FSHD is associated with a large deletion of D4Z4 repeats and a more severe disease phenotype, including early loss of independent ambulation as well as extramuscular manifestations, such as retinal vasculopathy, hearing loss, and central nervous system (CNS) involvement. However, the correlation between D4Z4 repeats and disease severity remains imprecise. The current standard of care guidelines offers comprehensive assessment and symptomatic management of secondary complications. Several clinical trials are currently underway for FSHD. New and emerging treatments focus on correcting the transcriptional misregulation of D4Z4 and reversing the cytotoxic effects of DUX4. Other potential therapeutic targets include reduction of inflammation, improving muscle mass, and activating compensatory molecular pathways. The utility of disease-modifying treatments will depend on selection of sensitive clinical endpoints as well as validation of muscle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other biomarkers to detect meaningful changes in disease progression. Correction of the epigenetic defects using new gene editing as well as other DUX4 silencing technologies offers potential treatment options for many individuals with FSHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean K Mah
- Department of Pediatrics and Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Yi-Wen Chen
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Health System, Washington, District of Columbia, United States.,Department of Integrative Systems Biology, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
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94
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Zernov NV, Marakhonov AV, Vyakhireva JV, Guskova AA, Dadali EL, Skoblov MY. Clinical and genetic characteristics and diagnostic features of Landouzy–Dejerine facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. RUSS J GENET+ 2017. [DOI: 10.1134/s102279541706014x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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95
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Denny AP, Heather AK. Are Antioxidants a Potential Therapy for FSHD? A Review of the Literature. OXIDATIVE MEDICINE AND CELLULAR LONGEVITY 2017; 2017:7020295. [PMID: 28690764 PMCID: PMC5485364 DOI: 10.1155/2017/7020295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2017] [Revised: 04/27/2017] [Accepted: 05/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an inherited myopathy affecting approximately 1 in 7500 individuals worldwide. It is a progressive disease characterised by skeletal muscle weakness and wasting. A genetic mutation on the 4q35 chromosome results in the expression of the double homeobox 4 gene (DUX4) which drives oxidative stress, inflammation, toxicity, and atrophy within the skeletal muscle. FSHD is characterised by oxidative stress, and there is currently no cure and a lack of therapies for the disease. Antioxidants have been researched for many years, with investigators aiming to use antioxidants therapeutically for oxidative stress-associated diseases. This has included both natural and synthetic antioxidants. The use of antioxidants in preclinical or clinical models has been largely successful with a plethora of research reporting positive results. However, when translated to clinical trials, the use of antioxidants as a therapeutic intervention for a variety of disease has been largely unsuccessful. Moreover, specifically focusing on FSHD, limited research has been conducted on the use of antioxidants as a therapy in either preclinical or clinical models. This review summarises the current state of antioxidant use in the treatment of FSHD and discusses their potential avenue for therapeutic use for FSHD patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Philip Denny
- Department of Physiology, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Alison Kay Heather
- Department of Physiology, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
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96
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Mason AG, Slieker RC, Balog J, Lemmers RJLF, Wong CJ, Yao Z, Lim JW, Filippova GN, Ne E, Tawil R, Heijmans BT, Tapscott SJ, van der Maarel SM. SMCHD1 regulates a limited set of gene clusters on autosomal chromosomes. Skelet Muscle 2017; 7:12. [PMID: 28587678 PMCID: PMC5461771 DOI: 10.1186/s13395-017-0129-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2017] [Accepted: 05/24/2017] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is in most cases caused by a contraction of the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat on chromosome 4 (FSHD1) or by mutations in the SMCHD1 or DNMT3B gene (FSHD2). Both situations result in the incomplete epigenetic repression of the D4Z4-encoded retrogene DUX4 in somatic cells, leading to the aberrant expression of DUX4 in the skeletal muscle. In mice, Smchd1 regulates chromatin repression at different loci, having a role in CpG methylation establishment and/or maintenance. METHODS To investigate the global effects of harboring heterozygous SMCHD1 mutations on DNA methylation in humans, we combined 450k methylation analysis on mononuclear monocytes from female heterozygous SMCHD1 mutation carriers and unaffected controls with reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) on FSHD2 and control myoblast cell lines. Candidate loci were then evaluated for SMCHD1 binding using ChIP-qPCR and expression was evaluated using RT-qPCR. RESULTS We identified a limited number of clustered autosomal loci with CpG hypomethylation in SMCHD1 mutation carriers: the protocadherin (PCDH) cluster on chromosome 5, the transfer RNA (tRNA) and 5S rRNA clusters on chromosome 1, the HOXB and HOXD clusters on chromosomes 17 and 2, respectively, and the D4Z4 repeats on chromosomes 4 and 10. Furthermore, minor increases in RNA expression were seen in FSHD2 myoblasts for some of the PCDHβ cluster isoforms, tRNA isoforms, and a HOXB isoform in comparison to controls, in addition to the previously reported effects on DUX4 expression. SMCHD1 was bound at DNAseI hypersensitivity sites known to regulate the PCDHβ cluster and at the chromosome 1 tRNA cluster, with decreased binding in SMCHD1 mutation carriers at the PCDHβ cluster sites. CONCLUSIONS Our study is the first to investigate the global methylation effects in humans resulting from heterozygous mutations in SMCHD1. Our results suggest that SMCHD1 acts as a repressor on a limited set of autosomal gene clusters, as an observed reduction in methylation associates with a loss of SMCHD1 binding and increased expression for some of the loci.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda G Mason
- Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Roderick C Slieker
- Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Judit Balog
- Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | | | - Chao-Jen Wong
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Zizhen Yao
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Jong-Won Lim
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Galina N Filippova
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Enrico Ne
- Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Rabi Tawil
- Neuromuscular Disease Unit, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Bas T Heijmans
- Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Aging, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Stephen J Tapscott
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
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97
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Hansda AK, Tiwari A, Dixit M. Current status and future prospect of FSHD region gene 1. J Biosci 2017; 42:345-353. [PMID: 28569257 DOI: 10.1007/s12038-017-9681-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
FSHD region gene 1 (FRG1), as the name suggests, is the primary candidate gene for fascioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy disease. It seemingly affects muscle physiology in normal individuals but in FSHD, where it is found to be highly upregulated, might be involved in disruption of face, scapula and humeral skeletal muscle. Literature on FRG1, reviewed from 1996 to 2016, reveals that it is primarily associated with muscle development and maintenance. Approximately 75% of FSHD patients also show vascular abnormalities indicating that FRG1 might have some part to play in these abnormalities. Research involving vasculature in X. laevis larvae shows that FRG1 positively affects normal vasculature. Few of the well-established angiogenic regulators seem to get affected by abnormal expression level of FRG1. Its primary localization in sub nuclear structures like Cajal bodies and nuclear speckles indicates regulation of the above-mentioned factors by transcriptional and post-transcriptional machineries, but in-depth studies need to be done to conclude a clear statement. In this review, we have attempted to present all the work done on FRG1, all the lacunas which need to be unraveled, and hypothesized a model for our readers to get an insight into its molecular mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arman Kunwar Hansda
- School of Biological Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Khurda 752 050 Odisha, India
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98
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De Iaco A, Planet E, Coluccio A, Verp S, Duc J, Trono D. DUX-family transcription factors regulate zygotic genome activation in placental mammals. Nat Genet 2017; 49:941-945. [PMID: 28459456 PMCID: PMC5446900 DOI: 10.1038/ng.3858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 371] [Impact Index Per Article: 53.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2017] [Accepted: 04/07/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
In animal embryos, transcription is mostly silent for several cell divisions, until the release of the first major wave of embryonic transcripts through so-called zygotic genome activation (ZGA). Maternally provided ZGA-triggering factors have been identified in Drosophila melanogaster and Danio rerio, but their mammalian homologs are still undefined. Here, we provide evidence that the DUX family of transcription factors is essential to this process in mice and potentially in humans. First, human DUX4 and mouse Dux are both expressed before ZGA in their respective species. Second, both orthologous proteins bind the promoters of ZGA-associated genes and activate their transcription. Third, Dux knockout in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) prevents the cells from cycling through a 2-cell-like state. Finally, zygotic depletion of Dux leads to impaired early embryonic development and defective ZGA. We conclude that DUX-family proteins are key inducers of zygotic genome activation in placental mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto De Iaco
- School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Evarist Planet
- School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Coluccio
- School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sonia Verp
- School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Julien Duc
- School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Didier Trono
- School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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99
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Tasca G, Monforte M, Corbi M, Granata G, Lucchetti D, Sgambato A, Ricci E. Muscle Microdialysis to Investigate Inflammatory Biomarkers in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy. Mol Neurobiol 2017; 55:2959-2966. [PMID: 28456937 DOI: 10.1007/s12035-017-0563-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2017] [Accepted: 04/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Recent progresses in the understanding of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) genetics opened the way to the development of targeted therapies. However, knowledge about pathophysiology of muscle damage is still limited and there is increasing need to identify biomarkers of disease activity in the perspective of clinical trial readiness.We analyzed inflammatory mediators in the interstitial fluid of muscles with different MRI signal in FSHD patients, comparing muscles displaying early lesions on short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) sequences with normal ones. Patients with one T1-weighted normal and STIR hyperintense (STIR+) and contralateral T1-weighted and STIR normal (STIR-) lower limb muscle were asked to enter the study. Twelve consecutive patients, five controls, and one non-penetrant gene carrier underwent prolonged muscle microdialysis with high cut-off membranes. Microdialysates were analyzed using xMAP technology with a wide panel for cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors. A small number of inflammatory mediators were dysregulated in STIR+ versus STIR- and control muscles: CXCL13, upregulated in STIR+ muscles compared with controls (p < 0.01); CXCL5, downregulated in STIR+ compared with STIR- muscles (p < 0.05); and G-CSF, downregulated in STIR+ muscles compared with controls (p < 0.05). CXCL13 was also upregulated in the STIR+ muscles compared with the contralateral STIR- muscles of the same patient (p < 0.01).These results support the evidence of a selective inflammatory process taking place in STIR+ FSHD muscles. The application of microdialysis could provide insights on novel mechanisms involved in muscle damage in FSHD and in other myopathies. Further studies are needed to validate these investigated molecules as tissue and circulating biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giorgio Tasca
- Istituto di Neurologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario "A. Gemelli", Largo A. Gemelli, 8, 00168, Rome, Italy.
| | - Mauro Monforte
- Istituto di Neurologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario "A. Gemelli", Largo A. Gemelli, 8, 00168, Rome, Italy
| | - Maddalena Corbi
- Istituto di Patologia Generale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Granata
- Istituto di Neurologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario "A. Gemelli", Largo A. Gemelli, 8, 00168, Rome, Italy
| | - Donatella Lucchetti
- Istituto di Patologia Generale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandro Sgambato
- Istituto di Patologia Generale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
| | - Enzo Ricci
- Istituto di Neurologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario "A. Gemelli", Largo A. Gemelli, 8, 00168, Rome, Italy
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100
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Ansseau E, Vanderplanck C, Wauters A, Harper SQ, Coppée F, Belayew A. Antisense Oligonucleotides Used to Target the DUX4 mRNA as Therapeutic Approaches in FaciosScapuloHumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD). Genes (Basel) 2017; 8:genes8030093. [PMID: 28273791 PMCID: PMC5368697 DOI: 10.3390/genes8030093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2016] [Revised: 02/16/2017] [Accepted: 02/22/2017] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
FacioScapuloHumeral muscular Dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most prevalent hereditary myopathies and is generally characterized by progressive muscle atrophy affecting the face, scapular fixators; upper arms and distal lower legs. The FSHD locus maps to a macrosatellite D4Z4 repeat array on chromosome 4q35. Each D4Z4 unit contains a DUX4 gene; the most distal of which is flanked by a polyadenylation site on FSHD-permissive alleles, which allows for production of stable DUX4 mRNAs. In addition, an open chromatin structure is required for DUX4 gene transcription. FSHD thus results from a gain of function of the toxic DUX4 protein that normally is only expressed in germ line and stem cells. Therapeutic strategies are emerging that aim to decrease DUX4 expression or toxicity in FSHD muscle cells. We review here the heterogeneity of DUX4 mRNAs observed in muscle and stem cells; and the use of antisense oligonucleotides (AOs) targeting the DUX4 mRNA to interfere either with transcript cleavage/polyadenylation or intron splicing. We show in primary cultures that DUX4-targeted AOs suppress the atrophic FSHD myotube phenotype; but do not improve the disorganized FSHD myotube phenotype which could be caused by DUX4c over-expression. Thus; DUX4c might constitute another therapeutic target in FSHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugénie Ansseau
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, Avenue du Champ de Mars 6, 7000-Mons, Belgium.
| | - Céline Vanderplanck
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, Avenue du Champ de Mars 6, 7000-Mons, Belgium.
| | - Armelle Wauters
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, Avenue du Champ de Mars 6, 7000-Mons, Belgium.
| | - Scott Q Harper
- Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH 43205, USA.
- Center for Gene Therapy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH 43205, USA.
| | - Frédérique Coppée
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, Avenue du Champ de Mars 6, 7000-Mons, Belgium.
| | - Alexandra Belayew
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, Avenue du Champ de Mars 6, 7000-Mons, Belgium.
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