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Jiang M, Wang Z, Lu T, Li X, Yang K, Zhao L, Zhang D, Li J, Wang L. Integrative analysis of long noncoding RNAs dysregulation and synapse-associated ceRNA regulatory axes in autism. Transl Psychiatry 2023; 13:375. [PMID: 38057311 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-023-02662-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex disorder of neurodevelopment, the function of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) in ASD remains essentially unknown. In the present study, gene networks were used to explore the ASD disease mechanisms integrating multiple data types (for example, RNA expression, whole-exome sequencing signals, weighted gene co-expression network analysis, and protein-protein interaction) and datasets (five human postmortem datasets). A total of 388 lncRNAs and five co-expression modules were found to be altered in ASD. The downregulated co-expression M4 module was significantly correlated with ASD, enriched with autism susceptibility genes and synaptic signaling. Integrating lncRNAs from the M4 module and microRNA (miRNA) dysregulation data from the literature identified competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network. We identified the downregulated mRNAs that interact with miRNAs by the miRTarBase, miRDB, and TargetScan databases. Our analysis reveals that MIR600HG was downregulated in multiple brain tissue datasets and was closely associated with 9 autism-susceptible miRNAs in the ceRNA network. MIR600HG and target mRNAs (EPHA4, MOAP1, MAP3K9, STXBP1, PRKCE, and SCAMP5) were downregulated in the peripheral blood by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis (false discovery rate <0.05). Subsequently, we assessed the role of lncRNA dysregulation in altered mRNA levels. Experimental verification showed that some synapse-associated mRNAs were downregulated after the MIR600HG knockdown. BrainSpan project showed that the expression patterns of MIR600HG (primate-specific lncRNA) and synapse-associated mRNA were similar in different human brain regions and at different stages of development. A combination of support vector machine and random forest machine learning algorithms retrieved the marker gene for ASD in the ceRNA network, and the area under the curve of the diagnostic nomogram was 0.851. In conclusion, dysregulation of MIR600HG, a novel specific lncRNA associated with ASD, is responsible for the ASD-associated miRNA-mRNA axes, thereby potentially regulating synaptogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miaomiao Jiang
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China
| | - Ziqi Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Tianlan Lu
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China
| | - Xianjing Li
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China
| | - Kang Yang
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China
| | - Liyang Zhao
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China
| | - Dai Zhang
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation (IBRR), South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jun Li
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China.
| | - Lifang Wang
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China.
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Freibauer A, Wohlleben M, Boelman C. STXBP1-Related Disorders: Clinical Presentation, Molecular Function, Treatment, and Future Directions. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:2179. [PMID: 38137001 PMCID: PMC10742812 DOI: 10.3390/genes14122179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
In recent years, the affordability and availability of genetic testing have led to its increased use in clinical care. The increased frequency of testing has led to STXBP1 variants being identified as one of the more common variants associated with neurological disorders. In this review, we aim to summarize the common clinical phenotypes associated with STXBP1 pathogenic variants, provide an overview of their known natural history, and discuss current research into the genotype to phenotype correlation. We will also provide an overview of the suspected normal function of the STXBP1-encoded Munc18-1 protein, animal models, and experimental techniques that have been developed to study its function and use this information to try to explain the diverse phenotypes associated with STXBP1-related disorders. Finally, we will explore current therapies for STXBP1 disorders, including an overview of treatment goals for STXBP1-related disorders, a discussion of the current evidence for therapies, and future directions of personalized medications for STXBP1-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Freibauer
- Division of Neurology, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC V6H 3N1, Canada;
- Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Mikayla Wohlleben
- Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Cyrus Boelman
- Division of Neurology, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC V6H 3N1, Canada;
- Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
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Asif M, Martiniano HFMC, Lamurias A, Kausar S, Couto FM. DGH-GO: dissecting the genetic heterogeneity of complex diseases using gene ontology. BMC Bioinformatics 2023; 24:171. [PMID: 37101154 PMCID: PMC10134522 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-023-05290-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Complex diseases such as neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) exhibit multiple etiologies. The multi-etiological nature of complex-diseases emerges from distinct but functionally similar group of genes. Different diseases sharing genes of such groups show related clinical outcomes that further restrict our understanding of disease mechanisms, thus, limiting the applications of personalized medicine approaches to complex genetic disorders. RESULTS Here, we present an interactive and user-friendly application, called DGH-GO. DGH-GO allows biologists to dissect the genetic heterogeneity of complex diseases by stratifying the putative disease-causing genes into clusters that may contribute to distinct disease outcome development. It can also be used to study the shared etiology of complex-diseases. DGH-GO creates a semantic similarity matrix for the input genes by using Gene Ontology (GO). The resultant matrix can be visualized in 2D plots using different dimension reduction methods (T-SNE, Principal component analysis, umap and Principal coordinate analysis). In the next step, clusters of functionally similar genes are identified from genes functional similarities assessed through GO. This is achieved by employing four different clustering methods (K-means, Hierarchical, Fuzzy and PAM). The user may change the clustering parameters and explore their effect on stratification immediately. DGH-GO was applied to genes disrupted by rare genetic variants in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) patients. The analysis confirmed the multi-etiological nature of ASD by identifying four clusters of genes that were enriched for distinct biological mechanisms and clinical outcome. In the second case study, the analysis of genes shared by different NDDs showed that genes causing multiple disorders tend to aggregate in similar clusters, indicating a possible shared etiology. CONCLUSION DGH-GO is a user-friendly application that allows biologists to study the multi-etiological nature of complex diseases by dissecting their genetic heterogeneity. In summary, functional similarities, dimension reduction and clustering methods, coupled with interactive visualization and control over analysis allows biologists to explore and analyze their datasets without requiring expert knowledge on these methods. The source code of proposed application is available at https://github.com/Muh-Asif/DGH-GO.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Asif
- Biomedical Data Science Lab, Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan.
- LASIGE, Departamento de Informática, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
| | - Hugo F M C Martiniano
- Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Avenida Padre Cruz, 1649-016, Lisbon, Portugal
- BioISI - Instituto de Biosistemas e Ciências Integrativas, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Andre Lamurias
- Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University, Ålborg, Denmark
- NOVA LINCS, NOVA School of Science and Technology, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Samina Kausar
- DeepOmicsVision, Avenue de Luminy, 13009, Marseille, France
| | - Francisco M Couto
- LASIGE, Departamento de Informática, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
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Cali E, Rocca C, Salpietro V, Houlden H. Epileptic Phenotypes Associated With SNAREs and Related Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis Machinery. Front Neurol 2022; 12:806506. [PMID: 35095745 PMCID: PMC8792400 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2021.806506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) are an heterogeneous family of proteins that, together with their key regulators, are implicated in synaptic vesicle exocytosis and synaptic transmission. SNAREs represent the core component of this protein complex. Although the specific mechanisms of the SNARE machinery is still not completely uncovered, studies in recent years have provided a clearer understanding of the interactions regulating the essential fusion machinery for neurotransmitter release. Mutations in genes encoding SNARE proteins or SNARE complex associated proteins have been associated with a variable spectrum of neurological conditions that have been recently defined as “SNAREopathies.” These include neurodevelopmental disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), movement disorders, seizures and epileptiform abnormalities. The SNARE phenotypic spectrum associated with seizures ranges from simple febrile seizures and infantile spasms, to severe early-onset epileptic encephalopathies. Our study aims to review and delineate the epileptic phenotypes associated with dysregulation of synaptic vesicle exocytosis and transmission, focusing on the main proteins of the SNARE core complex (STX1B, VAMP2, SNAP25), tethering complex (STXBP1), and related downstream regulators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Cali
- MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Clarissa Rocca
- MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Vincenzo Salpietro
- MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Henry Houlden
- MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
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