Resting muscle pain as the first clinical symptom in children carrying the MTTK A8344G mutation

Modeling-based prediction tools for preimplantation genetic testing of mitochondrial DNA diseases: estimating symptomatic thresholds, risk, and chance of success

PURPOSE

Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) has become a reliable tool for preventing the germline transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants. However, procedures are not standardized across mtDNA variants. In this study, we aim to estimate symptomatic thresholds, risk, and chance of success for PGT for mtDNA pathogenic variant carriers.

METHODS

We performed a systematic analysis of heteroplasmy data including 455 individuals from 187 familial pedigrees with the common m.3243A>G, m.8344A>G, or m.8993T>G pathogenic variants. We applied binary logistic regression for estimating symptomatic thresholds of heteroplasmy, simplified Sewell-Wright formula and Kimura equations for predicting the risk of disease transmission, and binomial distribution for predicting minimum oocyte numbers.

RESULTS

We estimated the symptomatic thresholds of m.8993T>G and m.8344A>G as 29.86% and 16.15%, respectively. We could not determine a threshold for m.3243A>G. We established models for mothers harboring common and rare mtDNA pathogenic variants to predict the risk of disease transmission and the number of oocytes required to produce an embryo with sufficiently low variant load. In addition, we provide a table allowing the prediction of transmission risk and the minimum required oocytes for PGT patients with different variant levels.

CONCLUSION

We have established models that can determine the symptomatic thresholds of common mtDNA pathogenic variants. We also constructed universal models applicable to nearly all mtDNA pathogenic variants which can predict risk and minimum numbers for PGT patients. These models have advanced our understanding of mtDNA disease pathogenesis and will enable more effective prevention of disease transmission using PGT.

Pharmacotherapeutic management of epilepsy in MERRF syndrome

INTRODUCTION

Epilepsy is a prominent feature of myoclonic epilepsy with ragged-red fibers (MERRF)-syndrome. The most frequent seizure type is myoclonic seizures, of which the treatment is challenging and empiric.

AREAS COVERED

Herein, the author summarises and discusses previous and recent findings of antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment in MERRF-syndrome.

EXPERT OPINION

MERRF-syndrome is a predominantly maternally inherited, multisystem mitochondrial disorder caused by pathogenic variants predominantly of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Canonical clinical features of MERRF include myoclonus, epilepsy, ataxia, and myopathy. Additionally, other manifestations in the CNS, peripheral nerves, eyes, ears, heart, gastrointestinal tract, and endocrine organs may occur (MERRF-plus). Today, MERRF is considered rather as myoclonic ataxia than as myoclonic epilepsy. Genotypically, MERRF is due to mutations in 13 mtDNA-located genes and 1 nDNA-located gene. According to the modified Smith-score, the strongest gene-disease relationship exists for MT-TK, MT-TL1, and POLG1. Epilepsy is the second most frequent phenotypic feature of MERRF. Seizure-types associated with MERRF include focal myoclonic, focal clonic, and focal atonic seizures, generalized myoclonic, tonic-clonic, atonic, and myoclonic-atonic seizures, or typical absences. Treatment of myoclonic epilepsy relies on expert judgments recommending levetiracetam, together with clonazepam, or topiramate, zonisamide, or piracetam in monotherapy as the first line AEDs.

Muscle pain in mitochondrial diseases: a picture from the Italian network

Muscle pain may be part of many neuromuscular disorders including myopathies, peripheral neuropathies and lower motor neuron diseases. Although it has been reported also in mitochondrial diseases (MD), no extensive studies in this group of diseases have been performed so far. We reviewed clinical data from 1398 patients affected with mitochondrial diseases listed in the database of the "Nation-wide Italian Collaborative Network of Mitochondrial Diseases", to assess muscle pain and its features. Muscle pain was present in 164 patients (11.7%). It was commonly observed in subjects with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (cPEO) and with primary myopathy without cPEO, but also-although less frequently-in multisystem phenotypes such as MELAS, MERFF, Kearns Sayre syndrome, NARP, MNGIE and Leigh syndrome. Patients mainly complain of diffuse exercise-related muscle pain, but focal/multifocal and at rest myalgia were often also reported. Muscle pain was more commonly detected in patients with mitochondrial DNA mutations (67.8%) than with nuclear DNA changes (32.2%). Only 34% of the patients showed a good response to drug therapy. Interestingly, patients with nuclear DNA mutations tend to have a better therapeutic response than patients with mtDNA mutations. Muscle pain is present in a significant number of patients with MD, being one of the most common symptoms. Although patients with a myopathic phenotype are more prone to develop muscle pain, this is also observed in patients with a multi system involvement, representing an important and disabling symptom having poor response to current therapy.

MERRF Classification: Implications for Diagnosis and Clinical Trials

BACKGROUND

Given the etiologic heterogeneity of disease classification using clinical phenomenology, we employed contemporary criteria to classify variants associated with myoclonic epilepsy with ragged-red fibers (MERRF) syndrome and to assess the strength of evidence of gene-disease associations. Standardized approaches are used to clarify the definition of MERRF, which is essential for patient diagnosis, patient classification, and clinical trial design.

METHODS

Systematic literature and database search with application of standardized assessment of gene-disease relationships using modified Smith criteria and of variants reported to be associated with MERRF using modified Yarham criteria.

RESULTS

Review of available evidence supports a gene-disease association for two MT-tRNAs and for POLG. Using modified Smith criteria, definitive evidence of a MERRF gene-disease association is identified for MT-TK. Strong gene-disease evidence is present for MT-TL1 and POLG. Functional assays that directly associate variants with oxidative phosphorylation impairment were critical to mtDNA variant classification. In silico analysis was of limited utility to the assessment of individual MT-tRNA variants. With the use of contemporary classification criteria, several mtDNA variants previously reported as pathogenic or possibly pathogenic are reclassified as neutral variants.

CONCLUSIONS

MERRF is primarily an MT-TK disease, with pathogenic variants in this gene accounting for ~90% of MERRF patients. Although MERRF is phenotypically and genotypically heterogeneous, myoclonic epilepsy is the clinical feature that distinguishes MERRF from other categories of mitochondrial disorders. Given its low frequency in mitochondrial disorders, myoclonic epilepsy is not explained simply by an impairment of cellular energetics. Although MERRF phenocopies can occur in other genes, additional data are needed to establish a MERRF disease-gene association. This approach to MERRF emphasizes standardized classification rather than clinical phenomenology, thus improving patient diagnosis and clinical trial design.

Mitochondrial DNA sequence characteristics modulate the size of the genetic bottleneck

With a combined carrier frequency of 1:200, heteroplasmic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations cause human disease in ∼1:5000 of the population. Rapid shifts in the level of heteroplasmy seen within a single generation contribute to the wide range in the severity of clinical phenotypes seen in families transmitting mtDNA disease, consistent with a genetic bottleneck during transmission. Although preliminary evidence from human pedigrees points towards a random drift process underlying the shifting heteroplasmy, some reports describe differences in segregation pattern between different mtDNA mutations. However, based on limited observations and with no direct comparisons, it is not clear whether these observations simply reflect pedigree ascertainment and publication bias. To address this issue, we studied 577 mother–child pairs transmitting the m.11778G>A, m.3460G>A, m.8344A>G, m.8993T>G/C and m.3243A>G mtDNA mutations. Our analysis controlled for inter-assay differences, inter-laboratory variation and ascertainment bias. We found no evidence of selection during transmission but show that different mtDNA mutations segregate at different rates in human pedigrees. m.8993T>G/C segregated significantly faster than m.11778G>A, m.8344A>G and m.3243A>G, consistent with a tighter mtDNA genetic bottleneck in m.8993T>G/C pedigrees. Our observations support the existence of different genetic bottlenecks primarily determined by the underlying mtDNA mutation, explaining the different inheritance patterns observed in human pedigrees transmitting pathogenic mtDNA mutations.

Mutation in cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA in a family with fibromyalgia is associated with NLRP3-inflammasome activation

BACKGROUND

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a worldwide diffuse musculoskeletal chronic pain condition that affects up to 5% of the general population. Many symptoms associated with mitochondrial diseases are reported in patients with FM such as exercise intolerance, fatigue, myopathy and mitochondrial dysfunction. In this study, we report a mutation in cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in a family with FM with inflammasome complex activation.

METHODS

mtDNA from blood cells of five patients with FM were sequenced. We clinically and genetically characterised a patient with FM and family with a new mutation in mtCYB. Mitochondrial mutation phenotypes were determined in skin fibroblasts and transmitochondrial cybrids.

RESULTS

After mtDNA sequence in patients with FM, we found a mitochondrial homoplasmic mutation m.15804T>C in the mtCYB gene in a patient and family, which was maternally transmitted. Mutation was observed in several tissues and skin fibroblasts showed a very significant mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. Increased NLRP3-inflammasome complex activation was observed in blood cells from patient and family.

CONCLUSIONS

We propose further studies on mtDNA sequence analysis in patients with FM with evidences for maternal inheritance. The presence of similar symptoms in mitochondrial myopathies could unmask mitochondrial diseases among patients with FM. On the other hand, the inflammasome complex activation by mitochondrial dysfunction could be implicated in the pathophysiology of mitochondrial diseases.

Muscle pain in models of chemotherapy-induced and alcohol-induced peripheral neuropathy

OBJECTIVE

While inflammatory pain is well described in skeletal muscle, neuropathic muscle pain remains to be clarified. We used 3 well-established rodent models of peripheral neuropathy to evaluate for muscle pain.

METHODS

In rats exposed to either of 2 neurotoxic cancer chemotherapies, paclitaxel or oxaliplatin, or to alcohol consumption, we assessed the evolution of mechanical hyperalgesia in skeletal muscle and skin, in the same animal. To explore the involvement of protein kinase C epsilon (PKCε), a second messenger implicated in some forms of neuropathic pain, antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (AS-ODNs) or mismatch ODNs (MM-ODNs) for PKCε were administered intrathecally.

RESULTS

Rats submitted to models of chemotherapy-induced and alcohol-induced neuropathy developed persistent muscle hyperalgesia, which evolved in parallel in muscle and skin. The administration of PKCε AS, which has been shown to mediate cutaneous hyperalgesia in paclitaxel and ethanol models of neuropathic pain, also inhibited muscle hyperalgesia induced by these agents. Stopping AS-ODN was associated with the reappearance of hyperalgesia at both sites. The AS-ODN to PKCε treatment was devoid of effect in both muscle and skin in the oxaliplatin neuropathy model.

INTERPRETATION

Our results support the suggestion that neuropathic muscle pain may be a greater clinical problem than generally appreciated.

Abnormal muscle afferent function in a model of Taxol chemotherapy-induced painful neuropathy

Despite muscle pain being a well-described symptom in patients with diverse forms of peripheral neuropathy, the role of neuropathic mechanisms in muscle pain have received remarkably little attention. We have recently demonstrated in a well-established model of chemotherapy-induced painful neuropathy (CIPN) that the anti-tumor drug paclitaxel (Taxol) produces mechanical hyperalgesia in skeletal muscle, of similar time course to and with shared mechanism with cutaneous symptoms. In the present study, we evaluated muscle afferent neuron function in this rat model of CIPN. The mechanical threshold of muscle afferents in rats exposed to paclitaxel was not significantly different from the mechanical threshold of muscle afferents in control animals (P = 0.07). However, paclitaxel did produce a marked increase in the number of action potentials elicited by prolonged suprathreshold fixed intensity mechanical stimulation and a marked increase in the conduction velocity. In addition, the interspike interval (ISI) analysis (to evaluate the temporal characteristics of the response of afferents to sustained mechanical stimulation) showed a significant difference in rats treated with paclitaxel; there was a significantly greater ISI percentage of paclitaxel-treated muscle afferents with 0.01- and 0.02-s ISI. In contrast, an analysis of variability of neuronal firing over time (CV2 analysis) showed no effect of paclitaxel administration. These effects of paclitaxel on muscle afferent function contrast with the previously reported effects of paclitaxel on the function of cutaneous nociceptors.

Inherited mitochondrial neuropathies

Mitochondrial disorders (MIDs) occasionally manifest as polyneuropathy either as the dominant feature or as one of many other manifestations (inherited mitochondrial neuropathy). MIDs in which polyneuropathy is the dominant feature, include NARP syndrome due to the transition m.8993T>, CMT2A due to MFN2 mutations, CMT2K and CMT4A due to GDAP1 mutations, and axonal/demyelinating neuropathy with external ophthalmoplegia due to POLG1 mutations. MIDs in which polyneuropathy is an inconstant feature among others is the MELAS syndrome, MERRF syndrome, LHON, Mendelian PEO, KSS, Leigh syndrome, MNGIE, SANDO; MIRAS, MEMSA, AHS, MDS (hepato-cerebral form), IOSCA, and ADOA syndrome. In the majority of the cases polyneuropathy presents in a multiplex neuropathy distribution. Nerve conduction studies may reveal either axonal or demyelinated or mixed types of neuropathies. If a hereditary neuropathy is due to mitochondrial dysfunction, the management of these patients is at variance from non-mitochondrial hereditary neuropathies. Patients with mitochondrial hereditary neuropathy need to be carefully investigated for clinical or subclinical involvement of other organs or systems. Supportive treatment with co-factors, antioxidants, alternative energy sources, or lactate lowering agents can be tried. Involvement of other organs may require specific treatment. Mitochondrial neuropathies should be included in the differential diagnosis of hereditary neuropathies.

Surveyor nuclease detection of mutations and polymorphisms of mtDNA in children

Mitochondrial encephalomyopathies are complex disorders with wide range of clinical manifestations. Particularly time-consuming is the identification of mutations in mitochondrial DNA. A group of 20 children with clinical manifestations of mitochondrial encephalomyopathies was selected for molecular studies. The aims were (a) to identify mutations in mtDNA isolated from muscle and (b) to verify detected mutations in DNA isolated from blood, in order to assess the utility of a Surveyor nuclease assay kit for patient screening. The most common changes found were polymorphisms, including a few missense mutations altering the amino acid sequence of mitochondrial proteins. In two boys with MELAS (i.e., mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes), a mutation A→G3243 was detected in the tRNALeu gene of mtDNA isolated from muscle and blood. In one boy, the carrier status of his mother was confirmed, based on molecular analysis of DNA isolated from blood. A method using Surveyor nuclease allows systematic screening for small mutations in mtDNA, using as its source blood of the patients and asymptomatic carriers. The method still requires confirmation studying a larger group. In some patients, the use of this method should precede and might limit indications for traumatic muscle and skin biopsy.

Fibromyalgie: Eine körperliche Krankheit oder unspezifische psychische Störung?

Zusammenfassung. Die Fibromyalgie (FM) ist eine multilokale, nichtentzündliche Schmerzstörung an bestimmten druckschmerzhaften Punkten des Bewegungsapparates. Hinzu treten multiple funktionelle Symptome wie Schlafstörungen, Magen- und Darmbeschwerden, Konzentrationsstörungen und nicht zuletzt psychische Beeinträchtigungen und Störungen (Depression, Angst, eingeschränkte Lebensqualität). Bei Kindern und Jugendlichen stellt die FM eine eher seltene Extremform weitverbreiteter funktioneller Schmerzstörungen des Bewegungsapparates dar. Die medizinische Diagnostik ergibt keinen pathologischen Befund. Entsprechend kontrovers wird die Ätiopathogenese diskutiert. Drei Störungsmodelle werden vorgestellt: (1) FM als organische Erkrankung auf der Basis einer genetischen Prädisposition, mit Regulationsstörungen der Hormonachse, des Vegetativums und der Neurotransmittersysteme, (2) FM als chronisch-funktionelle Schmerzstörung infolge einer Schmerzsensitivierung und -verstärkung (Wind-up-Phänomen), (3) FM als psychische Störung mit hoher Komorbidität im Bereich der Depression und Angststörungen im Sinne einer somatoformen Schmerzstörung mit katastrophisierender Symptomverarbeitung und exzessiv gesteigertem Krankheits- und Inanspruchnahmeverhalten. Zur Integration dieser Störungsmodelle stellt der Beitrag ein entwicklungspsychopathologisches Modell vor. Es unterscheidet vier Störungsetappen, denen jeweils spezifische medizinische wie psychologische Interventionsmethoden zugeordnet werden können; ausführlich werden verhaltensmedizinische Strategien vorgestellt.