Anti-inflammatory genes associated with multiple sclerosis: A gene expression study

Pregnant Women with Multiple Sclerosis: An Overview of Gene Expression and Molecular Interaction Using Bioinformatics Analysis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common disease in young women of reproductive age, characterized by demyelination of the central nervous system (CNS). Understanding how genes related to MS are expressed during pregnancy can provide insights into the potential mechanisms by which pregnancy affects the course of this disease. This review article presents evidence-based studies on these patients' gene expression patterns. In addition, it constructs interaction networks using bioinformatics tools, such as STRING and KEGG pathways, to understand the molecular role of each of these genes. Bioinformatics research identified 25 genes and 21 signaling pathways, which allows us to understand pregnancy patients' genetic and biological phenomena and formulate new questions about MS during pregnancy.

BACH2: The Future of Induced T-Regulatory Cell Therapies

BACH2 (BTB Domain and CNC Homolog 2) is a transcription factor that serves as a central regulator of immune cell differentiation and function, particularly in T and B lymphocytes. A picture is emerging that BACH2 may function as a master regulator of cell fate that is exquisitely sensitive to cell activation status. In particular, BACH2 plays a key role in stabilizing the phenotype and suppressive function of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β)-derived human forkhead box protein P3 (FOXP3)+ inducible regulatory T cells (iTregs), a cell type that holds great clinical potential as a cell therapeutic for diverse inflammatory conditions. As such, BACH2 potentially could be targeted to overcome the instability of the iTreg phenotype and suppressive function that has hampered their clinical application. In this review, we focus on the role of BACH2 in T cell fate and iTreg function and stability. We suggest approaches to modulate BACH2 function that may lead to more stable and efficacious Treg cell therapies.

Sex-dependent expression levels of VAV1 and P2X7 in PBMC of multiple sclerosis patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system and the leading cause of progressive neurological disability in young adults. It decreases the patient's lifespan by about 10 years and affects women more than men. No medication entirely restricts or reverses neurological degradation. However, early diagnosis and treatment increase the possibility of a better outcome. To identify new MS biomarkers, we tested the expression of six potential markers (P2X4, P2X7, CXCR4, RGS1, RGS16 and VAV1) using qPCR in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of MS patients treated with interferon β (IFNβ), with glatiramer acetate (GA) or untreated. We showed that P2X7 and VAV1 are significantly induced in MS patients. In contrast, the expression of P2X4, CXCR4, RGS1 and RGS16 was not significantly modified by MS in PBMC. P2X7 and VAV1 are essentially induced in female patients, suggesting these markers are connected to sex-specific mechanisms. Strikingly, VAV1 expression is higher in healthy women than healthy men and IFNβ treatment of MS reduced VAV1 expression in female MS patients while it up-regulated VAV1 in male MS patients. Our data point to the differential, sex-dependent value of MS markers and treatment effects. Although rgs16 expression in PBMC was not a valid MS marker in patients, the strong upregulation of P2X4 and P2X7 induced in the spinal cord of WT mice by EAE was abrogated in rgs16KO mice suggesting that rgs16 is required for P2X4 and P2X7 induction by neurological diseases.

Heritability Estimation of Multiple Sclerosis Related Plasma Protein Levels in Sardinian Families with Immunochip Genotyping Data

This work aimed at estimating narrow-sense heritability, defined as the proportion of the phenotypic variance explained by the sum of additive genetic effects, via Haseman–Elston regression for a subset of 56 plasma protein levels related to Multiple Sclerosis (MS). These were measured in 212 related individuals (with 69 MS cases and 143 healthy controls) obtained from 20 Sardinian families with MS history. Using pedigree information, we found seven statistically significant heritable plasma protein levels (after multiple testing correction), i.e., Gc (h2 = 0.77; 95%CI: 0.36, 1.00), Plat (h2 = 0.70; 95%CI: 0.27, 0.95), Anxa1 (h2 = 0.68; 95%CI: 0.27, 1.00), Sod1 (h2 = 0.58; 95%CI: 0.18, 0.96), Irf8 (h2 = 0.56; 95%CI: 0.19, 0.99), Ptger4 (h2 = 0.45; 95%CI: 0.10, 0.96), and Fadd (h2 = 0.41; 95%CI: 0.06, 0.84). A subsequent analysis was performed on these statistically significant heritable plasma protein levels employing Immunochip genotyping data obtained in 155 healthy controls (92 related and 63 unrelated); we found a meaningful proportion of heritable plasma protein levels’ variability explained by a small set of SNPs. Overall, the results obtained, for these seven MS-related proteins, emphasized a high additive genetic variance component explaining plasma levels’ variability.

TNFAIP3 Deficiency Affects Monocytes, Monocytes-Derived Cells and Microglia in Mice

The intracellular-ubiquitin-ending-enzyme tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3) is a potent inhibitor of the pro-inflammatory nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cell (NF-kB) pathway. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in TNFAIP3 locus have been associated to autoimmune inflammatory disorders, including Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Previously, we reported a TNFAIP3 down-regulated gene expression level in blood and specifically in monocytes obtained from treatment-naïve MS patients compared to healthy controls (HC). Myeloid cells exert a key role in the pathogenesis of MS. Here we evaluated the effect of specific TNFAIP3 deficiency in myeloid cells including monocytes, monocyte-derived cells (M-MDC) and microglia analyzing lymphoid organs and microglia of mice. TNFAIP3 deletion is induced using conditional knock-out mice for myeloid lineage. Flow-cytometry and histological procedures were applied to assess the immune cell populations of spleen, lymph nodes and bone marrow and microglial cell density in the central nervous system (CNS), respectively. We found that TNFAIP3 deletion in myeloid cells induces a reduction in body weight, a decrease in the number of M-MDC and of common monocyte and granulocyte precursor cells (CMGPs). We also reported that the lack of TNFAIP3 in myeloid cells induces an increase in microglial cell density. The results suggest that TNFAIP3 in myeloid cells critically controls the development of M-MDC in lymphoid organ and of microglia in the CNS.

The Critical Role of Bach2 in Shaping the Balance between CD4+ T Cell Subsets in Immune-Mediated Diseases

The transcription factor Bach2 which is predominantly expressed in B and T lymphocytes represses the expression of genes by forming heterodimers with small Maf and Batf proteins and binding to the corresponding sequence on the DNA. In this way, Bach2 serves as a highly conserved repressor which controls the terminal differentiation and maturation of both B and T lymphocytes. It is required for class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM) of immunoglobulin genes in activated B cells, and its function in B cell differentiation has been well-described. Furthermore, emerging data show that Bach2 regulates transcriptional activity in T cells at super enhancers or regions of high transcriptional activity, thus stabilizing immunoregulatory capacity and maintaining T cell homeostasis. Bach2 is also critical for the formation and function of CD4⁺ T cell lineages (Th1, Th2, Th9, Th17, T follicular helper (Tfh), and regulatory T (Treg) cells). Genetic variations within Bach2 locus are associated with numerous immune-mediated diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chronic pancreatitis (CP), type 2 chronic airway inflammation, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and type 1 diabetes. Here, we reveal a critical role of Bach2 in regulating T cell biology and the correlation with these immune-mediated diseases.

A Powerful Global Test Statistic for Functional Statistical Inference

We consider the problem of performing an association test between functional data and scalar variables in a varying coefficient model setting. We propose a functional projection regression model and an associated global test statistic to aggregate relatively weak signals across the domain of functional data, while reducing the dimension. An optimal functional projection direction is selected to maximize signal-to-noise ratio with ridge penalty. Theoretically, we systematically study the asymptotic distribution of the global test statistic and provide a strategy to adaptively select the optimal tuning parameter. We use simulations to show that the proposed test outperforms all existing state-of-the-art methods in functional statistical inference. Finally, we apply the proposed testing method to the genome-wide association analysis of imaging genetic data in UK Biobank dataset.

BRF1 ameliorates LPS-induced inflammation through autophagy crosstalking with MAPK/ERK signaling

Inflammation is indispensable for host defense, whereas excessive inflammation often develop inflammatory diseases. Autophagy is thought to be engaged in many extracellular stress responses, such as starvation and innate immunity. Thus, autophagy plays an important role in maintaining homeostasis. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the function of BRF1 in the regulation of inflammation and autophagy response in macrophages. We found that BRF1 inhibited the LPS-induced inflammatory factors expression and the autophagy flux in macrophage. Furthermore, inhibition autophagy with 3-MA can attenuate the suppressive effect of BRF1 on LPS-mediated inflammation. In addition, MAPK/ERK signaling pathway was involved in the BRF1 inhibition inflammation and autophagy in macrophages. These findings indicate that BRF1 attenuates LPS-induced inflammatory factors secretion through autophagy, at least in part, through MAPK/ERK signaling pathway.

The Footprints of Poly-Autoimmunity: Evidence for Common Biological Factors Involved in Multiple Sclerosis and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

Autoimmune diseases are a diverse group of chronic disorders and affect a multitude of organs and systems. However, the existence of common pathophysiological mechanisms is hypothesized and reports of shared risk are emerging as well. In this regard, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have been shown to have an increased susceptibility to develop chronic autoimmune thyroid diseases, in particular Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), suggesting an autoimmune predisposition. However, studies comparing such different pathologies of autoimmune origin are still missing till date. In the present study, we sought to investigate mechanisms which may lead to the frequent coexistence of MS and HT by analyzing several factors related to the pathogenesis of MS and HT in patients affected by one or both diseases, as well as in healthy donors. In particular, we analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cell gene-expression levels of common candidate genes such as TNFAIP3, NR4A family, BACH2, FOXP3, and PDCD5, in addition to the regulatory T cell (Treg) percentage and the 25-hydroxy vitamin D serum levels. Our findings support the plausibility of the existence of common deregulated mechanisms shared by MS and HT, such as BACH2/PDCD5-FOXP3 pathways and Tregs. Although the biological implications of these data need to be further investigated, we have highlighted the relevance of studies comparing different autoimmune pathologies for the understanding of the core concepts of autoimmunity.

Effect of autoimmunity risk loci on the honeymoon phase in type 1 diabetes

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the correlation between duration and depth of honeymoon phase in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and autoimmunity risk loci.

METHODS

From a database of 567 individuals with clinical data, we selected 210 patients for whom we had dense genotyping results of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from our previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) or targeted genotyping data. Using PLINK software, we analyzed the association between time spent in honeymoon phase as our quantitative trait, and 24 known autoimmunity predisposing SNPs.

RESULTS

We found one allele on chromosome 5, rs4613763 mapping to a Prostaglandin Receptor EP4 (PTGER4) to reach statistical significance (P = .0067), in determining a larger proportion of T1DM patients with a detectable honeymoon phase. This polymorphism determines risk for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) but not T1DM.

CONCLUSION

By showing the role of PTGER4 in autoimmune diseases and its effect on inflammatory responses via its interaction with NF-kB, we hypothesize that PTGER4 modulates honeymoon phase in patients with T1DM without influencing the risk of developing T1DM. We hypothesize that this quantitative trait locus promotes inflammatory suppression of beta cells without directly promoting beta-cell destruction. Understanding SNPs that effect function can provide insight in to pathogenesis of T1DM and the mechanism of the honeymoon phase. Because this is a hypothesis-generating study, it needs to be replicated in an additional larger cohort.

Neural Stem Cell-Based Regenerative Approaches for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory, and demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system (CNS), which ultimately leads to axonal loss and permanent neurological disability. Current treatments for MS are largely comprised of medications that are either immunomodulatory or immunosuppressive and are aimed at reducing the frequency and intensity of relapses. Neural stem cells (NSCs) in the adult brain can differentiate into oligodendrocytes in a context-specific manner and are shown to be involved in the remyelination in these patients. NSCs may exert their beneficial effects not only through oligodendrocyte replacement but also by providing trophic support and immunomodulation, a phenomenon now known as "therapeutic plasticity." In this review, we first provided an update on the current knowledge regarding MS pathogenesis and the role of immune cells, microglia, and oligodendrocytes in MS disease progression. Next, we reviewed the current progress on research aimed toward stimulating endogenous NSC proliferation and differentiation to oligodendrocytes in vivo and in animal models of demyelination. In addition, we explored the neuroprotective and immunomodulatory effects of transplanted exogenous NSCs on T cell activation, microglial activation, and endogenous remyelination and their effects on the pathological process and prognosis in animal models of MS. Finally, we examined various protocols to generate genetically engineered NSCs as a potential therapy for MS. Overall, this review highlights the studies involving the immunomodulatory, neurotrophic, and regenerative effects of NSCs and novel methods aiming at stimulating the potential of NSCs for the treatment of MS.

Dysregulation of MS risk genes and pathways at distinct stages of disease

Objective:

To perform systematic transcriptomic analysis of multiple sclerosis (MS) risk genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of subjects with distinct MS stages and describe the pathways characterized by dysregulated gene expressions.

Methods:

We monitored gene expression levels in PBMCs from 3 independent cohorts for a total of 297 cases (including clinically isolated syndromes (CIS), relapsing-remitting MS, primary and secondary progressive MS) and 96 healthy controls by distinct microarray platforms and quantitative PCR. Differential expression and pathway analyses for distinct MS stages were defined and validated by literature mining.

Results:

Genes located in the vicinity of MS risk variants displayed altered expression in peripheral blood at distinct stages of MS compared with the healthy population. The frequency of dysregulation was significantly higher than expected in CIS and progressive forms of MS. Pathway analysis for each MS stage–specific gene list showed that dysregulated genes contributed to pathogenic processes with scientific evidence in MS.

Conclusions:

Systematic gene expression analysis in PBMCs highlighted selective dysregulation of MS susceptibility genes playing a role in novel and well-known pathogenic pathways.

R4 Regulator of G Protein Signaling (RGS) Proteins in Inflammation and Immunity

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have important functions in both innate and adaptive immunity, with the capacity to bridge interactions between the two arms of the host responses to pathogens through direct recognition of secreted microbial products or the by-products of host cells damaged by pathogen exposure. In the mid-1990s, a large group of intracellular proteins was discovered, the regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) family, whose main, but not exclusive, function appears to be to constrain the intensity and duration of GPCR signaling. The R4/B subfamily--the focus of this review--includes RGS1-5, 8, 13, 16, 18, and 21, which are the smallest RGS proteins in size, with the exception of RGS3. Prominent roles in the trafficking of B and T lymphocytes and macrophages have been described for RGS1, RGS13, and RGS16, while RGS18 appears to control platelet and osteoclast functions. Additional G protein independent functions of RGS13 have been uncovered in gene expression in B lymphocytes and mast cell-mediated allergic reactions. In this review, we discuss potential physiological roles of this RGS protein subfamily, primarily in leukocytes having central roles in immune and inflammatory responses. We also discuss approaches to target RGS proteins therapeutically, which represents a virtually untapped strategy to combat exaggerated immune responses leading to inflammation.