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McKay L, Petrelli B, Pind M, Reynolds JN, Wintle RF, Chudley AE, Drögemöller B, Fainsod A, Scherer SW, Hanlon-Dearman A, Hicks GG. Risk and Resilience Variants in the Retinoic Acid Metabolic and Developmental Pathways Associated with Risk of FASD Outcomes. Biomolecules 2024; 14:569. [PMID: 38785976 PMCID: PMC11117505 DOI: 10.3390/biom14050569] [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: 04/04/2024] [Revised: 05/01/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that affects an estimated 2-5% of North Americans. FASD is induced by prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) during pregnancy and while there is a clear genetic contribution, few genetic factors are currently identified or understood. In this study, using a candidate gene approach, we performed a genetic variant analysis of retinoic acid (RA) metabolic and developmental signaling pathway genes on whole exome sequencing data of 23 FASD-diagnosed individuals. We found risk and resilience alleles in ADH and ALDH genes known to normally be involved in alcohol detoxification at the expense of RA production, causing RA deficiency, following PAE. Risk and resilience variants were also identified in RA-regulated developmental pathway genes, especially in SHH and WNT pathways. Notably, we also identified significant variants in the causative genes of rare neurodevelopmental disorders sharing comorbidities with FASD, including STRA6 (Matthew-Wood), SOX9 (Campomelic Dysplasia), FDG1 (Aarskog), and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (TBX1). Although this is a small exploratory study, the findings support PAE-induced RA deficiency as a major etiology underlying FASD and suggest risk and resilience variants may be suitable biomarkers to determine the risk of FASD outcomes following PAE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leo McKay
- Department of Biochemistry & Medical Genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0J9, Canada
| | - Berardino Petrelli
- Department of Biochemistry & Medical Genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0J9, Canada
| | - Molly Pind
- Department of Biochemistry & Medical Genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0J9, Canada
| | - James N. Reynolds
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 2V7, Canada
| | - Richard F. Wintle
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Albert E. Chudley
- Department of Biochemistry & Medical Genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0J9, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3A 1S1, Canada
| | - Britt Drögemöller
- Department of Biochemistry & Medical Genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0J9, Canada
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0V9, Canada
- Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 3P4, Canada
- Centre on Aging, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Abraham Fainsod
- Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12271, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel
| | - Stephen W. Scherer
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Department of Molecular Genetics and McLaughlin Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1L7, Canada
- Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Ana Hanlon-Dearman
- Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3A 1S1, Canada
| | - Geoffrey G. Hicks
- Department of Biochemistry & Medical Genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0J9, Canada
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0V9, Canada
- Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 3P4, Canada
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Hao L, Ma J, Wu F, Ma X, Qian M, Sheng W, Yan T, Tang N, Jiang X, Zhang B, Xiao D, Qian Y, Zhang J, Jiang N, Zhou W, Chen W, Ma D, Huang G. WDR62 variants contribute to congenital heart disease by inhibiting cardiomyocyte proliferation. Clin Transl Med 2022; 12:e941. [PMID: 35808830 PMCID: PMC9270576 DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Revised: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect and has high heritability. Although some susceptibility genes have been identified, the genetic basis underlying the majority of CHD cases is still undefined. Methods A total of 1320 unrelated CHD patients were enrolled in our study. Exome‐wide association analysis between 37 tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) patients and 208 Han Chinese controls from the 1000 Genomes Project was performed to identify the novel candidate gene WD repeat‐containing protein 62 (WDR62). WDR62 variants were searched in another expanded set of 200 TOF patients by Sanger sequencing. Rescue experiments in zebrafish were conducted to observe the effects of WDR62 variants. The roles of WDR62 in heart development were examined in mouse models with Wdr62 deficiency. WDR62 variants were investigated in an additional 1083 CHD patients with similar heart phenotypes to knockout mice by multiplex PCR‐targeting sequencing. The cellular phenotypes of WDR62 deficiency and variants were tested in cardiomyocytes, and the molecular mechanisms were preliminarily explored by RNA‐seq and co‐immunoprecipitation. Results Seven WDR62 coding variants were identified in the 237 TOF patients and all were indicated to be loss of function variants. A total of 25 coding and 22 non‐coding WDR62 variants were identified in 80 (6%) of the 1320 CHD cases sequenced, with a higher proportion of WDR62 variation (8%) found in the ventricular septal defect (VSD) cohort. WDR62 deficiency resulted in a series of heart defects affecting the outflow tract and right ventricle in mouse models, including VSD as the major abnormality. Cell cycle arrest and an increased number of cells with multipolar spindles that inhibited proliferation were observed in cardiomyocytes with variants or knockdown of WDR62. WDR62 deficiency weakened the association between WDR62 and the cell cycle‐regulated kinase AURKA on spindle poles, reduced the phosphorylation of AURKA, and decreased expression of target genes related to cell cycle and spindle assembly shared by WDR62 and AURKA. Conclusions WDR62 was identified as a novel susceptibility gene for CHD with high variant frequency. WDR62 was shown to participate in the cardiac development by affecting spindle assembly and cell cycle pathway in cardiomyocytes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lili Hao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.,Key Laboratory of Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.,Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China
| | - Jing Ma
- ENT institute, Department of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Feizhen Wu
- Laboratory of Epigenetics, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaojing Ma
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Maoxiang Qian
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Wei Sheng
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Tizhen Yan
- Department of Medical Genetics, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Liuzhou Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Liuzhou, Guangxi, China
| | - Ning Tang
- Department of Medical Genetics, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Liuzhou Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Liuzhou, Guangxi, China
| | - Xin Jiang
- Medical Laboratory of Nantong ZhongKe, Nantong, Jiangsu
| | - Bowen Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Deyong Xiao
- Key Laboratory of Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yanyan Qian
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Nan Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Wenhao Zhou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Weicheng Chen
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Duan Ma
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.,Key Laboratory of Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Guoying Huang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defects, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.,Research Unit of Early Intervention of Genetically Related Childhood Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shanghai, China
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