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Xiang H, Wang C, Pan H, Hu Q, Wang R, Xu Z, Li T, Su Y, Ma X, Cao Y, Wang B. Exome-Sequencing Identifies Novel Genes Associated with Recurrent Pregnancy Loss in a Chinese Cohort. Front Genet 2021; 12:746082. [PMID: 34925444 PMCID: PMC8674582 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.746082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a common reproductive problem affecting around 5% of couples worldwide. At present, about half of RPL cases remained unexplained. Previous studies have suggested an important role for genetic determinants in the etiology of RPL. Here, we performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) analysis on 100 unrelated Han Chinese women with a history of two or more spontaneous abortions. We identified 6736 rare deleterious nonsynonymous variants across all patients. To focus on possible candidate genes, we generated a list of 95 highly relevant genes that were functionally associated with miscarriage according to human and mouse model studies, and found 35 heterozygous variants of 28 RPL-associated genes in 32 patients. Four genes (FOXA2, FGA, F13A1, and KHDC3L) were identified as being strong candidates. The FOXA2 nonsense variant was for the first time reported here in women with RPL. FOXA2 knockdown in HEK-293T cells significantly diminished the mRNA and protein expression levels of LIF, a pivotal factor for maternal receptivity and blastocyst implantation. The other genes, with 29 variants, were involved in angiogenesis, the immune response and inflammation, cell growth and proliferation, which are functionally important processes for implantation and pregnancy. Our study identified several potential causal genetic variants in women with RPL by WES, highlighting the important role of genes controlling coagulation, confirming the pathogenic role of KHDC3L and identifying FOXA2 as a newly identified causal gene in women with RPL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huifen Xiang
- Reproductive Medicine Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), Hefei, China
| | - Chunyan Wang
- Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.,Center for Genetics, National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing, China
| | - Hong Pan
- Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.,Center for Genetics, National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing, China
| | - Qian Hu
- Reproductive Medicine Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), Hefei, China
| | - Ruyi Wang
- Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.,Center for Genetics, National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing, China
| | - Zuying Xu
- Reproductive Medicine Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), Hefei, China
| | - Tengyan Li
- Center for Genetics, National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing, China
| | - Yezhou Su
- Reproductive Medicine Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), Hefei, China
| | - Xu Ma
- Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.,Center for Genetics, National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing, China
| | - Yunxia Cao
- Reproductive Medicine Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), Hefei, China
| | - Binbin Wang
- Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.,Center for Genetics, National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing, China
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Bremm JM, Boquett JA, Silva Michels M, Kowalski TW, Gomes FG, Vianna FSL, Vieira Sanseverino MT, Fraga LR. Investigating the role of EGF-CFC gene family in recurrent pregnancy loss through bioinformatics and molecular approaches. Syst Biol Reprod Med 2021; 67:450-462. [PMID: 34498535 DOI: 10.1080/19396368.2021.1965673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is the most common reproductive failure, reaching 1-5% of women throughout their lives, and having unknown etiology in 50% of the cases. In humans, EGF-CFC1 (Epidermal Growth Factors & Cripto/FRL-1/Cryptic) gene family is composed by TDGF1 and CFC1, two developmental genes. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of EGF-CFC on RPL. To this, multiple approaches were performed; we conducted an expression analysis of TDGF1 and CFC1 using publicly available data from Gene Omnibus Expression (GEO), systems biology analyses and functional prediction; and a molecular analysis carried out in a case-control study. Our GEO analysis showed a decrease in TDGF1 expression in the endometrium (p=0.049) and CFC1 expression in placenta (p=0.015) of women with RPL. Network analysis, gene ontology and literature pointed to a strong connection between EGF-CFC1 gene family to pathways that play key roles during pregnancy, including TGF-β, c-Src/MAPK/AKT, Notch, TNFα, IFNγ and IL-6. A pathogenicity score developed for this gene family showed that the c.-14+1429T>C (rs3806702) variant in the TDGF1 and the p.Arg47Gln (rs201431919) variant in CFC1 gene would be the ones with the highest deleterious effect for RPL. In the case-control study, which involved 149 women with RPL and 159 controls, no statistical difference was observed in the allele and genotype distributions of the variants studied in the two groups. In this study, we performed extensive bioinformatics analysis for biomarker prioritization followed by experimental validation of proposed selected markers. Although there is no statistical difference in the frequencies of these variants between RPL and controls, the expression analysis results suggest that TDGF1 and CFC1 genes might play a role in RPL. In addition, systems biology analyzes raise the hypothesis that genes in other signaling pathways that may be related to RPL as good candidates for future studies.Abbreviations RPL: recurrent pregnancy loss; EGF-CFC1: Epidermal Growth Factors - Cripto/FRL-1; GEO: Gene Omnibus Expression; KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- João Matheus Bremm
- Post-graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Department of Genetics, Biosciences Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Juliano André Boquett
- Post-graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Department of Genetics, Biosciences Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.,Post-graduate Program in Child and Adolescent Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Marcus Silva Michels
- Post-graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Department of Genetics, Biosciences Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Thayne Woycinck Kowalski
- Post-graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Department of Genetics, Biosciences Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.,Laboratory of Genomic Medicine, Experimental Research Center, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Flávia Gobetti Gomes
- Post-graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Department of Genetics, Biosciences Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Fernanda Sales Luiz Vianna
- Post-graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Department of Genetics, Biosciences Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.,Post-Graduate Program in Medicine: Medical Sciences, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.,Laboratory of Genomic Medicine, Experimental Research Center, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Maria Teresa Vieira Sanseverino
- Post-graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Department of Genetics, Biosciences Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.,School of Medicine, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.,Medical Genetics Service, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Lucas Rosa Fraga
- Post-Graduate Program in Medicine: Medical Sciences, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.,Laboratory of Genomic Medicine, Experimental Research Center, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil.,Department of Morphological Science, Institute of Health Sciences, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
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Laissue P, Vaiman D. Exploring the Molecular Aetiology of Preeclampsia by Massive Parallel Sequencing of DNA. Curr Hypertens Rep 2020; 22:31. [PMID: 32172383 DOI: 10.1007/s11906-020-01039-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW This manuscript aims to review (for the first time) studies describing NGS sequencing of preeclampsia (PE) women's DNA. RECENT FINDINGS Describing markers for the early detection of PE is an essential task because, although associated molecular dysfunction begins early on during pregnancy, the disease's clinical signs usually appear late in pregnancy. Although several biochemical biomarkers have been proposed, their use in clinical environments is still limited, thereby encouraging research into PE's genetic origin. Hundreds of genes involved in numerous implantation- and placentation-related biological processes may be coherent candidates for PE aetiology. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) offers new technical possibilities for PE studying, as it enables large genomic regions to be analysed at affordable cost. This technique has facilitated the description of genes contributing to the molecular origin of a significant amount of monogenic and complex diseases. Regarding PE, NGS of DNA has been used in familial and isolated cases, thereby enabling new genes potentially related to the phenotype to be proposed. For a better understanding of NGS, technical aspects, applications and limitations are presented initially. Thereafter, NGS studies of DNA in familial and non-familial cases are described, including pitfalls and positive findings. The information given here should enable scientists and clinicians to analyse and design new studies permitting the identification of novel clinically useful molecular PE markers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Laissue
- Biopas Laboratoires, Biopas Group, Bogotá, Colombia. .,Inserm U1016, CNRS UMR8104, Institut Cochin, équipe FGTB, 24, rue du faubourg Saint-Jacques, 75014, Paris, France. .,CIGGUR Genetics Group, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, El Rosario University, Bogotá, Colombia.
| | - Daniel Vaiman
- Inserm U1016, CNRS UMR8104, Institut Cochin, équipe FGTB, 24, rue du faubourg Saint-Jacques, 75014, Paris, France
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