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Falzarano MS, Rossi R, Grilli A, Fang M, Osman H, Sabatelli P, Antoniel M, Lu Z, Li W, Selvatici R, Al-Khalili C, Gualandi F, Bicciato S, Torelli S, Ferlini A. Urine-Derived Stem Cells Express 571 Neuromuscular Disorders Causing Genes, Making Them a Potential in vitro Model for Rare Genetic Diseases. Front Physiol 2021; 12:716471. [PMID: 34744760 PMCID: PMC8565768 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.716471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) are a heterogeneous group of genetic diseases, caused by mutations in genes involved in spinal cord, peripheral nerve, neuromuscular junction, and muscle functions. To advance the knowledge of the pathological mechanisms underlying NMDs and to eventually identify new potential drugs paving the way for personalized medicine, limitations regarding the availability of neuromuscular disease-related biological samples, rarely accessible from patients, are a major challenge. Aim: We characterized urinary stem cells (USCs) by in-depth transcriptome and protein profiling to evaluate whether this easily accessible source of patient-derived cells is suitable to study neuromuscular genetic diseases, focusing especially on those currently involved in clinical trials. Methods: The global transcriptomics of either native or MyoD transformed USCs obtained from control individuals was performed by RNA-seq. The expression of 610 genes belonging to 16 groups of disorders (http://www.musclegenetable.fr/) whose mutations cause neuromuscular diseases, was investigated on the RNA-seq output. In addition, protein expression of 11 genes related to NMDs including COL6A, EMD, LMNA, SMN, UBA1, DYNC1H1, SOD1, C9orf72, DYSF, DAG1, and HTT was analyzed in native USCs by immunofluorescence and/or Western blot (WB). Results: RNA-seq profile of control USCs shows that 571 out of 610 genes known to be involved in NMDs, are expressed in USCs. Interestingly, the expression levels of the majority of NMD genes remain unmodified following USCs MyoD transformation. Most genes involved in the pathogenesis of all 16 groups of NMDs are well represented except for channelopathies and malignant hyperthermia related genes. All tested proteins showed high expression values, suggesting consistency between transcription and protein representation in USCs. Conclusion: Our data suggest that USCs are human cells, obtainable by non-invasive means, which might be used as a patient-specific cell model to study neuromuscular disease-causing genes and that they can be likely adopted for a variety of in vitro functional studies such as mutation characterization, pathway identification, and drug screening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Sofia Falzarano
- UOL (Unità Operativa Logistica) of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Rachele Rossi
- UOL (Unità Operativa Logistica) of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.,The Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andrea Grilli
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Mingyan Fang
- Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
| | - Hana Osman
- UOL (Unità Operativa Logistica) of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.,Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
| | - Patrizia Sabatelli
- CNR-Institute of Molecular Genetics "Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza"- Unit of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy
| | - Manuela Antoniel
- CNR-Institute of Molecular Genetics "Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza"- Unit of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy
| | - Zhiyuan Lu
- Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
| | - Wenyan Li
- Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI)-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
| | - Rita Selvatici
- UOL (Unità Operativa Logistica) of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Cristina Al-Khalili
- Department of Proteomics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Francesca Gualandi
- UOL (Unità Operativa Logistica) of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Silvio Bicciato
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Silvia Torelli
- The Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom.,National Institute for Health Research, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alessandra Ferlini
- UOL (Unità Operativa Logistica) of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.,The Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom
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Zou XH, Guo XX, Su HZ, Wang C, Dong EL, Wang N, Chen WJ, Zhang QJ. Whole Exome Sequencing Identifies Two Novel Mutations in the Reticulon 4-Interacting Protein 1 Gene in a Chinese Family with Autosomal Recessive Optic Neuropathies. J Mol Neurosci 2019; 68:640-646. [PMID: 31077085 DOI: 10.1007/s12031-019-01319-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2018] [Accepted: 04/16/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Autosomal recessive optic neuropathies (IONs) are extremely rare disorders affecting retinal ganglion cells and the nervous system. RTN4IP1 has recently been identified as the third known gene associated with the autosomal recessive ION optic atrophy 10 (OPA10). Patients with RTN4IP1 mutations show early-onset optic neuropathy that can be followed by additional neurological symptoms such as seizures, ataxia, mental retardation, or even severe encephalopathy. Here, we report two siblings from a Chinese family who presented with early-onset optic neuropathy, epilepsy, and mild intellectual disability. Using whole exome sequencing combined with Sanger sequencing, we identified novel compound heterozygous RTN4IP1 mutations (c.646G > A, p.G216R and c.1162C > T, p.R388X) which both co-segregated with the disease phenotype and were predicted to be disease-causing by prediction software. An in vitro functional study in urine cells obtained from one of the patients revealed low expression of the RTN4IP1 protein. Our results identify novel compound heterozygous mutations in RTN4IP1 which are associated with OPA10, highlighting the frequency of RTN4IP1 mutations in human autosomal recessive IONs. To our knowledge, this is the first report of RTN4IP1 carriers from China.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Huan Zou
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, China
| | - Xin-Xin Guo
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, China
| | - Hui-Zhen Su
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, China
| | - Chong Wang
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, China
| | - En-Lin Dong
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, China
| | - Ning Wang
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, China.,Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Fujian Medical University, 20 Chazhong Road, Fuzhou, 350005, China
| | - Wan-Jin Chen
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, China. .,Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Fujian Medical University, 20 Chazhong Road, Fuzhou, 350005, China.
| | - Qi-Jie Zhang
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, China. .,Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Fujian Medical University, 20 Chazhong Road, Fuzhou, 350005, China.
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Falzarano MS, Ferlini A. Urinary Stem Cells as Tools to Study Genetic Disease: Overview of the Literature. J Clin Med 2019; 8:jcm8050627. [PMID: 31071994 PMCID: PMC6572423 DOI: 10.3390/jcm8050627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2019] [Revised: 05/03/2019] [Accepted: 05/06/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Urine specimens represent a novel and non-invasive approach to isolate patient-specific stem cells by easy and low-cost procedures, replacing the traditional sources (muscle/skin biopsy/adipose tissue) obtained with invasive and time-consuming methods. Urine-derived stem cells (USCs) can be used in a broad field of applications, such as regenerative medicine, cell therapy, diagnostic testing, disease modelling and drug screening. USCs are a good source of cells for generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and importantly, they can also be directly converted into specific cell lines. In this review, we show the features of USCs and their use as a promising in vitro model to study genetic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Sofia Falzarano
- UOL (Unita` Operativa Logistica) of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
| | - Alessandra Ferlini
- UOL (Unita` Operativa Logistica) of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
- Neuromuscular Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
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