Functional genetic variants in the 3'UTR of PTPRD associated with the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus

In Silico and In Vitro Mapping of Receptor-Type Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Receptor Type D in Health and Disease: Implications for Asprosin Signalling in Endometrial Cancer and Neuroblastoma

BACKGROUND

Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Receptor Type D (PTPRD) is involved in the regulation of cell growth, differentiation, and oncogenic transformation, as well as in brain development. PTPRD also mediates the effects of asprosin, which is a glucogenic hormone/adipokine derived following the cleavage of the C-terminal of fibrillin 1. Since the asprosin circulating levels are elevated in certain cancers, research is now focused on the potential role of this adipokine and its receptors in cancer. As such, in this study, we investigated the expression of PTPRD in endometrial cancer (EC) and the placenta, as well as in glioblastoma (GBM).

METHODS

An array of in silico tools, in vitro models, tissue microarrays (TMAs), and liquid biopsies were employed to determine the gene and protein expression of PTPRD in healthy tissues/organs and in patients with EC and GBM.

RESULTS

PTPRD exhibits high expression in the occipital lobe, parietal lobe, globus pallidus, ventral thalamus, and white matter, whereas in the human placenta, it is primarily localised around the tertiary villi. PTPRD is significantly upregulated at the mRNA and protein levels in patients with EC and GBM compared to healthy controls. In patients with EC, PTPRD is significantly downregulated with obesity, whilst it is also expressed in the peripheral leukocytes. The EC TMAs revealed abundant PTPRD expression in both low- and high-grade tumours. Asprosin treatment upregulated the expression of PTPRD only in syncytialised placental cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data indicate that PTPRD may have potential as a biomarker for malignancies such as EC and GBM, further implicating asprosin as a potential metabolic regulator in these cancers. Future studies are needed to explore the potential molecular mechanisms/signalling pathways that link PTPRD and asprosin in cancer.

Integrative single-cell characterization of a frugivorous and an insectivorous bat kidney and pancreas

Frugivory evolved multiple times in mammals, including bats. However, the cellular and molecular components driving it remain largely unknown. Here, we use integrative single-cell sequencing (scRNA-seq and scATAC-seq) on insectivorous (Eptesicus fuscus; big brown bat) and frugivorous (Artibeus jamaicensis; Jamaican fruit bat) bat kidneys and pancreases and identify key cell population, gene expression and regulatory differences associated with the Jamaican fruit bat that also relate to human disease, particularly diabetes. We find a decrease in loop of Henle and an increase in collecting duct cells, and differentially active genes and regulatory elements involved in fluid and electrolyte balance in the Jamaican fruit bat kidney. The Jamaican fruit bat pancreas shows an increase in endocrine and a decrease in exocrine cells, and differences in genes and regulatory elements involved in insulin regulation. We also find that these frugivorous bats share several molecular characteristics with human diabetes. Combined, our work provides insights from a frugivorous mammal that could be leveraged for therapeutic purposes.

Genetic variants of ERBB4 gene and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a susceptibility and diagnostic nomogram study

Introduction

Gestational diabetes (GDM) is one of the common complications of female pregnancy, which seriously affects the health of mothers and their offspring. So far, the etiology has not been fully clarified.

Methods

A case-control study was conducted to clarify the relationship between Erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 4 (ERBB4) functional tag genetic variants (rs1595064, rs1595065, rs1595066 and rs6719645) and the risk of GDM. Associations between variants and GDM risk were evaluated with the odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Subsequently, the false-positive reporting probability (FPRP), multi-factor dimension reduction (MDR) and bioinformatics analysis were adopted to confirm the significant associations. A nomogram model was constructed to predict the risk of GDM.

Results

Association analysis demonstrated that rs1595066 TT genotype performed a protective effect on GDM risk among all subjects (TT vs. CC: adjusted OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.38 - 0.94, P = 0.026; TT vs. CC/CT: adjusted OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.40 - 0.95, P = 0.027). Meanwhile, stratified analysis showed that rs1595066 TT can also reduce the GDM risk in age > 30.09 years old, pre-pregnancy BMI > 22.23 Kg/m2, SBP ≤ 110.08 mmHg, etc subgroups. Interactions between rs1595066 and DBP (P interaction = 0.01), FPG (P interaction < 0.001) and HbA1c (P interaction < 0.001) were detected. The FPRP analysis confirmed that association between rs1595066 and GDM risk in subjects of FPG < 4.79 mmol/L (P = 0.199) is true. The MDR analysis showed that rs1595066 was the best single locus model while the 4-loci model was the best multiple factors model to predict GDM risk. Functional prediction revealed that rs1595066 may disturb the stability of miRNA-mRNA binding. The predictive nomogram model has a well consistence and acceptable discriminative ability with a diagnosed AUC of 0.813.

Discussion

ERBB4 variants can change an individual's susceptibility to GDM via the interaction of gene-gene, gene-environment and changes in the regulatory effects of miRNAs on ERBB4 expression.

Integrative single-cell characterization of frugivory adaptations in the bat kidney and pancreas

Frugivory evolved multiple times in mammals, including bats. However, the cellular and molecular components driving it remain largely unknown. Here, we used integrative single-cell sequencing on insectivorous and frugivorous bat kidneys and pancreases and identified key cell population, gene expression and regulatory element differences associated with frugivorous adaptation that also relate to human disease, particularly diabetes. We found an increase in collecting duct cells and differentially active genes and regulatory elements involved in fluid and electrolyte balance in the frugivore kidney. In the frugivorous pancreas, we observed an increase in endocrine and a decrease in exocrine cells and differences in genes and regulatory elements involved in insulin regulation. Combined, our work provides novel insights into frugivorous adaptation that also could be leveraged for therapeutic purposes.