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de Castro JNP, da Silva Costa SM, Camargo ACL, Ito MT, de Souza BB, de Haidar E Bertozzo V, Rodrigues TAR, Lanaro C, de Albuquerque DM, Saez RC, Saad STO, Ozelo MC, Cendes F, Costa FF, de Melo MB. Comparative transcriptomic analysis of circulating endothelial cells in sickle cell stroke. Ann Hematol 2024; 103:1167-1179. [PMID: 38386032 DOI: 10.1007/s00277-024-05655-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Ischemic stroke (IS) is one of the most impairing complications of sickle cell anemia (SCA), responsible for 20% of mortality in patients. Rheological alterations, adhesive properties of sickle reticulocytes, leukocyte adhesion, inflammation and endothelial dysfunction are related to the vasculopathy observed prior to ischemic events. The role of the vascular endothelium in this complex cascade of mechanisms is emphasized, as well as in the process of ischemia-induced repair and neovascularization. The aim of the present study was to perform a comparative transcriptomic analysis of endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) from SCA patients with and without IS. Next, to gain further insights of the biological relevance of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), functional enrichment analysis, protein-protein interaction network (PPI) construction and in silico prediction of regulatory factors were performed. Among the 2469 DEGs, genes related to cell proliferation (AKT1, E2F1, CDCA5, EGFL7), migration (AKT1, HRAS), angiogenesis (AKT1, EGFL7) and defense response pathways (HRAS, IRF3, TGFB1), important endothelial cell molecular mechanisms in post ischemia repair were identified. Despite the severity of IS in SCA, widely accepted molecular targets are still lacking, especially related to stroke outcome. The comparative analysis of the gene expression profile of ECFCs from IS patients versus controls seems to indicate that there is a persistent angiogenic process even after a long time this complication has occurred. Thus, this is an original study which may lead to new insights into the molecular basis of SCA stroke and contribute to a better understanding of the role of endothelial cells in stroke recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Júlia Nicoliello Pereira de Castro
- Laboratory of Human Genetics, Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering-CBMEG, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Sueli Matilde da Silva Costa
- Laboratory of Human Genetics, Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering-CBMEG, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Ana Carolina Lima Camargo
- Laboratory of Human Genetics, Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering-CBMEG, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Mirta Tomie Ito
- Laboratory of Human Genetics, Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering-CBMEG, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Bruno Batista de Souza
- Laboratory of Human Genetics, Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering-CBMEG, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Victor de Haidar E Bertozzo
- Laboratory of Human Genetics, Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering-CBMEG, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Thiago Adalton Rosa Rodrigues
- Laboratory of Human Genetics, Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering-CBMEG, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Carolina Lanaro
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Roberta Casagrande Saez
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Sara Teresinha Olalla Saad
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Margareth Castro Ozelo
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Fernando Cendes
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Neurology, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Fernando Ferreira Costa
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Mônica Barbosa de Melo
- Laboratory of Human Genetics, Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering-CBMEG, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-875, Brazil.
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Bertozzo VDHE, da Silva Costa SM, Ito MT, da Cruz PRS, Souza BB, Rios VM, Viturino MGM, de Castro JNP, Rodrigues TAR, Lanaro C, de Albuquerque DM, Saez RC, Olalla Saad ST, Ozelo MC, Costa FF, de Melo MB. Comparative transcriptome analysis of endothelial progenitor cells of HbSS patients with and without proliferative retinopathy. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2023; 248:677-684. [PMID: 37012663 PMCID: PMC10408552 DOI: 10.1177/15353702231157927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Among sickle cell anemia (SCA) complications, proliferative sickle cell retinopathy (PSCR) is one of the most important, being responsible for visual impairment in 10-20% of affected eyes. The aim of this study was to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) present in pathways that may be implicated in the pathophysiology of PSCR from the transcriptome profile analysis of endothelial progenitor cells. RNA-Seq was used to compare gene expression profile of circulating endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) from HbSS patients with and without PSCR. Furthermore, functional enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were performed to gain further insights into biological functions. The differential expression analysis identified 501 DEGs, when comparing the groups with and without PSCR. Furthermore, functional enrichment analysis showed associations of the DEGs in 200 biological processes. Among these, regulation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activity, positive regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), and positive regulation of Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) receptor signaling pathway were observed. These pathways are associated with angiogenesis, cell migration, adhesion, differentiation, and proliferation, important processes involved in PSCR pathophysiology. Moreover, our results showed an over-expression of VEGFC (vascular endothelial growth factor-C) and FLT1 (Fms-Related Receptor Tyrosine Kinase 1) genes, when comparing HbSS patients with and without PSCR. These results may indicate a possible association between VEGFC and FLT1 receptor, which may activate signaling pathways such as PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK and contribute to the mechanisms implicated in neovascularization. Thus, our findings contain preliminary results that may guide future studies in the field, since the molecular mechanisms of PSCR are still poorly understood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor de Haidar e Bertozzo
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-875, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Sueli Matilde da Silva Costa
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-875, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Mirta Tomie Ito
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-875, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Pedro Rodrigues Sousa da Cruz
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-875, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Bruno Batista Souza
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-875, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Vinicius Mandolesi Rios
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-875, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | | | - Thiago Adalton Rosa Rodrigues
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-875, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Carolina Lanaro
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-970, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Roberta Casagrande Saez
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-970, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Sara Teresinha Olalla Saad
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-970, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Margareth Castro Ozelo
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-970, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Fernando Ferreira Costa
- Hematology and Hemotherapy Center, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-970, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Mônica Barbosa de Melo
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-875, São Paulo, Brazil
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Gil GP, Ananina G, Maschietto M, Lima SCS, da Silva Costa SM, Baptista LDC, Ito MT, Costa FF, Costa ML, de Melo MB. Epigenetic analysis in placentas from sickle cell disease patients reveals a hypermethylation profile. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0274762. [PMID: 36129958 PMCID: PMC9491616 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Pregnancy in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) women is associated to increased risk of clinical and obstetrical complications. Placentas from SCD pregnancies can present increased abnormal findings, which may lead to placental insufficiency, favoring adverse perinatal outcome. These placental abnormalities are well known and reported, however little is known about the molecular mechanisms, such as epigenetics. Thus, our aim was to evaluate the DNA methylation profile in placentas from women with SCD (HbSS and HbSC genotypes), compared to uncomplicated controls (HbAA). We included in this study 11 pregnant women with HbSS, 11 with HbSC and 21 with HbAA genotypes. Illumina Methylation EPIC BeadChip was used to assess the whole placental DNA methylation. Pyrosequencing was used for array data validation and qRT-PCR was applied for gene expression analysis. Our results showed high frequency of hypermethylated CpGs sites in HbSS and HbSC groups with 73.5% and 76.2% respectively, when compared with the control group. Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) also showed an increased hypermethylation status for the HbSS (89%) and HbSC (86%) groups, when compared with the control group methylation data. DMRs were selected for methylation validation (4 DMRs-HbSS and 3 DMRs the HbSC groups) and after analyses three were validated in the HbSS group, and none in the HbSC group. The gene expression analysis showed differential expression for the PTGFR (-2.97-fold) and GPR56 (3.0-fold) genes in the HbSS group, and for the SPOCK1 (-2.40-fold) and ADCY4 (1.80-fold) genes in the HbSC group. Taken together, these data strongly suggest that SCD (HbSS and HbSC genotypes) can alter placental DNA methylation and lead to gene expression changes. These changes possibly contribute to abnormal placental development and could impact in the clinical course, especially for the fetus, possibly leading to increased risk of abortion, fetal growth restriction (FGR), stillbirth, small for gestational age newborns and prematurity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gislene Pereira Gil
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Galina Ananina
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | | | - Sueli Matilde da Silva Costa
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Leticia de Carvalho Baptista
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Mirta Tomie Ito
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Maria Laura Costa
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Mônica Barbosa de Melo
- Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
- * E-mail:
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de Carvalho-Siqueira GQ, Ananina G, de Souza BB, Borges MG, Ito MT, da Silva-Costa SM, de Farias Domingos I, Falcão DA, Lopes-Cendes I, Bezerra MAC, da Silva Araújo A, Lucena-Araújo AR, de Souza Gonçalves M, Saad STO, Costa FF, de Melo MB. Whole-exome sequencing indicates FLG2 variant associated with leg ulcers in Brazilian sickle cell anemia patients. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2019; 244:932-939. [PMID: 31079484 DOI: 10.1177/1535370219849592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Although sickle cell anemia results from homozygosity for a single mutation at position 7 of the β-globin chain, the clinical aspects of this condition are very heterogeneous. Complications include leg ulcers, which have a negative impact on patients’ quality of life and are related to the severity of the disease. Nevertheless, the complex pathogenesis of this complication has yet to be elucidated. To identify novel genes associated with leg ulcers in sickle cell anemia, we performed whole-exome sequencing of extreme phenotypes in a sample of Brazilian sickle cell anemia patients and validated our findings in another sample. Our discovery cohort consisted of 40 unrelated sickle cell anemia patients selected based on extreme phenotypes: 20 patients without leg ulcers, aged from 40 to 61 years, and 20 with chronic leg ulcers. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes and used for whole-exome sequencing. After the bioinformatics analysis, eight variants were selected for validation by Sanger sequencing and TaqMan® genotyping in 293 sickle cell anemia patients (153 without leg ulcers) from two different locations in Brazil. After the validation, Fisher’s exact test revealed a statistically significant difference in a stop codon variant (rs12568784 G/T) in the FLG2 gene between the GT and GG genotypes ( P = 0.035). We highlight the importance of rs12568784 in leg ulcer development as this variant of the FLG2 gene results in impairment of the skin barrier, predisposing the individual to inflammation and infection. Additionally, we suggest that the remaining seven variants and the genes in which they occur could be strong candidates for leg ulcers in sickle cell anemia. Impact statement To our knowledge, the present study is the first to use whole-exome sequencing based on extreme phenotypes to identify new candidate genes associated with leg ulcers in sickle cell anemia patients. There are few studies about this complication; the pathogenesis remains complex and has yet to be fully elucidated. We identified interesting associations in genes never related with this complication to our knowledge, especially the variant in the FLG2 gene. The knowledge of variants related with leg ulcer in sickle cell anemia may lead to a better comprehension of the disease’s etiology, allowing prevention and early treatment options in risk genotypes while improving quality of life for these patients.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Galina Ananina
- 1 Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Bruno Batista de Souza
- 1 Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Murilo Guimarães Borges
- 2 Department of Medical Genetics and Genome Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-887, Brazil
| | - Mirta Tomie Ito
- 1 Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Sueli Matilde da Silva-Costa
- 1 Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-875, Brazil
| | - Igor de Farias Domingos
- 3 Genetics Postgraduate Program, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE 50670-901, Brazil
| | - Diego Arruda Falcão
- 3 Genetics Postgraduate Program, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE 50670-901, Brazil
| | - Iscia Lopes-Cendes
- 2 Department of Medical Genetics and Genome Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-887, Brazil
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Mônica Barbosa de Melo
- 1 Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-875, Brazil
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Yamagishi Y, Ito MT, Kin K, Sakurabayashi I, Kawai T. [Studies on serum pregnancy-associated-proteins. 2. Serum levels of alpha 2 PAG in patients with malignant tumors (author's transl)]. Rinsho Byori 1979; 27:830-4. [PMID: 92579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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