Dataset Information

Reducing bodies and myofibrillar myopathy features in FHL1 muscular dystrophy.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: Some pathologic features of the FHL1 myopathies and the myofibrillar myopathies (MFMs) overlap; we therefore searched for mutations in FHL1 in our cohort of 50 patients with genetically undiagnosed MFM. METHODS: Mutations in FHL1 were identified by direct sequencing. Polymorphisms were excluded by using allele-specific PCR in 200 control subjects. Structural changes in muscle were analyzed by histochemistry, immunocytochemistry, and electron microscopy. RESULTS: We detected 2 novel and 1 previously identified missense mutation in 5 patients. Patients 1-4 presented before age 30, display menadione-nitro blue tetrazolium-positive reducing bodies, and harbor mutations in the FHL1 LIM2 domain. Patient 5 presented at age 75 and has no reducing bodies, and his mutation is not in a LIM domain. The clinical features include progressive muscle weakness, hypertrophied muscles, rigid spine, and joint contractures, and 1 patient also has peripheral neuropathy. High-resolution electron microscopy reveals the reducing bodies composed of 13-nm tubulofilaments initially emanating from Z-disks. At a more advanced stage, abundant reducing bodies appear in the cytoplasm and nuclei with concomitant myofibrillar disintegration, accumulation of cytoplasmic degradation products, and aggregation of endoplasmic reticulum and sarcotubular profiles. CONCLUSIONS: FHL1 dystrophies can be associated with MFM pathology. Mutations in the LIM2 domain are associated with reducing bodies composed of distinct tubulofilaments. A mutation extraneous to LIM domains resulted in a mild late-onset phenotype with MFM pathology but no reducing bodies.

SUBMITTER: Selcen D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3235356 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Reducing bodies and myofibrillar myopathy features in FHL1 muscular dystrophy.

Selcen Duygu D Bromberg Mark B MB Chin Steven S SS Engel Andrew G AG

Neurology 20111116 22

<h4>Objective</h4>Some pathologic features of the FHL1 myopathies and the myofibrillar myopathies (MFMs) overlap; we therefore searched for mutations in FHL1 in our cohort of 50 patients with genetically undiagnosed MFM.<h4>Methods</h4>Mutations in FHL1 were identified by direct sequencing. Polymorphisms were excluded by using allele-specific PCR in 200 control subjects. Structural changes in muscle were analyzed by histochemistry, immunocytochemistry, and electron microscopy.<h4>Results</h4>We ...[more]

PMID: 22094483

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Project description:Alterations in RNA-splicing are a molecular hallmark of several neurological diseases, including muscular dystrophies where mutations in genes involved in RNA metabolism or characterised by alterations in RNA splicing have been described. Here, we present five patients from two unrelated families with a limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) phenotype carrying a biallelic variant in SNUPN gene. Snurportin-1, the protein encoded by SNUPN, plays an important role in the nuclear transport of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), essential components of the spliceosome. We combine deep phenotyping, including clinical features, histopathology and muscle magnetic resonance image (MRI), with functional studies in patient-derived cells and muscle biopsies to demonstrate that variants in SNUPN are the cause of a new type of LGMD according to current definition. Moreover, an in vivo model in Drosophila melanogaster further supports the relevance of Snurportin-1 in muscle. SNUPN patients show a similar phenotype characterised by proximal weakness starting in childhood, restrictive respiratory dysfunction and prominent contractures, although interindividual variability in terms of severity even in individuals from the same family was found. Muscle biopsy showed myofibrillar-like features consisting of myotilin deposits and Z-disc disorganisation. MRI showed predominant impairment of paravertebral, vasti, sartorius, gracilis, peroneal and medial gastrocnemius muscles. Conservation and structural analyses of Snurportin-1 p.Ile309Ser variant suggest an effect in nuclear-cytosol snRNP trafficking. In patient-derived fibroblasts and muscle, cytoplasmic accumulation of snRNP components is observed, while total expression of Snurportin-1 and snRNPs remains unchanged, which demonstrates a functional impact of SNUPN variant in snRNP metabolism. Furthermore, RNA-splicing analysis in patients’ muscle showed widespread splicing deregulation, in particular in genes relevant for muscle development and splicing factors that participate in the early steps of spliceosome assembly. In conclusion, we report that SNUPN variants are a new cause of limb girdle muscular dystrophy with specific clinical, histopathological and imaging features, supporting SNUPN as a new gene to be included in genetic testing of myopathies. These results further support the relevance of splicing-related proteins in muscle disorders.

Project description:BACKGROUND:To report a novel exertional myopathy, myofibrillar myopathy (MFM) in Warmblood (WB) horses. OBJECTIVES:To 1) describe the distinctive clinical and myopathic features of MFM in Warmblood horses and 2) investigate the potential inheritance of MFM in a Warmblood family. STUDY DESIGN:Retrospective selection of MFM cases and prospective evaluation of a Warmblood family. METHODS:Retrospectively, muscle biopsies were selected from Warmblood horses diagnosed with MFM and clinical histories obtained (n = 10). Prospectively, muscle biopsies were obtained from controls (n = 8) and a three generation WB family (n = 11). Samples were assessed for histopathology [scored 0-3], fibre types, cytoskeletal and Z disc protein aggregates, electron microscopic alterations (EM) and muscle glycogen concentrations. RESULTS:Myofibrillar myopathy-affected cases experienced exercise intolerance, reluctance to go forward, stiffness and poorly localised lameness. Abnormal aggregates of the cytoskeletal protein desmin were found in up to 120 type 2a and a few type 2x myofibres of MFM cases. Desmin positive fibres did not stain for developmental myosin, α actinin or dystrophin. Scores for internalised myonuclei (score MFM 0.83 ± 0.67, controls 0.22 ± 0.45), anguloid atrophy (MFM 0.95 ± 0.55, controls 0.31 ± 0.37) and total myopathic scores (MFM 5.85 ± 2.10, controls 1.41 ± 2.17) were significantly higher in MFM cases vs. CONTROLS:Focal Z disc degeneration, myofibrillar disruption and accumulation of irregular granular material was evident in MFM cases. Muscle glycogen concentrations were similar between MFM cases and controls. In the Warmblood family, desmin positive aggregates were found in myofibres of the founding dam and in horses from two subsequent generations. MAIN LIMITATIONS:Restricted sample size due to limited availability of well phenotyped cases. CONCLUSIONS:A distinctive and potentially heritable form of MFM exists in Warmblood horses that present with exercise intolerance and abnormal hindlimb gait. Muscle tissue is characterised by ectopic accumulation of desmin and Z disc and myofibrillar degeneration.

Project description:We recently identified the X-chromosomal four and a half LIM domain gene FHL1 as the causative gene for reducing body myopathy, a disorder characterized by progressive weakness and intracytoplasmic aggregates in muscle that exert reducing activity on menadione nitro-blue-tetrazolium (NBT). The mutations detected in FHL1 affected highly conserved zinc coordinating residues within the second LIM domain and lead to the formation of aggregates when transfected into cells. Our aim was to define the clinical and morphological phenotype of this myopathy and to assess the mutational spectrum of FHL1 mutations in reducing body myopathy in a larger cohort of patients. Patients were ascertained via the detection of reducing bodies in muscle biopsy sections stained with menadione-NBT followed by clinical, histological, ultrastructural and molecular genetic analysis. A total of 11 patients from nine families were included in this study, including seven sporadic patients with early childhood onset disease and four familial cases with later onset. Weakness in all patients was progressive, sometimes rapidly so. Respiratory failure was common and scoliosis and spinal rigidity were significant in some of the patients. Analysis of muscle biopsies confirmed the presence of aggregates of FHL1 positive material in all biopsies. In two patients in whom sequential biopsies were available the aggregate load in muscle sections appeared to increase over time. Ultrastructural analysis revealed that cytoplasmic bodies were regularly seen in conjunction with the reducing bodies. The mutations detected were exclusive to the second LIM domain of FHL1 and were found in both sporadic as well as familial cases of reducing body myopathy. Six of the nine mutations affected the crucial zinc coordinating residue histidine 123. All mutations in this residue were de novo and were associated with a severe clinical course, in particular in one male patient (H123Q). Mutations in the zinc coordinating residue cysteine 153 were associated with a milder phenotype and were seen in the familial cases in which the boys were still more severely affected compared to their mothers. We expect the mild end of the spectrum to significantly expand in the future. On the severe end of the spectrum we define reducing body myopathy as a progressive disease with early, but not necessarily congenital onset, distinguishing this condition from the classic essentially non-progressive congenital myopathies.

Dataset Information

Reducing bodies and myofibrillar myopathy features in FHL1 muscular dystrophy.

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Reducing bodies and myofibrillar myopathy features in FHL1 muscular dystrophy.

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