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Functional consequences of TCF4 missense substitutions associated with Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, mild intellectual disability, and schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT: Transcription factor 4 (TCF4) is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor essential for neurocognitive development. The aberrations in TCF4 are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia, intellectual disability, and Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, an autism-spectrum disorder characterized by developmental delay. Several disease-associated missense mutations in TCF4 have been shown to interfere with TCF4 function, but for many mutations, the impact remains undefined. Here, we tested the effects of 12 functionally uncharacterized disease-associated missense mutations and variations in TCF4 using transient expression in mammalian cells, confocal imaging, in vitro DNA-binding assays, and reporter assays. We show that Pitt-Hopkins syndrome-associated missense mutations within the basic helix-loop-helix domain of TCF4 and a Rett-like syndrome-associated mutation in a transcription activation domain result in altered DNA-binding and transcriptional activity of the protein. Some of the missense variations found in schizophrenia patients slightly increase TCF4 transcriptional activity, whereas no effects were detected for missense mutations linked to mild intellectual disability. We in addition find that the outcomes of several disease-related mutations are affected by cell type, TCF4 isoform, and dimerization partner, suggesting that the effects of TCF4 mutations are context-dependent. Together with previous work, this study provides a basis for the interpretation of the functional consequences of TCF4 missense variants.

SUBMITTER: Sirp A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8648840 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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TCF4, schizophrenia, and Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome.

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Complex translocation disrupting TCF4 and altering TCF4 isoform expression segregates as mild autosomal dominant intellectual disability.

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Complex Balanced Translocation Disrupting TCF4 and Altering TCF4 Isoform Expression Segregates as Mild Autosomal Dominant Intellectual Disability

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2016-05-31 | GSE77742 | GEO

Complex Balanced Translocation Disrupting TCF4 and Altering TCF4 Isoform Expression Segregates as Mild Autosomal Dominant Intellectual Disability

Project description:Mutations of TCF4, which encodes a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, cause Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) via multiple genetic mechanisms. TCF4 is a complex locus expressing multiple transcripts by alternative splicing and use of multiple promoters. We report a three-generation family segregating mild intellectual disability with an apparently balanced chromosomal translocation t(14;18)(q23.3;q21.2) that we characterized as a complex unbalanced karyotype 46,XY,der(14)del(14)(q23.3q23.3)t(14;18)(q23.3;q21.2)del(18)(q21.2q21.2) del(18)(q21.2q21.2)inv(18)(q21.2q21.2),der(18)t(14 ;18)(q23.3;q21.2) disrupting TCF4. Using whole genome sequencing, transcriptome sequencing, qRT-PCR and nCounter analysis, we characterized the breakpoint junctions from derivative chromosomes and gene expression at the TCF4 locus. Our analyses revealed that family members segregating mild intellectual disability with the complex chromosome aberration had normal expression of genes along chromosomes 14 or 18 and no marked changes in expression of genes other than TCF4. Affected individuals had 12-33 fold higher mRNA levels of TCF4 than did unaffected controls or individuals with PTHS. Increased levels of TCF4 transcript variants originating distal to the translocation breakpoint, not the fusion transcript generated by the derivative chromosome, contributed to this increased. Although validation in additional patients is required, our findings suggest that the dysmorphic features and severe intellectual disability characteristic of PTHS is partially rescued by overexpression of short TCF4 transcripts encoding a nuclear localization signal, a transcription activation domain, and the basic helix-loop-helix domain. Examination of TCF4 Isoform expression comparison between mutant and control skin fibroblast tissues

2016-05-31 | E-GEOD-77742 | biostudies-arrayexpress

The Psychiatric Risk Gene Transcription Factor 4 (TCF4) Regulates Neurodevelopmental Pathways Associated With Schizophrenia, Autism, and Intellectual Disability.

Project description:Common genetic variants in and around the gene encoding transcription factor 4 (TCF4) are associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia. Conversely, rare damaging TCF4 mutations cause Pitt-Hopkins syndrome and have also been found in individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).Chromatin immunoprecipitation and next generation sequencing were used to identify the genomic targets of TCF4. These data were integrated with expression, epigenetic and disease gene sets using a range of computational tools.We identify 10604 TCF4 binding sites in the genome that were assigned to 5437 genes. De novo motif enrichment found that most TCF4 binding sites contained at least one E-box (5'-CAtcTG). Approximately 77% of TCF4 binding sites overlapped with the H3K27ac histone modification for active enhancers. Enrichment analysis on the set of TCF4 targets identified numerous, highly significant functional clusters for pathways including nervous system development, ion transport and signal transduction, and co-expression modules for genes associated with synaptic function and brain development. Importantly, we found that genes harboring de novo mutations in schizophrenia (P = 5.3 × 10-7), ASD (P = 2.5 × 10-4), and ID (P = 7.6 × 10-3) were also enriched among TCF4 targets. TCF4 binding sites were also found at other schizophrenia risk loci including the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor cluster, CHRNA5/CHRNA3/CHRNB4 and SETD1A.These data demonstrate that TCF4 binding sites are found in a large number of neuronal genes that include many genetic risk factors for common neurodevelopmental disorders.

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