Project description:BackgroundInfantile hypercalcemia is an autosomal recessive disorder caused either by mutations in the CYP24A1 gene (20q13.2) or in the SLC34A1 gene (5q35.3). This disease is characterized by hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis in paediatric patients. Maternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 20 [UPD(20)mat], resulting in aberrant expression of imprinted transcripts at the GNAS locus, is a poorly characterized condition. UPD(20)mat patients manifest a phenotype similar to that of Silver-Russell syndrome and small for gestational age-short stature.Case presentationWe report here the genetic and clinical characterization of a male child with a phenotype of infantile hypercalcemia, postnatal growth retardation, and minor dysmorphic features. Genetic analysis using a next generation sequencing panel revealed a homozygous pathogenic variant of CYP24A1. The absence of the variant in the father led to microsatellite segregation analysis, suggestive of UPD. SNP-array revealed a large terminal copy neutral loss of heterozygosity leading to CYP24A1 homozygosity. SNP-array data of parent-child trio confirmed a UPD(20)mat responsible for both infantile hypercalcemia and Silver-Russell syndrome-like traits.ConclusionThis is the first report of uniparental disomy of chromosome 20 revealed by infantile hypercalcemia related to CYP24A1 biallelic homozygous variants, underlying the importance of controlling allelic segregation in cases of homozygosity.
Project description:The mitotic checkpoint is a mechanism that arrests the progression to anaphase until all chromosomes have achieved proper attachment to mitotic spindles. In cancer cells, satisfaction of this checkpoint is frequently delayed or prevented by various defects, some of which have been causally implicated in tumorigenesis. At the same time, deliberate induction of mitotic arrest has proved clinically useful, as antimitotic drugs that interfere with proper chromosome-spindle interactions are effective anticancer agents. However, how mitotic arrest contributes to tumorigenesis or antimitotic drug toxicity is not well defined. Here, we report that mitotic chromosomes can acquire DNA breaks during both pharmacologic and genetic induction of mitotic arrest in human cancer cells. These breaks activate a DNA damage response, occur independently of cell death, and subsequently manifest as karyotype alterations. Such breaks can also occur spontaneously, particularly in cancer cells containing mitotic spindle abnormalities. Moreover, we observed evidence of some breakage in primary human cells. Our findings thus describe a novel source of DNA damage in human cells. They also suggest that mitotic arrest may promote tumorigenesis and antimitotic toxicity by provoking DNA damage.
Project description:Weiss-Kruszka syndrome (WSKA) is a rare disease most often caused by mutations in the ZNF462 gene. To screen for hereditary diseases, exons from the patient's genome were sequenced. Genomic PCR experiments followed by Sanger sequencing were used to confirm the mutated genomic regions in the patient and his parents. We report a new mutation site, a heterozygous mutation (NM_021224.6:c.6311dup) in ZNF462 in a male patient of 8 years old. The mutation in the ZNF462 gene caused WSKA. This patient is the first case with WSKA characterized by attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and complete growth hormone deficiency without pituitary lesions. Our results suggest that the heterozygous mutation in ZNF462 is the direct cause of WSKA in this patient. Mutations in other genes interacting with ZNF462 result in similar symptoms of WSKA. Furthermore, ZNF462 and its interacting proteins ASXL2 and VPS13B may form a protein complex that is important for normal development but awaits more studies to reveal its detailed functions.
Project description:Eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha (eEF1A) is an essential component of the translational apparatus. In the present study, eEF1A1b was isolated from the Nile tilapia. Real-time PCR and Western blot revealed that eEF1A1b was expressed highly in the testis from 90 dah (days after hatching) onwards. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry analyses showed that eEF1A1b was highly expressed in the spermatogonia of the testis. CRISPR/Cas9 mediated mutation of eEF1A1b resulted in spermatogenesis arrest and infertility in the F0 XY fish. Consistently, heterozygous mutation of eEF1A1b (eEF1A1b+/-) resulted in an absence of spermatocytes at 90 dah, very few spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa at 180 dah, and decreased Cyp11b2 and serum 11-ketotestosterone level at both stages. Further examination of the fertilization capacity of the sperm indicated that the eEF1A1b+/- XY fish were infertile due to abnormal spermiogenesis. Transcriptomic analyses of the eEF1A1b+/- testis from 180 dah XY fish revealed that key elements involved in spermatogenesis, steroidogenesis and sperm motility were significantly down-regulated compared with the control XY. Transgenic overexpression of eEF1A1b rescued the spermatogenesis arrest phenotype of the eEF1A1b+/- testis. Taken together, our data suggested that eEF1A1b is crucial for spermatogenesis and male fertility in the Nile tilapia.
Project description:The p53 tumor suppressor inhibits the proliferation of cells that undergo prolonged activation of the mitotic checkpoint. However, the function of this antiproliferative response is not well defined. Here, we report that p53 suppresses structural chromosome instability after mitotic arrest in human cells. In both HCT116 colon cancer cells and normal human fibroblasts, DNA breaks occurred during mitotic arrest in a p53-independent manner, but p53 was required to suppress the proliferation and structural chromosome instability of the resulting polyploid cells. In contrast, cells made polyploid without mitotic arrest exhibited neither significant structural chromosome instability nor p53-dependent cell cycle arrest. We also observed that p53 suppressed both the frequency and structural chromosome instability of spontaneous polyploids in HCT116 cells. Furthermore, time-lapse videomicroscopy revealed that polyploidization of p53(-/-) HCT116 cells is frequently accompanied by mitotic arrest. These data suggest that a function of the p53-dependent postmitotic response is the prevention of structural chromosome instability after prolonged activation of the mitotic checkpoint. Accordingly, our study suggests a novel mechanism of tumor suppression for p53, as well as a potential function for p53 in the outcome of antimitotic chemotherapy.
Project description:Mutations of PLA2G6 gene are responsible for PARK14, an autosomal recessive L-DOPA responsive dystonia/parkinsonism with early/adult onset. This phenotype possesses an high clinical variability, which consists in the occurrence of cerebral and cerebellar atrophy, iron accumulation in the basal ganglia, and cognitive decline. This report describes a PD patient carrying an heterozygous PLA2G6 mutation, which was identified also in his PD affected sister. This patient is characterized by a L-DOPA responsive typical parkinsonian syndrome without the occurrence of dystonia, a slight cognitive decline, presence of iron accumulation both in neo and paleostriatum while cerebellar atrophy was absent. Clinical and imaging features are compatible with the PARK14 phenotype. Although PARK14 has been previously reported to be inherited as a recessive disorder, clinical and genetic analysis of this proband and his family rise the hypothesis that even heterozygous PLA2G6 mutations may cause PARK14. It remains to be analyzed whether these heterozygous variants may act as dominant mutations, or they merely increase the risk to develop PD by acting within a context of synergistic genetic and/or environmental backgrounds.
Project description:BackgroundThe high incidence of aneuploidy in early human development, arising either from errors in meiosis or postzygotic mitosis, is the primary cause of pregnancy loss, miscarriage, and stillbirth following natural conception as well as in vitro fertilization (IVF). Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) has confirmed the prevalence of meiotic and mitotic aneuploidies among blastocyst-stage IVF embryos that are candidates for transfer. However, only about half of normally fertilized embryos develop to the blastocyst stage in vitro, while the others arrest at cleavage to late morula or early blastocyst stages.MethodsTo achieve a more complete view of the impacts of aneuploidy, we applied low-coverage sequencing-based PGT-A to a large series (n = 909) of arrested embryos and trophectoderm biopsies. We then correlated observed aneuploidies with abnormalities of the first two cleavage divisions using time-lapse imaging (n = 843).ResultsThe combined incidence of meiotic and mitotic aneuploidies was strongly associated with blastocyst morphological grading, with the proportion ranging from 20 to 90% for the highest to lowest grades, respectively. In contrast, the incidence of aneuploidy among arrested embryos was exceptionally high (94%), dominated by mitotic aneuploidies affecting multiple chromosomes. In turn, these mitotic aneuploidies were strongly associated with abnormal cleavage divisions, such that 51% of abnormally dividing embryos possessed mitotic aneuploidies compared to only 23% of normally dividing embryos.ConclusionsWe conclude that the combination of meiotic and mitotic aneuploidies drives arrest of human embryos in vitro, as development increasingly relies on embryonic gene expression at the blastocyst stage.
Project description:Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) occurs in many commonly consumed cruciferous vegetables and exhibits significant anti-cancer activities. Available data suggest that it is particularly promising for bladder cancer prevention and/or treatment. Here, we show that AITC arrests human bladder cancer cells in mitosis and also induces apoptosis. Mitotic arrest by AITC was associated with increased ubiquitination and degradation of ?- and ?-tubulin. AITC directly binds to multiple cysteine residues of the tubulins. AITC induced mitochondrion-mediated apoptosis, as shown by cytochrome c release from mitochondria to cytoplasm, activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and formation of TUNEL-positive cells. Inhibition of caspase-9 blocked AITC-induced apoptosis. Moreover, we found that apoptosis induction by AITC depended entirely on mitotic arrest and was mediated via Bcl-2 phosphorylation at Ser-70. Pre-arresting cells in G(1) phase by hydroxyurea abrogated both AITC-induced mitotic arrest and Bcl-2 phosphorylation. Overexpression of a Bcl-2 mutant prevented AITC from inducing apoptosis. We further showed that AITC-induced Bcl-2 phosphorylation was caused by c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and AITC activates JNK. Taken together, this study has revealed a novel anticancer mechanism of a phytochemical that is commonly present in human diet.
Project description:It is well established that short telomeres activate an ATM-driven DNA damage response that leads to senescence in terminally differentiated cells. However, technical limitations have hampered our understanding of how telomere shortening is signaled in human stem cells. Here, we show that telomere attrition induces ssDNA accumulation (G-strand) at telomeres in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), but not in their differentiated progeny. This led to a unique role for ATR in the response of hPSCs to telomere shortening that culminated in an extended S/G2 cell cycle phase and a longer period of mitosis, which was associated with aneuploidy and mitotic catastrophe. Loss of p53 increased resistance to death, at the expense of increased mitotic abnormalities in hPSCs. Taken together, our data reveal an unexpected dominant role of ATR in hPSCs, combined with unique cell cycle abnormalities and, ultimately, consequences distinct from those observed in their isogenic differentiated counterparts.
Project description:To understand if there exists a functional interaction between arsenic trioxide and paclitaxel in vitro.HeLa and HCT116 (rho53(+/+) and rho53(-/-)) cells were treated with As2O3 and/or paclitaxel for various times. Treated cells were collected for analyses using a combination of flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy and Western blotting.Because As(2)O(3) is capable of inhibiting tubulin polymerization and inducing mitotic arrest, we examined whether there existed any functional interaction between As(2)O(3) and paclitaxel, a well-known microtubule poison. Flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy revealed that although As(2)O(3) alone caused a moderate level of mitotic arrest, it greatly attenuated paclitaxel-induced mitotic arrest in cells with p53 deficiency. Western blot analysis showed that As(2)O(3) significantly blocked phosphorylation of BubR1, Cdc20, and Cdc27 in cells treated with paclitaxel, suggesting that arsenic compromised the activation of the spindle checkpoint. Our further studies revealed that the attenuation of paclitaxel-induced mitotic arrest by As(2)O(3) resulted primarily from sluggish cell cycle progression at S phase but not enhanced mitotic exit.The observations that As(2)O(3) has a negative impact on the cell cycle checkpoint activation by taxol should have significant clinical implications because the efficacy of taxol in the clinics is associated with its ability to induce mitotic arrest and subsequent mitotic catastrophe.