Project description:Plasma exosomal miRNA may differ between adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients and healthy individuals. Sequencing analysis was used to find these differential miRNAs.
Project description:<p>Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common pediatric spinal deformity. Although the Bracing in AIS Trial (BrAIST) recently demonstrated the effectiveness of bracing for preventing scoliosis progression in some patients, more than 20,000 children undergo major spinal fusion surgery at an annual cost of $3 billion. Spinal fusion surgery is a major operation with considerable risks and complications. Accurate methods of predicting curve progression are needed to develop personalized prevention strategies for those at high risk and to eliminate screening and treatment of those at low risk of progression. Previously identified risk factors for scoliosis curve progression include sex, age of onset, curve type, and presence of an underlying disorder. However, currently available algorithms for predicting AIS curve progression are inaccurate, possibly because the role of genetic factors has been largely unexplored. Because there is little a priori knowledge of the genetic variants involved in AIS pathology, an unbiased genome-wide approach is likely to provide the best opportunity to comprehensively identify disease-associated genes. This is a multicenter exome sequencing study of extreme cases with severe scoliosis. </p>
Project description:The purpose of the study was to determine differences in mRNA concentration of VDR isoforms in bone, cartilage and paravertebral muscles between tissues from curve concavity and convexity, between JIS and AIS and to identify VDR responsive genes differentiating Juvenile and Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis in paravertebral muscles.
Project description:Comparison of paraspinal muscle imbalance between idiopathic scoliosis and congenital scoliosis may shed some light on the causality of paraspinal muscle imbalance and idiopathic scoliosis. This study aims to compare the transcriptomic profiles of paraspinal muscle imbalance between idiopathic scoliosis and congenital scoliosis.
Project description:Idiopathic scoliosis (IS) is a three-dimensional rotation of the spine >10 degrees with an unknown etiology. Our laboratory established a late-onset IS model in zebrafish (Danio rerio) containing a deletion in kif7. 25% of kif7co63/co63 zebrafish develop spinal curvatures and are otherwise developmentally normal, although the molecular mechanisms underlying the scoliosis are unknown. To define transcripts associated with scoliosis in this model, we performed bulk mRNA sequencing on 6 weeks past fertilization (wpf) kif7co63/co63 zebrafish with and without scoliosis. Additionally, we sequenced kif7co63/co63, kif7co63/+, and AB zebrafish (n= 3 per genotype). Sequencing reads were aligned to the GRCz11 genome and FPKM values were calculated. Differences between groups were calculated for each transcript by t-test. Principal component analysis showed that transcriptomes clustered by sample age and genotype. kif7 mRNA was mildly reduced in both homozygous and heterozygous zebrafish compared to AB. Sonic hedgehog target genes were upregulated in kif7co63/co63 zebrafish over AB, but no difference was detected between scoliotic and non-scoliotic mutants. The top upregulated genes in scoliotic zebrafish were cytoskeletal keratins.. Pankeratin staining of 6 wpf scoliotic and non-scoliotic kif7co63/co63 zebrafish showed increased keratin levels within the zebrafish musculature and intervertebral disc (IVD). Keratins are major components of the embryonic notochord, and aberrant keratin expression has been associated with intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) in both zebrafish and humans. The role of increased keratin accumulation as a molecular mechanism associated with the onset of scoliosis warrants further study.
Project description:<p>The <a href="https://www.commonfund.nih.gov/KidsFirst">Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program</a> (Kids First) is a trans-NIH effort initiated in response to the<a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr2019">2014 Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act</a> and supported by the NIH Common Fund. This program focuses on gene discovery in childhood cancers and structural birth defects and the development of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Data Resource (Kids First Data Resource). Both childhood cancers and structural birth defects are critical and costly conditions associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Elucidating the underlying genetic etiology of these diseases has the potential to profoundly improve preventative measures, diagnostics, and therapeutic interventions. </p> <p>All of the WGS and phenotypic data from this study are accessible through dbGaP and <a href="https://kidsfirstdrc.org/">kidsfirstdrc.org</a>, where other Kids First datasets can also be accessed.</p> <p>For the current study, families with inherited adolescent idiopathic scoliosis were included. Both affected and unaffected family members were included.</p>