Project description:Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis currently used does not achieve desirable levels of sensitivity and specificity. Recently, fetal methylated DNA biomarkers in maternal whole blood have been explored for noninvasive prenatal detection. However, such efforts cover only chromosomal aneuploidy; fetal methylated DNA biomarkers for detecting single-gene disease remain to be discovered. To address this issue, we systematically screened significantly hypermethylated genes in fetal tissues compared with maternal blood for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of various inherited diseases. First, Methylated-CpG island recovery assay combined with CpG island array was performed in four maternal peripheral bloods and their corresponding placental tissues. Subsequently, direct bisulfite sequencing and combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) were carried out to validate the reliability of methylation microarray analysis. As results, 310 significantly hypermethylated genes in fetal tissues were detected by microarray. Two of five randomly selected hypermethylated genes detected by microarray were confirmed to be hypermethylated in fetal tissue samples by direct bisulfite sequencing. All four randomly selected hypermethylated genes detected by microarray were confirmed to be hypermethylated in five independent amniotic fluid samples and five independent chorionic villus samples from 10 pregnant women by CORBA. In conclusions, We found a lot of hypermethylated genes and methylation sites in fetal tissues, some of which have great potential to be developed into molecular markers for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of monogenic disorders. Further clinical study is warranted to confirm these findings. Paired experiments, placental tissues vs. maternal peripheral bloods. Biological replicates: 4 placental tissues and 4 correspoding maternal peripheral bloods.
Project description:Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis currently used does not achieve desirable levels of sensitivity and specificity. Recently, fetal methylated DNA biomarkers in maternal whole blood have been explored for noninvasive prenatal detection. However, such efforts cover only chromosomal aneuploidy; fetal methylated DNA biomarkers for detecting single-gene disease remain to be discovered. To address this issue, we systematically screened significantly hypermethylated genes in fetal tissues compared with maternal blood for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of various inherited diseases. First, Methylated-CpG island recovery assay combined with CpG island array was performed in four maternal peripheral bloods and their corresponding placental tissues. Subsequently, direct bisulfite sequencing and combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) were carried out to validate the reliability of methylation microarray analysis. As results, 310 significantly hypermethylated genes in fetal tissues were detected by microarray. Two of five randomly selected hypermethylated genes detected by microarray were confirmed to be hypermethylated in fetal tissue samples by direct bisulfite sequencing. All four randomly selected hypermethylated genes detected by microarray were confirmed to be hypermethylated in five independent amniotic fluid samples and five independent chorionic villus samples from 10 pregnant women by CORBA. In conclusions, We found a lot of hypermethylated genes and methylation sites in fetal tissues, some of which have great potential to be developed into molecular markers for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of monogenic disorders. Further clinical study is warranted to confirm these findings.
Project description:Genome wide DNA methylation profiling of fetal DNA-methylation levels in 47 chorionic villi (CVS) and 16 amniotic cell (AC) samples. The Illumina Infinium 27k Human DNA methylation Beadchip was used to determine DNA methylation profiles across approximately 27,578 CpGs in fetal samples.
Project description:We undertook gene expression microarray experiments to identify genes that are differentially expressed in invasive (Chorionic Girdle) and non-invasive (Chorion) placental tissue, and resting and Pokeweed Mitogen (PWM) stimulated horse lymphocytes. Conceptus tissues were dissected to obtain chorionic girdle, and chorion. Freshly isolated horse peripheral blood lymphocytes were split and harvested immediately, or stimulated with PWM and harvested over a five day period. These experiments utilized a commercially available Agilent horse array that featured >43,000 probes on a 4x44k array format.
Project description:The placenta is considered one of the candidate cell sources in cellular therapeutics because of a large number of cells and heterogenous cell population with myogenic potentials. We first analyzed myogenic potential of cells obtained from six parts of the placenta, i.e., umbilical cord, amniotic epithelium, amniotic mesoderm, chorionic plate, villous chorion (chorion frondosum), , and decidua basalis. Implantation of placenta-derived cells into dystrophic muscles of immunodeficient mdx mice restored sarcolemmal expression of human dystrophin. Co-existence of human and murine nuclei in one myotube and presence of human dystrophin in murine myotube suggests that human dystrophin expression is due to cell fusion between host murine myocytes and implanted human cells. In vitro analysis revealed that cells derived from amniotic mesoderm, chorionic plate, ,and villous chorion efficiently transdifferentiate into myotubes. These cells fused to C2C12 murine myoblasts by in vitro co-culturing, and murine myoblasts start to express human dystrophin after fusion. These results demonstrate that placenta-derived cells, especially extraembryonic mesodermal cells, have a myogenic potential and regenerative capacity of skeletal muscle. Determination of cell specification with the gene chip analysis revealed that each placental cell has a distinct expression pattern. Experiment Overall Design: To isolate chorionic villi cells, we used the explant culture method, in which the cells were outgrown from pieces of chorionic villi attached to dishes. Chorionic villi cells were harvested with 0.25% trypsin and 1 mM EDTA, and overlaid onto the cultured fetal cardiomyocytes at 7 x 103/cm2. Every 2 days, the culture medium was replaced with fresh culture medium that was supplemented with 10% FBS and 1 ug/ml Amphotericin B (GIBCO). The morphology of the beating chorionic villi cells was evaluated under a fluorescent microscope.
Project description:Whereas non-invasive prenatal testing for aneuploidies (NIPT-A) is widely implemented, non-invasive prenatal testing for monogenic diseases (NIPT-M) is lagging. By capturing and targeted sequencing of 250000 polymorphic SNP loci from maternal plasma circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and DNA from relatives, the fetal haplotype and chromosomal copy numbers are deduced. In all families tested, the cfDNA derived haplotypes are on average 97% concordant with the neonatal and embryo haplotype. This generic non-invasive prenatal diagnostic approach allows cost efficient scrutinizing the fetal genome for the presence of any inherited monogenic disease or trait.
Project description:Genome wide DNA methylation profiling of fetal DNA-methylation levels in 47 chorionic villi (CVS) and 16 amniotic cell (AC) samples. The Illumina Infinium 27k Human DNA methylation Beadchip was used to determine DNA methylation profiles across approximately 27,578 CpGs in fetal samples. Bisulphite converted DNA from the 61 samples were hybridised to the Illumina Infinium 27k Human Methylation Beadchip (2 sample in duplicate pairs)
Project description:We undertook gene expression microarray experiments to identify genes that are differentially expressed in invasive (Chorionic Girdle) and non-invasive (Chorion) placental tissue, and resting and Pokeweed Mitogen (PWM) stimulated horse lymphocytes. Conceptus tissues were dissected to obtain chorionic girdle, and chorion. Freshly isolated horse peripheral blood lymphocytes were split and harvested immediately, or stimulated with PWM and harvested over a five day period. These experiments utilized a commercially available Agilent horse array that featured >43,000 probes on a 4x44k array format. Three day 33-35 chorionic girdle RNAs were compared to matching chorion RNAs. Gene expression in resting lymphocytes was compared to gene expression in PWM treated lymphocytes.
Project description:The uploaded results of two samples were SNParray results in our research of which fetal CNVs were detected by noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT) and confirmed by microarray results. Sample ZNY162 received prenatal diagnosis because at 17 gestational week the pregnant woman received NIPT showing 23Mb microdeletion in Chr18. Later ultrasound examination showed developmental anomalies of feet and the 13th ribs. The pregnant woman received amniocentesis and SNParray at the 21st gestational week, which confirmed the existence of the microdeletion in Chr18. DNA was extracted from 10ml amniotic fluid and tested by Affymetrix CytoScan HD array to detect CNVs in whole genome, showing arr 18q22.3q23(69,461,933-78,014,123) Ã1. Sample LMQ155 received prenatal diagnosis because of advanced maternal age and NIPT result of a 2.29Mb microduplication in Chr13 at 15 gestational week. Amniocentesis was performed at the 17th gestational week. Affymetrix CytoScan HD array were used to detect fetal CNVs in whole genome, which showed arr 13q21.2(60,399,612-61,730,194) Ã3 that was consistent with NIPT result.
Project description:Massively parallel sequencing of maternal cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is widely used to test fetal genetic abnormalities in non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). However, sequencing-based approaches are still of high cost. Building upon previous knowledge that placenta, the main source of fetal circulating DNA, is hypomethylated in comparison to maternal tissue counterparts of cfDNA, we propose that targeting either unmodified or 5-hydroxymethylated CG sites specifically enriches fetal genetic material and reduces numbers of required analytical sequencing reads thereby decreasing cost of a test.