Gene Mutations in Members of the PI3K/Akt Signalling Pathway Are
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.16.385963; this version posted November 17, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 Gene mutations in members of the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway 2 are related to immune thrombocytopenia pathogenesis 3 4 Rui-Jie Sun1, Shu-yan Liu1, Xiao-mei Zhang2, Jing-jing Zhu3, Dai Yuan1,3, Ning-ning Shan1,3* 5 6 7 1Department of Hematology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, 8 Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, China. 9 2Department of Hematology, People’s Hospital of Rizhao City, Rizhao, People’s Republic of 10 China 11 3Department of Hematology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical 12 University, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, China. 13 14 15 16 17 *Correspondence: Ning-ning Shan, M.D., Ph.D. 18 Address: Department of Hematology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong 19 University, 324 Jing Wu Rd, Jinan, Shandong 250021 20 Phone: 86-531-68776350 21 Fax: 86-531-87902606 22 E-mail address: [email protected] 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.16.385963; this version posted November 17, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 32 33 Summary: 34 Immune thrombocytopenic (ITP) is an autoimmune bleeding disease with genetic 35 susceptibility. DNA mutation profile of ITP patient bone marrow samples (n=20) were 36 investigated by using next-generation sequencing (NGS) ,and then confirmed by 37 sanger sequencing method .Our results showed PTEN, INSR and COCH were 38 mutated in all ITP patients. Functional analysis revealed these mutation genes mainly 39 participate PI3K/Akt signaling pathways and platelet activation. These results suggest 40 that genetic alterations might be involved in the pathogenesis of ITP. 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.16.385963; this version posted November 17, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 68 Abstract 69 Purpose: Immune thrombocytopenic (ITP) is an autoimmune bleeding disease with 70 genetic susceptibility. In this research, we conducted an in-depth genomic analysis of 71 a cohort of patients and elucidated the molecular features associated with the 72 pathogenesis of ITP. 73 Method: High-molecular-weight genomic DNA was extracted from freshly frozen 74 bone marrow blood mononuclear cells (BMBMCs) from 20 active ITP patients. Next, 75 the samples were subjected to molecular genetic analysis by whole-exome sequencing 76 (WES), and the results were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. The signalling 77 pathways and cellular processes associated with the mutated genes were identified 78 with gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) 79 pathway analyses. 80 Results: The results of this study revealed 3,998 missense mutations involving 2,269 81 genes in more than 10 individuals. Some unique genetic variants, including 82 phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN), insulin receptor (INSR) and coagulation 83 factor C homology (COCH) variants, were the most associated with the pathogenesis 84 of ITP. Functional analysis revealed that these gene mutations mainly affected the 85 phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signalling pathways (signal 86 transduction) and platelet activation (immune system). 87 Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate the functional connections between these 88 gene variants and ITP. Although the underlying mechanisms and the impact of these 89 genetic variants remain to be revealed through further investigation, the application of 90 next-generation sequencing in ITP in this paper is valuable for revealing the genetic 91 mechanisms of ITP. 92 93 94 Keywords: Immune thrombocytopenia, whole-exome sequencing, phosphoinositide 3 95 kinase/Akt (PI3K/Akt) signalling pathway, autophagy 96 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.16.385963; this version posted November 17, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 97 1. Introduction 98 Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a complex bleeding disease with autoimmune 99 traits. It is characterized by both decreased platelet production and increased platelet 100 destruction [1]. Patients with ITP present with varying degrees of bleeding tendency, 101 which can cause acute intracranial haemorrhage and life-threatening conditions. Most 102 ITP cases are sporadic, but Rischewski’s group described paediatric ITP cases with a 103 positive family history [2]. Furthermore, genetic susceptibility to ITP has been 104 suggested. One study found that inflammation-related single-nucleotide 105 polymorphisms (SNPs) may be genetic risk factors associated with the disease 106 severity and treatment response of ITP [3]. These results inspired us to use bone 107 marrow blood mononuclear cells (BMBMCs) from a group of primary acute ITP 108 inpatients for whole-exome sequencing (WES) to elucidate the gene variants related 109 to ITP. 110 The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signalling pathway 111 plays a critical role in regulating the immune response and the release of 112 inflammatory factors in vivo and in vitro by regulating the activation of downstream 113 signalling molecules [4, 5]. In recent years, experimental and clinical evidence has 114 associated perturbations of the PI3K/Akt signal transduction pathway with a number 115 of neoplastic and autoimmune diseases, such as lymphomas[6], chronic and acute 116 lymphocytic leukaemias [7, 8], endometrial cancer [9], bladder cancer [10], 117 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [11] and ITP [12]. Platelet autophagy is regulated through 118 the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway by phosphatase and tensin homologue 119 (PTEN) in ITP. Elevated platelet autophagy may prolong the life span of platelets 120 from ITP patients by inhibiting platelet apoptosis and improving platelet viability 121 [12]. 122 In this study, we identified several genes harbouring an excess number of rare 123 damaging mutations in patients with ITP: PTEN, insulin receptor (INSR) and 124 coagulation factor C homology (COCH). Interestingly, these genes are collectively 125 involved in the signal transduction of the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway and play an bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.16.385963; this version posted November 17, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 126 important immunomodulatory role in platelet activation. By identifying genetic 127 alterations in ITP patients, our study further enriches the understanding of the 128 pathology of ITP and promotes the identification of potential diagnostic and 129 therapeutic biomarkers for ITP. 130 2. Methods 131 2.1 Patient sample collection and preparation 132 The study was approved by the Medical Ethical Committee of Shandong Provincial 133 Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University and Shandong Provincial Hospital 134 Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University. Signed informed consent forms were 135 obtained from all participating patients. Twenty newly diagnosed active primary ITP 136 patients, including 12 females and 8 males (age range 17–77 years, median 48 years), 137 seen at the Department of Haematology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Jinan, China, 138 between May 2017 and November 2018 were enrolled in this study. The diagnosis of 139 ITP was made according to recently published criteria, including patient history, 140 complete blood count, physical examination and peripheral blood smear examination 141 [13]. The platelet counts of patients ranged between 1 and 29 × 109/l, with a median 142 count of 10 × 109/l (Table 1). All the patients required treatment because of clinically 143 significant bleeding. None had been treated with glucocorticosteroids, 144 immunoglobulin or immunosuppressants prior to sampling. Bone marrow blood was 145 collected into heparin-anticoagulant-containing vacutainer tubes. According to the 146 manufacturer’s instructions, mononuclear cells were isolated from heparinized blood 147 by gradient centrifugation with Ficoll-Paque (Pharmacia Diagnostics, Uppsala, 148 Sweden). 149 2.2 Targeted exon capture 150 Genomic DNA was isolated from BMBMCs from 20 active ITP patients using a 151 QIAamp DNA Blood Mini kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the 152 manufacturer’s instructions. Each genomic DNA sample was fragmented using a 153 Covaris LE220 ultrasonicator (Massachusetts, USA) to a fragment size of 154 approximately 200 bp-250 bp. After fragmentation, DNA fragments were end-paired bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.16.385963; this version posted November 17, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 155 and phosphorylated at the 5′ end and successively adenylated at the 3′ end (following 156 Illumina paired-end protocols), and the libraries ligated to the