CIC-DUX4 Induces Small Round Cell Sarcomas

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

CIC-DUX4 Induces Small Round Cell Sarcomas Published OnlineFirst April 12, 2017; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-3351 Cancer Molecular and Cellular Pathobiology Research CIC-DUX4 Induces Small Round Cell Sarcomas Distinct from Ewing Sarcoma Toyoki Yoshimoto1,2, Miwa Tanaka1, Mizuki Homme1, Yukari Yamazaki1, Yutaka Takazawa3, Cristina R. Antonescu4, and Takuro Nakamura1 Abstract CIC-DUX4 sarcoma (CDS) or CIC-rearranged sarcoma is a short spindle cells. Gene-expression profiles of CDS and eMC subcategory of small round cell sarcoma resembling the morpho- revealed upregulation of CIC-DUX4 downstream genes such as logical phenotypes of Ewing sarcoma (ES). However, recent PEA3 family genes, Ccnd2, Crh, and Zic1. IHC analyses for both clinicopathologic and molecular genetic analyses indicate that mouse and human tumors showed that CCND2 and MUC5AC CDS is an independent disease entity from ES. Few ancillary are reliable biomarkers to distinguish CDS from ES. Gene silenc- markers have been used in the differential diagnosis of CDS, and ing of CIC-DUX4 as well as Ccnd2, Ret, and Bcl2 effectively additional CDS-specific biomarkers are needed for more defini- inhibited CDS tumor growth in vitro. The CDK4/6 inhibitor tive classification. Here, we report the generation of an ex vivo palbociclib and the soft tissue sarcoma drug trabectedin also mouse model for CDS by transducing embryonic mesenchymal blocked the growth of mouse CDS. In summary, our mouse cells (eMC) with human CIC-DUX4 cDNA. Recipient mice trans- model provides important biological information about CDS planted with eMC-expressing CIC-DUX4 rapidly developed an and provides a useful platform to explore biomarkers and ther- aggressive, undifferentiated sarcoma composed of small round to apeutic agents for CDS. Cancer Res; 77(11); 1–11. Ó2017 AACR. Introduction CIC–DUX4 and EWS–ETS as well as the potential different cell-of- origin of each tumor type. CIC-DUX4 sarcomas (CDS) belong to a highly aggressive IHC detection of ETV4, a transcriptional target of CIC-DUX4, is subgroup of small round cell sarcoma, affecting predominantly a useful marker for the histologic diagnosis of CDS (2–6). This children and young adults (1). Although EWS–ETS-negative small suggests that further molecular characterization of CDS will round cell sarcomas were previously classified as Ewing-like expand our understanding on their biological behavior, as well sarcoma or Ewing sarcoma (ES)–like round cell sarcoma, increas- as provide novel biomarkers and molecular targets for therapy. To ing evidence suggests the distinct biology of CDS with CIC–DUX4 this end we developed an animal model that recapitulates the gene fusions, secondary to either a t(4;19)(q35;q13) or t(10;19) phenotypes of human CDS. CIC–DUX4 gene fusion is the initi- (q26.3;q13) translocation (1, 2). CDS morphologically show ating and causative event in CDS, encoding a chimeric transcrip- small- to medium-sized, round to ovoid cells, packed in solid tion factor consisting of the large part of CIC including its DNA- sheets, lacking any line of differentiation. Thus, the differential binding HMG box, and the transcriptional activation domain diagnosis from ES is often difficult without detecting the CIC- derived from the DUX4 C-terminus (2). Deregulation of CIC related fusions (1, 3). CDS show a poor outcome and overall target genes such as ETV4 is one of the key events in the devel- survival of CDS patients was worse than that of ES patients (3). It is opment and progression of CDS (2), and chimeric transcription therefore important to clarify the biological characteristics respon- factors act as an oncogene only in proper cellular context (7–9). sible for the different behaviors between CDS and ES. The differ- We have previously successfully generated an ES mouse model ences may be caused by distinct signaling pathways regulated by using an ex vivo–based technology (7). In this model, EWS–FLI1 appropriately upregulates its target genes in the sarcoma cells as well as in the embryonic osteochondrogenic progenitors, consid- 1 Division of Carcinogenesis, The Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for ered the likely cell-of-origin of ES, exhibiting morphologic and 2 Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan. Department of Pathology, Toranomon Hos- molecular features of human ES. In addition, an alveolar soft pital, Tokyo Japan. 3Division of Pathology, The Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo Japan. 4Department of Pathology, part sarcoma model mouse that recapitulates histologic features Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York. and high metastatic potency of human counterpart has been generated (10). Note: Supplementary data for this article are available at Cancer Research Online (http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/). Taking advantage of this ex vivo gene transduction system, we have developed a similar mouse model for human CDS. Mouse T. Yoshimoto and M. Tanaka contributed equally to this article. embryonic mesenchymal cells transduced with the CIC–DUX4 Corresponding Author: Takuro Nakamura, The Cancer Institute, Japanese develop small blue-round cell tumors, as seen in human CDS, Foundation for Cancer Research, 3-8-31 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8550, Japan. which showed a highly aggressive growth. Gene microarray anal- Phone: 813-3570-0462; Fax: 813-3570-0463; E-mail: [email protected] yses of CDS revealed distinct gene-expression profiles of CDS doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-3351 from ES, with significant upregulation of the cell-cycle progres- Ó2017 American Association for Cancer Research. sion pathway, such as Ccnd2 gene in CDS. Furthermore, cyclin D2 www.aacrjournals.org OF1 Downloaded from cancerres.aacrjournals.org on September 27, 2021. © 2017 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst April 12, 2017; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-3351 Yoshimoto et al. and MUC5AC were found as novel biomarkers for diagnosis of In vivo imaging CDS, and a growth inhibitory effect of trabectedin was observed. The mice transplanted CDS tumor cells introduced with the Modeling fusion gene-associated sarcomas thus provides impor- luciferase cDNA were administrated with luciferin. Illumination tant tools for further our understanding in the pathogenesis of from the labeled tumor cells were monitored by the IVIS Lumina these rare types of neoplasms. LT imaging system (PerkinElmer). Materials and Methods RT-PCR and real-time quantitative RT-PCR Total RNA extraction, reverse transcription and RNA quantifi- Generation and characterization of the CDS model mouse cation were performed according to methods described previously N-terminal HA-tagged CIC–DUX4 was introduced into the (2). Conventional RT-PCR and real-time quantitative RT-PCR pMYs–IRES–GFP vector. Limbs of Balb/c mouse embryo (Clea were performed using a Gene Amp 9700 thermal cycler (Applied Japan) were removed aseptically on 18.5 dpc, and embryonic Biosystems) and a 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR System (Applied mesenchymal cells (eMC) were obtained by dissection using Biosystems), respectively. The sequences of the oligonucleotide two mg/mL collagenase (Wako Pure Chemical) at 37Cfor primers used are shown in Supplementary Table S1. 2 hours. eMC were cultured in growth medium composed of Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium (Invitrogen) supplemen- ted with 15% FBS and subjected immediately to retroviral Microarray analysis infection without further purification. The analysis of cell GeneChip analysis was conducted to determine gene expres- fi surface marker expression suggested that eMC might share sion pro les. The murine HT MG-430 PM array (Affymetrix) was overlapping characteristics with mesenchymal stem cells (Sup- hybridized with aRNA probes generated from eMC 48 hours after plementary Fig. S1). Retroviral stock was added into the medi- transduction with pMYs-CIC-DUX4 or empty vector, CDS and ES um containing eMC with 6 mg/mL of Polybrene (Sigma) and tumor tissues, or a mixture of mouse normal tissues according to then spun at 700 Â g for 1 hour. The spin infection was repeated methods described previously (11). The expression data were after 24 hours. Transduced eMC were mixed with growth factor- analyzed using GeneSpring ver 12.6 (Agilent Technologies) reduced Matrigel (Becton Dickinson) and 1 Â 106 cells were and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed using transplanted into the subcutaneous regions of Balb/c nude GSEA-P 2.0 software (12). The microarray datasets are acces- mice was performed as described previously (7). Transduction sible through the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus database efficiency of the CIC-DUX4 retrovirus was confirmed by flow (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo), with an accession number cytometry using FACSCalibur (Beckton Dickinson; Supplemen- GSE90978. tary Fig. S2). All experiments described in this study were performed in strict accordance with standard ethical guidelines Data comparisons and clustering between murine and human and approved by the animal care committee at the Japanese microarray data Foundation for Cancer Research under licenses 10-05-9 and The microarray data from six mCDS to five hCDS samples (1) 0604-3-13. were compared with human sarcoma microarray data sets. Data from the ONCOMINE data base (https://www.oncomine.org/) Human sarcoma specimens were accessed in June 2011. CEL files from E-MEXP-1142, Paraffin blocks from 10 cases of both CDS and ES specimens E-MEXP-353, GSE21122, GSE7529, mCDS and hCDS samples were obtained from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. were summarized by MAS5 algorithm with Affymetrix Power The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Tool software version 1.12.0 (Affymetrix). Each probe set that Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (Protocol 02-060). had same Gene Symbols was collapsed into a single probe set Synovial sarcoma (hSS), rhabdomyosarcoma (hRS), and extra- that showed the highest median value in the raw MAS5 dataset. skeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma (hEMCS) samples were Each mouse gene of collapsed datasets was joined into the same obtained from the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research. gene symbol of human collapsed datasets that resulted in one dataset with 10,166 probe sets.
Recommended publications
  • DUX4, a Zygotic Genome Activator, Is Involved in Oncogenesis and Genetic Diseases Anna Karpukhina, Yegor Vassetzky
    DUX4, a Zygotic Genome Activator, Is Involved in Oncogenesis and Genetic Diseases Anna Karpukhina, Yegor Vassetzky To cite this version: Anna Karpukhina, Yegor Vassetzky. DUX4, a Zygotic Genome Activator, Is Involved in Onco- genesis and Genetic Diseases. Ontogenez / Russian Journal of Developmental Biology, MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica, 2020, 51 (3), pp.176-182. 10.1134/S1062360420030078. hal-02988675 HAL Id: hal-02988675 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02988675 Submitted on 17 Nov 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. ISSN 1062-3604, Russian Journal of Developmental Biology, 2020, Vol. 51, No. 3, pp. 176–182. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2020. Published in Russian in Ontogenez, 2020, Vol. 51, No. 3, pp. 210–217. REVIEWS DUX4, a Zygotic Genome Activator, Is Involved in Oncogenesis and Genetic Diseases Anna Karpukhinaa, b, c, d and Yegor Vassetzkya, b, * aCNRS UMR9018, Université Paris-Sud Paris-Saclay, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, F-94805 France bKoltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
    [Show full text]
  • Neuromuscular Disease Journal Article on IRC 2019
    Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Neuromuscular Disorders 29 (2019) 811–817 www.elsevier.com/locate/nmd Research conference report 26th Annual Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophy International Research Congress Marseille, France, 19–20 June 2019 a b, ∗ c June Kinoshita , Frédérique Magdinier , George W. Padberg a FSHD Society, 450 Bedford Street, Lexington, MA, USA b Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM, MMG, Marseille Medical Genetics, Marseille, France c Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Received 2 August 2019 1. Introduction In the welcome session, Mark Stone, CEO of the FSHD Society, summarized the international patient advocacy group Research in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy meeting that was held on the previous day (June 18), which (FSHD) has reached the stage where we are seeing the gathered representatives of patients associations from six first drug trials aiming at reduction of its pathological gene European countries as well as Brazil, China, Israel, Japan, product DUX4. Driven by this development and by increased and the United States. international collaboration on translational research and trial preparedness, the FSHD Society has decided to hold its 2. Plenary and keynote lectures annual International Research Conference (IRC) alternating between the USA and in Europe, beginning this year with the The meeting opened with a plenary session aimed at 26th IRC held in Marseille, France. The meeting occurred on presenting the condition from the point of view of affected 19–20 June, 2019, at the Palais du Pharo, a historical palace individuals. A 10-min video gave an intimate look into the built in the second half of the 19th century by Napoleon III life of Pierre Laurian.
    [Show full text]
  • 2021 IRC Abstract Book
    ABSTRACT BOOK THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS S = session; P = poster; author in bold = presenting author Page | 2 SPEAKER PRESENTATIONS DAY 1 – THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2021 . Discovery Research S1.100 Transient DUX4 expression provokes long-lasting cellular and molecular muscle alterations Darko Bosnakovski, Ahmed Shams, Madison Douglas, Natalie Xu, Christian Palumbo, David Oyler, Elizabeth Ener, Daniel Chi, Erik Toso, Michael Kyba S1.101 Identification of the first endogenous inhibitor of DUX4 in FSHD muscular dystrophy Paola Ghezzi, Valeria Runfola, Maria Pannese, Claudia Caronni, Roberto Giambruno, Annapaola Andolfo, Davide Gabellini S1.102 Use of snRNA-seq to characterize the skeletal muscle microenvironment during pathogenesis in FSHD Anugraha Raman, Anthony Accorsi, Michelle Mellion, Bobby Riehle, Lucienne Ronco, L. Alejandro Rojas, Christopher Moxham . Genetics & Epigenetics S2.200 Identification of a druggable epigenetic target required for DUX4 expression and DUX4-mediated toxicity in FSHD muscular dystrophy Emanuele Mocciaro, Roberto Giambruno, Stefano Micheloni, Cristina Consonni, Maria Pannese, Valeria Runfola, Giulia Ferri, Davide Gabellini S2.201 Accessing D4Z4 (epi)genetics with long-read sequencing Quentin Gouil, Ayush Semwal, Frédérique Magdinier, Marnie Blewitt . Pathology & Disease Mechanisms S3.300 System biology approach links muscle weakening to alteration of the contractile apparatus in FSHD Camille Laberthonnière, Megane Delourme, Raphael Chevalier, Elva-Maria Novoa-del-Toro, Emmanuelle Salort Campana, Shahram Attarian,
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Long Non-Coding Rnas in the Pathogenesis of Hereditary Diseases Peter Sparber1*, Alexandra Filatova1, Mira Khantemirova2,3 and Mikhail Skoblov1,4
    Sparber et al. BMC Medical Genomics 2019, 12(Suppl 2):42 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12920-019-0487-6 REVIEW Open Access The role of long non-coding RNAs in the pathogenesis of hereditary diseases Peter Sparber1*, Alexandra Filatova1, Mira Khantemirova2,3 and Mikhail Skoblov1,4 From 11th International Multiconference “Bioinformatics of Genome Regulation and Structure\Systems Biology” - BGRS\SB- 2018 Novosibirsk, Russia. 20-25 August 2018 Abstract Background: Thousands of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) genes are annotated in the human genome. Recent studies showed the key role of lncRNAs in a variety of fundamental cellular processes. Dysregulation of lncRNAs can drive tumorigenesis and they are now considered to be a promising therapeutic target in cancer. However, how lncRNAs contribute to the development of hereditary diseases in human is still mostly unknown. Results: This review is focused on hereditary diseases in the pathogenesis of which long non-coding RNAs play an important role. Conclusions: Fundamental research in the field of molecular genetics of lncRNA is necessary for a more complete understanding of their significance. Future research will help translate this knowledge into clinical practice which will not only lead to an increase in the diagnostic rate but also in the future can help with the development of etiotropic treatments for hereditary diseases. Keywords: Long non-coding RNA, lncRNA, Hereditary disease, Gene regulation, Medical genetics Introduction The second group includes rRNAs and long non-coding In 1958, Francis Crick proposed the central dogma of mo- RNAs (lncRNAs), which to date are very poorly function- lecular biology in which he explained the flow of genetic ally annotated.
    [Show full text]
  • CIC-DUX4 Induces Small Round Cell Sarcomas Distinct from Ewing Sarcoma
    Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 12, 2017; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-3351 Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. CIC-DUX4 induces small round cell sarcomas distinct from Ewing sarcoma Toyoki Yoshimoto 1, 2, Miwa Tanaka1, Mizuki Homme1, Yukari Yamazaki1, Yutaka Takazawa3, Cristina R Antonescu4, and Takuro Nakamura1 1Division of Carcinogenesis, The Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan. 2Department of Pathology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo Japan. 3Division of Pathology, The Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo Japan. 4Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York. Running title: Mouse model for CIC-DUX4 sarcoma Keywords: CIC-DUX4, sarcoma model, Ccnd2, Muc5ac, biomarker The abbreviations used are: CDS, CIC-DUX4 sarcoma; ES, Ewing sarcoma; eMC, embryonic mesenchymal cell; SS, synovial sarcoma; RS, rhabdomyosarcoma; EMCS, extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma; GSEA, gene set enrichment analysis; ECM, extracellular matrix; MSC, mesenchymal stem cell. Grant Support: The study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (no. 26250029 to T. Nakamura), and Cancer Center Support grants (P50 CA140146 and P30-CA008747 to C. R. Antonescu) from the U.S. National Institute of Health. Corresponding Author: Takuro Nakamura, Division of Carcinogenesis, The Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, 3-8-31 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8550, Japan. Phone: 81-3-3570-0462; E-mail: [email protected] T. Yoshimoto and M. Tanaka contributed equally to this article. The manuscript includes 3,775 words, five figures and two tables.
    [Show full text]
  • The DUX4 Homeodomains Mediate Inhibition of Myogenesis and Are Functionally Exchangeable with the Pax7 Homeodomain Darko Bosnakovski1,2, Erik A
    © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd | Journal of Cell Science (2017) 130, 3685-3697 doi:10.1242/jcs.205427 RESEARCH ARTICLE The DUX4 homeodomains mediate inhibition of myogenesis and are functionally exchangeable with the Pax7 homeodomain Darko Bosnakovski1,2, Erik A. Toso2, Lynn M. Hartweck2, Alessandro Magli3, Heather A. Lee2, Eliza R. Thompson2, Abhijit Dandapat2, Rita C. R. Perlingeiro3 and Michael Kyba2,* ABSTRACT downstream target genes, compared with controls (Celegato et al., Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by 2006; Krom et al., 2012; Rahimov et al., 2012; Tassin et al., 2012; inappropriate expression of the double homeodomain protein DUX4. Tsumagari et al., 2011; Winokur et al., 2003a,b). In our previous work, DUX4 DUX4 has bimodal effects, inhibiting myogenic differentiation and we demonstrated that ,whenexpressedatlowlevelsinC2C12 blocking MyoD at low levels of expression, and killing myoblasts at myoblasts, recapitulates aspects of this FSHD myoblast phenotype, high levels. Pax3 and Pax7, which contain related homeodomains, namely that it sensitizes cells to oxidative stress and severely reduces MyoD antagonize the cell death phenotype of DUX4 in C2C12 cells, mRNA and protein levels (Bosnakovski et al., 2008b). High DUX4 suggesting some type of competitive interaction. Here, we show that levels of expression caused cell death (Bosnakovski et al., the effects of DUX4 on differentiation and MyoD expression require the 2008b). In addition to these effects, myoblasts expressing low levels of DUX4 homeodomains but do not require the C-terminal activation domain of had diminished differentiation potential, presumably caused DUX4. We tested the set of equally related homeodomain proteins by dysregulation of myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs), including (Pax6, Pitx2c, OTX1, Rax, Hesx1, MIXL1 and Tbx1) and found MyoD (Bosnakovski et al., 2008b).
    [Show full text]
  • Fulcrum WMS DUX4 FSHD Poster
    Targeting DUX4 Expression, the Root Cause of FSHD: Identification of a Drug Target and Development Candidate Owen B. Wallace, Anthony Accorsi, Richard Barnes, Angela Cacace, Diego Cadavid, Aaron Chang, David Eyerman, Robert Gould, Steven Kazmirski, Joseph Maglio, Michelle Mellion, Peter Rahl, Alan Robertson, Alejandro Rojas, Lucienne Ronco, Ning Shen, Lorin A. Thompson and Erin Valentine Fulcrum Therapeutics. 26 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Abstract 4. Losmapimod reduces DUX4 activation and its downstream consequences • FSHD is caused by the loss of repression at the D4Z4 locus leading to aberrant DUX4 expression A. 150 in skeletal muscle, activation of its early embryo transcriptional program and muscle fiber death. 125 100 • While some progress toward understanding the signals driving DUX4 expression has been made, 75 the factors and pathways involved in the transcriptional activation of this gene remain largely 50 unknown. 25 (% of nuclei in MHC mask) MHC in nuclei of (% % of DMSO% of control 0 • Using optimized myotube culture conditions, we identified p38 MAPK as a key regulator of DUX4 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 expression. [Losmapimod] µM • We observed that treatment with the p38α/β inhibitor losmapimod results in reduction of DUX4 B. C. expression, activity and cell death in FSHD patient-derived myotubes with minimal impact on WT FSHD myogenesis. 125 MBD3L2 mRNA 100 • RNA-seq studies revealed that only a small number of genes were differentially expressed after Active Caspase-3 treatment with losmapimod, ~90% of these are targets of DUX4. 75 50 • Fulcrum Therapeutics has selected losmapimod, a specific p38α/β inhibitor, for clinical 25 development in FSHD.
    [Show full text]
  • Deep Characterization of a Common D4Z4 Variant Identifies Biallelic
    European Journal of Human Genetics (2018) 26:94–106 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-017-0015-0 ARTICLE Deep characterization of a common D4Z4 variant identifies biallelic DUX4 expression as a modifier for disease penetrance in FSHD2 1 1 1 2 3 Richard JLF Lemmers ● Patrick J van der Vliet ● Judit Balog ● Jelle J Goeman ● Wibowo Arindrarto ● 4 1 1 1 5 6 Yvonne D Krom ● Kirsten R Straasheijm ● Rashmie D Debipersad ● Gizem Özel ● Janet Sowden ● Lauren Snider ● 7 8 7 6 5 Karlien Mul ● Sabrina Sacconi ● Baziel van Engelen ● Stephen J Tapscott ● Rabi Tawil ● Silvère M van der Maarel1 Received: 24 July 2017 / Revised: 7 September 2017 / Accepted: 9 September 2017 / Published online: 21 November 2017 © European Society of Human Genetics 2018 Abstract Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is caused by incomplete repression of the transcription factor DUX4 in skeletal muscle as a consequence of D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat contraction in chromosome 4q35 (FSHD1) or variants in genes encoding D4Z4 chromatin repressors (FSHD2). A clinical hallmark of FSHD is variability in onset and progression suggesting the presence of disease modifiers. A well-known cis modifier is the polymorphic DUX4 polyadenylation signal (PAS) that defines FSHD permissive alleles: D4Z4 chromatin relaxation on non-permissive alleles which lack the DUX4- PAS cannot cause disease in the absence of stable DUX4 mRNA. We have explored the nature and relevance of a common variant of the major FSHD haplotype 4A161, which is defined by 1.6 kb size difference of the most distal D4Z4 repeat unit. While the short variant (4A161S) has been extensively studied, we demonstrate that the long variant (4A161L) is relatively common in the European population, is capable of expressing DUX4, but that DUX4 mRNA processing differs from 4A161S.
    [Show full text]
  • A Possible Approach for Treating FSHD with Rnai Therapeutics 4 10 16 24
    A Publication of the Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy Society SUMMER 2011 RESEARCH ISSUE FSH Watch 2011 CONNECTING THE COMMUNITY OF PATIENTS, FAMILIES, CLINICIANS AND INVESTIGATORS TRANSLATIONAL RESEArcH Journey toward developing a drug for FSHD Perspectives and updates from recently funded FSH Society grantees by DARKO BOSNAKOVSKI, D.V.M., Ph.D. University Goce Delcev Stip, Macedonia lthough FSHD is considered one Aof the most common inherited neuromuscular diseases, there is no Dr. Davide Gabellini with fellow researchers at the 2010 FSH Society FSHD research workshop specific therapeutic practice for it. So what can we do about it? First, we have TRANSLATIONAL RESEArcH to understand the mechanisms of the disease and to identify the crucial links in the chain of molecular reactions A possible approach for treating FSHD that underline FSHD. Furthermore, we have to develop a system to screen with RNAi therapeutics various therapeutic approaches, and in Perspectives and updates from FSH Society grantees the end to generate an animal model where clinical relevance of therapy by DANIEL PEREZ scientists: the Harper Lab at The Ohio State can be determined. When I joined the FSH Society University and Nationwide Children’s Hos- FSHD group lead by Dr. Michael Kyba with contributions by DAVIDE GABELLINI, Ph.D. pital in Columbus, Ohio, with a collabo- at University of Texas Southwestern six Division of Regenerative Medicine, San Raffaele rator in Modena, Italy; and the Gabellini years ago to develop a specific therapy Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy, and and Chamberlain labs in Milan, Italy, and for FSHD all of the above was considered Seattle, Washington, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Milan Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine
    University of Milan Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine Ph.D. course in Experimental Medicine and Medical Biotechnology (XXIX cycle) DOCTORAL THESIS FUNCTIONAL RELEVANCE OF D4Z4-DERIVED ANTISENSE AND CODING SENSE TRANSCRIPTS ON DYSREGULATION OF MYOGENESIS IN FACIOSCAPULOHUMERAL MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY Doctoral Candidate: Raniero CHIMIENTI R10547 Tutor: prof. Anna MAROZZI Academic Year 2015/2016 Table of contents Chapter I - General introduction 6 1.1 Skeletal muscle biology 6 1.1.1 Embrionyc myogenesis 6 1.1.2 Transcriptional regulation of myogenesis 8 1.1.3 Adult myogenesis stem cells 9 1.1.4 Myoblast fusion 10 1.1.5 Signaling mechanisms in myoblast fusion 10 1.1.6 Mediators of muscular atrophy and hypertrophy 13 1.1.7 mTOR signaling pathway in muscle differentiation 14 1.2 Noncoding RNAs 17 1.2.1 Long noncoding RNAs 17 1.2.2 Natural antisense transcripts 19 1.2.3 MicroRNAs 21 1.2.4 LncRNAs and miRNAs in muscle differentiation 23 1.3 Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy 25 1.3.1 Clinical characteristics 25 1.3.2 Genotype-phenotype correlation 25 1.3.3 Penetrance and anticipation 26 1.3.4 Molecular basis of FSHD 27 1.3.5 DUX4 gene 29 1.3.6 DUX4c 31 1.3.7 DUX4-like genes 32 1.3.8 DBE-T 34 1.3.9 Other noncoding transcripts from D4Z4 macrosatellite 34 Chapter II - Materials and Methods 36 2.1 Cell lines 36 2.2 AZA-TSA treatment 37 2.3 RNA fractionation 38 2.4 RNA extraction 38 2.5 3’ Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (3’RACE) 39 2.6 Deep sequencing 40 2.7 One-step strand-specific RT-PCR and nested
    [Show full text]
  • P38a Regulates Expression of DUX4 in a Model of Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy S
    Supplemental material to this article can be found at: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/suppl/2020/06/23/jpet.119.264689.DC1 1521-0103/374/3/489–498$35.00 https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.119.264689 THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS J Pharmacol Exp Ther 374:489–498, September 2020 Copyright ª 2020 The Author(s) This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY Attribution 4.0 International license. p38a Regulates Expression of DUX4 in a Model of Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy s L. Alejandro Rojas, Erin Valentine, Anthony Accorsi, Joseph Maglio, Ning Shen, Alan Robertson, Steven Kazmirski, Peter Rahl, Rabi Tawil, Diego Cadavid, Lorin A. Thompson, Lucienne Ronco, Aaron N. Chang, Angela M. Cacace, and Owen Wallace Fulcrum Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts (L.A.R., E.V., A.A., J.M., N.S., A.R., S.K., P.R., D.C., L.A.T., L.R., A.N.C., A.M.C., O.W.) and University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Neurology, Rochester, New York (R.T.) Received December 16, 2019; accepted May 26, 2020 Downloaded from ABSTRACT Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by of which are DUX4 target genes. Our results reveal a novel and the loss of repression at the D4Z4 locus leading to aberrant double apparently critical role for p38a in the aberrant activation of DUX4 homeobox 4 (DUX4) expression in skeletal muscle. Activation of in FSHD and support the potential of p38a/b inhibitors as effective jpet.aspetjournals.org this early embryonic transcription factor results in the expression therapeutics to treat FSHD at its root cause.
    [Show full text]
  • Structural Basis of DUX4/IGH-Driven Transactivation
    Leukemia (2018) 32:1466–1476 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-018-0093-1 ARTICLE Acute lymphoblastic leukemia Structural basis of DUX4/IGH-driven transactivation 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 Xue Dong ● Weina Zhang ● Haiyan Wu ● Jinyan Huang ● Ming Zhang ● Pengran Wang ● Hao Zhang ● 1,2 1,2 1,2 Zhu Chen ● Sai-Juan Chen ● Guoyu Meng Received: 14 August 2017 / Revised: 10 February 2018 / Accepted: 20 February 2018 / Published online: 15 March 2018 © The Author(s) 2018. This article is published with open access Abstract Oncogenic fusions are major drivers in leukemogenesis and may serve as potent targets for treatment. DUX4/IGHs have been shown to trigger the abnormal expression of ERGalt through binding to DUX4-Responsive-Element (DRE), which leads to B-cell differentiation arrest and a full-fledged B-ALL. Here, we determined the crystal structures of Apo- and DNADRE-bound DUX4HD2 and revealed a clamp-like transactivation mechanism via the double homeobox domain. Biophysical characterization showed that mutations in the interacting interfaces significantly impaired the DNA binding affinity of DUX4 homeobox. These mutations, when introduced into DUX4/IGH, abrogated its transactivation activity in Reh cells. More importantly, the structure-based mutants significantly impaired the inhibitory effects of DUX4/IGH upon B- cell differentiation in mouse progenitor cells. All these results help to define a key DUX4/IGH-DRE recognition/step in B- 1234567890();,: 1234567890();,: ALL. Introduction the insertion of chromosome fragments containing DUX4 gene into the IGH locus, has been reported in ~7% of B- Oncogenic fusions are important causes/targets in leukemia ALL patients [3, 6, 7].
    [Show full text]