FSHD Region Gene 1 (FRG1) Is Crucial for Angiogenesis Linking FRG1 to Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy-Associated Vasculopathy
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University of Massachusetts Medical School eScholarship@UMMS Peter Jones Lab Publications Cell and Developmental Biology Laboratories 2009-05-01 FSHD region gene 1 (FRG1) is crucial for angiogenesis linking FRG1 to facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy-associated vasculopathy Ryan Wuebbles University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Et al. Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Follow this and additional works at: https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/peterjones Part of the Cell Biology Commons, Developmental Biology Commons, Molecular Biology Commons, Molecular Genetics Commons, Musculoskeletal Diseases Commons, and the Nervous System Diseases Commons Repository Citation Wuebbles R, Hanel ML, Jones PL. (2009). FSHD region gene 1 (FRG1) is crucial for angiogenesis linking FRG1 to facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy-associated vasculopathy. Peter Jones Lab Publications. https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.002261. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/ peterjones/11 Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. This material is brought to you by eScholarship@UMMS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peter Jones Lab Publications by an authorized administrator of eScholarship@UMMS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2, 267-274 (2009) doi:10.1242/dmm.002261 RESEARCH ARTICLE FSHD region gene 1 (FRG1) is crucial for angiogenesis linking FRG1 to facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy-associated vasculopathy Ryan D. Wuebbles1,*, Meredith L. Hanel1,* and Peter L. Jones1,‡ SUMMARY The genetic lesion that is diagnostic for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) results in an epigenetic misregulation of gene expression, which ultimately leads to the disease pathology. FRG1 (FSHD region gene 1) is a leading candidate for a gene whose misexpression might lead to FSHD. Because FSHD pathology is most prominent in the musculature, most research and therapy efforts focus on muscle cells. Previously, using Xenopus development as a model, we showed that altering frg1 expression levels systemically leads to aberrant muscle development, illustrating the potential for aberrant FRG1 levels to disrupt the musculature. However, 50-75% of FSHD patients also exhibit retinal vasculopathy and FSHD muscles have increased levels of vascular- and endothelial-related FRG1 transcripts, illustrating an underlying vascular component to the disease. To date, no FSHD candidate gene has been proposed to affect the vasculature. Here, we focus on a role for FRG1 expression in the vasculature. We found that endogenous frg1 is expressed in both the developing and adult vasculature in Xenopus. Furthermore, expression of FRG1 was found to be essential for the development of the vasculature, as a knockdown of FRG1 resulted in decreased angiogenesis and reduced expression of the angiogenic regulator DAB2. Conversely, tadpoles subjected to frg1 overexpression displayed the pro-angiogenic phenotypes of increased blood DMM vessel branching and dilation of blood vessels, and developed edemas, suggesting that their circulation was disrupted. Thus, the systemic upregulation of the FRG1 protein shows the potential for acquiring a disrupted vascular phenotype, providing the first link between a FSHD candidate gene and the vascular component of FSHD pathology. Overall, in conjunction with our previous analysis, we show that FRG1 overexpression is capable of disrupting both the musculature and vasculature, recapitulating the two most prominent features of FSHD. INTRODUCTION on FRG1 have mainly focused on its role in muscles. Previous Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal work found that FRG1 expression is crucial to the formation of dominant myopathy characterized by progressive atrophy of the normal muscle structure and that overexpression of the FRG1 facial, shoulder and upper arm muscles. In addition to the muscular protein adversely affects muscles during development (Hanel et dystrophy, 50-75% of FSHD patients have retinal vasculature al., 2009). Similarly, transgenic mice with a 25–40-fold increase abnormalities (Fitzsimons et al., 1987; Padberg et al., 1995b), and in FRG1 expression, specifically in the skeletal muscle, develop a the upregulation of vasculature system genes is an early event in dystrophic muscle phenotype (Gabellini et al., 2006). However, FSHD muscle pathology (Osborne et al., 2007). Recently, muscle measurements of FRG1 mRNA levels from the muscles of FSHD biopsies from FSHD patients revealed that the mesoangioblasts, patients have varied, including a 25-fold increase in expression, Disease Models & Mechanisms an adult myogenic mesodermal stem cell occupying the unchanged expression and a 5-fold decrease in expression, when perivascular niche in muscle tissue, were impaired in their ability compared with control muscles (van Deutekom et al., 1996; to differentiate into skeletal muscle (Morosetti et al., 2007). Thus, Gabellini et al., 2002; Jiang et al., 2003; Winokur et al., 2003; FSHD progression and pathology, although predominantly evident Osborne et al., 2007). Thus, a correlation between FRG1 mRNA in skeletal muscle, probably have underlying contributing or causal levels in skeletal muscle and FSHD pathology remains factors that are associated with the vasculature. inconclusive and controversial. The FSHD genetic lesion is a contraction of the tandem array The protein encoded by the FRG1 gene at chromosome 4q35 in of 3.3 kb D4Z4 repeats at chromosome 4q35 to below a threshold humans is highly conserved in vertebrates and invertebrates [97% of 11 copies (Lunt et al., 1995; Wijmenga et al., 1992). This repeat amino acid (a.a.) identity with the mouse, 81% a.a. identity with X. contraction is hypothesized to affect the expression of laevis and 46% a.a. identity with C. elegans] (Grewal et al., 1998). neighboring gene(s). Based on analysis of gene expression and FRG1 expression has been detected in all human tissues that have proximity to the D4Z4 repeats, FRG1 (FSHD region gene 1), which been tested, including human embryonic brain and muscle, as well is located 100 kb centromeric to the contracted D4Z4 region, is as the placenta (van Deutekom et al., 1996), suggesting that it has a leading candidate disease gene for FSHD (van Deutekom et al., functions outside of the muscle. Here, we show prominent 1996). Since FSHD prominently affects voluntary muscles, studies expression of FRG1 in vascular tissues during Xenopus development and in adult frog muscle capillaries. Knockdown of FRG1 results in decreased angiogenesis and loss of the Xenopus 1 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana- vascular marker DAB2. Overexpression of the FRG1 protein Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA *These authors contributed equally to this work resulted in an opposite phenotype of increased angiogenesis and ‡Author for correspondence (e-mail: [email protected]) dilated blood vessels. Identifying FRG1 as a mediator of Disease Models & Mechanisms 267 RESEARCH ARTICLE FRG1 links vascular defects to FSHD-like muscle angiogenesis provides insights into the mechanisms of FSHD (HS4)] doublets (Fig. 1D) and used for transgenesis. This proximal disease pathology and further supports the FRG1 overexpression promoter construct produced a consistent expression pattern in disease model for FSHD. transgenic animals (61% of transgenic tadpoles, n=44), which was visualized by fluorescence (Fig. 1E), with 16% displaying an RESULTS underlying identical pattern with additional non-uniform spotted FRG1 is expressed in vascular tissues expression and 23% showing variable small patches of expression. Two of the prominent pathological effects in FSHD patients are Overall, the predominant pattern of fluorescence that we observed the progressive appearance of dystrophic skeletal muscle and suggested that promoter expression was heaviest within the eye, retinal vasculopathy. Previously, we analyzed FRG1 expression in dorsal-anterior portion of the head, branchial arches, and at the X. laevis during early development of the musculature (Hanel et dorsal and ventral portions of the somites. As EGFP is known for al., 2009). Here, we analyze the X. laevis vasculature to address any its stability, de novo transcript levels were more clearly examined potential vascular role for FRG1. Embryos that were sectioned, by in situ hybridization using an egfp probe. When examined in either sagitally or transversely, and immunostained for FRG1 (Fig. this manner, egfp expression in transgenic embryos coincided 1A) show significant FRG1 expression within the pronephrous (Fig. largely with fluorescence at stage 32 (Fig. 1E,F). However, as the 1B,C), posterior cardinal vein and arteries (Fig. 1C), indicating that tadpoles developed, egfp expression became more confined to FRG1 is in fact expressed in the vasculature. However, ubiquitous vascular and muscle tissues (Fig. 1G,H). By stage 42, when much levels of frg1 transcripts from maternal stores, which progressively of larval organogenesis is complete, transgenic egfp expression was decrease during development, potentially introduce an elevated predominantly vascular, with weak staining throughout the epaxial non-tissue-specific background that is not indicative of de novo tail muscle and around the gut (Fig. 1H). Although potentially expression (Hanel et al., 2009). missing some regulatory elements, the ability of a 645 bp regulatory A transgenic approach was used in order