scholarly journals Evaluation of the silkworm lemon mutant as an invertebrate animal model for human sepiapterin reductase deficiency

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 191888
Author(s):  
Guihua Jiang ◽  
Jiangbo Song ◽  
Hai Hu ◽  
Xiaoling Tong ◽  
Fangyin Dai

Human sepiapterin reductase (SR) deficiency is an inherited disease caused by SPR gene mutations and is a monoamine neurotransmitter disorder. Here, we investigated whether the silkworm lemon mutant could serve as a model of SR deficiency. A point mutation in the BmSPR gene led to a five amino acid deletion at the carboxyl terminus in the lemon mutant. In addition, classical phenotypes seen in SR deficient patients were observed in the lemon mutant, including a normal phenylalanine level, a decreased dopamine and serotonin content, and an increased neopterin level. A recovery test showed that the replenishment of l -dopa significantly increased the dopamine level in the lemon mutant. The silkworm lemon mutant also showed negative behavioural abilities. These results suggest that the silkworm lemon mutant has an appropriate genetic basis and meets the biochemical requirements to be a model of SR deficiency. Thus, the silkworm lemon mutant can serve as a candidate animal model of SR deficiency, which may be helpful in facilitating accurate diagnosis and effective treatment options of SR deficiency.

2015 ◽  
Vol 223 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Juckel

Abstract. Inflammational-immunological processes within the pathophysiology of schizophrenia seem to play an important role. Early signals of neurobiological changes in the embryonal phase of brain in later patients with schizophrenia might lead to activation of the immunological system, for example, of cytokines and microglial cells. Microglia then induces – via the neurotoxic activities of these cells as an overreaction – a rarification of synaptic connections in frontal and temporal brain regions, that is, reduction of the neuropil. Promising inflammational animal models for schizophrenia with high validity can be used today to mimic behavioral as well as neurobiological findings in patients, for example, the well-known neurochemical alterations of dopaminergic, glutamatergic, serotonergic, and other neurotransmitter systems. Also the microglial activation can be modeled well within one of this models, that is, the inflammational PolyI:C animal model of schizophrenia, showing a time peak in late adolescence/early adulthood. The exact mechanism, by which activated microglia cells then triggers further neurodegeneration, must now be investigated in broader detail. Thus, these animal models can be used to understand the pathophysiology of schizophrenia better especially concerning the interaction of immune activation, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. This could also lead to the development of anti-inflammational treatment options and of preventive interventions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lixia Wang ◽  
Weihong Guo ◽  
Chunyun Fang ◽  
Wenli Feng ◽  
Yumeng Huang ◽  
...  

AbstractX-linked nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (X-linked NDI) is a rare inherited disease mainly caused by lost-of-function mutations in human AVPR2 gene encoding arginine vasopressin receptor 2 (V2R). Our focus of the current study is on exploration of the functional and biochemical properties of Ile324Met (I324M) mutation identified in a pedigree showing as typical recessive X-linked NDI. We demonstrated that I324M mutation interfered with the conformation of complex glycosylation of V2R. Moreover, almost all of the I324M-V2R failed to express on the cell surface due to being captured by the endoplasmic reticulum control system. We further examined the signaling activity of DDAVP-medicated cAMP and ERK1/2 pathways and the results revealed that the mutant receptor lost the ability in response to DDAVP stimulation contributed to the failure of accumulation of cAMP and phosphorylated ERK1/2. Based on the characteristics of molecular defects of I324M mutant, we selected two reagents (SR49059 and alvespimycin) to determine whether the functions of I324M-V2R can be restored and we found that both compounds can significantly “rescue” I324M mutation. Our findings may provide further insights for understanding the pathogenic mechanism of AVPR2 gene mutations and may offer some implications on development of promising treatments for patients with X-linked NDI.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanjie Zhang ◽  
Chaoping Li ◽  
Weili Xue ◽  
Mingzhi Zhang ◽  
Zhaoming Li

Extranodal natural killer (NK)/T cell lymphoma (ENKTL-NT or NKTCL), with its aggressive nature and poor prognosis, has been widely studied to discover more effective treatment options. Various somatic gene alterations have been identified by traditional Sanger sequencing. However, recently, novel gene mutations in NKTCL have been revealed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, suggesting the potential for novel targeted therapies. This review discusses recurrent aberrations in NKTCL detected by NGS, which can be categorized into three main groups, specifically, tumor suppressors (TP53, DDX3X, and MGA), the JAK/STAT cascade, and epigenetic modifiers (KMT2D, BCOR, ARID1A, and EP300). Some epigenetic dysregulation and DDX3X mutation, which have been rarely identified by traditional sequencing technology, were recently uncovered with high frequencies by NGS. In this review, we summarize the mutational frequencies of various genes in NKTCL. In general, based on our analysis, BCOR is the most frequently mutated gene (16.9%), followed by TP53 (14.7%), and DDX3X (13.6%). The characterization of such genes provides new insight into the pathogenesis of this disease and indicates new biomarkers or therapeutic targets.


Stroke ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Nozaki ◽  
Taisuke Kato ◽  
Megumi Nihonmatsu ◽  
Yohei Saito ◽  
Ikuko Mizuta ◽  
...  

Introduction: Cerebral autosomal recessive arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CARASIL), an autosomal recessive inherited cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), involves severe leukoaraiosis, multiple lacunar infarcts, early-onset alopecia, and spondylosis deformans. High-temperature requirement serine peptidase A1 (HTRA1) gene mutations cause CARASIL by decreasing HTRA1 protease activity. Although CARASIL is a recessive inherited disease, heterozygous mutations in the HTRA1 gene were recently identified in 11 families with CSVD. Because CSVD is frequently observed in elderly individuals, it is unclear which mutants truly contribute to CSVD pathogenesis. Here, we found heterozygous mutations in the HTRA1 gene in individuals with CSVD and investigated the differences in biochemical characteristics between these mutant HTRA1s and mutant HTRA1s observed in homozygotes. Methods: We recruited 113 unrelated index patients with clinically diagnosed CSVD. The coding sequences of the HTRA1 gene were analyzed. We evaluated HTRA1 protease activities using casein assays and oligomeric HTRA1 formation using gel filtration chromatography. Results: We found 4 heterozygous missense mutations in the HTRA1 gene (p.G283E, p.P285L, p.R302Q, and p.T319I) in 6 patients from 113 unrelated index patients and in 2 siblings in 2 unrelated families with p.R302Q. These mutant HTRA1s showed markedly decreased protease activities and inhibited wild-type HTRA1 activity, whereas 2 of 3 mutant HTRA1s reported in CARASIL (A252T and V297M) did not inhibit wild- type HTRA1 activity. Wild-type HTRA1 forms trimers; however, G283E and T319I HTRA1, observed in manifesting heterozygotes, did not form trimers. P285L and R302Q HTRA1s formed trimers, but their mutations were located in domains that are important for trimer-associated HTRA1 activation; in contrast, A252T and V297M HTRA1s, which have been observed in CARASIL, also formed trimers but had mutations outside the domains important for trimer- associated HTRA1 activation. Conclusions: The mutant HTRA1s observed in manifesting heterozygotes might result in an impaired HTRA1 activation cascade of HTRA1 or be unable to form stable trimers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruyue Zheng ◽  
Menglin Li ◽  
Shujuan Wang ◽  
Yanfang Liu

AbstractT-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is one of the hematological malignancies. With the applications of chemotherapy regimens and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, the cure rate of T-ALL has been significantly improved. However, patients with relapsed and refractory T-ALL still lack effective treatment options. Gene mutations play an important role in T-ALL. The NOTCH1 gene mutation is the important one among these genetic mutations. Since the mutation of NOTCH1 gene is considered as a driving oncogene in T-ALL, targeting the NOTCH1 signaling patheway may be an effective option to overcome relapsed and refractory T-ALL. This review mainly summarizes the recent research advances of targeting on NOTCH1 signaling pathway in T-ALL.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. 273-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasunobu Nagata ◽  
Masashi Sanada ◽  
Ayana Kon ◽  
Kenichi Yoshida ◽  
Yuichi Shiraishi ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 273 Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of myeloid neoplasms showing a frequent transition to acute myeloid leukemia. Although they are discriminated from de novo AML by the presence of a preleukemic period and dysplastic cell morphology, the difference in molecular genetics between both neoplasms has not been fully elucidated because of the similar spectrum of gene mutations. In this regards, the recent discovery of frequent pathway mutations (45∼90%) involving the RNA splicing machinery in MDS and related myeloid neoplasm with their rare mutation rate in de novo AML provided a novel insight into the distinct molecular pathogenesis of both neoplasms. Thus far, eight components of the RNA splicing machinery have been identified as the targets of gene mutations, among which U2AF35, SF3B1, SRSF2 and ZRSR2 show the highest mutation rates in MDS and CMML. Meanwhile, the frequency of mutations shows a substantial variation among disease subtypes, although the genetic/biological basis for these differences has not been clarified; SF3B1 mutations explain >90% of the spliceosome gene mutations in RARS and RCMD-RS, while mutations of U2AF35 and ZRSR2 are rare in these categories (< 5%) but common in CMML (16%) and MDS without increased ring sideroblasts (20%). On the other hand, SRSF2 mutations are most frequent in CMML (30%), compared with other subtypes (<10 %) (p<0.001) (Yoshida K, et al, unpublished data). So to obtain an insight into the genetic basis for these difference, we extensively explored spectrums of gene mutations in a set of 161 samples with MDS and related myeloid neoplasms, in which mutations of 10 genes thus far identified as major targets in MDS were examined and their frequencies were compared with regard to the species of mutated components of the splicing machinery. The mutation status of the 161 specimens was determined using the target exon enrichment followed by massively parallel sequencing. In total, 86 mutations were identified in 81(50%) in the 8 components of the splicing machinery. The mutations among 4 genes, U2AF35 (N = 20), SRSF2 (N = 31), SF3B1 (N = 15) and ZRSR2 (N = 10), explained most of the mutations with a much lower mutational rate for SF3A1 (N = 3), PRPF40B (N = 3), U2AF65 (N = 3) and SF1 (N = 1). Conspicuously, higher frequency 4 components of the splicing machinery were mutated in 76 out of the 161 cases (47.2%) in a mutually exclusive manner. On the other hand, 172 mutations of the 10 common targets were identified among 117, including 41 TET2 (25%), 32 RUNX1 (20%), 26 ASXL1 (16%), 24 RAS (NRAS/KRAS) (15%), 22 TP53 (14%), 17 IDH1/2 (10%), 10 CBL (6%) and 10 EZH2 (6%) mutations. We examined the difference between the major spliceosome mutations in terms of the number of the accompanying mutations in the 10 common gene targets. The possible bias from the difference in disease subtypes was compensated by multiple regressions. The SRSF2 mutations are more frequently associated with accompanying gene mutations with a significantly higher number of those mutations (N=29; OR 6.2; 95%CI 1.1–35) compared with that of the U2AF35 mutations (N=14) (p=0.038). Commonly involving the E/A splicing complexes, these splicing pathway mutations lead to compromised 3' splice site recognition. However, individual mutations may still have different impacts on cell functions, which could contribute to the determination of discrete disease phenotypes. It was demonstrated that SRSF2 was involved in the regulation of DNA stability and that depletion of SRSF2 can lead to DNA hypermutability, which may explain the higher number of accompanying gene mutation in SRSF2-mutated cases than cases with other spliceosome gene mutations. In conclusion, it may help to disclosing the genetic basis of MDS and related myeloid neoplasms that highly paralleled resequencing was confirmed SRSF2 mutated case significantly overlapped common mutations. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 603-603
Author(s):  
Patrick McKay Boland ◽  
Sherri Z. Millis ◽  
David Arguello ◽  
Zoran Gatalica ◽  
Sandeep K. Reddy ◽  
...  

603 Background: Anal squamous cell carcinoma (Anal SCC) is a rare, HPV-associated malignancy accounting for 2.4% of digestive system cancers. In most cases, these malignancies are detected in the early stages and successfully managed with chemoradiation therapy. Uncommonly, these cancers recur or present with metastases. In this setting, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil represent the only endorsed regimen. Once beyond standard therapy, few therapeutic options exist for those patients with aggressive disease. The purpose of this study is to identify other novel, potential targets and therapeutic options for this disease, utilizing a multiplatform approach. Methods: 206 anal SCC specimenswere tested via a multiplatform profiling service (Caris Life Sciences, Phoenix, AZ) consisting of gene sequencing (Sanger or next generation sequencing [NGS]), protein expression (immunohistochemistry [IHC]) and gene amplification (CISH or FISH). 6 cases were documented as positive for HPV or HIV; status was not provided on the remaining 200. Results: Key results are shown in the table below, shown as percent change/total cases. Conclusions: Multiplatform tumor profiling identified a low incidence of gene mutations. Protein expression aberrations identified potential treatment options not routinely considered, such as topoisomerase inhibitors and taxanes. Mutations in PIK3CA, Akt1, and FBXW7 as well as PTEN loss indicate potential for targeting the PI3 kinase pathway. Additionally, immunomodulatory agents may be a therapeutic option, based on PD-1 expression levels. Targeting the ErbB-family receptors, namely with anti-EGFR agents or newer generation pan-HER - inhibitors, may represent another option, given EGFR and HER2 amplification as well as EGFR overexpression. It should be mentioned that differences in anal carcinomas whose etiology is of viral origin may present different treatment options based on the driver mutations. [Table: see text]


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