scholarly journals VGLL2-NCOA2 leverages developmental programs for pediatric sarcomagenesis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Watson ◽  
Collette LaVigne ◽  
Lin Xu ◽  
Whitney Murchison ◽  
Didier Surdez ◽  
...  

Clinical sequencing efforts are uncovering numerous fusion genes in childhood solid tumors, yet few methods exist to delineate fusion-oncogenes from structural changes of unknown significance. One such novel fusion gene is VGLL2-NCOA2, which was described by us and others in patients with congenital sarcomas but has lacked functional validation. To determine if this fusion is an oncogene, and how it is driving disease, we developed a vertebrate zebrafish model and mouse allograft model of human VGLL2-NCOA2 driven sarcomagenesis. We found that VGLL2-NCOA2 is indeed an oncogene and is sufficient to generate mesenchymal tumors that recapitulate the human disease at the histological and transcriptional level. Zebrafish VGLL2-NCOA2 tumors display features of arrested skeletal muscle development, and a subset transcriptionally cluster with somitogenesis in developing embryos. By comparing tumor and embryonic gene expression signatures, we identified developmentally regulated targets that VGLL2-NCOA2 potentially leverages for tumorigenesis. These targets highlight the core biology of the disease and could represent therapeutic opportunities. Specifically, a RAS family GTPase, arf6/ARF6, involved in actin remodeling and rapid cycling of endocytic vesicles at the plasma membrane, is highly expressed during zebrafish somitogenesis and in VGLL2-NCOA2 tumors. In zebrafish tumors, arf6 protein is highly expressed and is absent from mature skeletal muscle. In VGLL2-NCOA2 mouse allograft models and patient tumors, ARF6 mRNA is overexpressed as compared to skeletal muscle or normal controls. More broadly, ARF6 is overexpressed in adult and pediatric sarcoma subtypes as compared to mature skeletal muscle. Overall, our cross-species comparative oncology approach provides evidence that VGLL2-NCOA2 is an oncogene which leverages developmental programs for tumorigenesis, and that one of these programs, the reactivation or persistence of arf6/ARF6, could represent a therapeutic opportunity.

Author(s):  
C. Uphoff ◽  
C. Nyquist-Battie ◽  
T.B. Cole

Ultrastructural alterations of skeletal muscle have been observed in adult chronic alcoholic patients. However, no such study has been performed on individuals prenatally exposed to ethanol. In order to determine if ethanol exposure in utero in the latter stages of muscle development was deleterious, skeletal muscle was obtained from newborn guinea pigs treated in the following manner. Six Hartly strain pregnant guinea pigs were randomly assigned to either the ethanol or the pair-intubated groups. Twice daily the 3 ethanol-treated animals were intubated with Ensure (Ross Laboratories) liquid diet containing 30% ethanol (6g/Kg pre-pregnant body weight per day) from day 35 of gestation until parturition at day 70±1 day. Serum ethanol levels were determined at 1 hour post-intubation by the Sigma alcohol test kit. For pair-intubation the Ensure diet contained sucrose substituted isocalorically for ethanol. Both food and water intake were monitored.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 835
Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Mohammadabadi ◽  
Farhad Bordbar ◽  
Just Jensen ◽  
Min Du ◽  
Wei Guo

Farm-animal species play crucial roles in satisfying demands for meat on a global scale, and they are genetically being developed to enhance the efficiency of meat production. In particular, one of the important breeders’ aims is to increase skeletal muscle growth in farm animals. The enhancement of muscle development and growth is crucial to meet consumers’ demands regarding meat quality. Fetal skeletal muscle development involves myogenesis (with myoblast proliferation, differentiation, and fusion), fibrogenesis, and adipogenesis. Typically, myogenesis is regulated by a convoluted network of intrinsic and extrinsic factors monitored by myogenic regulatory factor genes in two or three phases, as well as genes that code for kinases. Marker-assisted selection relies on candidate genes related positively or negatively to muscle development and can be a strong supplement to classical selection strategies in farm animals. This comprehensive review covers important (candidate) genes that regulate muscle development and growth in farm animals (cattle, sheep, chicken, and pig). The identification of these genes is an important step toward the goal of increasing meat yields and improves meat quality.


Gene ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 783 ◽  
pp. 145562
Author(s):  
Huadong Yin ◽  
Shunshun Han ◽  
Can Cui ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
Diyan Li ◽  
...  

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 814
Author(s):  
Donghao Zhang ◽  
Jinshan Ran ◽  
Jingjing Li ◽  
Chunlin Yu ◽  
Zhifu Cui ◽  
...  

The proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle satellite cells (SMSCs) play an important role in the development of skeletal muscle. Our previous sequencing data showed that miR-21-5p is one of the most abundant miRNAs in chicken skeletal muscle. Therefore, in this study, the spatiotemporal expression of miR-21-5p and its effects on skeletal muscle development of chickens were explored using in vitro cultured SMSCs as a model. The results in this study showed that miR-21-5p was highly expressed in the skeletal muscle of chickens. The overexpression of miR-21-5p promoted the proliferation of SMSCs as evidenced by increased cell viability, increased cell number in the proliferative phase, and increased mRNA and protein expression of proliferation markers including PCNA, CDK2, and CCND1. Moreover, it was revealed that miR-21-5p promotes the formation of myotubes by modulating the expression of myogenic markers including MyoG, MyoD, and MyHC, whereas knockdown of miR-21-5p showed the opposite result. Gene prediction and dual fluorescence analysis confirmed that KLF3 was one of the direct target genes of miR-21-5p. We confirmed that, contrary to the function of miR-21-5p, KLF3 plays a negative role in the proliferation and differentiation of SMSCs. Si-KLF3 promotes cell number and proliferation activity, as well as the cell differentiation processes. Our results demonstrated that miR-21-5p promotes the proliferation and differentiation of SMSCs by targeting KLF3. Collectively, the results obtained in this study laid a foundation for exploring the mechanism through which miR-21-5p regulates SMSCs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4407
Author(s):  
Dana Adler ◽  
Zehavit Shapira ◽  
Shimon Weiss ◽  
Asher Shainberg ◽  
Abram Katz

Weak electromagnetic fields (WEF) alter Ca2+ handling in skeletal muscle myotubes. Owing to the involvement of Ca2+ in muscle development, we investigated whether WEF affects fusion of myoblasts in culture. Rat primary myoblast cultures were exposed to WEF (1.75 µT, 16 Hz) for up to six days. Under control conditions, cell fusion and creatine kinase (CK) activity increased in parallel and peaked at 4–6 days. WEF enhanced the extent of fusion after one and two days (by ~40%) vs. control, but not thereafter. Exposure to WEF also enhanced CK activity after two days (almost four-fold), but not afterwards. Incorporation of 3H-thymidine into DNA was enhanced by one-day exposure to WEF (~40%), indicating increased cell replication. Using the potentiometric fluorescent dye di-8-ANEPPS, we found that exposure of cells to 150 mM KCl resulted in depolarization of the cell membrane. However, prior exposure of cells to WEF for one day followed by addition of KCl resulted in hyperpolarization of the cell membrane. Acute exposure of cells to WEF also resulted in hyperpolarization of the cell membrane. Twenty-four hour incubation of myoblasts with gambogic acid, an inhibitor of the inward rectifying K+ channel 2.1 (Kir2.1), did not affect cell fusion, WEF-mediated acceleration of fusion or hyperpolarization. These data demonstrate that WEF accelerates fusion of myoblasts, resulting in myotube formation. The WEF effect is associated with hyperpolarization but WEF does not appear to mediate its effects on fusion by activating Kir2.1 channels.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 445
Author(s):  
Daniela Zizioli ◽  
Simona Bernardi ◽  
Marco Varinelli ◽  
Mirko Farina ◽  
Luca Mignani ◽  
...  

Zebrafish has proven to be a versatile and reliable experimental in vivo tool to study human hematopoiesis and model hematological malignancies. Transgenic technologies enable the generation of specific leukemia types by the expression of human oncogenes under specific promoters. Using this technology, a variety of myeloid and lymphoid malignancies zebrafish models have been described. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative neoplasia characterized by the BCR-ABL1 fusion gene, derived from the t (9;22) translocation causing the Philadelphia Chromosome (Ph). The BCR-ABL1 protein is a constitutively activated tyrosine kinas inducing the leukemogenesis and resulting in an accumulation of immature leukemic cells into bone marrow and peripheral blood. To model Ph+ CML, a transgenic zebrafish line expressing the human BCR-ABL1 was generated by the Gal4/UAS system, and then crossed with the hsp70-Gal4 transgenic line. The new line named (BCR-ABL1pUAS:CFP/hsp70-Gal4), presented altered expression of hematopoietic markers during embryonic development compared to controls and transgenic larvae showed proliferating hematopoietic cells in the caudal hematopoietic tissue (CHT). The present transgenic zebrafish would be a robust CML model and a high-throughput drug screening tool.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2311
Author(s):  
Hao Ding ◽  
Yueyue Lin ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Lan Chen ◽  
Genxi Zhang ◽  
...  

The mechanisms behind the gene expression and regulation that modulate the development and growth of pigeon skeletal muscle remain largely unknown. In this study, we performed gene expression analysis on skeletal muscle samples at different developmental and growth stages using RNA sequencing (RNA−Seq). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using edgeR software. Weighted gene co−expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to identify the gene modules related to the growth and development of pigeon skeletal muscle based on DEGs. A total of 11,311 DEGs were identified. WGCNA aggregated 11,311 DEGs into 12 modules. Black and brown modules were significantly correlated with the 1st and 10th day of skeletal muscle growth, while turquoise and cyan modules were significantly correlated with the 8th and 13th days of skeletal muscle embryonic development. Four mRNA−mRNA regulatory networks corresponding to the four significant modules were constructed and visualised using Cytoscape software. Twenty candidate mRNAs were identified based on their connectivity degrees in the networks, including Abca8b, TCONS−00004461, VWF, OGDH, TGIF1, DKK3, Gfpt1 and RFC5, etc. A KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that many pathways were related to the growth and development of pigeon skeletal muscle, including PI3K/AKT/mTOR, AMPK, FAK, and thyroid hormone pathways. Five differentially expressed genes (LAST2, MYPN, DKK3, B4GALT6 and OGDH) in the network were selected, and their expression patterns were quantified by qRT−PCR. The results were consistent with our sequencing results. These findings could enhance our understanding of the gene expression and regulation in the development and growth of pigeon muscle.


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