scholarly journals Advances in Huntington Disease Drug Discovery

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Bard ◽  
Michael D. Wall ◽  
Ovadia Lazari ◽  
Jamshid Arjomand ◽  
Ignacio Munoz-Sanjuan
Keyword(s):  
Huntington Disease ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Mononuclear Cells ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Cellular Systems ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Amino Terminal ◽  
Cellular Models ◽  
Wide Range

Huntington disease is a monogenic, autosomal dominant, progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by a trinucleotide CAG repeat expansion in exon 1 of the huntingtin ( HTT) gene; age of onset of clinical symptoms inversely correlates with expanded CAG repeat length. HD leads to extensive degeneration of the basal ganglia, hypothalamic nuclei, and selected cortical areas, and a wide range of molecular mechanisms have been implicated in disease pathology in animal or cellular models expressing mutated HTT (mHTT) proteins, either full-length or amino-terminal fragments. However, HD cellular models that recapitulate the slow progression of the disease have not been available due to the toxicity of overexpressed exogenous mHTT or to limitations with using primary cells for long-term studies. Most investigations of the effects of mHTT relied on cytotoxicity or aggregation end points in heterologous systems or in primary embryonic neuroglial cultures derived from HD mouse models. More innovative approaches are currently under active investigation, including screening using electrophysiological endpoints, as well as the recent use of primary blood mononuclear cells and of human embryonic stem cells derived from a variety of HD research participants. Here we describe how these cellular systems are being used to investigate HD biology as well as to identify mechanisms with therapeutic potential.

scholarly journals A Case of Previously Unsuspected Huntington Disease Diagnosed at Autopsy

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-144
Author(s):  
Catherine R. Miller ◽  
Nobby C. Mambo ◽  
Jianli Dong ◽  
Gerald A. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Testing ◽  
Huntington Disease ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Case Reports ◽  
Neuronal Loss ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Cag Repeats ◽  
Psychiatric Disturbances ◽  
Personality Changes

Huntington disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with a worldwide prevalence of four to ten per 100 000. It is characterized by choreiform movements, behavioral/psychiatric disturbances, and eventual cognitive decline. Symptoms usually present between 30 and 50 years of age and the diagnosis is based on the combination of clinical symptoms, family history, and genetic testing. A variation of HD, juvenile Huntington disease (JHD), presents earlier, with more severe symptoms and with a worse prognosis. Symptoms are different in JHD, with personality changes and learning difficulties being the predominant presenting features. Seizures are common in JHD, and chorea is uncommon; movement disorders at presentation of JHD are predominantly nonchoreiform. The inheritance pattern for both HD and JHD is autosomal dominant and the disease is caused by an elongation of the CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene. There are many published case reports of Huntington disease that were confirmed at autopsy, but to our knowledge, there are no reports in the literature where the diagnosis of Huntington disease was first made at autopsy. We present a case of a 28-year-old African-American male who was in a state of neglect due to a lifetime of abuse, cognitive difficulties, and seizures, whose cause of death was pneumonia. The gross autopsy findings included bilateral caudate nucleus atrophy and lateral ventricular dilation. Microscopically, severe bilateral neuronal loss and gliosis of the caudate and putamen nuclei were seen. Genetic testing for the number of CAG repeats confirmed the diagnosis and was consistent with JHD.

scholarly journals Gene expression profiles complement the analysis of genomic modifiers of the clinical onset of Huntington disease

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galen E.B. Wright ◽  
Nicholas S. Caron ◽  
Bernard Ng ◽  
Lorenzo Casal ◽  
Xiaohong Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Huntington Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Expression Profiles ◽  
Gene Expression Profiles ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Clinical Onset ◽  
Genome Wide Data

ABSTRACTHuntington disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the HTT gene. In an attempt to identify genomic modifiers that contribute towards the age of onset of HD, we performed a transcriptome wide association study assessing heritable differences in genetically determined expression in diverse tissues, employing genome wide data from over 4,000 patients. This identified genes that showed evidence for colocalization and replication, with downstream functional validation being performed in isogenic HD stem cells and patient brains. Enrichment analyses detected associations with various biologically-relevant gene sets and striatal coexpression modules that are mediated by CAG length. Further, cortical coexpression modules that are relevant for HD onset were also associated with cognitive decline and HD-related traits in a longitudinal cohort. In summary, the combination of population-scale gene expression information with HD patient genomic data identified novel modifier genes for the disorder.

scholarly journals Library preparation and MiSeq sequencing for the genotyping-by-sequencing of the Huntington disease HTT exon one trinucleotide repeat and the quantification of somatic mosaicism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Ciosi ◽  
Sarah A. Cumming ◽  
Asma M. Alshammari ◽  
Efthymia Symeonidi ◽  
Pawel Herzyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Huntington Disease ◽  
Trinucleotide Repeat ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Fragment Size ◽  
Somatic Mosaicism ◽  
Genotyping By Sequencing ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Miseq Sequencing ◽  
Flanking Sequence

Abstract Huntington disease \(HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat in the first exon of the _HTT_ gene. Affected individuals inherit more than 40 repeats and the CAG repeat is genetically unstable in both the germline and soma. Molecular diagnosis and genotyping of the CAG repeat is traditionally performed by estimation of PCR fragment size. However, this approach is complicated by the presence of an adjacent polymorphic CCG repeat and provides no information on the presence of variant repeats, flanking sequence variants or on the degree of somatic mosaicism. To overcome these limitations, we have developed an amplicon-sequencing protocol that allows the sequencing of hundreds of samples in a single MiSeq run. The composition of the _HTT_ exon one trinucleotide repeat locus can be determined from the MiSeq sequencing reads generated. With sufficient sequencing depth, such MiSeq data can also be used to quantify the degree of somatic mosaicism of the _HTT_ CAG repeat in the tissue analysed.

scholarly journals Effect of Size, Shape, and Composition on the Interaction of Different Nanomaterials with HeLa Cells

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Renero-Lecuna ◽  
Nerea Iturrioz-Rodríguez ◽  
Eloisa González-Lavado ◽  
Esperanza Padín-González ◽  
Elena Navarro-Palomares ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Culture ◽  
Graphene Oxide ◽  
Hela Cells ◽  
Cellular Systems ◽  
Comparative Tests ◽  
Cellular Models ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Stability

The application of nanomaterials in the fields of medicine and biotechnology is of enormous interest, particularly in the areas where traditional solutions have failed. Unfortunately, there is very little information on how to optimize the preparation of nanomaterials for their use in cell culture and on the effects that these can trigger on standard cellular systems. These data are pivotal in nanobiotechnology for the development of different applications and to evaluate/compare the cytotoxicity among the different nanomaterials or studies. The lack of information drives many laboratories to waste resources performing redundant comparative tests that often lead to partial answers due to differences in (i) the nature of the start-up material, (ii) the preparation, (iii) functionalization, (iv) resuspension, (v) the stability/dose of the nanomaterial, etc. These variations in addition to the different analytical systems contribute to the artefactual interpretation of the effects of nanomaterials and to inconsistent conclusions between different laboratories. Here, we present a brief review of a wide range of nanomaterials (nanotubes, various nanoparticles, graphene oxide, and liposomes) with HeLa cells as a reference cellular system. These human cells, widely used as cellular models for many studies, represent a reference system for comparative studies between different nanomaterials or conditions and, in the last term, between different laboratories.

scholarly journals Single-Step Scalable-Throughput Molecular Screening for Huntington Disease

2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 964-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara R L Teo ◽  
Wen Wang ◽  
Hai Yang Law ◽  
Caroline G Lee ◽  
Samuel S Chong
Keyword(s):  
Huntington Disease ◽  
Trinucleotide Repeat ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
False Positive Rate ◽  
Screening Method ◽  
Melting Curve ◽  
Single Step ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Melting Curve Analysis

Abstract Background: Huntington disease (HD) is a fatal autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by an unstable expansion of the CAG trinucleotide repeat in exon 1 of the HTT (huntingtin) gene and typically has an adult onset. Molecular diagnosis and screening for HD currently involve separate amplification and detection steps. Methods: We evaluated a novel, rapid microplate-based screening method for HD that combines the amplification and detection procedures in a single-step, closed-tube format. We carried out both the PCR for the HTT CAG-repeat region and the subsequent automated melting-curve analysis of the amplicon in the same wells on the plate. To establish cutoff melting temperatures (Tms) for each allelic class, we used a panel of reference DNA samples of known CAG-repeat sizes that represent a range of HTT alleles [normal (≤26 repeats), intermediate (27–35 repeats), reduced penetrance expanded (36–39 repeats), and fully penetrant expanded (≥40 repeats)]. We also measured well-to-well variation in Tm across the thermal block and validated cutoff Tms with DNA samples from 5 different populations. We also conducted a blinded validation analysis of clinical samples from an additional 40 HD-affected and 30 unaffected individuals. Results: We observed a strong correlation between CAG-repeat size and amplicon Tm among the reference DNA samples. Use of the Tm cutoffs we established revealed that 5 samples from unaffected individuals had been misclassified as affected (1.1% false-positive rate). All samples from HD-affected and unaffected individuals were correctly identified in the blinded analysis. Conclusions: This simple and scalable homogeneous assay may serve as a convenient, rapid, and accurate screen to detect the presence of pathologic expanded HD alleles in symptomatic patients.

scholarly journals Cell signaling pathways in autosomal-dominant leukodystrophy (ADLD): the intriguing role of the astrocytes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Ratti ◽  
Isabella Rusciano ◽  
Sara Mongiorgi ◽  
Eric Owusu Obeng ◽  
Alessandra Cappellini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signaling Pathways ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Autosomal Dominant ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Nuclear Lamina ◽  
Cellular Models ◽  
Lamin B1 ◽  
Nuclear Alterations ◽  
First Time

Abstract Autosomal-dominant leukodystrophy (ADLD) is a rare fatal neurodegenerative disorder with overexpression of the nuclear lamina component, Lamin B1 due to LMNB1 gene duplication or deletions upstream of the gene. The molecular mechanisms responsible for driving the onset and development of this pathology are not clear yet. Vacuolar demyelination seems to be one of the most significant histopathological observations of ADLD. Considering the role of oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)-activated signaling pathways in the myelination processes, this work aims to analyze the specific alterations in different cell populations from patients with LMNB1 duplications and engineered cellular models overexpressing Lamin B1 protein. Our results point out, for the first time, that astrocytes may be pivotal in the evolution of the disease. Indeed, cells from ADLD patients and astrocytes overexpressing LMNB1 show severe ultrastructural nuclear alterations, not present in oligodendrocytes overexpressing LMNB1. Moreover, the accumulation of Lamin B1 in astrocytes induces a reduction in LIF and in LIF-Receptor (LIF-R) levels with a consequential decrease in LIF secretion. Therefore, in both our cellular models, Jak/Stat3 and PI3K/Akt axes, downstream of LIF/LIF-R, are downregulated. Significantly, the administration of exogenous LIF can partially reverse the toxic effects induced by Lamin B1 accumulation with differences between astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, highlighting that LMNB1 overexpression drastically affects astrocytic function reducing their fundamental support to oligodendrocytes in the myelination process. In addition, inflammation has also been investigated, showing an increased activation in ADLD patients’ cells.

Molecular Mechanisms and Potential Therapeutical Targets in Huntington's Disease

2010 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 905-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Zuccato ◽  
Marta Valenza ◽  
Elena Cattaneo
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Disease Process ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Mutant Protein ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Causative Gene

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the gene encoding for huntingtin protein. A lot has been learned about this disease since its first description in 1872 and the identification of its causative gene and mutation in 1993. We now know that the disease is characterized by several molecular and cellular abnormalities whose precise timing and relative roles in pathogenesis have yet to be understood. HD is triggered by the mutant protein, and both gain-of-function (of the mutant protein) and loss-of-function (of the normal protein) mechanisms are involved. Here we review the data that describe the emergence of the ancient huntingtin gene and of the polyglutamine trait during the last 800 million years of evolution. We focus on the known functions of wild-type huntingtin that are fundamental for the survival and functioning of the brain neurons that predominantly degenerate in HD. We summarize data indicating how the loss of these beneficial activities reduces the ability of these neurons to survive. We also review the different mechanisms by which the mutation in huntingtin causes toxicity. This may arise both from cell-autonomous processes and dysfunction of neuronal circuitries. We then focus on novel therapeutical targets and pathways and on the attractive option to counteract HD at its primary source, i.e., by blocking the production of the mutant protein. Strategies and technologies used to screen for candidate HD biomarkers and their potential application are presented. Furthermore, we discuss the opportunities offered by intracerebral cell transplantation and the likely need for these multiple routes into therapies to converge at some point as, ideally, one would wish to stop the disease process and, at the same time, possibly replace the damaged neurons.

scholarly journals Pancreatic Progenitor Commitment Is Marked by an Increase in Ink4a/Arf Expression

Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1124
Author(s):  
Elena Montano ◽  
Alessandra Pollice ◽  
Valeria Lucci ◽  
Geppino Falco ◽  
Ornella Affinito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Cell Fate ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Kinase Inhibitor ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Cellular Systems ◽  
Cell Cycle Regulators ◽  
Pancreatic Progenitor ◽  
Cell Fate Decisions ◽  
Lineage Differentiation

The identification of the molecular mechanisms controlling early cell fate decisions in mammals is of paramount importance as the ability to determine specific lineage differentiation represents a significant opportunity for new therapies. Pancreatic Progenitor Cells (PPCs) constitute a regenerative reserve essential for the maintenance and regeneration of the pancreas. Besides, PPCs represent an excellent model for understanding pathological pancreatic cellular remodeling. Given the lack of valid markers of early endoderm, the identification of new ones is of fundamental importance. Both products of the Ink4a/Arf locus, in addition to being critical cell-cycle regulators, appear to be involved in several disease pathologies. Moreover, the locus’ expression is epigenetically regulated in ES reprogramming processes, thus constituting the ideal candidates to modulate PPCs homeostasis. In this study, starting from mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), we analyzed the early stages of pancreatic commitment. By inducing mESCs commitment to the pancreatic lineage, we observed that both products of the Cdkn2a locus, Ink4a and Arf, mark a naïve pancreatic cellular state that resembled PPC-like specification. Treatment with epi-drugs suggests a role for chromatin remodeling in the CDKN2a (Cycline Dependent Kinase Inhibitor 2A) locus regulation in line with previous observations in other cellular systems. Our data considerably improve the comprehension of pancreatic cellular ontogeny, which could be critical for implementing pluripotent stem cells programming and reprogramming toward pancreatic lineage commitment.

scholarly journals Early white matter pathology in the fornix of the limbic system in Huntington disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 142 (5) ◽  
pp. 791-806
Author(s):  
Sanaz Gabery ◽  
Jing Eugene Kwa ◽  
Rachel Y. Cheong ◽  
Barbara Baldo ◽  
Costanza Ferrari Bardile ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Limbic System ◽  
Huntington Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 ◽  
Transcription Factor Target ◽  
Motor Component ◽  
White Matter Pathology

AbstractHuntington disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. The typical motor symptoms have been associated with basal ganglia pathology. However, psychiatric and cognitive symptoms often precede the motor component and may be due to changes in the limbic system. Recent work has indicated pathology in the hypothalamus in HD but other parts of the limbic system have not been extensively studied. Emerging evidence suggests that changes in HD also include white matter pathology. Here we investigated if the main white matter tract of the limbic system, the fornix, is affected in HD. We demonstrate that the fornix is 34% smaller already in prodromal HD and 41% smaller in manifest HD compared to controls using volumetric analyses of MRI of the IMAGE-HD study. In post-mortem fornix tissue from HD cases, we confirm the smaller fornix volume in HD which is accompanied by signs of myelin breakdown and reduced levels of the transcription factor myelin regulating factor but detect no loss of oligodendrocytes. Further analyses using RNA-sequencing demonstrate downregulation of oligodendrocyte identity markers in the fornix of HD cases. Analysis of differentially expressed genes based on transcription-factor/target-gene interactions also revealed enrichment for binding sites of SUZ12 and EZH2, components of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2, as well as RE1 Regulation Transcription Factor. Taken together, our data show that there is early white matter pathology of the fornix in the limbic system in HD likely due to a combination of reduction in oligodendrocyte genes and myelin break down.

scholarly journals RAN translation of the expanded CAG repeats in the SCA3 disease context

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Jazurek-Ciesiolka ◽  
Adam Ciesiolka ◽  
Alicja A. Komur ◽  
Martyna O. Urbanek-Trzeciak ◽  
Agnieszka Fiszer
Keyword(s):  
Cellular Localization ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Cag Repeats ◽  
Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3 ◽  
Cellular Models ◽  
Type 3 ◽  
Ran Translation

ABSTRACTSpinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the ATXN3 gene encoding the ataxin-3 protein. Despite extensive research the exact pathogenic mechanisms of SCA3 are still not understood in depth. In the present study, to gain insight into the toxicity induced by the expanded CAG repeats in SCA3, we comprehensively investigated repeat-associated non-ATG (RAN) translation in various cellular models expressing translated or non-canonically translated ATXN3 sequences with an increasing number of CAG repeats. We demonstrate that two SCA3 RAN proteins, polyglutamine (polyQ) and polyalanine (polyA), are found only in the case of CAG repeats of pathogenic length. Despite having distinct cellular localization, RAN polyQ and RAN polyA proteins are very often coexpressed in the same cell, impairing nuclear integrity and inducing apoptosis. We provide for the first time mechanistic insights into SCA3 RAN translation indicating that ATXN3 sequences surrounding the repeat region have an impact on SCA3 RAN translation initiation and efficiency. We revealed that RAN translation of polyQ proteins starts at non-cognate codons upstream of the CAG repeats, whereas RAN polyA proteins are likely translated within repeats. Furthermore, integrated stress response activation enhances SCA3 RAN translation. We suggest that RAN translation in SCA3 is a common event substantially contributing to SCA3 pathogenesis and that the ATXN3 sequence context plays an important role in triggering this unconventional translation.

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