The association of Greig syndrome and mastocytosis reveals the involvement of hedgehog pathway in advanced mastocytosis

Mastocytosis is a heterogeneous disease characterized by an abnormal accumulation of mast cells (MCs) in one or several organs. Although a somatic KIT D816V mutation is detected in ~85% of patients, attempts to demonstrate its oncogenic effect alone have repeatedly failed, suggesting that additional pathways are involved in MC transformation. From three children presenting with both Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome (GCPS, MIM#175700) and congenital mastocytosis, we demonstrated the involvement of the hedgehog (Hh) pathway in mastocytosis. GCPS is an extremely rare syndrome resulting from haploinsufficiency of GLI3, the major repressor of Hh family members. From these familial cases of mastocytosis, we demonstrate that the Hh pathway is barely active in normal primary MCs and overactive in neoplastic MCs. We show that GLI3 and KIT mutations have a synergistic, tumorigenic effect on the onset of mastocytosis in a GCPS mouse model. Finally, we show that Hh inhibitors suppress neoplastic MC proliferation in vitro and extend the survival time of aggressive systemic mastocytosis (ASM) mice. This work revealed, for the first time, the involvement of Hh signaling in the pathophysiology of mastocytosis and demonstrated the cooperative effects of the KIT and Hh oncogenic pathways in ASM, leading to the identification of new promising therapeutic targets.

Variant type and position predict two distinct limb phenotypes in patients with GLI3-mediated polydactyly syndromes

IntroductionPathogenic DNA variants in the GLI-Kruppel family member 3 (GLI3) gene are known to cause multiple syndromes: for example, Greig syndrome, preaxial polydactyly-type 4 (PPD4) and Pallister-Hall syndrome. Out of these, Pallister-Hall is a different entity, but the distinction between Greig syndrome and PPD4 is less evident. Using latent class analysis (LCA), our study aimed to investigate the correlation between reported limb anomalies and the reported GLI3 variants in these GLI3-mediated polydactyly syndromes. We identified two subclasses of limb anomalies that relate to the underlying variant.MethodsBoth local and published cases were included for analysis. The presence of individual limb phenotypes was dichotomised and an exploratory LCA was performed. Distribution of phenotypes and genotypes over the classes were explored and subsequently the key predictors of latent class membership were correlated to the different clustered genotypes.Results297 cases were identified with 127 different variants in the GLI3 gene. A two-class model was fitted revealing two subgroups of patients with anterior versus posterior anomalies. Posterior anomalies were observed in cases with truncating variants in the activator domain (postaxial polydactyly; hand, OR: 12.7; foot, OR: 33.9). Multivariate analysis supports these results (Beta: 1.467, p=0.013 and Beta: 2.548, p<0.001, respectively). Corpus callosum agenesis was significantly correlated to these variants (OR: 8.8, p<0.001).ConclusionThere are two distinct phenotypes within the GLI3-mediated polydactyly population: anteriorly and posteriorly orientated. Variants that likely produce haploinsufficiency are associated with anterior phenotypes. Posterior phenotypes are associated with truncating variants in the activator domain. Patients with these truncating variants have a greater risk for corpus callosum anomalies.