Conventional inclusion criteria used in osteoarthritis clinical trials are not very effective in selecting patients who would benefit from a therapy being tested. Typically majority of selected ...patients show no or limited disease progression during a trial period. As a consequence, the effect of the tested treatment cannot be observed, and the efforts and resources invested in running the trial are not rewarded. This could be avoided, if selection criteria were more predictive of the future disease progression. In this article, we formulated the patient selection problem as a multi-class classification task, with classes based on clinically relevant measures of progression (over a time scale typical for clinical trials). Using data from two long-term knee osteoarthritis studies OAI and CHECK, we tested multiple algorithms and learning process configurations (including multi-classifier approaches, cost-sensitive learning, and feature selection), to identify the best performing machine learning models. We examined the behaviour of the best models, with respect to prediction errors and the impact of used features, to confirm their clinical relevance. We found that the model-based selection outperforms the conventional inclusion criteria, reducing by 20-25% the number of patients who show no progression. This result might lead to more efficient clinical trials.
We recently discovered that the Manech Tête Rousse (MTR) deficient homozygous haplotype 2 (MTRDHH2) probably carries a recessive lethal mutation in sheep. In this study, we fine‐mapped this region ...through whole‐genome sequencing of five MTRDHH2 heterozygous carriers and 95 non‐carriers from various ovine breeds. We identified a single base pair duplication within the SLC33A1 gene, leading to a frameshift mutation and a premature stop codon (p.Arg246Alafs*3). SLC33A1 encodes a transmembrane transporter of acetyl‐coenzyme A that is crucial for cellular metabolism. To investigate the lethality of this mutation in homozygous MTR sheep, we performed at‐risk matings using artificial insemination (AI) between heterozygous SLC33A1 variant carriers (SLC33A1_dupG). Pregnancy was confirmed 15 days post‐AI using a blood test measuring interferon Tau‐stimulated MX1 gene expression. Ultrasonography between 45 and 60 days post‐AI revealed a 12% reduction in AI success compared with safe matings, indicating embryonic/fetal loss. This was supported by the MX1 differential expression test suggesting fetal losses between 15 and 60 days of gestation. We also observed a 34.7% pre‐weaning mortality rate in 49 lambs born from at‐risk matings. Homozygous SLC33A1_dupG lambs accounted for 47% of this mortality, with deaths occurring mostly within the first 5 days without visible clinical signs. Therefore, appropriate management of SLC33A1_dupG with an allele frequency of 0.04 in the MTR selection scheme would help increase overall fertility and lamb survival.
Cellular innate immune sensors of DNA are essential for host defense against invading pathogens. However, the presence of self-DNA inside cells poses a risk of triggering unchecked immune responses. ...The mechanisms limiting induction of inflammation by self-DNA are poorly understood. BLM RecQ-like helicase is essential for genome integrity and is deficient in Bloom syndrome (BS), a rare genetic disease characterized by genome instability, accumulation of micronuclei, susceptibility to cancer, and immunodeficiency. Here, we show that BLM-deficient fibroblasts show constitutive up-regulation of inflammatory interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) expression, which is mediated by the cGAS-STING-IRF3 cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway. Increased DNA damage or down-regulation of the cytoplasmic exonuclease TREX1 enhances ISG expression in BLM-deficient fibroblasts. cGAS-containing cytoplasmic micronuclei are increased in BS cells. Finally, BS patients demonstrate elevated ISG expression in peripheral blood. These results reveal that BLM limits ISG induction, thus connecting DNA damage to cellular innate immune response, which may contribute to human pathogenesis.
Acheiropodia, congenital limb truncation, is associated with homozygous deletions in the LMBR1 gene around ZRS, an enhancer regulating SHH during limb development. How these deletions lead to this ...phenotype is unknown. Using whole-genome sequencing, we fine-mapped the acheiropodia-associated region to 12 kb and show that it does not function as an enhancer. CTCF and RAD21 ChIP-seq together with 4C-seq and DNA FISH identify three CTCF sites within the acheiropodia-deleted region that mediate the interaction between the ZRS and the SHH promoter. This interaction is substituted with other CTCF sites centromeric to the ZRS in the disease state. Mouse knockouts of the orthologous 12 kb sequence have no apparent abnormalities, showcasing the challenges in modelling CTCF alterations in animal models due to inherent motif differences between species. Our results show that alterations in CTCF motifs can lead to a Mendelian condition due to altered enhancer-promoter interactions.
Abstract
LMX1B
haploinsufficiency causes Nail-patella syndrome (NPS; MIM 161200), characterized by nail dysplasia, absent/hypoplastic patellae, chronic kidney disease, and glaucoma. Accordingly in ...mice,
Lmx1b
has been shown to play crucial roles in the development of the limb, kidney and eye. Although one functional allele of
Lmx1b
appears adequate for development,
Lmx1b
null mice display ventral-ventral distal limbs with abnormal kidney, eye and cerebellar development, more disruptive, but fully concordant with NPS. In
Lmx1b
functional knockouts (KOs),
Lmx1b
transcription in the limb is decreased nearly 6-fold, indicating autoregulation. Herein, we report on two conserved
L
mx1b
-
a
ssociated
cis
-
r
egulatory
m
odules (
LARM1
and
LARM2)
that are bound by Lmx1b, amplify
Lmx1b
expression with unique spatial modularity in the limb, and are necessary for Lmx1b-mediated limb dorsalization. These enhancers, being conserved across vertebrates (including coelacanth, but not other fish species), and required for normal locomotion, provide a unique opportunity to study the role of dorsalization in the fin to limb transition. We also report on two NPS patient families with normal
LMX1B
coding sequence, but with loss-of-function variations in the
LARM1/2
region, stressing the role of regulatory modules in disease pathogenesis.
To date, heterozygous or homozygous COL12A1 variants have been reported in 13 patients presenting with a clinical phenotype overlapping with collagen VI-related myopathies and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome ...(EDS). The small number of reported patients limits thorough investigation of this newly identified syndrome, currently coined as myopathic EDS.
DNA from 78 genetically unresolved patients fulfilling the clinical criteria for myopathic EDS was sequenced using a next-generation panel of COL12A1, COL6A1, COL6A2, and COL6A3.
Among this cohort, we identified four pathogenic heterozygous in-frame exon skipping (∆) defects in COL12A1, clustering to the thrombospondin N-terminal region and the adjacent collagenous domain (Δ52, Δ53, Δ54, and Δ56 respectively), one heterozygous COL12A1 arginine-to-cysteine substitution of unclear significance (p.(Arg1863Cys)), and compound heterozygous pathogenic COL6A1 variants (c.98-6G>A;301C>T) in one proband. Variant-specific intracellular accumulation of collagen XII chains, extracellular overmodification of the long isoform and near-absence of the short isoform of collagen XII, and extracellular decrease of decorin and tenascin-X were observed for the COL12A1 variants. In contrast, the COL6A1 variants abolished collagen VI and V deposition and increased tenascin-X levels.
Our data further support the significant clinical overlap between myopathic EDS and collagen VI-related myopathies, and emphasize the variant-specific consequences of collagen XII defects.
Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS) is a rare imprinting disorder characterized by prenatal and postnatal growth retardation. The two principal causes of SRS are loss of methylation on chromosome 11p15 ...(11p15 LOM) and maternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 7 (UPD(7)mat). Knowledge of the neuropsychological profile of SRS remains sparse and incomplete even if several difficulties related to attention and learning have been reported both in the literature and by patients with SRS. These difficulties could be the result of troubles in different cognitive domains, but also of executive dysfunction. Nevertheless, executive functioning has never been investigated, even though executive functions play an essential role in psychological development, and are extensively involved in daily life. The present study explored the executive functioning of individuals with SRS due to UPD(7)mat or 11p15 LOM. A battery of executive tasks assessing cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory, together with a task assessing sustained attention, was administered to 19 individuals with SRS (13-39 years) and 19 healthy controls. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function was also completed by the participants' families. The results showed that participants with SRS had similar performance (z-scores) to our controls, in a context of normal intellectual efficiency. Group comparisons with Bayesian statistics showed a single difference between the 11p15 LOM and control groups: the completion time for part A of the Trail Making Test appeared to be longer in the 11p15 LOM group than in the control group. However, at the clinical level, several participants with SRS had clinically significant scores on various measures of EFs. Thus, the cognitive phenotype of SRS did not appear to be characterized by executive dysfunction, but individuals with SRS could be at high risk of developing executive dysfunction or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These results provide new insights into the neuropsychological profile of individuals with SRS.
In cyclic females, FSH stimulates ovarian estradiol (E2) production and follicular growth up to the terminal stage. A transient elevation in circulating FSH and E2 levels occurs shortly after birth. ...But what could be the action of FSH on the ovary during this period, and in particular how it stimulates ovarian steroidogenesis without supporting terminal follicular maturation is intriguing. By experimentally manipulating FSH levels, we demonstrate in mice that the mid-infantile elevation in FSH is mandatory for E2 production by the immature ovary, but that it does not stimulate follicle growth. Importantly, FSH increases aromatase expression to stimulate E2 synthesis, however it becomes unable to induce cyclin D2, a major driver of granulosa cell proliferation. Besides, although FSH prematurely induces luteinizing hormone (LH) receptor expression in granulosa cells, LH pathway is not functional in these cells to induce their terminal differentiation. In line with these results, supplying infantile mice with a superovulation regimen exacerbates E2 production, but it does not stimulate the growth of follicles and it does not induce ovulation. Overall, our findings unveil a regulation whereby high postnatal FSH concentrations ensure the supply of E2 required for programming adult reproductive function without inducing follicular maturation before puberty.
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