bims-bicyki 2021-02-21 papers

bims-bicyki

Biomed News

on Bicaudal-C1 and interactors in cystic kidney disease

Issue of 2021–02–21
nine papers selected by
Céline Gagnieux, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Patients with Protein-Truncating PKD1 Mutations and Mild ADPKD.
Simvastatin and ROCK Inhibitor Y-27632 Inhibit Myofibroblast Differentiation of Graves' Ophthalmopathy-Derived Orbital Fibroblasts via RhoA-Mediated ERK and p38 Signaling Pathways.
ALMS1 Regulates TGF-β Signaling and Morphology of Primary Cilia.
Early clinical management of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease.
Infantile spasms and early-onset progressive polycystic renal lesions associated with TSC2/PKD1 contiguous gene deletion syndrome.
Generation of Mouse Model (KI and CKO) via Easi-CRISPR.
Prostaglandin F2α and EP2 agonists, and a ROCK inhibitor modulate the formation of 3D organoids of Grave's orbitopathy related human orbital fibroblasts.
Epigenetic upregulation of ssc-miR-124a following treatment with Clostridium perfringens beta2-toxin attenuates both apoptosis and inflammation in intestinal porcine epithelial cells.
Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitors in the management of corneal endothelial disease.

Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2021 Feb 18. pii: CJN.11100720. [Epub ahead of print]

Patients with Protein-Truncating PKD1 Mutations and Mild ADPKD.

Matthew B Lanktree, Elsa Guiard, Pedram Akbari, Marina Pourafkari, Ioan-Andrei Iliuta, Syed Ahmed, Amirreza Haghighi, Ning He, Xuewen Song, Andrew D Paterson, Korosh Khalili, York P C Pei.

   BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Progression of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is highly variable. On average, protein-truncating PKD1 mutations are associated with the most severe kidney disease among all mutation classes. Here, we report that patients with protein-truncating PKD1 mutations may also have mild kidney disease, a finding not previously well recognized.
DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: From the extended Toronto Genetic Epidemiologic Study of Polycystic Kidney Disease, 487 patients had PKD1 and PKD2 sequencing and typical ADPKD imaging patterns by magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography. Mayo Clinic Imaging Classification on the basis of age- and height-adjusted total kidney volume was used to assess their cystic disease severity; classes 1A or 1B were used as a proxy to define mild disease. Multivariable linear regression was performed to test the effects of age, sex, and mutation classes on log-transformed height-adjusted total kidney volume and eGFR.
RESULTS: Among 174 study patients with typical imaging patterns and protein-truncating PKD1 mutations, 32 (18%) were found to have mild disease on the basis of imaging results (i.e., Mayo Clinic Imaging class 1A-1B), with their mutations spanning the entire gene. By multivariable analyses of age, sex, and mutation class, they displayed mild disease similar to patients with PKD2 mutations and Mayo Clinic Imaging class 1A-1B. Most of these mildly affected patients with protein-truncating PKD1 mutations reported a positive family history of ADPKD in preceding generations and displayed significant intrafamilial disease variability.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite having the most severe mutation class, 18% of patients with protein-truncating PKD1 mutations had mild disease on the basis of clinical and imaging assessment.
PODCAST: This article contains a podcast at https://www.asn-online.org/media/podcast/CJASN/2021_02_18_CJN11100720_final.mp3.

Keywords:  ADPKD; genetic kidney disease; human genetics; mutation; polycystic kidney disease

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.11100720
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2020 ;11 607968

Simvastatin and ROCK Inhibitor Y-27632 Inhibit Myofibroblast Differentiation of Graves' Ophthalmopathy-Derived Orbital Fibroblasts via RhoA-Mediated ERK and p38 Signaling Pathways.

Yi-Hsuan Wei, Shu-Lang Liao, Sen-Hsu Wang, Chia-Chun Wang, Chang-Hao Yang.

  Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-induced differentiation of orbital fibroblasts into myofibroblasts is an important pathogenesis of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) and leads to orbital tissue fibrosis. In the present study, we explored the antifibrotic effects of simvastatin and ROCK inhibitor Y-27632 in primary cultured GO orbital fibroblasts and tried to explain the molecular mechanisms behind these effects. Both simvastatin and Y-27632 inhibited TGF-β-induced α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression, which serves as a marker of fibrosis. The inhibitory effect of simvastatin on TGF-β-induced RhoA, ROCK1, and α-SMA expression could be reversed by geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, an intermediate in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. This suggested that the mechanism of simvastatin-mediated antifibrotic effects may involve RhoA/ROCK signaling. Furthermore, simvastatin and Y-27632 suppressed TGF-β-induced phosphorylation of ERK and p38. The TGF-β-mediated α-SMA expression was suppressed by pharmacological inhibitors of p38 and ERK. These results suggested that simvastatin inhibits TGF-β-induced myofibroblast differentiation via suppression of the RhoA/ROCK/ERK and p38 MAPK signaling pathways. Thus, our study provides evidence that simvastatin and ROCK inhibitors may be potential therapeutic drugs for the prevention and treatment of orbital fibrosis in GO.

Keywords:  ERK; Graves’ ophthalmopathy; Ras homolog family member A (RhoA); Rho‑associated protein kinase (ROCK); Y-27632; myofibroblast; p38; simvastatin

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2020.607968
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 ;9 623829

ALMS1 Regulates TGF-β Signaling and Morphology of Primary Cilia.

María Álvarez-Satta, Mauro Lago-Docampo, Brais Bea-Mascato, Carlos Solarat, Sheila Castro-Sánchez, Søren T Christensen, Diana Valverde.

  In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of ALMS1 in the morphology of primary cilia and regulation of cellular signaling using a knockdown model of the hTERT-RPE1 cell line. ALMS1 depletion resulted in the formation of longer cilia, which often displayed altered morphology as evidenced by extensive twisting and bending of the axoneme. Transforming growth factor beta/bone morphogenetic protein (TGF-β/BMP) signaling, which is regulated by primary cilia, was similarly affected by ALMS1 depletion as judged by reduced levels of TGFβ-1-mediated activation of SMAD2/3. These results provide novel information on the role of ALMS1 in the function of primary cilia and processing of cellular signaling, which when aberrantly regulated may underlie Alström syndrome.

Keywords:  ALMS1; Alström syndrome (AS); TGF-β/BMP signaling; ciliary length; ciliary morphology; ciliopathies; hTERT RPE-1 cells; primary cilium

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.623829
Pediatr Nephrol. 2021 Feb 17.

Early clinical management of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease.

Max Christoph Liebau.

  Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) is a rare but highly relevant disorder in pediatric nephrology. This genetic disease is mainly caused by variants in the PKHD1 gene and is characterized by fibrocystic hepatorenal phenotypes with major clinical variability. ARPKD frequently presents perinatally, and the management of perinatal and early disease symptoms may be challenging. This review discusses aspects of early manifestations in ARPKD and its clincial management with a special focus on kidney disease.

Keywords:  Ciliopathies; Congenital hepatic fibrosis; Fibrocystin; PKHD1; Perinatal kidney disease; Polycystic kidney disease

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-021-04970-8
Seizure. 2021 Jan 30. pii: S1059-1311(21)00025-X. [Epub ahead of print]86 82-84

Infantile spasms and early-onset progressive polycystic renal lesions associated with TSC2/PKD1 contiguous gene deletion syndrome.

Yoshie Matsubara, Satoshi Akamine, Pin Fee Chong, Saori Kawakami, Kenji Maehara, Yoshitsugu Kaku, Mari Kurokawa, Naoya Morisada, Kazumoto Iijima, Ryutaro Kira.



Keywords:  Angiomyolipoma; Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease; Infantile spasm; TSC2/PKD1 contiguous gene deletion syndrome; Tuberous sclerosis

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seizure.2021.01.016
Methods Mol Biol. 2021 ;2224 1-27

Generation of Mouse Model (KI and CKO) via Easi-CRISPR.

Dorjee T N Shola, Chingwen Yang, Chiayun Han, Rada Norinsky, Ruben D Peraza.

  Recent development of Easi-CRISPR (Efficient additions with ssDNA inserts-CRISPR) that utilizes long single-stranded DNA (lssDNA) of 0.2-2 kbases in length as donor templates to insert large segments of novel DNA sequences or to replace endogenous genes at precise locations in the genome has enabled CRISPR-assisted genome editing to make strides toward a more simple and rapid workflow. By leveraging the notion that short single-stranded DNA oligo (<200 bases) serves as efficient donor in mouse zygotes for facilitating HDR-mediated genome editing, Easi-CRISPR expands to use lssDNA as the donor which accelerates the timeline to as little as 2 months for creating most types of genetically engineered mouse models (F0). Our lab (CGERC) has adopted Easi-CRISPR for multiple loci to generate mouse models over the past three plus years since its introduction. Here, we use two genes as examples to illustrate a step-by-step protocol for generating two commonly used models, including a knock-in (insertion of a reporter gene plus GOI) as well as a conditional knock-out model (via exon floxing). This protocol will focus more on molecular biology aspect, particularly we demonstrate two recently developed methods for lssDNA procuration: (1) PCR-based Takara Bio kit with modifications; (2) plasmid-retrieval-based CRISPR-CLIP (CRISPR-Clipped LssDNA via Incising Plasmid). Both methods are devised to retain sequence fidelity in lssDNA generated. In addition, CRISPR-CLIP directly retrieves lssDNA from DNA plasmid without using restriction enzymes through a PCR-free system hence carries virtually no restriction on sequence complexity, further mitigating limitations discussed in the original Easi-CRISPR protocol. We have alternated the use between both methods when suitable and successfully generated lssDNA templates via CRISPR-CLIP up to 3.5 kbases patched with multiple highly repetitive sequences, which is otherwise challenging to maneuver. Along with certain other modified workflow presented herein, Easi-CRISPR can be adapted to be more straightforward while applicable to generate mouse models in broader scope. (Certain figures and text passages presented in this chapter are reproduced from Shola et al. (The CRISPR J 3(2):109-122, 2020), published by Mary Ann Libert, Inc).

Keywords:  CRISPR-CLIP; CRISPR/Cas12a (Cpf1); CRISPR/Cas9; Conditional knock-out (CKO); Easi-CRISPR; Gene editing; Genome engineering; Knock-in (KI); Long ssDNA; Mouse model

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1008-4_1
Exp Eye Res. 2021 Feb 12. pii: S0014-4835(21)00054-3. [Epub ahead of print] 108489

Prostaglandin F2α and EP2 agonists, and a ROCK inhibitor modulate the formation of 3D organoids of Grave's orbitopathy related human orbital fibroblasts.

Hanae Ichioka, Yosuke Ida, Megumi Watanabe, Hiroshi Ohguro, Fumihito Hikage.

  3D organoid cultures were used to elucidate the periocular effects of several anti-glaucoma drugs including a prostaglandin F2α analogue (bimatoprost acid; BIM-A), EP2 agonist (omidenepag; OMD) or a Rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor (ripasudil; Rip) on Grave's orbitopathy (GO) related orbital fatty tissue. 3D organoids were prepared from GO related human orbital fibroblasts (GHOFs) obtained from patients with GO. The effects of either 100 nM BIM-A, 100 nM OMD or 10 μM Rip on the 3D GHOFs organoids were examined with respect to organoid size, physical properties by a micro-squeezer, and the mRNA expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins including collagen (COL) 1, COL 4, COL 6, and fibronectin (FN), ECM regulatory genes including lysyl oxidase (LOX), Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF) and inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1β (IL1β) and interleukin-6 (IL6). The size of the 3D GHOFs organoids decreased substantially in the presence of BIM-A, but also increased substantially in the presence of the others (OMD or Rip). The physical stiffness of the 3D GHOFs organoids was significantly decreased by Rip. BIM-A caused significantly the down-regulation of three ECM genes, Col 1, Col 6 and Fn, and two ECM regulatory genes and the up-regulation of IL6. In the presence of OMD, two ECM genes, Col 1 and Fn, and LOX were significantly down-regulated but IL1β and IL6 were significantly up-regulated. In the case of Rip, Col 1, FN and CTGF were significant down-regulated. Our present findings indicate that anti-glaucoma drugs modulate the structures and physical properties 3D GHOFs organoids in different manners by modifying the gene expressions of ECM, ECM regulatory factors and inflammatory cytokines. The results indicate that the benefits and demerits of anti-glaucoma medications need to be scrutinized carefully, in cases of patients with GO.

Keywords:  3-Dimension (3D) tissue culture; EP2 agonist; Grave's disease; Grave's orbitopathy; Human orbital fibroblast; PGF2α agonist; ROCK inhibitor; Rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase (ROCK)

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exer.2021.108489
Arch Biochem Biophys. 2021 Feb 12. pii: S0003-9861(21)00056-4. [Epub ahead of print]701 108806

Epigenetic upregulation of ssc-miR-124a following treatment with Clostridium perfringens beta2-toxin attenuates both apoptosis and inflammation in intestinal porcine epithelial cells.

Xiaoli Gao, Qiaoli Yang, Shengwei Zhang, Xiaoyu Huang, Zunqiang Yan, Pengfei Wang, Ruirui Luo, Wei Wang, Kaihui Xie, Shuangbao Gun.

  Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) is a globally recognized zoonotic pathogen. It has been reported that the beta2-toxin produced by C. perfringens can cause a variety of gastrointestinal diseases and even systemic inflammation. MicroRNA-124a (miR-124a) has been reported to play important roles in the host response to pathogenic infection. Although C. perfringens beta2-toxin induced injury in intestinal porcine epithelial (IPEC-J2) cells has been established, the underlying molecular mechanism is not completely unraveled. Here we show that a significant upregulation of ssc-miR-124a in IPEC-J2 cells after beta2-toxin stimulation was associated with the MiR-124A-1 and MiR-124A-2 gene promoter demethylation status. Importantly, overexpression of ssc-miR-124a significantly increased cell proliferation and decreased apoptosis and cytotoxicity in beta2-toxin treated IPEC-J2 cells. Transfection of IPEC-J2 cells with ssc-miR-124a mimic suppressed beta2-toxin induced inflammation. On the contrary, ssc-miR-124a inhibitor promoted aggravation of cell apoptosis and excessive damage. Furthermore, rho-associated coiled-coil-containing protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) was identified as the direct target gene of ssc-miR-124a in IPEC-J2 cells and its siRNA transfection reversed the promotion of apoptosis and aggravation of cellular damage induced by ssc-miR-124a inhibitor. Overall, we speculated that the miR-124A-1/2 gene was epigenetically regulated in IPEC-J2 cells after beta2-toxin treatment. Upregulation of ssc-miR-124a may restrain ROCK1, and attenuate apoptosis and inflammation induced by beta2-toxin that prevent IPEC-J2 cells from severe damages. We discover a new molecular mechanism by which IPEC-J2 cells counteract beta2-toxin-induced damage through the ssc-miR-124a/ROCK1 axis partially.

Keywords:  Apoptosis; Clostridium perfringens beta2-Toxin; Demethylation; Inflammation; Ssc-miR-124a

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abb.2021.108806
Curr Opin Ophthalmol. 2021 Feb 16.

Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitors in the management of corneal endothelial disease.

Zeba A Syed, Christopher J Rapuano.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitors are growing increasingly relevant in ophthalmology, and the goal of this review is to summarize their mechanisms of action and potential applications in the subspecialties of glaucoma, retina, and cornea. We will focus specifically on corneal endothelial wound healing, for which ROCK inhibition demonstrates particular promise.
RECENT FINDINGS: ROCK inhibition has been shown to promote corneal endothelial cell proliferation, increase intercellular adhesion, and suppress apoptosis. Topical ROCK inhibitor treatment has exhibited potential use in Fuchs endothelial dystrophy, corneal edema from acute surgical trauma and other etiologies, and tissue engineering therapy for the endothelial disease. Ripasudil and netarsudil, the two ROCK inhibitors available for ophthalmic use, are generally very well tolerated with mild and transient local side effects.
SUMMARY: ROCK inhibitors are revolutionizing the subspecialty of cornea, and further research is needed to compare long-term outcomes of ROCK inhibitor therapy to those of conventional endothelial keratoplasty, including visual acuity and endothelial cell density. Other possible avenues include the use of ROCK inhibitors to prolong corneal graft survival, and early data appears promising.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/ICU.0000000000000748