Browsing by Author "Wang, Tianyun"

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    Characterizing the autism spectrum phenotype in DYRK1A-related syndrome
    (Wiley, 2023) Kurtz-Nelson, Evangeline C.; Rea, Hannah M.; Petriceks, Aiva C.; Hudac, Caitlin M.; Wang, Tianyun; Earl, Rachel K.; Bernier, Raphael A.; Eichler, Evan E.; Neuhaus, Emily; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Likely gene-disrupting (LGD) variants in DYRK1A are causative of DYRK1A syndrome and associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). While many individuals with DYRK1A syndrome are diagnosed with ASD, they may present with a unique profile of ASD traits. We present a comprehensive characterization of the ASD profile in children and young adults with LGDs in DYRK1A. Individuals with LGD variants in DYRK1A (n = 29) were compared to children who had ASD with no known genetic cause, either with low nonverbal IQ (n = 14) or average or above nonverbal IQ (n = 41). ASD was assessed using the ADOS-2, ADI-R, SRS-2, SCQ, and RBS-R. Quantitative score comparisons were conducted, as were qualitative analyses of clinicians' behavioral observations. Diagnosis of ASD was confirmed in 85% and ID was confirmed in 89% of participants with DYRK1A syndrome. Individuals with DYRK1A syndrome showed broadly similar social communication behaviors to children with idiopathic ASD and below-average nonverbal IQ, with specific challenges noted in social reciprocity and nonverbal communication. Children with DYRK1A syndrome also showed high rates of sensory-seeking behaviors. Phenotypic characterization of individuals with DYRK1A syndrome may provide additional information on mechanisms contributing to co-occurring ASD and ID and contribute to the identification of genetic predictors of specific ASD traits.
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    Rare deleterious mutations of HNRNP genes result in shared neurodevelopmental disorders
    (BMC, 2021-04-19) Gillentine, Madelyn A.; Wang, Tianyun; Hoekzema, Kendra; Rosenfeld, Jill; Liu, Pengfei; Guo, Hui; Kim, Chang N.; De Vries, Bert B.A.; Vissers, Lisenka E.L.M.; Nordenskjold, Magnus; Kvarnung, Malin; Lindstrand, Anna; Nordgren, Ann; Gecz, Jozef; Iascone, Maria; Cereda, Anna; Scatigno, Agnese; Maitz, Silvia; Zanni, Ginevra; Bertini, Enrico; Zweier, Christiane; Schuhmann, Sarah; Wiesener, Antje; Pepper, Micah; Panjwani, Heena; Torti, Erin; Abid, Farida; Anselm, Irina; Srivastava, Siddharth; Atwal, Paldeep; Bacino, Carlos A.; Bhat, Gifty; Cobian, Katherine; Bird, Lynne M.; Friedman, Jennifer; Wright, Meredith S.; Callewaert, Bert; Petit, Florence; Mathieu, Sophie; Afenjar, Alexandra; Christensen, Celenie K.; White, Kerry M.; Elpeleg, Orly; Berger, Itai; Espineli, Edward J.; Fagerberg, Christina; Brasch-Andersen, Charlotte; Hansen, Lars Kjærsgaard; Feyma, Timothy; Hughes, Susan; Thiffault, Isabelle; Sullivan, Bonnie; Yan, Shuang; Keller, Kory; Keren, Boris; Mignot, Cyril; Kooy, Frank; Meuwissen, Marije; Basinger, Alice; Kukolich, Mary; Philips, Meredith; Ortega, Lucia; Drummond-Borg, Margaret; Lauridsen, Mathilde; Sorensen, Kristina; Lehman, Anna; Lopez-Range, Elena; Levy, Paul; Lessel, Davor; Lotze, Timothy; Madan-Khetarpal, Suneeta; Sebastian, Jessica; Vento, Jodie; Vats, Divya; Benman, L. Manace; Mckee, Shane; Mirzaa, Ghayda M.; Muss, Candace; Pappas, John; Peeters, Hilde; Romano, Corrado; Elia, Maurizio; Galesi, Ornella; Simon, Marleen E.H.; Van Gassen, Koen L.I.; Simpson, Kara; Stratton, Robert; Syed, Sabeen; Thevenon, Julien; Palafoll, Irene Valenzuela; Vitobello, Antonio; Bournez, Marie; Faivre, Laurence; Xia, Kun; Earl, Rachel K.; Nowakowski, Tomasz; Bernier, Raphael A.; Eichler, Evan E.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: With the increasing number of genomic sequencing studies, hundreds of genes have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). The rate of gene discovery far outpaces our understanding of genotype-phenotype correlations, with clinical characterization remaining a bottleneck for understanding NDDs. Most disease-associated Mendelian genes are members of gene families, and we hypothesize that those with related molecular function share clinical presentations. Methods: We tested our hypothesis by considering gene families that have multiple members with an enrichment of de novo variants among NDDs, as determined by previous meta-analyses. One of these gene families is the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs), which has 33 members, five of which have been recently identified as NDD genes (HNRNPK, HNRNPU, HNRNPH1, HNRNPH2, and HNRNPR) and two of which have significant enrichment in our previous meta-analysis of probands with NDDs (HNRNPU and SYNCRIP). Utilizing protein homology, mutation analyses, gene expression analyses, and phenotypic characterization, we provide evidence for variation in 12 HNRNP genes as candidates for NDDs. Seven are potentially novel while the remaining genes in the family likely do not significantly contribute to NDD risk. Results: We report 119 new NDD cases (64 de novo variants) through sequencing and international collaborations and combined with published clinical case reports. We consider 235 cases with gene-disruptive single-nucleotide variants or indels and 15 cases with small copy number variants. Three hnRNP-encoding genes reach nominal or exome-wide significance for de novo variant enrichment, while nine are candidates for pathogenic mutations. Comparison of HNRNP gene expression shows a pattern consistent with a role in cerebral cortical development with enriched expression among radial glial progenitors. Clinical assessment of probands (n = 188-221) expands the phenotypes associated with HNRNP rare variants, and phenotypes associated with variation in the HNRNP genes distinguishes them as a subgroup of NDDs. Conclusions: Overall, our novel approach of exploiting gene families in NDDs identifies new HNRNP-related disorders, expands the phenotypes of known HNRNP-related disorders, strongly implicates disruption of the hnRNPs as a whole in NDDs, and supports that NDD subtypes likely have shared molecular pathogenesis. To date, this is the first study to identify novel genetic disorders based on the presence of disorders in related genes. We also perform the first phenotypic analyses focusing on related genes. Finally, we show that radial glial expression of these genes is likely critical during neurodevelopment. This is important for diagnostics, as well as developing strategies to best study these genes for the development of therapeutics.