Browsing by Author "Xu, Chen"

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    Developmental vascular malformations in EPAS1 gain-of-function syndrome
    (American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2021-03-08) Rosenblum, Jared S.; Wang, Herui; Dmitriev, Pauline M.; Cappadona, Anthony J.; Mastorakos, Panagiotis; Xu, Chen; Jha, Abhishek; Edwards, Nancy; Donahue, Danielle R.; Munasinghe, Jeeva; Nazari, Matthew A.; Knutsen, Russell H.; Rosenblum, Bruce R.; Smirniotopoulos, James G.; Pappo, Alberto; Spetzler, Robert F.; Vortmeyer, Alexander; Gilbert, Mark R.; McGavern, Dorian B.; Chew, Emily; Kozel, Beth A.; Heiss, John D.; Zhuang, Zhengping; Pacak, Karel; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Mutations in EPAS1, encoding hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α), were previously identified in a syndrome of multiple paragangliomas, somatostatinoma, and polycythemia. HIF-2α, when dimerized with HIF-1β, acts as an angiogenic transcription factor. Patients referred to the NIH for new, recurrent, and/or metastatic paraganglioma or pheochromocytoma were confirmed for EPAS1 gain-of-function mutation; imaging was evaluated for vascular malformations. We evaluated the Epas1A529V transgenic syndrome mouse model, corresponding to the mutation initially detected in the patients (EPAS1A530V), for vascular malformations via intravital 2-photon microscopy of meningeal vessels, terminal vascular perfusion with Microfil silicate polymer and subsequent intact ex vivo 14T MRI and micro-CT, and histologic sectioning and staining of the brain and identified pathologies. Further, we evaluated retinas from corresponding developmental time points (P7, P14, and P21) and the adult dura via immunofluorescent labeling of vessels and confocal imaging. We identified a spectrum of vascular malformations in all 9 syndromic patients and in all our tested mutant mice. Patient vessels had higher variant allele frequency than adjacent normal tissue. Veins of the murine retina and intracranial dura failed to regress normally at the expected developmental time points. These findings add vascular malformation as a new clinical feature of EPAS1 gain-of-function syndrome.
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    QKI is a critical pre-mRNA alternative splicing regulator of cardiac myofibrillogenesis and contractile function
    (Springer Nature, 2021-01-04) Chen, Xinyun; Liu, Ying; Xu, Chen; Ba, Lina; Liu, Zhuo; Li, Xiuya; Huang, Jie; Simpson, Ed; Gao, Hongyu; Cao, Dayan; Sheng, Wei; Qi, Hanping; Ji, Hongrui; Sanderson, Maria; Cai, Chen-Leng; Li, Xiaohui; Yang, Lei; Na, Jie; Yamamura, Kenichi; Liu, Yunlong; Huang, Guoying; Shou, Weinian; Sun, Ning; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    The RNA-binding protein QKI belongs to the hnRNP K-homology domain protein family, a well-known regulator of pre-mRNA alternative splicing and is associated with several neurodevelopmental disorders. Qki is found highly expressed in developing and adult hearts. By employing the human embryonic stem cell (hESC) to cardiomyocyte differentiation system and generating QKI-deficient hESCs (hESCs-QKIdel) using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, we analyze the physiological role of QKI in cardiomyocyte differentiation, maturation, and contractile function. hESCs-QKIdel largely maintain normal pluripotency and normal differentiation potential for the generation of early cardiogenic progenitors, but they fail to transition into functional cardiomyocytes. In this work, by using a series of transcriptomic, cell and biochemical analyses, and the Qki-deficient mouse model, we demonstrate that QKI is indispensable to cardiac sarcomerogenesis and cardiac function through its regulation of alternative splicing in genes involved in Z-disc formation and contractile physiology, suggesting that QKI is associated with the pathogenesis of certain forms of cardiomyopathies.