Browsing by Subject "Neurodevelopmental disorders"

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    De novo variants in genes regulating stress granule assembly associate with neurodevelopmental disorders
    (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2022) Jia, Xiangbin; Zhang, Shujie; Tan, Senwei; Du, Bing; He, Mei; Qin, Haisong; Chen, Jia; Duan, Xinyu; Luo, Jingsi; Chen, Fei; Ouyang, Luping; Wang, Jian; Chen, Guodong; Yu, Bin; Zhang, Ge; Zhang, Zimin; Lyu, Yongqing; Huang, Yi; Jiao, Jian; Chen, Jin Yun (Helen); Swoboda, Kathryn J.; Agolini, Emanuele; Novelli, Antonio; Leoni, Chiara; Zampino, Giuseppe; Cappuccio, Gerarda; Brunetti-Pierri, Nicola; Gerard, Benedicte; Ginglinger, Emmanuelle; Richer, Julie; McMillan, Hugh; White-Brown, Alexandre; Hoekzema, Kendra; Bernier, Raphael A.; Kurtz-Nelson, Evangeline C.; Earl, Rachel K.; Meddens, Claartje; Alders, Marielle; Fuchs, Meredith; Caumes, Roseline; Brunelle, Perrine; Smol, Thomas; Kuehl, Ryan; Day-Salvatore, Debra-Lynn; Monaghan, Kristin G.; Morrow, Michelle M.; Eichler, Evan E.; Hu, Zhengmao; Yuan, Ling; Tan, Jieqiong; Xia, Kun; Shen, Yiping; Guo, Hui; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Stress granules (SGs) are cytoplasmic assemblies in response to a variety of stressors. We report a new neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) with common features of language problems, intellectual disability, and behavioral issues caused by de novo likely gene-disruptive variants in UBAP2L, which encodes an essential regulator of SG assembly. Ubap2l haploinsufficiency in mouse led to social and cognitive impairments accompanied by disrupted neurogenesis and reduced SG formation during early brain development. On the basis of data from 40,853 individuals with NDDs, we report a nominally significant excess of de novo variants within 29 genes that are not implicated in NDDs, including 3 essential genes (G3BP1, G3BP2, and UBAP2L) in the core SG interaction network. We validated that NDD-related de novo variants in newly implicated and known NDD genes, such as CAPRIN1, disrupt the interaction of the core SG network and interfere with SG formation. Together, our findings suggest the common SG pathology in NDDs.
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    Delineating the molecular and phenotypic spectrum of the SETD1B-related syndrome
    (Elsevier, 2021-11) Weerts, Marjolein J.A.; Lanko, Kristina; Guzmán-Vega, Francisco J.; Jackson, Adam; Ramakrishnan, Reshmi; Cardona-Londoño, Kelly J.; Peña-Guerra, Karla A.; van Bever, Yolande; van Paassen, Barbara W.; Kievit, Anneke; van Slegtenhorst, Marjon; Allen, Nicholas M.; Kehoe, Caroline M.; Robinson, Hannah K.; Pang, Lewis; Banu, Selina H.; Zaman, Mashaya; Efthymiou, Stephanie; Houlden, Henry; Järvelä, Irma; Lauronen, Leena; Määttä, Tuomo; Schrauwen, Isabelle; Leal, Suzanne M.; Ruivenkamp, Claudia A.L.; Barge-Schaapveld, Daniela Q.C.M.; Peeters-Scholte, Cacha M.P.C.D.; Galehdari, Hamid; Mazaheri, Neda; Sisodiya, Sanjay M.; Harrison, Victoria; Sun, Angela; Thies, Jenny; Pedroza, Luis Alberto; Lara-Taranchenko, Yana; Chinn, Ivan K.; Lupski, James R.; Garza-Flores, Alexandra; McGlothlin, Jeffery; Yang, Lin; Huang, Shaoping; Wang, Xiaodong; Jewett, Tamison; Rosso, Gretchen; Lin, Xi; Mohammed, Shehla; Merritt, J. Lawrence, II.; Mirzaa, Ghayda M.; Timms, Andrew E.; Scheck, Joshua; Elting, Mariet W.; Polstra, Abeltje M.; Schenck, Lauren; Ruzhnikov, Maura R.Z.; Vetro, Annalisa; Montomoli, Martino; Guerrini, Renzo; Koboldt, Daniel C.; Mihalic Mosher, Theresa; Pastore, Matthew T.; McBride, Kim L.; Peng, Jing; Pan, Zou; Willemsen, Marjolein; Koning, Susanne; Turnpenny, Peter D.; de Vries, Bert B.A.; Gilissen, Christian; Pfundt, Rolph; Lees, Melissa; Braddock, Stephen R.; Klemp, Kara C.; Vansenne, Fleur; van Gijn, Marielle E.; Quindipan, Catherine; Deardorff, Matthew A.; Hamm, J. Austin; Putnam, Abbey M.; Baud, Rebecca; Walsh, Laurence; Lynch, Sally A.; Baptista, Julia; Person, Richard E.; Monaghan, Kristin G.; Crunk, Amy; Keller-Ramey, Jennifer; Reich, Adi; Elloumi, Houda Zghal; Alders, Marielle; Kerkhof, Jennifer; McConkey, Haley; Haghshenas, Sadegheh; Maroofian, Reza; Sadikovic, Bekim; Banka, Siddharth; Arold, Stefan T.; Barakat, Tahsin Stefan; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Purpose: Pathogenic variants in SETD1B have been associated with a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder including intellectual disability, language delay, and seizures. To date, clinical features have been described for 11 patients with (likely) pathogenic SETD1B sequence variants. This study aims to further delineate the spectrum of the SETD1B-related syndrome based on characterizing an expanded patient cohort. Methods: We perform an in-depth clinical characterization of a cohort of 36 unpublished individuals with SETD1B sequence variants, describing their molecular and phenotypic spectrum. Selected variants were functionally tested using in vitro and genome-wide methylation assays. Results: Our data present evidence for a loss-of-function mechanism of SETD1B variants, resulting in a core clinical phenotype of global developmental delay, language delay including regression, intellectual disability, autism and other behavioral issues, and variable epilepsy phenotypes. Developmental delay appeared to precede seizure onset, suggesting SETD1B dysfunction impacts physiological neurodevelopment even in the absence of epileptic activity. Males are significantly overrepresented and more severely affected, and we speculate that sex-linked traits could affect susceptibility to penetrance and the clinical spectrum of SETD1B variants. Conclusion: Insights from this extensive cohort will facilitate the counseling regarding the molecular and phenotypic landscape of newly diagnosed patients with the SETD1B-related syndrome.
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    Functional and clinical studies reveal pathophysiological complexity of CLCN4-related neurodevelopmental condition
    (Springer Nature, 2023) Palmer, Elizabeth E.; Pusch, Michael; Picollo, Alessandra; Forwood, Caitlin; Nguyen, Matthew H.; Suckow, Vanessa; Gibbons, Jessica; Hoff, Alva; Sigfrid, Lisa; Megarbane, Andre; Nizon, Mathilde; Cogné, Benjamin; Beneteau, Claire; Alkuraya, Fowzan S.; Chedrawi, Aziza; Hashem, Mais O.; Stamberger, Hannah; Weckhuysen, Sarah; Vanlander, Arnaud; Ceulemans, Berten; Rajagopalan, Sulekha; Nunn, Kenneth; Arpin, Stéphanie; Raynaud, Martine; Motter, Constance S.; Ward-Melver, Catherine; Janssens, Katrien; Meuwissen, Marije; Beysen, Diane; Dikow, Nicola; Grimmel, Mona; Haack, Tobias B.; Clement, Emma; McTague, Amy; Hunt, David; Townshend, Sharron; Ward, Michelle; Richards, Linda J.; Simons, Cas; Costain, Gregory; Dupuis, Lucie; Mendoza-Londono, Roberto; Dudding-Byth, Tracy; Boyle, Jackie; Saunders, Carol; Fleming, Emily; El Chehadeh, Salima; Spitz, Marie-Aude; Piton, Amelie; Gerard, Bénédicte; Warde, Marie-Thérèse Abi; Rea, Gillian; McKenna, Caoimhe; Douzgou, Sofia; Banka, Siddharth; Akman, Cigdem; Bain, Jennifer M.; Sands, Tristan T.; Wilson, Golder N.; Silvertooth, Erin J.; Miller, Lauren; Lederer, Damien; Sachdev, Rani; Macintosh, Rebecca; Monestier, Olivier; Karadurmus, Deniz; Collins, Felicity; Carter, Melissa; Rohena, Luis; Willemsen, Marjolein H.; Ockeloen, Charlotte W.; Pfundt, Rolph; Kroft, Sanne D.; Field, Michael; Laranjeira, Francisco E. R.; Fortuna, Ana M.; Soares, Ana R.; Michaud, Vincent; Naudion, Sophie; Golla, Sailaja; Weaver, David D.; Bird, Lynne M.; Friedman, Jennifer; Clowes, Virginia; Joss, Shelagh; Pölsler, Laura; Campeau, Philippe M.; Blazo, Maria; Bijlsma, Emilia K.; Rosenfeld, Jill A.; Beetz, Christian; Powis, Zöe; McWalter, Kirsty; Brandt, Tracy; Torti, Erin; Mathot, Mikaël; Mohammad, Shekeeb S.; Armstrong, Ruth; Kalscheuer, Vera M.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Missense and truncating variants in the X-chromosome-linked CLCN4 gene, resulting in reduced or complete loss-of-function (LOF) of the encoded chloride/proton exchanger ClC-4, were recently demonstrated to cause a neurocognitive phenotype in both males and females. Through international clinical matchmaking and interrogation of public variant databases we assembled a database of 90 rare CLCN4 missense variants in 90 families: 41 unique and 18 recurrent variants in 49 families. For 43 families, including 22 males and 33 females, we collated detailed clinical and segregation data. To confirm causality of variants and to obtain insight into disease mechanisms, we investigated the effect on electrophysiological properties of 59 of the variants in Xenopus oocytes using extended voltage and pH ranges. Detailed analyses revealed new pathophysiological mechanisms: 25% (15/59) of variants demonstrated LOF, characterized by a "shift" of the voltage-dependent activation to more positive voltages, and nine variants resulted in a toxic gain-of-function, associated with a disrupted gate allowing inward transport at negative voltages. Functional results were not always in line with in silico pathogenicity scores, highlighting the complexity of pathogenicity assessment for accurate genetic counselling. The complex neurocognitive and psychiatric manifestations of this condition, and hitherto under-recognized impacts on growth, gastrointestinal function, and motor control are discussed. Including published cases, we summarize features in 122 individuals from 67 families with CLCN4-related neurodevelopmental condition and suggest future research directions with the aim of improving the integrated care for individuals with this diagnosis.
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    Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination Subscores are Predictive of Cerebral Palsy
    (Elsevier, 2024) Kapil, Namarta; Majmudar-Sheth, Bittu; Johnson, Tara; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background: The Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE) is a standardized assessment that identifies early signs of cerebral palsy (CP). In practice, the clinician performs this assessment in its entirety, yielding a global score. This study aimed to investigate the individual HINE subscores and "asymmetries" as predictive indicators of CP. Methods: In this retrospective nested case-control study, a pediatric neurologist performed the HINE on a cohort of three- to four-month-old former neonatal intensive care unit infants. The infants' neurodevelopmental outcomes were determined by chart review when they were aged two to three years. We performed univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses to yield the accuracy of the global HINE score, HINE subscores, and "asymmetries" in classifying infants with and without CP. Results: Of the 108 infants on whom HINE was performed, 50 were either discharged due to normal developmental progress or were lost to follow-up. Of the remaining 58 subjects, 17 had CP and 41 did not. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves of univariate models yielded the following area under the curve (AUC) scores: global HINE score (AUC = 0.75), "reflexes and reactions" (AUC = 0.80), "cranial nerve function" (AUC = 0.76), "asymmetries" (AUC = 0.75), and "movements" (AUC = 0.71). The ROC for our multivariable model (AUC = 0.91) surpassed the global HINE score's predictive value for CP. Conclusions: The weighted combination of HINE subscores and "asymmetries" outperforms the global HINE score in predicting CP. These findings suggest the need for revisiting HINE, but further validation with a larger dataset is required.
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    Higher or Lower Hemoglobin Transfusion Thresholds for Preterm Infants
    (Massachusetts Medical Society, 2020-12-01) Kirpalani, Haresh; Bell, Edward F.; Hintz, Susan R.; Tan, Sylvia; Schmidt, Barbara; Chaudhary, Aasma S.; Johnson, Karen J.; Crawford, Margaret M.; Newman, Jamie E.; Vohr, Betty R.; Carlo, Waldemar A.; D'Angio, Carl T.; Kennedy, Kathleen A.; Ohls, Robin K.; Poindexter, Brenda B.; Schibler, Kurt; Whyte, Robin K.; Widness, John A.; Zupancic, John A.F.; Wyckoff, Myra H.; Truog, William E.; Walsh, Michele C.; Chock, Valerie Y.; Laptook, Abbot R.; Sokol, Gregory M.; Yoder, Bradley A.; Patel, Ravi M.; Cotten, C. Michael; Carmen, Melissa F.; Devaskar, Uday; Chawla, Sanjay; Seabrook, Ruth; Higgins, Rosemary D.; Das, Abhik; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: Limited data suggest that higher hemoglobin thresholds for red-cell transfusions may reduce the risk of cognitive delay among extremely-low-birth-weight infants with anemia. Methods: We performed an open, multicenter trial in which infants with a birth weight of 1000 g or less and a gestational age between 22 weeks 0 days and 28 weeks 6 days were randomly assigned within 48 hours after delivery to receive red-cell transfusions at higher or lower hemoglobin thresholds until 36 weeks of postmenstrual age or discharge, whichever occurred first. The primary outcome was a composite of death or neurodevelopmental impairment (cognitive delay, cerebral palsy, or hearing or vision loss) at 22 to 26 months of age, corrected for prematurity. Results: A total of 1824 infants (mean birth weight, 756 g; mean gestational age, 25.9 weeks) underwent randomization. There was a between-group difference of 1.9 g per deciliter (19 g per liter) in the pretransfusion mean hemoglobin levels throughout the treatment period. Primary outcome data were available for 1692 infants (92.8%). Of 845 infants in the higher-threshold group, 423 (50.1%) died or survived with neurodevelopmental impairment, as compared with 422 of 847 infants (49.8%) in the lower-threshold group (relative risk adjusted for birth-weight stratum and center, 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92 to 1.10; P = 0.93). At 2 years, the higher- and lower-threshold groups had similar incidences of death (16.2% and 15.0%, respectively) and neurodevelopmental impairment (39.6% and 40.3%, respectively). At discharge from the hospital, the incidences of survival without severe complications were 28.5% and 30.9%, respectively. Serious adverse events occurred in 22.7% and 21.7%, respectively. Conclusions: In extremely-low-birth-weight infants, a higher hemoglobin threshold for red-cell transfusion did not improve survival without neurodevelopmental impairment at 22 to 26 months of age, corrected for prematurity.
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    Initial Laparotomy Versus Peritoneal Drainage in Extremely Low Birthweight Infants With Surgical Necrotizing Enterocolitis or Isolated Intestinal Perforation: A Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2021) Blakely, Martin L.; Tyson, Jon E.; Lally, Kevin P.; Hintz, Susan R.; Eggleston, Barry; Stevenson, David K.; Besner, Gail E.; Das, Abhik; Ohls, Robin K.; Truog, William E.; Nelin, Leif D.; Poindexter, Brenda B.; Pedroza, Claudia; Walsh, Michele C.; Stoll, Barbara J.; Geller, Rachel; Kennedy, Kathleen A.; Dimmitt, Reed A.; Carlo, Waldemar A.; Cotten, C. Michael; Laptook, Abbot R.; Van Meurs, Krisa P.; Calkins, Kara L.; Sokol, Gregory M.; Sanchez, Pablo J.; Wyckoff, Myra H.; Patel, Ravi M.; Frantz, Ivan D., III.; Shankaran, Seetha; D'Angio, Carl T.; Yoder, Bradley A.; Bell, Edward F.; Watterberg, Kristi L.; Martin, Colin A.; Harmon, Carroll M.; Rice, Henry; Kurkchubasche, Arlet G.; Sylvester, Karl; Dunn, James C.Y.; Markel, Troy A.; Diesen, Diana L.; Bhatia, Amina M.; Flake, Alan; Chwals, Walter J.; Brown, Rebeccah; Bass, Kathryn D.; St. Peter, Shawn D.; Shanti, Christina M.; Pegoli, Walter, Jr.; Skarda, David; Shilyansky, Joel; Lemon, David G.; Mosquera, Ricardo A.; Peralta-Carcelen, Myriam; Goldstein, Ricki F.; Vohr, Betty R.; Purdy, Isabell B.; Hines, Abbey C.; Maitre, Nathalie L.; Heyne, Roy J.; DeMauro, Sara B.; McGowan, Elisabeth C.; Yolton, Kimberly; Kilbride, Howard W.; Natarajan, Girija; Yost, Kelley; Winter, Sarah; Colaizy, Tarah T.; Laughon, Matthew M.; Lakshminrusimha, Satyanarayana; Higgins, Rosemary D.; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health; Human Development Neonatal Research Network; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Objective: The aim of this study was to determine which initial surgical treatment results in the lowest rate of death or neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) in premature infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) or isolated intestinal perforation (IP). Summary background data: The impact of initial laparotomy versus peritoneal drainage for NEC or IP on the rate of death or NDI in extremely low birth weight infants is unknown. Methods: We conducted the largest feasible randomized trial in 20 US centers, comparing initial laparotomy versus peritoneal drainage. The primary outcome was a composite of death or NDI at 18 to 22 months corrected age, analyzed using prespecified frequentist and Bayesian approaches. Results: Of 992 eligible infants, 310 were randomized and 96% had primary outcome assessed. Death or NDI occurred in 69% of infants in the laparotomy group versus 70% with drainage [adjusted relative risk (aRR) 1.0; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87-1.14]. A preplanned analysis identified an interaction between preoperative diagnosis and treatment group (P = 0.03). With a preoperative diagnosis of NEC, death or NDI occurred in 69% after laparotomy versus 85% with drainage (aRR 0.81; 95% CI: 0.64-1.04). The Bayesian posterior probability that laparotomy was beneficial (risk difference <0) for a preoperative diagnosis of NEC was 97%. For preoperative diagnosis of IP, death or NDI occurred in 69% after laparotomy versus 63% with drainage (aRR, 1.11; 95% CI: 0.95-1.31); Bayesian probability of benefit with laparotomy = 18%. Conclusions: There was no overall difference in death or NDI rates at 18 to 22 months corrected age between initial laparotomy versus drainage. However, the preoperative diagnosis of NEC or IP modified the impact of initial treatment.
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    Macrocephaly and developmental delay caused by missense variants in RAB5C
    (Oxford University Press, 2023) Koop, Klaas; Yuan, Weimin; Tessadori, Federico; Rodriguez-Polanco, Wilmer R.; Grubbs, Jeremy; Zhang, Bo; Osmond, Matt; Graham, Gail; Sawyer, Sarah; Conboy, Erin; Vetrini, Francesco; Treat, Kayla; Płoski, Rafal; Pienkowski, Victor Murcia; Kłosowska, Anna; Fieg, Elizabeth; Krier, Joel; Mallebranche, Coralie; Alban, Ziegler; Aldinger, Kimberly A.; Ritter, Deborah; Macnamara, Ellen; Sullivan, Bonnie; Herriges, John; Alaimo, Joseph T.; Helbig, Catherine; Ellis, Colin A.; van Eyk, Clare; Gecz, Jozef; Farrugia, Daniel; Osei-Owusu, Ikeoluwa; Adès, Lesley; van den Boogaard, Marie-Jose; Fuchs, Sabine; Bakker, Jeroen; Duran, Karen; Dawson, Zachary D.; Lindsey, Anika; Huang, Huiyan; Baldridge, Dustin; Silverman, Gary A.; Grant, Barth D.; Raizen, David; Undiagnosed Diseases Network; van Haaften, Gijs; Pak, Stephen C.; Rehmann, Holger; Schedl, Tim; van Hasselt, Peter; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Rab GTPases are important regulators of intracellular vesicular trafficking. RAB5C is a member of the Rab GTPase family that plays an important role in the endocytic pathway, membrane protein recycling and signaling. Here we report on 12 individuals with nine different heterozygous de novo variants in RAB5C. All but one patient with missense variants (n = 9) exhibited macrocephaly, combined with mild-to-moderate developmental delay. Patients with loss of function variants (n = 2) had an apparently more severe clinical phenotype with refractory epilepsy and intellectual disability but a normal head circumference. Four missense variants were investigated experimentally. In vitro biochemical studies revealed that all four variants were damaging, resulting in increased nucleotide exchange rate, attenuated responsivity to guanine exchange factors and heterogeneous effects on interactions with effector proteins. Studies in C. elegans confirmed that all four variants were damaging in vivo and showed defects in endocytic pathway function. The variant heterozygotes displayed phenotypes that were not observed in null heterozygotes, with two shown to be through a dominant negative mechanism. Expression of the human RAB5C variants in zebrafish embryos resulted in defective development, further underscoring the damaging effects of the RAB5C variants. Our combined bioinformatic, in vitro and in vivo experimental studies and clinical data support the association of RAB5C missense variants with a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by macrocephaly and mild-to-moderate developmental delay through disruption of the endocytic pathway.
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    Maternal deprivation induces alterations in cognitive and cortical function in adulthood
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2018-03-27) Janetsian-Fritz, Sarine S.; Timme, Nicholas M.; Timm, Maureen M.; McCane, Aqilah M.; Baucum, Anthony J., II; O’ Donnell, Brian F.; Lapish, Christopher C.; Psychology, School of Science
    Early life trauma is a risk factor for a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia (SZ). The current study assessed how an early life traumatic event, maternal deprivation (MD), alters cognition and brain function in rodents. Rats were maternally deprived in the early postnatal period and then recognition memory (RM) was tested in adulthood using the novel object recognition task. The expression of catechol-o-methyl transferase (COMT) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD67) were quantified in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), ventral striatum, and temporal cortex (TC). In addition, depth EEG recordings were obtained from the mPFC, vertex, and TC during a paired-click paradigm to assess the effects of MD on sensory gating. MD animals exhibited impaired RM, lower expression of COMT in the mPFC and TC, and lower expression of GAD67 in the TC. Increased bioelectric noise was observed at each recording site of MD animals. MD animals also exhibited altered information theoretic measures of stimulus encoding. These data indicate that a neurodevelopmental perturbation yields persistent alterations in cognition and brain function, and are consistent with human studies that identified relationships between allelic differences in COMT and GAD67 and bioelectric noise. These changes evoked by MD also lead to alterations in shared information between cognitive and primary sensory processing areas, which provides insight into how early life trauma confers a risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, such as SZ, later in life.
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    De novo and inherited TCF20 pathogenic variants are associated with intellectual disability, dysmorphic features, hypotonia, and neurological impairments with similarities to Smith-Magenis syndrome
    (BMC, 2019-02-28) Vetrini, Francesco; McKee, Shane; Rosenfeld, Jill A.; Suri, Mohnish; Lewis, Andrea M.; Nugent, Kimberly Margaret; Roeder, Elizabeth; Littlejohn, Rebecca O.; Holder, Sue; Zhu, Wenmiao; Alaimo, Joseph T.; Graham, Brett; Harris, Jill M.; Gibson, James B.; Pastore, Matthew; McBride, Kim L.; Komara, Makanko; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Al Shamsi, Aisha; Fanning, Elizabeth A.; Wierenga, Klaas J.; Scott, Daryl A.; Ben-Neriah, Ziva; Meiner, Vardiella; Cassuto, Hanoch; Elpeleg, Orly; Holder, J. Lloyd, Jr.; Burrage, Lindsay C.; Seaver, Laurie H.; Van Maldergem, Lionel; Mahida, Sonal; Soul, Janet S.; Marlatt, Margaret; Matyakhina, Ludmila; Vogt, Julie; Gold, June-Anne; Park, Soo-Mi; Varghese, Vinod; Lampe, Anne K.; Kumar, Ajith; Lees, Melissa; Holder-Espinasse, Muriel; McConnell, Vivienne; Bernhard, Birgitta; Blair, Ed; Harrison, Victoria; The DDD study; Muzny, Donna M.; Gibbs, Richard A.; Elsea, Sarah H.; Posey, Jennifer E.; Bi, Weimin; Lalani, Seema; Xia, Fan; Yang, Yaping; Eng, Christine M.; Lupski, James R.; Liu, Pengfei; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: Neurodevelopmental disorders are genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous encompassing developmental delay (DD), intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), structural brain abnormalities, and neurological manifestations with variants in a large number of genes (hundreds) associated. To date, a few de novo mutations potentially disrupting TCF20 function in patients with ID, ASD, and hypotonia have been reported. TCF20 encodes a transcriptional co-regulator structurally related to RAI1, the dosage-sensitive gene responsible for Smith-Magenis syndrome (deletion/haploinsufficiency) and Potocki-Lupski syndrome (duplication/triplosensitivity). METHODS: Genome-wide analyses by exome sequencing (ES) and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) identified individuals with heterozygous, likely damaging, loss-of-function alleles in TCF20. We implemented further molecular and clinical analyses to determine the inheritance of the pathogenic variant alleles and studied the spectrum of phenotypes. RESULTS: We report 25 unique inactivating single nucleotide variants/indels (1 missense, 1 canonical splice-site variant, 18 frameshift, and 5 nonsense) and 4 deletions of TCF20. The pathogenic variants were detected in 32 patients and 4 affected parents from 31 unrelated families. Among cases with available parental samples, the variants were de novo in 20 instances and inherited from 4 symptomatic parents in 5, including in one set of monozygotic twins. Two pathogenic loss-of-function variants were recurrent in unrelated families. Patients presented with a phenotype characterized by developmental delay, intellectual disability, hypotonia, variable dysmorphic features, movement disorders, and sleep disturbances. CONCLUSIONS: TCF20 pathogenic variants are associated with a novel syndrome manifesting clinical characteristics similar to those observed in Smith-Magenis syndrome. Together with previously described cases, the clinical entity of TCF20-associated neurodevelopmental disorders (TAND) emerges from a genotype-driven perspective.
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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.