Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neurosciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
J Cell Physiol. 2020 Oct;235(10):7120-7127. doi: 10.1002/jcp.29609. Epub 2020 Feb 4.
High temperature requirement A1 (HTRA1) is a serine protease playing a modulatory role in various cell processes, particularly in the regulation of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling. A deleterious role in late-onset cerebral small vessel diseases (CSVDs) of heterozygous HTRA1 mutations, otherwise causative in homozygosity of cerebral autosomal recessive arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy, was recently suggested. However, the pathomechanism of these heterozygous mutations is still undefined. Our aim is to evaluate the expression profile and activity of HTRA1 on TGF-β signaling in fibroblasts from four subjects carrying the HTRA1 heterozygous mutations-p.E42Dfs*173, p.A321T, p.G295R, and p.Q151K. We found a 50% reduction of HTRA1 expression in HTRA1 mutation carriers compared to the control. Moreover, we showed no changes in TGF-β signaling pathway downstream intermediate, Phospho Smad2/3. However, we found overexpression of genes involved in the extracellular matrix formation in two heterozygous HTRA1 carriers. Our results suggest that each heterozygous HTRA1 missense mutation displays a different and peculiar HTRA1 expression pattern and that CSVD phenotype may also result from 50% of HTRA1 expression.
高温需求 A1(HTRA1)是一种丝氨酸蛋白酶,在各种细胞过程中发挥调节作用,特别是在转化生长因子-β(TGF-β)信号转导的调节中。最近有研究表明,杂合 HTRA1 突变在晚发性脑小血管疾病(CSVDs)中起有害作用,而纯合子脑常染色体隐性动脉病伴皮质下梗死和白质脑病则由 HTRA1 突变引起。然而,这些杂合突变的发病机制仍未明确。我们的目的是评估 TGF-β信号转导中 HTRA1 在四个携带 HTRA1 杂合突变的个体(p.E42Dfs*173、p.A321T、p.G295R 和 p.Q151K)成纤维细胞中的表达谱和活性。我们发现与对照组相比,HTRA1 突变携带者的 HTRA1 表达减少了 50%。此外,我们没有发现 TGF-β 信号通路下游中间产物磷酸化 Smad2/3 的变化。然而,我们发现两个杂合 HTRA1 携带者中参与细胞外基质形成的基因表达过度。我们的结果表明,每个杂合 HTRA1 错义突变都显示出不同的和特殊的 HTRA1 表达模式,CSVD 表型也可能是由于 HTRA1 表达减少了 50%所致。