Buttermore Elizabeth D, Anderson Nickesha C, Chen Pin-Fang, Makhortova Nina R, Kim Kristina H, Wafa Syed M A, Dwyer Sean, Micozzi John M, Winden Kellen D, Zhang Bo, Han Min-Joon, Kleiman Robin J, Brownstein Catherine A, Sahin Mustafa, Gonzalez-Heydrich Joseph
Human Neuron Core, Rosamund Stone Zander Translational Neuroscience Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 Nov 3;13:924956. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.924956. eCollection 2022.
16p13.11 copy number variants (CNVs) have been associated with autism, schizophrenia, psychosis, intellectual disability, and epilepsy. The majority of 16p13.11 deletions or duplications occur within three well-defined intervals, and despite growing knowledge of the functions of individual genes within these intervals, the molecular mechanisms that underlie commonly observed clinical phenotypes remain largely unknown. Patient-derived, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide a platform for investigating the morphological, electrophysiological, and gene-expression changes that result from 16p13.11 CNVs in human-derived neurons. Patient derived iPSCs with varying sizes of 16p13.11 deletions and familial controls were differentiated into cortical neurons for phenotypic analysis. High-content imaging and morphological analysis of patient-derived neurons demonstrated an increase in neurite branching in patients compared with controls. Whole-transcriptome sequencing revealed expression level changes in neuron development and synaptic-related gene families, suggesting a defect in synapse formation. Subsequent quantification of synapse number demonstrated increased numbers of synapses on neurons derived from early-onset patients compared to controls. The identification of common phenotypes among neurons derived from patients with overlapping 16p13.11 deletions will further assist in ascertaining common pathways and targets that could be utilized for screening drug candidates. These studies can help to improve future treatment options and clinical outcomes for 16p13.11 deletion patients.
16p13.11拷贝数变异(CNV)与自闭症、精神分裂症、精神病、智力残疾和癫痫有关。大多数16p13.11缺失或重复发生在三个明确界定的区间内,尽管对这些区间内单个基因的功能了解越来越多,但常见临床表型背后的分子机制在很大程度上仍然未知。患者来源的诱导多能干细胞(iPSC)为研究人类神经元中16p13.11 CNV导致的形态、电生理和基因表达变化提供了一个平台。将具有不同大小16p13.11缺失的患者来源iPSC和家族对照分化为皮质神经元进行表型分析。对患者来源神经元的高内涵成像和形态分析表明,与对照相比,患者的神经突分支增加。全转录组测序揭示了神经元发育和突触相关基因家族的表达水平变化,表明突触形成存在缺陷。随后对突触数量的定量分析表明,与对照相比,早发患者来源的神经元上的突触数量增加。在具有重叠16p13.11缺失的患者来源的神经元中鉴定常见表型将进一步有助于确定可用于筛选候选药物的共同途径和靶点。这些研究有助于改善16p13.11缺失患者未来的治疗选择和临床结果。