@article{BahenaDaftarianMaroofianetal.2022, author = {Bahena, Paulina and Daftarian, Narsis and Maroofian, Reza and Linares, Paola and Villalobos, Daniel and Mirrahimi, Mehraban and Rad, Aboulfazl and Doll, Julia and Hofrichter, Michaela A. H. and Koparir, Asuman and R{\"o}der, Tabea and Han, Seungbin and Sabbaghi, Hamideh and Ahmadieh, Hamid and Behboudi, Hassan and Villanueva-Mendoza, Cristina and Cort{\´e}s-Gonzalez, Vianney and Zamora-Ortiz, Rocio and Kohl, Susanne and Kuehlewein, Laura and Darvish, Hossein and Alehabib, Elham and La Arenas-Sordo, Maria de Luz and Suri, Fatemeh and Vona, Barbara and Haaf, Thomas}, title = {Unraveling the genetic complexities of combined retinal dystrophy and hearing impairment}, series = {Human Genetics}, volume = {141}, journal = {Human Genetics}, number = {3-4}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-021-02303-1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-267750}, pages = {785-803}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Usher syndrome, the most prevalent cause of combined hereditary vision and hearing impairment, is clinically and genetically heterogeneous. Moreover, several conditions with phenotypes overlapping Usher syndrome have been described. This makes the molecular diagnosis of hereditary deaf-blindness challenging. Here, we performed exome sequencing and analysis on 7 Mexican and 52 Iranian probands with combined retinal degeneration and hearing impairment (without intellectual disability). Clinical assessment involved ophthalmological examination and hearing loss questionnaire. Usher syndrome, most frequently due to biallelic variants in MYO7A (USH1B in 16 probands), USH2A (17 probands), and ADGRV1 (USH2C in 7 probands), was diagnosed in 44 of 59 (75\%) unrelated probands. Almost half of the identified variants were novel. Nine of 59 (15\%) probands displayed other genetic entities with dual sensory impairment, including Alstr{\"o}m syndrome (3 patients), cone-rod dystrophy and hearing loss 1 (2 probands), and Heimler syndrome (1 patient). Unexpected findings included one proband each with Scheie syndrome, coenzyme Q10 deficiency, and pseudoxanthoma elasticum. In four probands, including three Usher cases, dual sensory impairment was either modified/aggravated or caused by variants in distinct genes associated with retinal degeneration and/or hearing loss. The overall diagnostic yield of whole exome analysis in our deaf-blind cohort was 92\%. Two (3\%) probands were partially solved and only 3 (5\%) remained without any molecular diagnosis. In many cases, the molecular diagnosis is important to guide genetic counseling, to support prognostic outcomes and decisions with currently available and evolving treatment modalities.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Riekert2022, author = {Riekert, Elisa}, title = {Der Einfluss von Tnap auf die Zahnentwicklung im Zebrafisch (Danio rerio)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28740}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-287406}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Aufgrund mangelnder Aktivit{\"a}t der Gewebe-unspezifischen Phosphatase (tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase, TNAP) kommt es zum Krankheitsbild der Hypophosphatasie (HPP). Neben skelettalen und neuronalen Symptomen leiden Patienten mit HPP h{\"a}ufig an einem vorzeitigen Verlust der Milchz{\"a}hne und weiteren dentalen Manifestationen, wie Zahnhartsubstanzdefekten, Eruptionsst{\"o}rungen, erweiterte Pulpenkammern oder einer verringerten alveol{\"a}ren Knochenh{\"o}he. Ziel der Arbeit war es, den Einfluss der TNAP auf die Zahnentwicklung von Zebrafischlarven zu untersuchen, um ein neues in-vivo Modell f{\"u}r die dentalen Auswirkungen bei Hypophosphatasie etablieren zu k{\"o}nnen. Um die sehr kleinen Z{\"a}hne der Zebrafischlarven auch in fr{\"u}hen Entwicklungsstadien darzustellen, wurden mittels verschiedener histologischer F{\"a}rbungen die Zahnstrukturen angef{\"a}rbt und die Larven danach in JB4®, einen polymeren Kunststoff, eingebettet. Im Anschluss wurden histologische Schnitte angefertigt und am Fluoreszenzmikroskop ausgewertet. Einerseits konnte durch In-situ-Hybridisierung die Expression verschiedener Gene, wie z.B. alpl (welches f{\"u}r die Tnap im Zebrafisch kodiert), im Bereich von dentalen Strukturen in verschiedenen Entwicklungsstadien nachgewiesen werden. Außerdem zeigte die Analyse der dentalen Strukturen nach Inhibition der Tnap mittels Levamisol bei f{\"u}nf Tage alten Zebrafischlarven eine Ver{\"a}nderung von Form, Gr{\"o}ße und Struktur der ersten Z{\"a}hne. Die TNAP-Inhibition f{\"u}hrte auch zur quantitativ nachweisbaren Steigerung des Fluoreszenzsignals von ß-Catenin, welches eine zentrale Funktion im Wnt/ß-Catenin-Signalweg besitzt und essenziell in verschiedenen zellul{\"a}ren Prozessen w{\"a}hrend der Embryogenese ist. Zusammenfassend zeigen die Ergebnisse der Arbeit, dass der Zebrafisch großes Potenzial als in-vivo Modell f{\"u}r die dentalen Symptome bei HPP bietet. Außerdem er{\"o}ffnen sich neue interessante Fragen in Bezug auf den Einfluss von ß-Catenin bei den fr{\"u}hen pathophysiologischen Prozessen der Erkrankung.}, subject = {Zebrab{\"a}rbling}, language = {de} } @article{LorenzMusacchioKunstmannetal.2022, author = {Lorenz, Delia and Musacchio, Thomas and Kunstmann, Erdmute and Grauer, Eva and Pluta, Natalie and Stock, Annika and Speer, Christian P. and Hebestreit, Helge}, title = {A case report of Sanfilippo syndrome - the long way to diagnosis}, series = {BMC Neurology}, volume = {22}, journal = {BMC Neurology}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1186/s12883-022-02611-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300465}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background Mucopolysaccharidosis type III (Sanfilippo syndrome) is a lysosomal storage disorder, caused by a deficiency in the heparan-N-sulfatase enzyme involved in the catabolism of the glycosaminoglycan heparan sulfate. It is characterized by early nonspecific neuropsychiatric symptoms, followed by progressive neurocognitive impairment in combination with only mild somatic features. In this patient group with a broad clinical spectrum a significant genotype-phenotype correlation with some mutations leading to a slower progressive, attenuated course has been demonstrated. Case presentation Our patient had complications in the neonatal period and was diagnosed with Mucopolysaccharidosis IIIa only at the age of 28 years. He was compound heterozygous for the variants p.R245H and p.S298P, the latter having been shown to lead to a significantly milder phenotype. Conclusions The diagnostic delay is even more prolonged in this patient population with comorbidities and a slowly progressive course of the disease.}, language = {en} } @article{DollKolbSchnappetal.2020, author = {Doll, Julia and Kolb, Susanne and Schnapp, Linda and Rad, Aboulfazl and R{\"u}schendorf, Franz and Khan, Imran and Adli, Abolfazl and Hasanzadeh, Atefeh and Liedtke, Daniel and Knaup, Sabine and Hofrichter, Michaela AH and M{\"u}ller, Tobias and Dittrich, Marcus and Kong, Il-Keun and Kim, Hyung-Goo and Haaf, Thomas and Vona, Barbara}, title = {Novel loss-of-function variants in CDC14A are associated with recessive sensorineural hearing loss in Iranian and Pakistani patients}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {21}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {1}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms21010311}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-285142}, year = {2020}, abstract = {CDC14A encodes the Cell Division Cycle 14A protein and has been associated with autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (DFNB32), as well as hearing impairment and infertile male syndrome (HIIMS) since 2016. To date, only nine variants have been associated in patients whose initial symptoms included moderate-to-profound hearing impairment. Exome analysis of Iranian and Pakistani probands who both showed bilateral, sensorineural hearing loss revealed a novel splice site variant (c.1421+2T>C, p.?) that disrupts the splice donor site and a novel frameshift variant (c.1041dup, p.Ser348Glnfs*2) in the gene CDC14A, respectively. To evaluate the pathogenicity of both loss-of-function variants, we analyzed the effects of both variants on the RNA-level. The splice variant was characterized using a minigene assay. Altered expression levels due to the c.1041dup variant were assessed using RT-qPCR. In summary, cDNA analysis confirmed that the c.1421+2T>C variant activates a cryptic splice site, resulting in a truncated transcript (c.1414_1421del, p.Val472Leufs*20) and the c.1041dup variant results in a defective transcript that is likely degraded by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. The present study functionally characterizes two variants and provides further confirmatory evidence that CDC14A is associated with a rare form of hereditary hearing loss.}, language = {en} } @article{RolfesBordeMoellenhoffetal.2022, author = {Rolfes, Muriel and Borde, Julika and M{\"o}llenhoff, Kathrin and Kayali, Mohamad and Ernst, Corinna and Gehrig, Andrea and Sutter, Christian and Ramser, Juliane and Niederacher, Dieter and Horv{\´a}th, Judit and Arnold, Norbert and Meindl, Alfons and Auber, Bernd and Rump, Andreas and Wang-Gohrke, Shan and Ritter, Julia and Hentschel, Julia and Thiele, Holger and Altm{\"u}ller, Janine and N{\"u}rnberg, Peter and Rhiem, Kerstin and Engel, Christoph and Wappenschmidt, Barbara and Schmutzler, Rita K. and Hahnen, Eric and Hauke, Jan}, title = {Prevalence of cancer predisposition germline variants in male breast cancer patients: results of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer}, series = {Cancers}, volume = {14}, journal = {Cancers}, number = {13}, issn = {2072-6694}, doi = {10.3390/cancers14133292}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281758}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Male breast cancer (mBC) is associated with a high prevalence of pathogenic variants (PVs) in the BRCA2 gene; however, data regarding other BC predisposition genes are limited. In this retrospective multicenter study, we investigated the prevalence of PVs in BRCA1/2 and 23 non-BRCA1/2 genes using a sample of 614 patients with mBC, recruited through the centers of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer. A high proportion of patients with mBC carried PVs in BRCA2 (23.0\%, 142/614) and BRCA1 (4.6\%, 28/614). The prevalence of BRCA1/2 PVs was 11.0\% in patients with mBC without a family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer. Patients with BRCA1/2 PVs did not show an earlier disease onset than those without. The predominant clinical presentation of tumor phenotypes was estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, progesterone receptor (PR)-positive, and HER2-negative (77.7\%); further, 10.2\% of the tumors were triple-positive, and 1.2\% were triple-negative. No association was found between ER/PR/HER2 status and BRCA1/2 PV occurrence. Comparing the prevalence of protein-truncating variants (PTVs) between patients with mBC and control data (ExAC, n = 27,173) revealed significant associations of PTVs in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 with mBC (BRCA1: OR = 17.04, 95\% CI = 10.54-26.82, p < 10\(^{-5}\); BRCA2: OR = 77.71, 95\% CI = 58.71-102.33, p < 10\(^{-5}\)). A case-control investigation of 23 non-BRCA1/2 genes in 340 BRCA1/2-negative patients and ExAC controls revealed significant associations of PTVs in CHEK2, PALB2, and ATM with mBC (CHEK2: OR = 3.78, 95\% CI = 1.59-7.71, p = 0.002; PALB2: OR = 14.77, 95\% CI = 5.02-36.02, p < 10\(^{-5}\); ATM: OR = 3.36, 95\% CI = 0.89-8.96, p = 0.04). Overall, our findings support the benefit of multi-gene panel testing in patients with mBC irrespective of their family history, age at disease onset, and tumor phenotype.}, language = {en} } @article{BleinBardelDanjeanetal.2015, author = {Blein, Sophie and Bardel, Claire and Danjean, Vincent and McGuffog, Lesley and Healay, Sue and Barrowdale, Daniel and Lee, Andrew and Dennis, Joe and Kuchenbaecker, Karoline B. and Soucy, Penny and Terry, Mary Beth and Chung, Wendy K. and Goldgar, David E. and Buys, Saundra S. and Janavicius, Ramunas and Tihomirova, Laima and Tung, Nadine and Dorfling, Cecilia M. and van Rensburg, Elizabeth J. and Neuhausen, Susan L. and Ding, Yuan Chun and Gerdes, Anne-Marie and Ejlertsen, Bent and Nielsen, Finn C. and Hansen, Thomas V. O. and Osorio, Ana and Benitez, Javier and Andreas Conejero, Raquel and Segota, Ena and Weitzel, Jeffrey N. and Thelander, Margo and Peterlongo, Paolo and Radice, Paolo and Pensotti, Valeria and Dolcetti, Riccardo and Bonanni, Bernardo and Peissel, Bernard and Zaffaroni, Daniela and Scuvera, Giulietta and Manoukian, Siranoush and Varesco, Liliana and Capone, Gabriele L. and Papi, Laura and Ottini, Laura and Yannoukakos, Drakoulis and Konstantopoulou, Irene and Garber, Judy and Hamann, Ute and Donaldson, Alan and Brady, Angela and Brewer, Carole and Foo, Claire and Evans, D. Gareth and Frost, Debra and Eccles, Diana and Douglas, Fiona and Cook, Jackie and Adlard, Julian and Barwell, Julian and Walker, Lisa and Izatt, Louise and Side, Lucy E. and Kennedy, M. John and Tischkowitz, Marc and Rogers, Mark T. and Porteous, Mary E. and Morrison, Patrick J. and Platte, Radka and Eeles, Ros and Davidson, Rosemarie and Hodgson, Shirley and Cole, Trevor and Godwin, Andrew K and Isaacs, Claudine and Claes, Kathleen and De Leeneer, Kim and Meindl, Alfons and Gehrig, Andrea and Wappenschmidt, Barbara and Sutter, Christian and Engel, Christoph and Niederacher, Dieter and Steinemann, Doris and Plendl, Hansjoerg and Kast, Karin and Rhiem, Kerstin and Ditsch, Nina and Arnold, Norbert and Varon-Mateeva, Raymonda and Schmutzler, Rita K. and Preisler-Adams, Sabine and Markov, Nadja Bogdanova and Wang-Gohrke, Shan and de Pauw, Antoine and Lefol, Cedrick and Lasset, Christine and Leroux, Dominique and Rouleau, Etienne and Damiola, Francesca and Dreyfus, Helene and Barjhoux, Laure and Golmard, Lisa and Uhrhammer, Nancy and Bonadona, Valerie and Sornin, Valerie and Bignon, Yves-Jean and Carter, Jonathan and Van Le, Linda and Piedmonte, Marion and DiSilvestro, Paul A. and de la Hoya, Miguel and Caldes, Trinidad and Nevanlinna, Heli and Aittom{\"a}ki, Kristiina and Jager, Agnes and van den Ouweland, Ans M. W. and Kets, Carolien M. and Aalfs, Cora M. and van Leeuwen, Flora E. and Hogervorst, Frans B. L. and Meijers-Heijboer, Hanne E. J. and Oosterwijk, Jan C. and van Roozendaal, Kees E. P. and Rookus, Matti A. and Devilee, Peter and van der Luijt, Rob B. and Olah, Edith and Diez, Orland and Teule, Alex and Lazaro, Conxi and Blanco, Ignacio and Del Valle, Jesus and Jakubowska, Anna and Sukiennicki, Grzegorz and Gronwald, Jacek and Spurdle, Amanda B. and Foulkes, William and Olswold, Curtis and Lindor, Noralene M. and Pankratz, Vernon S. and Szabo, Csilla I. and Lincoln, Anne and Jacobs, Lauren and Corines, Marina and Robson, Mark and Vijai, Joseph and Berger, Andreas and Fink-Retter, Anneliese and Singer, Christian F. and Rappaport, Christine and Geschwantler Kaulich, Daphne and Pfeiler, Georg and Tea, Muy-Kheng and Greene, Mark H. and Mai, Phuong L. and Rennert, Gad and Imyanitov, Evgeny N. and Mulligan, Anna Marie and Glendon, Gord and Andrulis, Irene L. and Tchatchou, Andrine and Toland, Amanda Ewart and Pedersen, Inge Sokilde and Thomassen, Mads and Kruse, Torben A. and Jensen, Uffe Birk and Caligo, Maria A. and Friedman, Eitan and Zidan, Jamal and Laitman, Yael and Lindblom, Annika and Melin, Beatrice and Arver, Brita and Loman, Niklas and Rosenquist, Richard and Olopade, Olufunmilayo I. and Nussbaum, Robert L. and Ramus, Susan J. and Nathanson, Katherine L. and Domchek, Susan M. and Rebbeck, Timothy R. and Arun, Banu K. and Mitchell, Gillian and Karlan, Bethy Y. and Lester, Jenny and Orsulic, Sandra and Stoppa-Lyonnet, Dominique and Thomas, Gilles and Simard, Jacques and Couch, Fergus J. and Offit, Kenenth and Easton, Douglas F. and Chenevix-Trench, Georgia and Antoniou, Antonis C. and Mazoyer, Sylvie and Phelan, Catherine M. and Sinilnikova, Olga M. and Cox, David G.}, title = {An original phylogenetic approach identified mitochondrial haplogroup T1a1 as inversely associated with breast cancer risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers}, series = {Breast Cancer Research}, volume = {17}, journal = {Breast Cancer Research}, number = {61}, doi = {10.1186/s13058-015-0567-2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-145458}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Introduction: Individuals carrying pathogenic mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have a high lifetime risk of breast cancer. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are involved in DNA double-strand break repair, DNA alterations that can be caused by exposure to reactive oxygen species, a main source of which are mitochondria. Mitochondrial genome variations affect electron transport chain efficiency and reactive oxygen species production. Individuals with different mitochondrial haplogroups differ in their metabolism and sensitivity to oxidative stress. Variability in mitochondrial genetic background can alter reactive oxygen species production, leading to cancer risk. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that mitochondrial haplogroups modify breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. Methods: We genotyped 22,214 (11,421 affected, 10,793 unaffected) mutation carriers belonging to the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 for 129 mitochondrial polymorphisms using the iCOGS array. Haplogroup inference and association detection were performed using a phylogenetic approach. ALTree was applied to explore the reference mitochondrial evolutionary tree and detect subclades enriched in affected or unaffected individuals. Results: We discovered that subclade T1a1 was depleted in affected BRCA2 mutation carriers compared with the rest of clade T (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.55; 95\% confidence interval (CI), 0.34 to 0.88; P = 0.01). Compared with the most frequent haplogroup in the general population (that is, H and T clades), the T1a1 haplogroup has a HR of 0.62 (95\% CI, 0.40 to 0.95; P = 0.03). We also identified three potential susceptibility loci, including G13708A/rs28359178, which has demonstrated an inverse association with familial breast cancer risk. Conclusions: This study illustrates how original approaches such as the phylogeny-based method we used can empower classical molecular epidemiological studies aimed at identifying association or risk modification effects.}, language = {en} } @article{RemmeleLutherBalkenholetal.2015, author = {Remmele, Christian W. and Luther, Christian H. and Balkenhol, Johannes and Dandekar, Thomas and M{\"u}ller, Tobias and Dittrich, Marcus T.}, title = {Integrated inference and evaluation of host-fungi interaction networks}, series = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, number = {764}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2015.00764}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-148278}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Fungal microorganisms frequently lead to life-threatening infections. Within this group of pathogens, the commensal Candida albicans and the filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus are by far the most important causes of invasive mycoses in Europe. A key capability for host invasion and immune response evasion are specific molecular interactions between the fungal pathogen and its human host. Experimentally validated knowledge about these crucial interactions is rare in literature and even specialized host pathogen databases mainly focus on bacterial and viral interactions whereas information on fungi is still sparse. To establish large-scale host fungi interaction networks on a systems biology scale, we develop an extended inference approach based on protein orthology and data on gene functions. Using human and yeast intraspecies networks as template, we derive a large network of pathogen host interactions (PHI). Rigorous filtering and refinement steps based on cellular localization and pathogenicity information of predicted interactors yield a primary scaffold of fungi human and fungi mouse interaction networks. Specific enrichment of known pathogenicity-relevant genes indicates the biological relevance of the predicted PHI. A detailed inspection of functionally relevant subnetworks reveals novel host fungal interaction candidates such as the Candida virulence factor PLB1 and the anti-fungal host protein APP. Our results demonstrate the applicability of interolog-based prediction methods for host fungi interactions and underline the importance of filtering and refinement steps to attain biologically more relevant interactions. This integrated network framework can serve as a basis for future analyses of high-throughput host fungi transcriptome and proteome data.}, language = {en} } @article{SilvestriBarrowdaleMulliganetal.2016, author = {Silvestri, Valentina and Barrowdale, Daniel and Mulligan, Anna Marie and Neuhausen, Susan L. and Fox, Stephen and Karlan, Beth Y. and Mitchell, Gillian and James, Paul and Thull, Darcy L. and Zorn, Kristin K. and Carter, Natalie J. and Nathanson, Katherine L. and Domchek, Susan M. and Rebbeck, Timothy R. and Ramus, Susan J. and Nussbaum, Robert L. and Olopade, Olufunmilayo I. and Rantala, Johanna and Yoon, Sook-Yee and Caligo, Maria A. and Spugnesi, Laura and Bojesen, Anders and Pedersen, Inge Sokilde and Thomassen, Mads and Jensen, Uffe Birk and Toland, Amanda Ewart and Senter, Leigha and Andrulis, Irene L. and Glendon, Gord and Hulick, Peter J. and Imyanitov, Evgeny N. and Greene, Mark H. and Mai, Phuong L. and Singer, Christian F. and Rappaport-Fuerhauser, Christine and Kramer, Gero and Vijai, Joseph and Offit, Kenneth and Robson, Mark and Lincoln, Anne and Jacobs, Lauren and Machackova, Eva and Foretova, Lenka and Navratilova, Marie and Vasickova, Petra and Couch, Fergus J. and Hallberg, Emily and Ruddy, Kathryn J. and Sharma, Priyanka and Kim, Sung-Won and Teixeira, Manuel R. and Pinto, Pedro and Montagna, Marco and Matricardi, Laura and Arason, Adalgeir and Johannsson, Oskar Th and Barkardottir, Rosa B. and Jakubowska, Anna and Lubinski, Jan and Izquierdo, Angel and Pujana, Miguel Angel and Balma{\~n}a, Judith and Diez, Orland and Ivady, Gabriella and Papp, Janos and Olah, Edith and Kwong, Ava and Nevanlinna, Heli and Aittom{\"a}ki, Kristiina and Segura, Pedro Perez and Caldes, Trinidad and Van Maerken, Tom and Poppe, Bruce and Claes, Kathleen B. M. and Isaacs, Claudine and Elan, Camille and Lasset, Christine and Stoppa-Lyonnet, Dominique and Barjhoux, Laure and Belotti, Muriel and Meindl, Alfons and Gehrig, Andrea and Sutter, Christian and Engel, Christoph and Niederacher, Dieter and Steinemann, Doris and Hahnen, Eric and Kast, Karin and Arnold, Norbert and Varon-Mateeva, Raymonda and Wand, Dorothea and Godwin, Andrew K. and Evans, D. Gareth and Frost, Debra and Perkins, Jo and Adlard, Julian and Izatt, Louise and Platte, Radka and Eeles, Ros and Ellis, Steve and Hamann, Ute and Garber, Judy and Fostira, Florentia and Fountzilas, George and Pasini, Barbara and Giannini, Giuseppe and Rizzolo, Piera and Russo, Antonio and Cortesi, Laura and Papi, Laura and Varesco, Liliana and Palli, Domenico and Zanna, Ines and Savarese, Antonella and Radice, Paolo and Manoukian, Siranoush and Peissel, Bernard and Barile, Monica and Bonanni, Bernardo and Viel, Alessandra and Pensotti, Valeria and Tommasi, Stefania and Peterlongo, Paolo and Weitzel, Jeffrey N. and Osorio, Ana and Benitez, Javier and McGuffog, Lesley and Healey, Sue and Gerdes, Anne-Marie and Ejlertsen, Bent and Hansen, Thomas V. O. and Steele, Linda and Ding, Yuan Chun and Tung, Nadine and Janavicius, Ramunas and Goldgar, David E. and Buys, Saundra S. and Daly, Mary B. and Bane, Anita and Terry, Mary Beth and John, Esther M. and Southey, Melissa and Easton, Douglas F. and Chenevix-Trench, Georgia and Antoniou, Antonis C. and Ottini, Laura}, title = {Male breast cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers: pathology data from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2}, series = {Breast Cancer Research}, volume = {18}, journal = {Breast Cancer Research}, number = {15}, doi = {10.1186/s13058-016-0671-y}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-164769}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Background BRCA1 and, more commonly, BRCA2 mutations are associated with increased risk of male breast cancer (MBC). However, only a paucity of data exists on the pathology of breast cancers (BCs) in men with BRCA1/2 mutations. Using the largest available dataset, we determined whether MBCs arising in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers display specific pathologic features and whether these features differ from those of BRCA1/2 female BCs (FBCs). Methods We characterised the pathologic features of 419 BRCA1/2 MBCs and, using logistic regression analysis, contrasted those with data from 9675 BRCA1/2 FBCs and with population-based data from 6351 MBCs in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Results Among BRCA2 MBCs, grade significantly decreased with increasing age at diagnosis (P = 0.005). Compared with BRCA2 FBCs, BRCA2 MBCs were of significantly higher stage (P for trend = 2 × 10-5) and higher grade (P for trend = 0.005) and were more likely to be oestrogen receptor-positive [odds ratio (OR) 10.59; 95 \% confidence interval (CI) 5.15-21.80] and progesterone receptor-positive (OR 5.04; 95 \% CI 3.17-8.04). With the exception of grade, similar patterns of associations emerged when we compared BRCA1 MBCs and FBCs. BRCA2 MBCs also presented with higher grade than MBCs from the SEER database (P for trend = 4 × 10-12). Conclusions On the basis of the largest series analysed to date, our results show that BRCA1/2 MBCs display distinct pathologic characteristics compared with BRCA1/2 FBCs, and we identified a specific BRCA2-associated MBC phenotype characterised by a variable suggesting greater biological aggressiveness (i.e., high histologic grade). These findings could lead to the development of gender-specific risk prediction models and guide clinical strategies appropriate for MBC management.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Kiene2022, author = {Kiene, Carmen}, title = {Immunozytogenetische Analysen an Interphase-Zellen und Meiose-Stadien der Maus}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-27910}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-279109}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden mittels 5-Methylcytosin Immunof{\"a}rbung zytogenetische Analysen an Metaphasechromosomen aus der Mitose, an Interphase-Zellen verschiedener Organe und an Meiose-Stadien der Maus (Mus musculus) zur Detektion hypermethylierter DNA durchgef{\"u}hrt. Zus{\"a}tzlich erfolgte eine C-B{\"a}nderung an Metaphasechromosomen und Meiose-Stadien zum Nachweis von konstitutivem Heterochromatin.}, subject = {Cytogenetik}, language = {de} } @article{ZaumNandaKressetal.2022, author = {Zaum, Ann-Kathrin and Nanda, Indrajit and Kress, Wolfram and Rost, Simone}, title = {Detection of pericentric inversion with breakpoint in DMD by whole genome sequencing}, series = {Molecular Genetics \& Genomic Medicine}, volume = {10}, journal = {Molecular Genetics \& Genomic Medicine}, number = {10}, doi = {10.1002/mgg3.2028}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-293940}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background Dystrophinopathies caused by variants in the DMD gene are a well-studied muscle disease. The most common type of variant in DMD are large deletions. Very rarely reported forms of variants are chromosomal translocations, inversions and deep intronic variants (DIVs) because they are not detectable by standard diagnostic techniques (sequencing of coding sequence, copy number variant detection). This might be the reason that some clinically and histologically proven dystrophinopathy cases remain unsolved. Methods We used whole genome sequencing (WGS) to screen the entire DMD gene for variants in one of two brothers suffering from typical muscular dystrophy with strongly elevated creatine kinase levels. Results Although a pathogenic DIV could not be detected, we were able to identify a pericentric inversion with breakpoints in DMD intron 44 and Xq13.3, which could be confirmed by Sanger sequencing in the index as well as in his brother and mother. As this variation affects a major part of DMD it is most likely disease causing. Conclusion Our findings elucidate that WGS is capable of detecting large structural rearrangements and might be suitable for the genetic diagnostics of dystrophinopathies in the future. In particular, inversions might be a more frequent cause for dystrophinopathies as anticipated and should be considered in genetically unsolved dystrophinopathy cases.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Wagenhaeuser2023, author = {Wagenh{\"a}user, Laura Maria}, title = {Die Auswirkungen der X-Inaktivierung auf den klinischen Ph{\"a}notyp bei Patientinnen mit Morbus Fabry}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-31153}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-311530}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2023}, abstract = {M. Fabry ist eine X-chromosomal vererbte Stoffwechselerkrankung. Die Mutation im α-Galactosidase A Gen f{\"u}hrt zur reduzierten Aktivit{\"a}t des Enzyms und zur Akkumulation der Stoffwechselprodukte im gesamten K{\"o}rper. Von der daraus resultierenden Multiorganerkrankung sind sowohl M{\"a}nner, als auch Frauen betroffen. Als Grund hierf{\"u}r steht eine verschobene X-Inaktivierung zur Diskussion. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden 104 Frauen rekrutiert und die X-Inaktivierungsmuster in Mundschleimhautepithel, Blut und Hautfibroblasten untersucht. Es wurden umfangreiche klinische und laborchemische Untersuchungen durchgef{\"u}hrt, sodass von jeder Patientin ein klinischer Ph{\"a}notyp vorlag, der mit Hilfe eines numerischen Scores klassifiziert wurde. Es zeigte sich, dass Blut ein leicht zu asservierendes Biomaterial mit einer hohen Pr{\"a}valenz an verschobenen X-Inaktivierungsmustern darstellt. Eine signifikante Korrelation mit dem klinischen Ph{\"a}notyp konnte in keinem der drei untersuchten Gewebe nachgewiesen werden.}, subject = {Fabry-Krankheit}, language = {de} } @article{KarastanevaLanzWaweretal.2015, author = {Karastaneva, Anna and Lanz, Sofia and Wawer, Angela and Behrends, Uta and Schindler, Detlev and Dietrich, Ralf and Burdach, Stefan and Urban, Christian and Benesch, Martin and Seidel, Markus G.}, title = {Immune thrombocytopenia in two unrelated Fanconi anemia patients - a mere coincidence?}, series = {Frontiers in Pediatrics}, volume = {3}, journal = {Frontiers in Pediatrics}, number = {50}, doi = {10.3389/fped.2015.00050}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-149837}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Thrombocytopenia and pancytopenia, occurring in patients with Fanconi anemia (FA), are interpreted either as progression to bone marrow failure or as developing myelodysplasia. On the other hand, immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) represents an acquired and often self-limiting benign hematologic disorder, associated with peripheral, immune-mediated, platelet destruction requiring different management modalities than those used in congenital bone marrow failure syndromes, including FA. Here, we describe the clinical course of two independent FA patients with atypical - namely immune - thrombocytopenia. While in one patient belonging to complementation group FA-A, the ITP started at 17 months of age and showed a chronically persisting course with severe purpura, responding well to intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) and later also danazol, a synthetic androgen, the other patient (of complementation group FA-D2) had a self-limiting course that resolved after one administration of IVIG. No cytogenetic aberrations or bone marrow abnormalities other than FA-typical mild dysplasia were detected. Our data show that acute and chronic ITP may occur in FA patients and impose individual diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in this rare congenital bone marrow failure/tumor predisposition syndrome. The management and a potential context of immune pathogenesis with the underlying marrow disorder are discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{KoenigPechmannThieleetal.2019, author = {K{\"o}nig, Kirsten and Pechmann, Astrid and Thiele, Simone and Walter, Maggie C. and Schorling, David and Tassoni, Adrian and Lochm{\"u}ller, Hanns and M{\"u}ller-Reible, Clemens and Kirschner, Janbernd}, title = {De-duplicating patient records from three independent data sources reveals the incidence of rare neuromuscular disorders in Germany}, series = {Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases}, volume = {14}, journal = {Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases}, doi = {10.1186/s13023-019-1125-2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-222807}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Background Estimation of incidence in rare diseases is often challenging due to unspecific and incomplete coding and recording systems. Patient- and health care provider-driven data collections are held with different organizations behind firewalls to protect the privacy of patients. They tend to be fragmented, incomplete and their aggregation leads to further inaccuracies, as the duplicated records cannot easily be identified. We here report about a novel approach to evaluate the incidences of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in Germany. Methods We performed a retrospective epidemiological study collecting data from patients with dystrophinopathies (DMD and Becker muscular dystrophy) and SMA born between 1995 and 2018. We invited all neuromuscular centers, genetic institutes and the patient registries for DMD and SMA in Germany to participate in the data collection. A novel web-based application for data entry was developed converting patient identifying information into a hash code. Duplicate entries were reliably allocated to the distinct patient. Results We collected 5409 data entries in our web-based database representing 1955 distinct patients with dystrophinopathies and 1287 patients with SMA. 55.0\% of distinct patients were found in one of the 3 data sources only, while 32.0\% were found in 2, and 13.0\% in all 3 data sources. The highest number of SMA patients was reported by genetic testing laboratories, while for DMD the highest number was reported by the clinical specialist centers. After the removal of duplicate records, the highest yearly incidence for DMD was calculated as 2.57:10,000 in 2001 and the highest incidence for SMA as 1.36:10,000 in 2014. Conclusion With our novel approach (compliant with data protection regulations), we were able to identify unique patient records and estimate the incidence of DMD and SMA in Germany combining and de-duplicating data from patient registries, genetic institutes, and clinical care centers. Although we combined three different data sources, an unknown number of patients might not have been reported by any of these sources. Therefore, our results reflect the minimal incidence of these diseases.}, language = {en} } @article{SepahiFaustSturmetal.2019, author = {Sepahi, Ilnaz and Faust, Ulrike and Sturm, Marc and Bosse, Kristin and Kehrer, Martin and Heinrich, Tilman and Grundman-Hauser, Kathrin and Bauer, Peter and Ossowski, Stephan and Susak, Hana and Varon, Raymonda and Schr{\"o}ck, Evelin and Niederacher, Dieter and Auber, Bernd and Sutter, Christian and Arnold, Norbert and Hahnen, Eric and Dworniczak, Bernd and Wang-Gorke, Shan and Gehrig, Andrea and Weber, Bernhard H. F. and Engel, Christoph and Lemke, Johannes R. and Hartkopf, Andreas and Huu Phuc, Nguyen and Riess, Olaf and Schroeder, Christopher}, title = {Investigating the effects of additional truncating variants in DNA-repair genes on breast cancer risk in BRCA1-positive women}, series = {BMC Cancer}, volume = {19}, journal = {BMC Cancer}, doi = {10.1186/s12885-019-5946-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-237676}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Background Inherited pathogenic variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the most common causes of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC). The risk of developing breast cancer by age 80 in women carrying a BRCA1 pathogenic variant is 72\%. The lifetime risk varies between families and even within affected individuals of the same family. The cause of this variability is largely unknown, but it is hypothesized that additional genetic factors contribute to differences in age at onset (AAO). Here we investigated whether truncating and rare missense variants in genes of different DNA-repair pathways contribute to this phenomenon. Methods We used extreme phenotype sampling to recruit 133 BRCA1-positive patients with either early breast cancer onset, below 35 (early AAO cohort) or cancer-free by age 60 (controls). Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was used to screen for variants in 311 genes involved in different DNA-repair pathways. Results Patients with an early AAO (73 women) had developed breast cancer at a median age of 27 years (interquartile range (IQR); 25.00-27.00 years). A total of 3703 variants were detected in all patients and 43 of those (1.2\%) were truncating variants. The truncating variants were found in 26 women of the early AAO group (35.6\%; 95\%-CI 24.7 - 47.7\%) compared to 16 women of controls (26.7\%; 95\%-CI 16.1 to 39.7\%). When adjusted for environmental factors and family history, the odds ratio indicated an increased breast cancer risk for those carrying an additional truncating DNA-repair variant to BRCA1 mutation (OR: 3.1; 95\%-CI 0.92 to 11.5; p-value = 0.07), although it did not reach the conventionally acceptable significance level of 0.05. Conclusions To our knowledge this is the first time that the combined effect of truncating variants in DNA-repair genes on AAO in patients with hereditary breast cancer is investigated. Our results indicate that co-occurring truncating variants might be associated with an earlier onset of breast cancer in BRCA1-positive patients. Larger cohorts are needed to confirm these results.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Prell2024, author = {Prell, Andreas}, title = {The effects of paternal age on DNA methylation of developmentally important genes in human and bovine sperm}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-34786}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-347866}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Western societies are steadily becoming older undergoing a clear trend of delayed parenthood. Children of older fathers have an undeniably higher risk for certain neurodevelopmental disorders and other medical conditions. Changes in the epigenetic landscape and especially in DNA methylation patterns are likely to account for a portion of this inherited disease susceptibility. DNA methylation changes during the ageing process are a well-known epigenetic feature. These so-called age-DMRs exist in developmentally important genes in the methylome of several mammalian species. However, there is only a minor overlap between the age-DMR datasets of different studies. We therefore replicated age-DMRs (which were obtained from a genome wide technique) by applying a different technical approach in a larger sample number. Here, this study confirmed 10 age-DMRs in the human and 4 in the bovine sperm epigenome from a preliminary candidate list based on RRBS. For this purpose, we used bisulphite Pyrosequencing in 94 human and 36 bovine sperm samples. These Pyrosequencing results confirm RRBS as an effective and reliable method to screen for age-DMRs in the vertebrate genome. To decipher whether paternal age effects are an evolutionary conserved feature of mammalian development, we compared methylation patterns between human and bovine sperm in orthologous regulatory regions. We discovered that the level of methylation and the age effect are both species-specific and speculate that these methylation marks reflect the lineage-specific development of each species to hit evolutionary requirements and adaptation processes. Different methylation levels between species in developmentally important genes also imply a differing mutational burden, representing a potential driver for point mutations and consequently deviations in the underlying DNA sequence of different species. Using the example of different haplotypes, this study showed the great effect of single base variations on the methylation of adjacent CpGs. Nonetheless, this study could not provide further evidence or a mechanism for the transfer of epigenetic marks to future generations. Therefore, further research in tissues from the progeny of old and young fathers is required to determine if the observed methylation changes are transmitted to the next generation and if they are associated with altered transcriptional activity of the respective genes. This could provide a direct link between the methylome of sperm from elderly fathers and the development potential of the next generation.}, subject = {Epigenetik}, language = {en} } @article{NandaSteinleinHaafetal.2022, author = {Nanda, Indrajit and Steinlein, Claus and Haaf, Thomas and Buhl, Eva M. and Grimm, Domink G. and Friedman, Scott L. and Meurer, Steffen K. and Schr{\"o}der, Sarah K. and Weiskirchen, Ralf}, title = {Genetic characterization of rat hepatic stellate cell line HSC-T6 for in vitro cell line authentication}, series = {Cells}, volume = {11}, journal = {Cells}, number = {11}, issn = {2073-4409}, doi = {10.3390/cells11111783}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-275178}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Immortalized hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) established from mouse, rat, and humans are valuable in vitro models for the biomedical investigation of liver biology. These cell lines are homogenous, thereby providing consistent and reproducible results. They grow more robustly than primary HSCs and provide an unlimited supply of proteins or nucleic acids for biochemical studies. Moreover, they can overcome ethical concerns associated with the use of animal and human tissue and allow for fostering of the 3R principle of replacement, reduction, and refinement proposed in 1959 by William M. S. Russell and Rex L. Burch. Nevertheless, working with continuous cell lines also has some disadvantages. In particular, there are ample examples in which genetic drift and cell misidentification has led to invalid data. Therefore, many journals and granting agencies now recommend proper cell line authentication. We herein describe the genetic characterization of the rat HSC line HSC-T6, which was introduced as a new in vitro model for the study of retinoid metabolism. The consensus chromosome markers, outlined primarily through multicolor spectral karyotyping (SKY), demonstrate that apart from the large derivative chromosome 1 (RNO1), at least two additional chromosomes (RNO4 and RNO7) are found to be in three copies in all metaphases. Additionally, we have defined a short tandem repeat (STR) profile for HSC-T6, including 31 species-specific markers. The typical features of these cells have been further determined by electron microscopy, Western blotting, and Rhodamine-Phalloidin staining. Finally, we have analyzed the transcriptome of HSC-T6 cells by mRNA sequencing (mRNA-Seq) using next generation sequencing (NGS).}, language = {en} } @article{MaierhoferFlunkertDittrichetal.2017, author = {Maierhofer, Anna and Flunkert, Julia and Dittrich, Marcus and M{\"u}ller, Tobias and Schindler, Detlev and Nanda, Indrajit and Haaf, Thomas}, title = {Analysis of global DNA methylation changes in primary human fibroblasts in the early phase following X-ray irradiation}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {12}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {5}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0177442}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170895}, pages = {e0177442}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Epigenetic alterations may contribute to the generation of cancer cells in a multi-step process of tumorigenesis following irradiation of normal body cells. Primary human fibroblasts with intact cell cycle checkpoints were used as a model to test whether X-ray irradiation with 2 and 4 Gray induces direct epigenetic effects (within the first cell cycle) in the exposed cells. ELISA-based fluorometric assays were consistent with slightly reduced global DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation, however the observed between-group differences were usually not significant. Similarly, bisulfite pyrosequencing of interspersed LINE-1 repeats and centromeric α-satellite DNA did not detect significant methylation differences between irradiated and non-irradiated cultures. Methylation of interspersed ALU repeats appeared to be slightly increased (one percentage point; p = 0.01) at 6 h after irradiation with 4 Gy. Single-cell analysis showed comparable variations in repeat methylation among individual cells in both irradiated and control cultures. Radiation-induced changes in global repeat methylation, if any, were much smaller than methylation variation between different fibroblast strains. Interestingly, α-satellite DNA methylation positively correlated with gestational age. Finally, 450K methylation arrays mainly targeting genes and CpG islands were used for global DNA methylation analysis. There were no detectable methylation differences in genic (promoter, 5' UTR, first exon, gene body, 3' UTR) and intergenic regions between irradiated and control fibroblast cultures. Although we cannot exclude minor effects, i.e. on individual CpG sites, collectively our data suggest that global DNA methylation remains rather stable in irradiated normal body cells in the early phase of DNA damage response.}, language = {en} } @article{RickertWagenhaeuserNordbecketal.2020, author = {Rickert, V. and Wagenh{\"a}user, L. and Nordbeck, P. and Wanner, C. and Sommer, C. and Rost, S. and {\"U}{\c{c}}eyler, N.}, title = {Stratification of Fabry mutations in clinical practice: a closer look at α-galactosidase A-3D structure}, series = {Journal of Internal Medicine}, volume = {288}, journal = {Journal of Internal Medicine}, number = {5}, doi = {10.1111/joim.13125}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218125}, pages = {593 -- 604}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Background Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked lysosomal storage and multi-system disorder due to mutations in the α-galactosidase A (α-GalA) gene. We investigated the impact of individual amino acid exchanges in the α-GalA 3D-structure on the clinical phenotype of FD patients. Patients and methods We enrolled 80 adult FD patients with α-GalA missense mutations and stratified them into three groups based on the amino acid exchange location in the α-GalA 3D-structure: patients with active site mutations, buried mutations and other mutations. Patient subgroups were deep phenotyped for clinical and laboratory parameters and FD-specific treatment. Results Patients with active site or buried mutations showed a severe phenotype with multi-organ involvement and early disease manifestation. Patients with other mutations had a milder phenotype with less organ impairment and later disease onset. α-GalA activity was lower in patients with active site or buried mutations than in those with other mutations (P < 0.01 in men; P < 0.05 in women) whilst lyso-Gb3 levels were higher (P < 0.01 in men; <0.05 in women). Conclusions The type of amino acid exchange location in the α-GalA 3D-structure determines disease severity and temporal course of symptom onset. Patient stratification using this parameter may become a useful tool in the management of FD patients.}, language = {en} } @article{FlemmingHankirKusanetal.2021, author = {Flemming, Sven and Hankir, Mohammed K. and Kusan, Simon and Krone, Manuel and Anger, Friedrich and Germer, Christoph-Thomas and Wiegering, Armin}, title = {Safety of elective abdominal and vascular surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective single-center study}, series = {European Journal of Medical Research}, volume = {26}, journal = {European Journal of Medical Research}, doi = {10.1186/s40001-021-00583-x}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-264975}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who undergo surgery have impaired postoperative outcomes and increased mortality. Consequently, elective and semi-urgent operations on the increasing number of patients severely affected by COVID-19 have been indefinitely postponed.in many countries with unclear implications on disease progression and overall survival. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the establishment of a standardized screening program for acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is sufficient to ensure high-quality medical and surgical treatment of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients while minimizing in-hospital SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Methods The screening program comprised polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of nasopharyngeal swabs and a standardized questionnaire about potential symptoms for SARS-CoV-2 infection. All elective and emergency patients admitted to the surgical department of a tertiary-care hospital center in Lower Franconia, Germany, between March and May 2020 were included and their characteristics were recorded. Results Out of the study population (n = 657), 509 patients (77.5\%) had at least one risk factor for a potentially severe course of COVID-19 and 164 patients (25\%) were active smokers. The average 7-day incidence in Lower Franconia was 24.0/100,000 during the observation period. Preoperative PCR testing revealed four asymptomatic positive patients out of the 657 tested patients. No postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection or transmission could be detected. Conclusion The implementation of a standardized preoperative screening program to both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients can ensure high-quality surgical care while minimizing infection risk for healthcare workers and potential in-hospital transmission.}, language = {en} } @article{JanzZinkCirnuetal.2021, author = {Janz, Anna and Zink, Miriam and Cirnu, Alexandra and Hartleb, Annika and Albrecht, Christina and Rost, Simone and Klopocki, Eva and G{\"u}nther, Katharina and Edenhofer, Frank and Erg{\"u}n, S{\"u}leyman and Gerull, Brenda}, title = {CRISPR/Cas9-edited PKP2 knock-out (JMUi001-A-2) and DSG2 knock-out (JMUi001-A-3) iPSC lines as an isogenic human model system for arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM)}, series = {Stem Cell Research}, volume = {53}, journal = {Stem Cell Research}, doi = {10.1016/j.scr.2021.102256}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259846}, pages = {102256}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is characterized by fibro-fatty replacement of the myocardium, heart failure and life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Causal mutations were identified in genes encoding for proteins of the desmosomes, predominantly plakophilin-2 (PKP2) and desmoglein-2 (DSG2). We generated gene-edited knock-out iPSC lines for PKP2 (JMUi001-A-2) and DSG2 (JMUi001-A-3) using the CRISPR/Cas9 system in a healthy control iPSC background (JMUi001A). Stem cell-like morphology, robust expression of pluripotency markers, embryoid body formation and normal karyotypes confirmed the generation of high quality iPSCs to provide a novel isogenic human in vitro model system mimicking ACM when differentiated into cardiomyocytes.}, language = {en} } @article{GraserLiedtkeJakob2021, author = {Graser, Stephanie and Liedtke, Daniel and Jakob, Franz}, title = {TNAP as a new player in chronic inflammatory conditions and metabolism}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {22}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {2}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms22020919}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258888}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This review summarizes important information on the ectoenzyme tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) and gives a brief insight into the symptoms, diagnostics, and treatment of the rare disease Hypophosphatasia (HPP), which is resulting from mutations in the TNAP encoding ALPL gene. We emphasize the role of TNAP beyond its well-known contribution to mineralization processes. Therefore, above all, the impact of the enzyme on central molecular processes in the nervous system and on inflammation is presented here.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Klein2001, author = {Klein, Andreas}, title = {Der altersabh{\"a}ngige Verlust der Geschlechtschromosomen beim Menschen unter Einwirkung von 5-Azadeoxycytidin}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-32771}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-327714}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2001}, abstract = {Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht, ob mit zunehmendem Alter w{\"a}hrend der Mitose h{\"a}ufiger Geschlechtschromsomen verlorengehen. Die Beobachtungen erfolgten an Lymphozytenkulturen gesunder weiblicher und m{\"a}nnlicher Probanden aus drei verschiedenen Altersgruppen. Unter Zugabe von 5-Azadeoxycytidin, einem Nukleosidanalogon, ergab sich in den h{\"o}heren Altersgruppen ein verst{\"a}rktes Auftreten von Mikronuklei. Mikronuklei enthalten Chromosomen oder -bruchst{\"u}cke, die w{\"a}hrend der Mitose nicht in die Tochterzellkerne integriert wurden. Mittels in situ Hybridisierung konnte in den Mikronuklei der Frauen zu 5,5 Prozent ein X-Chromosom, bei den M{\"a}nnern mit 10,7 Prozent {\"u}berzuf{\"a}llig h{\"a}ufig ein Y-Chromosom nachgewiesen werden. Zwischen den einzelnen Altersstufen {\"a}nderte sich dieser Anteil nicht wesentlich. 5-Azadeoxycytidin wird als Nukleosidanalogon w{\"a}hrend der Replikation in die DNA eingebaut und verhindert die Methylierung des Tochterstrangs, da ein Kohlenstoffatom im Pyrimidinrings durch ein Stickstoffatom substituiert ist. Wahrscheinlich resultiert aus der Hyomethylierung eine falsche "Verpackung" des Gonosoms w{\"a}hrend der Mitose, dadurch erfolgt eine fehlerhafte Aufteilung des Chromosoms mit Bildung eines Mikronukleus.}, language = {de} } @article{LorenzKressZaumetal.2021, author = {Lorenz, Delia and Kress, Wolfram and Zaum, Ann-Kathrin and Speer, Christian P. and Hebestreit, Helge}, title = {Report of two siblings with spondylodysplastic Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and B4GALT7 deficiency}, series = {BMC Pediatrics}, volume = {21}, journal = {BMC Pediatrics}, doi = {10.1186/s12887-021-02767-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-261084}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background The spondylodysplastic Ehlers-Danlos subtype (OMIM \#130070) is a rare connective tissue disorder characterized by a combination of connective tissue symptoms, skeletal features and short stature. It is caused by variants in genes encoding for enzymes involved in the proteoglycan biosynthesis or for a zinc transporter. Presentation of cases We report two brothers with a similar phenotype of short stature, joint hypermobility, distinct craniofacial features, developmental delay and severe hypermetropia indicative for a spondylodysplastic Ehlers-Danlos subtype. One also suffered from a recurrent pneumothorax. Gene panel analysis identified two compound heterozygous variants in the B4GALT7 gene: c.641G > A and c.723 + 4A > G. B4GALT7 encodes for galactosyltransferase I, which is required for the initiation of glycosaminoglycan side chain synthesis of proteoglycans. Conclusions This is a first full report on two cases with spondylodysplastic Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and the c.723 + 4A > G variant of B4GALT7. The recurrent pneumothoraces observed in one case expand the variable phenotype of the syndrome.}, language = {en} } @article{VonaMaroofianBellacchioetal.2018, author = {Vona, Barbara and Maroofian, Reza and Bellacchio, Emanuele and Najafi, Maryam and Thompson, Kyle and Alahmad, Ahmad and He, Langping and Ahangari, Najmeh and Rad, Abolfazl and Shahrokhzadeh, Sima and Bahena, Paulina and Mittag, Falk and Traub, Frank and Movaffagh, Jebrail and Amiri, Nafise and Doosti, Mohammad and Boostani, Reza and Shirzadeh, Ebrahim and Haaf, Thomas and Diodato, Daria and Schmidts, Miriam and Taylor, Robert W. and Karimiani, Ehsan Ghayoor}, title = {Expanding the clinical phenotype of IARS2-related mitochondrial disease}, series = {BMC Medical Genetics}, volume = {19}, journal = {BMC Medical Genetics}, number = {196}, doi = {10.1186/s12881-018-0709-3}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-176620}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Background: IARS2 encodes a mitochondrial isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase, a highly conserved nuclear-encoded enzyme required for the charging of tRNAs with their cognate amino acid for translation. Recently, pathogenic IARS2 variants have been identified in a number of patients presenting broad clinical phenotypes with autosomal recessive inheritance. These phenotypes range from Leigh and West syndrome to a new syndrome abbreviated CAGSSS that is characterised by cataracts, growth hormone deficiency, sensory neuropathy, sensorineural hearing loss, and skeletal dysplasia, as well as cataract with no additional anomalies. Methods: Genomic DNA from Iranian probands from two families with consanguineous parental background and overlapping CAGSSS features were subjected to exome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Results: Exome sequencing and data analysis revealed a novel homozygous missense variant (c.2625C > T, p.Pro909Ser, NM_018060.3) within a 14.3 Mb run of homozygosity in proband 1 and a novel homozygous missense variant (c.2282A > G, p.His761Arg) residing in an ~ 8 Mb region of homozygosity in a proband of the second family. Patient-derived fibroblasts from proband 1 showed normal respiratory chain enzyme activity, as well as unchanged oxidative phosphorylation protein subunits and IARS2 levels. Homology modelling of the known and novel amino acid residue substitutions in IARS2 provided insight into the possible consequence of these variants on function and structure of the protein. Conclusions: This study further expands the phenotypic spectrum of IARS2 pathogenic variants to include two patients (patients 2 and 3) with cataract and skeletal dysplasia and no other features of CAGSSS to the possible presentation of the defects in IARS2. Additionally, this study suggests that adult patients with CAGSSS may manifest central adrenal insufficiency and type II esophageal achalasia and proposes that a variable sensorineural hearing loss onset, proportionate short stature, polyneuropathy, and mild dysmorphic features are possible, as seen in patient 1. Our findings support that even though biallelic IARS2 pathogenic variants can result in a distinctive, clinically recognisable phenotype in humans, it can also show a wide range of clinical presentation from severe pediatric neurological disorders of Leigh and West syndrome to both non-syndromic cataract and cataract accompanied by skeletal dysplasia.}, language = {en} } @article{OhlebuschBorstFrankenbachetal.2020, author = {Ohlebusch, Barbara and Borst, Angela and Frankenbach, Tina and Klopocki, Eva and Jakob, Franz and Liedtke, Daniel and Graser, Stephanie}, title = {Investigation of alpl expression and Tnap-activity in zebrafish implies conserved functions during skeletal and neuronal development}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {10}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-020-70152-5}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230024}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare genetic disease with diverse symptoms and a heterogeneous severity of onset with underlying mutations in the ALPL gene encoding the ectoenzyme Tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP). Considering the establishment of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a new model organism for HPP, the aim of the study was the spatial and temporal analysis of alpl expression in embryos and adult brains. Additionally, we determined functional consequences of Tnap inhibition on neural and skeletal development in zebrafish. We show that expression of alpl is present during embryonic stages and in adult neuronal tissues. Analyses of enzyme function reveal zones of pronounced Tnap-activity within the telencephalon and the mesencephalon. Treatment of zebrafish embryos with chemical Tnap inhibitors followed by axonal and cartilage/mineralized tissue staining imply functional consequences of Tnap deficiency on neuronal and skeletal development. Based on the results from neuronal and skeletal tissue analyses, which demonstrate an evolutionary conserved role of this enzyme, we consider zebrafish as a promising species for modeling HPP in order to discover new potential therapy strategies in the long-term.}, language = {en} } @article{MairBiskupKressetal.2020, author = {Mair, Dorothea and Biskup, Saskia and Kress, Wolfram and Abicht, Angela and Br{\"u}ck, Wolfgang and Zechel, Sabrina and Knop, Karl Christian and Koenig, Fatima Barbara and Tey, Shelisa and Nikolin, Stefan and Eggermann, Katja and Kurth, Ingo and Ferbert, Andreas and Weis, Joachim}, title = {Differential diagnosis of vacuolar myopathies in the NGS era}, series = {Brain Pathology}, volume = {30}, journal = {Brain Pathology}, number = {5}, doi = {10.1111/bpa.12864}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-216048}, pages = {877 -- 896}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Altered autophagy accompanied by abnormal autophagic (rimmed) vacuoles detectable by light and electron microscopy is a common denominator of many familial and sporadic non-inflammatory muscle diseases. Even in the era of next generation sequencing (NGS), late-onset vacuolar myopathies remain a diagnostic challenge. We identified 32 adult vacuolar myopathy patients from 30 unrelated families, studied their clinical, histopathological and ultrastructural characteristics and performed genetic testing in index patients and relatives using Sanger sequencing and NGS including whole exome sequencing (WES). We established a molecular genetic diagnosis in 17 patients. Pathogenic mutations were found in genes typically linked to vacuolar myopathy (GNE, LDB3/ZASP, MYOT, DES and GAA), but also in genes not regularly associated with severely altered autophagy (FKRP, DYSF, CAV3, COL6A2, GYG1 and TRIM32) and in the digenic facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy 2. Characteristic histopathological features including distinct patterns of myofibrillar disarray and evidence of exocytosis proved to be helpful to distinguish causes of vacuolar myopathies. Biopsy validated the pathogenicity of the novel mutations p.(Phe55*) and p.(Arg216*) in GYG1 and of the p.(Leu156Pro) TRIM32 mutation combined with compound heterozygous deletion of exon 2 of TRIM32 and expanded the phenotype of Ala93Thr-caveolinopathy and of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 2i caused by FKRP mutation. In 15 patients no causal variants were detected by Sanger sequencing and NGS panel analysis. In 12 of these cases, WES was performed, but did not yield any definite mutation or likely candidate gene. In one of these patients with a family history of muscle weakness, the vacuolar myopathy was eventually linked to chloroquine therapy. Our study illustrates the wide phenotypic and genotypic heterogeneity of vacuolar myopathies and validates the role of histopathology in assessing the pathogenicity of novel mutations detected by NGS. In a sizable portion of vacuolar myopathy cases, it remains to be shown whether the cause is hereditary or degenerative.}, language = {en} } @article{ZinkSeewaldRohrbachetal.2022, author = {Zink, Miriam and Seewald, Anne and Rohrbach, Mareike and Brodehl, Andreas and Liedtke, Daniel and Williams, Tatjana and Childs, Sarah J. and Gerull, Brenda}, title = {Altered expression of TMEM43 causes abnormal cardiac structure and function in zebrafish}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {23}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {17}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms23179530}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-286025}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is an inherited heart muscle disease caused by heterozygous missense mutations within the gene encoding for the nuclear envelope protein transmembrane protein 43 (TMEM43). The disease is characterized by myocyte loss and fibro-fatty replacement, leading to life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. However, the role of TMEM43 in the pathogenesis of ACM remains poorly understood. In this study, we generated cardiomyocyte-restricted transgenic zebrafish lines that overexpress eGFP-linked full-length human wild-type (WT) TMEM43 and two genetic variants (c.1073C>T, p.S358L; c.332C>T, p.P111L) using the Tol2-system. Overexpression of WT and p.P111L-mutant TMEM43 was associated with transcriptional activation of the mTOR pathway and ribosome biogenesis, and resulted in enlarged hearts with cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Intriguingly, mutant p.S358L TMEM43 was found to be unstable and partially redistributed into the cytoplasm in embryonic and adult hearts. Moreover, both TMEM43 variants displayed cardiac morphological defects at juvenile stages and ultrastructural changes within the myocardium, accompanied by dysregulated gene expression profiles in adulthood. Finally, CRISPR/Cas9 mutants demonstrated an age-dependent cardiac phenotype characterized by heart enlargement in adulthood. In conclusion, our findings suggest ultrastructural remodeling and transcriptomic alterations underlying the development of structural and functional cardiac defects in TMEM43-associated cardiomyopathy.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Klein2001, author = {Klein, Andreas}, title = {Der altersabh{\"a}ngige Verlust der Geschlechtschromosomen beim Menschen unter Einwirkung von 5-Azadeoxycytidin}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-1181416}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2001}, abstract = {Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht, ob mit zunehmendem Alter w{\"a}hrend der Mitose h{\"a}ufiger Geschlechtschromsomen verlorengehen. Die Beobachtungen erfolgten an Lymphozytenkulturen gesunder weiblicher und m{\"a}nnlicher Probanden aus drei verschiedenen Altersgruppen. Unter Zugabe von 5-Azadeoxycytidin, einem Nukleosidanalogon, ergab sich in den h{\"o}heren Altersgruppen ein verst{\"a}rktes Auftreten von Mikronuklei. Mikronuklei enthalten Chromosomen oder -bruchst{\"u}cke, die w{\"a}hrend der Mitose nicht in die Tochterzellkerne integriert wurden. Mittels in situ Hybridisierung konnte in den Mikronuklei der Frauen zu 5,5 Prozent ein X-Chromosom, bei den M{\"a}nnern mit 10,7 Prozent {\"u}berzuf{\"a}llig h{\"a}ufig ein Y-Chromosom nachgewiesen werden. Zwischen den einzelnen Altersstufen {\"a}nderte sich dieser Anteil nicht wesentlich. 5-Azadeoxycytidin wird als Nukleosidanalogon w{\"a}hrend der Replikation in die DNA eingebaut und verhindert die Methylierung des Tochterstrangs, da ein Kohlenstoffatom im Pyrimidinrings durch ein Stickstoffatom substituiert ist. Wahrscheinlich resultiert aus der Hyomethylierung eine falsche "Verpackung" des Gonosoms w{\"a}hrend der Mitose, dadurch erfolgt eine fehlerhafte Aufteilung des Chromosoms mit Bildung eines Mikronukleus.}, language = {de} } @book{Baierlein2005, author = {Baierlein, Jochen}, title = {Gesundheitsstatus und Gesundheitssystem in Deutschland und Ungarn : Ungarn auf dem Weg in die Europ{\"a}ische Union}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-15985}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2005}, abstract = {Es wurden Gesundheitsystem und der Gesundheitsstatus von Ungarn und Deutschland dargestellt. Eine kurze Abhandlung der EU-Osterweiterung sowie abschliessend eine Gegen{\"u}berstellung der System.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Riemens2023, author = {Riemens, Renzo J. M.}, title = {Neuroepigenomics in Alzheimer's disease: The single cell ADds}, isbn = {978-94-6423-524-1}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-25457}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-254574}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Die Forschung, die in dieser Arbeit zusammengestellt wird, kann in zwei Teile geteilt werden. Der erste Teil, bestehend aus vier Kapiteln, konzentriert sich auf die Rolle der epigenetischen Dysregulation in der {\"A}tiopathophysiologie der sporadischen Alzheimer-Krankheit (sAD). Neben Einblicken in die neuesten Entwicklungen in neuroepigenomischen Studien zu dieser Krankheit geht der erste Teil der Arbeit auch auf verbleibende Herausforderungen ein und gibt einen Ausblick auf m{\"o}gliche Entwicklungen auf diesem Gebiet. Der zweite Teil, der drei weitere Kapitel umfasst, konzentriert sich auf die Anwendung von auf induzierten pluripotenten Stammzellen (iPSC) basierenden Krankheitsmodellen f{\"u}r das Studium der AD, einschließlich, aber nicht beschr{\"a}nkt auf mechanistische Studien zur epigenetischen Dysregulation unter Verwendung dieser Plattform. Neben der Skizzierung der bisherigen Forschung mit iPSC-basierten Modellen f{\"u}r sAD gibt der zweite Teil der Arbeit auch Einblicke in die Gewinnung krankheitsrelevanter Nervenkulturen auf Basis der gezielten Differenzierung von iPSCs und beinhaltet dar{\"u}ber hinaus einen experimentellen Ansatz f{\"u}r den Aufbau eines solchen Modellsystems.}, subject = {Epigenetik}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Doll2024, author = {Doll, Julia}, title = {Identifizierung und Charakterisierung neuer, mit H{\"o}rst{\"o}rungen assoziierter Gene und Varianten mittels Exom-Sequenzierung}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-26109}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-261097}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Laut des aktuellen Reports der Weltgesundheitsorganisation sind ca. 466 Millionen Menschen weltweit von einer H{\"o}rst{\"o}rung (HS) betroffen. Durch die enorme Heterogenit{\"a}t und die klinische Variabilit{\"a}t, die diese Erkrankung ausmacht, und viele bisher nicht mit HS assoziierte Gene, bleibt ein großer Teil der erblich bedingten HS in vielen Familien unaufgekl{\"a}rt. Die Entwicklung moderner Techniken, wie die Next-Generation Sequenzierung (NGS) und der Fortschritt bei der Untersuchung von Modellorganismen trugen jedoch in den letzten Jahren immens dazu bei, neue Gene zu identifizieren, die innerhalb des auditorischen Signalwegs oder damit assoziierten Strukturen beteiligt sind. Die vorliegende Arbeit umfasst Ergebnisse dreier Ver{\"o}ffentlichungen, in denen iranische und pakistanische Familien und eine deutsche Familie mit erblich bedingter HS untersucht und neue, krankheitsverursachende Varianten identifiziert und funktionell charakterisiert wurden. Im ersten Abschnitt konnten zwei neue rezessive Varianten im CDC14A-Gen als krankheitsverursachend identifiziert werden, die zu einem potentiellen Funktionsverlust des kodierten Proteins in einer iranischen und einer pakistanischen Familie f{\"u}hren. Mit Hilfe einer funktionellen Charakterisierung auf RNA-Ebene (Spleiß-Assay und RT-qPCR) konnte der Funktionsverlust beider Varianten best{\"a}tigt werden. Der zweite Abschnitt umfasst eine deutsche Familie mit sieben von einer HS betroffenen Familienmitgliedern, in der eine heterozygote missense Variante in MYO3A identifiziert wurde. In der vorliegenden Arbeit konnte somit die erste autosomal dominante Variante in einer europ{\"a}ischen Familie mit einer bilingualen, sensorineuralen Hochtonschwerh{\"o}rigkeit beschrieben werden und der dominante Charakter von MYO3A best{\"a}tigt werden. Im dritten Abschnitt konnten die krankheitsverursachenden Varianten in 13 Familien aus einer Kohorte mit 21 pakistanischen Familien mit einer syndromalen und nicht-syndromalen HS ausfindig gemacht werden. Hierbei wurden sowohl bekannte, als auch bisher nicht beschriebene Varianten detektiert. Die Aufkl{\"a}rungsrate innerhalb dieser Kohorte betrug 61,9\% und es konnte somit das Spektrum syndromaler und nicht-syndromaler HS erweitert werden. Der letzte Abschnitt dieser Arbeit beschreibt eine iranische Familie mit einer milden HS und milden Intelligenzminderung, in der eine homozygote missense Variante im Kandidatengen DBN1 ausfindig gemacht wurde. Um die Funktion und die Auswirkungen eines potentiellen Verlusts des codierten Proteins Drebrin zu untersuchen, wurden immunhistochemische F{\"a}rbungen und auditorische Messungen an Dbn1 Knockout (KO)-M{\"a}usen durchgef{\"u}hrt. Hierbei konnte eine Expression innerhalb der Nervenfasern, die innere Haarzellen innervieren, nachgewiesen werden. Eine leicht verl{\"a}ngerte Latenz f{\"u}r die ABR-Welle IV in KO-M{\"a}usen im Vergleich zum Wildtyp ergab den Hinweis auf einen Defekt innerhalb des zentralen auditorischen Signalwegs, der m{\"o}glicherweise mit einer Sprachverarbeitungsst{\"o}rung im Menschen korreliert.}, subject = {H{\"o}rst{\"o}rung}, language = {de} } @article{LutherBrandtVylkovaetal.2023, author = {Luther, Christian H. and Brandt, Philipp and Vylkova, Slavena and Dandekar, Thomas and M{\"u}ller, Tobias and Dittrich, Marcus}, title = {Integrated analysis of SR-like protein kinases Sky1 and Sky2 links signaling networks with transcriptional regulation in Candida albicans}, series = {Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology}, issn = {2235-2988}, doi = {10.3389/fcimb.2023.1108235}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-311771}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Fungal infections are a major global health burden where Candida albicans is among the most common fungal pathogen in humans and is a common cause of invasive candidiasis. Fungal phenotypes, such as those related to morphology, proliferation and virulence are mainly driven by gene expression, which is primarily regulated by kinase signaling cascades. Serine-arginine (SR) protein kinases are highly conserved among eukaryotes and are involved in major transcriptional processes in human and S. cerevisiae. Candida albicans harbors two SR protein kinases, while Sky2 is important for metabolic adaptation, Sky1 has similar functions as in S. cerevisiae. To investigate the role of these SR kinases for the regulation of transcriptional responses in C. albicans, we performed RNA sequencing of sky1Δ and sky2Δ and integrated a comprehensive phosphoproteome dataset of these mutants. Using a Systems Biology approach, we study transcriptional regulation in the context of kinase signaling networks. Transcriptomic enrichment analysis indicates that pathways involved in the regulation of gene expression are downregulated and mitochondrial processes are upregulated in sky1Δ. In sky2Δ, primarily metabolic processes are affected, especially for arginine, and we observed that arginine-induced hyphae formation is impaired in sky2Δ. In addition, our analysis identifies several transcription factors as potential drivers of the transcriptional response. Among these, a core set is shared between both kinase knockouts, but it appears to regulate different subsets of target genes. To elucidate these diverse regulatory patterns, we created network modules by integrating the data of site-specific protein phosphorylation and gene expression with kinase-substrate predictions and protein-protein interactions. These integrated signaling modules reveal shared parts but also highlight specific patterns characteristic for each kinase. Interestingly, the modules contain many proteins involved in fungal morphogenesis and stress response. Accordingly, experimental phenotyping shows a higher resistance to Hygromycin B for sky1Δ. Thus, our study demonstrates that a combination of computational approaches with integration of experimental data can offer a new systems biological perspective on the complex network of signaling and transcription. With that, the investigation of the interface between signaling and transcriptional regulation in C. albicans provides a deeper insight into how cellular mechanisms can shape the phenotype.}, language = {en} } @article{VonaNandaShehataDieleretal.2017, author = {Vona, Barbara and Nanda, Indrajit and Shehata-Dieler, Wafaa and Haaf, Thomas}, title = {Genetics of Tinnitus: Still in its Infancy}, series = {Frontiers in Neuroscience}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Neuroscience}, number = {236}, doi = {10.3389/fnins.2017.00236}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170926}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Tinnitus is the perception of a phantom sound that affects between 10 and 15\% of the general population. Despite this considerable prevalence, treatments for tinnitus are presently lacking. Tinnitus exhibits a diverse array of recognized risk factors and extreme clinical heterogeneity. Furthermore, it can involve an unknown number of auditory and non-auditory networks and molecular pathways. This complex combination has hampered advancements in the field. The identification of specific genetic factors has been at the forefront of several research investigations in the past decade. Nine studies have examined genes in a case-control association approach. Recently, a genome-wide association study has highlighted several potentially significant pathways that are implicated in tinnitus. Two twin studies have calculated a moderate heritability for tinnitus and disclosed a greater concordance rate in monozygotic twins compared to dizygotic twins. Despite the more recent data alluding to genetic factors in tinnitus, a strong association with any specific genetic locus is lacking and a genetic study with sufficient statistical power has yet to be designed. Future research endeavors must overcome the many inherent limitations in previous study designs. This review summarizes the previously embarked upon tinnitus genetic investigations and summarizes the hurdles that have been encountered. The identification of candidate genes responsible for tinnitus may afford gene based diagnostic approaches, effective therapy development, and personalized therapeutic intervention.}, language = {en} } @article{VitaleZoellerJanschetal.2021, author = {Vitale, Maria Rosaria and Z{\"o}ller, Johanna Eva Maria and Jansch, Charline and Janz, Anna and Edenhofer, Frank and Klopocki, Eva and van den Hove, Daniel and Vanmierlo, Tim and Rivero, Olga and Kasri, Nael Nadif and Ziegler, Georg Christoph and Lesch, Klaus-Peter}, title = {Generation of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines carrying a heterozygous (UKWMPi002-A-1) and null mutant knockout (UKWMPi002-A-2) of Cadherin 13 associated with neurodevelopmental disorders using CRISPR/Cas9}, series = {Stem Cell Research}, volume = {51}, journal = {Stem Cell Research}, doi = {10.1016/j.scr.2021.102169}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-260331}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Fibroblasts isolated from a skin biopsy of a healthy 46-year-old female were infected with Sendai virus containing the Yamanaka factors to produce transgene-free human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). CRISPR/Cas9 was used to generate isogenic cell lines with a gene dose-dependent deficiency of CDH13, a risk gene associated with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Thereby, a heterozygous CDH13 knockout (CDH13\(^{+/-}\)) and a CDH13 null mutant (CDH13\(^{-/-}\)) iPSC line was obtained. All three lines showed expression of pluripotency-associated markers, the ability to differentiate into cells of the three germ layers in vitro, and a normal female karyotype.}, language = {en} } @article{KoelbelRoosvanderVenetal.2020, author = {K{\"o}lbel, Heike and Roos, Andreas and van der Ven, Peter F. M. and Evangelista, Teresinha and Nolte, Kay and Johnson, Katherine and T{\"o}pf, Ana and Wilson, Michael and Kress, Wolfram and Sickmann, Albert and Straub, Volker and Kollipara, Laxmikanth and Weis, Joachim and F{\"u}rst, Dieter O. and Schara, Ulrike}, title = {First clinical and myopathological description of a myofibrillar myopathy with congenital onset and homozygous mutation in FLNC}, series = {Human Mutation}, volume = {41}, journal = {Human Mutation}, number = {9}, doi = {10.1002/humu.24062}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215481}, pages = {1600 -- 1614}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Filamin C (encoded by the FLNC gene) is a large actin-cross-linking protein involved in shaping the actin cytoskeleton in response to signaling events both at the sarcolemma and at myofibrillar Z-discs of cross-striated muscle cells. Multiple mutations in FLNC are associated with myofibrillar myopathies of autosomal-dominant inheritance. Here, we describe for the first time a boy with congenital onset of generalized muscular hypotonia and muscular weakness, delayed motor development but no cardiac involvement associated with a homozygous FLNC mutation c.1325C>G (p.Pro442Arg). We performed ultramorphological, proteomic, and functional investigations as well as immunological studies of known marker proteins for dominant filaminopathies. We show that the mutant protein is expressed in similar quantities as the wild-type variant in control skeletal muscle fibers. The proteomic signature of quadriceps muscle is altered and ultrastructural perturbations are evident. Moreover, filaminopathy marker proteins are comparable both in our homozygous and a dominant control case (c.5161delG). Biochemical investigations demonstrate that the recombinant mutant protein is less stable and more prone to degradation by proteolytic enzymes than the wild-type variant. The unusual congenital presentation of the disease clearly demonstrates that homozygosity for mutations in FLNC severely aggravates the phenotype.}, language = {en} } @article{WeissbachHerediaGuerreroBarnsteineretal.2020, author = {Weißbach, Susann and Heredia-Guerrero, Sofia Catalina and Barnsteiner, Stefanie and Großhans, Lukas and Bodem, Jochen and Starz, Hanna and Langer, Christian and Appenzeller, Silke and Knop, Stefan and Steinbrunn, Torsten and Rost, Simone and Einsele, Hermann and Bargou, Ralf Christian and Rosenwald, Andreas and St{\"u}hmer, Thorsten and Leich, Ellen}, title = {Exon-4 Mutations in KRAS Affect MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT Signaling in Human Multiple Myeloma Cell Lines}, series = {Cancers}, volume = {12}, journal = {Cancers}, number = {2}, issn = {2072-6694}, doi = {10.3390/cancers12020455}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200617}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Approximately 20\% of multiple myeloma (MM) cases harbor a point mutation in KRAS. However, there is still no final consent on whether KRAS-mutations are associated with disease outcome. Specifically, no data exist on whether KRAS-mutations have an impact on survival of MM patients at diagnosis in the era of novel agents. Direct blockade of KRAS for therapeutic purposes is mostly impossible, but recently a mutation-specific covalent inhibitor targeting KRAS\(^{p.G12C}\) entered into clinical trials. However, other KRAS hotspot-mutations exist in MM patients, including the less common exon-4 mutations. For the current study, the coding regions of KRAS were deep-sequenced in 80 newly diagnosed MM patients, uniformely treated with three cycles of bortezomib plus dexamethasone and cyclophosphamide (VCD)-induction, followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation. Moreover, the functional impact of KRAS\(^{p.G12A}\) and the exon-4 mutations p.A146T and p.A146V on different survival pathways was investigated. Specifically, KRAS\(^{WT}\), KRAS\(^{p.G12A}\), KRAS\(^{p.A146T}\), and KRAS\(^{p.A146V}\) were overexpressed in HEK293 cells and the KRAS\(^{WT}\) MM cell lines JJN3 and OPM2 using lentiviral transduction and the Sleeping Beauty vector system. Even though KRAS-mutations were not correlated with survival, all KRAS-mutants were found capable of potentially activating MEK/ERK- and sustaining PI3K/AKT-signaling in MM cells.}, language = {en} } @article{RickmanLachAbhyankaretal.2015, author = {Rickman, Kimberly A. and Lach, Francis P. and Abhyankar, Avinash and Donovan, Frank X. and Sanborn, Erica M. and Kennedy, Jennifer A. and Sougnez, Carrie and Gabriel, Stacey B. and Elemento, Olivier and Chandrasekharappa, Settara C. and Schindler, Detlev and Auerbach, Arleen D. and Smogorzewska, Agata}, title = {Deficiency of UBE2T, the E2 Ubiquitin Ligase Necessary for FANCD2 and FANCI Ubiquitination, Causes FA-T Subtype of Fanconi Anemia}, series = {Cell Reports}, volume = {12}, journal = {Cell Reports}, doi = {10.1016/j.celrep.2015.06.014}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-151525}, pages = {35 -- 41}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare bone marrow failure and cancer predisposition syndrome resulting from pathogenic mutations in genes encoding proteins participating in the repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs). Mutations in 17 genes (FANCA-FANCS) have been identified in FA patients, defining 17 complementation groups. Here, we describe an individual presenting with typical FA features who is deficient for the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2), UBE2T. UBE2T is known to interact with FANCL, the E3 ubiquitin-ligase component of the multiprotein FA core complex, and is necessary for the monoubiquitination of FANCD2 and FANCI. Proband fibroblasts do not display FANCD2 and FANCI monoubiquitination, do not form FANCD2 foci following treatment with mitomycin C, and are hypersensitive to crosslinking agents. These cellular defects are complemented by expression of wild-type UBE2T, demonstrating that deficiency of the protein UBE2T can lead to Fanconi anemia. UBE2T gene gains an alias of FANCT.}, language = {en} } @article{UrbanRemmeleDittrichetal.2020, author = {Urban, Lara and Remmele, Christian W. and Dittrich, Marcus and Schwarz, Roland F. and M{\"u}ller, Tobias}, title = {covRNA: discovering covariate associations in large-scale gene expression data}, series = {BMC Reserach Notes}, volume = {13}, journal = {BMC Reserach Notes}, doi = {10.1186/s13104-020-04946-1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229258}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Objective The biological interpretation of gene expression measurements is a challenging task. While ordination methods are routinely used to identify clusters of samples or co-expressed genes, these methods do not take sample or gene annotations into account. We aim to provide a tool that allows users of all backgrounds to assess and visualize the intrinsic correlation structure of complex annotated gene expression data and discover the covariates that jointly affect expression patterns. Results The Bioconductor package covRNA provides a convenient and fast interface for testing and visualizing complex relationships between sample and gene covariates mediated by gene expression data in an entirely unsupervised setting. The relationships between sample and gene covariates are tested by statistical permutation tests and visualized by ordination. The methods are inspired by the fourthcorner and RLQ analyses used in ecological research for the analysis of species abundance data, that we modified to make them suitable for the distributional characteristics of both, RNA-Seq read counts and microarray intensities, and to provide a high-performance parallelized implementation for the analysis of large-scale gene expression data on multi-core computational systems. CovRNA provides additional modules for unsupervised gene filtering and plotting functions to ensure a smooth and coherent analysis workflow.}, language = {en} } @article{VonaHofrichterSchroederetal.2018, author = {Vona, Barbara and Hofrichter, Michaela A. H. and Schr{\"o}der, J{\"o}rg and Shehata-Dieler, Wafaa and Nanda, Indrajit and Haaf, Thomas}, title = {Hereditary hearing loss SNP-microarray pilot study}, series = {BMC Research Notes}, volume = {11}, journal = {BMC Research Notes}, number = {391}, doi = {10.1186/s13104-018-3466-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-176239}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Objectives: Despite recent advancements in diagnostic tools, the genomic landscape of hereditary hearing loss remains largely uncharacterized. One strategy to understand genome-wide aberrations includes the analysis of copy number variation that can be mapped using SNP-microarray technology. A growing collection of literature has begun to uncover the importance of copy number variation in hereditary hearing loss. This pilot study underpins a larger effort that involves the stage-wise analysis of hearing loss patients, many of whom have advanced to high-throughput sequencing analysis. Data description: Our data originate from the Infinium HumanOmni1-Quad v1.0 SNP-microarrays (Illumina) that provide useful markers for genome-wide association studies and copy number variation analysis. This dataset comprises a cohort of 108 individuals (99 with hearing loss, 9 normal hearing family members) for the purpose of understanding the genetic contribution of copy number variations to hereditary hearing loss. These anonymized SNP-microarray data have been uploaded to the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus and are intended to benefit other investigators interested in aggregating platform-matched array patient datasets or as part of a supporting reference tool for other laboratories to better understand recurring copy number variations in other genetic disorders.}, language = {en} } @article{ZieglerRadtkeVitaleetal.2021, author = {Ziegler, Georg C. and Radtke, Franziska and Vitale, Maria Rosaria and Preuße, Andr{\´e} and Klopocki, Eva and Herms, Stefan and Lesch, Klaus-Peter}, title = {Generation of multiple human iPSC lines from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of two SLC2A3 deletion and two SLC2A3 duplication carriers}, series = {Stem Cell Research}, volume = {56}, journal = {Stem Cell Research}, doi = {10.1016/j.scr.2021.102526}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-264696}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Copy number variants of SLC2A3, which encodes the glucose transporter GLUT3, are associated with several neuropsychiatric and cardiac diseases. Here, we report the successful reprogramming of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from two SLC2A3 duplication and two SLC2A3 deletion carriers and subsequent generation of two transgene-free iPSC clones per donor by Sendai viral transduction. All eight clones represent bona fide hiPSCs with high expression of pluripotency genes, ability to differentiate into cells of all three germ layers and normal karyotype. The generated cell lines will be helpful to enlighten the role of glucometabolic alterations in pathophysiological processes shared across organ boundaries.}, language = {en} } @article{PrelogHilligardtSchmidtetal.2016, author = {Prelog, Martina and Hilligardt, Deborah and Schmidt, Christian A. and Przybylski, Grzegorz K. and Leierer, Johannes and Almanzar, Giovanni and El Hajj, Nady and Lesch, Klaus-Peter and Arolt, Volker and Zwanzger, Peter and Haaf, Thomas and Domschke, Katharina}, title = {Hypermethylation of FOXP3 Promoter and Premature Aging of the Immune System in Female Patients with Panic Disorder?}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {11}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {6}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0157930}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-179684}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Immunological abnormalities associated with pathological conditions, such as higher infection rates, inflammatory diseases, cancer or cardiovascular events are common in patients with panic disorder. In the present study, T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs), Forkhead-Box-Protein P3 gene (FOXP3) methylation of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and relative telomere lengths (RTLs) were investigated in a total and subsamples of 131 patients with panic disorder as compared to 131 age- and sex-matched healthy controls in order to test for a potential dysfunction and premature aging of the immune system in anxiety disorders. Significantly lower TRECs (p = 0.004) as well as significant hypermethylation of the FOXP3 promoter region (p = 0.005) were observed in female (but not in male) patients with panic disorder as compared to healthy controls. No difference in relative telomere length was discerned between patients and controls, but significantly shorter telomeres in females, smokers and older persons within the patient group. The presently observed reduced TRECs in panic disorder patients and FOXP3 hypermethylation in female patients with panic disorder potentially reflect impaired thymus and immunosuppressive Treg function, which might partly account for the known increased morbidity and mortality of anxiety disorders conferred by e.g. cancer and cardiovascular disorders.}, language = {en} } @article{BauerMallyLiedtke2021, author = {Bauer, Benedikt and Mally, Angela and Liedtke, Daniel}, title = {Zebrafish embryos and larvae as alternative animal models for toxicity testing}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {22}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {24}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms222413417}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284225}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Prerequisite to any biological laboratory assay employing living animals is consideration about its necessity, feasibility, ethics and the potential harm caused during an experiment. The imperative of these thoughts has led to the formulation of the 3R-principle, which today is a pivotal scientific standard of animal experimentation worldwide. The rising amount of laboratory investigations utilizing living animals throughout the last decades, either for regulatory concerns or for basic science, demands the development of alternative methods in accordance with 3R to help reduce experiments in mammals. This demand has resulted in investigation of additional vertebrate species displaying favourable biological properties. One prominent species among these is the zebrafish (Danio rerio), as these small laboratory ray-finned fish are well established in science today and feature outstanding biological characteristics. In this review, we highlight the advantages and general prerequisites of zebrafish embryos and larvae before free-feeding stages for toxicological testing, with a particular focus on cardio-, neuro, hepato- and nephrotoxicity. Furthermore, we discuss toxicokinetics, current advances in utilizing zebrafish for organ toxicity testing and highlight how advanced laboratory methods (such as automation, advanced imaging and genetic techniques) can refine future toxicological studies in this species.}, language = {en} } @article{DollVonaSchnappetal.2020, author = {Doll, Julia and Vona, Barbara and Schnapp, Linda and R{\"u}schendorf, Franz and Khan, Imran and Khan, Saadullah and Muhammad, Noor and Alam Khan, Sher and Nawaz, Hamed and Khan, Ajmal and Ahmad, Naseer and Kolb, Susanne M. and K{\"u}hlewein, Laura and Labonne, Jonathan D. J. and Layman, Lawrence C. and Hofrichter, Michaela A. H. and R{\"o}der, Tabea and Dittrich, Marcus and M{\"u}ller, Tobias and Graves, Tyler D. and Kong, Il-Keun and Nanda, Indrajit and Kim, Hyung-Goo and Haaf, Thomas}, title = {Genetic Spectrum of Syndromic and Non-Syndromic Hearing Loss in Pakistani Families}, series = {Genes}, volume = {11}, journal = {Genes}, number = {11}, issn = {2073-4425}, doi = {10.3390/genes11111329}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219293}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The current molecular genetic diagnostic rates for hereditary hearing loss (HL) vary considerably according to the population background. Pakistan and other countries with high rates of consanguineous marriages have served as a unique resource for studying rare and novel forms of recessive HL. A combined exome sequencing, bioinformatics analysis, and gene mapping approach for 21 consanguineous Pakistani families revealed 13 pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in the genes GJB2, MYO7A, FGF3, CDC14A, SLITRK6, CDH23, and MYO15A, with an overall resolve rate of 61.9\%. GJB2 and MYO7A were the most frequently involved genes in this cohort. All the identified variants were either homozygous or compound heterozygous, with two of them not previously described in the literature (15.4\%). Overall, seven missense variants (53.8\%), three nonsense variants (23.1\%), two frameshift variants (15.4\%), and one splice-site variant (7.7\%) were observed. Syndromic HL was identified in five (23.8\%) of the 21 families studied. This study reflects the extreme genetic heterogeneity observed in HL and expands the spectrum of variants in deafness-associated genes.}, language = {en} } @article{DumontWeberLassalleJolyBeauparlantetal.2022, author = {Dumont, Martine and Weber-Lassalle, Nana and Joly-Beauparlant, Charles and Ernst, Corinna and Droit, Arnaud and Feng, Bing-Jian and Dubois, St{\´e}phane and Collin-Deschesnes, Annie-Claude and Soucy, Penny and Vall{\´e}e, Maxime and Fournier, Fr{\´e}d{\´e}ric and Lema{\c{c}}on, Audrey and Adank, Muriel A. and Allen, Jamie and Altm{\"u}ller, Janine and Arnold, Norbert and Ausems, Margreet G. E. M. and Berutti, Riccardo and Bolla, Manjeet K. and Bull, Shelley and Carvalho, Sara and Cornelissen, Sten and Dufault, Michael R. and Dunning, Alison M. and Engel, Christoph and Gehrig, Andrea and Geurts-Giele, Willemina R. R. and Gieger, Christian and Green, Jessica and Hackmann, Karl and Helmy, Mohamed and Hentschel, Julia and Hogervorst, Frans B. L. and Hollestelle, Antoinette and Hooning, Maartje J. and Horv{\´a}th, Judit and Ikram, M. Arfan and Kaulfuß, Silke and Keeman, Renske and Kuang, Da and Luccarini, Craig and Maier, Wolfgang and Martens, John W. M. and Niederacher, Dieter and N{\"u}rnberg, Peter and Ott, Claus-Eric and Peters, Annette and Pharoah, Paul D. P. and Ramirez, Alfredo and Ramser, Juliane and Riedel-Heller, Steffi and Schmidt, Gunnar and Shah, Mitul and Scherer, Martin and St{\"a}bler, Antje and Strom, Tim M. and Sutter, Christian and Thiele, Holger and van Asperen, Christi J. and van der Kolk, Lizet and van der Luijt, Rob B. and Volk, Alexander E. and Wagner, Michael and Waisfisz, Quinten and Wang, Qin and Wang-Gohrke, Shan and Weber, Bernhard H. F. and Devilee, Peter and Tavtigian, Sean and Bader, Gary D. and Meindl, Alfons and Goldgar, David E. and Andrulis, Irene L. and Schmutzler, Rita K. and Easton, Douglas F. and Schmidt, Marjanka K. and Hahnen, Eric and Simard, Jacques}, title = {Uncovering the contribution of moderate-penetrance susceptibility genes to breast cancer by whole-exome sequencing and targeted enrichment sequencing of candidate genes in women of European ancestry}, series = {Cancers}, volume = {14}, journal = {Cancers}, number = {14}, issn = {2072-6694}, doi = {10.3390/cancers14143363}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281768}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Rare variants in at least 10 genes, including BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, and CHEK2, are associated with increased risk of breast cancer; however, these variants, in combination with common variants identified through genome-wide association studies, explain only a fraction of the familial aggregation of the disease. To identify further susceptibility genes, we performed a two-stage whole-exome sequencing study. In the discovery stage, samples from 1528 breast cancer cases enriched for breast cancer susceptibility and 3733 geographically matched unaffected controls were sequenced. Using five different filtering and gene prioritization strategies, 198 genes were selected for further validation. These genes, and a panel of 32 known or suspected breast cancer susceptibility genes, were assessed in a validation set of 6211 cases and 6019 controls for their association with risk of breast cancer overall, and by estrogen receptor (ER) disease subtypes, using gene burden tests applied to loss-of-function and rare missense variants. Twenty genes showed nominal evidence of association (p-value < 0.05) with either overall or subtype-specific breast cancer. Our study had the statistical power to detect susceptibility genes with effect sizes similar to ATM, CHEK2, and PALB2, however, it was underpowered to identify genes in which susceptibility variants are rarer or confer smaller effect sizes. Larger sample sizes would be required in order to identify such genes.}, language = {en} } @article{EngelRhiemHahnenetal.2018, author = {Engel, Christoph and Rhiem, Kerstin and Hahnen, Eric and Loibl, Sibylle and Weber, Karsten E. and Seiler, Sabine and Zachariae, Silke and Hauke, Jan and Wappenschmidt, Barbara and Waha, Anke and Bl{\"u}mcke, Britta and Kiechle, Marion and Meindl, Alfons and Niederacher, Dieter and Bartram, Claus R. and Speiser, Dorothee and Schlegelberger, Brigitte and Arnold, Norbert and Wieacker, Peter and Leinert, Elena and Gehrig, Andrea and Briest, Susanne and Kast, Karin and Riess, Olaf and Emons, G{\"u}nter and Weber, Bernhard H. F. and Engel, Jutta and Schmutzler, Rita K.}, title = {Prevalence of pathogenic BRCA1/2 germline mutations among 802 women with unilateral triple-negative breast cancer without family cancer history}, series = {BMC Cancer}, volume = {18}, journal = {BMC Cancer}, organization = {German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (GC-HBOC)}, doi = {10.1186/s12885-018-4029-y}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-226763}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Background There is no international consensus up to which age women with a diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and no family history of breast or ovarian cancer should be offered genetic testing for germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 (gBRCA) mutations. Here, we explored the association of age at TNBC diagnosis with the prevalence of pathogenic gBRCA mutations in this patient group. Methods The study comprised 802 women (median age 40 years, range 19-76) with oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 negative breast cancers, who had no relatives with breast or ovarian cancer. All women were tested for pathogenic gBRCA mutations. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between age at TNBC diagnosis and the presence of a pathogenic gBRCA mutation. Results A total of 127 women with TNBC(15.8\%) were gBRCA mutation carriers (BRCA1: n = 118, 14.7\%; BRCA2: n = 9, 1. 1\%). The mutation prevalence was 32.9\% in the age group 20-29 years compared to 6.9\% in the age group 60-69 years. Logistic regression analysis revealed a significant increase of mutation frequency with decreasing age at diagnosis (odds ratio 1.87 per 10 year decrease, 95\% CI 1.50-2.32, p < 0.001). gBRCA mutation risk was predicted to be > 10\% for women diagnosed below approximately 50 years. Conclusions Based on the general understanding that a heterozygous mutation probability of 10\% or greater justifies gBRCA mutation screening, women with TNBC diagnosed before the age of 50 years and no familial history of breast and ovarian cancer should be tested for gBRCA mutations. In Germany, this would concern approximately 880 women with newly diagnosed TNBC per year, of whom approximately 150 are expected to be identified as carriers of a pathogenic gBRCA mutation.}, language = {en} } @article{SathyanarayanaLeeWrightetal.2018, author = {Sathyanarayana, Vijaya and Lee, Beth and Wright, Neville B. and Santos, Rui and Bonney, Denise and Wynn, Robert and Patel, Leena and Chandler, Kate and Cheesman, Ed and Schindler, Detlev and Webb, Nicholas J. A. and Meyer, Stefan}, title = {Patterns and frequency of renal abnormalities in Fanconi anaemia: implications for long-term management}, series = {Pediatric Nephrology}, volume = {33}, journal = {Pediatric Nephrology}, number = {9}, doi = {10.1007/s00467-018-3952-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-227400}, pages = {1547-1551}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Fanconi anaemia (FA) is an inherited disease with bone marrow failure, variable congenital and developmental abnormalities, and cancer predisposition. With improved survival, non-haematological manifestations of FA become increasingly important for long-term management. While renal abnormalities are recognized, detailed data on patterns and frequency and implications for long-term management are sparse. We reviewed clinical course and imaging findings of FA patients with respect to renal complications in our centre over a 25-year period to formulate some practical suggestions for guidelines for management of renal problems associated with FA. Thirty patients including four sibling sets were reviewed. On imaging, 14 had evidence of anatomical abnormalities of the kidneys. Two cases with severe phenotype, including renal abnormalities, had chronic kidney disease (CKD) at diagnosis. Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation was complicated by significant acute kidney injury (AKI) in three cases. In three patients, there was CKD at long-term follow-up. All patients had normal blood pressure. Evaluation of renal anatomy with ultrasound imaging is important at diagnostic workup of FA. While CKD is uncommon at diagnosis, our data suggests that the incidence of CKD increases with age, in particular after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Monitoring of renal function is essential for management of FA. Based on these long-term clinical observations, we formulate some practical guidelines for assessment and management of renal abnormalities in FA.}, language = {en} } @article{WeberLassalleHaukeRamseretal.2018, author = {Weber-Lassalle, Nana and Hauke, Jan and Ramser, Juliane and Richters, Lisa and Groß, Eva and Bl{\"u}mcke, Britta and Gehrig, Andrea and Kahlert, Anne-Karin and M{\"u}ller, Clemens R. and Hackmann, Karl and Honisch, Ellen and Weber-Lassalle, Konstantin and Niederacher, Dieter and Borde, Julika and Thiele, Holger and Ernst, Corinna and Altm{\"u}ller, Janine and Neidhardt, Guido and N{\"u}rnberg, Peter and Klaschik, Kristina and Schroeder, Christopher and Platzer, Konrad and Volk, Alexander E. and Wang-Gohrke, Shan and Just, Walter and Auber, Bernd and Kubisch, Christian and Schmidt, Gunnar and Horvath, Judit and Wappenschmidt, Barbara and Engel, Christoph and Arnold, Norbert and Dworniczak, Bernd and Rhiem, Kerstin and Meindl, Alfons and Schmutzler, Rita K. and Hahnen, Eric}, title = {BRIP1 loss-of-function mutations confer high risk for familial ovarian cancer, but not familial breast cancer}, series = {Breast Cancer Research}, volume = {20}, journal = {Breast Cancer Research}, doi = {10.1186/s13058-018-0935-9}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-233433}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Background Germline mutations in the BRIP1 gene have been described as conferring a moderate risk for ovarian cancer (OC), while the role of BRIP1 in breast cancer (BC) pathogenesis remains controversial. Methods To assess the role of deleterious BRIP1 germline mutations in BC/OC predisposition, 6341 well-characterized index patients with BC, 706 index patients with OC, and 2189 geographically matched female controls were screened for loss-of-function (LoF) mutations and potentially damaging missense variants. All index patients met the inclusion criteria of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer for germline testing and tested negative for pathogenic BRCA1/2 variants. Results BRIP1 LoF mutations confer a high OC risk in familial index patients (odds ratio (OR) = 20.97, 95\% confidence interval (CI) = 12.02-36.57, P < 0.0001) and in the subgroup of index patients with late-onset OC (OR = 29.91, 95\% CI = 14.99-59.66, P < 0.0001). No significant association of BRIP1 LoF mutations with familial BC was observed (OR = 1.81 95\% CI = 1.00-3.30, P = 0.0623). In the subgroup of familial BC index patients without a family history of OC there was also no apparent association (OR = 1.42, 95\% CI = 0.70-2.90, P = 0.3030). In 1027 familial BC index patients with a family history of OC, the BRIP1 mutation prevalence was significantly higher than that observed in controls (OR = 3.59, 95\% CI = 1.43-9.01; P = 0.0168). Based on the negative association between BRIP1 LoF mutations and familial BC in the absence of an OC family history, we conclude that the elevated mutation prevalence in the latter cohort was driven by the occurrence of OC in these families. Compared with controls, predicted damaging rare missense variants were significantly more prevalent in OC (P = 0.0014) but not in BC (P = 0.0693) patients. Conclusions To avoid ambiguous results, studies aimed at assessing the impact of candidate predisposition gene mutations on BC risk might differentiate between BC index patients with an OC family history and those without. In familial cases, we suggest that BRIP1 is a high-risk gene for late-onset OC but not a BC predisposition gene, though minor effects cannot be excluded.}, language = {en} } @article{PlutaHoffjanZimmeretal.2022, author = {Pluta, Natalie and Hoffjan, Sabine and Zimmer, Frederic and K{\"o}hler, Cornelia and L{\"u}cke, Thomas and Mohr, Jennifer and Vorgerd, Matthias and Nguyen, Hoa Huu Phuc and Atlan, David and Wolf, Beat and Zaum, Ann-Kathrin and Rost, Simone}, title = {Homozygous inversion on chromosome 13 involving SGCG detected by short read whole genome sequencing in a patient suffering from limb-girdle muscular dystrophy}, series = {Genes}, volume = {13}, journal = {Genes}, number = {10}, issn = {2073-4425}, doi = {10.3390/genes13101752}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-288122}, year = {2022}, abstract = {New techniques in molecular genetic diagnostics now allow for accurate diagnosis in a large proportion of patients with muscular diseases. Nevertheless, many patients remain unsolved, although the clinical history and/or the muscle biopsy give a clear indication of the involved genes. In many cases, there is a strong suspicion that the cause must lie in unexplored gene areas, such as deep-intronic or other non-coding regions. In order to find these changes, next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods are constantly evolving, making it possible to sequence entire genomes to reveal these previously uninvestigated regions. Here, we present a young woman who was strongly suspected of having a so far genetically unsolved sarcoglycanopathy based on her clinical history and muscle biopsy. Using short read whole genome sequencing (WGS), a homozygous inversion on chromosome 13 involving SGCG and LINC00621 was detected. The breakpoint in intron 2 of SGCG led to the absence of γ-sarcoglycan, resulting in the manifestation of autosomal recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 5 (LGMDR5) in the young woman.}, language = {en} } @article{NandaSchroederSteinleinetal.2022, author = {Nanda, Indrajit and Schr{\"o}der, Sarah K. and Steinlein, Claus and Haaf, Thomas and Buhl, Eva M. and Grimm, Domink G. and Weiskirchen, Ralf}, title = {Rat hepatic stellate cell line CFSC-2G: genetic markers and short tandem repeat profile useful for cell line authentication}, series = {Cells}, volume = {11}, journal = {Cells}, number = {18}, issn = {2073-4409}, doi = {10.3390/cells11182900}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-288067}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are also known as lipocytes, fat-storing cells, perisinusoidal cells, or Ito cells. These liver-specific mesenchymal cells represent about 5\% to 8\% of all liver cells, playing a key role in maintaining the microenvironment of the hepatic sinusoid. Upon chronic liver injury or in primary culture, these cells become activated and transdifferentiate into a contractile phenotype, i.e., the myofibroblast, capable of producing and secreting large quantities of extracellular matrix compounds. Based on their central role in the initiation and progression of chronic liver diseases, cultured HSCs are valuable in vitro tools to study molecular and cellular aspects of liver diseases. However, the isolation of these cells requires special equipment, trained personnel, and in some cases needs approval from respective authorities. To overcome these limitations, several immortalized HSC lines were established. One of these cell lines is CFSC, which was originally established from cirrhotic rat livers induced by carbon tetrachloride. First introduced in 1991, this cell line and derivatives thereof (i.e., CFSC-2G, CFSC-3H, CFSC-5H, and CFSC-8B) are now used in many laboratories as an established in vitro HSC model. We here describe molecular features that are suitable for cell authentication. Importantly, chromosome banding and multicolor spectral karyotyping (SKY) analysis demonstrate that the CFSC-2G genome has accumulated extensive chromosome rearrangements and most chromosomes exist in multiple copies producing a pseudo-triploid karyotype. Furthermore, our study documents a defined short tandem repeat (STR) profile including 31 species-specific markers, and a list of genes expressed in CFSC-2G established by bulk mRNA next-generation sequencing (NGS).}, language = {en} } @article{FerreiraGamazonAlEjehetal.2019, author = {Ferreira, Manuel A. and Gamazon, Eric R. and Al-Ejeh, Fares and Aittom{\"a}ki, Kristiina and Andrulis, Irene L. and Anton-Culver, Hoda and Arason, Adalgeir and Arndt, Volker and Aronson, Kristan J. and Arun, Banu K. and Asseryanis, Ella and Azzollini, Jacopo and Balma{\~n}a, Judith and Barnes, Daniel R. and Barrowdale, Daniel and Beckmann, Matthias W. and Behrens, Sabine and Benitez, Javier and Bermisheva, Marina and Bialkowska, Katarzyna and Blomqvist, Carl and Bogdanova, Natalia V. and Bojesen, Stig E. and Bolla, Manjeet K. and Borg, Ake and Brauch, Hiltrud and Brenner, Hermann and Broeks, Annegien and Burwinkel, Barbara and Cald{\´e}s, Trinidad and Caligo, Maria A. and Campa, Daniele and Campbell, Ian and Canzian, Federico and Carter, Jonathan and Carter, Brian D. and Castelao, Jose E. and Chang-Claude, Jenny and Chanock, Stephen J. and Christiansen, Hans and Chung, Wendy K. and Claes, Kathleen B. M. and Clarke, Christine L. and Couch, Fergus J. and Cox, Angela and Cross, Simon S. and Czene, Kamila and Daly, Mary B. and de la Hoya, Miguel and Dennis, Joe and Devilee, Peter and Diez, Orland and D{\"o}rk, Thilo and Dunning, Alison M. and Dwek, Miriam and Eccles, Diana M. and Ejlertsen, Bent and Ellberg, Carolina and Engel, Christoph and Eriksson, Mikael and Fasching, Peter A. and Fletcher, Olivia and Flyger, Henrik and Friedman, Eitan and Frost, Debra and Gabrielson, Marike and Gago-Dominguez, Manuela and Ganz, Patricia A. and Gapstur, Susan M. and Garber, Judy and Garc{\´i}a-Closas, Montserrat and Garc{\´i}a-S{\´a}enz, Jos{\´e} A. and Gaudet, Mia M. and Giles, Graham G. and Glendon, Gord and Godwin, Andrew K. and Goldberg, Mark S. and Goldgar, David E. and Gonz{\´a}lez-Neira, Anna and Greene, Mark H. and Gronwald, Jacek and Guen{\´e}l, Pascal and Haimann, Christopher A. and Hall, Per and Hamann, Ute and He, Wei and Heyworth, Jane and Hogervorst, Frans B. L. and Hollestelle, Antoinette and Hoover, Robert N. and Hopper, John L. and Hulick, Peter J. and Humphreys, Keith and Imyanitov, Evgeny N. and Isaacs, Claudine and Jakimovska, Milena and Jakubowska, Anna and James, Paul A. and Janavicius, Ramunas and Jankowitz, Rachel C. and John, Esther M. and Johnson, Nichola and Joseph, Vijai and Karlan, Beth Y. and Khusnutdinova, Elza and Kiiski, Johanna I. and Ko, Yon-Dschun and Jones, Michael E. and Konstantopoulou, Irene and Kristensen, Vessela N. and Laitman, Yael and Lambrechts, Diether and Lazaro, Conxi and Leslie, Goska and Lester, Jenny and Lesueur, Fabienne and Lindstr{\"o}m, Sara and Long, Jirong and Loud, Jennifer T. and Lubiński, Jan and Makalic, Enes and Mannermaa, Arto and Manoochehri, Mehdi and Margolin, Sara and Maurer, Tabea and Mavroudis, Dimitrios and McGuffog, Lesley and Meindl, Alfons and Menon, Usha and Michailidou, Kyriaki and Miller, Austin and Montagna, Marco and Moreno, Fernando and Moserle, Lidia and Mulligan, Anna Marie and Nathanson, Katherine L. and Neuhausen, Susan L. and Nevanlinna, Heli and Nevelsteen, Ines and Nielsen, Finn C. and Nikitina-Zake, Liene and Nussbaum, Robert L. and Offit, Kenneth and Olah, Edith and Olopade, Olufunmilayo I. and Olsson, H{\aa}kan and Osorio, Ana and Papp, Janos and Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won and Parsons, Michael T. and Pedersen, Inge Sokilde and Peixoto, Ana and Peterlongo, Paolo and Pharaoh, Paul D. P. and Plaseska-Karanfilska, Dijana and Poppe, Bruce and Presneau, Nadege and Radice, Paolo and Rantala, Johanna and Rennert, Gad and Risch, Harvey A. and Saloustros, Emmanouil and Sanden, Kristin and Sawyer, Elinor J. and Schmidt, Marjanka K. and Schmutzler, Rita K. and Sharma, Priyanka and Shu, Xiao-Ou and Simard, Jaques and Singer, Christian F. and Soucy, Penny and Southey, Melissa C. and Spinelli, John J. and Spurdle, Amanda B. and Stone, Jennifer and Swerdlow, Anthony J. and Tapper, William J. and Taylor, Jack A. and Teixeira, Manuel R. and Terry, Mary Beth and Teul{\´e}, Alex and Thomassen, Mads and Th{\"o}ne, Kathrin and Thull, Darcy L. and Tischkowitz, Marc and Toland, Amanda E. and Torres, Diana and Truong, Th{\´e}r{\`e}se and Tung, Nadine and Vachon, Celine M. and van Asperen, Christi J. and van den Ouweland, Ans M. W. and van Rensburg, Elizabeth J. and Vega, Ana and Viel, Alexandra and Wang, Qin and Wappenschmidt, Barbara and Weitzel, Jeffrey N. and Wendt, Camilla and Winqvist, Robert and Yang, Xiaohong R. and Yannoukakos, Drakoulis and Ziogas, Argyrios and Kraft, Peter and Antoniou, Antonis C. and Zheng, Wei and Easton, Douglas F. and Milne, Roger L. and Beesley, Jonathan and Chenevix-Trench, Georgia}, title = {Genome-wide association and transcriptome studies identify target genes and risk loci for breast cancer}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {10}, journal = {Nature Communications}, organization = {EMBRACE Collaborators, GC-HBOC Study Collaborators, GEMO Study Collaborators, ABCTB Investigators, HEBON Investigators, BCFR Investigators}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-08053-5}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-228024}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 170 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Here we hypothesize that some risk-associated variants might act in non-breast tissues, specifically adipose tissue and immune cells from blood and spleen. Using expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) reported in these tissues, we identify 26 previously unreported, likely target genes of overall breast cancer risk variants, and 17 for estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer, several with a known immune function. We determine the directional effect of gene expression on disease risk measured based on single and multiple eQTL. In addition, using a gene-based test of association that considers eQTL from multiple tissues, we identify seven (and four) regions with variants associated with overall (and ER-negative) breast cancer risk, which were not reported in previous GWAS. Further investigation of the function of the implicated genes in breast and immune cells may provide insights into the etiology of breast cancer.}, language = {en} }