TY  - JOUR
A1  - Galimberti, Daniela
A1  - Dell'Osso, Bernardo
A1  - Fenoglio, Chiara
A1  - Villa, Chiara
A1  - Cortini, Francesca
A1  - Serpente, Maria
A1  - Kittel-Schneider, Sarah
A1  - Weigl, Johannes
A1  - Neuner, Maria
A1  - Volkert, Juliane
A1  - Leonhard, C.
A1  - Olmes, David G.
A1  - Kopf, Juliane
A1  - Cantoni, Claudia
A1  - Ridolfi, Elisa
A1  - Palazzo, Carlotta
A1  - Ghezzi, Laura
A1  - Bresolin, Nereo
A1  - Altamura, A.C.
A1  - Scarpini, Elio
A1  - Reif, Andreas
T1  - Progranulin Gene Variability and Plasma Levels in Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia
JF  - PLoS One
N2  - Basing on the assumption that frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BPD) might share common aetiological mechanisms, we analyzed genetic variation in the FTLD risk gene progranulin (GRN) in a German population of patients with schizophrenia (n=271) or BPD (n=237) as compared with 574 age-, gender-and ethnicity-matched controls. Furthermore, we measured plasma progranulin levels in 26 German BPD patients as well as in 61 Italian BPD patients and 29 matched controls. A significantly decreased allelic frequency of the minor versus the wild-type allele was observed for rs2879096 (23.2 versus 34.2%, P<0.001, OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.49-0.80), rs4792938 (30.7 versus 39.7%, P=0.005, OR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.55-0.89) and rs5848 (30.3 versus 36.8, P=0.007, OR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.56-0.91). Mean +/- SEM progranulin plasma levels were significantly decreased in BPD patients, either Germans or Italians, as compared with controls (89.69 +/- 3.97 and 116.14 +/- 5.80 ng/ml, respectively, versus 180.81 +/- 18.39 ng/ml P<0.001) and were not correlated with age. In conclusion, GRN variability decreases the risk to develop BPD and schizophrenia, and progranulin plasma levels are significantly lower in BPD patients than in controls. Nevertheless, a larger replication analysis would be needed to confirm these preliminary results.
KW  - people
KW  - frontotemporal lobar degeneration
KW  - genome-wide association
KW  - Alzheimers disease
KW  - risk genes
KW  - dementia
KW  - GRN
KW  - mutation
KW  - families
KW  - linkage
Y1  - 2012
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-131910
VL  - 7
IS  - 4
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Farag, Heba Gamal
A1  - Froehler, Sebastian
A1  - Oexle, Konrad
A1  - Ravindran, Ethiraj
A1  - Schindler, Detlev
A1  - Staab, Timo
A1  - Huebner, Angela
A1  - Kraemer, Nadine
A1  - Chen, Wei
A1  - Kaindl, Angela M.
T1  - Abnormal centrosome and spindle morphology in a patient with autosomal recessive primary microcephaly type 2 due to compound heterozygous WDR62 gene mutation
JF  - Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases
N2  - Background: Autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH) is a rare neurodevelopmental disease with severe microcephaly at birth due to a pronounced reduction in brain volume and intellectual disability. Biallelic mutations in the WD repeat-containing protein 62 gene WDR62 are the genetic cause of MCPH2. However, the exact underlying pathomechanism of MCPH2 remains to be clarified. 
Methods/results: We characterized the clinical, radiological, and cellular features that add to the human MCPH2 phenotype. Exome sequencing followed by Sanger sequencing in a German family with two affected daughters with primary microcephaly revealed in the index patient the compound heterozygous mutations c. 1313G>A (p.R438H) / c.2864-2867delACAG (p.D955Afs*112) of WDR62, the second of which is novel. Radiological examination displayed small frontal lobes, corpus callosum hypoplasia, simplified hippocampal gyration, and cerebellar hypoplasia. We investigated the cellular phenotype in patient-derived lymphoblastoid cells and compared it with that of healthy female controls. WDR62 expression in the patient's immortalized lymphocytes was deranged, and mitotic spindle defects as well as abnormal centrosomal protein localization were apparent. 
Conclusion: We propose that a disruption of centrosome integrity and/or spindle organization may play an important role in the development of microcephaly in MCPH2.
KW  - cell division
KW  - intellectual disability
KW  - missense mutations
KW  - protein
KW  - malformations
KW  - establishment
KW  - cytokinesis
KW  - genome
KW  - midbody
KW  - database
KW  - maintenance
KW  - families
KW  - microcephaly
KW  - WDR62 mutation
Y1  - 2013
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-123505
SN  - 1750-1172
VL  - 8
IS  - 178
ER  -