TY - JOUR A1 - Maierhofer, Anna A1 - Flunkert, Julia A1 - Oshima, Junko A1 - Martin, George M. A1 - Poot, Martin A1 - Nanda, Indrajit A1 - Dittrich, Marcus A1 - Müller, Tobias A1 - Haaf, Thomas T1 - Epigenetic signatures of Werner syndrome occur early in life and are distinct from normal epigenetic aging processes JF - Aging Cell N2 - Werner Syndrome (WS) is an adult‐onset segmental progeroid syndrome. Bisulfite pyrosequencing of repetitive DNA families revealed comparable blood DNA methylation levels between classical (18 WRN‐mutant) or atypical WS (3 LMNA‐mutant and 3 POLD1‐mutant) patients and age‐ and sex‐matched controls. WS was not associated with either age‐related accelerated global losses of ALU, LINE1, and α‐satellite DNA methylations or gains of rDNA methylation. Single CpG methylation was analyzed with Infinium MethylationEPIC arrays. In a correspondence analysis, atypical WS samples clustered together with the controls and were clearly separated from classical WS, consistent with distinct epigenetic pathologies. In classical WS, we identified 659 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) comprising 3,656 CpG sites and 613 RefSeq genes. The top DMR was located in the HOXA4 promoter. Additional DMR genes included LMNA, POLD1, and 132 genes which have been reported to be differentially expressed in WRN‐mutant/depleted cells. DMRs were enriched in genes with molecular functions linked to transcription factor activity and sequence‐specific DNA binding to promoters transcribed by RNA polymerase II. We propose that transcriptional misregulation of downstream genes by the absence of WRN protein contributes to the variable premature aging phenotypes of WS. There were no CpG sites showing significant differences in DNA methylation changes with age between WS patients and controls. Genes with both WS‐ and age‐related methylation changes exhibited a constant offset of methylation between WRN‐mutant patients and controls across the entire analyzed age range. WS‐specific epigenetic signatures occur early in life and do not simply reflect an acceleration of normal epigenetic aging processes. KW - (classical and atypical) Werner syndrome KW - bisulfite pyrosequencing KW - methylation array KW - premature aging KW - segmental progeria KW - transcription deficiency Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202733 VL - 18 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maierhofer, Anna A1 - Flunkert, Julia A1 - Dittrich, Marcus A1 - Müller, Tobias A1 - Schindler, Detlev A1 - Nanda, Indrajit A1 - Haaf, Thomas T1 - Analysis of global DNA methylation changes in primary human fibroblasts in the early phase following X-ray irradiation JF - PLoS ONE N2 - 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. KW - DNA methylation KW - fibroblasts KW - methylation KW - alu elements KW - DNA damage KW - epigenetics KW - cancer treatment Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170895 VL - 12 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jansch, Charline A1 - Günther, Katharina A1 - Waider, Jonas A1 - Ziegler, Georg C. A1 - Forero, Andrea A1 - Kollert, Sina A1 - Svirin, Evgeniy A1 - Pühringer, Dirk A1 - Kwok, Chee Keong A1 - Ullmann, Reinhard A1 - Maierhofer, Anna A1 - Flunkert, Julia A1 - Haaf, Thomas A1 - Edenhofer, Frank A1 - Lesch, Klaus-Peter T1 - Generation of a human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line from a 51-year-old female with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) carrying a duplication of SLC2A3 JF - Stem Cell Research N2 - Fibroblasts were isolated from a skin biopsy of a clinically diagnosed 51-year-old female attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patient carrying a duplication of SLC2A3, a gene encoding neuronal glucose transporter-3 (GLUT3). Patient fibroblasts were infected with Sendai virus, a single-stranded RNA virus, to generate transgene-free human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). SLC2A3-D2-iPSCs showed expression of pluripotency-associated markers, were able to differentiate into cells of the three germ layers in vitro and had a normal female karyotype. This in vitro cellular model can be used to study the role of risk genes in the pathogenesis of ADHD, in a patient-specific manner. KW - ADHD KW - SLC2A3 KW - induced pluripotent stem cells Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-176654 VL - 28 ER - TY - THES A1 - Flunkert, Julia T1 - Analyse genetischer Stabilität in den Nachkommen bestrahlter Zellen mittels klassischer Chromosomenbänderung und verschiedener Hochdurchsatz-Techniken T1 - Analysis of genetic stability in the clonal descendants of irradiated cells using conventional chromosome banding and various high-throughput methods N2 - Ionisierende Strahlung (IR) ist in der medizinischen Diagnostik und in der Tumortherapie von zentraler Bedeutung, kann aber Genominstabilität und Krebs auslösen. Strahleninduzierte Genominstabilität (RIGI) ist in den klonalen Nachkommen bestrahlter Zellen zu beobachten, die zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen sind jedoch noch unverstanden. Zur Erforschung von verzögerten Strahleneffekten wurden primäre embryonale Fibroblastenkulturen mit 2 Gray bestrahlt und für 20 Populationsverdopplungen klonal expandiert. Zellen, die keiner Strahlung ausgesetzt waren, dienten als Kontrolle für normale Alterungsprozesse. Die Klone wurden durch klassische Chromosomenbänderungstechniken analysiert und in Abhängigkeit der Stabilität ihres Genoms in Gruppen eingeteilt. Ein Klon wurde als stabil gewertet, wenn die analysierten Metaphasen keinerlei Auffälligkeiten zeigten, während instabile Klone ein Mosaik aus normalen und abnormalen Metaphasen waren. Die Zellen von zwei Spendern wurden untersucht, um interindividuelle Strahleneffekte zu beurteilen. Nach Bestrahlung hatten mehr als die Hälfte der Klone Metaphasen mit strukturellen Aberrationen und wurden dementsprechend als instabil eingestuft. Drei Klone zeigten zudem numerische Aberrationen, die ausschließlich das Y Chromosom betrafen. Fluoreszenz in situ Hybridisierungen verifizierten diese Beobachtung in weiteren Klonen und deuteten an, dass der Verlust des Y Chromosoms mit RIGI assoziiert ist. Molekulare Karyotypisierungen mit SNP Arrays ergaben, dass IR in den Klonen Veränderungen der Kopienzahl auslöst. Ein Unterschied zwischen chromosomal stabilen und instabilen Klonen konnte jedoch nicht detektiert werden. Chromosomale Regionen, in denen sich bekanntermaßen fragile Stellen befinden, zeigten eine Anhäufung von CNVs. Ein RIGI Effekt konnte für die fragile Stelle 3B, in der sich das Gen FHIT befindet, identifiziert werden. Exom Sequenzierungen von Klonen und der entsprechenden Massenkultur zeigten eine alterungsassoziierte Entstehung von Varianten. Der Effekt wurde durch die Einwirkung von Strahlung erhöht. Auf Ebene von einzelnen Nukleotiden konnten ebenfalls Anhäufungen von Schäden in bestimmten genomischen Bereichen detektiert werden, dieser Effekt ging ohne die typischen RIGI Endpunkte einher. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit zeigen, dass strahlenbedingte Veränderungen auf verschiedenen Ebenen (Chromosomen, Genkopienzahl und einzelnen Nukleotiden) beobachtet werden können, welche, unabhängig von RIGI, die Tumorentstehung begünstigen. Speziell Veränderungen im FRA3B Lokus und der Verlust des Y Chromosoms scheinen jedoch über die Destabilisierung des Genoms zur Krebsentstehung beizutragen. N2 - Ionizing radiation is important in medical diagnosis and cancer treatment but can lead to genomic instability and secondary malignancies as a late effect. Radiation induced genomic instability (RIGI) can be observed in the progeny of irradiated cells but the underlying cellular processes remain to be elucidated. To study delayed genetic radiation effects, single cell fibroblast clones from two different male donors were established after a single X ray dose of 2 Gray. Non irradiated cells were used as controls to account for aging related effects. Clones were characterized using chromosome banding analysis. Stable clones were endowed with no karyotype abnormalities in all analysed metaphases after 20 Population doublings, whereas unstable clones showed both normal and abnormal metaphases. Two fibroblast strains were used to detect differences in radiation sensitivity. More than half of the irradiated clones were chromosomally abnormal and thus classified as unstable. Both banding analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed an increased rate of Y chromosome loss in irradiated clones which might be associated with RIGI. Using SNP Arrays, an increased rate of de novo copy number variations (CNVs) was detected in the progeny of irradiated cells when compared to non irradiated controls. However, a significant difference between chromosomally stable and unstable clones was not found. CNVs clustered in chromosomal regions that are associated with known fragile sites. The fragile site 3B, which encompasses the gene FHIT, was found to be affected by CNVs in unstable clones suggesting a RIGI related effect. Exome sequencing of clones and the respective primary cultures revealed an increased rate of variants during in vitro aging. This effect was further increased by radiation exposure. Analysis of single nucleotides showed a RIGI independent accumulation of damage in specific regions. The results of the present study show that radiation induced changes can manifest as chromosomal abnormalities, copy number variations and DNA sequence mutations promoting tumorigenesis independent from RIGI. However, changes in FRA3B and loss of Y chromosome might trigger cancer through destabilizing the genome. KW - Ionisierende Strahlung KW - High throughput screening KW - Instabilität KW - Strahleninduzierte Genominstabilität KW - Genom KW - Genetik Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173670 ER -