TY - JOUR A1 - Herpin, Amaury A1 - Adolfi, Mateus C. A1 - Nicol, Barbara A1 - Hinzmann, Maria A1 - Schmidt, Cornelia A1 - Klughammer, Johanna A1 - Engel, Mareen A1 - Tanaka, Minoru A1 - Guiguen, Yann A1 - Schartl, Manfred T1 - Divergent Expression Regulation of Gonad Development Genes in Medaka Shows Incomplete Conservation of the Downstream Regulatory Network of Vertebrate Sex Determination JF - Molecular Biology and Evolution N2 - Genetic control of male or female gonad development displays between different groups of organisms a remarkable diversity of “master sex-determining genes” at the top of the genetic hierarchies, whereas downstream components surprisingly appear to be evolutionarily more conserved. Without much further studies, conservation of sequence has been equalized to conservation of function. We have used the medaka fish to investigate the generality of this paradigm. In medaka, the master male sex-determining gene is dmrt1bY, a highly conserved downstream regulator of sex determination in vertebrates. To understand its function in orchestrating the complex gene regulatory network, we have identified targets genes and regulated pathways of Dmrt1bY. Monitoring gene expression and interactions by transgenic fluorescent reporter fish lines, in vivo tissue-chromatin immunoprecipitation and in vitro gene regulation assays revealed concordance but also major discrepancies between mammals and medaka, notably amongst spatial, temporal expression patterns and regulations of the canonical Hedgehog and R-spondin/Wnt/Follistatin signaling pathways. Examination of Foxl2 protein distribution in the medaka ovary defined a new subpopulation of theca cells, where ovarian-type aromatase transcriptional regulation appears to be independent of Foxl2. In summary, these data show that the regulation of the downstream regulatory network of sex determination is less conserved than previously thought. KW - gonadal development KW - divergent expression regulation KW - gene regulatory network evolution KW - adaptive evolution Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-132262 VL - 30 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vetrivel, Sharmilee A1 - Zhang, Ru A1 - Engel, Mareen A1 - Altieri, Barbara A1 - Braun, Leah A1 - Osswald, Andrea A1 - Bidlingmaier, Martin A1 - Fassnacht, Martin A1 - Beuschlein, Felix A1 - Reincke, Martin A1 - Chen, Alon A1 - Sbiera, Silviu A1 - Riester, Anna T1 - Circulating microRNA Expression in Cushing’s Syndrome JF - Frontiers in Endocrinology N2 - Context Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is a rare disease of endogenous hypercortisolism associated with high morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis and classification of CS is still challenging. Objective Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are minimally invasive diagnostic markers. Our aim was to characterize the circulating miRNA profiles of CS patients and to identify distinct profiles between the two major CS subtypes. Methods We included three groups of patients from the German Cushing’s registry: ACTH-independent CS (Cortisol-Producing-Adenoma; CPA), ACTH-dependent pituitary CS (Cushing’s Disease; CD), and patients in whom CS had been ruled out (controls). Profiling of miRNAs was performed by next-generation-sequencing (NGS) in serum samples of 15 CS patients (each before and after curative surgery) and 10 controls. Significant miRNAs were first validated by qPCR in the discovery cohort and then in an independent validation cohort of 20 CS patients and 11 controls. Results NGS identified 411 circulating miRNAs. Differential expression of 14 miRNAs were found in the pre- and postoperative groups. qPCR in the discovery cohort validated 5 of the significant miRNAs from the preoperative group analyses. Only, miR-182-5p was found to be significantly upregulated in the CD group of the validation cohort. Comparing all CS samples as a group with the controls did not reveal any significant differences in expression. Outcome In conclusion, our study identified miR-182-5p as a possible biomarker for CD, which has to be validated in a prospective cohort. Furthermore, our results suggest that presence or absence of ACTH might be at least as relevant for miRNA expression as hypercortisolism itself. KW - cortisol KW - ACTH KW - miRNA KW - biomarker KW - cortisol-producing adenoma KW - miR-182-5p KW - hypercortisolism KW - miR-183 cluster Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229761 SN - 1664-2392 VL - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vetrivel, Sharmilee A1 - Zhang, Ru A1 - Engel, Mareen A1 - Oßwald, Andrea A1 - Watts, Deepika A1 - Chen, Alon A1 - Wielockx, Ben A1 - Sbiera, Silviu A1 - Reincke, Martin A1 - Riester, Anna T1 - Characterization of adrenal miRNA-based dysregulations in Cushing's syndrome JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - MiRNAs are important epigenetic players with tissue- and disease-specific effects. In this study, our aim was to investigate the putative differential expression of miRNAs in adrenal tissues from different forms of Cushing's syndrome (CS). For this, miRNA-based next-generation sequencing was performed in adrenal tissues taken from patients with ACTH-independent cortisol-producing adrenocortical adenomas (CPA), from patients with ACTH-dependent pituitary Cushing's disease (CD) after bilateral adrenalectomy, and from control subjects. A confirmatory QPCR was also performed in adrenals from patients with other CS subtypes, such as primary bilateral macronodular hyperplasia and ectopic CS. Sequencing revealed significant differences in the miRNA profiles of CD and CPA. QPCR revealed the upregulated expression of miR-1247-5p in CPA and PBMAH (log2 fold change > 2.5, p < 0.05). MiR-379-5p was found to be upregulated in PBMAH and CD (log2 fold change > 1.8, p < 0.05). Analyses of miR-1247-5p and miR-379-5p expression in the adrenals of mice which had been exposed to short-term ACTH stimulation showed no influence on the adrenal miRNA expression profiles. For miRNA-specific target prediction, RNA-seq data from the adrenals of CPA, PBMAH, and control samples were analyzed with different bioinformatic platforms. The analyses revealed that both miR-1247-5p and miR-379-5p target specific genes in the WNT signaling pathway. In conclusion, this study identified distinct adrenal miRNAs as being associated with CS subtypes. KW - cortisol KW - ACTH KW - miRNA KW - Cushing's KW - hypercortisolism KW - pituitary Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284394 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 23 IS - 14 ER -