BEND4 as a Candidate Gene for an Infection-Induced Acute Encephalopathy Characterized by a Cyst and Calcification of the Pons and Cerebellar Atrophy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Bülent Kara ◽  
Oya Uyguner ◽  
Hülya Maraş Genç ◽  
Eylül Ece İşlek ◽  
Murat Kasap ◽  
...  

Three siblings born to Turkish parents from the same village had normal brain development until acute neurological deterioration between 12 months and 8 years of age. Consequent loss of all acquired motor, social, and language functions following infections was associated with a pontine cyst, calcification, and cerebellar atrophy. Exome sequencing revealed a homozygous c.1297G&#x3e;A (p.Gly433Ser) alteration in <i>BEND4</i>, which was predicted to be deleterious in in silico analysis tools and segregated in multiple affected individuals in the family. <i>BEND4</i> has not been associated with any existing disease. Immunofluorescence microscopy analysis of wild-type and mutant BEND4 expressing Vero cells showed nuclear and cytoplasmic localization. Wild-type BEND4 displayed a network-like distribution, whereas mutant BEND4 showed a juxtanuclear distribution pattern. Differential proteome analysis of Vero cells expressing BEND4 revealed that mutant BEND4 expression caused selective increase in reticulocalbin-1 and endoplasmic reticulum resident protein-29. Both proteins are associated with the endoplasmic reticulum and are primarily involved in protein processing and folding pathways. Any defect or stress in protein folding creates stress on cells and may cause chronic damage. This is the first study showing that pathogenic <i>BEND4</i> variants may lead to an infection-induced acute necrotizing encephalopathy as demonstrated in characteristic neuroimaging findings.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 2106
Author(s):  
Raghavendra Narayan Vanaki ◽  
Suchitra Basappa Diwanmal ◽  
Ramesh Rajesh Pol ◽  
Bhuvaneshwari Chandrashekhar Yelamali ◽  
Milind Ramakant Kulkarni ◽  
...  

Background: With advances in neuroimaging, acute necrotizing encephalopathy of childhood (ANEC) is being recognized as an acute encephalopathy with a characteristic rapidly deteriorating neurological course with poor neuro-developmental outcomes with high mortality and morbidity rates. Indian data of ANEC is primitive and hence this study was planned. The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical, radiological characteristics and its outcomes in children with ANEC.Methods: Retrospective review of 10 infants and children with ANEC at Department of Paediatrics, S.N. Medical College and HSK Hospital, Bagalkot from January 2013 to December 2019. ANEC was suspected based on clinical and radiological characteristics and diagnosis was made based on diagnostic criteria proposed by Mizuguchi et al. Clinical and radiological (Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain characteristics) findings and response to early pulse dose steroid therapy and supportive treatment were assessed in all cases. All cases were followed for evaluation of neurodevelopmental outcome and response to physiotherapy was noted in all the cases.Results: Total 10 cases were analysed (age ranged from 6 months to 11 years). Sex distribution male to female was 3:7. All cases had precedent viral illnesses and had fever, coryza, diarrhoea. The initial neurological symptoms included seizures and status epilepticus (n=7), altered sensorium (n=3), focal neurological signs , gait disturbances (n=2) and diplopia (n=1). MRI brain revealed characteristic thalamus involvement with varied involvement of midbrain, pons, medulla (n=10). Other findings were cavitation (n=5), haemorrhage (n=4), minimal residual lesions (n=4), cerebral atrophy (n=1), normal brain study (n=5) on follow-up. 9 out of 10 cases survived, responded to early physiotherapy and rehabilitation. 6 children had complete recovery with minimal disability in 3 cases.Conclusions: ANEC is a clinico-radiological syndrome. Early detection and appropriate treatment improves outcome in ANEC.


Author(s):  
Rodrigo Madurga ◽  
Noemí García-Romero ◽  
Beatriz Jiménez ◽  
Ana Collazo ◽  
Francisco Pérez-Rodríguez ◽  
...  

Abstract Molecular classification of glioblastoma has enabled a deeper understanding of the disease. The four-subtype model (including Proneural, Classical, Mesenchymal and Neural) has been replaced by a model that discards the Neural subtype, found to be associated with samples with a high content of normal tissue. These samples can be misclassified preventing biological and clinical insights into the different tumor subtypes from coming to light. In this work, we present a model that tackles both the molecular classification of samples and discrimination of those with a high content of normal cells. We performed a transcriptomic in silico analysis on glioblastoma (GBM) samples (n = 810) and tested different criteria to optimize the number of genes needed for molecular classification. We used gene expression of normal brain samples (n = 555) to design an additional gene signature to detect samples with a high normal tissue content. Microdissection samples of different structures within GBM (n = 122) have been used to validate the final model. Finally, the model was tested in a cohort of 43 patients and confirmed by histology. Based on the expression of 20 genes, our model is able to discriminate samples with a high content of normal tissue and to classify the remaining ones. We have shown that taking into consideration normal cells can prevent errors in the classification and the subsequent misinterpretation of the results. Moreover, considering only samples with a low content of normal cells, we found an association between the complexity of the samples and survival for the three molecular subtypes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 194187442199137
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
John R. Younce ◽  
Joel S. Perlmutter ◽  
Soe S. Mar

Acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE) is a rare para-infectious encephalopathy that classically occurs in children. However, ANE should be considered in the differential diagnosis of adults with symmetric brain lesions after a prodromal illness given recent reports of coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) to presumably cause ANE in adults. We report a case of a 29-year-old male presenting with fever, malaise, and rapid deterioration into coma. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed multifocal symmetric areas of diffusion restriction and surrounding vasogenic edema involving bilateral thalami, pons and cerebellar hemispheres with a core of susceptibility artifact, and minimal thalamic contrast enhancement, most consistent with ANE. Extensive infectious workup revealed isolated Escherichia coli and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in his urine. Despite the severe encephalopathy on initial presentation, the patient improved with intravenous antibiotics and supportive management with minimal residual deficits at 9 months follow-up. We aim to provide an overview of the radiological features, differential diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of ANE. Becoming familiarized with this rare but devastating disease will improve detection, treatment, and ultimately prognosis, especially in the era of a new pandemic.


1994 ◽  
Vol 301 (2) ◽  
pp. 577-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Oda ◽  
J Cheng ◽  
T Saku ◽  
N Takami ◽  
M Sohda ◽  
...  

Placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) is initially synthesized as a precursor (proPLAP) with a C-terminal extension. We constructed a recombinant cDNA which encodes a chimeric protein (alpha GL-PLAP) comprising rat alpha 2u-globulin (alpha GL) and the C-terminal extension of PLAP. Two molecular species (25 kDa and 22 kDa) were expressed in the COS-1 cell transfected with the cDNA for alpha GL-PLAP. Only the 22 kDa form was labelled with both [3H]stearic acid and [3H]ethanolamine. Upon digestion with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C the 22 kDa form was released into the medium, indicating that this form is anchored on the cell surface via glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI). A specific IgG raised against a C-terminal nonapeptide of proPLAP precipitated the 25 kDa form but not the 22 kDa form, suggesting that the 25 kDa form is a precursor retaining the C-terminal propeptide. When a mutant alpha GL-PLAP, in which the aspartic acid residue is replaced with tryptophan at a putative cleavage/attachment site, was expressed in COS-1 cells, the 25 kDa precursor was the only form found inside the cell and retained in the endoplasmic reticulum, as judged by immunofluorescence microscopy. In vitro translation programmed with mRNAs coding for the wild-type and mutant forms of alpha GL-PLAP demonstrated that the C-terminal propeptide was cleaved from the wild-type chimeric protein, but not from the mutant one. This gave rise to the 22 kDa form attached with a GPI anchor, suggesting that GPI is covalently linked to the aspartic acid residue (Asp159) of alpha GL-PLAP. Taken together, these results indicate that the C-terminal propeptide of PLAP functions as a signal to render alpha GL a GPI-linked membrane protein in vitro and in vivo in cultured cells, and that the chimeric protein constructed in this study may be useful for elucidating the mechanism underlying the cleavage of the propeptide and attachment of GPI, which occur in the endoplasmic reticulum.


2004 ◽  
Vol 72 (11) ◽  
pp. 6589-6596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricky L. Ulrich ◽  
David DeShazer ◽  
Harry B. Hines ◽  
Jeffrey A. Jeddeloh

ABSTRACT Numerous gram-negative bacterial pathogens regulate virulence factor expression by using a cell density mechanism termed quorum sensing (QS). An in silico analysis of the Burkholderia mallei ATCC 23344 genome revealed that it encodes at least two luxI and four luxR homologues. Using mass spectrometry, we showed that wild-type B. mallei produces the signaling molecules N-octanoyl-homoserine lactone and N-decanoyl-homoserine lactone. To determine if QS is involved in the virulence of B. mallei, we generated mutations in each putative luxIR homologue and tested the pathogenicities of the derivative strains in aerosol BALB/c mouse and intraperitoneal hamster models. Disruption of the B. mallei QS alleles, especially in RJ16 (bmaII) and RJ17 (bmaI3), which are luxI mutants, significantly reduced virulence, as indicated by the survival of mice who were aerosolized with 104 CFU (10 50% lethal doses [LD50s]). For the B. mallei transcriptional regulator mutants (luxR homologues), mutation of the bmaR5 allele resulted in the most pronounced decrease in virulence, with 100% of the challenged animals surviving a dose of 10 LD50s. Using a Syrian hamster intraperitoneal model of infection, we determined the LD50s for wild-type B. mallei and each QS mutant. An increase in the relative LD50 was found for RJ16 (bmaI1) (>967 CFU), RJ17 (bmaI3) (115 CFU), and RJ20 (bmaR5) (151 CFU) compared to wild-type B. mallei (<13 CFU). These findings demonstrate that B. mallei carries multiple luxIR homologues that either directly or indirectly regulate the biosynthesis of an essential virulence factor(s) that contributes to the pathogenicity of B. mallei in vivo.


2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumio Maeda ◽  
Jun Arii ◽  
Yoshitaka Hirohata ◽  
Yuhei Maruzuru ◽  
Naoto Koyanagi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Upon herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection, the CD98 heavy chain (CD98hc) is redistributed around the nuclear membrane (NM), where it promotes viral de-envelopment during the nuclear egress of nucleocapsids. In this study, we attempted to identify the factor(s) involved in CD98hc accumulation and demonstrated the following: (i) the null mutation of HSV-1 UL34 caused specific dispersion throughout the cytoplasm of CD98hc and the HSV-1 de-envelopment regulators, glycoproteins B and H (gB and gH); (ii) as observed with CD98hc, gB, and gH, wild-type HSV-1 infection caused redistribution of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) markers calnexin and ERp57 around the NM, whereas the UL34-null mutation caused cytoplasmic dispersion of these markers; (iii) the ER markers colocalized efficiently with CD98hc, gB, and gH in the presence and absence of UL34 in HSV-1-infected cells; (iv) at the ultrastructural level, wild-type HSV-1 infection caused ER compression around the NM, whereas the UL34-null mutation caused cytoplasmic dispersion of the ER; and (v) the UL34-null mutation significantly decreased the colocalization efficiency of lamin protein markers of the NM with CD98hc and gB. Collectively, these results indicate that HSV-1 infection causes redistribution of the ER around the NM, with resulting accumulation of ER-associated CD98hc, gB, and gH around the NM and that UL34 is required for ER redistribution, as well as for efficient recruitment to the NM of the ER-associated de-envelopment factors. Our study suggests that HSV-1 induces remodeling of the global ER architecture for recruitment of regulators mediating viral nuclear egress to the NM. IMPORTANCE The ER is an important cellular organelle that exists as a complex network extending throughout the cytoplasm. Although viruses often remodel the ER to facilitate viral replication, information on the effects of herpesvirus infections on ER morphological integrity is limited. Here, we showed that HSV-1 infection led to compression of the global ER architecture around the NM, resulting in accumulation of ER-associated regulators associated with nuclear egress of HSV-1 nucleocapsids. We also identified HSV-1 UL34 as a viral factor that mediated ER remodeling. Furthermore, we demonstrated that UL34 was required for efficient targeting of these regulators to the NM. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing that a herpesvirus remodels ER global architecture. Our study also provides insight into the mechanism by which the regulators for HSV-1 nuclear egress are recruited to the NM, where this viral event occurs.


1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 2067-2073 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Littlefield ◽  
C. E. Bracker

The urediospores of Melampsora lini (Ehrenb.) Lev. are echinulate, with spines ca. 1 μ long over their surface. The spines are electron-transparent, conical projections, with their basal portion embedded in the electron-dense spore wall. The entire spore, including the spines, is covered by a wrinkled pellicle ca. 150–200 Å thick. The spore wall consists of three recognizable layers in addition to the pellicle. Spines form initially as small deposits at the inner surface of the spore wall adjacent to the plasma membrane. Endoplasmic reticulum occurs close to the plasma membrane in localized areas near the base of spines. During development, the spore wall thickens, and the spines increase in size. Centripetal growth of the wall encases the spines in the wall material. The spines progressively assume a more external position in the spore wall and finally reside at the outer surface of the wall. A mutant strain with finely verrucose spores was compared to the wild type. The warts on the surface of the mutant spores are rounded, electron-dense structures ca. 0.2–0.4 μ high, in contrast to spines of the wild type. Their initiation near the inner surface of the spore wall and their eventual placement on the outer surface of the spore are similar to that of spines. The wall is thinner in mutant spores than in wild-type spores.


1991 ◽  
Vol 174 (6) ◽  
pp. 1629-1637 ◽  
Author(s):  
J H Cox ◽  
J R Bennink ◽  
J W Yewdell

The E3/19K glycoprotein of adenovirus functions to diminish recognition of adenovirus-infected cells by major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) by binding intracellular class I molecules and preventing them from reaching the plasma membrane. In the present study we have characterized the nature of the interaction between E3/19K and the H-2Kd (Kd) molecule. An E3/19K molecule genetically engineered to terminate six residues from its normal COOH terminus (delta E19), was found to associate with Kd in a manner indistinguishable from wild-type E3/19K. Unlike E3/19K, however, delta E19 was transported through the Golgi complex to the plasma membrane, where it could be detected biochemically and immunocytochemically using a monoclonal antibody specific for the lumenal domain of E3/19K. Importantly, delta E19 also differed from E3/19K in being unable to prevent the presentation of Kd-restricted viral proteins to CTLs. This is unlikely to be due to delta E19 having a lower avidity for Kd than E3/19K, since delta E19 was able to compete with E3/19K for Kd binding, both physically, and functionally in nullifying the E3/19K blockade of antigen presentation. These findings indicate that the ability of E3/19K to block antigen presentation is due solely to its ability to retain newly synthesized class I molecules in the endoplasmic reticulum.


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