scholarly journals Focus on Causality in ESC/iPSC-Based Modeling of Psychiatric Disorders

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoffmann ◽  
Ziller ◽  
Spengler
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Risk Variants ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Genetic Risk Variants

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified an increasing number of genetic variants that significantly associate with psychiatric disorders. Despite this wealth of information, our knowledge of which variants causally contribute to disease, how they interact, and even more so of the functions they regulate, is still poor. The availability of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and the advent of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has opened new opportunities to investigate genetic risk variants in living disease-relevant cells. Here, we analyze how this progress has contributed to the analysis of causal relationships between genetic risk variants and neuronal phenotypes, especially in schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). Studies on rare, highly penetrant risk variants have originally led the field, until more recently when the development of (epi-) genetic editing techniques spurred studies on cause-effect relationships between common low risk variants and their associated neuronal phenotypes. This reorientation not only offers new insights, but also raises issues on interpretability. Concluding, we consider potential caveats and upcoming developments in the field of ESC/iPSC-based modeling of causality in psychiatric disorders.

scholarly journals Polygenic Susceptibility of Aortic Aneurysms Associates to the Diameter of the Aneurysm Sac: the Aneurysm-Express Biobank Cohort

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance J. H. C. M. van Laarhoven ◽  
Jessica van Setten ◽  
Joost A. van Herwaarden ◽  
Gerard Pasterkamp ◽  
Dominique P. V. de Kleijn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Aortic Aneurysms ◽  
Polygenic Risk Score ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Risk Variants ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Best Fit ◽  
Genetic Risk Variants

AbstractRecent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have discovered ten genetic risk variants for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). To what extent these genetic variants contribute to the pathology of aneurysms is yet unknown. The present study aims to investigate whether genetic risk variants are associated with three clinical features: diameter of aneurysm sac, type of artery and aneurysm related-symptoms in aortic and peripheral aneurysm patients. Aneurysm tissue of 415 patients included in the Aneurysm-Express biobank was used. A best-fit polygenic risk score (PRS) based on previous GWAS effect estimates was modeled for each clinical phenotype. The best-fit PRS (including 272 variants at PT = 0.01015) showed a significant correlation with aneurysm diameter (R2 = 0.019, p = 0.001). No polygenic association was found with clinical symptoms or artery type. In addition, the ten genome-wide significant risk variants for AAA were tested individually, but no associations were observed with any of the clinical phenotypes. All models were corrected for confounders and data was normalized. In conclusion, a weighted PRS of AAA susceptibility explained 1.9% of the phenotypic variation (p = 0.001) in diameter in aneurysm patients. Given our limited sample size, future biobank collaborations need to confirm a potential causal role of susceptibility variants on aneurysmal disease initiation and progression.

scholarly journals The contribution of common genetic risk variants for ADHD to a general factor of childhood psychopathology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabell Brikell ◽  
Henrik Larsson ◽  
Yi Lu ◽  
Erik Pettersson ◽  
Qi Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
General Factor ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
General Psychopathology ◽  
Oppositional Defiant ◽  
Risk Variants ◽  
Genetic Risk Variants

AbstractAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heritable neurodevelopmental disorder, with common genetic risk variants implicated in the clinical diagnosis and symptoms of ADHD. However, given evidence of comorbidity and genetic overlap across neurodevelopmental and externalizing conditions, it remains unclear whether these genetic risk variants are ADHD-specific. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between ADHD genetic risks and related neurodevelopmental and externalizing conditions, and to quantify the extent to which any such associations can be attributed to a general genetic liability towards psychopathology. We derived ADHD polygenic risk scores (PRS) for 13,460 children aged 9 and 12 years from the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden, using results from an independent meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of ADHD diagnosis and symptoms. Associations between ADHD PRS, a latent general psychopathology factor, and six latent neurodevelopmental and externalizing factors were estimated using structural equation modelling. ADHD PRS were statistically significantly associated with elevated levels of inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, autistic traits, learning difficulties, oppositional-defiant, and conduct problems (standardized regression coefficients=0.07-0.12). Only the association with specific hyperactivity/impulsivity remained significant after accounting for a general psychopathology factor, on which all symptoms loaded positively (standardized mean loading=0.61, range=0.32-0.91). ADHD PRS simultaneously explained 1% (p-value<0.001) of the variance in the general psychopathology factor and 0.50% (p-value<0.001) in the specific hyperactivity/impulsivity factor. Our results suggest that common genetic risk variants associated with ADHD have largely general pleiotropic effects on neurodevelopmental and externalizing traits in the general population, in addition to a specific association with hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms.

Application of Stem Cells to Understanding Psychiatric Disorders

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Brennand
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Risk Variants ◽  
Disease Predisposition ◽  
Full Complement ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

While much has been learned through clinical post-mortem and neuroimaging studies of patients and animal models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ), these classical approaches have yet to fully elucidate the interaction of complex genetic risk factors on disease predisposition. The derivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from patients with psychiatric disorders permits the study of the full complement of risk variants (known and unknown) that underlie disease predisposition, precisely in the cell types relevant to disease. The following chapter covers work to date regarding the advancements in the use of hiPSCs to model psychiatric disorders.

scholarly journals The Genetic Architecture of Gliomagenesis–Genetic Risk Variants Linked to Specific Molecular Subtypes

Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Yi-Ying Wu ◽  
Gunnar Johansson ◽  
Carl Wibom ◽  
Thomas Brännström ◽  
Annika Malmström ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Molecular Subtypes ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Molecular Alterations ◽  
Risk Variants ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Genetic Risk Variants

Genome-wide association studies have identified 25 germline genetic loci that increase the risk of glioma. The somatic tumor molecular alterations, including IDH-mutation status and 1p/19q co-deletion, have been included into the WHO 2016 classification system for glioma. To investigate how the germline genetic risk variants correlate with the somatic molecular subtypes put forward by WHO, we performed a meta-analysis that combined findings from 330 Swedish cases and 876 controls with two other recent studies. In total, 5,103 cases and 10,915 controls were included. Three categories of associations were found. First, variants in TERT and TP53 were associated with increased risk of all glioma subtypes. Second, variants in CDKN2B-AS1, EGFR, and RTEL1 were associated with IDH-wildtype glioma. Third, variants in CCDC26 (the 8q24 locus), C2orf80 (close to IDH), LRIG1, PHLDB1, ETFA, MAML2 and ZBTB16 were associated with IDH-mutant glioma. We therefore propose three etiopathological pathways in gliomagenesis based on germline variants for future guidance of diagnosis and potential functional targets for therapies. Future prospective clinical trials of patients with suspicion of glioma diagnoses, using the genetic variants as biomarkers, are necessary to disentangle how strongly they can predict glioma diagnosis.

scholarly journals 0026 Gwas Of Nightmares Discovers Genetic Risk Variants And Shows Strong Overlapping Risk For Sleep And Psychiatric Disorders

SLEEP ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A10-A11
Author(s):  
Hanna M Ollila ◽  
Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong ◽  
Katri Kantojärvi ◽  
Teemu Palviainen ◽  
Anita Pandit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Risk Variants ◽  
Genetic Risk Variants

scholarly journals Contribution of 3D genome topological domains to genetic risk of cancers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Philipp Jablonski ◽  
Leopold Carron ◽  
Julien Mozziconacci ◽  
Thierry Forné ◽  
Marc-Thorsten Hütt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Genome Organization ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Genome Wide Association ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Entire Genome ◽  
Topological Domains ◽  
3D Genome ◽  
Genome Wide

Genome-wide association studies have identified statistical associations between various diseases, including cancers, and a large number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, they provide no direct explanation of the mechanisms underlying the association. Based on the recent discovery that changes in 3-dimensional genome organization may have functional consequences on gene regulation favoring diseases, we investigated systematically the genome-wide distribution of disease-associated SNPs with respect to a specific feature of 3D genome organization: topologically-associating domains (TADs) and their borders. For each of 449 diseases, we tested whether the associated SNPs are present in TAD borders more often than observed by chance, where chance (i.e. the null model in statistical terms) corresponds to the same number of pointwise loci drawn at random either in the entire genome, or in the entire set of disease-associated SNPs listed in the GWAS catalog. Our analysis shows that a fraction of diseases display such a preferential location of their risk loci. Moreover, cancers are relatively more frequent among these diseases, and this predominance is generally enhanced when considering only intergenic SNPs. The structure of SNP-based diseasome networks confirms that TAD border enrichment in risk loci differ between cancers and non-cancer diseases. Different TAD border enrichments are observed in embryonic stem cells and differentiated cells, which agrees with an evolution along embryogenesis of the 3D genome organization into topological domains. Our results suggest that, for certain diseases, part of the genetic risk lies in a local genetic variation affecting the genome partitioning in topologically-insulated domains. Investigating this possible contribution to genetic risk is particularly relevant in cancers. This study thus opens a way of interpreting genome-wide association studies, by distinguishing two types of disease-associated SNPs: one with a direct effect on an individual gene, the other acting in interplay with 3D genome organization.

Actual strategies in human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) differentiation – perspectives and challenges

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-136
Author(s):  
Ewelina Augustyniak ◽  
Katarzyna Kulcenty ◽  
Michał Lach ◽  
Igor Piotrowski ◽  
Wiktoria Maria Suchorska
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Human Embryos ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Autologous Grafts ◽  
Derivatives Of

The application of stem cells (SCs) in regenerative medicine has recently become a rapidly growing field, holding promise for combating a number of currently incurable disorders: including diabetes, neurodegenerative, retinal and cardiac diseases, as well as muscular dystrophy. The search for alternative approaches led to the development of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) which have unrestricted proliferative activity and pluripotency – the capacity to differentiation into derivatives of three germ layers (meso-, ecto – and endoderm). Because hiPSCs are developed from adult human cells throughout the forced expression of pluripotency factors, they are free from the ethical concerns associated with human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), that creation involves the destruction of human embryos. Moreover, the use of hiPSCs contributes to the development of personalized medicine that exploits patient-specific cells extremely useful in autologous grafts. In the present study the methods of hiPSCs differentiation into stem cell-derived neurons, cardiomyocytes, chondrocytes and osteocytes were summarized and evaluated having regard to their most important aspects.

Abstract P482: Elucidating And Characterizing The Molecular Mechanistic Role Of Phospholamban L39 Stop In The Pathophysiology Of Cardiomyopathy Using Patient-derived Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells And Humanized Knock-in Mouse Model Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 129 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anichavezhi Devendran ◽  
Rasheed Bailey ◽  
Sumanta Kar ◽  
Francesca Stillitano ◽  
Irene Turnbull ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Mouse Model ◽  
Mononuclear Cells ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical condition associated with substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. The contractile dysfunction and arrhythmogenesis related to HF has been linked to the remodelling of calcium (Ca ++ ) handling. Phospholamban (PLN) has emerged as a key regulator of intracellular Ca ++ concentration. Of the PLN mutations, L39X is intriguing as it has not been fully characterized. This mutation is believed to be functionally equivalent to PLN null (KO) but contrary to PLN KO mice, L39X carriers develop a lethal cardiomyopathy (CMP). Our study aims at using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) from homozygous L39X carriers to elucidate the role of L39X in human pathophysiology. Our plan also involves the characterization of humanized L39X knock-in mice (KM), which we hypothesize will develop a CMP from mis-localization of PLN and disruption of Ca ++ signalling. Methodology and Results: Mononuclear cells from Hom L39X carriers were obtained to generate 11 integration-free patient-specific iPSC clones. The iPSC-CMs were derived using established protocols. Compared to the WT iPSC-CMs, the Hom L39X derived-CMs PLN had an abnormal cytoplasmic distribution and formed intracellular aggregates, with the loss of perinuclear localization. There was also a 70% and 50% reduction of mRNA and protein expression of PLN respectively in L39X compared to WT iPSC-CMs. These findings indicated that L39X PLN is both under-expressed and mis-localized within the cell. To validate this observation in-vivo, we genetically modified FVB mice to harbour the human L39X. Following electroporation, positively transfected mouse embryonic stem cells were injected into host blastocysts to make humanized KM that were subsequently used to generate either a protamine-Cre (endogenous PLN driven expression) or a cardiac TNT mouse (i.e., CMP specific). Conclusion: Our data confirm an abnormal intracellular distribution of PLN, with the loss of perinuclear accumulation and mis-localization, suggestive of ineffective targeting to or retention of L39X. The mouse model will be critically important to validate the in-vitro observations and provides an ideal platform for future studies centred on the development of novel therapeutic strategies including virally delivered CRISPR/Cas9 for in-vivo gene editing and testing of biochemical signalling pathways.

scholarly journals Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells from human blood

Blood ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 113 (22) ◽  
pp. 5476-5479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuin-Han Loh ◽  
Suneet Agarwal ◽  
In-Hyun Park ◽  
Achia Urbach ◽  
Hongguang Huo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Transcription Factors ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Human Blood ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Methylation Status ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Dermal Fibroblasts ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Human dermal fibroblasts obtained by skin biopsy can be reprogrammed directly to pluripotency by the ectopic expression of defined transcription factors. Here, we describe the derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells from CD34+ mobilized human peripheral blood cells using retroviral transduction of OCT4/SOX2/KLF4/MYC. Blood-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells are indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells with respect to morphology, expression of surface antigens, and pluripotency-associated transcription factors, DNA methylation status at pluripotent cell-specific genes, and the capacity to differentiate in vitro and in teratomas. The ability to reprogram cells from human blood will allow the generation of patient-specific stem cells for diseases in which the disease-causing somatic mutations are restricted to cells of the hematopoietic lineage.

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