Project description:Establishment of a heterozygous genome-wide loss-of-function CRISPR library for studying haploinsufficiency in human embryonic stem cells.
Project description:RARA haploinsufficiency is an invariable consequence of t(15;17) reciprocal translocations in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Furthermore, retinoids and RARA activity have been implicated in hematopoietic self-renewal, lineage commitment and neutrophil maturation. We and others therefore predicted that RARA haploinsufficiency would contribute to APL pathogenesis. To test this hypothesis we crossed RARA+/- mice with mice expressing PML-RARA from the Cathepsin G locus (mCG-PR). We found that RARA haploinsufficiency cooperated with PML-RARA, only modestly influencing the pre-leukemic and leukemic phenotype. Bone marrow from mCG-PR+/- x RARA+/- mice had decreased numbers of mature myeloid cells, increased ex vivo myeloid cell proliferation and an increased competitive advantage following transplantation. RARA haploinsufficiency did not alter mCG-PR dependent leukemic latency or penetrance, but did influence the distribution of leukemic cells; mCG-PR+/- x RARA+/- mice presented more commonly with low to normal white blood cell counts and with myeloid infiltration of lymph nodes. APL arising in these mice was responsive to ATRA, and had virtually no differences in expression profiling compared to tumors arising in mCG-PR+/- x RARA+/+ mice. These phenotypes were dependent on PML-RARA activity, since they were not detected in RARA+/- mice in the absence of the mCG-PR transgene. These data show that RARA haploinsufficiency (like PML haploinsufficiency and RARA-PML) can cooperate with PML-RARA to influence the pathogenesis and phenotype of APL in mice, but that PML-RARA is the driver of t(15;17) APL. RARA+/- mice were crossed with mice expressing PML-RARA from Cathepsin G locus (mCG-PR). Five leukemic mice were chosen from each of the mCG-PR+/-RARA+/- and mCG-PR+/-RARA+/+ strains and total RNA extracted from the spleen samples were analyzed using Affymetrics Mouse Exon 1.0 platform
Project description:Genetic TNFAIP3 (A20) inactivation is a classical somatic lymphoma lesion and the genomic trait in haploinsufficiency of A20 (HA20). In a cohort of 33 HA20 patients, we show that heterozygous TNFAIP3 loss skews immune repertoires towards lymphocytes with classical self-reactive antigen receptors typically found in B and T cell lymphomas.
Project description:The molecular basis of interindividual clinical variability upon infection with Staphylococcus aureus is unclear. We describe patients with haploinsufficiency for the linear deubiquitinase OTULIN, encoded on chromosome 5p. The patients suffer from episodes of life-threatening necrosis, typically triggered by S. aureus infections. The disorder is phenocopied in patients with the 5p- (Cri-du-Chat) chromosomal deletion syndrome. OTULIN haploinsufficiency causes an accumulation of linear ubiquitin in dermal fibroblasts, but TNF-receptor NF-κB-signaling remains intact. Blood leukocyte subsets are unaffected. The OTULIN-dependent accumulation of caveolin-1 in dermal fibroblasts — but not leukocytes — facilitates the cytotoxic damage inflicted by the staphylococcal virulence factor α-toxin. Naturally elicited antibodies to α-toxin contribute to incomplete clinical penetrance. By disrupting cell-intrinsic immunity to α-toxin in non-leukocytic cells, human OTULIN haploinsufficiency underlies life-threatening staphylococcal disease.
Project description:RARA haploinsufficiency is an invariable consequence of t(15;17) reciprocal translocations in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Furthermore, retinoids and RARA activity have been implicated in hematopoietic self-renewal, lineage commitment and neutrophil maturation. We and others therefore predicted that RARA haploinsufficiency would contribute to APL pathogenesis. To test this hypothesis we crossed RARA+/- mice with mice expressing PML-RARA from the Cathepsin G locus (mCG-PR). We found that RARA haploinsufficiency cooperated with PML-RARA, only modestly influencing the pre-leukemic and leukemic phenotype. Bone marrow from mCG-PR+/- x RARA+/- mice had decreased numbers of mature myeloid cells, increased ex vivo myeloid cell proliferation and an increased competitive advantage following transplantation. RARA haploinsufficiency did not alter mCG-PR dependent leukemic latency or penetrance, but did influence the distribution of leukemic cells; mCG-PR+/- x RARA+/- mice presented more commonly with low to normal white blood cell counts and with myeloid infiltration of lymph nodes. APL arising in these mice was responsive to ATRA, and had virtually no differences in expression profiling compared to tumors arising in mCG-PR+/- x RARA+/+ mice. These phenotypes were dependent on PML-RARA activity, since they were not detected in RARA+/- mice in the absence of the mCG-PR transgene. These data show that RARA haploinsufficiency (like PML haploinsufficiency and RARA-PML) can cooperate with PML-RARA to influence the pathogenesis and phenotype of APL in mice, but that PML-RARA is the driver of t(15;17) APL.
Project description:We have generated human induced Pluripotent Stem cells (hiPSc) from two individuals with OPA1 haploinsufficiency, and one control donor, using Sendai virus-mediated delivery of reprogramming factors. hiPSc lines have been screened using SNP array to assess chromosomal stability (alongside the fibroblast lines from which they derived), and validation of the pluripotency of the hiPSc lines is provided by Pluritest assessment of transcriptome datasets, prior to differentiation to dopaminergic neuronal clutures and downstream functional assays. Mitochondrial fragmentation in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons with OPA1 haploinsufficiency underpins increased apoptosis and syndromic Parkinsonism.