Project description:DUX4 is generally agreed to underlie pathology in Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy Microarrays were used to examine gene expression after primary murine satellite cell-derived myoblasts were retrovirally infected with constructs encoding DUX4, DUX4c, constitutively active, dominant negative and truncated DUX4 versions.
Project description:Facioscapulohumoral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by misexpression of the DUX4 transcription factor in skeletal muscle that results in transcriptional alterations, abnormal phenotypes, and cell death. To gain insight into the kinetics of DUX4-induced stresses, we activated DUX4 expression in myoblasts and performed longitudinal RNA sequencing paired with proteomics and phosphoproteomics. This analysis revealed changes in cellular physiology including DNA damage and altered mRNA splicing. Phosphoproteomic analysis uncovered widespread changes in protein phosphorylation rapidly following DUX4 induction indicating that alterations in kinase signaling may play a role in DUX4-mediated stress and cell death. Indeed, we demonstrate that two stress-responsive MAP kinase pathways, JNK and p38, are activated in response to DUX4 expression. Inhibition of each of these pathways ameliorated DUX4-mediated cell death in myoblasts. These findings uncover JNK as a novel pathway involved in DUX4-mediated cell death as well as provide additional insights into the role of the p38 pathway, a clinical target for the treatment of FSHD.
Project description:Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most common inherited muscular dystrophies. The causative gene remains controversial and the mechanism of pathophysiology unknown. Here we identify genes associated with germline and early stem cell development as targets of the DUX4 transcription factor, a leading candidate gene for FSHD. The genes regulated by DUX4 are reliably detected in FSHD muscle but not in controls, providing direct support for the model that misexpression of DUX4 is a causal factor for FSHD. Additionally, we show that DUX4 binds and activates LTR elements from a class of MaLR endogenous primate retrotransposons and suppresses the innate immune response to viral infection, at least in part through the activation of DEFB103, a human defensin that can inhibit muscle differentiation. These findings suggest specific mechanisms of FSHD pathology and identify candidate biomarkers for disease diagnosis and progression. [Overexpression experiment] Quadruplicate total RNA samples were collected from control human primary myoblasts transduced with lentivirus carrying DUX4-fl, DUX4-s or GFP (MOI = 15) for 24 h and from untransduced myoblasts. [Defensin experiment] Quadruplicate samples were also collected from myoblasts and myotubes grown in media containing human beta-defensin 3 peptide or in control media.
Project description:We found that BAP1 (BRCA1 Associated Protein-1) shows loss of heterozygosity in over 25% of pancreatic cancer patients and functions as tumor suppressor. Conditional deletion of Bap1 in murine pancreas led to genomic instability, accumulation of DNA damage, and an inflammatory response that evolved to pancreatitis with full penetrance. Concomitant expression of oncogenic KrasG12D led to malignant transformation and development of invasive and metastatic pancreatic cancer. At the molecular level, BAP1 maintains the integrity of the exocrine pancreas by regulating genomic stability and its loss confers sensitivity to radio- and platinum-based therapies.
Project description:In human muscle, SMCHD1 mutations are associated with the onset of FSHD2, but the mechanism driving the disease onset remains unclear. A commonly accepted explanation is the loss of SMCHD1 binding to the D4Z4 locus activates the expression of DUX4 in FSHD2 muscle. In this study, we used human myoblasts having DUX4 non-permissive 4qB alleles as a model to study DUX4-independent functions of SMCHD1 on myoblast cell growth. Surprisingly, depletion of SMCHD1 in these cells resulted in a cell proliferation defect. Despite the absence of DUX4 target genes’ activation, these cells showed a repression of PAX7 target genes (a hallmark of FSHD) and similar changes in expression profile compared to FSHD myoblasts. Interestingly, downregulation of cell proliferation-related genes and dysregulation of fibroblasts-specific genes were observed in SMCHD1 knockdown myoblasts and FSHD2 myoblasts but not FSHD1 myoblasts. Additionally, we identified LAP2 as direct targets of SMCHD1. Depletion of LAP2 leads to cell proliferation defect similar to the effect after SMCHD1 knockdown. These data imply that DUX4 is not the only driver for the onset of FSHD, and SMCHD1 has DUX4-independent functions in muscle growth and development.
Project description:We report both DUX4 and Dux toxicity depend upon their ability to bind DNA and activate transcription. Chromatin immunoprecipitation of V5 epitope tagged human DUX4 and mouse Dux was performed in human myoblasts was analyzed using ChIP-Seq to identify their subsequent binding sites. We found that DUX4 and Dux bind 4-8% of identical sequences, while majority of the binding sites are unique to either DUX4 or Dux. Although small, this overlap could be due to their conserved abilioty to regualte primordial pathways that were essential for life and therefore maintained in both proteins despite their separate evolutionary paths. We performed ChIP-Seq analysis of human myoblasts transfected with plasmids encoding either epitope tagged human DUX4 (1 sample) and mouse Dux (1 sample). Illumina sequencing libraries were prepared from the ChIP and Input DNA, then resulting DNA libraries were quantified and sequenced and aligned to the human genome (hg19).
Project description:We report the RNA-seq experiments performed in human myoblasts transfected with human DUX4 and mouse Dux. Comparison of genes up- and down-regulated by DUX4 and Dux in human myoblasts to identify pathways similiarly regulated by both transcription factors.