Project description:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive motor neuron loss. IsomiRs are microRNA (miRNA) isoforms that arise from alternative processing or editing events during miRNA biogenesis. While isomiRs may carry distinct biological and clinical relevance, their potential as cell-free biomarkers in neurodegeneration remains largely unexplored. Here we investigated the prognostic utility of plasma isomiRs in ALS, using next-generation sequencing. We profiled cell-free isomiRs in 154 ALS patients from a British cohort and identified higher levels of one isomiR, let-7g-5p.t, to be associated with longer survival. This finding was independently validated in an international ALS cohort of 200 patients and was in two orthogonal approaches. let-7g-5p.t prognostic utility was comparable to that of neurofilament light chain (NfL) or miR-181. These results establish isomiRs as a novel class of blood-based biomarkers in ALS with potential to refine prognostication in clinical trials for neurodegenerative diseases.
Project description:Numerous genes mutated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) share a role in DNA damage and repair, emphasizing genome disintegration in ALS. DNA instability and repair mechanisms segregate extrachromosomal circular DNAs (ec/eccDNAs) that can modulate gene expression somatically. Here, circulome profiling in a hSOD1G93A genotoxicity model of ALS revealed a 6-fold enrichment of small-size eccDNAs relative to controls. DifCir-based differential analysis identified 189 genes with patterned segregation of differentially produced per gene circles (DPpGCs) from ALS but not from control samples, implicating an inter-sample recurrence rate of at least 89% for the top 6 DPpGCs. Mass spectrometry-based ALS circulome-proteome cross-referencing revealed 31 corresponding differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), with 12 DPpGC-DEP pairs being itemized in ALS risk GWAS databases. DPpGC-DEP hotspots mainly convey neuron-specific functions counteracting ALS detriments. This is unanticipated evidence for non-random, profiled eccDNA accumulation in ALS neurodegeneration, involving putative interactions with their gene products as well as biomarker perspectives.
Project description:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive motor neuron loss. IsomiRs are microRNA (miRNA) isoforms that arise from alternative processing or editing events during miRNA biogenesis. While isomiRs may carry distinct biological and clinical relevance, their potential as cell-free biomarkers in neurodegeneration remains largely unexplored. Here we investigated the prognostic utility of plasma isomiRs in ALS, using next-generation sequencing. We profiled cell-free isomiRs in 154 ALS patients from a British cohort and identified higher levels of one isomiR, let-7g-5p.t, to be associated with longer survival. This finding was independently validated in an international ALS cohort of 200 patients and was in two orthogonal approaches. let-7g-5p.t prognostic utility was comparable to that of neurofilament light chain (NfL) or miR-181. These results establish isomiRs as a novel class of blood-based biomarkers in ALS with potential to refine prognostication in clinical trials for neurodegenerative diseases.
Project description:Differentiated motor neurons from hiPSC derived from peripheral nerve fibroblasts of sporadic ALS patients and evaluated the gene expression profile by means microarray-linked to specific analysis tools. Two-condition experiment, ALS patients motor neurons vs. controls. Biological replicates: 3 ALS replicates, 3 control replicates.
Project description:Transcripional profiling of lymphocytes from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (n=11) and healthy control subjects (n=11). The goal was to determine disease response expression signatures relevant of ALS pathogenesis that affect brain and spinal cord. The reference design was used: each Cy5-labeled cRNA sample from ALS patient or healthy control subject was cohybridized on Agilent-014850 Whole Human Genome Microarray 4x44K G4112F with the reference pool formed with equal amounts of Cy3-labeled cRNAs from each sample from the healthy control group. Eleven lymphocyte samples from definite sporadic ALS patients and eleven samples from healthy control subjects were used.
Project description:The purpose of this experiment was to compare the differences in transcript levels between RNA samples collected from fibroblasts from healthy control patients, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients carrying an expanded GGGGCC repeat mutation in the chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 gene and ALS patients with a mutation in the SOD1 gene.