Falzarano, MS;
Rossi, R;
Grilli, A;
Fang, M;
Osman, H;
Sabatelli, P;
Antoniel, M;
... Ferlini, A; + view all
(2021)
Urine-Derived Stem Cells Express 571 Neuromuscular Disorders Causing Genes, Making Them a Potential in vitro Model for Rare Genetic Diseases.
Frontiers in Physiology
, 12
, Article 716471. 10.3389/fphys.2021.716471.
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Abstract
Background: Neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) are a heterogeneous group of genetic diseases, caused by mutations in genes involved in spinal cord, peripheral nerve, neuromuscular junction, and muscle functions. To advance the knowledge of the pathological mechanisms underlying NMDs and to eventually identify new potential drugs paving the way for personalized medicine, limitations regarding the availability of neuromuscular disease-related biological samples, rarely accessible from patients, are a major challenge. Aim: We characterized urinary stem cells (USCs) by in-depth transcriptome and protein profiling to evaluate whether this easily accessible source of patient-derived cells is suitable to study neuromuscular genetic diseases, focusing especially on those currently involved in clinical trials. Methods: The global transcriptomics of either native or MyoD transformed USCs obtained from control individuals was performed by RNA-seq. The expression of 610 genes belonging to 16 groups of disorders (http://www.musclegenetable.fr/) whose mutations cause neuromuscular diseases, was investigated on the RNA-seq output. In addition, protein expression of 11 genes related to NMDs including COL6A, EMD, LMNA, SMN, UBA1, DYNC1H1, SOD1, C9orf72, DYSF, DAG1, and HTT was analyzed in native USCs by immunofluorescence and/or Western blot (WB). Results: RNA-seq profile of control USCs shows that 571 out of 610 genes known to be involved in NMDs, are expressed in USCs. Interestingly, the expression levels of the majority of NMD genes remain unmodified following USCs MyoD transformation. Most genes involved in the pathogenesis of all 16 groups of NMDs are well represented except for channelopathies and malignant hyperthermia related genes. All tested proteins showed high expression values, suggesting consistency between transcription and protein representation in USCs. Conclusion: Our data suggest that USCs are human cells, obtainable by non-invasive means, which might be used as a patient-specific cell model to study neuromuscular disease-causing genes and that they can be likely adopted for a variety of in vitro functional studies such as mutation characterization, pathway identification, and drug screening.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Urine-Derived Stem Cells Express 571 Neuromuscular Disorders Causing Genes, Making Them a Potential in vitro Model for Rare Genetic Diseases |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fphys.2021.716471 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.716471 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | t © 2021 Falzarano, Rossi, Grilli, Fang, Osman, Sabatelli, Antoniel, Lu, Li, Selvatici, Al-Khalili, Gualandi, Bicciato, Torelli and Ferlini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | RNA-seq, immunofluorescence, neurodegenerative disorders, neuromuscular disorders, urine derived stem cells, western blot (WB) |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Developmental Neurosciences Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10138411 |
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