@article {919, title = {DAAM2 Variants Cause Nephrotic Syndrome via Actin Dysregulation.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {107}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 12 03}, pages = {1113-1128}, abstract = {

The discovery of >60 monogenic causes of nephrotic syndrome (NS) has revealed a central role for the actin regulators RhoA/Rac1/Cdc42 and their effectors, including the formin INF2. By whole-exome sequencing (WES), we here discovered bi-allelic variants in the formin DAAM2 in four unrelated families with steroid-resistant NS. We show that DAAM2 localizes to the cytoplasm in podocytes and in kidney sections. Further, the variants impair DAAM2-dependent actin remodeling processes: wild-type DAAM2 cDNA, but not cDNA representing missense variants found in individuals with NS, rescued reduced podocyte migration rate (PMR) and restored reduced filopodia formation in shRNA-induced DAAM2-knockdown podocytes. Filopodia restoration was also induced by the formin-activating molecule IMM-01. DAAM2 also co-localizes and co-immunoprecipitates with INF2, which is intriguing since variants in both formins cause NS. Using in~vitro bulk and TIRF microscopy assays, we find that DAAM2 variants alter actin assembly activities of the formin. In a Xenopus daam2-CRISPR knockout model, we demonstrate actin dysregulation in~vivo and glomerular maldevelopment that is rescued by WT-DAAM2 mRNA. We conclude that DAAM2 variants are a likely cause of monogenic human SRNS due to actin dysregulation in podocytes. Further, we provide evidence that DAAM2-associated SRNS may be amenable to treatment using actin regulating compounds.

}, keywords = {Actins, Alleles, Animals, Animals, Genetically Modified, Cell Movement, Cytoplasm, Formins, Genetic Variation, Humans, Kidney, Kidney Glomerulus, Microfilament Proteins, Mutation, Missense, Nephrotic Syndrome, Podocytes, Pseudopodia, rho GTP-Binding Proteins, RNA, Small Interfering, Whole Exome Sequencing, Xenopus}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.11.008}, author = {Schneider, Ronen and Deutsch, Konstantin and Hoeprich, Gregory J and Marquez, Jonathan and Hermle, Tobias and Braun, Daniela A and Seltzsam, Steve and Kitzler, Thomas M and Mao, Youying and Buerger, Florian and Majmundar, Amar J and Onuchic-Whitford, Ana C and Kolvenbach, Caroline M and Schierbaum, Luca and Schneider, Sophia and Halawi, Abdul A and Nakayama, Makiko and Mann, Nina and Connaughton, Dervla M and Kl{\"a}mbt, Verena and Wagner, Matias and Riedhammer, Korbinian M and Renders, Lutz and Katsura, Yoshichika and Thumkeo, Dean and Soliman, Neveen A and Mane, Shrikant and Lifton, Richard P and Shril, Shirlee and Khokha, Mustafa K and Hoefele, Julia and Goode, Bruce L and Hildebrandt, Friedhelm} } @article {907, title = {Mutations of the Transcriptional Corepressor ZMYM2 Cause Syndromic Urinary Tract Malformations.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {107}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 10 01}, pages = {727-742}, abstract = {

Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) constitute one of the most frequent birth defects and represent the most common cause of chronic kidney disease in the first three decades of life. Despite the discovery of dozens of monogenic causes of CAKUT, most pathogenic pathways remain elusive. We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) in 551 individuals with CAKUT and identified a heterozygous de novo stop-gain variant in ZMYM2 in two different families with CAKUT. Through collaboration, we identified in total 14 different heterozygous loss-of-function mutations in ZMYM2 in 15 unrelated families. Most mutations occurred de novo, indicating possible interference with reproductive function. Human disease features are replicated in X.~tropicalis larvae with morpholino knockdowns, in which expression of truncated ZMYM2 proteins, based on individual mutations, failed to rescue renal and craniofacial defects. Moreover, heterozygous Zmym2-deficient mice recapitulated features of CAKUT with high penetrance. The ZMYM2 protein is a component of a transcriptional corepressor complex recently linked to the silencing of developmentally regulated endogenous retrovirus elements. Using protein-protein interaction assays, we show that ZMYM2 interacts with additional epigenetic silencing complexes, as well as confirming that it binds to FOXP1, a transcription factor that has also been linked to CAKUT. In summary, our findings establish that loss-of-function mutations of ZMYM2, and potentially that of other proteins in its interactome, as causes of human CAKUT, offering new routes for studying the pathogenesis of the disorder.

}, keywords = {Amphibian Proteins, Animals, Case-Control Studies, Child, Child, Preschool, DNA-Binding Proteins, Epigenesis, Genetic, Family, Female, Forkhead Transcription Factors, Heterozygote, Humans, Infant, Larva, Male, Mice, Mice, Knockout, Morpholinos, Mutation, Pedigree, Protein Binding, Repressor Proteins, Transcription Factors, Urinary Tract, Urogenital Abnormalities, Whole Exome Sequencing, Xenopus}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.08.013}, author = {Connaughton, Dervla M and Dai, Rufeng and Owen, Danielle J and Marquez, Jonathan and Mann, Nina and GrAHm-Paquin, Adda L and Nakayama, Makiko and Coyaud, Etienne and Laurent, Estelle M N and St-Germain, Jonathan R and Blok, Lot Snijders and Vino, Arianna and Kl{\"a}mbt, Verena and Deutsch, Konstantin and Wu, Chen-Han Wilfred and Kolvenbach, Caroline M and Kause, Franziska and Ottlewski, Isabel and Schneider, Ronen and Kitzler, Thomas M and Majmundar, Amar J and Buerger, Florian and Onuchic-Whitford, Ana C and Youying, Mao and Kolb, Amy and Salmanullah, Daanya and Chen, Evan and van der Ven, Amelie T and Rao, Jia and Ityel, Hadas and Seltzsam, Steve and Rieke, Johanna M and Chen, Jing and Vivante, Asaf and Hwang, Daw-Yang and Kohl, Stefan and Dworschak, Gabriel C and Hermle, Tobias and Alders, Marielle and Bartolomaeus, Tobias and Bauer, Stuart B and Baum, Michelle A and Brilstra, Eva H and Challman, Thomas D and Zyskind, Jacob and Costin, Carrie E and Dipple, Katrina M and Duijkers, Floor A and Ferguson, Marcia and FitzPatrick, David R and Fick, Roger and Glass, Ian A and Hulick, Peter J and Kline, Antonie D and Krey, Ilona and Kumar, Selvin and Lu, Weining and Marco, Elysa J and Wentzensen, Ingrid M and Mefford, Heather C and Platzer, Konrad and Povolotskaya, Inna S and Savatt, Juliann M and Shcherbakova, Natalia V and Senguttuvan, Prabha and Squire, Audrey E and Stein, Deborah R and Thiffault, Isabelle and Voinova, Victoria Y and Somers, Michael J G and Ferguson, Michael A and Traum, Avram Z and Daouk, Ghaleb H and Daga, Ankana and Rodig, Nancy M and Terhal, Paulien A and van Binsbergen, Ellen and Eid, Loai A and Tasic, Velibor and Rasouly, Hila Milo and Lim, Tze Y and Ahram, Dina F and Gharavi, Ali G and Reutter, Heiko M and Rehm, Heidi L and MacArthur, Daniel G and Lek, Monkol and Laricchia, Kristen M and Lifton, Richard P and Xu, Hong and Mane, Shrikant M and Sanna-Cherchi, Simone and Sharrocks, Andrew D and Raught, Brian and Fisher, Simon E and Bouchard, Maxime and Khokha, Mustafa K and Shril, Shirlee and Hildebrandt, Friedhelm} } @article {951, title = { variants are associated with multiple congenital anomalies including ciliopathy phenotypes.}, journal = {J Med Genet}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Jul 06}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Cilia are dynamic cellular extensions that generate and sense signals to orchestrate proper development and tissue homeostasis. They rely on the underlying polarisation of cells to participate in signalling. Cilia dysfunction is a well-known cause of several diseases that affect multiple organ systems including the kidneys, brain, heart, respiratory tract, skeleton and retina.

METHODS: Among individuals from four unrelated families, we identified variants in ( that manifested in a variety of pathologies. In our proband, we also examined patient tissues. We depleted in frog embryos to generate a loss-of-function model. Finally, we tested the pathogenicity of patient variants through rescue experiments in the frog model.

RESULTS: Patients with variants of were found to have a variety of phenotypes including cystic kidneys, nephrotic syndrome, hydrocephalus, limb abnormalities, congenital heart disease and craniofacial malformations. We also observed a loss of cilia in cystic kidney tissue of our proband. Knockdown of in embryos recapitulated many of these phenotypes and resulted in a loss of cilia in multiple tissues. Unlike introduction of wildtype in frog embryos depleted of introduction of patient variants was largely ineffective in restoring proper ciliation and tissue morphology in the kidney and brain suggesting that the variants were indeed detrimental to function.

CONCLUSION: These findings in both patient tissues and shed light on how mutations in may lead to tissue-specific manifestations of disease. DLG5 is essential for cilia and many of the patient phenotypes are in the ciliopathy spectrum.

}, issn = {1468-6244}, doi = {10.1136/jmedgenet-2019-106805}, author = {Marquez, Jonathan and Mann, Nina and Arana, Kathya and Deniz, Engin and Ji, Weizhen and Konstantino, Monica and Mis, Emily K and Deshpande, Charu and Jeffries, Lauren and McGlynn, Julie and Hugo, Hannah and Widmeier, Eugen and Konrad, Martin and Tasic, Velibor and Morotti, Raffaella and Baptista, Julia and Ellard, Sian and Lakhani, Saquib Ali and Hildebrandt, Friedhelm and Khokha, Mustafa K} } @article {513, title = {Mutations in multiple components of the nuclear pore complex cause nephrotic syndrome.}, journal = {J Clin Invest}, volume = {128}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Oct 01}, pages = {4313-4328}, abstract = {

Steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) almost invariably progresses to end-stage renal disease. Although more than 50 monogenic causes of SRNS have been described, a large proportion of SRNS remains unexplained. Recently, it was discovered that mutations of NUP93 and NUP205, encoding 2 proteins of the inner ring subunit of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), cause SRNS. Here, we describe mutations in genes encoding 4 components of the outer rings of the NPC, namely NUP107, NUP85, NUP133, and NUP160, in 13 families with SRNS. Using coimmunoprecipitation experiments, we showed that certain pathogenic alleles weakened the interaction between neighboring NPC subunits. We demonstrated that morpholino knockdown of nup107, nup85, or nup133 in Xenopus disrupted glomerulogenesis. Re-expression of WT mRNA, but not of mRNA reflecting mutations from SRNS patients, mitigated this phenotype. We furthermore found that CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of NUP107, NUP85, or NUP133 in podocytes activated Cdc42, an important effector of SRNS pathogenesis. CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of nup107 or nup85 in zebrafish caused developmental anomalies and early lethality. In contrast, an in-frame mutation of nup107 did not affect survival, thus mimicking the allelic effects seen in humans. In conclusion, we discovered here that mutations in 4 genes encoding components of the outer ring subunits of the NPC cause SRNS and thereby provide further evidence that specific hypomorphic mutations in these essential genes cause a distinct, organ-specific phenotype.

}, issn = {1558-8238}, doi = {10.1172/JCI98688}, author = {Braun, Daniela A and Lovric, Svjetlana and Schapiro, David and Schneider, Ronen and Marquez, Jonathan and Asif, Maria and Hussain, Muhammad Sajid and Daga, Ankana and Widmeier, Eugen and Rao, Jia and Ashraf, Shazia and Tan, Weizhen and Lusk, C Patrick and Kolb, Amy and Jobst-Schwan, Tilman and Schmidt, Johanna Magdalena and Hoogstraten, Charlotte A and Eddy, Kaitlyn and Kitzler, Thomas M and Shril, Shirlee and Moawia, Abubakar and Schrage, Kathrin and Khayyat, Arwa Ishaq A and Lawson, Jennifer A and Gee, Heon Yung and Warejko, Jillian K and Hermle, Tobias and Majmundar, Amar J and Hugo, Hannah and Budde, Birgit and Motameny, Susanne and Altm{\"u}ller, Janine and Noegel, Angelika Anna and Fathy, Hanan M and Gale, Daniel P and Waseem, Syeda Seema and Khan, Ayaz and Kerecuk, Larissa and Hashmi, Seema and Mohebbi, Nilufar and Ettenger, Robert and Serdaroglu, Erkin and Alhasan, Khalid A and Hashem, Mais and Goncalves, Sara and Ariceta, Gema and Ubetagoyena, Mercedes and Antonin, Wolfram and Baig, Shahid Mahmood and Alkuraya, Fowzan S and Shen, Qian and Xu, Hong and Antignac, Corinne and Lifton, Richard P and Mane, Shrikant and N{\"u}rnberg, Peter and Khokha, Mustafa K and Hildebrandt, Friedhelm} } @article {224, title = {Mutation of NLRC4 causes a syndrome of enterocolitis and autoinflammation.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {46}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Oct}, pages = {1135-1139}, abstract = {

Upon detection of pathogen-associated molecular patterns, innate immune receptors initiate inflammatory responses. These receptors include cytoplasmic NOD-like receptors (NLRs) whose stimulation recruits and proteolytically activates caspase-1 within the inflammasome, a multiprotein complex. Caspase-1 mediates the production of interleukin-1 family cytokines (IL1FCs), leading to fever and inflammatory cell death (pyroptosis). Mutations that constitutively activate these pathways underlie several autoinflammatory diseases with diverse clinical features. We describe a family with a previously unreported syndrome featuring neonatal-onset enterocolitis, periodic fever, and fatal or near-fatal episodes of autoinflammation. We show that the disease is caused by a de novo gain-of-function mutation in NLRC4 encoding a p.Val341Ala substitution in the HD1 domain of the protein that cosegregates with disease. Mutant NLRC4 causes constitutive IL1FC production and macrophage cell death. Infected macrophages from affected individuals are polarized toward pyroptosis and exhibit abnormal staining for inflammasome components. These findings identify and describe the cause of a life-threatening but treatable autoinflammatory disease that underscores the divergent roles of the NLRC4 inflammasome.

}, keywords = {Calcium-Binding Proteins, CARD Signaling Adaptor Proteins, Enterocolitis, Exome, Family Health, Fatal Outcome, Female, Humans, Inflammation, Male, Mutation, Missense, Pedigree, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Syndrome}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.3066}, author = {Romberg, Neil and Al Moussawi, Khatoun and Nelson-Williams, Carol and Stiegler, Amy L and Loring, Erin and Choi, Murim and Overton, John and Meffre, Eric and Khokha, Mustafa K and Huttner, Anita J and West, Brian and Podoltsev, Nikolai A and Boggon, Titus J and Kazmierczak, Barbara I and Lifton, Richard P} }