@article {999, title = {DLG4-related synaptopathy: a new rare brain disorder.}, journal = {Genet Med}, volume = {23}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 05}, pages = {888-899}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: Postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95), encoded by DLG4, regulates excitatory synaptic function in the brain. Here we present the clinical and genetic features of 53 patients (42 previously unpublished) with DLG4 variants.

METHODS: The clinical and genetic information were~collected through GeneMatcher collaboration. All the individuals were investigated by local clinicians and the gene variants were identified by clinical exome/genome sequencing.

RESULTS: The clinical picture was predominated by early onset global developmental delay, intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, all of which point to a brain disorder. Marfanoid habitus, which was previously suggested to be a characteristic feature of DLG4-related phenotypes, was found in only nine individuals and despite some overlapping features, a distinct facial dysmorphism could not~be established. Of the 45 different DLG4 variants, 39 were predicted to lead to loss of protein function and the majority occurred de novo (four with unknown origin). The six missense variants identified were suggested to lead to structural or functional changes by protein modeling studies.

CONCLUSION: The present study shows that clinical manifestations associated with DLG4 overlap with those found in other neurodevelopmental disorders of synaptic dysfunction; thus, we designate this group of disorders as DLG4-related synaptopathy.

}, keywords = {Autism Spectrum Disorder, Brain, Brain Diseases, Disks Large Homolog 4 Protein, Humans, Intellectual Disability, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Phenotype}, issn = {1530-0366}, doi = {10.1038/s41436-020-01075-9}, author = {Rodr{\'\i}guez-Palmero, Agust{\'\i} and Boerrigter, Melissa Maria and G{\'o}mez-Andr{\'e}s, David and Aldinger, Kimberly A and Marcos-Alcalde, {\'I}{\~n}igo and Popp, Bernt and Everman, David B and Lovgren, Alysia Kern and Arpin, Stephanie and Bahrambeigi, Vahid and Beunders, Gea and Bisgaard, Anne-Marie and Bjerregaard, V A and Bruel, Ange-Line and Challman, Thomas D and Cogn{\'e}, Benjamin and Coubes, Christine and de Man, Stella A and Denomm{\'e}-Pichon, Anne-Sophie and Dye, Thomas J and Elmslie, Frances and Feuk, Lars and Garcia-Minaur, Sixto and Gertler, Tracy and Giorgio, Elisa and Gruchy, Nicolas and Haack, Tobias B and Haldeman-Englert, Chad R and Haukanes, Bj{\o}rn Ivar and Hoyer, Juliane and Hurst, Anna C E and Isidor, Bertrand and Soller, Maria Johansson and Kushary, Sulagna and Kvarnung, Malin and Landau, Yuval E and Leppig, Kathleen A and Lindstrand, Anna and Kleinendorst, Lotte and MacKenzie, Alex and Mandrile, Giorgia and Mendelsohn, Bryce A and Moghadasi, Setareh and Morton, Jenny E and Moutton, S{\'e}bastien and M{\"u}ller, Amelie J and O{\textquoteright}Leary, Melanie and Pacio-Miguez, Marta and Palomares-Bralo, Maria and Parikh, Sumit and Pfundt, Rolph and Pode-Shakked, Ben and Rauch, Anita and Repnikova, Elena and Revah-Politi, Anya and Ross, Meredith J and Ruivenkamp, Claudia A L and Sarrazin, Elisabeth and Savatt, Juliann M and Schluter, Agatha and Sch{\"o}newolf-Greulich, Bitten and Shad, Zohra and Shaw-Smith, Charles and Shieh, Joseph T and Shohat, Motti and Spranger, Stephanie and Thiese, Heidi and Mau-Them, Frederic Tran and van Bon, Bregje and van de Burgt, Ineke and van de Laar, Ingrid M B H and van Drie, Esm{\'e}e and van Haelst, Mieke M and van Ravenswaaij-Arts, Conny M and Verdura, Edgard and Vitobello, Antonio and Waldm{\"u}ller, Stephan and Whiting, Sharon and Zweier, Christiane and Prada, Carlos E and de Vries, Bert B A and Dobyns, William B and Reiter, Simone F and G{\'o}mez-Puertas, Paulino and Pujol, Aurora and T{\"u}mer, Zeynep} } @article {1001, title = {Loss of function mutations in GEMIN5 cause a neurodevelopmental disorder.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {12}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 05 07}, pages = {2558}, abstract = {

GEMIN5, an RNA-binding protein is essential for assembly of the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein complex and facilitates the formation of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), the building blocks of spliceosomes. Here, we have identified 30 affected individuals from 22 unrelated families presenting with developmental delay, hypotonia, and cerebellar ataxia harboring biallelic variants in the GEMIN5 gene. Mutations in GEMIN5 perturb the subcellular distribution, stability, and expression of GEMIN5 protein and its interacting partners in patient iPSC-derived neurons, suggesting a potential loss-of-function mechanism. GEMIN5 mutations result in disruption of snRNP complex assembly formation in patient iPSC neurons. Furthermore, knock down of rigor mortis, the fly homolog of human GEMIN5, leads to developmental defects, motor dysfunction, and a reduced lifespan. Interestingly, we observed that GEMIN5 variants disrupt a distinct set of transcripts and pathways as compared to SMA patient neurons, suggesting different molecular pathomechanisms. These findings collectively provide evidence that pathogenic variants in GEMIN5 perturb physiological functions and result in a neurodevelopmental delay and ataxia syndrome.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Child, Preschool, Developmental Disabilities, Drosophila, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Gene Knockdown Techniques, Gene Ontology, HEK293 Cells, Humans, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Loss of Function Mutation, Male, Muscle Hypotonia, Myoclonic Cerebellar Dyssynergia, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Neurons, Pedigree, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Ribonucleoproteins, Small Nuclear, Rigor Mortis, RNA-Seq, SMN Complex Proteins}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-021-22627-w}, author = {Kour, Sukhleen and Rajan, Deepa S and Fortuna, Tyler R and Anderson, Eric N and Ward, Caroline and Lee, Youngha and Lee, Sangmoon and Shin, Yong Beom and Chae, Jong-Hee and Choi, Murim and Siquier, Karine and Cantagrel, Vincent and Amiel, Jeanne and Stolerman, Elliot S and Barnett, Sarah S and Cousin, Margot A and Castro, Diana and McDonald, Kimberly and Kirmse, Brian and Nemeth, Andrea H and Rajasundaram, Dhivyaa and Innes, A Micheil and Lynch, Danielle and Frosk, Patrick and Collins, Abigail and Gibbons, Melissa and Yang, Michele and Desguerre, Isabelle and Boddaert, Nathalie and Gitiaux, Cyril and Rydning, Siri Lynne and Selmer, Kaja K and Urreizti, Roser and Garcia-Oguiza, Alberto and Osorio, Andr{\'e}s Nascimento and Verdura, Edgard and Pujol, Aurora and McCurry, Hannah R and Landers, John E and Agnihotri, Sameer and Andriescu, E Corina and Moody, Shade B and Phornphutkul, Chanika and Sacoto, Maria J Guillen and Begtrup, Amber and Houlden, Henry and Kirschner, Janbernd and Schorling, David and Rudnik-Sch{\"o}neborn, Sabine and Strom, Tim M and Leiz, Steffen and Juliette, Kali and Richardson, Randal and Yang, Ying and Zhang, Yuehua and Wang, Minghui and Wang, Jia and Wang, Xiaodong and Platzer, Konrad and Donkervoort, Sandra and B{\"o}nnemann, Carsten G and Wagner, Matias and Issa, Mahmoud Y and Elbendary, Hasnaa M and Stanley, Valentina and Maroofian, Reza and Gleeson, Joseph G and Zaki, MAH S and Senderek, Jan and Pandey, Udai Bhan} } @article {995, title = {Neutralizing Autoantibodies to Type I IFNs in >10\% of Patients with Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia Hospitalized in Madrid, Spain.}, journal = {J Clin Immunol}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Apr 13}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: In a recent study, autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons (IFNs) were present in at least 10\% of cases of critical COVID-19 pneumonia. These autoantibodies neutralized most type I IFNs but rarely IFN-beta.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to define the prevalence of autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFN in a cohort of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia treated with IFN-beta-1b during hospitalization and to analyze their impact on various clinical variables and outcomes.

METHODS: We analyzed stored serum/plasma samples and clinical data of COVID-19 patients treated subcutaneously with IFN-beta-1b from March to May 2020, at the Infanta Leonor University Hospital in Madrid, Spain.

RESULTS: The cohort comprised 47 COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia, 16 of whom (34\%) had a critical progression requiring ICU admission. The median age was 71~years, with 28 men (58.6\%). Type I IFN-alpha- and omega-neutralizing autoantibodies were found in 5 of 47 patients with severe pneumonia or critical disease (10.6\%), while they were not found in any of the 118 asymptomatic controls (p = 0.0016). The autoantibodies did not neutralize IFN-beta. No demographic, comorbidity, or clinical differences were seen between individuals with or without autoantibodies. We found a significant correlation between the presence of neutralizing autoantibodies and higher C-reactive protein levels (p = 5.10e) and lower lymphocyte counts (p = 1.80e). No significant association with response to IFN-beta-1b therapy (p = 0.34) was found. Survival analysis suggested that neutralizing autoantibodies may increase the risk of death (4/5, 80\% vs 12/42, 28.5\%).

CONCLUSION: Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFN underlie severe/critical COVID-19 stages in at least 10\% of cases, correlate with increased C-RP and lower lymphocyte counts, and confer a trend towards increased risk of death. Subcutaneous IFN-beta treatment of hospitalized patients did not seem to improve clinical outcome. Studies of earlier, ambulatory IFN-beta treatment are warranted.

}, issn = {1573-2592}, doi = {10.1007/s10875-021-01036-0}, author = {Troya, Jes{\'u}s and Bastard, Paul and Planas-Serra, Laura and Ryan, Pablo and Ruiz, Montse and de Carranza, Mar{\'\i}a and Torres, Juan and Mart{\'\i}nez, Amalia and Abel, Laurent and Casanova, Jean-Laurent and Pujol, Aurora} } @article {903, title = {Inborn errors of type I IFN immunity in patients with life-threatening COVID-19.}, journal = {Science}, volume = {370}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 10 23}, abstract = {

Clinical outcome upon infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ranges from silent infection to lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We have found an enrichment in rare variants predicted to be loss-of-function (LOF) at the 13 human loci known to govern Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3)- and interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7)-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity to influenza virus in 659 patients with life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia relative to 534 subjects with asymptomatic or benign infection. By testing these and other rare variants at these 13 loci, we experimentally defined LOF variants underlying autosomal-recessive or autosomal-dominant deficiencies in 23 patients (3.5\%) 17 to 77 years of age. We show that human fibroblasts with mutations affecting this circuit are vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2. Inborn errors of TLR3- and IRF7-dependent type I IFN immunity can underlie life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia in patients with no prior severe infection.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alleles, Asymptomatic Infections, Betacoronavirus, Child, Child, Preschool, Coronavirus Infections, COVID-19, Female, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Infant, Interferon Regulatory Factor-7, Interferon Type I, Loss of Function Mutation, Male, Middle Aged, Pandemics, Pneumonia, Viral, Receptor, Interferon alpha-beta, SARS-CoV-2, Toll-Like Receptor 3, Young Adult}, issn = {1095-9203}, doi = {10.1126/science.abd4570}, author = {Zhang, Qian and Bastard, Paul and Liu, Zhiyong and Le Pen, J{\'e}r{\'e}mie and Moncada-Velez, Marcela and Chen, Jie and Ogishi, Masato and Sabli, Ira K D and Hodeib, Stephanie and Korol, Cecilia and Rosain, J{\'e}r{\'e}mie and Bilguvar, Kaya and Ye, Junqiang and Bolze, Alexandre and Bigio, Benedetta and Yang, Rui and Arias, Andr{\'e}s Augusto and Zhou, Qinhua and Zhang, Yu and Onodi, Fanny and Korniotis, Sarantis and Karpf, L{\'e}a and Philippot, Quentin and Chbihi, Marwa and Bonnet-Madin, Lucie and Dorgham, Karim and Smith, Nika{\"\i}a and Schneider, William M and Razooky, Brandon S and Hoffmann, Hans-Heinrich and Michailidis, Eleftherios and Moens, Leen and Han, Ji Eun and Lorenzo, Lazaro and Bizien, Lucy and Meade, Philip and Neehus, Anna-Lena and Ugurbil, Aileen Camille and Corneau, Aur{\'e}lien and Kerner, Gaspard and Zhang, Peng and Rapaport, Franck and Seeleuthner, Yoann and Manry, Jeremy and Masson, Cecile and Schmitt, Yohann and Schluter, Agatha and Le Voyer, Tom and Khan, Taushif and Li, Juan and Fellay, Jacques and Roussel, Lucie and Shahrooei, Mohammad and Alosaimi, Mohammed F and Mansouri, Davood and Al-Saud, Haya and Al-Mulla, Fahd and Almourfi, Feras and Al-Muhsen, Saleh Zaid and Alsohime, FAHd and Al Turki, Saeed and Hasanato, Rana and van de Beek, Diederik and Biondi, Andrea and Bettini, Laura Rachele and D{\textquoteright}Angio{\textquoteright}, Mariella and Bonfanti, Paolo and Imberti, Luisa and Sottini, Alessandra and Paghera, Simone and Quiros-Roldan, Eugenia and Rossi, Camillo and Oler, Andrew J and Tompkins, Miranda F and Alba, Camille and Vandernoot, Isabelle and Goffard, Jean-Christophe and Smits, Guillaume and Migeotte, Isabelle and Haerynck, Filomeen and Soler-Palacin, Pere and Martin-Nalda, Andrea and Colobran, Roger and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Keles, Sevgi and {\c C}{\"o}lkesen, Fatma and Ozcelik, Tayfun and Yasar, Kadriye Kart and Senoglu, Sevtap and Karabela, {\c S}emsi Nur and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Gallego, Carlos and Novelli, Giuseppe and Hraiech, Sami and Tandjaoui-Lambiotte, Yacine and Duval, Xavier and Laou{\'e}nan, C{\'e}dric and Snow, Andrew L and Dalgard, Clifton L and Milner, Joshua D and Vinh, Donald C and Mogensen, Trine H and Marr, Nico and Spaan, Andr{\'a}s N and Boisson, Bertrand and Boisson-Dupuis, St{\'e}phanie and Bustamante, Jacinta and Puel, Anne and Ciancanelli, Michael J and Meyts, Isabelle and Maniatis, Tom and Soumelis, Vassili and Amara, Ali and Nussenzweig, Michel and Garc{\'\i}a-Sastre, Adolfo and Krammer, Florian and Pujol, Aurora and Duffy, Darragh and Lifton, Richard P and Zhang, Shen-Ying and Gorochov, Guy and B{\'e}ziat, Vivien and Jouanguy, Emmanuelle and Sancho-Shimizu, Vanessa and Rice, Charles M and Abel, Laurent and Notarangelo, Luigi D and Cobat, Aurelie and Su, Helen C and Casanova, Jean-Laurent} } @article {585, title = {Loss of the sphingolipid desaturase DEGS1 causes hypomyelinating leukodystrophy.}, journal = {J Clin Invest}, volume = {129}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Mar 01}, pages = {1240-1256}, abstract = {

Sphingolipid imbalance is the culprit in a variety of neurological diseases, some affecting the myelin sheath. We have used whole-exome sequencing in patients with undetermined leukoencephalopathies to uncover the endoplasmic reticulum lipid desaturase DEGS1 as the causative gene in 19 patients from 13 unrelated families. Shared features among the cases include severe motor arrest, early nystagmus, dystonia, spasticity, and profound failure to thrive. MRI showed hypomyelination, thinning of the corpus callosum, and progressive thalamic and cerebellar atrophy, suggesting a critical role of DEGS1 in myelin development and maintenance. This enzyme converts dihydroceramide (DhCer) into ceramide (Cer) in the final step of the de novo biosynthesis pathway. We detected a marked increase of the substrate DhCer and DhCer/Cer ratios in patients{\textquoteright} fibroblasts and muscle. Further, we used a knockdown approach for disease modeling in Danio rerio, followed by a preclinical test with the first-line treatment for multiple sclerosis, fingolimod (FTY720, Gilenya). The enzymatic inhibition of Cer synthase by fingolimod, 1 step prior to DEGS1 in the pathway, reduced the critical DhCer/Cer imbalance and the severe locomotor disability, increasing the number of myelinating oligodendrocytes in a zebrafish model. These proof-of-concept results pave the way to clinical translation.

}, issn = {1558-8238}, doi = {10.1172/JCI123959}, author = {Pant, Devesh C and Dorboz, Imen and Schluter, Agatha and Fourcade, St{\'e}phane and Launay, Nathalie and Joya, Javier and Aguilera-Albesa, Sergio and Yoldi, Maria Eugenia and Casasnovas, Carlos and Willis, Mary J and Ruiz, Montserrat and Ville, Doroth{\'e}e and Lesca, Gaetan and Siquier-Pernet, Karine and Desguerre, Isabelle and Yan, Huifang and Wang, Jingmin and Burmeister, Margit and Brady, Lauren and Tarnopolsky, Mark and Cornet, Carles and Rubbini, Davide and Terriente, Javier and James, Kiely N and Musaev, Damir and Zaki, Maha S and Patterson, Marc C and Lanpher, Brendan C and Klee, Eric W and Pinto E Vairo, Filippo and Wohler, Elizabeth and Sobreira, Nara Lygia de M and Cohen, Julie S and Maroofian, Reza and Galehdari, Hamid and Mazaheri, Neda and Shariati, Gholamreza and Colleaux, Laurence and Rodriguez, Diana and Gleeson, Joseph G and Pujades, Cristina and Fatemi, Ali and Boespflug-Tanguy, Odile and Pujol, Aurora} } @article {491, title = {Dual Molecular Effects of Dominant RORA Mutations Cause Two Variants of Syndromic Intellectual Disability with Either Autism or Cerebellar Ataxia.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {102}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 05 03}, pages = {744-759}, abstract = {

RORĪ±, the RAR-related orphan nuclear receptor alpha, is essential for cerebellar development. The spontaneous mutant mouse staggerer, with an ataxic gait caused by neurodegeneration of cerebellar Purkinje cells, was discovered two decades ago to result from homozygous intragenic Rora deletions. However, RORA mutations were hitherto undocumented in humans. Through a multi-centric collaboration, we identified three copy-number variant deletions (two de novo and one dominantly inherited in three generations), one de novo disrupting duplication, and nine de novo point mutations (three truncating, one canonical splice site, and five missense mutations) involving RORA in 16 individuals from 13 families with variable neurodevelopmental delay and intellectual disability (ID)-associated autistic features, cerebellar ataxia, and epilepsy. Consistent with the human and mouse data, disruption of the D.~rerio ortholog, roraa, causes significant reduction in the size of the developing cerebellum. Systematic in~vivo complementation studies showed that, whereas wild-type human RORA mRNA could complement the cerebellar pathology, missense variants had two distinct pathogenic mechanisms of either haploinsufficiency or a dominant toxic effect according to their localization in the ligand-binding or DNA-binding domains, respectively. This dichotomous direction of effect is likely relevant to the phenotype in humans: individuals with loss-of-function variants leading to haploinsufficiency show ID with autistic features, while individuals with de novo dominant toxic variants present with ID, ataxia, and cerebellar atrophy. Our combined genetic and functional data highlight the complex mutational landscape at the human RORA locus and suggest that dual mutational effects likely determine phenotypic outcome.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, 80 and over, Alleles, Animals, Autistic Disorder, Brain, Cerebellar Ataxia, Child, Child, Preschool, Disease Models, Animal, DNA Copy Number Variations, Female, Genes, Dominant, Genetic Complementation Test, Humans, Intellectual Disability, Larva, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Missense, Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 1, Group F, Member 1, Purkinje Cells, Syndrome, Zebrafish}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.02.021}, author = {Guissart, Claire and Latypova, X{\'e}nia and Rollier, Paul and Khan, Tahir N and Stamberger, Hannah and McWalter, Kirsty and Cho, Megan T and Kjaergaard, Susanne and Weckhuysen, Sarah and Lesca, Gaetan and Besnard, Thomas and {\~O}unap, Katrin and Schema, Lynn and Chiocchetti, Andreas G and McDonald, Marie and de Bellescize, Julitta and Vincent, Marie and Van Esch, Hilde and Sattler, Shannon and Forghani, Irman and Thiffault, Isabelle and Freitag, Christine M and Barbouth, Deborah Sara and Cadieux-Dion, Maxime and Willaert, Rebecca and Guillen Sacoto, Maria J and Safina, Nicole P and Dubourg, Christ{\`e}le and Grote, Lauren and Carr{\'e}, Wilfrid and Saunders, Carol and Pajusalu, Sander and Farrow, Emily and Boland, Anne and Karlowicz, Danielle Hays and Deleuze, Jean-Fran{\c c}ois and Wojcik, Monica H and Pressman, Rena and Isidor, Bertrand and Vogels, Annick and Van Paesschen, Wim and Al-Gazali, Lihadh and Al Shamsi, Aisha Mohamed and Claustres, Mireille and Pujol, Aurora and Sanders, Stephan J and Rivier, Fran{\c c}ois and Leboucq, Nicolas and Cogn{\'e}, Benjamin and Sasorith, Souphatta and Sanlaville, Damien and Retterer, Kyle and Odent, Sylvie and Katsanis, Nicholas and B{\'e}zieau, St{\'e}phane and Koenig, Michel and Davis, Erica E and Pasquier, Laurent and K{\"u}ry, S{\'e}bastien} }