The Incidence of Transfusion Hepatitis in Donetsk Region in 2013

There was determined an unfavorable epidemiological situation on transfusion viral hepatitis in Donetsk region. An epidemiological analysis of incidence of transfusion viral infection in the region in 2013 was performed. The incidence rate of acute and chronic transfusion hepatitis in Donetsk region was 10.2 and 17.3 per 100 thousand people, respectively. An unfavorable prognosis and the ways for the improvement of anti-epidemic measures against viral hepatitis B and C were identified

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy: consequences of chromatin relaxation

Mechanisms of disease, diagnostics and therap

DICER/AGO-dependent epigenetic silencing of D4Z4 repeats enhanced by exogenous siRNA suggests mechanisms and therapies for FSHD

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by the aberrant expression of the DUX4 transcription factor in skeletal muscle. The DUX4 retrogene is encoded in the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat array, and smaller array size or a mutation in the SMCHD1 gene results in inefficient epigenetic repression of DUX4 in skeletal muscle, causing FSHD1 and FSHD2, respectively. Previously we showed that the entire D4Z4 repeat is bi-directionally transcribed with the generation of small si- or miRNA-like fragments and suggested that these might suppress DUX4 expression through the endogenous RNAi pathway. Here we show that exogenous siRNA targeting the region upstream of the DUX4 transcription start site suppressed DUX4 mRNA expression and increased both H3K9 methylation and AGO2 recruitment. In contrast, similarly targeted MOE-gapmer antisense oligonucleotides that degrade RNA but do not engage the RNAi pathway did not repress DUX4 expression. In addition, knockdown of DICER or AGO2 using either siRNA or MOE-gapmer chemistries resulted in the induction of DUX4 expression in control muscle cells that normally do not express DUX4, indicating that the endogenous RNAi pathway is necessary to maintain repression of DUX4 in control muscle cells. Together these data demonstrate a role of the endogenous RNAi pathway in repeat-mediated epigenetic repression of the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat, and show that enhancing the activity of this pathway by supplying exogenous siRNA oligonucleotides represents a potential therapeutic approach to silencing DUX4 in FSHD

Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophy: Incomplete Suppression of a Retrotransposed Gene

Each unit of the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat contains a retrotransposed gene encoding the DUX4 double-homeobox transcription factor. Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by deletion of a subset of the D4Z4 units in the subtelomeric region of chromosome 4. Although it has been reported that the deletion of D4Z4 units induces the pathological expression of DUX4 mRNA, the association of DUX4 mRNA expression with FSHD has not been rigorously investigated, nor has any human tissue been identified that normally expresses DUX4 mRNA or protein. We show that FSHD muscle expresses a different splice form of DUX4 mRNA compared to control muscle. Control muscle produces low amounts of a splice form of DUX4 encoding only the amino-terminal portion of DUX4. FSHD muscle produces low amounts of a DUX4 mRNA that encodes the full-length DUX4 protein. The low abundance of full-length DUX4 mRNA in FSHD muscle cells represents a small subset of nuclei producing a relatively high abundance of DUX4 mRNA and protein. In contrast to control skeletal muscle and most other somatic tissues, full-length DUX4 transcript and protein is expressed at relatively abundant levels in human testis, most likely in the germ-line cells. Induced pluripotent (iPS) cells also express full-length DUX4 and differentiation of control iPS cells to embryoid bodies suppresses expression of full-length DUX4, whereas expression of full-length DUX4 persists in differentiated FSHD iPS cells. Together, these findings indicate that full-length DUX4 is normally expressed at specific developmental stages and is suppressed in most somatic tissues. The contraction of the D4Z4 repeat in FSHD results in a less efficient suppression of the full-length DUX4 mRNA in skeletal muscle cells. Therefore, FSHD represents the first human disease to be associated with the incomplete developmental silencing of a retrogene array normally expressed early in development.Mechanisms of disease, diagnostics and therap

Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophy: Incomplete Suppression of a Retrotransposed Gene

Each unit of the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat contains a retrotransposed gene encoding the DUX4 double-homeobox transcription factor. Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by deletion of a subset of the D4Z4 units in the subtelomeric region of chromosome 4. Although it has been reported that the deletion of D4Z4 units induces the pathological expression of DUX4 mRNA, the association of DUX4 mRNA expression with FSHD has not been rigorously investigated, nor has any human tissue been identified that normally expresses DUX4 mRNA or protein. We show that FSHD muscle expresses a different splice form of DUX4 mRNA compared to control muscle. Control muscle produces low amounts of a splice form of DUX4 encoding only the amino-terminal portion of DUX4. FSHD muscle produces low amounts of a DUX4 mRNA that encodes the full-length DUX4 protein. The low abundance of full-length DUX4 mRNA in FSHD muscle cells represents a small subset of nuclei producing a relatively high abundance of DUX4 mRNA and protein. In contrast to control skeletal muscle and most other somatic tissues, full-length DUX4 transcript and protein is expressed at relatively abundant levels in human testis, most likely in the germ-line cells. Induced pluripotent (iPS) cells also express full-length DUX4 and differentiation of control iPS cells to embryoid bodies suppresses expression of full-length DUX4, whereas expression of full-length DUX4 persists in differentiated FSHD iPS cells. Together, these findings indicate that full-length DUX4 is normally expressed at specific developmental stages and is suppressed in most somatic tissues. The contraction of the D4Z4 repeat in FSHD results in a less efficient suppression of the full-length DUX4 mRNA in skeletal muscle cells. Therefore, FSHD represents the first human disease to be associated with the incomplete developmental silencing of a retrogene array normally expressed early in development

SMCHD1 regulates a limited set of gene clusters on autosomal chromosomes

Functional Genomics of Muscle, Nerve and Brain Disorder