Follistatin antagonizes transforming growth factor-β3-induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition in vitro: implications for murine palatal development supported by microarray analysis

Abstract Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in normal embryonic development as well as in tumor progression and invasiveness. This process is also known to be a crucial step in palatogenesis during fusion of the bi-lateral palatal processes. Disruption of this step results in a cleft palate, which is among the most frequent birth defects in humans. A number of genes and encoded proteins have been shown to play a role in this developmental stage. The central role is attributed to the cytokine transforming growth factor-β3 (TGF-β3), which is expressed in the medial edge epithelium (MEE) already before the fusion process. The MEE covers the tips of the growing palatal shelves and eventually undergoes EMT or programmed cell death (apoptosis). TGF-β3 is described to induce EMT in embryonic palates. With regard to the early expression of this molecule before the fusion process, it is not well understood which mechanisms prevent the TGF-β3 producing epithelial cells from undergoing differentiation precociously. We used the murine palatal fusion to study the regulation of EMT. Specifically, we analyzed the MEE for the expression of known antagonists of TGF-β molecules using in situ hybridization and detected the gene coding for Follistatin to be co-expressed with TGF-β3. Further, we could show that Follistatin directly binds to TGF-β3 and that it completely blocks TGF-β3-induced EMT of the normal murine mammary gland (NMuMG) epithelial cell line in vitro. In addition, we analyzed the gene expression profile of NMuMG cells during TGF-β3-induced EMT by microarray hybridization, detecting strong changes in the expression of apoptosis-regulating genes

Family-based association study of the MTHFR polymorphism C677T in patients with nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate from central Europe.

Item does not contain fulltextOBJECTIVE: The 677C-->T allele in the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene has been implicated in the etiology of nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate (CL/P). This study involved a family-based association study of the MTHFR polymorphism. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: We examined 181 patients with CL/P of central European descent and their parents for this variant. RESULTS: The transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) did not confirm an association between the MTHFR 677C-->T polymorphism and nonsyndromic CL/P as previously suggested (p = .36). When comparing the offspring of mothers with periconceptional use of folate to those without, no statistically significant differences were found (p = .708). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the MTHFR 677C-->T polymorphism does not make a major contribution to the occurrence of CL/P among central Europeans

Resequencing of VAX1 in patients with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate

BACKGROUND: Nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) is one of the most common of all congenital anomalies, and has a multifactorial etiology involving both environmental and genetic factors. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified strong association between a locus on chromosome 10q25.3 and NSCL/P in European samples. One gene at 10q25.3, the ventral anterior homeobox 1 (VAX1) gene, is considered a strong candidate gene for craniofacial malformations. The purpose of the present study was to provide further evidence that VAX1 is the causal gene at the 10q25.3 locus through identification of an excess of rare mutations in patients with NSCL/P. METHODS: The 5'UTR, complete coding regions, and adjacent splice sites of the two known VAX1 isoforms were sequenced in 384 patients with NSCL/P and 384 controls of Central European descent. Observed variants were investigated with respect to familial cosegregation or de novo occurrence, and in silico analyses were performed to identify putative effects on the transcript or protein level. RESULTS: Eighteen single-base variants were found, 15 of them rare and previously unreported. In the long VAX1 isoform, predicted functionally relevant variants were observed more often in NSCL/P cases, although this difference was not significant (p = 0.17). Analysis of family members demonstrated incomplete cosegregation in most pedigrees. CONCLUSION: Our data do not support the hypothesis that highly penetrant rare variants in VAX1 are a cause of NSCL/P. To determine whether VAX1 is the causative gene at 10q25.3 further research, in particular into the biologic function of its long isoform, is warranted. Birth Defects Research (Part A), 2012. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Key susceptibility locus for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate on chromosome 8q24

Contains fulltext : 80032.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)We conducted a genome-wide association study involving 224 cases and 383 controls of Central European origin to identify susceptibility loci for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P). A 640-kb region at chromosome 8q24.21 was found to contain multiple markers with highly significant evidence for association with the cleft phenotype, including three markers that reached genome-wide significance. The 640-kb cleft-associated region was saturated with 146 SNP markers and then analyzed in our entire NSCL/P sample of 462 unrelated cases and 954 controls. In the entire sample, the most significant SNP (rs987525) had a P value of 3.34 x 10(-24). The odds ratio was 2.57 (95% CI = 2.02-3.26) for the heterozygous genotype and 6.05 (95% CI = 3.88-9.43) for the homozygous genotype. The calculated population attributable risk for this marker is 0.41, suggesting that this study has identified a major susceptibility locus for NSCL/P

Genome-wide association study identifies two susceptibility loci for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate

We conducted a genome-wide association study for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) in 401 affected individuals and 1,323 controls, with replication in an independent sample of 793 NSCL/P triads. We report two new loci associated with NSCL/P at 17q22 (rs227731, combined P = 1.07 x 10(-8), relative risk in homozygotes = 1.84, 95% CI 1.34-2.53) and 10q25.3 (rs7078160, combined P = 1.92 x 10(-8), relative risk in homozygotes = 2.17, 95% CI 1.32-3.56)

Genome-wide meta-analyses of nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate identify six new risk loci

We have conducted the first meta-analyses for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) using data from the two largest genome-wide association studies published to date. We confirmed associations with all previously identified loci and identified six additional susceptibility regions (1p36, 2p21, 3p11.1, 8q21.3, 13q31.1 and 15q22). Analysis of phenotypic variability identified the first specific genetic risk factor for NSCLP (nonsyndromic cleft lip plus palate) (rs8001641; P(NSCLP) = 6.51 × 10(-11); homozygote relative risk = 2.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.84-3.16)