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Scala M, Bradley CA, Howe JL, Trost B, Salazar NB, Shum C, Reuter MS, MacDonald JR, Ko SY, Frankland PW, Granger L, Anadiotis G, Pullano V, Brusco A, Keller R, Parisotto S, Pedro HF, Lusk L, McDonnell PP, Helbig I, Mullegama SV, Douine ED, Russell BE, Nelson SF, Zara F, Scherer SW. Genetic variants in DDX53 contribute to Autism Spectrum Disorder associated with the Xp22.11 locus. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.12.21.23300383. [PMID: 38234782 PMCID: PMC10793518 DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.21.23300383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibits an ~4:1 male-to-female sex bias and is characterized by early-onset impairment of social/communication skills, restricted interests, and stereotyped behaviors. Disruption of the Xp22.11 locus has been associated with ASD in males. This locus includes the three-exon PTCHD1 gene, an adjacent multi-isoform long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) named PTCHD1-AS (spanning ~1Mb), and a poorly characterized single-exon RNA helicase named DDX53 that is intronic to PTCHD1-AS. While the relationship between PTCHD1/PTCHD1-AS and ASD is being studied, the role of DDX53 has not been examined, in part because there is no apparent functional murine orthologue. Through clinical testing, here, we identified 6 males and 1 female with ASD from 6 unrelated families carrying rare, predicted-damaging or loss-of-function variants in DDX53. Then, we examined databases, including the Autism Speaks MSSNG and Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, as well as population controls. We identified 24 additional individuals with ASD harboring rare, damaging DDX53 variations, including the same variants detected in two families from the original clinical analysis. In this extended cohort of 31 participants with ASD (28 male, 3 female), we identified 25 mostly maternally-inherited variations in DDX53, including 18 missense changes, 2 truncating variants, 2 in-frame variants, 2 deletions in the 3' UTR and 1 copy number deletion. Our findings in humans support a direct link between DDX53 and ASD, which will be important in clinical genetic testing. These same autism-related findings, coupled with the observation that a functional orthologous gene is not found in mouse, may also influence the design and interpretation of murine-modelling of ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcello Scala
- Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
- UOC Genetica Medica, IRCCS Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy
| | - Clarrisa A. Bradley
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jennifer L. Howe
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Brett Trost
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Nelson Bautista Salazar
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Carole Shum
- Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Miriam S. Reuter
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Jeffrey R. MacDonald
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Sangyoon Y. Ko
- Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Paul W. Frankland
- Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Leslie Granger
- Department of Genetics and Metabolism, Randall Children’s Hospital, Portland, OR 97227, USA
| | - George Anadiotis
- Department of Genetics and Metabolism, Randall Children’s Hospital, Portland, OR 97227, USA
| | - Verdiana Pullano
- Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Alfredo Brusco
- Department of Neurosciences Rita Levi-Montalcini, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
- Medical Genetics Unit, Città della Salute e della Scienza University Hospital, Torino, Italy
| | - Roberto Keller
- Adult Autism Centre DSM ASL Città di Torino, 10138 Turin, Italy
| | - Sarah Parisotto
- Center for Genetic and Genomic Medicine, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA
| | - Helio F. Pedro
- Center for Genetic and Genomic Medicine, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA
| | - Laina Lusk
- Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Pamela Pojomovsky McDonnell
- Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Ingo Helbig
- Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | | | - Emilie D. Douine
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Bianca E. Russell
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Stanley F. Nelson
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Federico Zara
- Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
- UOC Genetica Medica, IRCCS Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy
| | - Stephen W. Scherer
- The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada
- McLaughlin Centre, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
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Peluso G, Tisato V, Singh AV, Gemmati D, Scarpellini F. Semen Cryopreservation to Expand Male Fertility in Cancer Patients: Intracase Evaluation of Semen Quality. J Pers Med 2023; 13:1654. [PMID: 38138881 PMCID: PMC10744704 DOI: 10.3390/jpm13121654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Revised: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/25/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
To preserve male fertility after diagnosis of any kind of cancer, a prompt assessment of the semen quality and an appropriate semen cryopreservation must be performed before radio-chemotherapy starts. The present work aims to evaluate the semen parameters at diagnosis of different cancer patients before cryopreservation and after thawing. Testicular tumors and lymphomas are among the most common cancers in younger patients, and while chemotherapy significantly increases patients' survival, it can epigenetically alter the semen fluid, resulting in temporary or permanent infertility. We analyzed data from the database of the Gamete Cryopreservation Center (Annunziata Hospital, CS; Italy) in the period of 2011-2020 from a cohort of 254 cancer patients aged 18-56 years. The evaluation was performed in a blind manner and anonymously recovered; the main parameters referring to semen quality were assessed in accordance with the WHO guidelines and decision limits (6th edition; 2021). The cancer types were as follows: testis cancers (TC; n = 135; 53.1%), hematological cancers (HC; n = 76; 29.9%), and other types of cancer (OC; n = 43; 17%). Comparing TC vs. HC (P1) and vs. OC (P2), TC had the worst semen quality: sperm number/mL (P1 = 0.0014; P2 = 0.004), total motility (P1 = 0.02; P2 = 0.07), progressive motility (P1 = 0.04; P2 = 0.05), viability (P1 = 0.01; P2 = 0.02), and percentage of atypical morphology (P1 = 0.05; P2 = 0.03). After semen thawing, viability and progressive motility recovery lowered, accounting for 46.82% and 16.75%, respectively, in the whole cohort; similarly, in the subgroups ascribed to TC, they showed the lowest recovery. Strong correlation existed between pre- and post-cryopreservation viability and progressive motility in the whole cohort (p < 0.001) and in the TC subgroup (p < 0.05). All cancer subgroups, to significantly different extents, had semen findings below the WHO reference values, suggesting diverse sperm susceptibilities to different cancers and cryodamage. Cancer and associated treatments epigenetically affect patients' semen quality, meaning cryopreservation should be considered a useful personalized prerogative for any kind of cancer in a timely manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppina Peluso
- Sperm Bank, Department of Maternal Infant, Annunziata Hospital of Cosenza, 87100 Cosenza, Italy
| | - Veronica Tisato
- Department of Translational Medicine, Hemostasis & Thrombosis Centre, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
- University Strategic Centre for Studies on Gender Medicine, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Ajay Vikram Singh
- Department of Chemical and Product Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), 10589 Berlin, Germany
| | - Donato Gemmati
- Department of Translational Medicine, Hemostasis & Thrombosis Centre, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
- University Strategic Centre for Studies on Gender Medicine, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
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