1
|
Engquist EN, Greco A, Joosten LA, van Engelen BG, Banerji CR, Zammit PS. Transcriptomic gene signatures measure satellite cell activity in muscular dystrophies. iScience 2024; 27:109947. [PMID: 38840844 PMCID: PMC11150970 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2024] [Accepted: 05/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The routine need for myonuclear turnover in skeletal muscle, together with more sporadic demands for hypertrophy and repair, are performed by resident muscle stem cells called satellite cells. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by muscle wasting, stimulating chronic repair/regeneration by satellite cells. Here, we derived and validated transcriptomic signatures for satellite cells, myoblasts/myocytes, and myonuclei using publicly available murine single cell RNA-Sequencing data. Our signatures distinguished disease from control in transcriptomic data from several muscular dystrophies including facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and myotonic dystrophy type I. For FSHD, the expression of our gene signatures correlated with direct counts of satellite cells on muscle sections, as well as with increasing clinical and pathological severity. Thus, our gene signatures enable the investigation of myogenesis in bulk transcriptomic data from muscle biopsies. They also facilitate study of muscle regeneration in transcriptomic data from human muscle across health and disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elise N. Engquist
- King’s College London, Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, New Hunt’s House, Guy’s Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Anna Greco
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen 6525 GA, the Netherlands
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) and Radboud Center of Infectious Diseases (RCI), Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, Nijmegen 6525 GA, The Netherlands
| | - Leo A.B. Joosten
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) and Radboud Center of Infectious Diseases (RCI), Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, Nijmegen 6525 GA, The Netherlands
- Department of Medical Genetics, Iuliu Hatieganu University if Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Baziel G.M. van Engelen
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen 6525 GA, the Netherlands
| | - Christopher R.S. Banerji
- King’s College London, Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, New Hunt’s House, Guy’s Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK
- The Alan Turing Institute, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK
- University College London Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust, London NW1 2BU, UK
| | - Peter S. Zammit
- King’s College London, Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, New Hunt’s House, Guy’s Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Engquist EN, Greco A, Joosten LAB, van Engelen BGM, Zammit PS, Banerji CRS. FSHD muscle shows perturbation in fibroadipogenic progenitor cells, mitochondrial function and alternative splicing independently of inflammation. Hum Mol Genet 2024; 33:182-197. [PMID: 37856562 PMCID: PMC10772042 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddad175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Revised: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a prevalent, incurable myopathy. FSHD is highly heterogeneous, with patients following a variety of clinical trajectories, complicating clinical trials. Skeletal muscle in FSHD undergoes fibrosis and fatty replacement that can be accelerated by inflammation, adding to heterogeneity. Well controlled molecular studies are thus essential to both categorize FSHD patients into distinct subtypes and understand pathomechanisms. Here, we further analyzed RNA-sequencing data from 24 FSHD patients, each of whom donated a biopsy from both a non-inflamed (TIRM-) and inflamed (TIRM+) muscle, and 15 FSHD patients who donated peripheral blood mononucleated cells (PBMCs), alongside non-affected control individuals. Differential gene expression analysis identified suppression of mitochondrial biogenesis and up-regulation of fibroadipogenic progenitor (FAP) gene expression in FSHD muscle, which was particularly marked on inflamed samples. PBMCs demonstrated suppression of antigen presentation in FSHD. Gene expression deconvolution revealed FAP expansion as a consistent feature of FSHD muscle, via meta-analysis of 7 independent transcriptomic datasets. Clustering of muscle biopsies separated patients in an unbiased manner into clinically mild and severe subtypes, independently of known disease modifiers (age, sex, D4Z4 repeat length). Lastly, the first genome-wide analysis of alternative splicing in FSHD muscle revealed perturbation of autophagy, BMP2 and HMGB1 signalling. Overall, our findings reveal molecular subtypes of FSHD with clinical relevance and identify novel pathomechanisms for this highly heterogeneous condition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elise N Engquist
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
| | - Anna Greco
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, 6525 GA, The Netherlands
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) and Radboud Center of Infectious Diseases (RCI), Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, Nijmegen 6525 GA, The Netherlands
| | - Leo A B Joosten
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) and Radboud Center of Infectious Diseases (RCI), Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, Nijmegen 6525 GA, The Netherlands
- Department of Medical Genetics, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Baziel G M van Engelen
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, 6525 GA, The Netherlands
| | - Peter S Zammit
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher R S Banerji
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- The Alan Turing Institute, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Kyba M, Bosnakovski D. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy's game of homeodomains: therapy wants a biomarker as a sword wants a whetstone. Brain Commun 2023; 5:fcad235. [PMID: 37731901 PMCID: PMC10507743 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcad235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023] Open
Abstract
This scientific commentary refers to 'The FSHD muscle-blood biomarker: a circulating transcriptomic biomarker for clinical severity in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy', by Banerji et al. (https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcad221).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michael Kyba
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minnesota 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Darko Bosnakovski
- Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, Minnesota 55455, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minnesota 55455, USA
| |
Collapse
|