Bcar1/p130Cas is essential for ventricular development and neural crest cell remodelling of the cardiac outflow tract

Molecular diagnoses and candidate gene identification in the congenital heart disease cohorts of the 100,000 genomes project

Congenital heart disease (CHD) describes a structural cardiac defect present from birth. A cohort of participants recruited to the 100,000 Genomes Project (100 kGP) with syndromic CHD (286 probands) and familial CHD (262 probands) were identified. "Tiering" following genome sequencing data analysis prioritised variants in gene panels linked to participant phenotype. To improve diagnostic rates in the CHD cohorts, we implemented an agnostic de novo Gene Discovery Pipeline (GDP). We assessed de novo variants (DNV) for unsolved CHD participants following filtering to select variants of interest in OMIM-morbid genes, as well as novel candidate genes. The 100kGP CHD cohorts had low rates of pathogenic diagnoses reported (combined CHD "solved" 5.11% (n = 28/548)). Our GDP provided diagnostic uplift of nearly one third (1.28% uplift; 5.11% vs. 6.39%), with a new or potential diagnosis for 9 additional participants with CHD. When a filtered DNV occurred within a non-morbid gene, our GDP prioritised biologically-plausible candidate CHD genes (n = 79). Candidate variants occurred in both genes linked to cardiac development (e.g. AKAP13 and BCAR1) and those currently without a known role (e.g. TFAP2C and SETDB1). Sanger sequencing of a cohort of patients with CHD did not identify a second de novo variant in the candidate dataset. However, literature review identified rare variants in HMCN1, previously reported as causative for pulmonary atresia, confirming the approach utility. As well as diagnostic uplift for unsolved participants of the 100 kGP, our GDP created a dataset of candidate CHD genes, which forms an important resource for further evaluation.

The role of p130Cas/BCAR1 adaptor protein in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases: A literature review

Breast cancer anti-estrogen resistance-1 (p130Cas/BCAR1) is an adaptor protein of the cas(Cas) family. This protein regulates multiple complex pathways in different organs including bones, pancreas, and immune and cardiovascular systems. Although previous research well demonstrated the role of p130Cas/BCAR1 in different diseases especially cancers, a precise review study on the various effects of p130Cas/BCAR1 on cardiovascular diseases is missing. In this study, we reviewed mechanisms of action for p130Cas/BCAR1 impact, on cardiac embryonic development defects, hypertrophy and remodeling, pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH), and atherosclerosis. Also, we suggest feature direction for research and potential therapeutic implications. This study showed that p130Cas/BCAR1 can affect cardiovascular diseases in various mechanisms including actin stress fiber formation, attachment to focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and angiotensin II (Ang II), generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and growth factor signaling through amplifying receptor tyrosine kinase (RTKs).

Molecular Pathways and Animal Models of Truncus Arteriosus

In normal cardiovascular development in birds and mammals, the outflow tract of the heart is divided into two distinct channels to separate the oxygenated systemic blood flow from the deoxygenated pulmonary circulation. When the process of outflow tract septation fails, a single common outflow vessel persists resulting in a serious clinical condition known as persistent truncus arteriosus or common arterial trunk. In this chapter, we will review molecular pathways and the cells that are known to play a role in the formation and development of the outflow tract and how genetic manipulation of these pathways in animal models can result in common arterial trunk.

Quantitative Image Processing for Three-Dimensional Episcopic Images of Biological Structures: Current State and Future Directions

Episcopic imaging using techniques such as High Resolution Episcopic Microscopy (HREM) and its variants, allows biological samples to be visualized in three dimensions over a large field of view. Quantitative analysis of episcopic image data is undertaken using a range of methods. In this systematic review, we look at trends in quantitative analysis of episcopic images and discuss avenues for further research. Papers published between 2011 and 2022 were analyzed for details about quantitative analysis approaches, methods of image annotation and choice of image processing software. It is shown that quantitative processing is becoming more common in episcopic microscopy and that manual annotation is the predominant method of image analysis. Our meta-analysis highlights where tools and methods require further development in this field, and we discuss what this means for the future of quantitative episcopic imaging, as well as how annotation and quantification may be automated and standardized across the field.

Effects of constitutively active IKKβ on cardiac development

NF-κB is a major transcription factor regulating cell survival, organ development and inflammation, but its role in cardiac development has been inadequately explored. To examine this function, we generated mice in which IKKβ, an essential kinase for NF-κB activation, was constitutively activated in embryonic cardiomyocytes. For this purpose, we used smooth muscle-22α (SM22α)-Cre mice, which are frequently used for gene recombination in embryonic cardiomyocytes. Embryonic hearts of SM22αCre-CA (constitutively active) IKKβ^flox/flox mice revealed remarkably thin, spongy and hypoplastic myocardium. In exploring the mechanism, we found that the expression of bone morphogenetic protein 10 (BMP10) and T-box transcription factor 20 (Tbx20), major regulators of cardiac development, was significantly downregulated and upregulated, respectively, in the SM22αCre-CAIKKβ^flox/flox mice. We also generated NK2 homeobox 5 (Nkx2.5) Cre-CAIKKβ^flox/wt mice since Nkx2.5 is also expressed in embryonic cardiomyocytes and confirmed that the changes in these genes were also observed. These results implicated that the activation of NF-κB affects cardiac development.