PUBLICATION

Embryonic organizer formation disorder leads to multiorgan dysplasia in Down syndrome

Authors
Liu, Y., Lin, Z., Peng, Y., Jiang, Y., Zhang, X., Zhu, H., Zhang, L., Chen, J., Shu, X., Luo, M., Xie, D., Chen, Y., Liao, H., Liu, M., Zhang, X., Liu, S., Wang, H., Zhou, B., Sun, H.
ID
ZDB-PUB-221220-14
Date
2022
Source
Cell Death & Disease   13: 10541054 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Sun, Huaqin
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Down Syndrome*/pathology
  • Humans
  • Organizers, Embryonic/pathology
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta
  • Wnt Signaling Pathway
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
36535930 Full text @ Cell Death Dis.
Abstract
Despite the high prevalence of Down syndrome (DS) and early identification of the cause (trisomy 21), its molecular pathogenesis has been poorly understood and specific treatments have consequently been practically unavailable. A number of medical conditions throughout the body associated with DS have prompted us to investigate its molecular etiology from the viewpoint of the embryonic organizer, which can steer the development of surrounding cells into specific organs and tissues. We established a DS zebrafish model by overexpressing the human DYRK1A gene, a highly haploinsufficient gene located at the "critical region" within 21q22. We found that both embryonic organizer and body axis were significantly impaired during early embryogenesis, producing abnormalities of the nervous, heart, visceral, and blood systems, similar to those observed with DS. Quantitative phosphoproteome analysis and related assays demonstrated that the DYRK1A-overexpressed zebrafish embryos had anomalous phosphorylation of β-catenin and Hsp90ab1, resulting in Wnt signaling enhancement and TGF-β inhibition. We found an uncovered ectopic molecular mechanism present in amniocytes from fetuses diagnosed with DS and isolated hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) of DS patients. Importantly, the abnormal proliferation of DS HSCs could be recovered by switching the balance between Wnt and TGF-β signaling in vitro. Our findings provide a novel molecular pathogenic mechanism in which ectopic Wnt and TGF-β lead to DS physical dysplasia, suggesting potential targeted therapies for DS.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping