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Biomedical subjects

Y K Hayashi

Publications and source records attributed to Y K Hayashi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

A new congenital form of X-linked autophagic vacuolar myopathy.

In a new family with X-linked congenital autophagic vacuolar myopathy (AVM), seven affected boys presented with congenital hypotonia, dyspnea, and dysphagia with delayed motor milestones. Muscle pathology revealed autophagic vacuoles with sarcolemmal features, multilayered basal lamina with marked sarcolemmal deposition of C5-9 membrane attack complex and calcium, histologically indistinguishable from childhood-onset X-linked myopathy with excessive autophagy (XMEA). Haplotype analysis suggests that this new AVM and XMEA may be allelic despite different clinical presentations.

Antigens, Protozoan↗

Molecular pathomechanism of distal myopathy with rimmed vacuoles.

Distal myopathy with rimmed vacuoles (DMRV) and hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM) are now known to be the same disease and are caused by mutations in tile GNE gene that encodes a bifunctional protein with two enzymatic activities: UDP-GlcNAc2-epimerase (GNE) and ManNAc kinase (MNK). GNE catalyzes the rate-limiting step in the sialic acid biosynthesis and MNK catalyzes the next step. So far, we have found homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in 55 unrelated Japanese DMRV patients. Among them, c.1714G>C (p.V572L) mutation is the most common, accounting for 57% of the mutant alleles. The same mutation was recently identified also in Korean DMRV patients, raising the possibility of the presence of a common founder. We have also found that cardiac involvement is not very rare and is found in 18% of patients, albeit degree of severity widely varies; in some patients, it can result in sudden death. The length of time when patients become non ambulatory is diverse. The severity of clinical symptoms also varies widely, as evidenced by the presence of an asymptomatic homozygote harboring of p.D176V, the second most common mutation among Japanese patients. Patients' fibroblasts and myotubes are hyposialylated and this hyposialylation can be recovered by adding GNE metabolite, ManNAc, or sialic acid per se, NeuAc. Accordingly, the sialylation status in the skeletal muscle tissue is also greatly altered especially in fibers with rimmed vacuoles, suggesting the tight association between hyposialylation and the formation of rimmed vacuoles. However, we still do not know why hyposialylation leads to the formation of rimmed vacuoles. To further elucidate the pathomechanism and to develop a therapy of DMRV, we need to produce mouse model mouse for this disease.

Distal Myopathies↗

X-linked form of Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy.

Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) is an inherited muscular disorder clinically characterized by slowly progressive weakness affecting humero-peroneal muscles, early joint contractures and cardiomyopathy with conduction defects. Autosomal dominant and recessive forms are caused by mutations in lamin A/C gene. Lamin A/C is a major component of nuclear lamina, and its gene mutations cause several human disorders including muscular dystrophy, cardiomyopathy, lipodystrophy, neuropathy, and progeria syndrome. X-linked recessive form of EDMD is caused by mutation in EMD (or STA) gene encoding an integral protein of the inner nuclear membrane. Emerin expresses ubiquitously, but its deficiency affects only limited tissues of skeletal and cardiac muscles and joints. In this paper, I will focus on clinical and pathological aspects of X-EDMD and possible functions of emerin.

Animals↗

POMT1 mutation results in defective glycosylation and loss of laminin-binding activity in alpha-DG.

Walker-Warburg syndrome (WWS) is a congenital muscular dystrophy associated with neuronal migration disorder and structural eye abnormalities. The mutations in the O-mannosyltransferase 1 gene (POMT1) were identified recently in 20% of patients with WWS. The authors report on a patient with WWS and a novel POMT1 mutation. Their patient expressed alpha-dystroglycan (alpha-DG) core protein, but fully glycosylated alpha-DG antibody epitopes were absent, associated with the loss of laminin-binding activity.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

Ullrich disease due to deficiency of collagen VI in the sarcolemma.

The authors identified eight patients with Ullrich disease in whom collagen VI was present in the interstitium but was absent from the sarcolemma. By electron microscopy, collagen VI in the interstitium was never linked to the basal lamina. These findings suggest that in these patients it is not the total absence of collagen VI from the muscle but the failure of collagen VI to anchor the basal lamina to the interstitium that is the cause of Ullrich disease. Only one of the patients had a mutation in the collagen VI gene, suggesting that the primary abnormality in most of the patients involved some other molecules.

Child↗

Dysferlin mutation analysis in a group of Italian patients with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and Miyoshi myopathy.

Mutations in the dysferlin gene (DYSF) on chromosome 2p13 cause distinct phenotypes of muscular dystrophy: limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B (LGMD2B), Miyoshi myopathy (MM), and distal anterior compartment myopathy, which are known by the term 'dysferlinopathy'. We performed mutation analyses of DYSF in 14 Italian patients from 10 unrelated families with a deficiency of dysferlin protein below 20% of the value in normal controls by immunoblotting analysis. We identified 11 different mutations, including eight missense and three deletion mutations. Nine of them were novel mutations. We also identified a unique 6-bp insertion polymorphism within the coding region of DYSF in 15% of Italian population, which was not observed in East Asian populations. The correlation between clinical phenotype and the gene mutations was unclear, which suggested the role of additional genetic and epigenetic factors in modifying clinical symptoms.

Adolescent↗

Fukutin-related protein gene mutated in the original kindred limb-girdle MD 2I.

The authors mapped an autosomal recessive form of limb-girdle MD on chromosome 19q13.3 (LGMD2I), further narrowed down the candidate region to 1.1 Mb, and identified one new homozygous mutation in the fukutin-related protein (FKRP) gene on patients of the original Tunisian family. Immunohistochemical and immunoblot analysis showed abnormal expression of alpha-dystroglycan and laminin-alpha2 supporting the hypothesis that FKRP has a role in the interaction between the extracellular matrix components.

Amino Acid Substitution↗

Beyond LGMD1A: myotilin is a component of central core lesions and nemaline rods.

Myotilin is a Z-disc protein that binds alpha-actinin, gamma-filamin and F-actin. The essential role of myotilin in skeletal muscle is highlighted by the recent observation that autosomal dominant limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 1A is caused by mutations in the human myotilin gene. We studied the expression and subcellular distribution of myotilin in nemaline myopathy, central core disease, centronuclear myopathy, and myopathies with tubular aggregates. A prominent myotilin immunostaining of nemaline rods and core lesions was detected in all ten cases of nemaline myopathy and five cases of central core disease. This renders myotilin a sensitive, though non-specific marker for these structural lesions. Western blot analysis did not indicate an increased myotilin expression in nemaline myopathy muscle. However, the analysis indicated upregulation of a 75 kDa immunoreactive band, very weak in control muscle but previously detected in limb girdle muscular dystrophy 1A samples. Our findings indicate that myotilin is a core structural molecule in nemaline rods and central core lesions and suggest modification of myotilin in nemaline myopathy, and further support the notion that myotilin may have a key role in the dynamic molecular events mediating myofibril assembly in normal and diseased human skeletal muscle.

Antibody Specificity↗

Mutation in the caveolin-3 gene causes a peculiar form of distal myopathy.

The authors describe a patient with sporadic distal myopathy associated with reduced caveolin-3 in muscle fibers in which the muscle atrophy was restricted to the small muscles of the hands and feet. Gene analysis disclosed a heterozygous 80 G-->A substitution in the caveolin-3 gene that was identical to that of reported cases of elevated serum creatine kinase. This patient further demonstrated possible clinical heterogeneity of myopathies with mutations in the caveolin-3 gene.

Adolescent↗

Tongue atrophy in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Involvement of the lingual muscle is considered one of the exclusion criteria of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). In a series of 151 Japanese patients with 4q35-FSHD, seven patients (4.6%) had tongue atrophy with abnormal MRI findings and typical myogenic patterns of electromyography. All seven patients belong to a group of early-onset FSHD with large gene deletions on chromosome 4q35. Our result suggests that the patients with 4q35-FSHD could have myopathic tongue atrophy.

Adolescent↗

The sarcolemmal proteins dysferlin and caveolin-3 interact in skeletal muscle.

Dysferlin is a surface membrane protein in skeletal muscle whose deficiency causes distal and proximal, recessively inherited, forms of muscular dystrophy designated Miyoshi myopathy (MM) and limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B (LGMD2B), respectively. The function of dysferlin is not defined. Caveolin-3 is another skeletal muscle membrane protein which is important in the formation of caveolae and whose mutations cause dominantly inherited limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 1C (LGMD1C). We report that dysferlin co-immunoprecipitates with caveolin-3 from biopsied normal human skeletal muscles. We also describe abnormal localization of dysferlin in muscles from patients with LGMD1C including novel missense mutation (T64P) in the human caveolin-3 gene (CAV3). The immunoprecipitation data are consistent with the parallel observation that dysferlin immunostaining is not normal in LGMD1C muscles. Amino acid sequence analysis of the dysferlin protein reveals seven sites that correspond to caveolin-3 scaffold-binding motifs, and one site that is a potential target to bind the WW domain of the caveolin-3 protein. This is the first description of a possible dysferlin interacting protein; it suggests the hypothesis that one function of dysferlin may be to interact with caveolin-3 to subserve signaling functions of caveolae.

Caveolin 3↗

Selective deficiency of alpha-dystroglycan in Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystrophy.

BACKGROUND: Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by severe dystrophic muscle wasting from birth or early infancy with structural brain abnormalities. The gene for FCMD is located on chromosome 9q31, and encodes a novel protein named fukutin. The function of fukutin is not known yet, but is suggested to be an enzyme that modifies the cell-surface glycoprotein or glycolipids. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the roles of fukutin gene mutation in skeletal and cardiac muscles and brain. METHODS: Immunohistochemical and immunoblot analyses were performed in skeletal and cardiac muscles and brain tissue samples from patients with FCMD and control subjects. RESULTS: The authors found a selective deficiency of highly glycosylated alpha-dystroglycan, but not beta-dystroglycan, on the surface membrane of skeletal and cardiac muscle fibers in patients with FCMD. Immunoblot analyses also showed no immunoreactive band for alpha-dystroglycan, but were positive for beta-dystroglycan in FCMD in skeletal and cardiac muscles. CONCLUSION: The current findings suggest a critical role for fukutin gene mutation in the loss or modification of glycosylation of the extracellular peripheral membrane protein, alpha-dystroglycan, which may cause a crucial disruption of the transmembranous molecular linkage of muscle fibers in patients with FCMD.

Adolescent↗

The product of an oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy gene, poly(A)-binding protein 2, interacts with SKIP and stimulates muscle-specific gene expression.

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is caused by short expansions of the GCG trinucleotide repeat encoding the polyalanine tract of the poly(A)-binding protein 2 (PABP2). PABP2 binds to the growing poly(A) tail, stimulating its extension during the polyadenylation process, and limits the length of the newly synthesized poly(A) tail. Whereas PABP2 is expressed ubiquitously, the clinical and pathological features of OPMD patients are restricted to the skeletal muscle. To elucidate the possible role of PABP2 in skeletal muscle, we established the stable C2 cell lines expressing human PABP2. These stable cell lines showed morphologically enhanced myotube formation accompanied by an increased expression of myogenic factors, MyoD and myogenin. In nuclear run-on assay, the transcription rate of the MyoD gene was significantly increased by PABP2 transfection. We found the N-terminal region of PABP2 was responsible for the up-regulation of these myogenic factors. Furthermore, Ski-interacting protein (SKIP) was isolated as a binding protein for PABP2 using the yeast two-hybrid system. The interaction of PABP2 and SKIP was confirmed by glutathione S-transferase-pulldown assay and immunoprecipitation. Confocal laser scanning showed PABP2 was co-localized with SKIP in nuclear speckles. The reporter assays showed that PABP2 co-operated with SKIP to synergistically activate E-box-mediated transcription through MYOD: Moreover, both PABP2 and SKIP were directly associated with MyoD to form a single complex. These findings suggest that PABP2 and SKIP directly control the expression of muscle-specific genes at the transcription level.

Animals↗

Massive muscle cell degeneration in the early stage of merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy.

Primary merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) is a severe form of congenital muscular disorder which is caused by mutations in the laminin alpha2 chain gene (LAMA2). The disease is characterized by marked dystrophic changes in skeletal muscles during early infancy, while little is known about the pathological process of the muscle fiber degeneration. Here, we report the immunohistochemical analysis of skeletal muscle in ten patients with primary merosin-deficient CMD using a panel of molecular markers for skeletal muscle proteins, cellular necrosis, and apoptosis. In the youngest patient (a 52 day old baby), prominent massive muscle cell degeneration occurred in association with the deposition of the C5-9 complement membrane attack complex (MAC). Most of the MAC-positive muscle fibers showed a severely deranged immunoreaction to dystrophin, dystroglycans, and other sarcolemmal proteins. In addition, we found scattered positive signals for apoptosis. Similar but milder changes were also observed in six other patients younger than 1 year. In the patients older than 3 years, muscle fibers positive for MAC and apoptotic signals were barely detectable. These findings imply that massive muscle fiber degeneration occurs in the very early stage of merosin-deficient CMD and may contribute to the severe dystrophic changes in muscle from early infancy.

Biopsy↗