Publications by authors named "Baradaran-Heravi A"

Rett syndrome (RTT), a severe X-linked neurodevelopmental disorder, is primarily caused by mutations in the methyl CpG binding protein 2 gene (). Over 35% RTT patients carry nonsense mutation in , making it a suitable candidate disease for nonsense suppression therapy. In our previous study, gentamicin was found to induce readthrough of nonsense mutations with modest efficiency.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mutations in FMR1 are the most common heritable cause of autism spectrum disorder. FMR1 encodes an RNA-binding protein, FMRP, which binds to long, autism-relevant transcripts and is essential for normal neuronal and ovarian development. In contrast to the prevailing model that FMRP acts to block translation elongation, we previously found that FMRP activates the translation initiation of large proteins in Drosophila oocytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nonsense mutations, which occur in ∼11% of patients with genetic disorders, introduce premature termination codons (PTCs) that lead to truncated proteins and promote nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Aminoglycosides such as G418 permit PTC readthrough and so may be used to address this problem. However, their effects are variable between patients, making clinical use of aminoglycosides challenging.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A significant proportion of genetic disease cases arise from truncation of proteins caused by premature termination codons. In eukaryotic cells some aminoglycosides cause readthrough of premature termination codons during protein translation. Inducing readthrough of these codons can potentially be of therapeutic value in the treatment of numerous genetic diseases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Premature termination codons (PTC) cause over 10% of genetic disease cases. Some aminoglycosides that bind to the ribosome decoding center can induce PTC readthrough and restore low levels of full-length functional proteins. However, concomitant inhibition of protein synthesis limits the extent of PTC readthrough that can be achieved by aminoglycosides like G418.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Premature termination codon (PTC) readthrough is considered a potential treatment for genetic diseases caused by nonsense mutations. High concentrations of aminoglycosides induce low levels of PTC readthrough but also elicit severe toxicity. Identifying compounds that enhance PTC readthrough by aminoglycosides or reduce their toxicity is a continuing challenge.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a devastating and progressive disorder, and a common cause of early onset dementia. Progranulin (PGRN) haploinsufficiency due to autosomal dominant mutations in the progranulin gene (GRN) is an important cause of FTLD (FTLD-GRN), and nearly a quarter of these genetic cases are due to a nonsense mutation. Premature termination codons (PTC) can be therapeutically targeted by compounds allowing readthrough, and aminoglycoside antibiotics are known to be potent PTC readthrough drugs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We report a novel negamycin derivative TCP-1109 () which serves as a potent readthrough drug candidate against nonsense-associated diseases. We previously demonstrated that TCP-112 (), a nor-compound of native 3--deoxynegmaycin, showed a higher readthrough activity than (+)-negamycin. In the present study, we performed a structure-activity relationship (SAR) study of compound focused on its 3-amino group in an effort to develop a more potent readthrough compound.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nonsense mutations constitute ~10% of TP53 mutations in cancer. They introduce a premature termination codon that gives rise to truncated p53 protein with impaired function. The aminoglycoside G418 can induce TP53 premature termination codon readthrough and thus increase cellular levels of full-length protein.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nonsense mutations introduce a premature termination codon (PTC) and are the underlying cause of multiple rare genetic diseases and cancers. Although certain aminoglycosides bind to eukaryotic ribosomes enabling incorporation of an amino acid at the PTC and formation of full-length protein, they are inefficient and toxic at therapeutic doses. Library screening in assays that measure readthrough at a PTC in the TP53 gene in human HDQ-P1 cells identified six novel 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxamide derivatives that potentiate the PTC readthrough (PTCR) efficiency of G418 when used in combination.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Nonsense suppressors (NonSups) enable the insertion of amino acids at premature termination codons during protein synthesis, known as readthrough.
  • A new, highly purified assay was developed to measure direct readthrough caused specifically by NonSups, revealing that 12 out of 16 tested NonSups induce direct readthrough through at least two mechanisms.
  • Preliminary experiments using single molecule fluorescence energy transfer show promise for understanding how NonSups function, potentially improving their clinical effectiveness in treating diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nonsense mutations underlie about 10% of rare genetic disease cases. They introduce a premature termination codon (PTC) and prevent the formation of full-length protein. Pharmaceutical gentamicin, a mixture of several related aminoglycosides, is a frequently used antibiotic in humans that can induce PTC readthrough and suppress nonsense mutations at high concentrations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Failure to thrive arises as a complication of a heterogeneous group of disorders. We describe two female siblings with spastic paraplegia and global developmental delay but also, atypically for the HSPs, poor weight gain classified as failure to thrive. After extensive clinical and biochemical investigations failed to identify the etiology, we used exome sequencing to identify biallelic UNC80 mutations (NM_032504.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nonsense mutations introduce premature termination codons and underlie 11% of genetic disease cases. High concentrations of aminoglycosides can restore gene function by eliciting premature termination codon readthrough but with low efficiency. Using a high-throughput screen, we identified compounds that potentiate readthrough by aminoglycosides at multiple nonsense alleles in yeast.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD) is an autosomal recessive, fatal childhood disorder associated with skeletal dysplasia, renal dysfunction, and T-cell immunodeficiency. This disease is linked to biallelic loss-of-function mutations of the SMARCAL1 gene. Although recurrent infection, due to T-cell deficiency, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, the etiology of the T-cell immunodeficiency is unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD) is a pleiotropic disorder caused by mutations in the SWI/SNF2-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like-1 (SMARCAL1) gene, with multiple clinical features, notably end-stage renal disease. Here we characterize the renal pathology in SIOD patients. Our analysis of SIOD patient renal biopsies demonstrates the tip and collapsing variants of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Thiamine-responsive megaloblastic anemia (TRMA) is a clinical triad characterized by megaloblastic anemia, non-autoimmune diabetes mellitus, and sensory-neural hearing loss. Mutations in the thiamine transporter gene, solute carrier family 19, member 2 (SLC19A2), have been associated with TRMA. Three pediatric patients from a large consanguineous Iranian family with hyperglycemia, anemia, and hearing loss were clinically diagnosed with TRMA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD, OMIM 242900) is a rare autosomal recessive multisystem childhood disorder characterized by short stature, renal failure, T-cell immunodeficiency, and hypersensitivity to genotoxic agents. SIOD is associated with biallelic mutations in SMARCAL1 (SWI/SNF-related matrix-associated actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1), which encodes a DNA stress response enzyme with annealing helicase activity. Two features of SIOD causing much morbidity and mortality are bone marrow failure and T-cell deficiency with the consequent opportunistic infections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Schimke Immunoosseous Dysplasia (SIOD) is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder of childhood with classical features of spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, renal failure, and T cell immunodeficiency. SIOD has been associated with several malignancies, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma and osteosarcoma. About half of SIOD patients have biallelic mutations in SMARCAL1 (SWI/SNF-related matrix-associated actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mutations in the 11β-hydroxylase (CYP11B1) gene are the second leading cause of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by adrenal insufficiency, virilization of female external genitalia, and hypertension with or without hypokalemic alkalosis. Molecular analysis of CYP11B1 gene in CAH patients with 11β-hydroxylase deficiency was performed in this study. Cycle sequencing of 9 exons in CYP11B1 was performed in 5 unrelated families with 11β-hydroxylase deficient children.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Described for the first time in 1971, Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD) is an autosomal-recessive multisystem disorder that is caused by bi-allelic mutations of SMARCAL1, which encodes a DNA annealing helicase. To define better the dental anomalies of SIOD, we reviewed the records from SIOD patients with identified bi-allelic SMARCAL1 mutations, and we found that 66.0% had microdontia, hypodontia, or malformed deciduous and permanent molars.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD) is a multisystemic disorder with prominent skeletal, renal, immunological, and ectodermal abnormalities. It is caused by mutations of SMARCAL1 (SWI/SNF-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1), which encodes a DNA stress response protein. To determine the relationship of this function to the SIOD phenotype, we profiled the cancer prevalence in SIOD and assessed if defects of nucleotide excision repair (NER) and nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ), respectively, explained the ectodermal and immunological features of SIOD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Biallelic mutations of the DNA annealing helicase SMARCAL1 (SWI/SNF-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1) cause Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD, MIM 242900), an incompletely penetrant autosomal recessive disorder. Using human, Drosophila and mouse models, we show that the proteins encoded by SMARCAL1 orthologs localize to transcriptionally active chromatin and modulate gene expression. We also show that, as found in SIOD patients, deficiency of the SMARCAL1 orthologs alone is insufficient to cause disease in fruit flies and mice, although such deficiency causes modest diffuse alterations in gene expression.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Autoimmunity is often observed among individuals with primary immune deficiencies; however, the frequency and role of autoimmunity in Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD) has not been fully assessed. SIOD, which is caused by mutations of SMARCAL1, is a rare autosomal recessive disease with its prominent features being skeletal dysplasia, T cell deficiency, and renal failure. We present a child with severe SIOD who developed rituximab resistant Evans syndrome (ES).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF