Cited by 194Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ResearchExtracellular vesicles in diseaseMicroRNA in disease regulation

Micro-RNAs secreted through astrocyte-derived extracellular vesicles cause neuronal network degeneration in C9orf72 ALS

Open access
Varcianna, André, Myszczynska, Monika A., Castelli, Lydia M., O'Neill, Brendan, Kim, Yeseul, Talbot, Jordan, Nyberg, Sophie, Nyamali, Immanuelle +4 more·2019·EBioMedicine

Abstract

Background Astrocytes regulate neuronal function, synaptic formation and maintenance partly through secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs). In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) astrocytes display a toxic phenotype that contributes to motor neuron (MN) degeneration. Methods We used human induced astrocytes (iAstrocytes) from 3 ALS patients carrying C9orf72 mutations and 3 non-affected donors to investigate the role of astrocyte-derived EVs (ADEVs) in ALS astrocyte toxicity. ADEVs were isolated from iAstrocyte conditioned medium via ultracentrifugation and resuspended in fresh astrocyte medium before testing ADEV impact on HB9-GFP + mouse motor neurons (Hb9-GFP + MN). We used post-mortem brain and spinal cord tissue from 3 sporadic ALS and 3 non-ALS cases for PCR analysis. Findings We report that EV formation and miRNA cargo are dysregulated in C9ORF72-ALS iAstrocytes and this affects neurite network maintenance and MN survival in vitro . In particular, we have identified downregulation of miR-494-3p, a negative regulator of semaphorin 3A (SEMA3A) and other targets involved in axonal maintenance. We show here that by restoring miR-494-3p levels through expression of an engineered miRNA mimic we can downregulate Sema3A levels in MNs and increases MN survival in vitro . Consistently, we also report lower levels of mir-494-3p in cortico-spinal tract tissue isolated from sporadic ALS donors, thus supporting the pathological importance of this pathway in MNs and its therapeutic potential. Interpretation ALS ADEVs and their miRNA cargo are involved in MN death in ALS and we have identified miR-494-3p as a potential therapeutic target. Funding: Thierry Latran Fondation and Academy of Medical Sciences.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.ebiom.2018.11.067

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Astrocytes generated from hiPSC derived from fibroblasts of patients with CNS diseases show pathological phenotypes, including dysregulation of lipid metabolism, alteration in extracellular vesicles, reduced autophagy, or altered STAT3 signaling.

    “Interestingly, astrocytes generated from hiPSC derived from fibroblasts obtained from patients with CNS diseases (usually with a genetic mutation causative of disease or a risk polymorphism) show pathological phenotypes, including dysregulation of lipid metabolism11, alteration in the contents of the extracellular vesicles released by astrocytes80, reduced autophagy81, or altered STAT3 signaling82”

    From Reactive astrocyte nomenclature, definitions, and future directions (2021) · cites this paper as [80]

    The Results section (“MicroRNAs regulating axonal maintenance are selectively dysregulated in C9 patient ADEVs”; page unavailable) reports altered miRNA cargo in extracellular vesicles released by C9orf72-ALS patient astrocytes, supporting the point attached to this citation. However, the Materials and methods section (“Conversion of skin fibroblasts to induced neural progenitor cells”; page unavailable) describes direct conversion of patient fibroblasts to neural progenitor cells and then astrocytes, not generation through hiPSCs. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Varcianna, A., Myszczynska, M. A., Castelli, L. M., O'Neill, B., Kim, Y., Talbot, J., Nyberg, S., Nyamali, I., Heath, P. R., Stopford, M. J., Hautbergue, G. M., & Ferraiuolo, L.
Affiliations
University of Sheffield (GB)
Corresponding author
Ferraiuolo, Laura
Venue
EBioMedicine
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-02
Volume
40
Pages
626-635
ISSN
2352-3964 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2911503339
Cited by
194
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 7
FWCI
17.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • EBioMedicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust
  • Motor Neurone Disease Association (Bonanno/Apr16/848-791, Hautbergue/Apr16/846-791)
  • Academy of Medical Sciences (SBF002\1142)
  • Medical Research Council (MR/R024162/1, 1812144)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Extracellular vesicles in disease
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › MicroRNA in disease regulation
Keywords
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, C9orf72, microRNA, miR-494-3p, semaphorin 3A, motor neuron degeneration, astrocyte toxicity, corticospinal tract, therapeutic target
MeSH terms
Extracellular Vesicles, C9orf72 Protein, Adult, Aged, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Animals, Astrocytes, Autopsy, Biopsy, Cell Survival, Disease Models, Animal, Disease Susceptibility, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Biological, Motor Neurons, Mutation, Nerve Degeneration, Skin, Culture Media, Conditioned, Gene Expression Profiling, RNA Interference, MicroRNAs, Semaphorin-3A, Mice

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review