Cited by 77Genetics and Neurodevelopmental DisordersPI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cancerGenomics and Rare Diseases

Variation in a range of mTOR-related genes associates with intracranial volume and intellectual disability

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Reijnders, M. R. F., Kousi, M., van Woerden, G. M., Klein, M., Bralten, J., Mancini, G. M. S., van Essen, T., Proietti-Onori, M. +13 more·2017·Nature Communications

Abstract

De novo mutations in specific mTOR pathway genes cause brain overgrowth in the context of intellectual disability (ID). By analyzing 101 mMTOR-related genes in a large ID patient cohort and two independent population cohorts, we show that these genes modulate brain growth in health and disease. We report the mTOR activator gene RHEB as an ID gene that is associated with megalencephaly when mutated. Functional testing of mutant RHEB in vertebrate animal models indicates pathway hyperactivation with a concomitant increase in cell and head size, aberrant neuronal migration, and induction of seizures, concordant with the human phenotype. This study reveals that tight control of brain volume is exerted through a large community of mTOR-related genes. Human brain volume can be altered, by either rare disruptive events causing hyperactivation of the pathway, or through the collective effects of common alleles.

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  • The PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway broadly promotes brain growth and development of the myelin sheath.

    “The PI3K/ AKT/mTOR signaling pathway broadly promotes brain growth and development of the myelin sheath [32–35].”

    From Neandertal Introgression Sheds Light on Modern Human Endocranial Globularity (2019) · cites this paper as [34]

    The Introduction (page not provided) describes mTOR signaling as important to brain development, and the Results section on intracranial volume links PI3K-AKT-mTOR genes to variation in brain size. Neither those passages nor the retrieved passages address development of the myelin sheath, so that part of the claim is unsupported by our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Authors
Reijnders, M. R. F., Kousi, M., van Woerden, G. M., Klein, M., Bralten, J., Mancini, G. M. S., van Essen, T., Proietti-Onori, M., Smeets, E. E. J., van Gastel, M., Stegmann, A. P. A., Stevens, S. J. C., Lelieveld, S. H., Gilissen, C., Pfundt, R., Tan, P. L., Kleefstra, T., Franke, B., Elgersma, Y., Katsanis, N., & Brunner, H. G.
Affiliations
  • Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
  • Duke University (US)
  • Erasmus MC - Sophia Children’s Hospital (NL)
  • Maastricht University Medical Centre (NL)
  • Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
  • Erasmus MC (NL)
Corresponding author
Brunner, H. G.
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2017-10-20
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
1052-1052
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2767028339
Cited by
76
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7
FWCI
4.35
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Medical Research Council (MR/K026992/1)
  • National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U54EB020403)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genomics and Rare Diseases
Keywords
mTOR signaling, intellectual disability, intracranial volume, brain overgrowth, megalencephaly, Rheb, de novo mutations, neuronal migration, seizures, common genetic variants
MeSH terms
Ras Homolog Enriched in Brain Protein, Animals, Brain, Cell Movement, Cells, Cultured, Humans, Intellectual Disability, Mutation, Neurons, Organ Size, Seizures, Zebrafish, Signal Transduction, Sirolimus, Cell Size, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases, Megalencephaly

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