Cited by 151Genetic Neurodegenerative DiseasesMicroRNA in disease regulationAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 13 of the 65 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

miR-10b-5p expression in Huntington’s disease brain relates to age of onset and the extent of striatal involvement

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that recognize sites of complementarity of target messenger RNAs, resulting in transcriptional regulation and translational repression of target genes. In Huntington's disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disease caused by a trinucleotide repeat expansion, miRNA dyregulation has been reported, which may impact gene expression and modify the progression and severity of HD. METHODS: We performed next-generation miRNA sequence analysis in prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 9) from 26 HD, 2 HD gene positive, and 36 control brains. Neuropathological information was available for all HD brains, including age at disease onset, CAG-repeat size, Vonsattel grade, and Hadzi-Vonsattel striatal and cortical scores, a continuous measure of the extent of neurodegeneration. Linear models were performed to examine the relationship of miRNA expression to these clinical features, and messenger RNA targets of associated miRNAs were tested for gene ontology term enrichment. RESULTS: We identified 75 miRNAs differentially expressed in HD brain (FDR q-value <0.05). Among the HD brains, nine miRNAs were significantly associated with Vonsattel grade of neuropathological involvement and three of these, miR-10b-5p, miR-10b-3p, and miR-302a-3p, significantly related to the Hadzi-Vonsattel striatal score (a continuous measure of striatal involvement) after adjustment for CAG length. Five miRNAs (miR-10b-5p, miR-196a-5p, miR-196b-5p, miR-10b-3p, and miR-106a-5p) were identified as having a significant relationship to CAG length-adjusted age of onset including miR-10b-5p, the mostly strongly over-expressed miRNA in HD cases. Although prefrontal cortex was the source of tissue profiled in these studies, the relationship of miR-10b-5p expression to striatal involvement in the disease was independent of cortical involvement. Correlation of miRNAs to the clinical features clustered by direction of effect and the gene targets of the observed miRNAs showed association to processes relating to nervous system development and transcriptional regulation. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that miRNA expression in cortical BA9 provides insight into striatal involvement and support a role for these miRNAs, particularly miR-10b-5p, in HD pathogenicity. The miRNAs identified in our studies of postmortem brain tissue may be detectable in peripheral fluids and thus warrant consideration as accessible biomarkers for disease stage, rate of progression, and other important clinical characteristics of HD.

Overview

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Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

Small RNA sequencing of Huntington’s disease (HD) prefrontal cortex identified widespread miRNA dysregulation, with miR-10b-5p as the most strongly over-expressed miRNA and a key correlate of striatal pathology and age of onset. The findings support a role for miRNAs, particularly miR-10b-5p, in HD pathogenicity and as candidate biomarkers.

Key findings

  • 938 miRNAs were reliably quantified; 75 were differentially expressed in HD versus control brain (FDR q < 0.05), with 46 up-regulated and 29 down-regulated. miR-10b-5p showed a 3.9 log2 fold increase in HD.
  • Nine miRNAs were significantly associated with Vonsattel grade; three of these—miR-10b-5p, miR-10b-3p, and miR-302a-3p—related to Hadzi-Vonsattel striatal score after CAG adjustment (FDR q = 2.28e-2). Five miRNAs related to CAG-adjusted age of onset: miR-10b-5p (q = 3.49e-3), miR-196a-5p (q = 1.32e-2), miR-196b-5p (q = 1.71e-2), miR-10b-3p (q = 1.71e-2), and miR-106a-5p (q = 1.71e-2).
  • miR-10b-5p’s relationship to striatal involvement remained significant after correcting for cortical involvement (p = 0.04; miR-10b-3p p = 0.01; miR-302a-3p p = 0.005). For predicting HD versus controls, miR-10b-5p AUC was 99.47% (95% CI 98.46%–100%).
  • Gene ontology enrichment of predicted targets of clinically associated miRNAs showed shared processes including “nervous system development” (up p = 8.5e-5, down p = 9.9e-7) and transcriptional regulation.

Methods

  • Next-generation small RNA sequencing was performed on prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 9) from 26 symptomatic HD, 2 asymptomatic HD gene-positive, and 36 control brains; neuropathological data included age at onset, CAG-repeat size, Vonsattel grade, and Hadzi-Vonsattel striatal and cortical scores.
  • Differential expression used DESeq2 variance-stabilizing transformation, ComBat batch correction, and LIMMA with age at death adjustment; FDR correction was applied across 938 miRNA comparisons. Clinical-feature associations used CAG-adjusted residuals and linear regression, with FDR correction across 75 differentially expressed miRNAs.
  • Predicted mRNA targets were identified with TargetScan and tested for GO enrichment using topGO and REVIGO; a subset of samples was orthogonally validated with a Firefly multiplexed miRNA assay.

Limitations

  • Stated: the cell type responsible for miRNA changes cannot be determined because tissue homogenate was used, so signals are likely both neuronal and non-neuronal. The authors also state it remains unknown which altered miRNAs are compensatory/neuroprotective versus pathological/neurotoxic, and whether changes are consequential or innocent by-products.
  • Evident from the text: the asymptomatic grade 0 group was very small (n = 2), limiting pre-symptomatic conclusions; the study is cross-sectional postmortem tissue, so causal direction and progression dynamics cannot be established.

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Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/s12920-015-0083-3

Cites

59 of 59 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Figures

Figure 1 Characterization of miRNA in Huntington’s disease brain. Volcano plot of 75 significantly differentially expressed miRNA after FDR-adjustment for 938 comparisons. Points labeled red were up-regulated in HD and points labeled as blue were down-regulated in HD. Hox-related miRNA points are labeled and represent the top differentially expressed miRNA in HD.
Figure 1 Characterization of miRNA in Huntington’s disease brain. Volcano plot of 75 significantly differentially expressed miRNA after FDR-adjustment for 938 comparisons. Points labeled red were up-regulated in HD and points labeled as blue were down-regulated in HD. Hox-related miRNA points are labeled and represent the top differentially expressed miRNA in HD.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 2 Nine miRNAs are associated with Vonsattel grade. In HD brains, expression of differentially expressed miRNA was compared across Vonsattel grades 0–4. Boxplots represent nine FDR-significant miRNAs (A. miR-10b-5p, B. miR-196a-5p, C. miR-10b-3p, D. miR-196b-5p, E. miR-302a-3p, F. miR-200c-3p, G. miR-4488, H. miR-4449, I. miR-663b) (FDR q < 0.05, adjusted for 75 contrasts) associated with Vonsattel grade by analysis of variance (ANOVA). X-axes represent Vonsattel grade, classified 0–4 in order of the severity of striatal involvement and Y-axes show the VST expression values after batch correction. Significant differences across grades and controls are denoted by letters in the grey banner above the boxplot, labeled a-d. Groups with different letters are significantly different from one another while those with the same letter are not, after correcting for multiple comparisons. For example, group “a” would be significantly different from group “b” and “c.” Conditions represented by multiple letters indicate no significant difference among those groups. For example, group “ab” would not be significantly different than groups “a” and “b,” but would be different group “c.”
Figure 2 Nine miRNAs are associated with Vonsattel grade. In HD brains, expression of differentially expressed miRNA was compared across Vonsattel grades 0–4. Boxplots represent nine FDR-significant miRNAs (A. miR-10b-5p, B. miR-196a-5p, C. miR-10b-3p, D. miR-196b-5p, E. miR-302a-3p, F. miR-200c-3p, G. miR-4488, H. miR-4449, I. miR-663b) (FDR q < 0.05, adjusted for 75 contrasts) associated with Vonsattel grade by analysis of variance (ANOVA). X-axes represent Vonsattel grade, classified 0–4 in order of the severity of striatal involvement and Y-axes show the VST expression values after batch correction. Significant differences across grades and controls are denoted by letters in the grey banner above the boxplot, labeled a-d. Groups with different letters are significantly different from one another while those with the same letter are not, after correcting for multiple comparisons. For example, group “a” would be significantly different from group “b” and “c.” Conditions represented by multiple letters indicate no significant difference among those groups. For example, group “ab” would not be significantly different than groups “a” and “b,” but would be different group “c.”CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 3 miR-10b is associated with age of onset and striatal involvement. In 26 Vonsattel grade 2, 3 and 4 HD brains, both mature miR-10b sequences (−5p and −3p) have FDR-significant relationships to CAG-adjusted Hadzi-Vonsattel striatal score (A and B) and CAG-adjusted onset age (C and D). Y-axes show the variance stabilizing transformation expression values after batch correction and shows that miR-10b-5p is expressed at much higher levels than miR-10b-3p. Grade 0 cases are not included, as they have neither onset age nor H-V striatal score.
Figure 3 miR-10b is associated with age of onset and striatal involvement. In 26 Vonsattel grade 2, 3 and 4 HD brains, both mature miR-10b sequences (−5p and −3p) have FDR-significant relationships to CAG-adjusted Hadzi-Vonsattel striatal score (A and B) and CAG-adjusted onset age (C and D). Y-axes show the variance stabilizing transformation expression values after batch correction and shows that miR-10b-5p is expressed at much higher levels than miR-10b-3p. Grade 0 cases are not included, as they have neither onset age nor H-V striatal score.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 4 CAG-adjusted clinical features of HD show patterns of association with miRNA expression. CAG-adjusted measures of onset age, disease duration, death age, Hadzi-Vonsattel (H-V) striatal and cortical score were correlated with differentially expressed miRNAs in HD brains. miRNAs with at least one nominal p-value < 0.05 are shown. Pearson correlation coefficients and features were independently hierarchically clustered. Red boxes indicate positive correlations and blue boxes indicate negative correlations. Seven miRNAs in the left section are down-regulated in HD and the ten miRNAs in the right section are up-regulated. Unsupervised clustering separated miRNA by their direction of fold change.
Figure 4 CAG-adjusted clinical features of HD show patterns of association with miRNA expression. CAG-adjusted measures of onset age, disease duration, death age, Hadzi-Vonsattel (H-V) striatal and cortical score were correlated with differentially expressed miRNAs in HD brains. miRNAs with at least one nominal p-value < 0.05 are shown. Pearson correlation coefficients and features were independently hierarchically clustered. Red boxes indicate positive correlations and blue boxes indicate negative correlations. Seven miRNAs in the left section are down-regulated in HD and the ten miRNAs in the right section are up-regulated. Unsupervised clustering separated miRNA by their direction of fold change.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 5 Gene ontology terms are similar for mRNA targets of clinically relevant de-regulated miRNAs. (A) Illustrates the overlap in GO Biological Processes between targets of increased miRNA (in orange) and decreased miRNA (in blue) in HD. The x-axis shows the number of gene ontology terms that fall within a given semantic term set, and the y-axis lists the top twenty enriched terms for each set of miRNA targets. Darker colored points represent terms with higher significance and the size of the points represents the union of all genes that fall within a given the term. A number of terms, including “nervous system development” as well as terms relating to transcriptional regulation are shared across up- and down-regulated miRNA target groups. The similarity targets of up-regulated miRNA (in orange) and down-regulated miRNA (in blue) for GO Molecular Function are seen in (B) and for GO Cellular Component in (C).
Figure 5 Gene ontology terms are similar for mRNA targets of clinically relevant de-regulated miRNAs. (A) Illustrates the overlap in GO Biological Processes between targets of increased miRNA (in orange) and decreased miRNA (in blue) in HD. The x-axis shows the number of gene ontology terms that fall within a given semantic term set, and the y-axis lists the top twenty enriched terms for each set of miRNA targets. Darker colored points represent terms with higher significance and the size of the points represents the union of all genes that fall within a given the term. A number of terms, including “nervous system development” as well as terms relating to transcriptional regulation are shared across up- and down-regulated miRNA target groups. The similarity targets of up-regulated miRNA (in orange) and down-regulated miRNA (in blue) for GO Molecular Function are seen in (B) and for GO Cellular Component in (C).CC BY · PubMed Central

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Metadata

Authors
Hoss, A. G., Labadorf, A., Latourelle, J. C., Kartha, V. K., Hadzi, T. C., Gusella, J. F., MacDonald, M. E., Chen, J.-F., Akbarian, S., Weng, Z., Vonsattel, J. P., & Myers, R. H.
Affiliations
  • Boston University (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
  • University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
  • NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital (US)
Corresponding author
Myers, Richard H
Venue
BMC Medical Genomics
Published
2015-03-01
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
10-10
ISSN
1755-8794 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2102648007
Cited by
151
References
59
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 6
FWCI
5.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • BMC Medical Genomics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network (American Medical Association) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • McLean Hospital
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Mental Health (P50MH096890)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS073947, R21NS076958, R01NS032765, U24NS072026)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Genetic Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › MicroRNA in disease regulation
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research
Keywords
Huntington's disease, miR-10b-5p, microRNA expression, age of onset, prefrontal cortex, CAG repeat expansion, miR-196a-5p, miR-106a-5p, miRNA target genes, neurodegeneration, disease progression biomarkers, trinucleotide repeats
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Brain, Cerebral Cortex, Corpus Striatum, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Huntington Disease, Male, Middle Aged, Linear Models, Age of Onset, Disease Progression, Gene Expression Profiling, MicroRNAs, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing

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