Cited by 35Connective tissue disorders researchSkin and Cellular Biology ResearchDermatological and Skeletal Disorders

Molecular insights in the pathogenesis of classical Ehlers-Danlos syndrome from transcriptome-wide expression profiling of patients’ skin fibroblasts

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Chiarelli, Nicola, Carini, Giulia, Zoppi, Nicoletta, Ritelli, Marco, Colombi, Marina·2019·PLOS ONE

Abstract

Classical Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (cEDS) is a dominant inherited connective tissue disorder mainly caused by mutations in the COL5A1 and COL5A2 genes encoding type V collagen (COLLV), which is a fibrillar COLL widely distributed in a variety of connective tissues. cEDS patients suffer from skin hyperextensibility, abnormal wound healing/atrophic scars, and joint hypermobility. Most of the causative variants result in a non-functional COL5A1 allele and COLLV haploinsufficiency, whilst COL5A2 mutations affect its structural integrity. To shed light into disease mechanisms involved in cEDS, we performed gene expression profiling in skin fibroblasts from four patients harboring haploinsufficient and structural mutations in both disease genes. Transcriptome profiling revealed significant changes in the expression levels of different extracellular matrix (ECM)-related genes, such as SPP1, POSTN, EDIL3, IGFBP2, and C3, which encode both matricellular and soluble proteins that are mainly involved in cell proliferation and migration, and cutaneous wound healing. These gene expression changes are consistent with our previous protein findings on in vitro fibroblasts from other cEDS patients, which exhibited reduced migration and poor wound repair owing to COLLV disorganization, altered deposition of fibronectin into ECM, and an abnormal integrin pattern. Microarray analysis also indicated the decreased expression of DNAJB7, VIPAS39, CCPG1, ATG10, SVIP, which encode molecular chaperones facilitating protein folding, enzymes regulating post-Golgi COLLs processing, and proteins acting as cargo receptors required for endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis and implicated in the autophagy process. Patients' cells also showed altered mRNA levels of many cell cycle regulating genes including CCNE2, KIF4A, MKI67, DTL, and DDIAS. Protein studies showed that aberrant COLLV expression causes the disassembly of itself and many structural ECM constituents including COLLI, COLLIII, fibronectin, and fibrillins. Our findings provide the first molecular evidence of significant gene expression changes in cEDS skin fibroblasts highlighting that defective ECM remodeling, ER homeostasis and autophagy might play a role in the pathogenesis of this connective tissue disorder.

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Authors
Chiarelli, N., Carini, G., Zoppi, N., Ritelli, M., & Colombi, M.
Affiliations
University of Brescia (IT)
Corresponding author
Colombi, Marina
Venue
PLOS ONE
Published
2019-02-04
Volume
14
Issue
2
Pages
e0211647
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2911609224
Cited by
35
References
86
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1
FWCI
2.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Institutional Research Information System (Università degli Studi di Brescia) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Connective tissue disorders research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Skin and Cellular Biology Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Dermatological and Skeletal Disorders
Keywords
classical Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, type V collagen, COL5A1, COL5A2, haploinsufficiency, dermal fibroblasts, gene expression profiling, extracellular matrix remodeling, wound healing, matricellular proteins, autophagy, endoplasmic reticulum proteostasis, cell cycle genes, connective tissue diseases, gene expression changes
MeSH terms
Adult, Alleles, Cell Cycle, Cells, Cultured, Collagen, Connective Tissue, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Endoplasmic Reticulum, Extracellular Matrix, Female, Fibroblasts, Fibronectins, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, RNA, Messenger, Skin, Skin Abnormalities, Case-Control Studies, Gene Expression Profiling, Haploinsufficiency, Transcriptome

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