Objectives
Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is a major cause of drug‐resistant focal epilepsy in children, and the clinicopathological classification remains a challenging issue in daily practice. With the recent progress in DNA methylation–based classification of human brain tumors we examined whether genomic DNA methylation and gene expression analysis can be used to also distinguish human FCD subtypes.
Methods
DNA methylomes and transcriptomes were generated from massive parallel sequencing in 15 surgical FCD specimens, matched with 5 epilepsy and 6 nonepilepsy controls.
Results
Differential hierarchical cluster analysis of DNA methylation distinguished major FCD subtypes (ie, Ia, IIa, and IIb) from patients with temporal lobe epilepsy patients and nonepileptic controls. Targeted panel sequencing identified a novel likely pathogenic variant in DEPDC5 in a patient with FCD type IIa. However, no enrichment of differential DNA methylation or gene expression was observed in mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway–related genes.
Significance
Our studies extend the evidence for disease‐specific methylation signatures toward focal epilepsies in favor of an integrated clinicopathologic and molecular classification system of FCD subtypes incorporating genomic methylation.
Highlights d Set7 regulates enhanced cytokine production in trained immunity in vitro d Set7 knockout mice are unable to mount trained immunity against endotoxin challenge d Set7 modulates cellular respiration in b-glucan-trained macrophages d Set7-dependent histone methylation regulates MDH2 and SDHB in trained cells
Background:
Despite in-depth knowledge of the molecular mechanisms controlling embryonic heart development, little is known about the signals governing postnatal maturation of the human heart.
Methods:
Single nucleus RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) of 54,140 nuclei from 9 human donors was used to profile transcriptional changes in diverse cardiac cell types during maturation from fetal stages to adulthood. Bulk RNA-sequencing and the assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) were used to further validate transcriptional changes and to profile alterations in the chromatin accessibility landscape in purified cardiomyocyte nuclei from 21 human donors. Functional validation studies of sex steroids implicated in cardiac maturation were performed in human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac organoids and mice.
Results:
Our data identify the progesterone receptor as a key mediator of sex-dependent transcriptional programs during cardiomyocyte maturation. Functional validation studies in human cardiac organoids and mice demonstrate the progesterone receptor drives sex-specific metabolic programs and maturation of cardiac contractile properties.
Conclusions:
These data provide a blueprint for understanding human heart maturation in both sexes and reveal an important role for the progesterone receptor in human heart development.
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