Publication
Title
Huntington's disease biomarker progression profile identified by transcriptome sequencing in peripheral blood
Author
Abstract
With several therapeutic approaches in development for Huntington's disease, there is a need for easily accessible biomarkers to monitor disease progression and therapy response. We performed next-generation sequencing-based transcriptome analysis of total RNA from peripheral blood of 91 mutation carriers (27 presymptomatic and, 64 symptomatic) and 33 controls. Transcriptome analysis by DeepSAGE identified 167 genes significantly associated with clinical total motor score in Huntington's disease patients. Relative to previous studies, this yielded novel genes and confirmed previously identified genes, such as H2AFY, an overlap in results that has proven difficult in the past. Pathway analysis showed enrichment of genes of the immune system and target genes of miRNAs, which are downregulated in Huntington's disease models. Using a highly parallelized microfluidics array chip (Fluidigm), we validated 12 of the top 20 significant genes in our discovery cohort and 7 in a second independent cohort. The five genes (PROK2, ZNF238, AQP9, CYSTM1 and ANXA3) that were validated independently in both cohorts present a candidate biomarker panel for stage determination and therapeutic readout in Huntington's disease. Finally we suggest a first empiric formula predicting total motor score from the expression levels of our biomarker panel. Our data support the view that peripheral blood is a useful source to identify biomarkers for Huntington's disease and monitor disease progression in future clinical trials.
Language
English
Source (journal)
European journal of human genetics / European Society of Human Genetics. - Leiden
Publication
Leiden : 2015
ISSN
1018-4813
DOI
10.1038/EJHG.2014.281
Volume/pages
23 :10 (2015) , p. 1349-1356
ISI
000361747700013
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 17.11.2016
Last edited 16.02.2023
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