2. Academic Validation
  3. Biallelic MADD variants cause a phenotypic spectrum ranging from developmental delay to a multisystem disorder

Biallelic MADD variants cause a phenotypic spectrum ranging from developmental delay to a multisystem disorder

  • Brain. 2020 Aug 1;143(8):2437-2453. doi: 10.1093/brain/awaa204.
Pauline E Schneeberger 1,  Fanny Kortüm 1,  Georg Christoph Korenke 2,  Malik Alawi 3,  René Santer 4,  Mathias Woidy 4,  Daniela Buhas 5 6,  Stephanie Fox 5 6,  Jane Juusola 7,  Majid Alfadhel 8 9 10,  Bryn D Webb 11 12 13,  Emanuele G Coci 14 15,  Rami Abou Jamra 16,  Manuela Siekmeyer 17,  Saskia Biskup 18,  Corina Heller 18,  Esther M Maier 19,  Poupak Javaher-Haghighi 20,  Maria F Bedeschi 21,  Paola F Ajmone 22,  Maria Iascone 23,  Hilde Peeters 24,  Katleen Ballon 25,  Jaak Jaeken 26,  Aroa Rodríguez Alonso 27,  María Palomares-Bralo 28,  Fernando Santos-Simarro 28,  Marije E C Meuwissen 29,  Diane Beysen 30,  R Frank Kooy 31,  Henry Houlden 32,  David Murphy 32,  Mohammad Doosti 33,  Ehsan G Karimiani 33 34,  Majid Mojarrad 35 36 37,  Reza Maroofian 32,  Lenka Noskova 38,  Stanislav Kmoch 38,  Tomas Honzik 39,  Heidi Cope 40,  Amarilis Sanchez-Valle 41,  Undiagnosed Diseases Network,  Bruce D Gelb 11 12 13,  Ingo Kurth 42 43,  Maja Hempel 1,  Kerstin Kutsche 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Human Genetics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
  • 2 Klinik für Neuropädiatrie und angeborene Stoffwechselerkrankungen, Klinikum Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
  • 3 Bioinformatics Core Unit, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
  • 4 Department of Pediatrics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
  • 5 Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Specialized Medicine, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada.
  • 6 Human Genetics Department, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
  • 7 GeneDx, Gaithersburg, USA.
  • 8 Division of Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, King Abdullah specialized Children's Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs (MNGHA), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • 9 Medical Genomics Research Department, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs (MNGHA), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • 10 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs (MNGHA), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • 11 Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
  • 12 Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
  • 13 Mindich Child Health and Development Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
  • 14 Department for Neuropediatrics, University Children's Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
  • 15 Department of Pediatrics, Prignitz Hospital, Brandenburg Medical School, Germany.
  • 16 Institute of Human Genetics, University Medical Center Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
  • 17 Universitätsklinikum Leipzig - AöR, University of Leipzig, Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Leipzig, Germany.
  • 18 CeGaT GmbH and Praxis für Humangenetik Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
  • 19 Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
  • 20 Medicover Humangenetik Hannover, Hanover, Germany.
  • 21 Medical Genetic Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
  • 22 Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
  • 23 Laboratorio di Genetica Medica, ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo, Italy.
  • 24 Center for Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
  • 25 Centre for Developmental Disabilities, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
  • 26 Center for Metabolic Diseases, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
  • 27 Unidad de Patología Compleja, Servicio de Pediatría, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain.
  • 28 Instituto de Genética Médica y Molecular (INGEMM), Hospital Universitario La Paz, IdiPAZ, CIBERER, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain.
  • 29 Center of Medical Genetics, University Hospital Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • 30 Department of Pediatric Neurology, University Hospital Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • 31 Department of Medical Genetics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • 32 Department of Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK.
  • 33 Next Generation Genetic Polyclinic, Mashhad, Iran.
  • 34 Genetics Research Centre, Molecular and Clinical Sciences Institute, St. George's, University, London, UK.
  • 35 Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
  • 36 Medical Genetics Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
  • 37 Genetic Center of Khorasan Razavi, Mashhad, Iran.
  • 38 Research Unit for Rare Diseases, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  • 39 Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic.
  • 40 Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
  • 41 Division of Genetics and Metabolism, College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.
  • 42 Institute of Human Genetics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
  • 43 Institute of Human Genetics, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
PMID: 32761064 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaa204
Abstract

In pleiotropic diseases, multiple organ systems are affected causing a variety of clinical manifestations. Here, we report a pleiotropic disorder with a unique constellation of neurological, endocrine, exocrine, and haematological findings that is caused by biallelic MADD variants. MADD, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activating death domain protein, regulates various cellular functions, such as vesicle trafficking, activity of the Rab3 and Rab27 small GTPases, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced signalling and prevention of cell death. Through national collaboration and GeneMatcher, we collected 23 patients with 21 different pathogenic MADD variants identified by next-generation Sequencing. We clinically evaluated the series of patients and categorized the phenotypes in two groups. Group 1 consists of 14 patients with severe developmental delay, endo- and exocrine dysfunction, impairment of the sensory and autonomic nervous system, and haematological anomalies. The clinical course during the first years of life can be potentially fatal. The nine patients in Group 2 have a predominant neurological phenotype comprising mild-to-severe developmental delay, hypotonia, speech impairment, and seizures. Analysis of mRNA revealed multiple aberrant MADD transcripts in two patient-derived fibroblast cell lines. Relative quantification of MADD mRNA and protein in fibroblasts of five affected individuals showed a drastic reduction or loss of MADD. We conducted functional tests to determine the impact of the variants on different pathways. Treatment of patient-derived fibroblasts with TNF-α resulted in reduced phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2, enhanced activation of the pro-apoptotic enzymes Caspase-3 and -7 and increased Apoptosis compared to control cells. We analysed internalization of epidermal growth factor in patient cells and identified a defect in endocytosis of epidermal growth factor. We conclude that MADD deficiency underlies multiple cellular defects that can be attributed to alterations of TNF-α-dependent signalling pathways and defects in vesicular trafficking. Our data highlight the multifaceted role of MADD as a signalling molecule in different organs and reveal its physiological role in regulating the function of the sensory and autonomic nervous system and endo- and exocrine glands.

Keywords

DENN; HSAN; intellectual disability; multisystem; whole-exome sequencing.

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