JAK-2 V617F Mutation in Endothelial Cells of Patients with Atherosclerotic Carotid Disease.

Objective: It has been shown that clonal mutations occur in hematopoietic stem cells with advancing age and increase the risk of death due to atherosclerotic vascular diseases, just like in myeloproliferative neoplasms. It is known that endothelial cells (EC) and hematopoietic stem cells develop from a common stem cell called hemangioblast in early embryonic period. However, the presence of hemangioblast in the postnatal period is controversial. In this study, JAK2 gene variants was examined in patients with atherosclerotic carotid disease and without any hematological malignancy. Materials and Methods: Ten consecutive patients (8 men and 2 women) with symptomatic atherosclerotic carotid stenosis were included in this study. EC (CD31+CD45-) were separated from tissue samples taken by carotid endarterectomy. JAK2 variants was examined in EC, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and oral epithelial cells of the patients with next generation sequencing. Results: The median age of the patients was 74 (58-80) and the median BMI was 24,44 (18,42-30,85) kg/m2. Smoking history was present in 50%, hypertension in 80%, diabetes in 70%, and ischemic heart disease in 70% of the patients. JAK2V617F mutation was detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in three out of 10 patients, two of them also had JAK2V617F mutation in their EC. JAK2V617F mutation was not found in oral epithelial cells in any of the patients. Conclusion: In this study, for the first time in the literature, we showed that JAK2V617F mutation was found somatically in both peripheral blood cells and EC in patients with atherosclerosis. This finding may support that EC and hematopoietic cells originate from a common clone or that the somatic mutation can be transmitted to EC by other mechanisms. Examining the molecular and functional changes caused by JAK2V617F mutation in EC may help open a new avenue for treating atherosclerosis.

Assessment of the Role of Nuclear ENDOG Gene and mtDNA Variations on Paternal Mitochondrial Elimination (PME) in Infertile Men: An Experimental Study.

In humans and most animals, maternal inheritance of mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is considered as an universal assumption. Recently, several lines of evidence suggest that different species seem to employ distinct mechanisms to prevent the inheritance of paternal mtDNA. There are few studies in the literature on the molecular basis of sperm mtDNA elimination in mammals and paternal mtDNA transmission in humans. Endonuclease G (ENDOG) is a mitochondrial nuclease encoded by nuclear ENDOG gene. The critical importance of ENDOG gene on paternal mitochondrial elimination (PME) has been previously demonstrated in model organisms such as C. elegans and D. melanogaster. However, its mechanism in human is still unclear. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether nuclear ENDOG gene copy number could be a potential marker of paternal mtDNA transmission or not.Male factor infertility patients diagnosed with different infertility subgroups such as azoospermia, oligoteratozoospermia, astheno-teratozoospermia were included in this study: 13 infertile men and 25 healthy men as control group. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis and dual-color Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method were used to compare the groups. FISH method was applied to verify qPCR results and two signals were observed in nearly all patients. ENDOG gene copy number data were evaluated by comparing them with entire human mtDNA next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis results obtained through bioinformatics and proteomics tools. Mitochondrial whole genome sequencing (WGS) data allowed determination of novel and reported variations such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), multiple nucleotide polymorphism (MNP), insertion/deletion (INDEL). Missense variants causing amino acid substitution were filtered out from patients' mtDNA WGS data.Relative copy number of target ENDOG gene in male infertility patients [0.49 (0.31 - 0.77)] was lower than healthy controls [1.00 (0.66 - 1.51)], and statistical results showed significant differences between the groups (p < 0.01). A total of 38 missense variants were detected in the genes encoding the proteins involved in the respiratory chain complex. Moreover, we detected paternal mtDNA transmissions in the children of these patients who applied to assisted reproductive techniques.In conclusion, this study reveals that ENDOG gene may be an important factor for the PME mechanism in humans. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in humans about this topic and assessment of ENDOG gene sequencing and gene expression studies in a larger sample size including patients with male factor infertility would be our future project.

The genomic analysis of endometrial mitochondrial DNA copy number variation on recurrent implantation failure.

OBJECTIVE: Aim of this study was to define the relationship between RIF (Recurrent Implantation Failure) and endometrial mtDNA copy number. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 50 women of reproductive age including twenty-five patients clinically diagnosed with RIF and twenty-five fertile women as healthy controls were recruited into the study. Endometrial biopsy samples were obtained with a pipelle at the 20-24 days of the menstrual cycle of each participant. Total genomic DNA samples were isolated from endometrial tissues; MT-ND1 (mitochondrially encoded NADH dehydrogenase I) and MT-CO2 (mitochondrially encoded cytochrome C oxidase II) target genes were amplified by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). Nuclear GAPDH (Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase) gene was also used for study normalization. The study has been conducted between February 2019 and June 2019. RESULT(S): Droplet digital PCR results were analyzed in "QuantaSoft" software. The concentration amount (copies/µl) of each participant's mitochondrial gene was normalized according to the GAPDH gene concentrations as nuclear reference. mtDNA amounts were compared between RIF patients and healthy controls. Normalized data was statistically evaluated using Mann-Whitney U test and ROC curve analysis. CONCLUSION(S): It was concluded that the mitochondrial target gene (MT-ND1 and MT-CO2) copy number amount of RIF patients was higher than the one obtained from the healthy group in endometrial tissues. It is thought that higher mtDNA copy number at the RIF group may be related to increased oxidative stress in the endometrium. This stress factors may influence receptivity negatively and cause implantation failure. The receptivity of the endometrium is associated with the number of mtDNA copies and difference can be used as a biomarker for receptivity analysis.

Investigation of human paternal mitochondrial DNA transmission in ART babies whose fathers with male infertility.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the paternal mitochondrial DNA's effect on assisted reproductive technology (ART) applications and possible paternal mitochondrial DNA transmission in male factor infertility diagnosed fathers. STUDY DESIGN: Study group was designed according to the families all of which applied to assisted reproductive technologies as a result of male infertility. A total of 16 trios (48 mother-father-child samples) which contain 7 newborns and 9 infants born by in vitro fertilization method (IVF-ICSI) were studied using "Illumina, MiSeq" next-generation sequencing platform (Case-parent trio study). The study has been conducted between February 2017 and May 2018. RESULT(S): Sequencing analysis results were investigated on the basis of "mother-father-child", "mother-child" and "father-child" mitochondrial DNA whole genome sequence data, respectively. In 14 "trios" of 16; maternal mitochondrial DNA haplotype were detected for children, the remaining 2 "trios" had different mitochondrial DNA haplotypes when compared to their mother and fathers. Also; "father-child" sharing same genetic variants (SNP ("Single nucleotide polymorphism") / MNP ("Multiple nucleotide polymorphism") / INDEL ("Insertion/Deletion") were found in 8 "trios". In 5 "trios" of 16; 98-99% paternal mitochondrial DNA genome sequence similarity were obtained by alignment of "father-child" mitochondrial DNA genome. CONCLUSION(S): This study is the first whole mitochondrial genome investigation for paternal mitochondrial DNA contribution in human IVF / ICSI applied trio cases. Our findings for paternally derived variants could be the result of intermolecular recombination between maternal and paternal mitochondrial DNA.

The significance of MUM1/IRF4 protein expression and IRF4 translocation of CD30(+) cutaneous T-cell lymphoproliferative disorders: a study of 53 cases.

Current laboratory technics, clinicopathologic findings cannot always reliably distinguish primary cutaneous CD30(+) lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD), such as lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP), primary cutaneous CD30(+) anaplastic large cell lymphoma (PCALCL), transformed mycosis fungoides (T-MF) and systemic ALK(-) anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) with skin involvement. We investigated the presence of IRF4 translocation with break apart DNA-FISH method of these entities according to the recent studies of Feldman et al. In our study group with 53 cases, the detection of IRF4 translocation had a specificity and positive predictive value for PCALCL of 100%. In contrast MUM1/IRF4 protein expression was distributed widely without any predictive value.