[Molecular genetic diagnosis in children with cochlear implants in the Western french speaking part of Switzerland]. / Diagnostic génétique moléculaire des enfants implantés cochléaires en Suisse romande.

Hearing loss is the most frequent sensory deficit at birth. Newborn hearing screening helps with early identification and clinical management of hearing deficits. A cochlear implantation is advised for profound hearing loss. Previously, an etiologic diagnosis was difficult to obtain, and many laboratory tests were required. Today, genetics has up to 60% success rate in etiologic diagnosis and is now part of the international pediatric ENT recommendations. The Centre Universitaire Romand des Implants Cochléaires (CURIC) follows children with cochlear implants. From 2015 to 2021, 26 implanted children received testing, with a 73% success rate. The genetic diagnosis helped guide their clinical management and helped to avoid unnecessary and costly clinical testing.

Le déficit auditif (DA) est le déficit neurosensoriel le plus fréquent à la naissance. Le dépistage auditif permet l'identification et la prise en charge précoces des problèmes d'audition. Dans le cas de surdités profondes, une implantation cochléaire est conseillée. Auparavant, le diagnostic étiologique était difficile à poser malgré de nombreux examens complémentaires. Depuis 10 ans, la médecine génétique aboutit à un diagnostic étiologique dans 60% des cas et fait partie des recommandations internationales d'ORL pédiatrique. Le Centre universitaire romand des implants cochléaires prend en charge les enfants implantés. Entre 2015 et 2021, 26 enfants implantés ont eu une analyse génétique, dont 73% avec succès. Ceci permet d'orienter la prise en charge spécifiquement au profil génétique et diminue les examens complémentaires.

Unique mechanisms of growth regulation and tumor suppression upon Apc inactivation in the pancreas.

beta-catenin signaling is heavily involved in organogenesis. Here, we investigated how pancreas differentiation, growth and homeostasis are affected following inactivation of an endogenous inhibitor of beta-catenin, adenomatous polyposis coli (Apc). In adult mice, Apc-deficient pancreata were enlarged, solely as a result of hyperplasia of acinar cells, which accumulated beta-catenin, with the sparing of islets. Expression of a target of beta-catenin, the proto-oncogene c-myc (Myc), was increased in acinar cells lacking Apc, suggesting that c-myc expression is essential for hyperplasia. In support of this hypothesis, we found that conditional inactivation of c-myc in pancreata lacking Apc completely reversed the acinar hyperplasia. Apc loss in organs such as the liver, colon and kidney, as well as experimental misexpression of c-myc in pancreatic acinar cells, led to tumor formation with high penetrance. Surprisingly, pancreas tumors failed to develop following conditional pancreas Apc inactivation. In Apc-deficient acini of aged mice, our studies revealed a cessation of their exaggerated proliferation and a reduced expression of c-myc, in spite of the persistent accumulation of beta-catenin. In conclusion, our work shows that beta-catenin modulation of c-myc is an essential regulator of acinar growth control, and unveils an unprecedented example of Apc requirement in the pancreas that is both temporally restricted and cell-specific. This provides new insights into the mechanisms of tumor pathogenesis and tumor suppression in the pancreas.

An amylase/Cre transgene marks the whole endoderm but the primordia of liver and ventral pancreas.

Mice bearing a Cre-encoding transgene driven by a compound [SV40 small t antigen/mousealpha-amylase-2] promoter expressed the recombinase at early developmental stages broadly in the embryonic endoderm before the pancreas and lungs begin to outgrow, but not in other germ layers, as determined indirectly by beta-galactosidase and YFP reporter activity, indicating that the transgene is in fact an endodermic marker. Interestingly, the liver and ventral pancreas were excluded from this expression pattern, denoting that the chimerical alpha-amylase-2 promoter was not active in the anterior leading edge of the endoderm (the presumptive region from which liver and ventral pancreas form). These transgenics thus confirm, among other findings, that dorsal and ventral pancreatic primordia have different intrinsic transcriptional capabilities. In conclusion, we have generated a new transgenic mouse that should be useful to target endoderm at early stages, without affecting the liver or ventral pancreas before embryonic day E12.5.

MyoD induces apoptosis in the absence of RB function through a p21(WAF1)-dependent re-localization of cyclin/cdk complexes to the nucleus.

During differentiation of skeletal myoblasts, MyoD promotes growth arrest through the induction of the cdk inhibitor p21 and the accumulation of hypophosphorylated RB protein. Myoblasts lacking RB function fail to accomplish full differentiation and undergo apoptosis. Here we show that exogenous MyoD induces apoptosis in several cell backgrounds sharing RB inactivation. This process is associated with increased levels of cell cycle-driving proteins and aberrant cell cycle progression. The inability of MyoD to induce apoptosis in a p21-null background, highlights a requirement of p21 in RB-regulated apoptosis during myogenesis. This pro-apoptotic function of p21 cannot be exerted by simple p21 over-expression, but requires the co-operation of MyoD. We also suggest that the essential aspect of p21 activity involved in such a process is related to its ability to induce the nuclear accumulation and aberrant activity of cyclin/cdk complexes. These results establish a novel link between MyoD, p21 and RB during myogenesis, providing new insights into the antagonism between muscle differentiation and loss of RB function.