Somatic RIT1 delins in arteriovenous malformations hyperactivate RAS-MAPK signaling amenable to MEK inhibition.
Angiogenesis
; 2024 Jul 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38969873
ABSTRACT
Arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are benign vascular anomalies prone to pain, bleeding, and progressive growth. AVM are mainly caused by mosaic pathogenic variants of the RAS-MAPK pathway. However, a causative variant is not identified in all patients. Using ultra-deep sequencing, we identified novel somatic RIT1 delins variants in lesional tissue of three AVM patients. RIT1 encodes a RAS-like protein that can modulate RAS-MAPK signaling. We expressed RIT1 variants in HEK293T cells, which led to a strong increase in ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Endothelial-specific mosaic overexpression of RIT1 delins in zebrafish embryos induced AVM formation, highlighting their functional importance in vascular development. Both ERK1/2 hyperactivation in vitro and AVM formation in vivo could be suppressed by pharmacological MEK inhibition. Treatment with the MEK inhibitor trametinib led to a significant decrease in bleeding episodes and AVM size in one patient. Our findings implicate RIT1 in AVM formation and provide a rationale for clinical trials with targeted treatments.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Angiogenesis
Journal subject:
HEMATOLOGIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Germany