Autoimmune alleles at the major histocompatibility locus modify melanoma susceptibility.

Autoimmunity and cancer represent two different aspects of immune dysfunction. Autoimmunity is characterized by breakdowns in immune self-tolerance, while impaired immune surveillance can allow for tumorigenesis. The class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC-I), which displays derivatives of the cellular peptidome for immune surveillance by CD8+ T cells, serves as a common genetic link between these conditions. As melanoma-specific CD8+ T cells have been shown to target melanocyte-specific peptide antigens more often than melanoma-specific antigens, we investigated whether vitiligo- and psoriasis-predisposing MHC-I alleles conferred a melanoma-protective effect. In individuals with cutaneous melanoma from both The Cancer Genome Atlas (n = 451) and an independent validation set (n = 586), MHC-I autoimmune-allele carrier status was significantly associated with a later age of melanoma diagnosis. Furthermore, MHC-I autoimmune-allele carriers were significantly associated with decreased risk of developing melanoma in the Million Veteran Program (OR = 0.962, p = 0.024). Existing melanoma polygenic risk scores (PRSs) did not predict autoimmune-allele carrier status, suggesting these alleles provide orthogonal risk-relevant information. Mechanisms of autoimmune protection were neither associated with improved melanoma-driver mutation association nor improved gene-level conserved antigen presentation relative to common alleles. However, autoimmune alleles showed higher affinity relative to common alleles for particular windows of melanocyte-conserved antigens and loss of heterozygosity of autoimmune alleles caused the greatest reduction in presentation for several conserved antigens across individuals with loss of HLA alleles. Overall, this study presents evidence that MHC-I autoimmune-risk alleles modulate melanoma risk unaccounted for by current PRSs.

Absence of CFAP69 Causes Male Infertility due to Multiple Morphological Abnormalities of the Flagella in Human and Mouse.

The multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella (MMAF) phenotype is among the most severe forms of sperm defects responsible for male infertility. The phenotype is characterized by the presence in the ejaculate of immotile spermatozoa with severe flagellar abnormalities including flagella being short, coiled, absent, and of irregular caliber. Recent studies have demonstrated that MMAF is genetically heterogeneous, and genes thus far associated with MMAF account for only one-third of cases. Here we report the identification of homozygous truncating mutations (one stop-gain and one splicing variant) in CFAP69 of two unrelated individuals by whole-exome sequencing of a cohort of 78 infertile men with MMAF. CFAP69 encodes an evolutionarily conserved protein found at high levels in the testis. Immunostaining experiments in sperm from fertile control individuals showed that CFAP69 localized to the midpiece of the flagellum, and the absence of CFAP69 was confirmed in both individuals carrying CFPA69 mutations. Additionally, we found that sperm from a Cfap69 knockout mouse model recapitulated the MMAF phenotype. Ultrastructural analysis of testicular sperm from the knockout mice showed severe disruption of flagellum structure, but histological analysis of testes from these mice revealed the presence of all stages of the seminiferous epithelium, indicating that the overall progression of spermatogenesis is preserved and that the sperm defects likely arise during spermiogenesis. Together, our data indicate that CFAP69 is necessary for flagellum assembly/stability and that in both humans and mice, biallelic truncating mutations in CFAP69 cause autosomal-recessive MMAF and primary male infertility.

Cilia- and Flagella-Associated Protein 69 Regulates Olfactory Transduction Kinetics in Mice.

Animals detect odorous chemicals through specialized olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that transduce odorants into neural electrical signals. We identified a novel and evolutionarily conserved protein, cilia- and flagella-associated protein 69 (CFAP69), in mice that regulates olfactory transduction kinetics. In the olfactory epithelium, CFAP69 is enriched in OSN cilia, where olfactory transduction occurs. Bioinformatic analysis suggests that a large portion of CFAP69 can form Armadillo-type α-helical repeats, which may mediate protein-protein interactions. OSNs lacking CFAP69, remarkably, displayed faster kinetics in both the on and off phases of electrophysiological responses at both the neuronal ensemble level as observed by electroolfactogram and the single-cell level as observed by single-cell suction pipette recordings. In single-cell analysis, OSNs lacking CFAP69 showed faster response integration and were able to fire APs more faithfully to repeated odor stimuli. Furthermore, both male and female mutant mice that specifically lack CFAP69 in OSNs exhibited attenuated performance in a buried food pellet test when a background of the same odor to the food pellet was present even though they should have better temporal resolution of coding olfactory stimulation at the peripheral. Therefore, the role of CFAP69 in the olfactory system seems to be to allow the olfactory transduction machinery to work at a precisely regulated range of response kinetics for robust olfactory behavior.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Sensory receptor cells are generally thought to evolve to respond to sensory cues as fast as they can. This idea is consistent with mutational analyses in various sensory systems, where mutations of sensory receptor cells often resulted in reduced response size and slowed response kinetics. Contrary to this idea, we have found that there is a kinetic "damper" present in the olfactory transduction cascade of the mouse that slows down the response kinetics and, by doing so, it reduces the peripheral temporal resolution in coding odor stimuli and allows for robust olfactory behavior. This study should trigger a rethinking of the significance of the intrinsic speed of sensory transduction and the pattern of the peripheral coding of sensory stimuli.

Endoplasmic reticulum and oxidant stress mediate nuclear factor-κB activation in the subfornical organ during angiotensin II hypertension.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in the brain circumventricular subfornical organ (SFO) mediate the central hypertensive actions of Angiotensin II (ANG II). However, the downstream signaling events remain unclear. Here we tested the hypothesis that angiotensin type 1a receptors (AT1aR), ER stress, and ROS induce activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) during ANG II-dependent hypertension. To spatiotemporally track NF-κB activity in the SFO throughout the development of ANG II-dependent hypertension, we used SFO-targeted adenoviral delivery and longitudinal bioluminescence imaging in mice. During low-dose infusion of ANG II, bioluminescence imaging revealed a prehypertensive surge in NF-κB activity in the SFO at a time point prior to a significant rise in arterial blood pressure. SFO-targeted ablation of AT1aR, inhibition of ER stress, or adenoviral scavenging of ROS in the SFO prevented the ANG II-induced increase in SFO NF-κB. These findings highlight the utility of bioluminescence imaging to longitudinally track transcription factor activation during the development of ANG II-dependent hypertension and reveal an AT1aR-, ER stress-, and ROS-dependent prehypertensive surge in NF-κB activity in the SFO. Furthermore, the increase in NF-κB activity before a rise in arterial blood pressure suggests a causal role for SFO NF-κB in the development of ANG II-dependent hypertension.

Lamin B1 is required for mature neuron-specific gene expression during olfactory sensory neuron differentiation.

B-type lamins are major constituents of the nuclear lamina in all metazoan cells, yet have specific roles in the development of certain cell types. Although they are speculated to regulate gene expression in developmental contexts, a direct link between B-type lamins and developmental gene expression in an in vivo system is currently lacking. Here, we identify lamin B1 as a key regulator of gene expression required for the formation of functional olfactory sensory neurons. By using targeted knockout in olfactory epithelial stem cells in adult mice, we show that lamin B1 deficient neurons exhibit attenuated response to odour stimulation. This deficit can be explained by decreased expression of genes involved in mature neuron function, along with increased expression of genes atypical of the olfactory lineage. These results support that the broadly expressed lamin B1 regulates expression of a subset of genes involved in the differentiation of a specific cell type.

Characterization of nuclear localization and SUMOylation of the ATBF1 transcription factor in epithelial cells.

ATBF1/ZFHX3 is a large transcription factor that functions in development, tumorigenesis and other biological processes. ATBF1 is normally localized in the nucleus, but is often mislocalized in the cytoplasm in cancer cells. The mechanism underlying the mislocalization of ATBF1 is unknown. In this study, we analyzed the nuclear localization of ATBF1, and found that ectopically expressed ATBF1 formed nuclear body (NB)-like dots in the nucleus, some of which indeed physically associated with promyelocytic leukemia (PML) NBs. We also defined a 3-amino acid motif, KRK2615-2617, as the nuclear localization signal (NLS) for ATBF1. Interestingly, diffusely distributed nuclear SUMO1 proteins were sequestered into ATBF1 dots, which could be related to ATBF1's physical association with PML NBs, known SUMOylation hotspots. Furthermore, ATBF1 itself was SUMOylated. ATBF1 SUMOylation occurred at more than 3 lysine residues including K2349, K2806 and K3258 and was nuclear specific. Finally, the PIAS3 SUMO1 E3 ligase, which interacts with ATBF1 directly, diminished rather than enhanced ATBF1 SUMOylation, preventing the co-localization of ATBF1 with SUMO1 in the nucleus. These findings suggest that nuclear localization and SUMOylation are important for the transcription factor function of ATBF1, and that ATBF1 could cooperate with PML NBs to regulate protein SUMOylation in different biological processes.