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Kuperwasser, Nicolas

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Kuperwasser

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Nicolas

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Kuperwasser, Nicolas

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2010 - 20153

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Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.457b92b2-6ccf-4a5c-b939-cb72f303fecd

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    Modulators of Hepatic Lipoprotein Metabolism Identified in a Search for Small-Molecule Inducers of Tribbles Pseudokinase 1 Expression
    (Public Library of Science, 2015) Nagiec, Marek M.; Skepner, Adam P.; Negri, Joseph; Eichhorn, Michelle; Kuperwasser, Nicolas; Comer, Eamon; Muncipinto, Giovanni; Subramanian, Aravind; Clish, Clary; Musunuru, Kiran; Duvall, Jeremy R.; Foley, Michael; Perez, Jose R.; Palmer, Michelle A. J.
    Recent genome wide association studies have linked tribbles pseudokinase 1 (TRIB1) to the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). Based on the observations that increased expression of TRIB1 reduces secretion of VLDL and is associated with lower plasma levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, higher plasma levels of HDL cholesterol and reduced risk for myocardial infarction, we carried out a high throughput phenotypic screen based on quantitative RT-PCR assay to identify compounds that induce TRIB1 expression in human HepG2 hepatoma cells. In a screen of a collection of diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS)-derived compounds, we identified a series of benzofuran-based compounds that upregulate TRIB1 expression and phenocopy the effects of TRIB1 cDNA overexpression, as they inhibit triglyceride synthesis and apoB secretion in cells. In addition, the compounds downregulate expression of MTTP and APOC3, key components of the lipoprotein assembly pathway. However, CRISPR-Cas9 induced chromosomal disruption of the TRIB1 locus in HepG2 cells, while confirming its regulatory role in lipoprotein metabolism, demonstrated that the effects of benzofurans persist in TRIB1-null cells indicating that TRIB1 is sufficient but not necessary to transmit the effects of the drug. Remarkably, active benzofurans, as well as natural products capable of TRIB1 upregulation, also modulate hepatic cell cholesterol metabolism by elevating the expression of LDLR transcript and LDL receptor protein, while reducing the levels of PCSK9 transcript and secreted PCSK9 protein and stimulating LDL uptake. The effects of benzofurans are not masked by cholesterol depletion and are independent of the SREBP-2 regulatory circuit, indicating that these compounds represent a novel class of chemically tractable small-molecule modulators that shift cellular lipoprotein metabolism in HepG2 cells from lipogenesis to scavenging.
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    A TALEN Genome-Editing System for Generating Human Stem Cell-Based Disease Models
    (Elsevier BV, 2013) Ding, Qiurong; Lee, Youn-Kyoung; Schaefer, Esperance; Peters, Derek T.; Veres, Adrian; Kim, Kevin; Kuperwasser, Nicolas; Motola, Daniel L; Meissner, Torsten; Hendriks, William; Trevisan, Marta; Gupta, Rajat; Moisan, Annie; Banks, Eric; Friesen, Max; Schinzel, Robert T.; Xia, Fang; Tang, Alexander; Xia, Yulei; Figueroa, Emmanuel; Wann, Amy; Ahfeldt, Tim; Daheron, Laurence; Zhang, Feng; Rubin, Lee; Peng, Lee F; Chung, Raymond; Musunuru, Kiran; Cowan, Chad
    Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are a new class of engineered nucleases that are easier to design to cleave at desired sites in a genome than previous types of nucleases. We report here the use of TALENs to rapidly and efficiently generate mutant alleles of 15 genes in cultured somatic cells or human pluripotent stem cells, the latter for which we differentiated both the targeted lines and isogenic control lines into various metabolic cell types. We demonstrate cell-autonomous phenotypes directly linked to disease—dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, lipodystrophy, motor-neuron death, and hepatitis C infection. We found little evidence of TALEN off-target effects, but each clonal line nevertheless harbors a significant number of unique mutations. Given the speed and ease with which we were able to derive and characterize these cell lines, we anticipate TALEN-mediated genome editing of human cells becoming a mainstay for the investigation of human biology and disease.
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    From Noncoding Variant to Phenotype via SORT1 at the 1p13 Cholesterol Locus
    (Springer Nature, 2010) Musunuru, Kiran; Strong, Alanna; Frank-Kamenetsky, Maria; Lee, Noemi E.; Ahfeldt, Tim; Sachs, Katherine V.; Li, Xiaoyu; Li, Hui; Kuperwasser, Nicolas; Ruda, Vera M.; Pirruccello, James; Muchmore, Brian; Prokunina-Olsson, Ludmila; Hall, Jennifer L.; Schadt, Eric E.; Morales, Carlos R.; Lund-Katz, Sissel; Phillips, Michael C.; Wong, Jamie; Cantley, William; Racie, Timothy; Ejebe, Kenechi G.; Orho-Melander, Marju; Melander, Olle; Koteliansky, Victor; Fitzgerald, Kevin; Krauss, Ronald M.; Cowan, Chad; Kathiresan, Sekar; Rader, Daniel J.
    Recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified a locus on chromosome 1p13 strongly associated with both plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and myocardial infarction (MI) in humans. Here we show through a series of studies in human cohorts and human-derived hepatocytes that a common noncoding polymorphism at the 1p13 locus, rs12740374, creates a C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer binding protein) transcription factor binding site and alters the hepatic expression of the SORT1 gene. With small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown and viral overexpression in mouse liver, we demonstrate that Sort1 alters plasma LDL-C and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) particle levels by modulating hepatic VLDL secretion. Thus, we provide functional evidence for a novel regulatory pathway for lipoprotein metabolism and suggest that modulation of this pathway may alter risk for MI in humans. We also demonstrate that common noncoding DNA variants identified by GWASs can directly contribute to clinical phenotypes.