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Darras, Basil

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Darras

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Basil

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Darras, Basil
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.457bf423-22f4-48d5-b68f-d2ef8c2e508d

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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Spinal muscular atrophy, pediatric virology and gene therapy: A challenge of modern weakness and hope
    (D.A. Spandidos, 2018) Darras, Basil; Mammas, Ioannis N.; Spandidos, Demetrios A.
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    Compound heterozygosity of predicted loss-of-function DES variants in a family with recessive desminopathy
    (BioMed Central, 2013) McLaughlin, Heather M; Kelly, Melissa A; Hawley, Pamela P; Darras, Basil; Funke, Birgit; Picker, Jonathan
    Background: Variants in the desmin gene (DES) are associated with desminopathy; a myofibrillar myopathy mainly characterized by muscle weakness, conduction block, and dilated cardiomyopathy. To date, only ~50 disease-associated variants have been described, and the majority of these lead to dominant-negative effects. However, the complete genotypic spectrum of desminopathy is not well established. Case presentation: Next-generation sequencing was performed on 51 cardiac disease genes in a proband with profound skeletal myopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, and respiratory dysfunction. Our analyses revealed compound heterozygous DES variants, both of which are predicted to lead to a loss-of-function. Consistent with recessive inheritance, each variant was identified in an unaffected parent. Conclusions: This case report serves to broaden the variant spectrum of desminopathies and provides insight into the molecular mechanisms of desminopathy, supporting distinct dominant-negative and loss-of-function etiologies.
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    The sensitivity of exome sequencing in identifying pathogenic mutations for LGMD in the United States
    (2016) Reddy, Hemakumar M.; Cho, Kyung-Ah; Lek, Monkol; Estrella, Elicia; Valkanas, Elise; Jones, Michael D.; Mitsuhashi, Satomi; Darras, Basil; Amato, Anthony; Lidov, Hart; Brownstein, Catherine; Margulies, David; Yu, Timothy W.; Salih, Mustafa A.; Kunkel, Louis; MacArthur, Daniel; Kang, Peter B.
    The current study characterizes a cohort of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) in the United States using whole exome sequencing. Fifty-five families affected by LGMD were recruited using an institutionally-approved protocol. Exome sequencing was performed on probands and selected parental samples. Pathogenic mutations and co-segregation patterns were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Twenty-two families (40%) had novel and previously reported pathogenic mutations, primarily in LGMD genes, but also in genes for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, congenital myopathy, myofibrillar myopathy, inclusion body myopathy, and Pompe disease. One family was diagnosed via clinical testing. Dominant mutations were identified in COL6A1, COL6A3, FLNC, LMNA, RYR1, SMCHD1, and VCP, recessive mutations in ANO5, CAPN3, GAA, LAMA2, SGCA, and SGCG, and X-linked mutations in DMD. A previously reported variant in DMD was confirmed to be benign. Exome sequencing is a powerful diagnostic tool for LGMD. Despite careful phenotypic screening, pathogenic mutations were found in other muscle disease genes, largely accounting for the increased sensitivity of exome sequencing. Our experience suggests that broad sequencing panels are useful for these analyses due to the phenotypic overlap of many neuromuscular conditions. The confirmation of a benign DMD variant illustrates the potential of exome sequencing to help determine pathogenicity.
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    A slowly progressive form of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2C associated with founder mutation in the SGCG gene in Puerto Rican Hispanics
    (BlackWell Publishing Ltd, 2015) Al-Zaidy, Samiah A; Malik, Vinod; Kneile, Kelley; Rosales, Xiomara Q; Gomez, Ana Maria; Lewis, Sarah; Hashimoto, Sayaka; Gastier-Foster, Julie; Kang, Peter; Darras, Basil; Kunkel, Louis; Carlo, Jose; Sahenk, Zarife; Moore, Steven A; Pyatt, Robert; Mendell, Jerry R
    Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2C (LGMD2C) is considered one of the severe forms of childhood-onset muscular dystrophy. The geographical distribution of founder mutations in the SGCG gene has a prominent effect on the prevalence of LGMD2C in certain populations. The aim of this study was to confirm the hypothesis that the c.787G>A (p.E263K) mutation in the SGCG gene is a founder mutation among Puerto Rican Hispanics and to characterize the associated clinical and immunohistochemical phenotype. Genotyping of six polymorphic microsatellite markers internal to (D13S232) and flanking (D13S175, D13S292, D13S787, D13S1243, D13S283) the SGCG gene was performed on four unrelated Puerto Rican patients with LGMD2C. Preserved ambulation to the second decade of life was observed in at least two subjects. Immunostaining of skeletal muscle demonstrated absence of γ-sarcoglycan in all affected subjects. Two markers, D13S232 and D13S292, were highly informative and confirmed that all four families share the haplotype of the mutant allele. Our findings confirm that the E263K missense mutation in the SGCG gene is a founder mutation in Puerto Rican Hispanics. A slowly progressive disease course with prolonged preservation of ambulation can be seen in association with this mutation, providing evidence for phenotypic variability.
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    Content validity and clinical meaningfulness of the HFMSE in spinal muscular atrophy
    (BioMed Central, 2017) Pera, Maria C.; Coratti, Giorgia; Forcina, Nicola; Mazzone, Elena S.; Scoto, Mariacristina; Montes, Jacqueline; Pasternak, Amy; Mayhew, Anna; Messina, Sonia; Sframeli, Maria; Main, Marion; Lofra, Robert Muni; Duong, Tina; Ramsey, Danielle; Dunaway, Sally; Salazar, Rachel; Fanelli, Lavinia; Civitello, Matthew; de Sanctis, Roberto; Antonaci, Laura; Lapenta, Leonardo; Lucibello, Simona; Pane, Marika; Day, John; Darras, Basil; De Vivo, Darryl C.; Muntoni, Francesco; Finkel, Richard; Mercuri, Eugenio
    Background: Reports on the clinical meaningfulness of outcome measures in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are rare. In this two-part study, our aim was to explore patients’ and caregivers’ views on the clinical relevance of the Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale Expanded- (HFMSE). Methods: First, we used focus groups including SMA patients and caregivers to explore their views on the clinical relevance of the individual activities included in the HFMSE. Then we asked caregivers to comment on the clinical relevance of possible changes of HFMSE scores over time. As functional data of individual patients were available, some of the questions were tailored according to their functional level on the HFMSE. Results: Part 1: Sixty-three individuals participated in the focus groups. This included 30 caregivers, 25 patients and 8 professionals who facilitated the discussion. The caregivers provided a comparison to activities of daily living for each of the HFMSE items. Part 2: One hundred and forty-nine caregivers agreed to complete the questionnaire: in response to a general question, 72% of the caregivers would consider taking part in a clinical trial if the treatment was expected to slow down deterioration, 88% if it would stop deterioration and 97% if the treatment was expected to produce an improvement. Caregivers were informed of the first three items that their child could not achieve on the HFMSE. In response 75% indicated a willingness to take part in a clinical trial if they could achieve at least one of these abilities, 89% if they could achieve two, and 100% if they could achieve more than 2. Conclusions: Our findings support the use of the HFMSE as a key outcome measure in SMA clinical trials because the individual items and the detected changes have clear content validity and clinical meaningfulness for patients and their caregivers. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12883-017-0790-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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    Mutations in the Satellite Cell Gene MEGF10 Cause a Recessive Congenital Myopathy with Minicores
    (Springer-Verlag, 2012) Mahoney, Lane J.; Myers, Jennifer A.; Estrella, Elicia A.; Duncan, Anna R.; Dey, Friederike; DeChene, Elizabeth T.; Blasko-Goehringer, Jessica M.; Bönnemann, Carsten G.; Mendell, Jerry R.; Nishino, Ichizo; Boyden, Steven Edward; Kawahara, Genri; Mitsuhashi, S; Darras, Basil; Lidov, Hart; Beggs, Alan; Kunkel, Louis; Kang, Peter Byung-Hoon
    We ascertained a nuclear family in which three of four siblings were affected with an unclassified autosomal recessive myopathy characterized by severe weakness, respiratory impairment, scoliosis, joint contractures, and an unusual combination of dystrophic and myopathic features on muscle biopsy. Whole genome sequence from one affected subject was filtered using linkage data and variant databases. A single gene, MEGF10, contained nonsynonymous mutations that co-segregated with the phenotype. Affected subjects were compound heterozygous for missense mutations c.976T > C (p.C326R) and c.2320T > C (p.C774R). Screening the MEGF10 open reading frame in 190 patients with genetically unexplained myopathies revealed a heterozygous mutation, c.211C > T (p.R71W), in one additional subject with a similar clinical and histological presentation as the discovery family. All three mutations were absent from at least 645 genotyped unaffected control subjects. MEGF10 contains 17 atypical epidermal growth factor-like domains, each of which contains eight cysteine residues that likely form disulfide bonds. Both the p.C326R and p.C774R mutations alter one of these residues, which are completely conserved in vertebrates. Previous work showed that murine Megf10 is required for preserving the undifferentiated, proliferative potential of satellite cells, myogenic precursors that regenerate skeletal muscle in response to injury or disease. Here, knockdown of megf10 in zebrafish by four different morpholinos resulted in abnormal phenotypes including unhatched eggs, curved tails, impaired motility, and disorganized muscle tissue, corroborating the pathogenicity of the human mutations. Our data establish the importance of MEGF10 in human skeletal muscle and suggest satellite cell dysfunction as a novel myopathic mechanism.
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    Automated DNA Mutation Detection Using Universal Conditions Direct Sequencing: Application to Ten Muscular Dystrophy Genes
    (BioMed Central, 2009) Bennett, Richard R; Schneider, Hal E; Estrella, Elicia; Burgess, Stephanie; Cheng, Andrew S; Barrett, Caitlin; Lip, Va; Lai, Poh San; Shen, Yiping; Wu, Bai-Lin; Darras, Basil; Beggs, Alan; Kunkel, Louis
    Background: One of the most common and efficient methods for detecting mutations in genes is PCR amplification followed by direct sequencing. Until recently, the process of designing PCR assays has been to focus on individual assay parameters rather than concentrating on matching conditions for a set of assays. Primers for each individual assay were selected based on location and sequence concerns. The two primer sequences were then iteratively adjusted to make the individual assays work properly. This generally resulted in groups of assays with different annealing temperatures that required the use of multiple thermal cyclers or multiple passes in a single thermal cycler making diagnostic testing time-consuming, laborious and expensive. These factors have severely hampered diagnostic testing services, leaving many families without an answer for the exact cause of a familial genetic disease. A search of GeneTests for sequencing analysis of the entire coding sequence for genes that are known to cause muscular dystrophies returns only a small list of laboratories that perform comprehensive gene panels. The hypothesis for the study was that a complete set of universal assays can be designed to amplify and sequence any gene or family of genes using computer aided design tools. If true, this would allow automation and optimization of the mutation detection process resulting in reduced cost and increased throughput. Results: An automated process has been developed for the detection of deletions, duplications/insertions and point mutations in any gene or family of genes and has been applied to ten genes known to bear mutations that cause muscular dystrophy: DMD; CAV3; CAPN3; FKRP; TRIM32; LMNA; SGCA; SGCB; SGCG; SGCD. Using this process, mutations have been found in five DMD patients and four LGMD patients (one in the FKRP gene, one in the CAV3 gene, and two likely causative heterozygous pairs of variations in the CAPN3 gene of two other patients). Methods and assay sequences are reported in this paper. Conclusion: This automated process allows laboratories to discover DNA variations in a short time and at low cost.
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    Detection of Mutations in the Dystrophin Gene via Automated DHPLC Screening and Direct Sequencing
    (BioMed Central, 2001) Bennett, Richard R; den Dunnen, Johan; O'Brien, Kristine F; Darras, Basil; Kunkel, Louis
    Background: Currently molecular diagnostic laboratories focus only on the identification of large deletion and duplication mutations (spanning one exon or more) for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) yielding 65% of causative mutations. These mutations are detected by an existing set of multiplexed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer pairs. Due to the large size of the dystrophin gene (79 exons), finding point mutations (substitutions, deletions or insertions of one or several nucleotides) has been prohibitively expensive and laborious. The aim of this project was to develop an effective and convenient method of finding all, or most, mutations in the dystrophin gene with only a moderate increase in cost. Results: Using denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) screening and direct sequencing, 86 PCR amplicons of genomic DNA from the dystrophin gene were screened for mutations in eight patients diagnosed with DMD who had tested negative for large DNA rearragements. Mutations likely to be disease-causative were found in six of the eight patients. All 86 amplicons from the two patients in whom no likely disease-causative mutations were found were completely sequenced and only polymorphisms were found. Conclusions: We have shown that it is now feasible for clinical laboratories to begin testing for both point mutations and large deletions/duplications in the dystrophin gene. The detection rate will rise from 65% to greater than 92% with only a moderate increase in cost.