Functional Genomic Analyses Identify Pathways Dysregulated by Progranulin Deficiency, Implicating Wnt Signaling

  • Ezra Y. Rosen
  • , Eric M. Wexler
  • , Revital Versano
  • , Giovanni Coppola
  • , Fuying Gao
  • , Kellen D. Winden
  • , Michael C. Oldham
  • , Lauren Herl Martens
  • , Ping Zhou
  • , Robert V. Farese
  • , Daniel H. Geschwind

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

115 Scopus citations

Abstract

Progranulin (GRN) mutations cause frontotemporal dementia (FTD), but GRN's function in the CNS remains largely unknown. To identify the pathways downstream of GRN, we used weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) to develop a systems-level view of transcriptional alterations in a human neural progenitor model of GRN-deficiency. This highlighted key pathways such as apoptosis and ubiquitination in GRN deficient human neurons, while revealing an unexpected major role for the Wnt signaling pathway, which was confirmed by analysis of gene expression data from postmortem FTD brain. Furthermore, we observed that the Wnt receptor Fzd2 was one of only a few genes upregulated at 6 weeks in a GRN knockout mouse, and that FZD2 reduction caused increased apoptosis, while its upregulation promoted neuronal survival in vitro. Together, these in vitro and in vivo data point to an adaptive role for altered Wnt signaling in GRN deficiency-mediated FTD, representing a potential therapeutic target.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1030-1042
Number of pages13
JournalNeuron
Volume71
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Sep 2011
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Functional Genomic Analyses Identify Pathways Dysregulated by Progranulin Deficiency, Implicating Wnt Signaling'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this