title: Absence of Maternal Methylation in Biparental Hydatidiform Moles from Women with NLRP7 Maternal-Effect Mutations Reveals Widespread Placenta-Specific Imprinting.
abstract: Familial recurrent hydatidiform mole (RHM) is a maternal-effect autosomal recessive disorder usually associated with mutations of the NLRP7 gene. It is characterized by HM with excessive trophoblastic proliferation, which mimics the appearance of androgenetic molar conceptuses despite their diploid biparental constitution. It has been proposed that the phenotypes of both types of mole are associated with aberrant genomic imprinting. However no systematic analyses for imprinting defects have been reported. Here, we present the genome-wide methylation profiles of both spontaneous androgenetic and biparental NLRP7 defective molar tissues. We observe total paternalization of all ubiquitous and placenta-specific differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in four androgenetic moles; namely gain of methylation at paternally methylated loci and absence of methylation at maternally methylated regions. The methylation defects observed in five RHM biopsies from NLRP7 defective patients are restricted to lack-of-methylation at maternal DMRs. Surprisingly RHMs from two sisters with the same missense mutations, as well as consecutive RHMs from one affected female show subtle allelic methylation differences, suggesting inter-RHM variation. These epigenotypes are consistent with NLRP7 being a maternal-effect gene and involved in imprint acquisition in the oocyte. In addition, bioinformatic screening of the resulting methylation datasets identified over sixty loci with methylation profiles consistent with imprinting in the placenta, of which we confirm 22 as novel maternally methylated loci. These observations strongly suggest that the molar phenotypes are due to defective placenta-specific imprinting and over-expression of paternally expressed transcripts, highlighting that maternal-effect mutations of NLRP7 are associated with the most severe form of multi-locus imprinting defects in humans.
authors.affiliation: Imprinting and Cancer Group, Cancer Epigenetic and Biology Program, Institut d'Investigació Biomedica de Bellvitge, Hospital Duran i Reynals, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Delgado
authors.affiliation: Imprinting and Cancer Group, Cancer Epigenetic and Biology Program, Institut d'Investigació Biomedica de Bellvitge, Hospital Duran i Reynals, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martin-Trujillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal-Fetal Biology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Chiharu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tayama
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epigenetics Group, Cancer Epigenetic and Biology Program, Institut d'Investigació Biomedica de Bellvitge, Hospital Duran i Reynals, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epigenetics Group, Cancer Epigenetic and Biology Program, Institut d'Investigació Biomedica de Bellvitge, Hospital Duran i Reynals, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Physiological Sciences II, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Manel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esteller
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neonatología, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Iglesias-Platas
authors.affiliation: Whipps Cross University Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, Leytonstone, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Deo
authors.affiliation: Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Barney
authors.affiliation: Primary Care Genetics, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maclean
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal-Fetal Biology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal-Fetal Biology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakabayashi
authors.affiliation: Imperial Centre for Translational and Experimental Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.|Trophoblastic Tumour Screening and Treatment Centre, Department of Oncology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Imprinting and Cancer Group, Cancer Epigenetic and Biology Program, Institut d'Investigació Biomedica de Bellvitge, Hospital Duran i Reynals, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Monk
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / Q000235:genetics*; D000483:Alleles; D019175:DNA Methylation; D005260:Female; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006801:Humans; D006828:Hydatidiform Mole / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; C502448:NLRP7 protein, human