• Germline CYBB mutations that selectively affect macrophages in kindreds with X-linked predisposition to tuberculous mycobacterial disease

      Bustamante, Jacinta; Arias, Andres A.; Vogt, Guillaume; Picard, Capucine; Galicia, Lizbeth Blancas; Prando, Carolina; Grant, Audrey V.; Marchal, Christophe C.; Hubeau, Marjorie; Chapgier, Ariane; et al. (2011-03-01)
      Germline mutations in CYBB, the human gene encoding the gp91(phox) subunit of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase, impair the respiratory burst of all types of phagocytes and result in X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). We report here two kindreds in which otherwise healthy male adults developed X-linked recessive Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial disease (MSMD) syndromes. These patients had previously unknown mutations in CYBB that resulted in an impaired respiratory burst in monocyte-derived macrophages but not in monocytes or granulocytes. The macrophage-specific functional consequences of the germline mutation resulted from cell-specific impairment in the assembly of the NADPH oxidase. This 'experiment of nature' indicates that CYBB is associated with MSMD and demonstrates that the respiratory burst in human macrophages is a crucial mechanism for protective immunity to tuberculous mycobacteria.
    • X chromosome-wide analyses of genomic DNA methylation states and gene expression in male and female neutrophils

      Yasukochi, Yukio; Maruyama, Osamu; Mahajan, Milind C.; Padden, Carolyn; Euskirchen, Ghia M.; Schulz, Vincent; Hirakawa, Hideki; Kuhara, Satoru; Pan, Xing-Hua; Newburger, Peter E.; et al. (2010-02-23)
      The DNA methylation status of human X chromosomes from male and female neutrophils was identified by high-throughput sequencing of HpaII and MspI digested fragments. In the intergenic and intragenic regions on the X chromosome, the sites outside CpG islands were heavily hypermethylated to the same degree in both genders. Nearly half of X chromosome promoters were either hypomethylated or hypermethylated in both females and males. Nearly one third of X chromosome promoters were a mixture of hypomethylated and heterogeneously methylated sites in females and were hypomethylated in males. Thus, a large fraction of genes that are silenced on the inactive X chromosome are hypomethylated in their promoter regions. These genes frequently belong to the evolutionarily younger strata of the X chromosome. The promoters that were hypomethylated at more than two sites contained most of the genes that escaped silencing on the inactive X chromosome. The overall levels of expression of X-linked genes were indistinguishable in females and males, regardless of the methylation state of the inactive X chromosome. Thus, in addition to DNA methylation, other factors are involved in the fine tuning of gene dosage compensation in neutrophils.