Dysregulated adipose tissue expansion and impaired adipogenesis in Prader-Willi syndrome children before obesity-onset

Abstract

Objective: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic imprinting disorder resulting from the expression loss of genes on the paternally inherited chromosome 15q11-13. Early-onset life-thriving obesity and hyperphagia represent the clinical hallmarks of PWS. The noncoding RNA gene SNORD116 within the minimal PWS genetic lesion plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of the syndrome. Despite advancements in understanding the genetic basis for PWS, the pathophysiology of obesity development in PWS remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we aimed to investigate the signatures of adipose tissue development and expansion pathways and associated adipose biology in PWS children without obesity-onset at an early stage, mainly from the perspective of the adipogenesis process, and further elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Methods: We collected inguinal (subcutaneous) white adipose tissues (ingWATs) from phase 1 PWS and healthy children with normal weight aged from 6 M to 2 Y. Adipose morphology and histological characteristics were assessed. Primary adipose stromal vascular fractions (SVFs) were isolated, cultured in vitro, and used to determine the capacity and function of white and beige adipogenic differentiation. High-throughput RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed in adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdMSCs) to analyze transcriptome signatures in PWS subjects. Transient repression of SNORD116 was conducted to evaluate its functional relevance in adipogenesis. The changes in alternative pre-mRNA splicing were investigated in PWS and SNORD116 deficient cells.

Results: In phase 1 PWS children, impaired white adipose tissue (WAT) development and unusual fat expansion occurred long before obesity onset, which was characterized by the massive enlargement of adipocytes accompanied by increased apoptosis. White and beige adipogenesis programs were impaired and differentiated adipocyte functions were disturbed in PWS-derived SVFs, despite increased proliferation capacity, which were consistent with the results of RNA-seq analysis of PWS AdMSCs. We also experimentally validated disrupted beige adipogenesis in adipocytes with transient SNORD116 downregulation. The transcript and protein levels of PPARγ, the adipogenesis master regulator, were significantly lower in PWS than in control AdMSCs as well as in SNORD116 deficient AdMSCs/adipocytes than in scramble (Scr) cells, resulting in the inhibited adipogenic program. Additionally, through RNA-seq, we observed aberrant transcriptome-wide alterations in alternative RNA splicing patterns in PWS cells mediated by SNORD116 loss and specifically identified a changed PRDM16 gene splicing profile in vitro.

Conclusions: Imbalance in the WAT expansion pathway and developmental disruption are primary defects in PWS displaying aberrant adipocyte hypertrophy and impaired adipogenesis process, in which SNORD116 deficiency plays a part. Our findings suggest that dysregulated adiposity specificity existing at an early phase is a potential pathological mechanism exacerbating hyperphagic obesity onset in PWS. This mechanistic evidence on adipose biology in young PWS patients expands knowledge regarding the pathogenesis of PWS obesity and may aid in developing a new therapeutic strategy targeting disturbed adipogenesis and driving AT plasticity to combat abnormal adiposity and associated metabolic disorders for PWS patients.

Keywords: Adipogenesis; Adipose tissue expansion; Obesity; Prader-Willi syndrome; SNORD116.