Biomedical subjects

Joseph C Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Joseph C Wu.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Generation of two induced pluripotent stem cell lines from hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia patients harboring ACVRL1 mutations.

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant vascular disorder in which dysregulated endothelial signaling drives telangiectasias and arteriovenous malformations across multiple organs. Loss-of-function variants in ACVRL1 (ALK1), a core receptor in BMP9/10 signaling, are a major genetic cause. Here we report two patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines generated from clinically diagnosed HHT donors carrying heterozygous ACVRL1 mutations: c.129dup (p.Pro44Alafs*125) and c.430C > T (p.Arg144*). Both lines showed expected iPSC morphology, robust expression of markers of the undifferentiated iPSC state, genomic stability by LP-WGS, and tri-lineage differentiation capacity. These resources enable human cell-based studies of ACVRL1 haploinsufficiency and provide a starting point for mechanistic and therapeutic work focused on HHT vascular pathobiology.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2026

Generation of two iPSC lines from ALS patients harboring C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansions.

The GGGGCC hexanucleotide repeat expansion (HRE) within the C9orf72 gene constitutes the leading genetic driver of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This fatal neurodegenerative disorder is characterized by the systematic loss of both the upper and lower motor neurons across both the central and peripheral nervous systems. This work describes the successful reprogramming of two human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines originating from two independent ALS patients, both of whom carry a C9orf72 HRE mutation. Validation of the two established iPSC lines confirmed the expression of pluripotency markers, normal karyotypes, and successful trilineage differentiation. Consequently, these lines provide a robust in vitro platform to model ALS and study C9orf72-mediated disease mechanisms.

Humans↗

PubMed2026

Generation of two induced pluripotent stem cell lines from dilated cardiomyopathy patients with TTN mutations.

Titin (TTN) encodes the largest protein in the human body and is essential for sarcomere assembly and muscle mechanosensation. Truncating TTN mutations are a leading cause of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Here, we generated two induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from female DCM patients, each carrying a heterozygous nonsense point mutation that produces a truncated titin protein. Both lines were reprogrammed from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and characterized for expression of undifferentiated human iPSC state markers, tri-lineage differentiation capacity, and genomic integrity by copy-number analysis. These lines provide a patient-derived platform for investigating the mechanobiological basis of titin-truncation DCM in vitro.

Humans↗

PubMed2026

Multimodal atlas of human atherosclerosis links granular vascular cell states to coronary artery disease risk.

Advances in single-cell and spatial assays have revolutionized the scale and resolution of molecular tissue profiling. Here we present MetaPlaq, a multimodal atlas of human atherosclerotic arterial beds comprising over a million cells across single-cell transcriptomics, epigenomics and high-resolution spatial expression assays. We map granular cell states and disease-relevant transcriptional programs within the native tissue context of coronary arteries. Furthermore, we map cardiovascular GWAS signals to smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and endothelial cells (ECs) and uncover the cis-regulatory architecture governing their phenotypic transitions. Our comprehensive epigenomic reference allowed us to build cell-specific enhancer-gene link maps and multimodal gene regulatory networks (GRNs) underlying disease-relevant states such as osteogenic SMCs and ECs undergoing mesenchymal transition. We also integrate SMC and EC disease-associated gene sets with GRNs to nominate key transcription factors such as PRRX1, BNC2 and ELK3 regulating atherosclerosis-relevant transcriptional programs. Finally, we layer single-cell and spatial modalities to fine-map GWAS variants with improved cell and anatomical context. We highlight candidate cell-specific regulatory mechanisms at less characterized CAD loci, including FGD5 and MCF2L in ECs. Together, this atlas represents an important step towards fully interpreting genetic risk loci and informing new therapeutic strategies for cardiovascular disease.

Journal Article↗