Personalities

Tatiana V. Nikitina

Brief Biography

In 1990 Tatiana Nikitina graduated with honors from the Biology and Soil Faculty of Tomsk State University. Since 1990, she began working at the Institute of Medical Genetics, first as a senior laboratory assistant, then as a junior researcher. In 1999 Nikitina TV defended her PhD thesis for the degree of candidate of biological sciences in the specialty "genetics". From 2000 to the present time she works as a researcher in the Cytogenetic laboratory.

Research Interests

The area of ​​scientific interests of Nikitina T.V. is a study of the causes of human embryonic lethality. The contribution of uniparental dysomy and an increased frequency of somatic mutations of tetranucleotide DNA repeats to human embryonic death was investigated. Then research interest of T.V. Nikitina was focused on study of the genetic causes of idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss  (RPL). An important place among this is occupied by chromosomal abnormalities, the frequencies of various types of which were investigated in a large sample of spontaneous abortions. “Virtual karyotyping” of embryos with aCGH provides new opportunities for a more complete understanding of the extent of chromosome nondisjunction and submicroscopic abnormalities in embryonic death. A comparative analysis of the frequencies of abnormal karyotypes in sporadic abortions and embryos from women with RPL was performed. It has been shown that young women with RPL have the less frequency of abnormal karyotypes in embryos than women with sporadic abortions. A comparative analysis of the abnormal karyotypes frequencies in loss embryos during primary and secondary RPL was carried out, and a nonrandom distribution of embryo karyotypes in women with recurrent miscarriage was revealed.

Currently,  Nikitina T.V. carry out the study of the karyotype stability of the  induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from patients with chromosomal abnormalities, and  iPSC lines with ring chromosomes 8, 13, 18 and 22 have been obtained. This cell lines can be used to study the “behavior” of ring chromosomes in actively proliferating cells. Differences in the mitotic stability of various ring chromosomes in iPSCs were shown and spontaneous correction of the karyotype with ring chromosome 8 by the formation of uniparental disomy of chromosome 8 was found.

T.V. Nikitina is the author and co-author of more than 90 published works.

Achievements, awards, and grants

T.V. Nikitina takes an active part in the implementation of scientific projects supported by the Federal Target Programs, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, and the Russian Science Foundation.

Tatyana Nikitina showed that the phenomenon of homogenous disomy does not make a significant contribution to human embryonic mortality (Nikitina et al., 2004).

In the framework of the RFBR grant “Estimating the frequency of mutations of microsatellite DNA repeats during early embryonic death in humans”, data were first obtained about the high frequency of somatic mutations of microsatellite repeats in tissues of spontaneous human abortions (Lebedev et al., 2006), while there were no statistically significant differences in frequency of gametic microsatellites mutations couples with spontaneous abortions and parents with healthy children (Nikitina, Nazarenko, 2000; Nikitina et al., 2005). A mathematical model has been developed to assess the contamination of cultures of extraembryonic fibroblast by mother cells (Nikitina et al., 2005). A study book “Cytogenetics of Human Embryonic Development Disorders” was published in 2013 to help for physician geneticists and obstetrician-gynecologists (Lebedev, Nikitina, 2013).

Tatyana Nikitina is engaged in the analysis of the causes of idiopathic recurrent miscarriage (Nikitina, Lebedev, 2014). It was shown that in young women with RPL the contribution of the cytogenetic abnormalities of the embryo is significantly lower than in young women with sporadic embryonic losses (Nikitina et al., 2016). The nonrandom distribution of abortion karyotypes in some women was revealed ( Nikitina et al., 2018, Nikitina et al., 2020).

Fibroblast lines were obtained from patients with microstructural aberrations. A study is carried out of the stability of the karyotype of induced pluripotent stem cells (Nikitina T.V., Lebedev I.N., 2018), including those generated from fibroblasts of patients with ring chromosomes (Nikitina et al., 2018a, Nikitina et al., 2018b).

Scientific achievements T.V. Nikitina was awarded the Certificate of Honor of the Administration of Tomsk (2015) and the Certificate of Honor of the Siberian Branch of the RAS (2017). Awarded the title of Honored Labor Veteran (2019)

Main Publications

1. Induced pluripotent stem cell line, ICAGi001-A, derived from human skin fibroblasts of a patient with 2p25.3 deletion and 2p25.3-p23.3 inverted duplication. Khabarova AA, Pristyazhnyuk IE, Nikitina TV, Gayner TA, Torkhova NB, Skryabin NA, Kashevarova AA, Babushkina NP, Markova ZG, Minzhenkova ME, Nazarenko LP, Shilova NV, Shorina AR, Lebedev IN, Serov OL. Stem Cell Res. 2019 Jan;34:101377. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2018.101377. Epub 2018 Dec 18.


2. Induced pluripotent stem cell line, IMGTi003-A, derived from skin fibroblasts of an intellectually disabled patient with ring chromosome 13. Nikitina TV, Menzorov AG, Kashevarova AA, Gridina MM, Khabarova AA, Yakovleva YS, Lopatkina ME, Pristyazhnyuk IE, Vasilyev SA, Serov OL, Lebedev IN. Stem Cell Res. 2018 Dec;33:260-264. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2018.11.009. Epub 2018 Nov 20.


3. A mosaic intragenic microduplication of LAMA1 and a constitutional 18p11.32 microduplication in a patient with keratosis pilaris and intellectual disability. Kashevarova AA, Nazarenko LP, Skryabin NA, Nikitina TV, Vasilyev SA, Tolmacheva EN, Lopatkina ME, Salyukova OA, Chechetkina NN, Vorotelyak EA, Kalabusheva EP, Fishman VS, Kzhyshkowska J, Graziano C, Magini P, Romeo G, Lebedev IN. Am J Med Genet A. 2018 Nov;176(11):2395-2403. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.a.40478. Epub 2018 Sep 23.


4. Generation of two iPSC lines (IMGTi001-A and IMGTi001-B) from human skin fibroblasts with ring chromosome 22. Nikitina TV, Menzorov AG, Kashevarova AA, Gridina MM, Khabarova AA, Yakovleva YS, Lopatkina ME, Kizilova EA, Vasilyev SA, Serov OL, Lebedev IN. Stem Cell Res. 2018 Aug;31:244-248. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2018.08.012. Epub 2018 Aug 16.


5. Compound phenotype in a girl with r(22), concomitant microdeletion 22q13.32-q13.33 and mosaic monosomy 22. Kashevarova AA, Belyaeva EO, Nikonov AM, Plotnikova OV, Skryabin NA, Nikitina TV, Vasilyev SA, Yakovleva YS, Babushkina NP, Tolmacheva EN, Lopatkina ME, Savchenko RR, Nazarenko LP, Lebedev IN. Mol Cytogenet. 2018 Apr 27;11:26. doi: 10.1186/s13039-018-0375-3.


6. Allele-Specific Biased Expression of the CNTN6 Gene in iPS Cell-Derived Neurons from a Patient with Intellectual Disability and 3p26.3 Microduplication Involving the CNTN6 Gene. Gridina MM, Matveeva NM, Fishman VS, Menzorov AG, Kizilova HA, Beregovoy NA, Kovrigin II, Pristyazhnyuk IE, Oscorbin IP, Filipenko ML, Kashevarova AA, Skryabin NA, Nikitina TV, Sazhenova EA, Nazarenko LP, Lebedev IN, Serov OL. Mol Neurobiol. 2018 Aug;55(8):6533-6546. doi: 10.1007/s12035-017-0851-5. Epub 2018 Jan 11.


7. Cytogenetics of recurrent pregnancy loss. Nikitina TV, Lebedev IN. Genetika. 2014 May;50(5):501-14.


8. SKEWED X-CHROMOSOME INACTIVATION IN HUMAN MISCARRIAGES. Tolmacheva EN, Vasilyev SA, Sazhenova EA, Zhigalina DI, Grigorovich EI, Nikitina TV, Melnikov AA, Zhabina ES, Ivanova TV, Evtushenko ID, Lebedev IN. Tsitologiia. 2015;57(11):808-12.  


9. Germline mutations of tetranucleotide DNA repeats in families with normal children and reproductive pathology. Nikitina TV, Lebedev IN, Sukhanova NN, Nazarenko SA. Genetika. 2005 Jul;41(7):943-53.


10. A mathematical model for evaluation of maternal cell contamination in cultured cells from spontaneous abortions: significance for cytogenetic analysis of prenatal selection factors. Nikitina TV, Lebedev IN, Sukhanova NN, Sazhenova EA, Nazarenko SA. Fertil Steril. 2005 Apr;83(4):964-72.


11. Human microsatellites: mutation and evolution. Nikitina TV, Nazarenko SA. Genetika. 2004 Oct;40(10):1301-18.


12. Evaluation of the role of uniparental disomy in early embryolethality of man. Nikitina TV, Sazhenova EA, Sukhanova NN, Lebedev IN, Nazarenko SA. Ontogenez. 2004 Jul-Aug;35(4):297-306.


13. Maternal cell contamination of cultures of spontaneous abortion fibroblasts: importance for cytogenetic analysis of embryonic lethality. Nikitina TV, Lebedev IN, Sukhanova NN, Sazhenova EA, Nazarenko SA. Genetika. 2004 Jul;40(7):981-92.


14. Features of chromosomal abnormalities in spontaneous abortion cell culture failures detected by interphase FISH analysis. Lebedev IN, Ostroverkhova NV, Nikitina TV, Sukhanova NN, Nazarenko SA. Eur J Hum Genet. 2004 Jul;12(7):513-20.


15. Molecular cytogenetic characteristics of chromosome imbalance in cells of spontaneous human abortion fetuses with low proliferative activity in vitro. Lebedev IN, Ostroverkhova NV, Nikitina TV, Sukhanova NN, Nazarenko SA. Genetika. 2003 Aug;39(8):1111-22.


16. Mutation in microsatellite repeats of DNA and embryonal death in humans. Nikitina TV, Nazarenko SA. Genetika. 2000 Jul;36(7):965-71.


17. Sex ratio in early embryonal mortality in man. Evdokimova VN, Nikitina TV, Lebedev IN, Sukhanova NN, Nazarenko SA. Ontogenez. 2000 Jul-Aug;31(4):251-7.