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Yu H, Feng R, Chen F, Wu Z, Li D, Qiu X. Rapid FRET Assay for the Early Detection of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation in Parkinson's Disease. ACS Chem Neurosci 2024; 15:1378-1387. [PMID: 38506367 DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.3c00617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) is a key protein of Parkinson's disease (PD). Oligomers formed by misfolding and aggregation of α-Syn can cause many pathological phenomena and aggravate the development of PD. Therefore, sensitive and accurate detection of oligomers is essential to understanding the pathology of PD and beneficial to screening and developing new drugs against PD. Here, we demonstrated a simple and sensitive method to detect the early aggregation of α-Syn via Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) technology. We performed systematic investigations of the FRET sensitizations, efficiencies, and donor-to-acceptor distances during α-Syn aggregation, which was proved to be more sensitive to reflect small distance changes in the early stage of α-Syn aggregation, especially for α-Syn oligomers. The FRET assays were also applied to study the influence of Ser129 phosphorylation (pS129) on the aggregation rate of α-Syn. Our results showed that pS129 modification promotes α-Syn aggregation and enhances the ability of preformed fibrils to induce monomer aggregation. pS129 also increased the cytotoxicity of α-Syn. These results are of great significance for a better understanding of the pathological mechanisms of PD and future PD drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Yu
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drug, Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Rui Feng
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drug, Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Fenglin Chen
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drug, Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Zuodong Wu
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drug, Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Dehai Li
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drug, Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Xue Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drug, Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
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Galkin M, Priss A, Kyriukha Y, Shvadchak V. Navigating α-Synuclein Aggregation Inhibition: Methods, Mechanisms, and Molecular Targets. CHEM REC 2024; 24:e202300282. [PMID: 37919046 DOI: 10.1002/tcr.202300282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2023] [Revised: 10/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease is a yet incurable, age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the aggregation of small neuronal protein α-synuclein into amyloid fibrils. Inhibition of this process is a prospective strategy for developing a disease-modifying treatment. We overview here small molecule, peptide, and protein inhibitors of α-synuclein fibrillization reported to date. Special attention was paid to the specificity of inhibitors and critical analysis of their action mechanisms. Namely, the importance of oxidation of polyphenols and cross-linking of α-synuclein into inhibitory dimers was highlighted. We also compared strategies of targeting monomeric, oligomeric, and fibrillar α-synuclein species, thoroughly discussed the strong and weak sides of different approaches to testing the inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maksym Galkin
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Anastasiia Priss
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Yevhenii Kyriukha
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, 63110, United States
| | - Volodymyr Shvadchak
- Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
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Jin Y, Li F, Sonoustoun B, Kondru NC, Martens YA, Qiao W, Heckman MG, Ikezu TC, Li Z, Burgess JD, Amerna D, O’Leary J, DeTure MA, Zhao J, McLean PJ, Dickson DW, Ross OA, Bu G, Zhao N. APOE4 exacerbates α-synuclein seeding activity and contributes to neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease with Lewy body pathology. Acta Neuropathol 2022; 143:641-662. [PMID: 35471463 PMCID: PMC9107450 DOI: 10.1007/s00401-022-02421-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Approximately half of Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains have concomitant Lewy pathology at autopsy, suggesting that α-synuclein (α-SYN) aggregation is a regulated event in the pathogenesis of AD. Genome-wide association studies revealed that the ε4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (APOE4) gene, the strongest genetic risk factor for AD, is also the most replicated genetic risk factor for Lewy body dementia (LBD), signifying an important role of APOE4 in both amyloid-β (Aβ) and α-SYN pathogenesis. How APOE4 modulates α-SYN aggregation in AD is unclear. In this study, we aimed to determine how α-SYN is associated with AD-related pathology and how APOE4 impacts α-SYN seeding and toxicity. We measured α-SYN levels and their association with other established AD-related markers in brain samples from autopsy-confirmed AD patients (N = 469), where 54% had concomitant LB pathology (AD + LB). We found significant correlations between the levels of α-SYN and those of Aβ40, Aβ42, tau and APOE, particularly in insoluble fractions of AD + LB. Using a real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) assay, we measured the seeding activity of soluble α-SYN and found that α-SYN seeding was exacerbated by APOE4 in the AD cohort, as well as a small cohort of autopsy-confirmed LBD brains with minimal Alzheimer type pathology. We further fractionated the soluble AD brain lysates by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) ran on fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) and identified the α-SYN species (~ 96 kDa) that showed the strongest seeding activity. Finally, using human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons, we showed that amplified α-SYN aggregates from AD + LB brain of patients with APOE4 were highly toxic to neurons, whereas the same amount of α-SYN monomer was not toxic. Our findings suggest that the presence of LB pathology correlates with AD-related pathologies and that APOE4 exacerbates α-SYN seeding activity and neurotoxicity, providing mechanistic insight into how APOE4 affects α-SYN pathogenesis in AD.
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