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Alfahel L, Gschwendtberger T, Kozareva V, Dumas L, Gibbs R, Kertser A, Baruch K, Zaccai S, Kahn J, Thau-Habermann N, Eggenschwiler R, Sterneckert J, Hermann A, Sundararaman N, Vaibhav V, Van Eyk JE, Rafuse VF, Fraenkel E, Cantz T, Petri S, Israelson A. Targeting low levels of MIF expression as a potential therapeutic strategy for ALS. Cell Rep Med 2024:101546. [PMID: 38703766 DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Revised: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024]
Abstract
Mutations in SOD1 cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor neuron (MN) loss. We previously discovered that macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), whose levels are extremely low in spinal MNs, inhibits mutant SOD1 misfolding and toxicity. In this study, we show that a single peripheral injection of adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivering MIF into adult SOD1G37R mice significantly improves their motor function, delays disease progression, and extends survival. Moreover, MIF treatment reduces neuroinflammation and misfolded SOD1 accumulation, rescues MNs, and corrects dysregulated pathways as observed by proteomics and transcriptomics. Furthermore, we reveal low MIF levels in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MNs from familial ALS patients with different genetic mutations, as well as in post mortem tissues of sporadic ALS patients. Our findings indicate that peripheral MIF administration may provide a potential therapeutic mechanism for modulating misfolded SOD1 in vivo and disease outcome in ALS patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leenor Alfahel
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Thomas Gschwendtberger
- Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany; Center for Systems Neuroscience, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
| | - Velina Kozareva
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Laura Dumas
- Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1X5, Canada; Brain Repair Centre, Life Sciences Research Institute, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - Rachel Gibbs
- Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1X5, Canada; Brain Repair Centre, Life Sciences Research Institute, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada
| | | | - Kuti Baruch
- ImmunoBrain Checkpoint Ltd., Ness Ziona 7404905, Israel
| | - Shir Zaccai
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Joy Kahn
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | | | - Reto Eggenschwiler
- Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology Department, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany; Translational Hepatology and Stem Cell Biology, REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine and Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
| | - Jared Sterneckert
- Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Technical University Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - Andreas Hermann
- Translational Neurodegeneration Section, "Albrecht Kossel", Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Rostock, University of Rostock, 18147 Rostock, Germany; Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE) Rostock/Greifswald, 18147 Rostock, Germany; Center for Transdisciplinary Neurosciences Rostock (CTNR), University Medical Center Rostock, University of Rostock, 18147 Rostock, Germany
| | - Niveda Sundararaman
- Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA; Advanced Clinical Biosystems Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
| | - Vineet Vaibhav
- Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA; Advanced Clinical Biosystems Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
| | - Jennifer E Van Eyk
- Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA; Advanced Clinical Biosystems Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
| | - Victor F Rafuse
- Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1X5, Canada; Brain Repair Centre, Life Sciences Research Institute, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - Ernest Fraenkel
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Tobias Cantz
- Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology Department, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany; Translational Hepatology and Stem Cell Biology, REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine and Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Cell and Developmental Biology, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Susanne Petri
- Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany; Center for Systems Neuroscience, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
| | - Adrian Israelson
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
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Zaccai S, Nemirovsky A, Lerner L, Alfahel L, Eremenko E, Israelson A, Monsonego A. CD4 T-cell aging exacerbates neuroinflammation in a late-onset mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Neuroinflammation 2024; 21:17. [PMID: 38212835 PMCID: PMC10782641 DOI: 10.1186/s12974-023-03007-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an adult-onset progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of upper and lower motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Accumulating evidence suggests that ALS is not solely a neuronal cell- or brain tissue-autonomous disease and that neuroinflammation plays a key role in disease progression. Furthermore, whereas both CD4 and CD8 T cells were observed in spinal cords of ALS patients and in mouse models of the disease, their role in the neuroinflammatory process, especially considering their functional changes with age, is not fully explored. In this study, we revealed the structure of the CD4 T-cell compartment during disease progression of early-onset SOD1G93A and late-onset SOD1G37R mouse models of ALS. We show age-related changes in the CD4 T-cell subset organization between these mutant SOD1 mouse models towards increased frequency of effector T cells in spleens of SOD1G37R mice and robust infiltration of CD4 T cells expressing activation markers and the checkpoint molecule PD1 into the spinal cord. The frequency of infiltrating CD4 T cells correlated with the frequency of infiltrating CD8 T cells which displayed a more exhausted phenotype. Moreover, RNA-Seq and immunohistochemistry analyses of spinal cords from SOD1G37R mice with early clinical symptoms demonstrated immunological trajectories reminiscent of a neurotoxic inflammatory response which involved proinflammatory T cells and antigen presentation related pathways. Overall, our findings suggest that age-related changes of the CD4 T cell landscape is indicative of a chronic inflammatory response, which aggravates the disease process and can be therapeutically targeted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shir Zaccai
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences and The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Anna Nemirovsky
- The Shraga Segal Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences and The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Livnat Lerner
- The Shraga Segal Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences and The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Leenor Alfahel
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences and The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Ekaterina Eremenko
- The Shraga Segal Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences and The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Adrian Israelson
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences and The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel.
| | - Alon Monsonego
- The Shraga Segal Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences and The School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel.
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Malada Edelstein YF, Solomonov Y, Hadad N, Alfahel L, Israelson A, Levy R. Early upregulation of cytosolic phospholipase A 2α in motor neurons is induced by misfolded SOD1 in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Neuroinflammation 2021; 18:274. [PMID: 34823547 PMCID: PMC8620709 DOI: 10.1186/s12974-021-02326-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal multifactorial neurodegenerative disease characterized by the selective death of motor neurons. Cytosolic phospholipase A2 alpha (cPLA2α) upregulation and activation in the spinal cord of ALS patients has been reported. We have previously shown that cPLA2α upregulation in the spinal cord of mutant SOD1 transgenic mice (SOD1G93A) was detected long before the development of the disease, and inhibition of cPLA2α upregulation delayed the disease's onset. The aim of the present study was to determine the mechanism for cPLA2α upregulation. METHODS Immunofluorescence analysis and western blot analysis of misfolded SOD1, cPLA2α and inflammatory markers were performed in the spinal cord sections of SOD1G93A transgenic mice and in primary motor neurons. Over expression of mutant SOD1 was performed by induction or transfection in primary motor neurons and in differentiated NSC34 motor neuron like cells. RESULTS Misfolded SOD1 was detected in the spinal cord of 3 weeks old mutant SOD1G93A mice before cPLA2α upregulation. Elevated expression of both misfolded SOD1 and cPLA2α was specifically detected in the motor neurons at 6 weeks with a high correlation between them. Elevated TNFα levels were detected in the spinal cord lysates of 6 weeks old mutant SOD1G93A mice. Elevated TNFα was specifically detected in the motor neurons and its expression was highly correlated with cPLA2α expression at 6 weeks. Induction of mutant SOD1 in primary motor neurons induced cPLA2α and TNFα upregulation. Over expression of mutant SOD1 in NSC34 cells caused cPLA2α upregulation which was prevented by antibodies against TNFα. The addition of TNFα to NSC34 cells caused cPLA2α upregulation in a dose dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS Motor neurons expressing elevated cPLA2α and TNFα are in an inflammatory state as early as at 6 weeks old mutant SOD1G93A mice long before the development of the disease. Accumulated misfolded SOD1 in the motor neurons induced cPLA2α upregulation via induction of TNFα.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafa Fetfet Malada Edelstein
- Immunology and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Yulia Solomonov
- Immunology and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Nurit Hadad
- Immunology and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Leenor Alfahel
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences and The Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Adrian Israelson
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences and The Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Rachel Levy
- Immunology and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel.
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