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Arnold FJ, Nguyen AD, Bedlack RS, Bennett CL, La Spada AR. Intercellular transmission of pathogenic proteins in ALS: Exploring the pathogenic wave. Neurobiol Dis 2023:106218. [PMID: 37394036 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2023.106218] [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: 04/01/2023] [Revised: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
In patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), disease symptoms and pathology typically spread in a predictable spatiotemporal pattern beginning at a focal site of onset and progressing along defined neuroanatomical tracts. Like other neurodegenerative diseases, ALS is characterized by the presence of protein aggregates in postmortem patient tissue. Cytoplasmic, ubiquitin-positive aggregates of TDP-43 are observed in approximately 97% of sporadic and familial ALS patients, while SOD1 inclusions are likely specific to cases of SOD1-ALS. Additionally, the most common subtype of familial ALS, caused by a hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the first intron of the C9orf72 gene (C9-ALS), is further characterized by the presence of aggregated dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs). As we will describe, cell-to-cell propagation of these pathological proteins tightly correlates with the contiguous spread of disease. While TDP-43 and SOD1 are capable of seeding protein misfolding and aggregation in a prion-like manner, C9orf72 DPRs appear to induce (and transmit) a 'disease state' more generally. Multiple mechanisms of intercellular transport have been described for all of these proteins, including anterograde and retrograde axonal transport, extracellular vesicle secretion, and macropinocytosis. In addition to neuron-to-neuron transmission, transmission of pathological proteins occurs between neurons and glia. Given that the spread of ALS disease pathology corresponds with the spread of symptoms in patients, the various mechanisms by which ALS-associated protein aggregates propagate through the central nervous system should be closely examined.
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Affiliation(s)
- F J Arnold
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - A D Nguyen
- Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - R S Bedlack
- Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - C L Bennett
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
| | - A R La Spada
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA; Departments of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA; UCI Center for Neurotherapeutics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
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Iida S, Kanouchi T, Hattori T, Kanai K, Nakazato T, Hattori N, Yokota T. Verification of propagation hypothesis in patients with sporadic hand onset amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Acta Neurol Belg 2023:10.1007/s13760-023-02297-9. [PMID: 37273142 DOI: 10.1007/s13760-023-02297-9] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE If lesions in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) originate from a single focal onset site and spread contiguously by prion-like cell-to-cell propagation at a constant speed, the lesion spread time should be proportional to the anatomical distance. We verify this model in the patients. METHODS In 29 sporadic ALS patients with hand onset followed by spread to shoulder and leg, we retrospectively evaluated the inter/intra-regional spread time ratio: time interval of symptoms from hand-to-leg divided by that from hand-to-shoulder. We also obtained the corresponding inter-/intra-regional distance ratios of spinal cord from magnetic resonance imaging of 12 patients, and those of primary motor cortex from coordinates using neuroimaging software. RESULTS Inter-/intra-regional spread time ratios ranged from 0.29 to 6.00 (median 1.20). Distance ratios ranged from 1.85 to 2.86 in primary motor cortex and from 5.79 to 8.67 in spinal cord. Taken together with clinical manifestations, of 27 patients with the requisite information available, lesion spreading was consistent with the model in primary motor cortex in 4 (14.8%) patients, and in spinal cord in only 1 (3.7%) patient. However, in more patients (12 of 29 patients: 41.4%), the inter-regional spread times in a long anatomical distance of hand-to-leg were shorter than or equal to the intra-regional spread times in a short anatomical distance of hand-to-shoulder. CONCLUSION Contiguous cell-to-cell propagation at a constant speed might not play a major role at least in distant lesion spreading of ALS. Several mechanisms can be responsible for progression in ALS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shintaro Iida
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan.
| | - Tadashi Kanouchi
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takaaki Hattori
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazuaki Kanai
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
| | - Tomoko Nakazato
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Nobutaka Hattori
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takanori Yokota
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
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Tanaka N, Kimura S, Kamatari YO, Nakata K, Kobatake Y, Inden M, Yamato O, Urushitani M, Maeda S, Kamishina H. In vitro evidence of propagation of superoxide dismutase-1 protein aggregation in canine degenerative myelopathy. Vet J 2021; 274:105710. [PMID: 34166783 DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2021.105710] [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: 01/12/2021] [Revised: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that has been linked to mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene. The accumulation of misfolded protein aggregates in spinal neurons and astrocytes is implicated as an important pathological process in DM; however, the mechanism of protein aggregate formation is largely unknown. In human neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cell-to-cell propagation of disease-relevant proteins has been demonstrated. Therefore, in this study, propagation of aggregation-forming property of mutant SOD1 protein in DM in vitro was investigated. This study demonstrated that aggregates composed of canine wild type SOD1 protein were increased by co-transfection with canine mutant SOD1 (E40K SOD1), indicating intracellular propagation of SOD1 aggregates. Further, aggregated recombinant SOD1 proteins were released from the cells, taken up by other cells, and induced further aggregate formation of normally folded SOD1 proteins. These results suggest intercellular propagation of SOD1 aggregates. The hypothesis of cell-to-cell propagation of SOD1 aggregates proposed in this study may underly the progressive nature of DM pathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Tanaka
- Joint Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan
| | - S Kimura
- The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan
| | - Y O Kamatari
- Division of Instrumental Analysis, Life Science Research Center, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan
| | - K Nakata
- The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan
| | - Y Kobatake
- Joint Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan
| | - M Inden
- Laboratory of Medical Therapeutics and Molecular Therapeutics, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, 1-26-4 Daigaku-Nishi, Gifu, 501-1196, Japan
| | - O Yamato
- Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kagoshima University, 1-21-24 Korimoto, Kagoshima, 890-8580, Japan
| | - M Urushitani
- Department of Neurology, Shiga Univ. of Medical Science, Seta Tsukinowa-cho, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan
| | - S Maeda
- Joint Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan; The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan
| | - H Kamishina
- Joint Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan; The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan.
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Abstract
Tau oligomers have recently emerged as the principal toxic species in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and tauopathies. Tau oligomers are spontaneously self-assembled soluble tau proteins that are formed prior to fibrils, and they have been shown to play a central role in neuronal cell death and in the induction of neurodegeneration in animal models. As the therapeutic paradigm shifts to targeting toxic tau oligomers, this suggests the focus to study tau oligomerization in species that are less susceptible to fibrillization. While truncated and mutation containing tau as well as the isolated repeat domains are particularly prone to fibrillization, the wild-type (WT) tau proteins have been shown to be resistant to fibril formation in the absence of aggregation inducers. In this review, we will summarize and discuss the toxicity of WT tau both in vitro and in vivo, as well as its involvement in tau oligomerization and cell-to-cell propagation of pathology. Understanding the role of WT tau will enable more effective biomarker development and therapeutic discovery for treatment of AD and tauopathies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chih Hung Lo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
- Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Jonathan N. Sachs
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
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Bartl S, Oueslati A, Southwell AL, Siddu A, Parth M, David LS, Maxan A, Salhat N, Burkert M, Mairhofer A, Friedrich T, Pankevych H, Balazs K, Staffler G, Hayden MR, Cicchetti F, Smrzka OW. Inhibiting cellular uptake of mutant huntingtin using a monoclonal antibody: Implications for the treatment of Huntington's disease. Neurobiol Dis 2020; 141:104943. [PMID: 32407769 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2020.104943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [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: 12/20/2019] [Revised: 04/08/2020] [Accepted: 05/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by a highly polymorphic CAG trinucleotide expansion in the gene encoding for the huntingtin protein (HTT). The resulting mutant huntingtin protein (mutHTT) is ubiquitously expressed but also exhibits the ability to propagate from cell-to-cell to disseminate pathology; a property which may serve as a new therapeutic focus. Accordingly, we set out to develop a monoclonal antibody (mAB) targeting a particularly exposed region close to the aa586 caspase-6 cleavage site of the HTT protein. This monoclonal antibody, designated C6-17, effectively binds mutHTT and is able to deplete the protein from cell culture supernatants. Using cell-based assays, we demonstrate that extracellular secretion of mutHTT into cell culture media and its subsequent uptake in recipient HeLa cells can be almost entirely blocked by mAB C6-17. Immunohistochemical stainings of post-mortem HD brain tissue confirmed the specificity of mAB C6-17 to human mutHTT aggregates. These findings demonstrate that mAB C6-17 not only successfully engages with its target, mutHTT, but also inhibits cell uptake suggesting that this antibody could interfere with the pathological processes of mutHTT spreading in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Abid Oueslati
- Université Laval/Centre de recherche du CHU, Québec, Canada
| | | | - Alberto Siddu
- Université Laval/Centre de recherche du CHU, Québec, Canada
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Oskar W Smrzka
- AFFiRiS AG, Vienna, Austria; Ablevia biotech GmbH, Vienna, Austria
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