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Chen T, Xiong Y, Deng C, Hu C, Li M, Quan R, Yu X. NDRG2 alleviates photoreceptor apoptosis by regulating the STAT3/TIMP3/MMP pathway in mice with retinal degenerative disease. FEBS J 2024; 291:986-1007. [PMID: 38037211 DOI: 10.1111/febs.17021] [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: 06/19/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Photoreceptor apoptosis is the main pathological feature of retinal degenerative diseases; however, the underlying molecular mechanism has not been elucidated. Recent studies have shown that N-myc downstream regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) exerts a neuroprotective effect on the brain and spinal cord. In addition, our previous studies have confirmed that NDRG2 is expressed in mouse retinal photoreceptors and counteracts N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced apoptosis. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we observed that the expression of NDRG2 was not only significantly inhibited in photoreceptors after MNU treatment but also after hydrogen peroxide treatment, and photoreceptor apoptosis was alleviated or aggravated after overexpression or knockdown of NDRG2 in the 661W photoreceptor cell line, respectively. The apoptosis inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK rescued photoreceptor apoptosis induced by MNU after NDRG2 knockdown. Next, we screened and identified tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 3 (TIMP3) as the downstream molecule of NDRG2 in 661W cells by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. TIMP3 exerts a neuroprotective effect by inhibiting the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Subsequently, we found that signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) mediated the NDRG2-associated regulation of TIMP3. Finally, we overexpressed NDRG2 in mouse retinal tissues by intravitreally injecting an adeno-associated virus with mouse NDRG2 in vivo. Results showed that NDRG2 upregulated the expression of phospho-STAT3 (p-STAT3) and TIMP3, while suppressing MNU-induced photoreceptor apoptosis and MMP expression. Our findings revealed how NDRG2 regulates the STAT3/TIMP3/MMP pathway and uncovered the molecular mechanism underlying its neuroprotective effect on mouse retinal photoreceptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Chen
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
| | - Yecheng Xiong
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
| | - Chunlei Deng
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
| | - Chengbiao Hu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
| | - Mengxing Li
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
| | - Rui Quan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
| | - Xiaorui Yu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education, China
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