Hyunwoo Choi

Neuropathogenic role of adenylate kinase-1 in Aβ-mediated tau phosphorylation via AMPK and GSK3β

Abnormally hyperphosphorylated tau is often caused by tau kinases, such as GSK3β and Cdk5. Such occurrence leads to neurofibrillary tangle formation and neuronal degeneration in tauopathy, including Alzheimers disease (AD). However, little is known about the signaling cascade underlying the pathologic phosphorylation of tau by Aβ(42). In this study, we show that adenylate kinase 1 (AK1) is a novel regulator of abnormal tau phosphorylation. AK1 expression is markedly increased in the brains of AD patients and AD model mice and is significantly induced by Aβ(42) in the primary neurons. Ectopic expression of AK1 alone augments the pathologic phosphorylation of tau at PHF1, CP13 and AT180 epitopes and enhances the formation of tau aggregates. Inversely, downregulation of AK1 alleviates Aβ(42)-induced hyperphosphorylation of tau. AK1 plays a role in Aβ(42)-induced impairment of AMPK activity and GSK3β activation in the primary neurons. Pharmacologic studies show that treatment with an AMPK inhibitor activates GSK3β, and a GSK3β inhibitor attenuates AK1-mediated tau phosphorylation. In a Drosophila model of human tauopathy, the retinal expression of human AK1 severely exacerbates rough eye phenotype and increases abnormal tau phosphorylation. Further, neural expression of AK1 reduces the lifespan of tau transgenic files. Taken together, these observations indicate that the neuronal expression of AK1 is induced by Aβ(42) to increase abnormal tau phosphorylation via AMPK-GSK3β and contributes to tau-mediated neurodegeneration, providing a new upstream modulator of GSK3β in the pathologic phosphorylation of tau.

Peroxiredoxin 6 interferes with TRAIL-induced death-inducing signaling complex formation by binding to death effector domain caspase

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promising cancer therapeutic agent with cancer-selective apoptogenic activity. It evokes the canonical caspase-mediated cell death pathway through death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) formation. We identified that Peroxiredoxin 6 (Prx6) interacts with caspase-10 and caspase-8 via the death effector domain (DED). Prx6 suppresses TRAIL-mediated cell death in human cancer cells, but not that induced by intrinsic apoptosis inducers such as etoposide, staurosporine, or A23187. Among Prx1–6 members, only Prx6 binds to DED caspases and is most effective in suppressing TRAIL or DED caspase-induced cell death. The antiapoptotic activity of Prx6 against TRAIL is not likely associated with its peroxidase activity but is associated with its ability to bind to DED caspases. Increased expression of Prx6 enhances the binding of Prx6 to caspase-10 but reduces TRAIL-induced DISC formation and subsequently caspase activation. Interestingly, Prx6 is highly upregulated in metastatic gastric cancer cells, which are relatively resistant to TRAIL as compared with primary cancer cells. Downregulation of Prx6 sensitizes the metastatic cancer cells to TRAIL-induced cell death. Taken together, these results suggest that Prx6 modulates TRAIL signaling as a negative regulator of caspase-8 and caspase-10 in DISC formation of TRAIL-resistant metastatic cancer cells.

Caspase-cleaved tau exhibits rapid memory impairment associated with tau oligomers in a transgenic mouse model.

In neurodegenerative diseases like AD, tau forms neurofibrillary tangles, composed of tau protein. In the AD brain, activated caspases cleave tau at the 421th Asp, generating a caspase-cleaved form of tau, TauC3. Although TauC3 is known to assemble rapidly into filaments in vitro, a role of TauC3 in vivo remains unclear. Here, we generated a transgenic mouse expressing human TauC3 using a neuron-specific promoter. In this mouse, we found that human TauC3 was expressed in the hippocampus and cortex. Interestingly, TauC3 mice showed drastic learning and spatial memory deficits and reduced synaptic density at a young age (2-3months). Notably, tau oligomers as well as tau aggregates were found in TauC3 mice showing memory deficits. Further, i.p. or i.c.v. injection with methylene blue or Congo red, inhibitors of tau aggregation in vitro, and i.p. injection with rapamycin significantly reduced the amounts of tau oligomers in the hippocampus, rescued spine density, and attenuated memory impairment in TauC3 mice. Together, these results suggest that TauC3 facilitates early memory impairment in transgenic mice accompanied with tau oligomer formation, providing insight into the role of TauC3 in the AD pathogenesis associated with tau oligomers and a useful AD model to test drug candidates.

Lithium rescues the impaired autophagy process in CbCln3(Δex7/8/Δex7/8) cerebellar cells and reduces neuronal vulnerability to cell death via IMPase inhibition.

J. Neurochem. (2011) 116, 659–668.

G0/G1 switch gene 2 has a critical role in adipocyte differentiation

Mouse 3T3-L1 preadipocytes differentiate into adipocytes when treated with 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, dexamethasone, and insulin. Although mechanisms of adipogenesis, including transcriptional cascades, are understood, it is still unclear how clonally expanded cells eventually enter the terminal differentiation program. From gene expression profile studies, we identified G0/G1 switch gene 2 (G0s2) as a novel regulator of adipogenesis. The gene was found to be expressed at a higher level in white and brown adipose tissues, and it was induced in 3T3-L1 cells by hormonal treatment. Importantly, G0s2 expression was closely associated with the transition from mitotic clonal expansion to terminal differentiation. Knockdown of G0s2 expression with siRNA inhibited adipocyte differentiation, whereas constitutive overexpression of G0s2 accelerated differentiation of preadipocytes to mature adipocytes. Expression of G0s2 was found to be regulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), which is a well-known regulator of adipocyte differentiation. Absence of either PPARγ or G0s2 expression resulted in apoptotic pathway activation before terminal differentiation. To determine whether G0s2 has a role in vivo, G0s2-knockout mice were generated. The knockout mice were normal in appearance, but they had less adipose mass than wild-type littermates. Mouse embryonic fibroblast cells from G0s2-deficient mice exhibited impaired adipogenesis and contained unusually small intracellular lipid droplets, suggesting that G0s2 has a role in lipid droplet formation. Our studies demonstrate that G0s2 has an important role in adipogenesis and accumulation of triacylglycerol.

ENC1 Modulates the Aggregation and Neurotoxicity of Mutant Huntingtin Through p62 Under ER Stress

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder, which is caused by the expression and aggregation of polyQ-expanded mutant huntingtin protein (mtHTT). While toxic mtHTT aggregates are primarily eliminated through autophagy, autophagy dysfunction is often observed in HD pathogenesis. Here, we show that ectodermal-neural cortex 1 (ENC1), a novel binding partner of sequestosome 1 (p62), negatively regulates autophagy under endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. We found that ER stress significantly increases the expression of ENC1 via inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1)-TNF receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2)-c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway. Ectopic expression of ENC1 alone induces the accumulation of detergent-resistant mtHTT aggregates and downregulation of ENC1 alleviates ER stress-induced mtHTT aggregation. Simultaneously, ER stress-induced impairment of autophagy flux is ameliorated by downregulation of ENC1. From immunoprecipitation and immunocytochemical assays, we found that ENC1 binds to p62 through its BTB and C-terminal Kelch (BACK) domain and this interaction is enhanced under ER stress. In particular, ENC1 preferentially interacts with the phosphorylated p62 at Ser403 during ER stress. Interestingly, ENC1 colocalizes with mtHTT aggregates and its C-terminal Kelch domain is required for interfering with the access of p62 to ubiquitinated mtHTT aggregates, thus inhibiting cargo recognition of p62. Accordingly, knockdown of ENC1 expression enhances colocalization of p62 with mtHTT aggregates. Consequently, ENC1 knockdown relieves death of neuronal cells expressing mtHTT under ER stress. These results suggest that ENC1 interacts with the phosphorylated p62 to impair autophagic degradation of mtHTT aggregates and affects cargo recognition failure under ER stress, leading to the accumulation and neurotoxicity of mtHTT aggregates.

OCIAD2 activates γ-secretase to enhance amyloid β production by interacting with nicastrin

The gamma (γ)-secretase holoenzyme is composed of four core proteins and cleaves APP to generate amyloid beta (Aβ), a key molecule that causes major neurotoxicity during the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, despite its important role in Aβ production, little is known about the regulation of γ-secretase. OCIAD2, a novel modulator of γ-secretase that stimulates Aβ production, and which was isolated from a genome-wide functional screen using cell-based assays and a cDNA library comprising 6,178 genes. Ectopic expression of OCIAD2 enhanced Aβ production, while reduction of OCIAD2 expression suppressed it. OCIAD2 expression facilitated the formation of an active γ-secretase complex and enhanced subcellular localization of the enzyme components to lipid rafts. OCIAD2 interacted with nicastrin to stimulate γ-secretase activity. OCIAD2 also increased the interaction of nicastrin with C99 and stimulated APP processing via γ-secretase activation, but did not affect Notch processing. In addition, a cell-permeable Tat-OCIAD2 peptide that interfered with the interaction of OCIAD2 with nicastrin interrupted the γ-secretase-mediated AICD production. Finally, OCIAD2 expression was significantly elevated in the brain of AD patients and PDAPP mice. This study identifies OCIAD2 as a selective activator of γ-secretase to increase Aβ generation.

Cooperative ARQ with Phase Pre-Compensation

In this paper, we propose a novel cooperative ARQ scheme for static channel. The relay nodes, who decode the sources packet correctly, participate in the cooperation to retransmit the packet erroneously received by the destination node. In the cooperative retransmission, we consider simultaneous transmissions, where the phase pre-compensation method is introduced at each relay node to prevent the signals from summing destructively at the destination node. The phase information is obtained by the estimation at each of the relay nodes. The analysis and simulation results are provided to evaluate the proposed scheme in terms of the packet error rate (PER). The proposed cooperative ARQ scheme provides significant performance gain compared to conventional one.

Novel Detection Algorithm of IDMA System under Channel Estimation Error

In this paper, we propose a novel detection algorithm for the elementary signal estimator of an IDMA system considering channel estimation error. To develop the algorithm, we derive new probability density function of decision variable reflecting channel estimation error and modify the conventional algorithm based on it. Through computer simulations, it is shown that the proposed algorithm achieves lower bit error rate than the conventional one. This performance enhancement is provided with negligible increase of its computational complexity.

Experimental evidence of negative quantum capacitance in topological insulator for sub-60-mV/decade steep switching device

As a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI), bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) has two-dimensional electron gas on its surface where negative quantum capacitance (NQC) can exist at a specific biasing condition. In order to experimentally confirm NQC in a TI, a metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) capacitor (i.e., metal–Bi2Te3–SiO2–silicon) is fabricated. The capacitance–voltage measurement of the MIS capacitor at 300 K shows that as the depletion capacitance in silicon decreases, the total capacitance of the MIS capacitor, which consists of two capacitors connected in series (i.e., insulator capacitor and depletion capacitor), increases in the depletion region at a frequency of 50 kHz. The amplified capacitance indicates the existence of NQC on the surface of the TI, and it originates from the strongly correlated electron system. The NQC of the TI opens avenues for sub-60-mV/decade steep switching silicon devices.