Krishna Puttaparthi

Progressive motor weakness in transgenic mice expressing human TDP-43

Familial ALS patients with TDP-43 gene mutations and sporadic ALS patients share common TDP-43 neuronal pathology. To delineate mechanisms underlying TDP-43 proteinopathies, transgenic mice expressing A315T, M337V or wild type human TDP-43 were generated. Multiple TDP-43 founders developed a severe early motor phenotype that correlated with TDP-43 levels in spinal cord. Three A315T TDP-43 lines developed later onset paralysis with cytoplasmic ubiquitin inclusions, gliosis and TDP-43 redistribution and fragmentation. The WT TDP-43 mouse line with highest spinal cord expression levels remains asymptomatic, although these mice show spinal cord pathology. One WT TDP-43 line with high skeletal muscle levels of TDP-43 developed a severe progressive myopathy. Over-expression of TDP-43 in vivo is sufficient to produce progressive motor phenotypes by a toxic gain of function paradigm. Transgenic mouse lines expressing untagged mutant and wild type TDP-43 under the same promoter represent a powerful new model system for studying TDP-43 proteinopathies in vivo.

Overexpression of CCS in G93A-SOD1 mice leads to accelerated neurological deficits with severe mitochondrial pathology.

Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) has been detected within spinal cord mitochondria of mutant SOD1 transgenic mice, a model of familial ALS. The copper chaperone for SOD1 (CCS) provides SOD1 with copper, facilitates the conversion of immature apo-SOD1 to a mature holoform, and influences in yeast the cytosolic/mitochondrial partitioning of SOD1. To determine how CCS affects G93A-SOD1-induced disease, we generated transgenic mice overexpressing CCS and crossed them to G93A-SOD1 or wild-type SOD1 transgenic mice. Both CCS transgenic mice and CCS/wild-type-SOD1 dual transgenic mice are neurologically normal. In contrast, CCS/G93A-SOD1 dual transgenic mice develop accelerated neurological deficits, with a mean survival of 36 days, compared with 242 days for G93A-SOD1 mice. Immuno-EM and subcellular fractionation studies on the spinal cord show that G93A-SOD1 is enriched within mitochondria in the presence of CCS overexpression. Our results indicate that CCS overexpression in G93A-SOD1 mice produces severe mitochondrial pathology and accelerates disease course.

Aggregate formation in the spinal cord of mutant SOD1 transgenic mice is reversible and mediated by proteasomes.

Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) mutations cause one form of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by a toxic gain of function that may be related to abnormal protein folding and aggregate formation. However, the processing pathways involved in SOD1 aggregate generation within spinal cord remain unclear. We have now developed an experimental system for studying SOD1 aggregate formation and clearance in intact spinal cord tissue. Here we demonstrate that the formation of SOD1‐positive aggregates in G93A SOD1 transgenic mouse spinal cord tissue involves proteasome‐mediated proteolysis. Organotypic spinal cord slices from 9‐day‐old transgenic mice expressing G93A SOD1 develop SOD1 aggregates with proteasome inhibition. In contrast, SOD1 aggregates do not form in spinal cord slices from wild type mice or transgenic mice overexpressing wild type SOD1 following proteasome inhibition. Furthermore, SOD1 aggregate formation within G93A SOD1 spinal cord is both sensitive to small changes in overall proteasome activity and reversible with the restoration of proteasome function. Our results also establish that adult mouse spinal cord exhibits a relative deficiency in proteasome activity compared with non‐CNS tissue that may help explain the propensity of spinal cord to form SOD1‐positive aggregates.

Silencing Nogo-A Promotes Functional Recovery in Demyelinating Disease

To determine if suppressing Nogo‐A, an axonal inhibitory protein, will promote functional recovery in a murine model of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Non-neuronal induction of immunoproteasome subunits in an ALS model: Possible mediation by cytokines

Protein aggregation is a pathologic hallmark of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by mutations in the Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase gene. Although SOD1-positive aggregates can be cleared by proteasomes, aggregates have been hypothesized to interfere with proteasome activity, leading to a vicious cycle that further enhances aggregate accumulation. To address this issue, we measured proteasome activity in transgenic mice expressing a G93A SOD1 mutation. We find that proteasome activity is induced in the spinal cord of such mice compared to controls but is not altered in uninvolved organs such as liver or spleen. This induction within spinal cord is not related to an overall increase in the total number of proteasome subunits, as evidenced by the steady expression levels of constitutive alpha7 and beta5 subunits. In contrast, we found a marked increase of inducible beta proteasome subunits, LMP2, MECL-1 and LMP7. This induction of immunoproteasome subunits does not occur in all spinal cord cell types but appears limited to astrocytes and microglia. The induction of immunoproteasome subunits in G93A spinal cord organotypic slices treated with TNF-alpha and interferon-gamma suggest that certain cytokines may mediate such responses in vivo. Our results indicate that there is an overall increase in proteasome function in the spinal cords of G93A SOD1 mice that correlates with an induction of immunoproteasomes subunits and a shift toward immunoproteasome composition. These results suggest that increased, rather than decreased, proteasome function is a response of certain cell types to mutant SOD1-induced disease within spinal cord.

Metabolic acidosis regulates rat renal Na-Si cotransport activity

Recently, we cloned a cDNA (NaSi-1) localized to rat renal proximal tubules and encoding the brush-border membrane (BBM) Na gradient-dependent inorganic sulfate (Si) transport protein (Na-Si cotransporter). The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of metabolic acidosis (MA) on Na-Si cotransport activity and NaSi-1 protein and mRNA expression. In rats with MA for 24 h (but not 6 or 12 h), there was a significant increase in the fractional excretion of Si, which was associated with a 2.4-fold decrease in BBM Na-Sicotransport activity. The decrease in Na-Si cotransport correlated with a 2.8-fold decrease in BBM NaSi-1 protein abundance and a 2.2-fold decrease in cortical NaSi-1 mRNA abundance. The inhibitory effect of MA on BBM Na-Si cotransport was also sustained in rats with chronic (10 days) MA. In addition, in Xenopus laevis oocytes injected with mRNA from kidney cortex, there was a significant reduction in the induced Na-Si cotransport in rats with MA compared with control rats, suggesting that MA causes a decrease in the abundance of functional mRNA encoding the NaSi-1 cotransporter. These findings indicate that MA reduces Si reabsorption by causing decreases in BBM Na-Si cotransport activity and that decreases in the expression of NaSi-1 protein and mRNA abundance, at least in part, play an important role in the inhibition of Na-Si cotransport activity during MA.

TDP-43, an ALS linked protein, regulates fat deposition and glucose homeostasis.

The identification of proteins which determine fat and lean body mass composition is critical to better understanding and treating human obesity. TDP-43 is a well-conserved RNA-binding protein known to regulate alternative splicing and recently implicated in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While TDP-43 knockout mice show early embryonic lethality, post-natal conditional knockout mice show weight loss, fat depletion, and rapid death, suggesting an important role for TDP-43 in regulating energy metabolism. Here we report, that over-expression of TDP-43 in transgenic mice can result in a phenotype characterized by increased fat deposition and adipocyte hypertrophy. In addition, TDP-43 over-expression in skeletal muscle results in increased steady state levels of Tbc1d1, a RAB-GTPase activating protein involved in Glucose 4 transporter (Glut4) translocation. Skeletal muscle fibers isolated from TDP-43 transgenic mice show altered Glut4 translocation in response to insulin and impaired insulin mediated glucose uptake. These results indicate that levels of TDP-43 regulate body fat composition and glucose homeostasis in vivo.

Pharmacological prion protein silencing accelerates central nervous system autoimmune disease via T cell receptor signalling

The primary biological function of the endogenous cellular prion protein has remained unclear. We investigated its biological function in the generation of cellular immune responses using cellular prion protein gene-specific small interfering ribonucleic acid in vivo and in vitro. Our results were confirmed by blocking cellular prion protein with monovalent antibodies and by using cellular prion protein-deficient and -transgenic mice. In vivo prion protein gene-small interfering ribonucleic acid treatment effects were of limited duration, restricted to secondary lymphoid organs and resulted in a 70% reduction of cellular prion protein expression in leukocytes. Disruption of cellular prion protein signalling augmented antigen-specific activation and proliferation, and enhanced T cell receptor signalling, resulting in zeta-chain-associated protein-70 phosphorylation and nuclear factor of activated T cells/activator protein 1 transcriptional activity. In vivo prion protein gene-small interfering ribonucleic acid treatment promoted T cell differentiation towards pro-inflammatory phenotypes and increased survival of antigen-specific T cells. Cellular prion protein silencing with small interfering ribonucleic acid also resulted in the worsening of actively induced and adoptively transferred experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Finally, treatment of myelin basic protein1–11 T cell receptor transgenic mice with prion protein gene-small interfering ribonucleic acid resulted in spontaneous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Thus, central nervous system autoimmune disease was modulated at all stages of disease: the generation of the T cell effector response, the elicitation of T effector function and the perpetuation of cellular immune responses. Our findings indicate that cellular prion protein regulates T cell receptor-mediated T cell activation, differentiation and survival. Defects in autoimmunity are restricted to the immune system and not the central nervous system. Our data identify cellular prion protein as a regulator of cellular immunological homoeostasis and suggest cellular prion protein as a novel potential target for therapeutic immunomodulation.

Redox susceptibility of SOD1 mutants is associated with the differential response to CCS over-expression in vivo.

Over-expression of CCS in G93A SOD1 mice accelerates neurological disease and enhances mitochondrial pathology. We studied the effect of CCS over-expression in transgenic mice expressing G37R, G86R or L126Z SOD1 mutations in order to understand factors which influence mitochondrial dysfunction. Over-expression of CCS markedly decreased survival and produced mitochondrial vacuolation in G37R SOD1 mice but not in G86R or L126Z SOD1 mice. Moreover, CCS/G37R SOD1 spinal cord showed specific reductions in mitochondrial complex IV subunits consistent with an isolated COX deficiency, while no such reductions were detected in CCS/G86R or CCS/L126Z SOD1 mice. CCS over-expression increased the ratio of reduced to oxidized SOD1 monomers in the spinal cords of G37R SOD1 as well as G93A SOD1 mice, but did not influence the redox state of G86R or L126Z SOD1 monomers. The effects of CCS on disease are SOD1 mutation dependent and correlate with SOD1 redox susceptibility.

Assessing the role of immuno-proteasomes in a mouse model of familial ALS

The accumulation of protein aggregates is thought to be an important component in the pathogenesis of mutant SOD1-induced disease. Mutant SOD1 aggregates appear to be cleared by proteasomes, at least in vitro, suggesting a potentially important role for proteasome degradation pathways in vivo. G93A SOD1 transgenic mice show an increase in proteasome activity and induction of immuno-proteasome subunits within spinal cord as they develop neurological symptoms. To determine what role immuno-proteasomes may have in mutant SOD1-induced disease, we crossed G93A SOD1 transgenic mice with LMP2-/- mice to obtain G93A SOD1 mice lacking the LMP2 immuno-proteasome subunit. G93A SOD1/LMP2-/- mice show significant reductions in proteasome function within spinal cord compared to G93A SOD1 mice. However, G93A SOD1/LMP2-/- mice show no change in motor function decline, or survival compared to G93A SOD1 mice. These results indicate that the loss of immuno-proteasome function in vivo does not significantly alter mutant SOD1-induced disease.