Brahimi Fouad, Maira Mario, Barcelona Pablo F, Galan Alba, Aboulkassim Tahar, Teske Katrina, Rogers Mary-Louise, Bertram Lisa, Wang Jing, Yousefi Masoud, Rush Robert, Fabian Marc, Cashman Neil, Saragovi H Uri
Lady Davis Institute-Jewish General Hospital, Translational Center, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Flinders University, Department of Human Physiology, Centre for Neuroscience, Adelaide, Australia.
PLoS One. 2016 Oct 3;11(10):e0162307. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162307. eCollection 2016.
Full length TrkC (TrkC-FL) is a receptor tyrosine kinase whose mRNA can be spliced to a truncated TrkC.T1 isoform lacking the kinase domain. Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) activates TrkC-FL to maintain motor neuron health and function and TrkC.T1 to produce neurotoxic TNF-α; hence resulting in opposing pathways. In mouse and human ALS spinal cord, the reduction of miR-128 that destabilizes TrkC.T1 mRNA results in up-regulated TrkC.T1 and TNF-α in astrocytes. We exploited conformational differences to develop an agonistic mAb 2B7 that selectively activates TrkC-FL, to circumvent TrkC.T1 activation. In mouse ALS, 2B7 activates spinal cord TrkC-FL signals, improves spinal cord motor neuron phenotype and function, and significantly prolongs life-span. Our results elucidate biological paradoxes of receptor isoforms and their role in disease progression, validate the concept of selectively targeting conformational epitopes in naturally occurring isoforms, and may guide the development of pro-neuroprotective (TrkC-FL) and anti-neurotoxic (TrkC.T1) therapeutic strategies.
全长TrkC(TrkC-FL)是一种受体酪氨酸激酶,其信使核糖核酸(mRNA)可剪接成缺少激酶结构域的截短型TrkC.T1亚型。神经营养因子-3(NT-3)激活TrkC-FL以维持运动神经元的健康和功能,激活TrkC.T1以产生神经毒性肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α);因此导致相反的信号通路。在小鼠和人类肌萎缩侧索硬化症(ALS)脊髓中,使TrkC.T1 mRNA不稳定的微小核糖核酸-128(miR-128)减少,导致星形胶质细胞中TrkC.T1和TNF-α上调。我们利用构象差异开发了一种激动性单克隆抗体2B7,它能选择性激活TrkC-FL,从而规避TrkC.T1的激活。在小鼠ALS模型中,2B7激活脊髓TrkC-FL信号,改善脊髓运动神经元表型和功能,并显著延长寿命。我们的研究结果阐明了受体亚型的生物学悖论及其在疾病进展中的作用,验证了选择性靶向天然存在亚型中构象表位的概念,并可能指导促神经保护(TrkC-FL)和抗神经毒性(TrkC.T1)治疗策略的开发。