Department of Neurology, Huashan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Department of Neurology and National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Huashan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Brain. 2020 May 1;143(5):1476-1497. doi: 10.1093/brain/awaa090.
Accumulation of neuronal α-synuclein is a prominent feature in Parkinson's disease. More recently, such abnormal protein aggregation has been reported to spread from cell to cell and exosomes are considered as important mediators. The focus of such research, however, has been primarily in neurons. Given the increasing recognition of the importance of non-cell autonomous-mediated neurotoxicity, it is critical to investigate the contribution of glia to α-synuclein aggregation and spread. Microglia are the primary phagocytes in the brain and have been well-documented as inducers of neuroinflammation. How and to what extent microglia and their exosomes impact α-synuclein pathology has not been well delineated. We report here that when treated with human α-synuclein preformed fibrils, exosomes containing α-synuclein released by microglia are fully capable of inducing protein aggregation in the recipient neurons. Additionally, when combined with microglial proinflammatory cytokines, these exosomes further increased protein aggregation in neurons. Inhibition of exosome synthesis in microglia reduced α-synuclein transmission. The in vivo significance of these exosomes was demonstrated by stereotaxic injection of exosomes isolated from α-synuclein preformed fibrils treated microglia into the mouse striatum. Phosphorylated α-synuclein was observed in multiple brain regions consistent with their neuronal connectivity. These animals also exhibited neurodegeneration in the nigrostriatal pathway in a time-dependent manner. Depleting microglia in vivo dramatically suppressed the transmission of α-synuclein after stereotaxic injection of preformed fibrils. Mechanistically, we report here that α-synuclein preformed fibrils impaired autophagy flux by upregulating PELI1, which in turn, resulted in degradation of LAMP2 in activated microglia. More importantly, by purifying microglia/macrophage derived exosomes in the CSF of Parkinson's disease patients, we confirmed the presence of α-synuclein oligomer in CD11b+ exosomes, which were able to induce α-synuclein aggregation in neurons, further supporting the translational aspect of this study. Taken together, our study supports the view that microglial exosomes contribute to the progression of α-synuclein pathology and therefore, they may serve as a promising therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease.
神经元 α-突触核蛋白的积累是帕金森病的一个显著特征。最近,这种异常蛋白聚集已被报道从一个细胞传播到另一个细胞,外泌体被认为是重要的介质。然而,此类研究的重点主要在神经元上。鉴于越来越认识到非细胞自主介导的神经毒性的重要性,研究胶质细胞对 α-突触核蛋白聚集和传播的贡献至关重要。小胶质细胞是大脑中的主要吞噬细胞,并且已被充分证明是神经炎症的诱导剂。小胶质细胞及其外泌体如何以及在多大程度上影响 α-突触核蛋白病理学尚未得到很好的描述。我们在这里报告说,当用人类 α-突触核蛋白原纤维处理时,小胶质细胞释放的含有 α-突触核蛋白的外泌体完全能够诱导受体神经元中的蛋白聚集。此外,当与小胶质细胞前炎性细胞因子结合时,这些外泌体进一步增加了神经元中的蛋白聚集。小胶质细胞中外泌体合成的抑制减少了 α-突触核蛋白的传递。从小胶质细胞中分离出的外泌体,用 α-突触核蛋白原纤维处理,然后立体定向注射到小鼠纹状体中,证明了这些外泌体的体内意义。在与神经元连接一致的多个脑区观察到磷酸化的 α-突触核蛋白。这些动物还表现出黑质纹状体通路的神经退行性变,呈时间依赖性。体内耗尽小胶质细胞可显著抑制立体定向注射原纤维后 α-突触核蛋白的传递。从机制上讲,我们在这里报告说,α-突触核蛋白原纤维通过上调 PELI1 来抑制自噬流,进而导致激活的小胶质细胞中 LAMP2 的降解。更重要的是,通过纯化帕金森病患者脑脊液中的小胶质细胞/巨噬细胞衍生的外泌体,我们证实了 CD11b+外泌体中存在 α-突触核蛋白寡聚体,这些外泌体能够诱导神经元中 α-突触核蛋白的聚集,进一步支持了这项研究的转化方面。总之,我们的研究支持这样一种观点,即小胶质细胞外泌体有助于 α-突触核蛋白病理学的进展,因此它们可能成为帕金森病的有希望的治疗靶点。
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