Kim Gha-Hyun J, Mo Han, Liu Harrison, Okorie Meri, Chen Steven, Zheng Jiashun, Li Hao, Arkin Michelle, Huang Bo, Guo Su
Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Programs in Biological Sciences and Human Genetics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Graduate Program of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Front Pharmacol. 2022 Mar 18;13:837756. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.837756. eCollection 2022.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder with prominent dopamine (DA) neuron degeneration. PD affects millions of people worldwide, but currently available therapies are limited to temporary relief of symptoms. As an effort to discover disease-modifying therapeutics, we have conducted a screen of 1,403 bioactive small molecule compounds using an whole organism screening assay in transgenic larval zebrafish. The transgenic model expresses the bacterial enzyme nitroreductase (NTR) driven by the tyrosine hydroxylase (th) promotor. NTR converts the commonly used antibiotic pro-drug metronidazole (MTZ) to the toxic nitroso radical form to induce DA neuronal loss. 57 compounds were identified with a brain health score (BHS) that was significantly improved compared to the MTZ treatment alone after FDR adjustment (padj<0.05). Independently, we curated the high throughput screening (HTS) data by annotating each compound with pharmaceutical classification, known mechanism of action, indication, IC50, and target. Using the Reactome database, we performed pathway analysis, which uncovered previously unknown pathways in addition to validating previously known pathways associated with PD. Non-topology-based pathway analysis of the screening data further identified apoptosis, estrogen hormone, dipeptidyl-peptidase 4, and opioid receptor Mu1 to be potentially significant pathways and targets involved in neuroprotection. A total of 12 compounds were examined with a secondary assay that imaged DA neurons before and after compound treatment. The z'-factor of this secondary assay was determined to be 0.58, suggesting it is an excellent assay for screening. Etodolac, nepafenac, aloperine, protionamide, and olmesartan showed significant neuroprotection and was also validated by blinded manual DA neuronal counting. To determine whether these compounds are broadly relevant for neuroprotection, we tested them on a conduritol-b-epoxide (CBE)-induced Gaucher disease (GD) model, in which the activity of (GBA), a commonly known genetic risk factor for PD, was inhibited. Aloperine, olmesartan, and nepafenac showed significant protection of DA neurons in this assay. Together, this work, which combines high content whole organism imaging-based screen and bioinformatic pathway analysis of the screening dataset, delineates a previously uncharted approach for identifying hit-to-lead candidates and for implicating previously unknown pathways and targets involved in DA neuron protection.
帕金森病(PD)是第二常见的神经退行性疾病,其显著特征是多巴胺(DA)神经元变性。PD影响着全球数百万人,但目前可用的治疗方法仅限于暂时缓解症状。为了发现能够改变疾病进程的治疗方法,我们使用转基因斑马鱼幼体的全生物体筛选试验,对1403种生物活性小分子化合物进行了筛选。该转基因模型表达由酪氨酸羟化酶(th)启动子驱动的细菌酶硝基还原酶(NTR)。NTR将常用的抗生素前药甲硝唑(MTZ)转化为有毒的亚硝基自由基形式,以诱导DA神经元损失。经错误发现率(FDR)调整后(padj<0.05),与单独使用MTZ治疗相比,有57种化合物的脑健康评分(BHS)显著提高。我们独立地通过用药物分类、已知作用机制、适应症、IC50和靶点注释每种化合物来整理高通量筛选(HTS)数据。使用Reactome数据库,我们进行了通路分析,除了验证与PD相关的已知通路外,还发现了以前未知的通路。对筛选数据进行的基于非拓扑的通路分析进一步确定凋亡、雌激素、二肽基肽酶4和阿片受体Mu1是参与神经保护的潜在重要通路和靶点。共有12种化合物通过一项二次试验进行了检测,该试验在化合物处理前后对DA神经元进行成像。该二次试验的z'因子确定为0.58,表明它是一种优秀的筛选试验。依托度酸、萘哌地尔、氧化苦参碱、丙硫异烟胺和奥美沙坦显示出显著的神经保护作用,并且通过盲法手动计数DA神经元也得到了验证。为了确定这些化合物是否与神经保护广泛相关,我们在一种由硫代苹果酸脑苷脂 - b - 环氧化物(CBE)诱导的戈谢病(GD)模型上对它们进行了测试,在该模型中,一种已知的PD遗传风险因素——葡糖脑苷脂酶(GBA)的活性受到抑制。在该试验中,氧化苦参碱、奥美沙坦和萘哌地尔对DA神经元显示出显著的保护作用。总之,这项结合了基于高内涵全生物体成像的筛选和筛选数据集的生物信息通路分析的工作,描绘了一种以前未探索过的方法,用于识别从苗头化合物到先导化合物的候选物,并揭示参与DA神经元保护的以前未知的通路和靶点。