Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Neuroscience PhD Program, Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Brain Pathol. 2023 Sep;33(5):e13175. doi: 10.1111/bpa.13175. Epub 2023 May 31.
Alpha-synuclein (αsyn) aggregates are pathological features of several neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies, and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Accumulating evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction and impairments of the autophagic-lysosomal system can contribute to the deposition of αsyn, which in turn may interfere with health and function of these organelles in a potentially vicious cycle. Here we investigated a potential convergence of αsyn with the PINK1-PRKN-mediated mitochondrial autophagy pathway in cell models, αsyn transgenic mice, and human autopsy brain. PINK1 and PRKN identify and selectively label damaged mitochondria with phosphorylated ubiquitin (pS65-Ub) to mark them for degradation (mitophagy). We found that disease-causing multiplications of αsyn resulted in accumulation of the ubiquitin ligase PRKN in cells. This effect could be normalized by starvation-induced autophagy activation and by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated αsyn knockout. Upon acute mitochondrial damage, the increased levels of PRKN protein contributed to an enhanced pS65-Ub response. We further confirmed increased pS65-Ub-immunopositive signals in mouse brain with αsyn overexpression and in postmortem human disease brain. Of note, increased pS65-Ub was associated with neuronal Lewy body-type αsyn pathology, but not glial cytoplasmic inclusions of αsyn as seen in MSA. While our results add another layer of complexity to the crosstalk between αsyn and the PINK1-PRKN pathway, distinct mechanisms may underlie in cells and brain tissue despite similar outcomes. Notwithstanding, our finding suggests that pS65-Ub may be useful as a biomarker to discriminate different synucleinopathies and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for Lewy body disease.
α-突触核蛋白(αsyn)聚集体是几种神经退行性疾病的病理学特征,包括帕金森病(PD)、路易体痴呆和多系统萎缩(MSA)。越来越多的证据表明,线粒体功能障碍和自噬溶酶体系统的损伤可能导致αsyn 的沉积,而αsyn 的沉积反过来又可能以潜在的恶性循环方式干扰这些细胞器的健康和功能。在这里,我们在细胞模型、αsyn 转基因小鼠和人类尸检大脑中研究了αsyn 与 PINK1-PRKN 介导的线粒体自噬途径之间的潜在收敛。PINK1 和 PRKN 用磷酸化泛素(pS65-Ub)识别和选择性标记受损的线粒体,以标记它们进行降解(自噬)。我们发现,αsyn 的致病多倍体导致泛素连接酶 PRKN 在细胞中的积累。这种效应可以通过饥饿诱导的自噬激活和 CRISPR/Cas9 介导的 αsyn 敲除来正常化。在急性线粒体损伤时,PRKN 蛋白水平的增加有助于增强 pS65-Ub 反应。我们进一步证实,在αsyn 过表达的小鼠大脑和尸检人类疾病大脑中,pS65-Ub 免疫阳性信号增加。值得注意的是,增加的 pS65-Ub 与神经元路易体型 αsyn 病理学相关,但与 MSA 中所见的αsyn 神经胶质细胞质包涵体无关。虽然我们的结果为 αsyn 和 PINK1-PRKN 途径之间的相互作用增加了另一层复杂性,但尽管结果相似,细胞和脑组织中的机制可能不同。尽管如此,我们的发现表明,pS65-Ub 可能是区分不同突触核蛋白病的有用生物标志物,并可能成为路易体病的潜在治疗靶点。
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