Brembati Viviana, Faustini Gaia, Longhena Francesca, Bellucci Arianna
Division of Pharmacology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2023 May 25;16:1197853. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2023.1197853. eCollection 2023.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder with motor symptoms. The neuropathological alterations characterizing the brain of patients with PD include the loss of dopaminergic neurons of the nigrostriatal system and the presence of Lewy bodies (LB), intraneuronal inclusions that are mainly composed of alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) fibrils. The accumulation of α-Syn in insoluble aggregates is a main neuropathological feature in PD and in other neurodegenerative diseases, including LB dementia (LBD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA), which are therefore defined as synucleinopathies. Compelling evidence supports that α-Syn post translational modifications (PTMs) such as phosphorylation, nitration, acetylation, O-GlcNAcylation, glycation, SUMOylation, ubiquitination and C-terminal cleavage, play important roles in the modulation α-Syn aggregation, solubility, turnover and membrane binding. In particular, PTMs can impact on α-Syn conformational state, thus supporting that their modulation can in turn affect α-Syn aggregation and its ability to seed further soluble α-Syn fibrillation. This review focuses on the importance of α-Syn PTMs in PD pathophysiology but also aims at highlighting their general relevance as possible biomarkers and, more importantly, as innovative therapeutic targets for synucleinopathies. In addition, we call attention to the multiple challenges that we still need to face to enable the development of novel therapeutic approaches modulating α-Syn PTMs.
帕金森病(PD)是最常见的伴有运动症状的神经退行性疾病。帕金森病患者大脑的神经病理学改变包括黑质纹状体系统多巴胺能神经元的丧失以及路易小体(LB)的存在,路易小体是主要由α-突触核蛋白(α-Syn)原纤维组成的神经元内包涵体。α-Syn在不溶性聚集体中的积累是帕金森病以及其他神经退行性疾病(包括路易体痴呆(LBD)和多系统萎缩(MSA))的主要神经病理学特征,因此这些疾病被定义为突触核蛋白病。有力证据支持α-Syn的翻译后修饰(PTM),如磷酸化、硝化、乙酰化、O-连接N-乙酰葡糖胺化、糖基化、SUMO化、泛素化和C末端切割,在调节α-Syn聚集、溶解度、周转和膜结合中发挥重要作用。特别是,PTM可以影响α-Syn的构象状态,从而支持其调节反过来可以影响α-Syn聚集及其引发进一步可溶性α-Syn纤维化的能力。本综述重点关注α-Syn PTM在帕金森病病理生理学中的重要性,同时旨在强调它们作为可能的生物标志物的普遍相关性,更重要的是,作为突触核蛋白病的创新治疗靶点。此外,我们提请注意在开发调节α-Syn PTM的新型治疗方法时我们仍需面对的多重挑战。