Noches Veronica, Campos-Melo Danae, Droppelmann Cristian A, Strong Michael J
Molecular Medicine Group, Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2024 Sep 3;17:1417961. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.1417961. eCollection 2024.
The progressive degeneration of motor neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is accompanied by the formation of a broad array of cytoplasmic and nuclear neuronal inclusions (protein aggregates) largely containing RNA-binding proteins such as TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) or fused in sarcoma/translocated in liposarcoma (FUS/TLS). This process is driven by a liquid-to-solid phase separation generally from proteins in membrane-less organelles giving rise to pathological biomolecular condensates. The formation of these protein aggregates suggests a fundamental alteration in the mRNA expression or the levels of the proteins involved. Considering the role of the epigenome in gene expression, alterations in DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, non-coding RNAs, and RNA modifications become highly relevant to understanding how this pathological process takes effect. In this review, we explore the evidence that links epigenetic mechanisms with the formation of protein aggregates in ALS. We propose that a greater understanding of the role of the epigenome and how this inter-relates with the formation of pathological LLPS in ALS will provide an attractive therapeutic target.
肌萎缩侧索硬化症(ALS)中运动神经元的进行性退化伴随着大量细胞质和细胞核神经元内含物(蛋白质聚集体)的形成,这些内含物主要包含RNA结合蛋白,如TAR DNA结合蛋白43(TDP - 43)或肉瘤融合/脂肪肉瘤易位蛋白(FUS/TLS)。这一过程通常由无膜细胞器中的蛋白质发生液 - 固相变驱动,从而产生病理性生物分子凝聚物。这些蛋白质聚集体的形成表明mRNA表达或相关蛋白质水平发生了根本性改变。考虑到表观基因组在基因表达中的作用,DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰、染色质重塑、非编码RNA和RNA修饰的改变对于理解这一病理过程如何起作用变得高度相关。在这篇综述中,我们探讨了将表观遗传机制与ALS中蛋白质聚集体形成联系起来的证据。我们提出,更深入了解表观基因组的作用以及它如何与ALS中病理性液 - 液相分离的形成相互关联,将提供一个有吸引力的治疗靶点。
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