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Deubiquitinase Usp12 functions noncatalytically to induce autophagy and confer neuroprotection in models of Huntington's disease.

ABSTRACT: Huntington's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by polyglutamine-expanded mutant huntingtin (mHTT). Here, we show that the deubiquitinase Usp12 rescues mHTT-mediated neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease rodent and patient-derived human neurons, and in Drosophila. The neuroprotective role of Usp12 may be specific amongst related deubiquitinases, as the closely related homolog Usp46 does not suppress mHTT-mediated toxicity. Mechanistically, we identify Usp12 as a potent inducer of neuronal autophagy. Usp12 overexpression accelerates autophagic flux and induces an approximately sixfold increase in autophagic structures as determined by ultrastructural analyses, while suppression of endogenous Usp12 slows autophagy. Surprisingly, the catalytic activity of Usp12 is not required to protect against neurodegeneration or induce autophagy. These findings identify the deubiquitinase Usp12 as a regulator of neuronal proteostasis and mHTT-mediated neurodegeneration.

SUBMITTER: Aron R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6162324 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Deubiquitinase Usp12 functions noncatalytically to induce autophagy and confer neuroprotection in models of Huntington's disease.

Aron Rebecca R Pellegrini Pasquale P Green Edward W EW Maddison Daniel C DC Opoku-Nsiah Kwadwo K Oliveira Ana Osório AO Wong Jinny S JS Daub Aaron C AC Giorgini Flaviano F Muchowski Paul P Finkbeiner Steven S

Nature communications 20180928 1

Huntington's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by polyglutamine-expanded mutant huntingtin (mHTT). Here, we show that the deubiquitinase Usp12 rescues mHTT-mediated neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease rodent and patient-derived human neurons, and in Drosophila. The neuroprotective role of Usp12 may be specific amongst related deubiquitinases, as the closely related homolog Usp46 does not suppress mHTT-mediated toxicity. Mechanistically, we identify Usp12 as a poten ...[more]

PMID: 30266909

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Project description:Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded polyglutamine repeat in the huntingtin protein. Neuropathology in the basal ganglia and in the cerebral cortex has been linked to the motor and cognitive symptoms whereas recent work has suggested that the hypothalamus might be involved in the metabolic dysfunction. Several mouse models of HD that display metabolic dysfunction have hypothalamic pathology, and expression of mutant huntingtin in the hypothalamus has been causally linked to the development of metabolic dysfunction in mice. Although the pathogenic mechanisms by which mutant huntingtin exerts its toxic functions in the HD brain are not fully known, several studies have implicated a role for the lysososomal degradation pathway of autophagy. Interestingly, changes in autophagy in the hypothalamus have been associated with the development of metabolic dysfunction in wild-type mice. We hypothesized that expression of mutant huntingtin might lead to changes in the autophagy pathway in the hypothalamus in mice with metabolic dysfunction. We therefore investigated whether there were changes in basal levels of autophagy in a mouse model expressing a fragment of 853 amino acids of mutant huntingtin selectively in the hypothalamus using a recombinant adeno-associate viral vector approach as well as in the transgenic BACHD mice. We performed qRT-PCR and Western blot to investigate the mRNA and protein expression levels of selected autophagy markers. Our results show that basal levels of autophagy are maintained in the hypothalamus despite the presence of metabolic dysfunction in both mouse models. Furthermore, although there were no major changes in autophagy in the striatum and cortex of BACHD mice, we detected modest, but significant differences in levels of some markers in mice at 12 months of age. Taken together, our results indicate that overexpression of mutant huntingtin in mice do not significantly perturb basal levels of autophagy.

Project description:Synaptic dysfunction is an early pathogenic event leading to cognitive decline in Huntington's disease (HD). We previously reported that the active ADAM10 level is increased in the HD cortex and striatum, causing excessive proteolysis of the synaptic cell adhesion protein N-Cadherin. Conversely, ADAM10 inhibition is neuroprotective and prevents cognitive decline in HD mice. Although the breakdown of cortico-striatal connection has been historically linked to cognitive deterioration in HD, dendritic spine loss and long-term potentiation (LTP) defects identified in the HD hippocampus are also thought to contribute to the cognitive symptoms of the disease. The aim of this study is to investigate the contribution of ADAM10 to spine pathology and LTP defects of the HD hippocampus. We provide evidence that active ADAM10 is increased in the hippocampus of two mouse models of HD, leading to extensive proteolysis of N-Cadherin, which has a widely recognized role in spine morphology and synaptic plasticity. Importantly, the conditional heterozygous deletion of ADAM10 in the forebrain of HD mice resulted in the recovery of spine loss and ultrastructural synaptic defects in CA1 pyramidal neurons. Meanwhile, normalization of the active ADAM10 level increased the pool of synaptic BDNF protein and activated ERK neuroprotective signaling in the HD hippocampus. We also show that the ADAM10 inhibitor GI254023X restored LTP defects and increased the density of mushroom spines enriched with GluA1-AMPA receptors in HD hippocampal neurons. Notably, we report that administration of the TrkB antagonist ANA12 to HD hippocampal neurons reduced the beneficial effect of GI254023X, indicating that the BDNF receptor TrkB contributes to mediate the neuroprotective activity exerted by ADAM10 inhibition in HD. Collectively, these findings indicate that ADAM10 inhibition coupled with TrkB signaling represents an efficacious strategy to prevent hippocampal synaptic plasticity defects and cognitive dysfunction in HD.

Dataset Information

Deubiquitinase Usp12 functions noncatalytically to induce autophagy and confer neuroprotection in models of Huntington's disease.

Publications

Deubiquitinase Usp12 functions noncatalytically to induce autophagy and confer neuroprotection in models of Huntington's disease.

Similar Datasets

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