Role of the glial glutamate exchanger xCT in ventral hippocampus in resilience to stress
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ABSTRACT: We demonstrate that stress differentially regulates glutamate homeostasis in the dorsal and ventral hippocampus and established a previously unknown role for the glial marker xCT in the homeostatic regulation of the ventral dentate gyrus (vDG) in stress resilience and antidepressant responses. We provide RNAseq roadmap for the stress-sensitive vDG and show that the transcription factor REST binds to xCT promoter in co-occupancy with the epigenetic marker H3K27acet, to negatively regulate xCT expression. Reduced xCT was also observed in a genetic mouse model of inherent susceptibility to depression. Pharmacologically modulating histone acetylation with next-generation therapeutics, such as acetyl-N-cysteine (NAC) or acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC), rapidly increased xCT reduction and activated a network that included mGlu2 receptors to prime an enhanced glutamate homeostasis that promoted stress resilience and antidepressant-like responses. Moreover, pharmacological xCT blockage counteracted NAC prophylactic effects. Anatomical (vDG) and cell-type specific (GFAP+) virus-overexpression mimicked the effects of pharmacological treatments in increasing stress resilience. These findings establish xCT as critical regulator of the glutamate system in a network with mGlu2 receptors. These studies also point to a role of histone acetylation as mediator of stress resilience.
Project description:We examined here the regulation of gene expression in ventral hippocampus neurons that project to nucleus accumbens (vHPC-NAc) by the transcription factor, ΔFosB. The activity of this circuit is critical to stress-induced social withdrawal. ΔFosB regulates the physiology and behavior of this circuit to produce resilience. Circuit-specific translating ribosomal affinity purification (TRAP) was conducted followed by RNASeq. A strain of floxed Fosb mice (the gene that encodes ΔFosB) was crossed with a ribosomal L10-GFP fusion protein line (Rosa26). To target vHPC-NAc neurons, a retrograde recombinant HSV-Cre was injected into NAc to retrogradely drive expression of GFP and knockout the Fosb gene in vHPC-NAc. Bilateral biopsy punches of vHPC containing GFP-labeled projections were collected, pooled, and processed by TRAP followed by 3rd-generation sequencing of actively translating mRNA. We have now identified Fosb-regulated gene expression in a specific hippocampal-to-accumbens circuit that is important for resilience to stress-induced social withdrawal.
Project description:Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex condition with unclear pathophysiology. Molecular disruptions within the periphery and limbic brain regions contribute to depression symptomatology. Here, we utilized a mouse chronic stress model of MDD and performed metabolomic, lipidomic, and proteomic profiling on serum plus several brain regions (ventral hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, and prefrontal cortex) of susceptible, resilient, and unstressed control mice. Proteomic analysis identified three serum proteins reduced in susceptible animals; lipidomic analysis detected differences in lipid species between resilient and susceptible animals in serum and brain; and metabolomic analysis revealed pathway dysfunctions of purine metabolism, beta oxidation, and antioxidants, which were differentially associated with stress susceptibility vs resilience by brain region. Antidepressant treatment ameliorated MDD-like behaviors and affected key metabolites within outlined networks, most dramatically in the ventral hippocampus. This work presents a resource for chronic stressinduced, tissue-specific changes in proteins, lipids, and metabolites and illuminates how molecular dysfunctions contribute to individual differences in stress sensitivity
Project description:Depression is a leading cause of disease burden, yet current therapies fully treat <50% of affected individuals. Increasing evidence implicates epigenetic mechanisms in depression and antidepressant action. Here, we examined a possible role for the newly identified methylcytosine oxidase, ten eleven translocation protein 1 (TET1), in depression-related behavioral abnormalities. We show that chronic social defeat stress, an ethologically validated mouse model of depression, decreased Tet1 expression in nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain reward region, in stress susceptible mice only. Surprisingly, selective knockout of Tet1 in NAc neurons of adult mice produced antidepressant-like effects in several behavioral assays. To identify Tet1 targets that mediate these actions, we performed RNAseq on NAc after Tet1 knockout and found that immune-related genes are the most highly regulated. Interestingly, many of these genes are also upregulated in NAc of resilient mice after chronic social defeat stress. Together, these findings link Tet1 to stress responses and identify novel targets for future antidepressant drug discovery efforts.
Project description:Most people exposed to stress do not develop depression. Animal models have shown that stress resilience is an active state that requires broad transcriptional adaptations, but how this homeostatic process is regulated remains poorly understood. In this study, we analyze upstream regulators of genes differentially expressed after chronic social defeat stress. We identify estrogen receptor α (ERα) as the top regulator of pro-resilient transcriptional changes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain reward region implicated in depression. In accordance with these findings, nuclear ERα protein levels are altered by stress in male and female mice. Further, overexpression of ERα in the NAc promotes stress resilience in both sexes. Subsequent RNA sequencing reveals that ERα overexpression in NAc reproduces the transcriptional signature of resilience in male, but not female, mice. These results indicate that NAc ERα is an important regulator of pro-resilient transcriptional changes, but with sex-specific downstream targets.
Project description:Tumor cells increase glutamate release through the cystine/glutamate transporter xCT to balance oxidative homeostasis in tumor cells and promote tumor progression. Here, we demonstrated that although inhibition of xCT either by pharmacological inhibitor (sulfasalazine, SAS), approved by FDA for inflammatory diseases, or genetic knockdown induced ROS-related death in melanoma cells. Taken together, our results reveal that inhibition of xCT by SAS is a promising therapeutic strategy for melanoma.
Project description:Background: Examining transcriptional regulation by existing antidepressants in key neural circuits implicated in depression, and understanding the relationship to transcriptional mechanisms of susceptibility and natural resilience, may help in the search for new therapeutics. Further, given the heterogeneity of treatment response in human populations, examining both treatment response and non-response is critical. Methods: We compared the effects of a conventional monoamine-based tricyclic antidepressant, imipramine (14 daily injections), and a rapidly acting, experimental, non-monoamine-based antidepressant, ketamine (single injection), in mice subjected to chronic social defeat stress, a validated model of depression, and used RNA-sequencing to analyze transcriptional profiles associated with susceptibility, resilience and antidepressant response and non-response in prefrontal cortex (PFC), nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, and amygdala. Results: We identified approximately equal numbers of responder and non-responder mice following ketamine or imipramine treatment. Ketamine induced more expression changes in hippocampus than other brain regions; imipramine induced more expression changes in nucleus accumbens and amygdala. Transcriptional profiles in ketamine and imipramine responders were most similar in PFC, where the least transcriptional regulation occurred for each drug. Non-response reflected both the lack of response-associated gene expression changes and unique gene regulation. In responders, both drugs reversed susceptible associated transcriptional changes as well as induced resilient associated transcription in PFC, with effects varying by drug and brain region studied. Conclusions: We generated a uniquely large resource of gene expression data in four inter-connected limbic brain regions implicated in depression and its treatment with imipramine or ketamine. Our analyses highlight the PFC as a key site of common transcriptional regulation by both antidepressant drugs and in both reversing susceptibility and inducing resilience associated molecular adaptations. In addition, we found region-specific effects of each drug suggesting both common and unique effects of imipramine versus ketamine. mRNA profiles of susceptibility to chronic social defeat stress as well as treatment response were generated across 4 separate brain regions, with a sample size of 3-5 per group.
Project description:Kaposiâs sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiological agent of primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), a rapidly progressing malignancy mostly arising in HIV-infected patients. Even under conventional chemotherapy, PEL continues to portend nearly 100% mortality within several months, which urgently requires novel therapeutic strategies. We have previously demonstrated that targeting xCT, an amino acid transporter for cystine/glutamate exchange, induces significant PEL cell apoptosis through regulation of multiple host and viral factors. More importantly, one of xCT selective inhibitors, Sulfasalazine (SASP), effectively prevents PEL tumor progression in an immune-deficient xenograft model. In the current study, we use Illumina microarray to explore the genomic gene profile altered by SASP treatment within 3 KSHV+ PEL cell-lines, and discover that many genes involved in oxidative stress/antioxidant defense system, apoptosis/anti-apoptosis/cell death, and cellular response to unfolded proteins/topologically incorrect proteins are potentially regulated by xCT. We further functionally validate 2 downstream candidates, OSGIN1 (Oxidative stress-induced growth inhibitor 1) and XRCC5 (X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 5), their relationship with PEL cell survival/proliferation and chemoresistance, respectively. Together, our data indicate that targeting these xCT-regulated novel downstream genes may help devise promising therapeutic strategies against PEL and/or other AIDS-related lymphoma. 3 KSHV PEL cell lines were treated with xCT selective inhibitor Sulfasalazine (SASP) and the gene expression signature was compared to that of untreated cells
Project description:Although regulation of energy metabolism has been linked with multiple disorders, its role in depression and responsiveness to antidepressants is less-known. We found that an epigenetic and energetic agent, acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC, oral administration), rapidly rescued the depressive- and central and systemic metabolic-like phenotype of LAC-deficient Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rats. After acute stress during LAC treatment, a subset of FSL continued to respond to LAC (rFSL), whereas the other subset did not respond (nrFSL). RNAseq for the ventral dentate-gyrus (vDG), a mood-regulatory region, identified metabolic factors as key markers predisposing to depression (insulin receptors Insr, glucose transporters Glut-4 and Glut-12, the regulator of appetite Cartpt) and to LAC responsiveness (leptin receptors Lepr, metabotropic glutamate receptors-2 mGlu2, neuropeptide-Y NPY, and mineralocorticoid receptors MR). Furthermore, we found that stress-induced treatment-resistance in nrFSL shows a new gene profile, including the metabolic regulator factors Elovl7 and Cyb5r2 and the synaptic regulator NPAS4. Finally, while improving central energy regulation and exerting rapid antidepressant-like effects, LAC corrected a systemic hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia.tance in rFSL and failed to do that in nrFSL. These findings establish CNS energy regulation as factor to be considered for the development of better therapeutics. Agents, like LAC, which regulate metabolic factors and reduce glutamate overflow, could rapidly ameliorate depression and could also be considered for treatment of insulin-resistance in depressed subjects. The approach here serves as a model for identifying markers and underlying mechanisms of predisposition to diseases and treatment responsiveness that may be useful in translation to human behavior and psychopathology. Ventral dentate gyrus RNA from 3 biological replicates per group (vehicle-FRL, vehicle-FSL, LAC-treated not-responder FSL, LAC-treated responder FSL, all males) was used for library prep (TruSeq Stranded Total RNA with Ribo-Zero Human/Mouse/Rat) and sequenced on Illumina HiSeq2500 at the Genomic Core facility at The Rockefeller University. Each sample was provided with a unique adapter and all samples were put in the same pool and run in multiple lanes to control for lane effects with a sequencing depth of about 30M (100bp, single).
Project description:Acinar cell dedifferentiation is one of the most notable features of acute and chronic pancreatitis. It can also be the initial step that facilitates pancreatic cancer development. In the present study, we further decipher the precise mechanism and regulation using murine experimental models. Our RNAseq analysis indicates that, early acinar cell dedifferentiation is accompanied by multiple pathways related to cell survival that are highly enriched, and where SLC7A11 (xCT) is transiently upregulated. xCT is the specific subunit of the cystine/glutamate antiporter system xC-. Acinar cells with depleted or reduced xCT function show an increase in ferroptosis relating to lipid peroxidation. Lower glutathione levels and more lipid ROS accumulation could be rescued by the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine or the ferroptosis inhibitor Ferrostatin-1. In caerulein-induced acute pancreatitis in mice, xCT also prevents lipid peroxidation in acinar cells. In conclusion, during stress, acinar cell fate seems to be poised for avoiding several forms of cell death. xCT specifically prevents acinar cell ferroptosis by fueling the glutathione pool and maintaining ROS balance. The data suggest that xCT offers a druggable tipping point to steer the acinar cell fate in stress conditions.