Project description:Neuroinflammation is an essential part of neurodegeneration. Yet, current understanding of neuroinflamma-tion associated molecular events in distinct brain regions of prion disease patients is insufficient to lay the ground for effective treatment strategies targeting this complex neuropathological process. To address this problem, we analyzed expression of 800 neuroinflammation associated genes to create a profile of biological processes taking place in frontal cortex and cerebellum of patients, who suffered from sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The analysis was performed using NanoString nCounter technology, human neuroinflamma-tion panel+. The observed gene expression patterns indicate regionally, and sub-regionally common and dis-tinct molecular pathways associated with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease pathogenesis. Moreover, the data show that the neuroinflammatory response in samples from the same brain region is variable. Based on the gene expression profiles from FC and CB, regional, neuroinflammatory patterns were observed.
Project description:Selective neuronal vulnerability is a common, yet poorly understood characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases and is particularly prominent in familial prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and fatal familial insomnia (FFI), where different mutations in the prion protein manifest as neuropathologically distinct diseases. To determine how presence of mutant prion protein influences gene expression at pre-symptomatic stages, we used RiboTag to isolate cell type-specific, translating RNA from GABAergic, glutamatergic, somatostatin- (SST) and parvalbumin-expressing neurons of 9-month-old knock-in mice of CJD and FFI.
Project description:Synapse dysfunction and synaptic loss are a central feature of neurodegenerative disorders, including prion disease. The cellular prion protein (PrPC) binds prion, amyloid-β, tau, and α-synuclein oligomers, resulting in the activation of macromolecular complexes and signaling at the post-synapse, yet the initial signaling events are unclear. Here we used a transcriptomic approach focused on the early-stage, prion-infected hippocampus of male wild type mice, and identify immediate early genes, including the synaptic activity response gene, Arc/Arg3.1, as significantly upregulated. In a longitudinal study of the prion-infected hippocampus, Arc/Arg-3.1 protein increased, from early to terminal disease. Notably, metabotropic glutamate receptor levels (mGluR5 dimers) were markedly reduced over time, while phosphorylated AMPA receptors (pGluA1-S845) levels increased. Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) post-mortem cortical samples also showed low levels of mGluR5 dimers. Together, these findings suggest that prions trigger a chronic Arc response, an increase in phosphorylated GluA1, and a reduction in mGluR5 receptors beginning in early disease.
Project description:Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) presents as a rapidly progressive dementia which is usually fatal within six months. No clinical blood tests are currently available for diagnosis or disease monitoring. Here, we profiled blood microRNA (miRNA) expression in sCJD. Small RNA-sequencing of 57 sCJD patients and 48 healthy controls revealed differential expression of hsa-let-7i-5p, hsa-miR-16-5p, hsa-miR-93-5p and hsa-miR-106b-3p. Downregulation of hsa-let-7i-5p, hsa-miR-16-5p and hsa-miR-93-5p replicated in an independent cohort using quantitative PCR, with concomitant upregulation of four of their mRNA targets. Absence of correlation in cross-sectional analysis with clinical phenotypes paralleled the lack of association between rate of decline in miRNA expression and rate of disease progression in a longitudinal cohort of 50 samples from 21 sCJD patients. Finally, the miRNA signature showed a high level of accuracy in discriminating sCJD from Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These findings highlight novel molecular alterations in the periphery in sCJD which can provide information about differential diagnosis and improve mechanistic understanding of human prion diseases.
Project description:Human prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders characterized by neuronal damage in brain. Protein S-nitrosylation, the covalent adduction of a NO to cysteine, plays a role in human brain biology, and brain dysfunction is a prominent feature of pPrion disease, yet the direct brain targets of S-nitrosylation are largely unknown. We described the first proteomic analysis of global S-nitrosylation in brain tissues of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (sCJD), fatal familial insomnia (FFI) and genetic CJD with a substitution of valine for glycine at codon 114 of the prion protein gene (G114V gCJD) accompanying with normal control with isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) combined with a nano-HPLC/Q Exactive Mass spectrometry platform. In parallel, we used several approaches to provide quality control for the experimentally defined S-nitrosylated proteins. Total 1509 S-nitrosylated proteins (SNO-proteins) were identified, and cerebellum tissues appeared to contain more commonly differentially expressed SNO-proteins (DESPs) than cortex of sCJD, FFI and gCJD. Three selected SNO-proteins were verified by Western blots, consistent with proteomics assays. Gene ontology analysis showed that more up-regulated DESPs were involved in metabolism, cell cytoskeleton/structure and immune system both in cortex and cerebellum, while more down-regulated ones in both regions were involved in cell cytoskeleton/structure, cell-cell communication and miscelaneous function protein. Pathway analysis suggested that systemic lupus erythematosus, pathogenic Escherichia coli infection, extracellular matrix-receptor interaction were the most commonly affected pathways, which were identified from at least two different diseases. Using STRING database, the network of immune system and cell cytoskeleton and structure were commonly identified in the context of the up-regulated and down-regulated DESPs, respectively, both in cortex and cerebellum. Our study thus have implications for understanding the molecular mechanisms of human prion diseases related to abnormal protein S-nitrosylation and pave the way for future studies focused on potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and therapy of human prion diseases.