scholarly journals Alpha-synuclein antisense oligonucleotides as a disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson’s disease

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy A. Cole ◽  
Hien Zhao ◽  
Timothy J. Collier ◽  
Ivette Sandoval ◽  
Caryl E. Sortwell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Antisense Oligonucleotides ◽  
Alpha Synuclein ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Disease Modifying Therapy ◽  
Increase Risk ◽  
Disease Modifying

AbstractParkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disease with no approved disease-modifying therapies. Multiplications, mutations, and single nucleotide polymorphisms in the SNCA gene, encoding alpha-synuclein protein (aSyn), either cause or increase risk for PD. Intracellular accumulations of aSyn are pathological hallmarks of PD. Taken together, reduction of aSyn production may provide a disease-modifying therapy for PD. We show that antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) reduce production of aSyn in rodent pre-formed fibril (PFF) models of PD. Reduced aSyn production leads to prevention and removal of established aSyn pathology and prevents dopaminergic cell dysfunction. In addition, we address the translational potential of the approach through characterization of human SNCA targeting ASOs that efficiently suppress the human SNCA transcript in vivo. We demonstrate broad activity and distribution of the human SNCA ASOs throughout the non-human primate brain and a corresponding decrease in aSyn cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) levels. Taken together, these data suggest that by inhibiting production of aSyn it may be possible to reverse established pathology and thus supports the development of SNCA ASOs as a potentially disease modifying therapy for PD and related synucleinopathies.SummaryAntisense oligonucleotides designed against SNCA, which are progressing to the clinic, have the potential to be a disease modifying therapeutic for Parkinson’s disease patients.

scholarly journals α-Synuclein antisense oligonucleotides as a disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson’s disease

JCI Insight ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy A. Cole ◽  
Hien Zhao ◽  
Timothy J. Collier ◽  
Ivette Sandoval ◽  
Caryl E. Sortwell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Antisense Oligonucleotides ◽  
Disease Modifying Therapy ◽  
Disease Modifying

scholarly journals Alpha-Synuclein and LRRK2 in Synaptic Autophagy: Linking Early Dysfunction to Late-Stage Pathology in Parkinson’s Disease

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Lamonaca ◽  
Mattia Volta
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Late Stage ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Disease Process ◽  
Alpha Synuclein ◽  
Synaptic Activity ◽  
Early Event ◽  
Cellular Targets ◽  
Disease Modifying

The lack of effective disease-modifying strategies is the major unmet clinical need in Parkinson’s disease. Several experimental approaches have attempted to validate cellular targets and processes. Of these, autophagy has received considerable attention in the last 20 years due to its involvement in the clearance of pathologic protein aggregates and maintenance of neuronal homeostasis. However, this strategy mainly addresses a very late stage of the disease, when neuropathology and neurodegeneration have likely “tipped over the edge” and disease modification is extremely difficult. Very recently, autophagy has been demonstrated to modulate synaptic activity, a process distinct from its catabolic function. Abnormalities in synaptic transmission are an early event in neurodegeneration with Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2) and alpha-synuclein strongly implicated. In this review, we analyzed these processes separately and then discussed the unification of these biomolecular fields with the aim of reconstructing a potential “molecular timeline” of disease onset and progression. We postulate that the elucidation of these pathogenic mechanisms will form a critical basis for the design of novel, effective disease-modifying therapies that could be applied early in the disease process.

scholarly journals Endogenous α-SYN protein analysis from human brain tissues using single-molecule pull-down assay

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goun Je ◽  
Benjamin Croop ◽  
Sambuddha Basu ◽  
Jialei Tang ◽  
Kyu Young Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
Alpha Synuclein ◽  
Postmortem Brains ◽  
Diagnostic Applications ◽  
Reliable Methods ◽  
Molecular Nature

AbstractAlpha-synuclein (α-SYN) is a central molecule in Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis. Despite several studies, the molecular nature of endogenous α-SYN especially in human brain samples is still not well understood due to the lack of reliable methods and the limited amount of bio-specimens. Here, we introduce α-SYN single-molecule pull-down (α-SYN SiMPull) assay combined with in vivo protein crosslinking to count individual α-SYN protein and assess its native oligomerization states from biological samples including human postmortem brains. This powerful single-molecule assay can be highly useful in diagnostic applications using various specimens for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

scholarly journals In vivo phenotyping of Parkinson-specific stem cells reveals increased a-Synuclein levels but no spreading

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Hemmer ◽  
Lisa M. Smits ◽  
Silvia Bolognin ◽  
Jens C. Schwamborn
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Stem Cells ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Mouse Brain ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Disease Patient ◽  
Alpha Synuclein ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Species Barrier

AbstractParkinson′s disease is a progressive age-associated neurological disorder. One of the major neuropathological hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease is the appearance of protein aggregates, mainly consisting of the protein alpha-Synuclein. These aggregates have been described both in genetic as well as idiopathic forms of the disease. Currently, Parkinson’s disease patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are mainly used for in vitro disease modeling or for experimental cell replacement approaches. Here, we demonstrate that these cells can be used for in vivo disease modeling. We show that Parkinson’s disease patient-specific, iPSC-derived neurons carrying the LRRK2-G2019S mutation show an upregulation of alpha-Synuclein after transplantation in the mouse brain. However, further investigations indicate that the increased human alpha-Synuclein levels fail to induce spreading or aggregation in the mouse brain. We therefore conclude that grafting of these cells into the mouse brain is suitable for cell autonomous in vivo disease modeling but has strong limitations beyond that. Furthermore, our results support the hypothesis that there might be a species barrier between human to mouse concerning alpha-Synuclein spreading.

scholarly journals CLR01 protects dopaminergic neurons in vitro and in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Bengoa-Vergniory ◽  
Emilie Faggiani ◽  
Paula Ramos-Gonzalez ◽  
Ecem Kirkiz ◽  
Natalie Connor-Robson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Clinical Investigation ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Alpha Synuclein ◽  
Dopamine Neurons ◽  
Molecular Tweezers ◽  
Alpha Synuclein Aggregation

Abstract Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects millions of patients worldwide and is characterized by alpha-synuclein aggregation in dopamine neurons. Molecular tweezers have shown high potential as anti-aggregation agents targeting positively charged residues of proteins undergoing amyloidogenic processes. Here we report that the molecular tweezer CLR01 decreased aggregation and toxicity in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived dopaminergic cultures treated with PD brain protein extracts. In microfluidic devices CLR01 reduced alpha-synuclein aggregation in cell somas when axonal terminals were exposed to alpha-synuclein oligomers. We then tested CLR01 in vivo in a humanized alpha-synuclein overexpressing mouse model; mice treated at 12 months of age when motor defects are mild exhibited an improvement in motor defects and a decreased oligomeric alpha-synuclein burden. Finally, CLR01 reduced alpha-synuclein-associated pathology in mice injected with alpha-synuclein aggregates into the striatum or substantia nigra. Taken together, these results highlight CLR01 as a disease-modifying therapy for PD and support further clinical investigation.

scholarly journals Poly(ADP-ribose) drives pathologic α-synuclein neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 362 (6414) ◽  
pp. eaat8407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tae-In Kam ◽  
Xiaobo Mao ◽  
Hyejin Park ◽  
Shih-Ching Chou ◽  
Senthilkumar S. Karuppagounder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Parp Inhibitors ◽  
Dopamine Neurons ◽  
Parp Activation ◽  
Disease Modifying Therapy ◽  
Genetic Deletion ◽  
Disease Modifying ◽  
Parp 1

The pathologic accumulation and aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) underlies Parkinson’s disease (PD). The molecular mechanisms by which pathologic α-syn causes neurodegeneration in PD are not known. Here, we found that pathologic α-syn activates poly(adenosine 5′-diphosphate–ribose) (PAR) polymerase-1 (PARP-1), and PAR generation accelerates the formation of pathologic α-syn, resulting in cell death via parthanatos. PARP inhibitors or genetic deletion of PARP-1 prevented pathologic α-syn toxicity. In a feed-forward loop, PAR converted pathologic α-syn to a more toxic strain. PAR levels were increased in the cerebrospinal fluid and brains of patients with PD, suggesting that PARP activation plays a role in PD pathogenesis. Thus, strategies aimed at inhibiting PARP-1 activation could hold promise as a disease-modifying therapy to prevent the loss of dopamine neurons in PD.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document