JBC

HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


Originally published In Press as doi:10.1074/jbc.M002413200 on May 18, 2000

J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 275, Issue 31, 24065-24069, August 4, 2000
This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
275/31/24065    most recent
M002413200v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by da Costa, C. A.
Right arrow Articles by Checler, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by da Costa, C. A.
Right arrow Articles by Checler, F.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Wild-type but Not Parkinson's Disease-related Ala-53 right-arrow  Thr Mutant alpha -Synuclein Protects Neuronal Cells from Apoptotic Stimuli*

Cristine Alves da CostaDagger §, Karine AncolioDagger , and Frédéric CheclerDagger

From the Dagger  Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du CNRS, UPR411, 660 Route des Lucioles, Sophia Antipolis, 06560 Valbonne, France

Received for publication, March 22, 2000

    ABSTRACT
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

Recent works suggest that alpha -synuclein could play a central role in Parkinson's disease (PD). Thus, two mutations were reported to be associated with rare autosomal dominant forms of the disease. We examined whether alpha -synuclein could modulate the caspase-mediated response and vulnerability of murine neurons in response to various apoptotic stimuli. We established TSM1 neuronal cell lines overexpressing wild-type (wt) alpha -synuclein or the PD-related Ala-53 right-arrow Thr mutant alpha -synuclein. Under basal conditions, acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aldehyde-sensitive caspase activity appears significantly lower in wt alpha -synuclein-expressing cells than in neurons expressing the mutant. Interestingly, wt alpha -synuclein drastically reduces the caspase activation of TSM1 neurons upon three distinct apoptotic stimuli including staurosporine, etoposide, and ceramide C2 when compared with mock-transfected cells. This inhibitory control of the caspase response triggered by apoptotic agents was abolished by the PD-related pathogenic mutation. Comparison of wild-type and mutated alpha -synuclein-expressing cells also indicates that the former exhibits much less vulnerability in response to staurosporine and etoposide as measured by the sodium 3'-[1-(phenylaminocarbonyl)-3,4-tetrazolium]-bis(4-methoxy-6-nitro)benzenesulfonic acid assay. Altogether, our study indicates that wild-type alpha -synuclein exerts an antiapoptotic effect in neurons that appears to be abolished by the Parkinson's disease-related mutation, thereby suggesting a possible mechanism underlying both sporadic and familial forms of this neurodegenerative disease.

    INTRODUCTION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

Parkinson's disease neuropathology is mainly characterized by proteinaceous deposits called Lewy bodies (1). The main component of these brain lesions is alpha -synuclein (2, 3), a 140-amino acid peptide first identified as the precursor of the "non-amyloidogenic component" (4) of the senile plaques invading the cortical and subcortical areas of both sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease-affected brains. Of the most interest was the recent demonstration that rare cases of Parkinson's disease were of genetic origin and that two mutations identified on alpha -synuclein were likely responsible for these autosomal forms of the disease (5, 6). It has been suggested that part of the disease etiology is derived from the accelerated aggregation process triggered by the two mutations (7). El Agnaf et al. (8) showed that beta -sheets-related aggregates of wild-type and mutant alpha -synucleins could trigger apoptotic cell death in human neuroblastoma cells. More recently, Kholodilov et al. (9) demonstrated that alpha -synuclein expression was decreased in the rat substantia nigra after induction of apoptosis by intrastriatal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine. Although these two studies established a possible link between alpha -synucleins and apoptosis, nothing is really known concerning the genuine function of alpha -synuclein.

We have taken advantage of the design of a clonal cell line from neocortical origin (TSM1 cells (10)) to examine the possible influence of alpha -synuclein in the control of the neuronal apoptotic response and to establish a putative modulation of such a function by the Parkinson's disease pathogenic mutation. We set up TSM1 neurons stably overexpressing wild-type alpha -synuclein or its Parkinson's disease-associated Ala-53 right-arrow Thr mutant to examine their caspase response to various apoptotic stimuli. We show here that wild-type alpha -synuclein displays antiapoptotic properties that are abolished by the Parkinson's disease-related mutation.

    EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

alpha -Synuclein Cloning and Mutagenesis-- A cDNA library was prepared from total RNA derived from human adult cortex. A polymerase chain reaction product was obtained by means of the following primers, 5'-CGCAAGCTTAGGAATTCATTAGCCATGGATGTATTCAT-3' containing the HindIII restriction site and 5'-TTTCTCGAGTATTTCTTAGGCTTCAGGTTCGTAGTC-3' containing the XhoI site. The polymerase chain reaction fragment was cut with HindIII and XhoI and then subcloned in pcDNA3, and the identity of alpha -synuclein was confirmed by entire sequencing analysis (11). The Ala-53 right-arrow Thr mutation was introduced according to the uracylated single strand strategy as described previously (12) and confirmed by sequencing.

TSM1 Culture and Stable Transfection-- TSM1 neuronal cells were cultured as described (13). TSM1 cells were stably transfected with superfect agent (Qiagen) containing 2 µg of pcDNA3 vector either empty or encoding wild-type or Ala-53 right-arrow Thr alpha -synucleins. Transfectants were screened by Tris-Tricine1 gel analysis and Western blotting (see below). Positive clones overexpress a 18-19-kDa immunoreactive protein in agreement with a previous study (4).

Tris-Tricine Gel Analysis and Western Blots-- TSM1 cells were scraped and lysed in RIPA 1× buffer (10 mM Tris, pH 7.5, containing 150 mM NaCl, 5 mM EDTA, 0.1% SDS, 0.5% deoxycholate, and 1% Nonidet P-40), and then proteins were analyzed by a 16.5% Tris-Tricine gel electrophoresis and Western blotted as described (13). Nitrocellulose sheets were heated in boiling phosphate buffer and then capped with 5% skim milk in phosphate-buffered saline. Membranes were then rinsed and incubated with a 1/5000 dilution of anti-human alpha -synuclein (SA3400 from Affiniti). Membranes were then incubated with protein A coupled to peroxidase (2 µg/ml), and then immunological complexes were revealed by ECL (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) as described previously (13).

Measurements of Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive Caspase Activity-- TSM1 cells were cultured in 12-well plates for various times at 37 °C in the absence or in the presence of various concentrations of etoposide, ceramide C2, or staurosporine. In some cases, cells were incubated with 100 µM Ac-DEVD-al for 24 h. Cells were then rinsed, gently scraped, pelleted by centrifugation, and then resuspended in 40 µl of lysis buffer (25 mM Hepes, pH 7.5, containing 5 mM MgCl2, and dithiothreitol, 2 mM 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzenesulfonyl fluoride, 10 µg/ml pepstatin A, and leupeptin). Cell lysates were submitted to two freezing/thawing cycles and then centrifuged (16,000 × g for 5 min). Caspase activity of supernatants (10 µl, about 50 µg of proteins) was measured in 96-well plates according to manufacturer's recommendations (Promega). Briefly, reaction mixtures containing 48 µl of water, 32 µl of assay buffer (312 mM Hepes, pH 7.5, 31.25% sucrose, 0.31% Chaps), 10 µl of 100 mM dithiothreitol, and 2 µl of Me2SO were incubated for various times with 2 µl of 2.5 mM Ac-DEVD-AMC (caspase substrate). In some assays, proteins were preincubated for 30 min at 37 °C in the absence or in the presence of 2 µl of Ac-DEVD-al (2.5 mM). Fluorimetry was recorded at 360 and 460 nm for excitation and emission wavelengths, respectively. Caspase-specific activity was calculated from the linear part of fluorimetry recording and expressed in arbitrary units/h/mg or proteins (established by the Bio-Rad procedure). One arbitrary unit corresponds to 4 nmol of AMC released.

Cell Viability-- TSM1 neurons were grown in a 6.5% CO2 atmosphere in 96-well microtiter plates in a 100-µl culture medium (see above) and treated with 100 µM etoposide or 1 µM staurosporine for 24 h at 37 °C. XTT-metabolizing activity was determined mainly according to the manufacturer's recommendations (Roche Molecular Biochemicals). Briefly, after cell treatment, 50 µl of XTT labeling mixture was added to each well and further incubated at 37 °C. Absorbances were recorded after successive 10-min intervals (for a total time of 60 min) and measured at 452 nm on a microtiter plate reader (lab system).

Statistics-- Statistically analyses were performed with PRISM software (Graphpad Software, San Diego, CA) using the Newman Keuls multiple comparison test for one-way analysis of variance.

Materials-- Ac-DEVD-AMC and Ac-DEVD-al were purchased from Neosystem. Anti-human alpha -synuclein (SA3400) was from Affiniti. XTT kit was from Roche Molecular Biochemicals. Etoposide, staurosporine, protease inhibitors, and protein A-peroxidase were from Sigma. Ceramide C2 was from Biomol. ECL was from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech.

    RESULTS
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

Mock-transfected TSM1 neurons were examined for the modulation of their caspase activity in response to various apoptotic stimuli. In basal conditions, TSM1 neurons display an Ac-DEVD-7AMC hydrolyzing activity that is virtually fully abolished by prior treatment with the caspase inhibitor, Ac-DEVD-al (Fig. 1, N.St). Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive activity was drastically enhanced after treatment of mock-transfected TSM1 neurons with staurosporine, etoposide, and ceramide-C2 (Fig. 1), three classical pro-apoptotic effectors.


View larger version (35K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Fig. 1.   Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive caspase activity in mock-transfected TSM1 neurons, effect of apoptotic stimuli. Mock-transfected TSM1 neurons were cultured without (black bars) or with (hatched bars) Ac-DEVD-al in the absence (N.St) or in the presence of staurosporine (STS, 1 µM, 2 h), etoposide (ETO, 50 µM, 24 h), or ceramide C2 (CER, 100 µM, 24 h). After cell treatments, caspase activity was assayed as detailed under "Experimental Procedures." Bars correspond to the Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive Ac-DEVD-AMC hydrolyzing activity and are the means ± S.E. of duplicate determinations of 8 independent experiments.

We set up stably transfected TSM1 neurons overexpressing wild-type and Ala-53 right-arrow Thr alpha -synucleins. As expected from the use of antibody specificities against the human species, mock-transfected TSM1 neurons do not display any alpha -synuclein-like immunoreactivity (Fig. 2). We obtained several positive clones expressing various levels of an 18-19-kDa immunoreactive protein in agreement with the expected molecular weight of alpha -synuclein (4). We have selected two clones expressing virtually identical amounts of wild-type (clone T1) and mutated (clone K1) alpha -synucleins (Fig. 2) for further analysis.


View larger version (37K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Fig. 2.   alpha -Synuclein-like immunoreactivity in stably transfected TSM1 neurons expressing wild-type and mutated alpha -synucleins. TSM1 neurons were stably transfected with empty pcDNA3 vector (Mock) or with wild-type (T1) or Ala-53 right-arrow Thr (K1) alpha -synucleins. alpha -Synuclein-like immunoreactivity (alpha -SYN) of transfectants was analyzed by electrophoresis on a 16.5% Tris-Tricine gel, Western blotted, and incubated with Affiniti antibody as extensively detailed under "Experimental Procedures."

T1 clone exhibits a drastically lower basal Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive caspase activity than mock-transfected cells, suggesting that wild-type alpha -synuclein exerts an inhibitory control on basal caspase activity (Fig. 3). Interestingly, another clone (T6) displaying lower wild-type alpha -synuclein-like immunoreactivity than T1 clone also displays a reduced basal caspase activity, although to a lower extent (not shown). Very strikingly, this inhibitory tonus was not observed with the K1 clone, the basal caspase activity of which resembles that measured in mock-transfected cells (Fig. 3).


View larger version (34K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Fig. 3.   Basal caspase activity in TSM1 neurons expressing wild-type and mutated alpha -synucleins. Mock-transfected TSM1 neurons or K1 and T1 clones were cultured without (black bars) or with (hatched bars) Ac-DEVD-al in the absence of apoptotic stimuli, and then caspase activity was measured as described under "Experimental Procedures." Bars correspond to the Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive Ac-DEVD-AMC hydrolyzing activity and are the means ± S.E. of duplicate determinations of 5-8 independent experiments.

Fig. 4 indicates that the treatment of T1 and K1 clones with the Ac-DEVD-al did not not modify the alpha -synuclein-like immunoreactivities, indicating that the distinct basal apoptotic caspase-mediated response of K1 and T1 clones could not be accounted for a distinct susceptibility of wild-type and mutated alpha -synucleins to caspase proteolysis. This agrees well with previous studies showing that alpha -synucleins are long-lived proteins in various cell types including PC12 and HEK293 cells (14) and that both wild-type and Ala-53 right-arrow Thr alpha -synucleins resist proteolysis by the proteasome in TSM1 neurons (11).


View larger version (33K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Fig. 4.   Effect of Ac-DEVD-al on alpha -synuclein-like immunoreactivity in TSM1 neurons expressing wild-type and mutated alpha -synucleins. Mock-transfected TSM1 neurons (Mock) or K1 and T1 clones were cultured without (-) or with (+) Ac-DEVD-al. alpha -Synuclein-like immunoreactivity (alpha -SYN) of transfectants was analyzed by electrophoresis on a 16.5% Tris-Tricine gel, Western blotted, and incubated with Affinity antibody as extensively detailed under "Experimental Procedures."

We further examined the caspase activation of TSM1 transfectants upon stimulation by various apoptotic stimuli. Table I indicates that T1 clone responsiveness to staurosporine, etoposide, and ceramide C2 was 22-35% of those observed with mock-transfected TSM1 neurons. Here again, the K1 clone displays a caspase response close to that observed with the mock-transfected cells. Of most importance was the fact that the Ac-DEVD-7AMC hydrolyzing activities were virtually abolished by Ac-DEVD-al whatever the stimulus examined (Table I). It should be noted here that apoptotic stimuli do not modify the immunoreactivity of wild-type and alpha -synucleins in TSM1-transfected cells (not shown), excluding the possibility that the distinct responses could be due to a modulation of alpha -synuclein expression by apoptotic agents.

                              
View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Table I
Effect of various apoptotic stimuli on the Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive caspase activity of TSM1 transfectants
Mock-transfected TSM1 neurons (Mock) and K1 or T1 clones were cultured without (-) or with (+) Ac-DEVD-al in the absence (basal) or in the presence of stauroporine (STS, 1 µM, 2 h), etoposide (ETO, 50 µM, 24 h) or ceramide C2 (CER, 100 µM, 24 h). After incubations, caspase activity was assayed as detailed under "Experimental Procedures." Delta  corresponds to the Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive Ac-DEVD-AMC-hydrolyzing activity. % are the Delta  obtained with T1 and K1 cells expressed as the percent of Delta  obtained with mock-transfected TSM1 neurons. Values are the mean ± S.E. of duplicate determinations of 8-12 independent experiments.

All apoptotic effectors activate the Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive caspase activity in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 5). At all concentrations examined, the T1 clone displays a caspase response drastically lower than those exhibited by mock-transfected cells or K1 clone (Fig. 5). Time course analysis of caspase activation upon apoptotic effectors further confirms the much lower Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive activity detectable at any time of the kinetics in cells expressing wild-type alpha -synucleins when compared with other transfectants (Fig. 6).


View larger version (14K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Fig. 5.   Dose-response effect of various apoptotic stimuli on the caspase activity of TSM1 transfectants. Mock-transfected TSM1 neurons (triangles), K1 (squares), or T1 (circles) clones were cultured without or with Ac-DEVD-al in the absence or in the presence of the indicated concentrations of staurosporine (STS, 2 h), etoposide (ETO, 24 h), or ceramide C2 (CER, 24 h). After incubations, caspase activity was assayed as detailed under "Experimental Procedures." Each point corresponds to the Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive-Ac-DEVD-AMC hydrolyzing activity and is the mean of duplicate determinations of 3 independent experiments.


View larger version (15K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Fig. 6.   Time course analysis of various apoptotic stimuli on the caspase activity of TSM1 transfectants. Mock-transfected TSM1 neurons (triangles), K1 (squares), or T1 (circles) clones were cultured without or with Ac-DEVD-al in the absence or in the presence of staurosporine (STS, 1 µM), etoposide (ETO, 50 µM), or ceramide C2 (CER, 100 µM) for the indicated times. After incubations, caspase activity was assayed as detailed under "Experimental Procedures." Each point corresponds to the Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive Ac-DEVD-AMC hydrolyzing activity and is the mean of duplicate determinations of 3 independent experiments.

The measurement of Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive caspase activity is a specific cell response that can be likely ascribed to programmed cell death. In order to examine a more global response, we studied the etoposide and staurosporine-induced vulnerability of mock-transfected TSM1 neurons and compared it with those of T1 and K1 clones. Both effectors trigger an ~50% decrease in cell viability of mock-transfected neurons (Fig. 7). Wild-type alpha -synuclein clearly enhances neurons viability in response to staurosporine (71.2%, n = 14, p < 0.001 compared with mock) and etoposide (75.8%, n = 8, p < 0.001, see Fig. 7, A and B). Interestingly, K1 clone viability is highly affected by both agents and appears even more susceptible than mock-transfected cells (32% staurosporine, n = 14, p < 0.01 and 23% etoposide, n = 8, p < 0.001, see Fig. 7, A and B).


View larger version (11K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Fig. 7.   Effect of staurosporine and etoposide on the viability of TSM1 neurons expressing wild-type and mutated alpha -synucleins. Mock-transfected TSM1 neurons (Mock), K1, or T1 clones were cultured in the absence (control) or in the presence of staurosporine (A, 1 µM, 2 h) or etoposide (B, 50 µM, 24 h). Cell viability was measured with the XTT assay as detailed under "Experimental Procedures" and is expressed as the percentage of the control taken as 100. Bars are the means ± S.E. of duplicate determinations of 14-18 independent experiments. **, p < 0.001; *, p < 0.01 compared with mock-transfected cells.


    DISCUSSION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

A dense network of histological and biochemical evidence indicates that programmed cell death could contribute to Parkinson's disease neuropathology. Thus, Mochizuki et al. (15) reported on the presence of nick end-labeled apoptotic stigmata in the midbrains of late and early onset affected patients. This was confirmed by a morphological study showing typical degenerating neurons in the nigro-striatal area (16, 17). Several animal models used to study Parkinson's disease pathology led to the in situ detection of apoptotic nuclei (18) as it can also be evidenced in several cell models including human neuroblastoma (19), PC12 (20, 21), or primary cultures of mesencephalic neurons (21).

Several biochemical clues of a link between Parkinson's disease and actors of the apoptotic pathways have also been reported. Bcl2 expression is modulated in Parkinson's disease-affected brains (22, 23). Prostate apoptosis response-4 levels increase in neurons of the dopaminergic pathway after exposure of mice or monkeys to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (24), a neurotoxin classically used to elicit dopaminergic neurons cell death. Furthermore, oxidative stress seems to contribute to the Parkinson's disease pathogenesis (25), as corroborated by subsequent works demonstrating that a mitochondrial impairment (26) and ceramide-dependent apoptosis (27) occurred in the neuronal cell line NS20Y as well as in PC12 cells.

We previously used TSM1 neurons to establish a protein-kinase A-regulated alpha -secretase cleavage of beta -amyloid precursor protein (beta -APP) (28, 29). This cell model also allowed us to confirm the unusual phenotypic alteration triggered by a novel mutation of beta -APP associated with familial form of Alzheimer's disease in agreement with that seen in HEK293 cells (13). Altogether, these data indicate that TSM1 neurons represent a most suitable cell system from central origin to examine the putative function of protein candidates involved in neurodegenerative disease. This cell model was used to demonstrate that alpha -synuclein could negatively control the Ac-DEVD-al-sensitive caspase activation of TSM1 neurons in response to various stimuli, the pharmacological spectrum of which strongly suggests an apoptotic rather than necrotic mechanism. Of most interest is the observation that this negative control of caspase activity is fully abolished by the Ala-53 right-arrow Thr mutation of alpha -synuclein responsible for autosomic dominant forms of the disease (5). The cellular mechanism underlying the antiapoptotic function of alpha -synuclein still remains to be elucidated. However, one could postulate on the involvement of the chaperoning property of alpha -synuclein. Thus, alpha -synuclein has been shown to bind tau proteins (30) and to display the ability to interact with brain vesicles, a property that is abolished by Parkinson's disease mutations (30). Most interesting was the recent report (31) indicating that alpha -synuclein exhibits a 40% homology with members of the 14-3-3 chaperone protein family. 14-3-3 proteins interact with BAD, a pro-apoptotic oncogene that remains inactive when sequestered in the cytosol (32). To explain the antiapoptotic function of alpha -synuclein by its chaperone activity, one could therefore envision that, under physiological conditions, wild-type alpha -synuclein interacts with cellular intermediates of the apoptotic pathways. In the pathology, alpha -synuclein accumulates and aggregates as has been documented by the high concentration of the protein in Lewy bodies invading Parkinson's disease brains. Under these pathological conditions, the wild-type alpha -synuclein-mediated inhibitory tonus on caspase activity could be abolished, thereby contributing to increased cell death. This hypothesis is in agreement with the observation that aggregated alpha -synuclein triggers cell death in human neuroblastoma cells (8). In this context, mutated alpha -synucleins could accelerate the pathogenesis because of the absence of neuroprotection to apoptotic stimuli (our study), its higher susceptibility to aggregation (7), and its ability to trigger apoptotic cell death when aggregated (8). It should be noted in support of this hypothesis that at a cellular level, alpha -synuclein is almost exclusively found to be associated with normal neurons but not with those exhibiting an apoptotic phenotype (9). Some authors (33) demonstrated that in the target injury model, alpha -synuclein expression was up-regulated, suggesting that this could correspond to a compensatory response of neurons designed to promote their survival, in agreement with a physiological antiapoptotic function.

It is interesting to emphasize the parallels between Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease pathology. Thus, familial Alzheimer's disease cases are mostly due to mutations located on two proteins, namely the beta -amyloid precursor protein and presenilin 1 (for reviews see Refs. 34 and 35). It has been demonstrated that wild-type presenilin 1 displays antiapoptotic function that is abolished by presenilin 1 bearing familial Alzheimer's disease mutations (for reviews see Refs. 36 and 37). Identical observations indicate that beta -APP confer resistance to p53-induced cell death, but the familial Alzheimer's disease-associated V717I beta -APP did not (38).

Our work opens a possible track to slow down or stop the progression of the neurodegeneration taking place in Parkinson's disease. Thus, one can envision the design of peptides or chemically designed agents displaying alpha -synuclein anti-aggregating properties. According to our hypothesis, such effectors may prevent alpha -synuclein deposits and should maintain it as a physiological antiapoptotic modulator.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Drs. Patrick Auberger for critical reading of the manuscript. We sincerely thank Allelix Biopharmaceutical Inc. (Missisauga, Canada) for TSM1 cell line.

    FOOTNOTES

* This work was supported in part by INSERM, CNRS, and the French Alzheimer's Research Network supported by Aventis Pharma.The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

§ Recipient of a grant from Aventis Pharma.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 33 4 93 95 77 60; Fax: 33 4 93 95 77 08/04; E-mail: checler@ipmc.cnrs.fr.

Published, JBC Papers in Press, May 18, 2000, DOI 10.1074/jbc.M002413200

    ABBREVIATIONS

The abbreviations used are: Tricine, N-[2-hydroxy-1,1-bis(hydroxymethyl)ethyl]glycine; Ac-DEVD-al, acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aldehyde; 7AMC, 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin; XTT, sodium 3'-[1-(phenylaminocarbonyl)-3,4-tetrazolium]-bis(4-methoxy-6-nitro)benzenesulfonic acid; beta -APP, beta -amyloid precursor protein; Chaps, 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonic acid.

    REFERENCES
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

1. Forno, L. S. (1996) J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 55, 259-272
2. Spillantini, M. G., Schmidt, M. L., Lee, V.-Y., Trojanowski, J. Q., Jakes, R., and Goedert, M. (1997) Nature 388, 839-840
3. Arima, K., Uéda, K., Sunohara, N., Hirai, S., Izumiyama, Y., Tonozuka-Uehara, H., and Kawai, M. (1998) Brain Res. 808, 93-100
4. Uéda, K., Fukushima, H., Masliah, E., Xia, Y., Iwai, A., Yoshimoto, M., Otero, D. A. C., Kondo, J., Ihara, Y., and Saitoh, T. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 90, 11282-11286
5. Polymeropoulos, M. H., Lavedan, C., Leroy, E., Ide, S. E., Dehejia, A., Dutra, A., Pike, B., Root, H., Rubenstein, J., Boyer, R., Stenroos, E. S., Chandrasekharappa, S., Athanassiadou, A., Papapetropoulos, T., Johnston, W. G., Lazzarini, A. M., Duvoisin, R. C., Di lorio, G., Golbe, L. I., and Nussbaum, R. L. (1997) Science 276, 2045-2047
6. Krüger, R., Kuhn, W., Müller, T., Woitalla, D., Graeber, M., Kösel, S., Przuntek, H., Epplen, J. T., Schöls, L., and Riess, O. (1998) Nat. Genet. 18, 106-108
7. Narhi, L., Wood, S. J., Steavenson, S., Jiang, Y., Wu, G. M., Anafi, D., Kaufman, S. A., Martin, F., Sitney, K., Denis, P., Louis, J.-C., Wypych, J., Biere, A. L., and Citron, M. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 9843-9846
8. El-Agnaf, O. M. A., Jakes, R., Curran, M. D., Middleton, D., Ingenito, R., Bianchi, E., Pessi, A., Neill, D., and Wallace, A. (1998) FEBS Lett. 440, 71-75
9. Kholodinov, N. G., Oo, T. F., and Burke, R. E. (1999) Neurosci. Lett. 275, 105-108
10. Chun, J., and Jaenisch, R. (1996) Mol. Cell. Neurosci. 7, 304-321
11. Ancolio, K., Alves da Costa, C., Uéda, K., and Checler, F. (2000) Neurosci. Lett. 285, 79-82
12. Kunkel, T. A. (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 82, 488-492
13. Ancolio, K., Dumanchin, C., Barelli, H., Warter, J. M., Brice, A., Campion, D., Frébourg, T., and Checler, F. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 96, 4119-4124
14. Okochi, M., Walter, J., Koyama, A., Nakajo, S., Baba, M., Iwatsubo, T., Meijer, L., Kahle, P. J., and Haass, C. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 390-397
15. Mochizuki, H., Goto, K., Mori, H., and Mizuno, Y. (1996) J. Neurol. Sci. 137, 120-123
16. Ziv, I., Barzilai, A., Offen, D., Nardi, N., and Melamed, E. (1997) J. Neural Transm. Suppl. 49, 69-76
17. Tompkins, M. M., Basgall, E., Zamrini, E., and Hill, W. (1997) Am. J. Pathol. 150, 119-131
18. Tatton, N., and Kish, S. (1997) Neuroscience 77, 1037-1048
19. Fall, C., and Bennett, J. (1999) J. Neurosci. Res. 55, 620-628
20. Offen, D., Ziv, I., Sternion, H., Melamed, E., and Hochman, A. (1996) Exp. Neurol. 141, 32-39
21. Ruberg, M., France-Lanord, V., Brugg, B., Lambeng, N., Michel, P., Anglade, P., Hunot, S., Damier, P., Faucheux, B., Hirsch, E., and Agid, Y. (1997) Rev. Neurol. (Paris) 153, 499-508
22. Mogi, M., Harada, M., Kondo, T., Mizuno, Y., Narabayashi, H., Riederer, P., and Nagatsu, T. (1996) Neurosci. Lett. 215, 137-139
23. Marshall, K., Daniel, S., Cairns, N., Jenner, P., and Halliwell, B. (1997) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 240, 84-87
24. Duan, W., Zhang, Z., Gash, D., and Mattson, M. P. (1999) Ann. Neurol. 46, 587-597
25. Jenner, P., and Olanow, C. (1996) Neurology 47, 161-170
26. Merad-Boudia, M., Nicole, A., Santiard-Baron, D., Saille, C., and Ceballos-Picot, I. (1998) Biochem. Pharmacol. 56, 645-655
27. France-Lanord, V., Brugg, B., Michel, P., Agid, Y., and Ruberg, M. (1997) J. Neurochem. 69, 1612-1621
28. Marambaud, P., Chevallier, N., Ancolio, K., and Checler, F. (1998) Mol. Med. 4, 715-723
29. Marambaud, P., Ancolio, K., Alves da Costa, C., and Checler, F. (1999) Br. J. Pharmacol. 126, 1186-1190
30. Jensen, H., P., Hager, H., Nielsen, M. S., Hojrup, P., Gliemann, J., and Jakes, R. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 25481-25485
31. Ostrerova, N., Petrucelli, L., Farrer, M., Mehta, N., Choi, P., Hardy, J., and Wolozin, B. (1999) J. Neurosci. 19, 5782-5791
32. Zha, J., Harada, H., Yang, E., Jockel, J., and Korsmeyer, S. J. (1996) Cell 87, 619-628
33. Kholodilov, N. G., Neystat, M., Oo, T. F., Lo, S. E., Larsen, K. E., Sulzer, D., and Burke, R. E. (1999) J. Neurochem. 73, 2586-2599
34. Van Broeckhoven, C. (1995) Nat. Genet. 11, 230-232
35. Hutton, M., and Hardy, J. (1997) Hum. Mol. Genet. 6, 1639-1646
36. Haass, C. (1997) Neurons 18, 687-690
37. Checler, F. (1999) IUBMB Life 48, 33-39
38. Xu, X., Yang, D., Wyss-Coray, T., Yan, J., Gan, L., and Mucke, L. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 22, 7547-7552


Copyright © 2000 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
C. Sunyach, M. A. Cisse, C. A. da Costa, B. Vincent, and F. Checler
The C-terminal Products of Cellular Prion Protein Processing, C1 and C2, Exert Distinct Influence on p53-dependent Staurosporine-induced Caspase-3 Activation
J. Biol. Chem., January 19, 2007; 282(3): 1956 - 1963.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
FASEB J.Home page
A. Klegeris, B. I. Giasson, H. Zhang, J. Maguire, S. Pelech, and P. L. McGeer
Alpha-synuclein and its disease-causing mutants induce ICAM-1 and IL-6 in human astrocytes and astrocytoma cells
FASEB J, October 1, 2006; 20(12): 2000 - 2008.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
Y. Leng and D.-M. Chuang
Endogenous alpha-synuclein is induced by valproic acid through histone deacetylase inhibition and participates in neuroprotection against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity.
J. Neurosci., July 12, 2006; 26(28): 7502 - 7512.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
E. Giaime, C. Sunyach, M. Herrant, S. Grosso, P. Auberger, P. J. McLean, F. Checler, and C. A. da Costa
Caspase-3-derived C-terminal Product of Synphilin-1 Displays Antiapoptotic Function via Modulation of the p53-dependent Cell Death Pathway
J. Biol. Chem., April 28, 2006; 281(17): 11515 - 11522.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
C. A. da Costa, J. Dunys, F. Brau, S. Wilk, R. Cappai, and F. Checler
6-Hydroxydopamine but Not 1-Methyl-4-phenylpyridinium Abolishes {alpha}-Synuclein Anti-apoptotic Phenotype by Inhibiting Its Proteasomal Degradation and by Promoting Its Aggregation
J. Biol. Chem., April 7, 2006; 281(14): 9824 - 9831.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
A. Petit, T. Kawarai, E. Paitel, N. Sanjo, M. Maj, M. Scheid, F. Chen, Y. Gu, H. Hasegawa, S. Salehi-Rad, et al.
Wild-type PINK1 Prevents Basal and Induced Neuronal Apoptosis, a Protective Effect Abrogated by Parkinson Disease-related Mutations
J. Biol. Chem., October 7, 2005; 280(40): 34025 - 34032.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
H. J. Rideout, P. Dietrich, Q. Wang, W. T. Dauer, and L. Stefanis
{alpha}-Synuclein Is Required for the Fibrillar Nature of Ubiquitinated Inclusions Induced by Proteasomal Inhibition in Primary Neurons
J. Biol. Chem., November 5, 2004; 279(45): 46915 - 46920.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
FASEB J.Home page
A. SIDHU, C. WERSINGER, and P. VERNIER
Does {alpha}-synuclein modulate dopaminergic synaptic content and tone at the synapse?
FASEB J, April 1, 2004; 18(6): 637 - 647.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
E. Paitel, C. Sunyach, C. Alves da Costa, J.-C. Bourdon, B. Vincent, and F. Checler
Primary Cultured Neurons Devoid of Cellular Prion Display Lower Responsiveness to Staurosporine through the Control of p53 at Both Transcriptional and Post-transcriptional Levels
J. Biol. Chem., January 2, 2004; 279(1): 612 - 618.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
C. A. da Costa, E. Masliah, and F. Checler
{beta}-Synuclein Displays an Antiapoptotic p53-dependent Phenotype and Protects Neurons from 6-Hydroxydopamine-induced Caspase 3 Activation: CROSS-TALK WITH {alpha}-SYNUCLEIN AND IMPLICATION FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE
J. Biol. Chem., September 26, 2003; 278(39): 37330 - 37335.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
A. B. Manning-Bog, A. L. McCormack, M. G. Purisai, L. M. Bolin, and D. A. Di Monte
alpha -Synuclein Overexpression Protects against Paraquat-Induced Neurodegeneration
J. Neurosci., April 15, 2003; 23(8): 3095 - 3099.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
C. A. da Costa, M. P. Mattson, K. Ancolio, and F. Checler
The C-terminal Fragment of Presenilin 2 Triggers p53-mediated Staurosporine-induced Apoptosis, a Function Independent of the Presenilinase-derived N-terminal Counterpart
J. Biol. Chem., March 28, 2003; 278(14): 12064 - 12069.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
E. Paitel, R. Fahraeus, and F. Checler
Cellular Prion Protein Sensitizes Neurons to Apoptotic Stimuli through Mdm2-regulated and p53-dependent Caspase 3-like Activation
J. Biol. Chem., March 14, 2003; 278(12): 10061 - 10066.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
C. Alves da Costa, E. Paitel, B. Vincent, and F. Checler
alpha -Synuclein Lowers p53-dependent Apoptotic Response of Neuronal Cells. ABOLISHMENT BY 6-HYDROXYDOPAMINE AND IMPLICATION FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE
J. Biol. Chem., December 20, 2002; 277(52): 50980 - 50984.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
J. Lotharius, S. Barg, P. Wiekop, C. Lundberg, H. K. Raymon, and P. Brundin
Effect of Mutant alpha -Synuclein on Dopamine Homeostasis in a New Human Mesencephalic Cell Line
J. Biol. Chem., October 4, 2002; 277(41): 38884 - 38894.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
BloodHome page
S. M. Park, H. Y. Jung, H. O. Kim, H. Rhim, S. R. Paik, K. C. Chung, J. H. Park, and J. Kim
Evidence that alpha -synuclein functions as a negative regulator of Ca++-dependent alpha -granule release from human platelets
Blood, September 18, 2002; 100(7): 2506 - 2514.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
Z.-Z. Pan, W. Bruening, B. I. Giasson, V. M.-Y. Lee, and A. K. Godwin
gamma -Synuclein Promotes Cancer Cell Survival and Inhibits Stress- and Chemotherapy Drug-induced Apoptosis by Modulating MAPK Pathways
J. Biol. Chem., September 13, 2002; 277(38): 35050 - 35060.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Pharmacol. Rev.Home page
Y.-H. Suh and F. Checler
Amyloid Precursor Protein, Presenilins, and alpha -Synuclein: Molecular Pathogenesis and Pharmacological Applications in Alzheimer's Disease
Pharmacol. Rev., September 1, 2002; 54(3): 469 - 525.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Physiol. Rev.Home page
M. P. Mattson, S. L. Chan, and W. Duan
Modification of Brain Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders by Genes, Diet, and Behavior
Physiol Rev, July 1, 2002; 82(3): 637 - 672.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Biol. Chem.Home page
M. Hashimoto, L. J. Hsu, E. Rockenstein, T. Takenouchi, M. Mallory, and E. Masliah
alpha -Synuclein Protects against Oxidative Stress via Inactivation of the c-Jun N-terminal Kinase Stress-signaling Pathway in Neuronal Cells
J. Biol. Chem., March 22, 2002; 277(13): 11465 - 11472.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]