Cholesterol Interaction Directly Enhances Intrinsic Activity of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR).

The recent cryo-electron microscopy structures of zebrafish and the human cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) provided unprecedented insights into putative mechanisms underlying gating of its anion channel activity. Interestingly, despite predictions based on channel activity measurements in biological membranes, the structure of the detergent purified, phosphorylated, and ATP-bound human CFTR protein did not reveal a stably open conduction pathway. This study tested the hypothesis that the functional properties of the detergent solubilized CFTR protein used for structural determinations are different from those exhibited by CFTR purified under conditions that retain associated lipids native to the membrane. It was found that CFTR purified together with phospholipids and cholesterol using amphipol: A8-35, exhibited higher rates of catalytic activity, phosphorylation dependent channel activation and potentiation by the therapeutic compound, ivacaftor, than did CFTR purified in detergent. The catalytic activity of phosphorylated CFTR detergent micelles was rescued by the addition of phospholipids plus cholesterol, but not by phospholipids alone, arguing for a specific role for cholesterol in modulating this function. In summary, these studies highlight the importance of lipid interactions in the intrinsic activities and pharmacological potentiation of CFTR.

Lipophilicity of the Cystic Fibrosis Drug, Ivacaftor (VX-770), and Its Destabilizing Effect on the Major CF-causing Mutation: F508del.

Deletion of phenylalanine at position 508 (F508del) in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is the most common cystic fibrosis (CF)-causing mutation. Recently, ORKAMBI, a combination therapy that includes a corrector of the processing defect of F508del-CFTR (lumacaftor or VX-809) and a potentiator of channel activity (ivacaftor or VX-770), was approved for CF patients homozygous for this mutation. However, clinical studies revealed that the effect of ORKAMBI on lung function is modest and it was proposed that this modest effect relates to a negative impact of VX-770 on the stability of F508del-CFTR. In the current studies, we showed that this negative effect of VX-770 at 10 µM correlated with its inhibitory effect on VX-809-mediated correction of the interface between the second membrane spanning domain and the first nucleotide binding domain bearing F508del. Interestingly, we found that VX-770 exerted a similar negative effect on the stability of other membrane localized solute carriers (SLC26A3, SLC26A9, and SLC6A14), suggesting that this negative effect is not specific for F508del-CFTR. We determined that the relative destabilizing effect of a panel of VX-770 derivatives on F508del-CFTR correlated with their predicted lipophilicity. Polarized total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy on a supported lipid bilayer model shows that VX-770, and not its less lipophilic derivative, increased the fluidity of and reorganized the membrane. In summary, our findings show that there is a potential for nonspecific effects of VX-770 on the lipid bilayer and suggest that this effect may account for its destabilizing effect on VX-809- rescued F508del-CFTR.

Myelin Basic Protein Regulates Primitive and Definitive Neural Stem Cell Proliferation from the Adult Spinal Cord.

The adult mammalian forebrain comprises two distinct populations of neural stem cells (NSCs): rare, Oct4 positive, primitive NSCs (pNSCs) and definitive NSC (dNSC) which are more abundant and express GFAP. The pNSCs are upstream of the dNSCs in the neural stem cell lineage. Herein we show that pNSC and dNSC populations can also be isolated from the developing and adult spinal cord. Spinal cord derived pNSCs are similarly rare, Oct4 expressing cells that are responsive to leukemia inhibitory factor and dNSCs are 4-5X more abundant and express GFAP. We demonstrate that myelin basic protein (MBP) is inhibitory to both pNSC and dNSC derived colony formation. Similar to what is seen in the adult forebrain following injury, spinal cord injury results in a significant increase in the size of the dNSC and pNSC pools. Hence, both primitive and definitive neural stem cells can be isolated from along the embryonic and adult neuraxis in vivo and their behavior is regulated by MBP and injury. Stem Cells 2017;35:485-496.

Current insights into the role of PKA phosphorylation in CFTR channel activity and the pharmacological rescue of cystic fibrosis disease-causing mutants.

Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) channel gating is predominantly regulated by protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent phosphorylation. In addition to regulating CFTR channel activity, PKA phosphorylation is also involved in enhancing CFTR trafficking and mediating conformational changes at the interdomain interfaces of the protein. The major cystic fibrosis (CF)-causing mutation is the deletion of phenylalanine at position 508 (F508del); it causes many defects that affect CFTR trafficking, stability, and gating at the cell surface. Due to the multiple roles of PKA phosphorylation, there is growing interest in targeting PKA-dependent signaling for rescuing the trafficking and functional defects of F508del-CFTR. This review will discuss the effects of PKA phosphorylation on wild-type CFTR, the consequences of CF mutations on PKA phosphorylation, and the development of therapies that target PKA-mediated signaling.

Facilitating Structure-Function Studies of CFTR Modulator Sites with Efficiencies in Mutagenesis and Functional Screening.

There are nearly 2000 mutations in the CFTR gene associated with cystic fibrosis disease, and to date, the only approved drug, Kalydeco, has been effective in rescuing the functional expression of a small subset of these mutant proteins with defects in channel activation. However, there is currently an urgent need to assess other mutations for possible rescue by Kalydeco, and further, definition of the binding site of such modulators on CFTR would enhance our understanding of the mechanism of action of such therapeutics. Here, we describe a simple and rapid one-step PCR-based site-directed mutagenesis method to generate mutations in the CFTR gene. This method was used to generate CFTR mutants bearing deletions (p.Gln2_Trp846del, p.Ser700_Asp835del, p.Ile1234_Arg1239del) and truncation with polyhistidine tag insertion (p.Glu1172-3Gly-6-His*), which either recapitulate a disease phenotype or render tools for modulator binding site identification, with subsequent evaluation of drug responses using a high-throughput (384-well) membrane potential-sensitive fluorescence assay of CFTR channel activity within a 1 wk time frame. This proof-of-concept study shows that these methods enable rapid and quantitative comparison of multiple CFTR mutants to emerging drugs, facilitating future large-scale efforts to stratify mutants according to their "theratype" or most promising targeted therapy.