Glutaredoxin 2 promotes SP-1-dependent CSPG4 transcription and migration of wound healing NG2 glia and glioma cells: Enzymatic Taoism.

Redox regulation of specific cysteines via oxidoreductases of the thioredoxin family is increasingly being recognized as an important signaling pathway. Here, we demonstrate that the cytosolic isoform of the vertebrate-specific oxidoreductase Glutaredoxin 2 (Grx2c) regulates the redox state of the transcription factor SP-1 and thereby its binding affinity to both the promoter and an enhancer region of the CSPG4 gene encoding chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan nerve/glial antigen 2 (NG2). This leads to an increased number of NG2 glia during in vitro oligodendroglial differentiation and promotes migration of these wound healing cells. On the other hand, we found that the same mechanism also leads to increased invasion of glioma tumor cells. Using in vitro (human cell lines), ex vivo (mouse primary cells), and in vivo models (zebrafish), as well as glioblastoma patient tissue samples we provide experimental data highlighting the Yin and Yang of redox signaling in the central nervous system and the enzymatic Taoism of Grx2c.

Iron-sulfur glutaredoxin 2 protects oligodendrocytes against damage induced by nitric oxide release from activated microglia.

Demyelinated brain lesions, a hallmark of autoimmune neuroinflammatory diseases like multiple sclerosis, result from oligodendroglial cell damage. Activated microglia are considered a major source of nitric oxide and subsequent peroxynitrite-mediated damage of myelin. Here, we provide biochemical and biophysical evidence that the oxidoreductase glutaredoxin 2 inhibits peroxynitrite formation by transforming nitric oxide into dinitrosyl-diglutathionyl-iron-complexes. Glutaredoxin 2 levels influence both survival rates of primary oligodendrocyte progenitor cells and preservation of myelin structure in cerebellar organotypic slice cultures challenged with activated microglia or nitric oxide donors. Of note, glutaredoxin 2-mediated protection is not linked to its enzymatic activity as oxidoreductase, but to the disassembly of its uniquely coordinated iron-sulfur cluster using glutathione as non-protein ligand. The protective effect of glutaredoxin 2 is connected to decreased protein carbonylation and nitration. In line, brain lesions of mice suffering from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model of multiple sclerosis, show decreased glutaredoxin 2 expression and increased nitrotyrosine formation indicating that this type of protection is missing in the inflamed central nervous system. Our findings link inorganic biochemistry to neuroinflammation and identify glutaredoxin 2 as a protective factor against neuroinflammation-mediated myelin damage. Thus, improved availability of glutathione-coordinated iron-sulfur clusters emerges as a potential therapeutic approach in inflammatory demyelination.