Caspase-cleaved tau exhibits rapid memory impairment associated with tau oligomers in a transgenic mouse model.

In neurodegenerative diseases like AD, tau forms neurofibrillary tangles, composed of tau protein. In the AD brain, activated caspases cleave tau at the 421th Asp, generating a caspase-cleaved form of tau, TauC3. Although TauC3 is known to assemble rapidly into filaments in vitro, a role of TauC3 in vivo remains unclear. Here, we generated a transgenic mouse expressing human TauC3 using a neuron-specific promoter. In this mouse, we found that human TauC3 was expressed in the hippocampus and cortex. Interestingly, TauC3 mice showed drastic learning and spatial memory deficits and reduced synaptic density at a young age (2-3months). Notably, tau oligomers as well as tau aggregates were found in TauC3 mice showing memory deficits. Further, i.p. or i.c.v. injection with methylene blue or Congo red, inhibitors of tau aggregation in vitro, and i.p. injection with rapamycin significantly reduced the amounts of tau oligomers in the hippocampus, rescued spine density, and attenuated memory impairment in TauC3 mice. Together, these results suggest that TauC3 facilitates early memory impairment in transgenic mice accompanied with tau oligomer formation, providing insight into the role of TauC3 in the AD pathogenesis associated with tau oligomers and a useful AD model to test drug candidates.

Essential role of POLDIP2 in Tau aggregation and neurotoxicity via autophagy/proteasome inhibition.

In Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathy, abnormal Tau proteins form intracellular aggregates and Tau filaments. However, the mechanisms that regulate Tau aggregation are not fully understood. In this paper, we show that POLDIP2 is a novel regulator of Tau aggregation. From a cell-based screening using cDNA expression library, we isolated POLDIP2 which increased Tau aggregation. Expression of POLDIP2 was increased in neuronal cells by the multiple stresses, including Aß, TNF-α and H2O2. Accordingly, ectopic expression of POLDIP2 enhanced the formation of Tau aggregates without affecting Tau phosphorylation, while down-regulation of POLDIP2 alleviated ROS-induced Tau aggregation. Interestingly, we found that POLDIP2 overexpression induced impairments of autophagy activity and partially proteasome activity and this activities were retained in DUF525 domain of POLDIP2. In a drosophila model of human tauopathy, knockdown of the drosophila POLDIP2 homolog, CG12162, attenuated rough eye phenotype induced by Tau overexpression. Further, the lifespan of neural-Tau(R406W) transgenic files were recovered by CG12162 knockdown. Together, these observations indicate that POLDIP2 plays a crucial role in Tau aggregation via the impairment of autophagy activity, providing insight into Tau aggregation in Tau pathology.

IRE1 plays an essential role in ER stress-mediated aggregation of mutant huntingtin via the inhibition of autophagy flux.

Huntington's disease (HD), an inherited neurodegenerative disorder, is caused by an expansion of cytosine-adenine-guanine repeats in the huntingtin gene. The aggregation of mutant huntingtin (mtHTT) and striatal cell loss are representative features to cause uncontrolled movement and cognitive defect in HD. However, underlying mechanism of mtHTT aggregation and cell toxicity remains still elusive. Here, to find new genes modulating mtHTT aggregation, we performed cell-based functional screening using the cDNA expression library and isolated IRE1 gene, one of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress sensors. Ectopic expression of IRE1 led to its self-activation and accumulated detergent-resistant mtHTT aggregates. Treatment of neuronal cells with ER stress insults, tunicamycin and thapsigargin, increased mtHTT aggregation via IRE1 activation. The kinase activity of IRE1, but not the endoribonuclease activity, was necessary to stimulate mtHTT aggregation and increased death of neuronal cells, including SH-SY5Y and STHdhQ111/111 huntingtin knock-in striatal cells. Interestingly, ER stress impaired autophagy flux via IRE1-TRAF2 pathway, thus enhancing cellular accumulation of mtHTT. Atg5 deficiency in M5-7 cells increased mtHTT aggregation but blocked ER stress-induced mtHTT aggregation. Further, ER stress markers including p-IRE1 and autophagy markers such as p62 were up-regulated exclusively in the striatal tissues of HD mouse models and in HD patients. Moreover, down-regulation of IRE1 expression rescues the rough-eye phenotype by mtHTT in a HD fly model. These results suggest that IRE1 plays an essential role in ER stress-mediated aggregation of mtHTT via the inhibition of autophagy flux and thus neuronal toxicity of mtHTT aggregates in HD.

Neuropathogenic role of adenylate kinase-1 in Aß-mediated tau phosphorylation via AMPK and GSK3ß.

Abnormally hyperphosphorylated tau is often caused by tau kinases, such as GSK3ß and Cdk5. Such occurrence leads to neurofibrillary tangle formation and neuronal degeneration in tauopathy, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, little is known about the signaling cascade underlying the pathologic phosphorylation of tau by Aß(42). In this study, we show that adenylate kinase 1 (AK1) is a novel regulator of abnormal tau phosphorylation. AK1 expression is markedly increased in the brains of AD patients and AD model mice and is significantly induced by Aß(42) in the primary neurons. Ectopic expression of AK1 alone augments the pathologic phosphorylation of tau at PHF1, CP13 and AT180 epitopes and enhances the formation of tau aggregates. Inversely, downregulation of AK1 alleviates Aß(42)-induced hyperphosphorylation of tau. AK1 plays a role in Aß(42)-induced impairment of AMPK activity and GSK3ß activation in the primary neurons. Pharmacologic studies show that treatment with an AMPK inhibitor activates GSK3ß, and a GSK3ß inhibitor attenuates AK1-mediated tau phosphorylation. In a Drosophila model of human tauopathy, the retinal expression of human AK1 severely exacerbates rough eye phenotype and increases abnormal tau phosphorylation. Further, neural expression of AK1 reduces the lifespan of tau transgenic files. Taken together, these observations indicate that the neuronal expression of AK1 is induced by Aß(42) to increase abnormal tau phosphorylation via AMPK-GSK3ß and contributes to tau-mediated neurodegeneration, providing a new upstream modulator of GSK3ß in the pathologic phosphorylation of tau.

iRhom1 regulates proteasome activity via PAC1/2 under ER stress.

Proteasome is a protein degradation complex that plays a major role in maintaining cellular homeostasis. Despite extensive efforts to identify protein substrates that are degraded through ubiquitination, the regulation of proteasome activity itself under diverse signals is poorly understood. In this study, we have isolated iRhom1 as a stimulator of proteasome activity from genome-wide functional screening using cDNA expression and an unstable GFP-degron. Downregulation of iRhom1 reduced enzymatic activity of proteasome complexes and overexpression of iRhom1 enhanced it. Native-gel and fractionation analyses revealed that knockdown of iRhom1 expression impaired the assembly of the proteasome complexes. The expression of iRhom1 was increased by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stressors, such as thapsigargin and tunicamycin, leading to the enhancement of proteasome activity, especially in ER-containing microsomes. iRhom1 interacted with the 20S proteasome assembly chaperones PAC1 and PAC2, affecting their protein stability. Moreover, knockdown of iRhom1 expression impaired the dimerization of PAC1 and PAC2 under ER stress. In addition, iRhom1 deficiency in D. melanogaster accelerated the rough-eye phenotype of mutant Huntingtin, while transgenic flies expressing either human iRhom1 or Drosophila iRhom showed rescue of the rough-eye phenotype. Together, these results identify a novel regulator of proteasome activity, iRhom1, which functions via PAC1/2 under ER stress.

DNA array reveals altered gene expression in response to focal cerebral ischemia.

The gene expression profile in the cortex was analyzed in a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia by use of cDNA array. It was attempted to monitor changes of gene expression and to profile them into functional classification between ipsilateral and contralateral cortex at 6h after middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion. Seventy-one genes out of 1174 genes were significantly modulated by ischemia. Metabolism-, cell communication- and signal transduction-related genes were down-regulated, whereas genes involved in stress response were markedly increased. Besides numerous established ischemia-induced gene products such as macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha (MIP-1 alpha), orphan nuclear receptor Nurr 77, secretogranin II (SCG-II), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), several genes were identified which have not previously been shown to be modulated following focal ischemia; these genes include interferon-induced protein (IFN-IP), neurodegeneration-associated protein-1 (NDGAP-1), and neuronal pentraxin receptor (NPR). The RT-PCR analyses of these genes at various time points revealed that mRNA level of IFN-IP was up-regulated, while NDGAP-1 and NPR were transcriptionally down-regulated. The results suggest of the involvement of these genes in neuronal cell damage caused by ischemia and the potential use as targets for the development of preventives/therapeutics of brain stroke.

Long-term operation of biomass-to-liquid systems coupled to gasification and Fischer-Tropsch processes for biofuel production.

Long-term operation of the biomass-to-liquid (BTL) process was conducted with a focus on the production of bio-syngas that satisfies the purity standards for the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process. The integrated BTL system consisted of a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasifier (20 kW(th)), gas cleaning unit, syngas compression unit, acid gas removing unit, and an FT reactor. Since the raw syngas from the gasifier contains different types of contaminants, such as particulates, condensable tars, and acid gases, which can cause various mechanical problems or deactivate the FT catalyst, the syngas was purified by passing through cyclones, a gravitational dust collector, a two-stage wet scrubber (packing-type), and a methanol absorption tower. The integrated system was operated for 500 h over several runs, and stable operating conditions for each component were achieved. The cleaned syngas contained no sulfur compounds (under 1 ppmV) and satisfied the requirements for the FT process.

Role of S5b/PSMD5 in proteasome inhibition caused by TNF-α/NFκB in higher eukaryotes.

The ubiquitin-proteasome system is essential for maintaining protein homeostasis. However, proteasome dysregulation in chronic diseases is poorly understood. Through genome-wide cell-based screening using 5,500 cDNAs, a signaling pathway leading to NFκB activation was selected as an inhibitor of 26S proteasome. TNF-α increased S5b (HGNC symbol PSMD5; hereafter S5b/PSMD5) expression via NFκB, and the surplus S5b/PSMD5 directly inhibited 26S proteasome assembly and activity. Downregulation of S5b/PSMD5 abolished TNF-α-induced proteasome inhibition. TNF-α enhanced the interaction of S5b/PSMD5 with S7/PSMC2 in nonproteasome complexes, and interference of this interaction rescued TNF-α-induced proteasome inhibition. Transgenic mice expressing S5b/PSMD5 exhibited a reduced life span and premature onset of aging-related phenotypes, including reduced proteasome activity in their tissues. Conversely, S5b/PSMD5 deficiency in Drosophila melanogaster ameliorated the tau rough eye phenotype, enhanced proteasome activity, and extended the life span of tau flies. These results reveal the critical role of S5b/PSMD5 in negative regulation of proteasome by TNF-α/NFκB and provide insights into proteasome inhibition in human disease.