Uncompetitive, adduct-forming SARM1 inhibitors are neuroprotective in preclinical models of nerve injury and disease.

Axon degeneration is an early pathological event in many neurological diseases. The identification of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) hydrolase SARM1 as a central metabolic sensor and axon executioner presents an exciting opportunity to develop novel neuroprotective therapies that can prevent or halt the degenerative process, yet limited progress has been made on advancing efficacious inhibitors. We describe a class of NAD-dependent active-site SARM1 inhibitors that function by intercepting NAD hydrolysis and undergoing covalent conjugation with the reaction product adenosine diphosphate ribose (ADPR). The resulting small-molecule ADPR adducts are highly potent and confer compelling neuroprotection in preclinical models of neurological injury and disease, validating this mode of inhibition as a viable therapeutic strategy. Additionally, we show that the most potent inhibitor of CD38, a related NAD hydrolase, also functions by the same mechanism, further underscoring the broader applicability of this mechanism in developing therapies against this class of enzymes.

SARM1 signaling mechanisms in the injured nervous system.

Axon degeneration is a prominent feature of the injured nervous system, occurs across neurological diseases, and drives functional loss in neural circuits. We have seen a paradigm shift in the last decade with the realization that injured axons are capable of actively driving their own destruction through the sterile-alpha and TIR motif containing 1 (SARM1) protein. Early studies of Wallerian degeneration highlighted a central role for NAD+ metabolites in axon survival, and this association has grown even stronger in recent years with a deeper understanding of SARM1 biology. Here, we review our current knowledge of SARM1 function in vivo and our evolving understanding of its complex architecture and regulation by injury-dependent changes in the local metabolic environment. The field is converging on a model whereby SARM1 acts as a sensor for metabolic changes that occur after injury and then drives catastrophic NAD+ loss to promote degeneration. However, a number of observations suggest that SARM1 biology is more complicated, and there remains much to learn about how SARM1 governs nervous system responses to injury or disease.

Prior activation state shapes the microglia response to antihuman TREM2 in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) sustains microglia response to brain injury stimuli including apoptotic cells, myelin damage, and amyloid ß (Aß). Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk is associated with the TREM2R47H variant, which impairs ligand binding and consequently microglia responses to Aß pathology. Here, we show that TREM2 engagement by the mAb hT2AB as surrogate ligand activates microglia in 5XFAD transgenic mice that accumulate Aß and express either the common TREM2 variant (TREM2CV) or TREM2R47H scRNA-seq of microglia from TREM2CV-5XFAD mice treated once with control hIgG1 exposed four distinct trajectories of microglia activation leading to disease-associated (DAM), interferon-responsive (IFN-R), cycling (Cyc-M), and MHC-II expressing (MHC-II) microglia types. All of these were underrepresented in TREM2R47H-5XFAD mice, suggesting that TREM2 ligand engagement is required for microglia activation trajectories. Moreover, Cyc-M and IFN-R microglia were more abundant in female than male TREM2CV-5XFAD mice, likely due to greater Aß load in female 5XFAD mice. A single systemic injection of hT2AB replenished Cyc-M, IFN-R, and MHC-II pools in TREM2R47H-5XFAD mice. In TREM2CV-5XFAD mice, however, hT2AB brought the representation of male Cyc-M and IFN-R microglia closer to that of females, in which these trajectories had already reached maximum capacity. Moreover, hT2AB induced shifts in gene expression patterns in all microglial pools without affecting representation. Repeated treatment with a murinized hT2AB version over 10 d increased chemokines brain content in TREM2R47H-5XFAD mice, consistent with microglia expansion. Thus, the impact of hT2AB on microglia is shaped by the extent of TREM2 endogenous ligand engagement and basal microglia activation.

Structural and Mechanistic Regulation of the Pro-degenerative NAD Hydrolase SARM1.

The NADase SARM1 is a central switch in injury-activated axon degeneration, an early hallmark of many neurological diseases. Here, we present cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of autoinhibited (3.3 Å) and active SARM1 (6.8 Å) and provide mechanistic insight into the tight regulation of SARM1's function by the local metabolic environment. Although both states retain an octameric core, the defining feature of the autoinhibited state is a lock between the autoinhibitory Armadillo/HEAT motif (ARM) and catalytic Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domains, which traps SARM1 in an inactive state. Mutations that break this lock activate SARM1, resulting in catastrophic neuronal death. Notably, the mutants cannot be further activated by the endogenous activator nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), and active SARM1 is product inhibited by Nicotinamide (NAM), highlighting SARM1's functional dependence on key metabolites in the NAD salvage pathway. Our studies provide a molecular understanding of SARM1's transition from an autoinhibited to an injury-activated state and lay the foundation for future SARM1-based therapies to treat axonopathies.

Molecular basis for the loss-of-function effects of the Alzheimer's disease-associated R47H variant of the immune receptor TREM2.

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is an immune receptor expressed on the surface of microglia, macrophages, dendritic cells, and osteoclasts. The R47H TREM2 variant is a significant risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the molecular basis of R47H TREM2 loss of function is an emerging area of TREM2 biology. Here, we report three high-resolution structures of the extracellular ligand-binding domains (ECDs) of R47H TREM2, apo-WT, and phosphatidylserine (PS)-bound WT TREM2 at 1.8, 2.2, and 2.2 Å, respectively. The structures reveal that Arg47 plays a critical role in maintaining the structural features of the complementarity-determining region 2 (CDR2) loop and the putative positive ligand-interacting surface (PLIS), stabilizing conformations capable of ligand interaction. This is exemplified in the PS-bound structure, in which the CDR2 loop and PLIS drive critical interactions with PS via surfaces that are disrupted in the variant. Together with in vitro and in vivo characterization, our structural findings elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying loss of ligand binding, putative oligomerization, and functional activity of R47H TREM2. They also help unravel how decreased in vitro and in vivo stability of TREM2 contribute to loss of function in disease.

TREM2-activating antibodies abrogate the negative pleiotropic effects of the Alzheimer's disease variant Trem2R47H on murine myeloid cell function.

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is an orphan immune receptor expressed on cells of myeloid lineage such as macrophages and microglia. The rare variant R47H TREM2 is associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease, supporting the hypothesis that TREM2 loss of function may exacerbate disease progression. However, a complete knockout of the TREM2 gene in different genetic models of neurodegenerative diseases has been reported to result in both protective and deleterious effects on disease-related end points and myeloid cell function. Here, we describe a Trem2R47H transgenic mouse model and report that even in the absence of additional genetic perturbations, this variant clearly confers a loss of function on myeloid cells. The Trem2R47H variant-containing myeloid cells exhibited subtle defects in survival and migration and displayed an unexpected dysregulation of cytokine responses in a lipopolysaccharide challenge environment. These subtle phenotypic defects with a gradation in severity across genotypes were confirmed in whole-genome RNA-Seq analyses of WT, Trem2-/-, and Trem2R47H myeloid cells under challenge conditions. Of note, TREM2-activating antibodies that boost proximal signaling abrogated survival defects conferred by the variant and also modulated migration and cytokine responses in an antibody-, ligand-, and challenge-dependent manner. In some instances, these antibodies also boosted WT myeloid cell function. Our studies provide a first glimpse into the boost in myeloid cell function that can be achieved by pharmacological modulation of TREM2 activity that can potentially be ameliorative in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

Beltless translocation domain of botulinum neurotoxin A embodies a minimum ion-conductive channel.

Botulinum neurotoxin, the causative agent of the paralytic disease botulism, is an endopeptidase composed of a catalytic domain (or light chain (LC)) and a heavy chain (HC) encompassing the translocation domain (TD) and receptor-binding domain. Upon receptor-mediated endocytosis, the LC and TD are proposed to undergo conformational changes in the acidic endocytic environment resulting in the formation of an LC protein-conducting TD channel. The mechanism of channel formation and the conformational changes in the toxin upon acidification are important but less well understood aspects of botulinum neurotoxin intoxication. Here, we have identified a minimum channel-forming truncation of the TD, the "beltless" TD, that forms transmembrane channels with ion conduction properties similar to those of the full-length TD. At variance with the holotoxin and the HC, channel formation for both the TD and the beltless TD occurs independent of a transmembrane pH gradient. Furthermore, acidification in solution induces moderate secondary structure changes. The subtle nature of the conformational changes evoked by acidification on the TD suggests that, in the context of the holotoxin, larger structural rearrangements and LC unfolding occur preceding or concurrent to channel formation. This notion is consistent with the hypothesis that although each domain of the holotoxin functions individually, each domain serves as a chaperone for the others.

Ribonuclease A suggests how proteins self-chaperone against amyloid fiber formation.

Genomic analyses have identified segments with high fiber-forming propensity in many proteins not known to form amyloid. Proteins are often protected from entering the amyloid state by molecular chaperones that permit them to fold in isolation from identical molecules; but, how do proteins self-chaperone their folding in the absence of chaperones? Here, we explore this question with the stable protein ribonuclease A (RNase A). We previously identified fiber-forming segments of amyloid-related proteins and demonstrated that insertion of these segments into the C-terminal hinge loop of nonfiber-forming RNase A can convert RNase A into the amyloid state through three-dimensional domain-swapping, where the inserted fiber-forming segments interact to create a steric zipper spine. In this study, we convert RNase A into amyloid-like fibers by increasing the loop length and hence conformational freedom of an endogenous fiber-forming segment, SSTSAASS, in the N-terminal hinge loop. This is accomplished by sandwiching SSTSAASS between inserted Gly residues. With these inserts, SSTSAASS is now able to form the steric zipper spine, allowing RNase A to form amyloid-like fibers. We show that these fibers contain RNase A molecules retaining their enzymatic activity and therefore native-like structure. Thus, RNase A appears to prevent fiber formation by limiting the conformational freedom of this fiber-forming segment from entering a steric zipper. Our observations suggest that proteins have evolved to self-chaperone by using similar protective mechanisms.

Atomic structures of amyloid cross-beta spines reveal varied steric zippers.

Amyloid fibrils formed from different proteins, each associated with a particular disease, contain a common cross-beta spine. The atomic architecture of a spine, from the fibril-forming segment GNNQQNY of the yeast prion protein Sup35, was recently revealed by X-ray microcrystallography. It is a pair of beta-sheets, with the facing side chains of the two sheets interdigitated in a dry 'steric zipper'. Here we report some 30 other segments from fibril-forming proteins that form amyloid-like fibrils, microcrystals, or usually both. These include segments from the Alzheimer's amyloid-beta and tau proteins, the PrP prion protein, insulin, islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), lysozyme, myoglobin, alpha-synuclein and beta(2)-microglobulin, suggesting that common structural features are shared by amyloid diseases at the molecular level. Structures of 13 of these microcrystals all reveal steric zippers, but with variations that expand the range of atomic architectures for amyloid-like fibrils and offer an atomic-level hypothesis for the basis of prion strains.

The structural biology of protein aggregation diseases: Fundamental questions and some answers.

Amyloid fibrils are found in association with at least two dozen fatal diseases. The tendency of numerous proteins to convert into amyloid-like fibrils poses fundamental questions for structural biology and for protein science in general. Among these are the following: What is the structure of the cross-beta spine, common to amyloid-like fibrils? Is there a sequence signature for proteins that form amyloid-like fibrils? What is the nature of the structural conversion from native to amyloid states, and do fibril-forming proteins have two distinct stable states, the native state and the amyloid state? What is the basis of protein complementarity, in which a protein chain can bind to itself? We offer tentative answers here, based on our own recent structural studies.

Amyloid-like fibrils of ribonuclease A with three-dimensional domain-swapped and native-like structure.

Amyloid or amyloid-like fibrils are elongated, insoluble protein aggregates, formed in vivo in association with neurodegenerative diseases or in vitro from soluble native proteins, respectively. The underlying structure of the fibrillar or 'cross-beta' state has presented long-standing, fundamental puzzles of protein structure. These include whether fibril-forming proteins have two structurally distinct stable states, native and fibrillar, and whether all or only part of the native protein refolds as it converts to the fibrillar state. Here we show that a designed amyloid-like fibril of the well-characterized enzyme RNase A contains native-like molecules capable of enzymatic activity. In addition, these functional molecular units are formed from a core RNase A domain and a swapped complementary domain. These findings are consistent with the zipper-spine model in which a cross-beta spine is decorated with three-dimensional domain-swapped functional units, retaining native-like structure.