Fibril formation by mutational variants of human lysozyme is associated with a fatal form of hereditary non-neuropathic systemic amyloidosis. Defining the mechanistic details of lysozyme aggregation is of crucial importance for understanding the origin and progression of this disease and related misfolding conditions. In this study, we show that a biotin moiety can be introduced site-specifically at Lys33 of human lysozyme. We demonstrate, using biophysical techniques, that the structure and stability of the native-state of the protein are not detectably altered by this modification, and that the ability to form amyloid fibrils is unchanged. By taking advantage of biotin-avidin interactions, we show that super-resolution fluorescence microscopy can generate detailed images of the mature fibrils. This methodology can readily enable the introduction of additional probes into the protein, thereby providing the means through which to understand, in detail, the nature of the aggregation process of lysozyme and its variants under a variety of conditions.

Misfolding- and aggregation-prone proteins underlying Parkinson's, Huntington's and Machado-Joseph diseases, namely alpha-synuclein, huntingtin, and ataxin-3 respectively, adopt numerous intracellular conformations during pathogenesis, including globular intermediates and insoluble amyloid-like fibrils. Such conformational diversity has complicated research into amyloid-associated intracellular dysfunction and neurodegeneration. To this end, recombinant single-chain Fv antibodies (scFvs) are compelling molecular tools that can be selected against specific protein conformations, and expressed inside cells as intrabodies, for investigative and therapeutic purposes.

Misfolding, abnormal accumulation, and secretion of α-Synuclein (α-Syn) are closely associated with synucleinopathies, including Parkinson's disease (PD). VH14 is a human single domain intrabody selected against the non-amyloid component (NAC) hydrophobic interaction region of α-Syn, which is critical for initial aggregation. Using neuronal cell lines, we show that as a bifunctional nanobody fused to a proteasome targeting signal, VH14PEST can counteract heterologous proteostatic effects of mutant α-Syn on mutant huntingtin Exon1 and protect against α-Syn toxicity using propidium iodide or Annexin V readouts. We compared this anti-NAC candidate to NbSyn87, which binds to the C-terminus of α-Syn. NbSyn87PEST degrades α-Syn as well or better than VH14PEST. However, while both candidates reduced toxicity, VH14PEST appears more effective in both proteostatic stress and toxicity assays. These results show that the approach of reducing intracellular monomeric targets with novel antibody engineering technology should allow in vivo modulation of proteostatic pathologies.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by a trinucleotide (CAG)(n) repeat expansion in the coding sequence of the huntingtin gene, and an expanded polyglutamine (>37Q) tract in the protein. This results in misfolding and accumulation of huntingtin protein (htt), formation of neuronal intranuclear and cytoplasmic inclusions, and neuronal dysfunction/degeneration. Single-chain Fv antibodies (scFvs), expressed as intrabodies that bind htt and prevent aggregation, show promise as immunotherapeutics for HD. Intrastriatal delivery of anti-N-terminal htt scFv-C4 using an adeno-associated virus vector (AAV2/1) significantly reduces the size and number of aggregates in HDR6/1 transgenic mice; however, this protective effect diminishes with age and time after injection. We therefore explored enhancing intrabody efficacy via fusions to heterologous functional domains. Proteins containing a PEST motif are often targeted for proteasomal degradation and generally have a short half life. In ST14A cells, fusion of the C-terminal PEST region of mouse ornithine decarboxylase (mODC) to scFv-C4 reduces htt exon 1 protein fragments with 72 glutamine repeats (httex1-72Q) by ~80-90% when compared to scFv-C4 alone. Proteasomal targeting was verified by either scrambling the mODC-PEST motif, or via proteasomal inhibition with epoxomicin. For these constructs, the proteasomal degradation of the scFv intrabody proteins themselves was reduced<25% by the addition of the mODC-PEST motif, with or without antigens. The remaining intrabody levels were amply sufficient to target N-terminal httex1-72Q protein fragment turnover. Critically, scFv-C4-PEST prevents aggregation and toxicity of httex1-72Q fragments at significantly lower doses than scFv-C4. Fusion of the mODC-PEST motif to intrabodies is a valuable general approach to specifically target toxic antigens to the proteasome for degradation.

A critical issue in transgene delivery studies is immune reactivity to the transgene- encoded protein and its impact on sustained gene expression. Here, we test the hypothesis that immunomodulation by rapamycin can decrease immune reactivity after intrathecal AAV9 delivery of a transgene (GFP) in non-human primates, resulting in sustained GFP expression in the CNS. We show that rapamycin treatment clearly reduced the overall immunogenicity of the AAV9/GFP vector by lowering GFP- and AAV9-specific antibody responses, and decreasing T cell responses including cytokine and cytolytic effector responses. Spinal cord GFP protein expression was sustained for twelve weeks, with no toxicity. Immune correlates of robust transgene expression include negligible GFP-specific CD4 and CD8 T cell responses, absence of GFP-specific IFN-γ producing T cells, and absence of GFP-specific cytotoxic T cells, which support the hypothesis that decreased T cell reactivity results in sustained transgene expression. These data strongly support the use of modest doses of rapamycin to modulate immune responses for intrathecal gene therapies, and potentially a much wider range of viral vector-based therapeutics.