Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a currently untreatable adult-onset neuromuscular disease caused by expansion of a polyglutamine repeat in the androgen receptor (AR). In SBMA, as in other polyglutamine diseases, a toxic gain of function in the mutant protein is an important factor in the disease mechanism; therefore, reducing the mutant protein holds promise as an effective treatment strategy. In this work, we evaluated a microRNA (miRNA) to reduce AR expression. From a list of predicted miRNAs that target human AR, we selected microRNA-298 (miR-298) for its ability to downregulate AR mRNA and protein levels when transfected in cells overexpressing wild-type and mutant AR and in SBMA patient-derived fibroblasts. We showed that miR-298 directly binds to the 3'-untranslated region of the human AR transcript, and counteracts AR toxicity in vitro. Intravenous delivery of miR-298 with adeno-associated virus serotype 9 vector resulted in efficient transduction of muscle and spinal cord and amelioration of the disease phenotype in SBMA mice. Our findings support the development of miRNAs as a therapeutic strategy for SBMA and other neurodegenerative disorders caused by toxic proteins.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ) tract in ataxin-1 (ATXN1). The pathological hallmarks of SCA1 are the loss of cerebellar Purkinje cells and neurons in the brainstem and the presence of nuclear aggregates containing the polyQ-expanded ATXN1 protein. Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitors have been shown to reduce polyQ-induced toxicity. This study was designed to examine the therapeutic effects of BIIB021, a purine-scaffold Hsp90 inhibitor, on the protein homeostasis of polyQ-expanded mutant ATXN1 in a cell culture model of SCA1. Our results demonstrated that BIIB021 activated heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) and suppressed the abnormal accumulation of ATXN1 and its toxicity. The pharmacological degradation of mutant ATXN1 via activated HSF1 was dependent on both the proteasome and autophagy systems. These findings indicate that HSF1 is a key molecule in the regulation of the protein homeostasis of the polyQ-expanded mutant ATXN1 and that Hsp90 has potential as a novel therapeutic target in patients with SCA1.

Glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) variants that cause Gaucher disease are associated with Parkinson disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). To investigate the role of GBA variants in multiple system atrophy (MSA), we analyzed GBA variants in a large case-control series.

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a polyglutamine-mediated neuromuscular disease caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the androgen receptor (AR) gene. While transcriptional dysregulation is known to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of SBMA, the underlying molecular pathomechanisms remain unclear. DNA methylation is a fundamental epigenetic modification that silences the transcription of various genes that have a CpG-rich promoter. Here, we showed that DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) is highly expressed in the spinal motor neurons of an SBMA mouse model and in patients with SBMA. Both genetic Dnmt1 depletion and treatment with RG108, a DNA methylation inhibitor, ameliorated the viability of SBMA model cells. Furthermore, a continuous intracerebroventricular injection of RG108 mitigated the phenotype of SBMA mice. DNA methylation array analysis identified hairy and enhancer of split 5 (Hes5) as having a CpG island with hyper-methylation in the promoter region, and the Hes5 expression was strongly silenced in SBMA. Moreover, Hes5 over-expression rescued the SBMA cells possibly by inducing Smad2 phosphorylation. Our findings suggest DNA hyper-methylation underlies the neurodegeneration in SBMA.

This study aimed to explore clinical correlates of repetitive speech disorders in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by a selective loss of upper and lower motor neurons. Recent studies have shown that mutations in SQSTM1 are linked to ALS. SQSTM1 encodes SQSTM1/p62 that regulates not only autophagy via the association with MAP1LC3/LC3 and ubiquitinated proteins but also the KEAP1-NFE2L2/Nrf2 anti-oxidative stress pathway by interacting with KEAP1. Previously, we have demonstrated that loss of SQSTM1 exacerbates disease phenotypes in a SOD1H46R-expressing ALS mouse model. To clarify the effects of SQSTM1 overexpression in this model, we generated SQSTM1 and SOD1 H46R double-transgenic (SQSTM1;SOD1 H46R ) mice. SQSTM1;SOD1 H46R mice exhibited earlier disease onset and shorter lifespan than did SOD1 H46R mice. Conversely, disease progression after the onset rather slightly but significantly slowed in SQSTM1;SOD1 H46R mice. However, there were observable differences neither in the number of Nissl positive neurons nor in the distribution of ubiquitin-positive and/or SQSTM1-positive aggregates between SOD1 H46R and SQSTM1;SOD1 H46R mice. It was noted that these protein aggregates were mainly observed in neuropil, and partly localized to astrocytes and/or microglia, but not to MAP2-positive neuronal cell bodies and dendrites at the end-stage of disease. Nonetheless, the biochemically-detectable insoluble SQSTM1 and poly-ubiquitinated proteins were significantly and progressively increased in the spinal cord of SQSTM1;SOD1 H46R mice compared to SOD1 H46R mice. These results suggest that overexpression of SQSTM1 in SOD1 H46R mice accelerates disease onset by compromising the protein degradation pathways.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive death of motor neurons. Although the pathogenesis of ALS remains unclear, several cellular processes are known to be involved, including apoptosis. A previous study revealed the apoptosis-related gene c-Abl to be upregulated in sporadic ALS motor neurons.

Infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy (INAD) is a rare autosomal-recessive neurodegenerative disorder. Patients with INAD usually show neurological symptoms with infant onset and die in childhood. Recently, it was reported that mutations in the PLA2G6 gene cause INAD, but neuropathological analysis of genetically confirmed individuals with neuroaxonal dystrophy has been limited.

TDP-43 and FUS are linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and loss of function of either protein contributes to these neurodegenerative conditions. To elucidate the TDP-43- and FUS-regulated pathophysiological RNA metabolism cascades, we assessed the differential gene expression and alternative splicing profiles related to regulation by either TDP-43 or FUS in primary cortical neurons. These profiles overlapped by >25% with respect to gene expression and >9% with respect to alternative splicing. The shared downstream RNA targets of TDP-43 and FUS may form a common pathway in the neurodegenerative processes of ALS/FTLD.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurological disorder characterized by the degeneration of motor neurons and typically results in death within 3-5 years from onset. Familial ALS (FALS) comprises 5%-10% of ALS cases, and the identification of genes associated with FALS is indispensable to elucidating the molecular pathogenesis. We identified a Japanese family affected by late-onset, autosomal-dominant ALS in which mutations in genes known to be associated with FALS were excluded. A whole- genome sequencing and parametric linkage analysis under the assumption of an autosomal-dominant mode of inheritance with incomplete penetrance revealed the mutation c.2780G>A (p. Arg927Gln) in ERBB4. An extensive mutational analysis revealed the same mutation in a Canadian individual with familial ALS and a de novo mutation, c.3823C>T (p. Arg1275Trp), in a Japanese simplex case. These amino acid substitutions involve amino acids highly conserved among species, are predicted as probably damaging, and are located within a tyrosine kinase domain (p. Arg927Gln) or a C-terminal domain (p. Arg1275Trp), both of which mediate essential functions of ErbB4 as a receptor tyrosine kinase. Functional analysis revealed that these mutations led to a reduced autophosphorylation of ErbB4 upon neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) stimulation. Clinical presentations of the individuals with mutations were characterized by the involvement of both upper and lower motor neurons, a lack of obvious cognitive dysfunction, and relatively slow progression. This study indicates that disruption of the neuregulin-ErbB4 pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of ALS and potentially paves the way for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies such using NRGs or their agonists to upregulate ErbB4 functions.

Altered protein homeostasis underlies degenerative diseases triggered by misfolded proteins, including spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), a neuromuscular disorder caused by a CAG/glutamine expansion in the androgen receptor. Here we show that the unfolded protein response (UPR), an ER protein quality control pathway, is induced in skeletal muscle from SBMA patients, AR113Q knock-in male mice, and surgically denervated wild-type mice. To probe the consequence of UPR induction, we deleted CHOP (C/EBP homologous protein), a transcription factor induced following ER stress. CHOP deficiency accentuated atrophy in both AR113Q and surgically denervated muscle through activation of macroautophagy, a lysosomal protein quality control pathway. Conversely, impaired autophagy due to Beclin-1 haploinsufficiency decreased muscle wasting and extended lifespan of AR113Q males, producing a significant and unexpected amelioration of the disease phenotype. Our findings highlight critical cross-talk between the UPR and macroautophagy, and they indicate that autophagy activation accentuates aspects of the SBMA phenotype.

Glutamate released by activated microglia induces excitotoxic neuronal death, which likely contributes to non-cell autonomous neuronal death in neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. Although both blockade of glutamate receptors and inhibition of microglial activation are the therapeutic candidates for these neurodegenerative diseases, glutamate receptor blockers also perturbed physiological and essential glutamate signals, and inhibitors of microglial activation suppressed both neurotoxic/neuroprotective roles of microglia and hardly affected disease progression. We previously demonstrated that activated microglia release a large amount of glutamate specifically through gap junction hemichannel. Hence, blockade of gap junction hemichannel may be potentially beneficial in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Phosphorylated and truncated TAR DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43) is a major component of ubiquitinated cytoplasmic inclusions in neuronal and glial cells of two TDP-43 proteinopathies, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Modifications of TDP-43 are thus considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of TDP-43 proteinopathies. However, both the initial cause of these abnormal modifications and the TDP-43 region responsible for its aggregation remain uncertain. Here we report that the 32 kDa C-terminal fragment of TDP-43, which lacks the RNP2 motif of RNA binding motif 1 (RRM1), formed aggregates in cultured cells, and that similar phenotypes were obtained when the RNP2 motif was either deleted from or mutated in full-length TDP-43. These aggregations were ubiquitinated, phosphorylated and truncated, and sequestered the 25 kDa C-terminal TDP-43 fragment seen in the neurons of TDP-43 proteinopathy patients. In addition, incubation with RNase decreased the solubility of TDP-43 in cell lysates. These findings suggest that the RNP2 motif of RRM1 plays a substantial role in pathological TDP-43 modifications and that it is possible that disruption of RNA binding may underlie the process of TDP-43 aggregation.

Two motor neuron diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), are caused by distinct genes involved in RNA metabolism, TDP-43 and FUS/TLS, and SMN, respectively. However, whether there is a shared defective mechanism in RNA metabolism common to these two diseases remains unclear. Here, we show that TDP-43 and FUS/TLS localize in nuclear Gems through an association with SMN, and that all three proteins function in spliceosome maintenance. We also show that in ALS, Gems are lost, U snRNA levels are up-regulated and spliceosomal U snRNPs abnormally and extensively accumulate in motor neuron nuclei, but not in the temporal lobe of FTLD with TDP-43 pathology. This aberrant accumulation of U snRNAs in ALS motor neurons is in direct contrast to SMA motor neurons, which show reduced amounts of U snRNAs, while both have defects in the spliceosome. These findings indicate that a profound loss of spliceosome integrity is a critical mechanism common to neurodegeneration in ALS and SMA, and may explain cell-type specific vulnerability of motor neurons.

FUS is an RNA-binding protein that regulates transcription, alternative splicing, and mRNA transport. Aberrations of FUS are causally associated with familial and sporadic ALS/FTLD. We analyzed FUS-mediated transcriptions and alternative splicing events in mouse primary cortical neurons using exon arrays. We also characterized FUS-binding RNA sites in the mouse cerebrum with HITS-CLIP. We found that FUS-binding sites tend to form stable secondary structures. Analysis of position-dependence of FUS-binding sites disclosed scattered binding of FUS to and around the alternatively spliced exons including those associated with neurodegeneration such as Mapt, Camk2a, and Fmr1. We also found that FUS is often bound to the antisense RNA strand at the promoter regions. Global analysis of these FUS-tags and the expression profiles disclosed that binding of FUS to the promoter antisense strand downregulates transcriptions of the coding strand. Our analysis revealed that FUS regulates alternative splicing events and transcriptions in a position-dependent manner.

Emerging evidence implicates altered gene expression within skeletal muscle in the pathogenesis of Kennedy disease/spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (KD/SBMA). We therefore broadly characterized gene expression in skeletal muscle of three independently generated mouse models of this disease. The mouse models included a polyglutamine expanded (polyQ) AR knock-in model (AR113Q), a polyQ AR transgenic model (AR97Q), and a transgenic mouse that overexpresses wild type AR solely in skeletal muscle (HSA-AR). HSA-AR mice were included because they substantially reproduce the KD/SBMA phenotype despite the absence of polyQ AR.

This study aims to elucidate age-related intrinsic brain volume changes over the adult lifespan using an unbiased data-driven structural brain parcellation. Anatomical brain images from a cohort of 293 healthy volunteers ranging in age from 21 to 86 years were analyzed using independent component analysis (ICA). ICA-based parcellation identified 192 component images, of which 174 (90.6%) showed a significant negative correlation with age and with some components being more vulnerable to aging effects than others. Seven components demonstrated a convex slope with aging; 3 components had an inverted U-shaped trajectory, and 4 had a U-shaped trajectory. Linear combination of 86 components provided reliable prediction of chronological age with a mean absolute prediction error of approximately 7.2 years. Structural co-variation analysis showed strong interhemispheric, short-distance positive correlations and long-distance, inter-lobar negative correlations. Estimated network measures either exhibited a U- or an inverted U-shaped relationship with age, with the vertex occurring at approximately 45-50 years. Overall, these findings could contribute to our knowledge about healthy brain aging and could help provide a framework to distinguish the normal aging processes from that associated with age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

The timing and characteristics of neuronal death in Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain largely unknown. Here we examine AD mouse models with an original marker, myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate phosphorylated at serine 46 (pSer46-MARCKS), and reveal an increase of neuronal necrosis during pre-symptomatic phase and a subsequent decrease during symptomatic phase. Postmortem brains of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) rather than symptomatic AD patients reveal a remarkable increase of necrosis. In vivo imaging reveals instability of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in mouse AD models and genome-edited human AD iPS cell-derived neurons. The level of nuclear Yes-associated protein (YAP) is remarkably decreased in such neurons under AD pathology due to the sequestration into cytoplasmic amyloid beta (Aβ) aggregates, supporting the feature of YAP-dependent necrosis. Suppression of early-stage neuronal death by AAV-YAPdeltaC reduces the later-stage extracellular Aβ burden and cognitive impairment, suggesting that preclinical/prodromal YAP-dependent neuronal necrosis represents a target for AD therapeutics.

The estimation of functional connectivity (FC) measures using resting state functional MRI (fMRI) is often affected by head motion during functional imaging scans. Head motion is more common in the elderly than in young participants and could therefore affect the evaluation of age-related changes in brain networks. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the influence of head motion in FC estimation when evaluating age-related changes in brain networks.

Mutations in the valosin-containing protein (VCP) gene are known to cause various neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we report 8 Japanese patients [6 men, 2 women; median age at onset: 49.5 (range, 35-58) years] from 5 unrelated families with VCP missense mutations. Although 7 of 8 patients were diagnosed with either inclusion body myopathy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 1 patient showed demyelinating polyneuropathy, which was confirmed by longitudinal nerve conduction studies. Sural nerve biopsy of the patient revealed intranuclear ubiquitin staining in Schwann cells. Three known pathogenic VCP mutations (p.Arg191Gln, p.Arg155Cys, and p.Ile126Phe) were detected. A novel mutation, c.293 A>T (p.Asp98Val), was also identified in a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. This mutation was predicted to be "deleterious" or "disease causing" using in silico mutation analyses. In conclusion, demyelinating polyneuropathy may be a novel phenotype caused by VCP mutations. The p.Asp98Val mutation was found to be a novel pathogenic mutation of VCP proteinopathy. We believe our cases represent a wide clinical spectrum of VCP mutations.