scholarly journals Berberine Reduces Aβ42 Deposition and Tau Hyperphosphorylation via Ameliorating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Wu ◽  
Qingjie Chen ◽  
Bing Wen ◽  
Ninghua Wu ◽  
Benhong He ◽  
...  

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is tightly related to endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress), which aggravates two dominant pathological manifestations of AD: senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Berberine is widely applied in the clinical treatment of many diseases and is reported to have anti-AD effects. In the present study, berberine was shown to ameliorate ER stress and cognitive impairment in APP/PS1 mice. We found ER stress plays a role as a central hub for signal transduction, which was evidenced by the hyperactivation of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) to phosphorylate tau and the activation of PRKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) subsequently to phosphorylate eukaryotic translation initiation factor-2 α (eIF2α). Also, eIF2α has regulated the expression of beta-site APP cleaving enzyme-1 (BACE1), which cleaves APP into pro-oligomerized amyloid beta 42 (Aβ42), the main component of senile plaques, proven by using siRNA targeting at eIF2α. Mechanically, berberine can reduce GSK3β activity, contributing to the downregulation of tau phosphorylation. Berberine also suppressed Aβ42 production via inhibiting the PERK/eIF2α/BACE1 signaling pathway. Taken together, these findings indicated that berberine had the potential to ameliorate two major pathological manifestations of AD mainly by suppressing ER stress. Our work provided knowledge on the pharmacological intervention of AD and the possible targets for future drug development.

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongxiu Wen ◽  
Vinod Kumar ◽  
Xiqian Lan ◽  
Seyedeh Shadafarin Marashi Shoshtari ◽  
Judith M. Eng ◽  
...  

Two coding sequence variants (G1 and G2) of Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) gene have been implicated as a higher risk factor for chronic kidney diseases (CKD) in African Americans when compared with European Americans. Previous studies have suggested that the APOL1 G1 and G2 variant proteins are more toxic to kidney cells than the wild-type APOL1 G0, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. To determine whether endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress contributes to podocyte toxicity, we generated human podocytes (HPs) that stably overexpressed APOL1 G0, G1, or G2 (Vec/HPs, G0/HPs, G1/HPs, and G2/HPs). Propidium iodide staining showed that HP overexpressing the APOL1 G1 or G2 variant exhibited a higher rate of necrosis when compared with those overexpressing the wild-type G0 counterpart. Consistently, the expression levels of nephrin and podocin proteins were significantly decreased in the G1- or G2-overexpressing cells despite the maintenance of their mRNA expressions levels. In contrast, the expression of the 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein ((GRP78), also known as the binding Ig protein, BiP) and the phosphorylation of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 1 (eIF1) were significantly elevated in the G1/HPs and G2/HPs, suggesting a possible occurrence of ER stress in these cells. Furthermore, ER stress inhibitors not only restored nephrin protein expression, but also provided protection against necrosis in G1/HPs and G2/HPs, suggesting that APOL1 risk variants cause podocyte injury partly through enhancing ER stress.


Author(s):  
Cheng Liu ◽  
Jiaxin Xu ◽  
Chenxu Guo ◽  
Xugang Chen ◽  
Chunmei Qian ◽  
...  

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world and has a poor prognosis. In the present research, gambogenic acid (GNA), isolated from the traditional Chinese medicine gamboge, markedly induced apoptosis and inhibited the proliferation of CRC in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, GNA triggered endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which subsequently activated inositol-requiring enzyme (IRE) 1α and the eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF) 2α pathway. Pretreatment with salubrinal (an eIF2α inhibitor) rescued GNA-induced cell death. Furthermore, GNA downregulated the expression of Aurora A. The Aurora A inhibitor alisertib decreased ER stress. In human colorectal adenocarcinoma tissue, Aurora A was upregulated compared to normal colorectal epithelial nuclei. Furthermore, GNA ameliorated mouse colitis-associated cancer models. Our findings demonstrated that GNA significantly inhibited the proliferation of CRC through activation of ER stress by regulating Aurora A, which indicates the potential of GNA for preventing the progression of CRC.


Endocrinology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 153 (11) ◽  
pp. 5275-5284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Lu ◽  
Qinghua Wang ◽  
Lianghu Huang ◽  
Huiyue Dong ◽  
Lingjing Lin ◽  
...  

Abstract Elevated circulating saturated fatty acids concentration is commonly associated with poorly controlled diabetes. The highly prevalent free fatty acid palmitate could induce apoptosis in various cell types, but little is known about its effects on human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Here, we report that prolonged exposure to palmitate induces human bone marrow-derived MSC (hBM-MSC) and human umbilical cord-derived MSC apoptosis. We investigated the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which is known to promote cell apoptosis. Palmitate activated XBP1 splicing, elF2α (eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α) phosphorylation, and CHOP, ATF4, BiP, and GRP94 transcription in hBM-MSCs. ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK phosphorylation were also induced by palmitate in hBM-MSCs. A selective p38 inhibitor inhibited palmitate activation of the ER stress, whereas the ERK1/2 inhibitors had no effect. The AMP-activated protein kinase activator aminoimidazole carboxamide ribonucleotide blocked palmitate-induced ER stress and apoptosis. These findings suggest that palmitate induces ER stress and ERK1/2 and p38 activation in hBM-MSCs, and AMP-activated protein kinase activator prevents the deleterious effects of palmitate by inhibiting ER stress and apoptosis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (Supplement_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Woong Park ◽  
Hyeongwan Kim ◽  
Yujin Jung ◽  
Kyung Pyo Kang ◽  
Won Kim

Abstract Background and Aims Nephrotoxicity is an important cisplatin-induced adverse reaction and restricts the use of cisplatin to treat malignant tumors. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is caused by the accumulation of misfolded proteins, and is induced by cisplatin in kidneys. SIRT2 nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacetylase is a member of the sirtuin family, but its role in cisplatin-induced ER stress remains unclear. Method To investigate the effect of SIRT2 on cisplatin-induced ER stress using SIRT2 knockout mice and human proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2 cells). We treated cisplatin (20 µg/mL) or induced by intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin (20 mg/kg) and evaluated the changes of ER stress and its signal mechanism. Results Cisplatin administration was found to significantly increase the expressions of PRKR-like ER kinase (PERK), phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α), and the C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) and caspase-12 in the kidneys of SIRT2-wild type mice. However, cisplatin-induced increases in the expressions of p-PERK, p-eIF2α, CHOP and, caspase-12 were diminished in kidneys of SIRT2 knockout mice. In vitro, cisplatin significantly increased the expressions of p-PERK, p-eIF2α, CHOP, and caspase-12 in HK-2 cells. When the effect of SIRT2 on cisplatin-induced ER stress was evaluated using SIRT2-siRNA (ON-TARGET plus human SIRT2 siRNA) or the SIRT2 inhibitors, AGK2 and AK1, knockdown or inhibition of SIRT2 significantly attenuated the cisplatin-induced protein expression of p-PERK, p-eIF2α, CHOP, and caspase-12. Immunoprecipitation studies showed SIRT2 bound physically to heat shock factor (HSF)1 and that HSF1 acetylation was significantly increased by cisplatin. In addition, knockdown of SIRT2 increased cisplatin-induced HSF1 acetylation and increased the expression of heat shock protein (HSP)70. Conclusion These observations suggest that suppression of SIRT2 ameliorates cisplatin-induced ER stress by increasing HSF1 acetylation and HSP expression.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgeniy Panzhinskiy ◽  
Søs Skovsø ◽  
Haoning Cen ◽  
Kwan Chu ◽  
Kate MacDonald ◽  
...  

Abstract The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced unfolded protein response (UPR) helps decide cell survival in diabetes. The alternative eukaryotic initiation factor 2A (EIF2A) has been proposed to mediate EIF2S1-independent translation during cellular stress and viral infection, but its role in cells is unknown. EIF2A abundance is high in human and mouse islets relative to other tissues, and both thapsigargin and palmitate significantly increased EIF2A mRNA and EIF2A protein levels in MIN6 cells, mouse islets and human islets. Knockdowns of EIF2A, the related factor EIF2D, or both EIF2A and EIF2D, were not sufficient to cause apoptosis. On the other hand, transient or stable EIF2A over-expression protected MIN6 cells, primary mouse islets, and human islets from ER stress-induced, caspase-3-dependent apoptosis. Mechanistically, EIF2A overexpression decreased ERN1 (also known as IRE1) expression in thapsigargin-treated MIN6 cells or human islets. In vivo, cell specific EIF2A viral overexpression reduced ER stress, improved insulin secretion, and abrogated hyperglycemia in Ins2Akita/WT mice. EIF2A overexpression significantly increased expression of genes involved in protein translation and reduced expression of pro-apoptotic genes (e.g. ALDH1A3). Remarkably, the decrease in global protein synthesis during UPR was prevented by EIF2A, despite ER stress-induced EIF2S1 phosphorylation. The protective effects of EIF2A were additive to those of ISRIB, a drug that counteracts the effects of EIF2S1 phosphorylation. Cells overexpressing EIF2A showed higher expression of translation factor EIF2B5, which may contribute to the lack of translational inhibition in these cells. We conclude that EIF2A is a novel target for cell protection and the circumvention of EIF2S1-mediated translational repression.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (16) ◽  
pp. 2761-2770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae-Seon So ◽  
Sungyun Cho ◽  
Sang-Hyun Min ◽  
Scot R. Kimball ◽  
Ann-Hwee Lee

The unfolded protein response (UPR) regulates endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis and protects cells from ER stress. IRE1α is a central regulator of the UPR that activates the transcription factor XBP1s through an unconventional splicing mechanism using its endoribonuclease activity. IRE1α also cleaves certain mRNAs containing XBP1-like secondary structures to promote the degradation of these mRNAs, a process known as regulated IRE1α-dependent decay (RIDD). We show here that the mRNA of CReP/Ppp1r15b, a regulatory subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) phosphatase, is a RIDD substrate. eIF2α plays a central role in the integrated stress response by mediating the translational attenuation to decrease the stress level in the cell. CReP expression was markedly suppressed in XBP1-deficient mice livers due to hyperactivated IRE1α. Decreased CReP expression caused the induction of eIF2α phosphorylation and the attenuation of protein synthesis in XBP1-deficient livers. ER stress also suppressed CReP expression in an IRE1α-dependent manner, which increased eIF2α phosphorylation and consequently attenuated protein synthesis. Taken together, the results of our study reveal a novel function of IRE1α in the regulation of eIF2α phosphorylation and the translational control.


2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 3578-3585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Pavio ◽  
Patrick R. Romano ◽  
Thomas M. Graczyk ◽  
Stephen M. Feinstone ◽  
Deborah R. Taylor

ABSTRACT The hepatitis C virus envelope protein, E2, is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-bound protein that contains a region of sequence homology with the double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase PKR and its substrate, the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2). We previously reported that E2 modulates global translation through inhibition of the interferon-induced antiviral protein PKR through its PKR-eIF2α phosphorylation site homology domain (PePHD). Here we show that the PKR-like ER-resident kinase (PERK) binds to and is also inhibited by E2. At low expression levels, E2 induced ER stress, but at high expression levels, and in vitro, E2 inhibited PERK kinase activity. Mammalian cells that stably express E2 were refractory to the translation-inhibitory effects of ER stress inducers, and E2 relieved general translation inhibition induced by PERK. The PePHD of E2 was required for the rescue of translation that was inhibited by activated PERK, similar to our previous findings with PKR. Here we report the inhibition of a second eIF2α kinase by E2, and these results are consistent with a pseudosubstrate mechanism of inhibition of eIF2α kinases. These findings may also explain how the virus promotes persistent infection by overcoming the cellular ER stress response.


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