scholarly journals 14-3-3 Proteins Are on the Crossroads of Cancer, Aging, and Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (14) ◽  
pp. 3518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolan Fan ◽  
Lang Cui ◽  
Yao Zeng ◽  
Wenhao Song ◽  
Uma Gaur ◽  
...  

14-3-3 proteins are a family of conserved regulatory adaptor molecules which are expressed in all eukaryotic cells. These proteins participate in a variety of intracellular processes by recognizing specific phosphorylation motifs and interacting with hundreds of target proteins. Also, 14-3-3 proteins act as molecular chaperones, preventing the aggregation of unfolded proteins under conditions of cellular stress. Furthermore, 14-3-3 proteins have been shown to have similar expression patterns in tumors, aging, and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, we put forward the idea that the adaptor activity and chaperone-like activity of 14-3-3 proteins might play a substantial role in the above-mentioned conditions. Interestingly, 14-3-3 proteins are considered to be standing at the crossroads of cancer, aging, and age-related neurodegenerative diseases. There are great possibilities to improve the above-mentioned diseases and conditions through intervention in the activity of the 14-3-3 protein family.

Author(s):  
David Morgan

Neurodegenerative diseases are a growing health concern through the world as gains in longevity result in an increased population at risk of these age-related disorders. Unfortunately no disease modifying treatments exist for these disorders. Over the last three decades enormous insights have been gained into the causes of these disorders. One approach to treating these diseases is to direct immunotherapy against the misfolded proteins that accumulate within the brains of those with neurodegenerative disease in an attempt to clear the accumulating proteins and slow or prevent expression of the disease. This chapter summarizes the recent (and frustrating) experience with anti-Aβ‎ immunotherapy to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, and holds hope that newer generation antibodies and treating presymptomatic disease will have greater impact. In addition, it reviews the preclinical data regarding approaches to treating tau, synuclein, and prion disorders, all of which demonstrate consistent effects in mice and cultured neurons.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Martin ◽  
Hunter B. Fraser

AbstractAge is the primary risk factor for many of the most common human diseases—particularly neurodegenerative diseases—yet we currently have a very limited understanding of how each individual’s genome affects the aging process. Here we introduce a method to map genetic variants associated with age-related gene expression patterns, which we call temporal expression quantitative trait loci (teQTL). We found that these loci are markedly enriched in the human brain and are associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Examining potential molecular mechanisms, we found that age-related changes in DNA methylation can explain some cis-acting teQTLs, and that trans-acting teQTLs can be mediated by microRNAs. Our results suggest that genetic variants modifying age-related patterns of gene expression, acting through both cis- and trans-acting molecular mechanisms, could play a role in the pathogenesis of diverse neurological diseases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramu Manjula ◽  
Kumari Anuja ◽  
Francisco J. Alcain

Sirtuins are NAD+ dependent histone deacetylases (HDAC) that play a pivotal role in neuroprotection and cellular senescence. SIRT1-7 are different homologs from sirtuins. They play a prominent role in many aspects of physiology and regulate crucial proteins. Modulation of sirtuins can thus be utilized as a therapeutic target for metabolic disorders. Neurological diseases have distinct clinical manifestations but are mainly age-associated and due to loss of protein homeostasis. Sirtuins mediate several life extension pathways and brain functions that may allow therapeutic intervention for age-related diseases. There is compelling evidence to support the fact that SIRT1 and SIRT2 are shuttled between the nucleus and cytoplasm and perform context-dependent functions in neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Huntington’s disease (HD). In this review, we highlight the regulation of SIRT1 and SIRT2 in various neurological diseases. This study explores the various modulators that regulate the activity of SIRT1 and SIRT2, which may further assist in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease. Moreover, we analyze the structure and function of various small molecules that have potential significance in modulating sirtuins, as well as the technologies that advance the targeted therapy of neurodegenerative disease.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnar K. Gouras

Age-related misfolding and aggregation of disease-linked proteins in selective brain regions is a characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases. Although neuropathological aggregates that characterize these various diseases are found at sites other than synapses, increasing evidence supports the idea that synapses are where the pathogenesis begins. Understanding these diseases is hampered by our lack of knowledge of what the normal functions of these proteins are and how they are affected by aging. Evidence has supported the idea that neurodegenerative disease-linked proteins have a common propensity for prion protein-like cell-to-cell propagation. However, it is not thought that the prion-like quality of these proteins/peptides that allows their cell-to-cell transmission implies a role for human-to-human spread in common age-related neurodegenerative diseases. It will be important to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms governing the role of these aggregating proteins in neural function, especially at synapses, how their propagation occurs and how pathogenesis is promoted by aging.


Author(s):  
C.W. Ritchie ◽  
J.M.J. Waymont ◽  
C. Pennington ◽  
K. Draper ◽  
A. Borthwick ◽  
...  

In order to address the oft-cited societal, economic, and health and social care impacts of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, we must move decisively from reactive to proactive clinical practice and to embed evidence-based brain health education throughout society. Most disease processes can be at least partially prevented, slowed, or reversed. We have long neglected to intervene in neurodegenerative disease processes, largely due to a misconception that their predominant symptom – cognitive decline – is a normal, age-related process, but also due to a lack of multi-disciplinary collaboration. We now understand that there are modifiable risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases, that successful management of common comorbidities (such as diabetes and hypertension) can reduce the incidence of neurodegenerative disease, and that disease processes begin (and, crucially, can be detected, reduced, and delayed, prevented, or treated) decades earlier in life than had previously been appreciated. Brain Health Scotland, established by Scottish Government and working in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland, propose far-reaching public health and clinical practice approaches to reduce neurodegenerative disease incidence. Focusing here on Brain Health Scotland’s clinical offerings, we present the Scottish Model for Brain Health Services. To our knowledge, the Scottish Model for Brain Health, built on foundations of personalised risk profiling, targeted risk reduction and prevention, early disease detection, equity of access, and harnessing comprehensive data to assist in clinical decision-making, marks the first example of a nationwide approach to overhauling clinical, societal, and political approaches to the prevention, assessment, and treatment of neurodegenerative disease.


2013 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 119-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Carroll ◽  
Graeme Hewitt ◽  
Viktor I. Korolchuk

Autophagy is a process of lysosome-dependent intracellular degradation that participates in the liberation of resources including amino acids and energy to maintain homoeostasis. Autophagy is particularly important in stress conditions such as nutrient starvation and any perturbation in the ability of the cell to activate or regulate autophagy can lead to cellular dysfunction and disease. An area of intense research interest is the role and indeed the fate of autophagy during cellular and organismal ageing. Age-related disorders are associated with increased cellular stress and assault including DNA damage, reduced energy availability, protein aggregation and accumulation of damaged organelles. A reduction in autophagy activity has been observed in a number of ageing models and its up-regulation via pharmacological and genetic methods can alleviate age-related pathologies. In particular, autophagy induction can enhance clearance of toxic intracellular waste associated with neurodegenerative diseases and has been comprehensively demonstrated to improve lifespan in yeast, worms, flies, rodents and primates. The situation, however, has been complicated by the identification that autophagy up-regulation can also occur during ageing. Indeed, in certain situations, reduced autophagosome induction may actually provide benefits to ageing cells. Future studies will undoubtedly improve our understanding of exactly how the multiple signals that are integrated to control appropriate autophagy activity change during ageing, what affect this has on autophagy and to what extent autophagy contributes to age-associated pathologies. Identification of mechanisms that influence a healthy lifespan is of economic, medical and social importance in our ‘ageing’ world.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Swapnil Gupta ◽  
Panpan You ◽  
Tanima SenGupta ◽  
Hilde Nilsen ◽  
Kulbhushan Sharma

Genomic integrity is maintained by DNA repair and the DNA damage response (DDR). Defects in certain DNA repair genes give rise to many rare progressive neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), such as ocular motor ataxia, Huntington disease (HD), and spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA). Dysregulation or dysfunction of DDR is also proposed to contribute to more common NDDs, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Here, we present mechanisms that link DDR with neurodegeneration in rare NDDs caused by defects in the DDR and discuss the relevance for more common age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, we highlight recent insight into the crosstalk between the DDR and other cellular processes known to be disturbed during NDDs. We compare the strengths and limitations of established model systems to model human NDDs, ranging from C. elegans and mouse models towards advanced stem cell-based 3D models.


Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 155 (2) ◽  
pp. 721-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa D Shippy ◽  
Jianhua Guo ◽  
Susan J Brown ◽  
Richard W Beeman ◽  
Robin E Denell

Abstract The Tribolium castaneum homeotic gene maxillopedia (mxp) is the ortholog of Drosophila proboscipedia (pb). Here we describe and classify available mxp alleles. Larvae lacking all mxp function die soon after hatching, exhibiting strong transformations of maxillary and labial palps to legs. Hypomorphic mxp alleles produce less severe transformations to leg. RNA interference with maxillopedia double-stranded RNA results in phenocopies of mxp mutant phenotypes ranging from partial to complete transformations. A number of gain-of-function (GOF) mxp alleles have been isolated based on transformations of adult antennae and/or legs toward palps. Finally, we have characterized the mxp expression pattern in wild-type and mutant embryos. In normal embryos, mxp is expressed in the maxillary and labial segments, whereas ectopic expression is observed in some GOF variants. Although mxp and Pb display very similar expression patterns, pb null embryos develop normally. The mxp mutant larval phenotype in Tribolium is consistent with the hypothesis that an ancestral pb-like gene had an embryonic function that was lost in the lineage leading to Drosophila.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4334
Author(s):  
Katrina Albert ◽  
Jonna Niskanen ◽  
Sara Kälvälä ◽  
Šárka Lehtonen

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a self-renewable pool of cells derived from an organism’s somatic cells. These can then be programmed to other cell types, including neurons. Use of iPSCs in research has been two-fold as they have been used for human disease modelling as well as for the possibility to generate new therapies. Particularly in complex human diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases, iPSCs can give advantages over traditional animal models in that they more accurately represent the human genome. Additionally, patient-derived cells can be modified using gene editing technology and further transplanted to the brain. Glial cells have recently become important avenues of research in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, for example, in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. This review focuses on using glial cells (astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes) derived from human iPSCs in order to give a better understanding of how these cells contribute to neurodegenerative disease pathology. Using glia iPSCs in in vitro cell culture, cerebral organoids, and intracranial transplantation may give us future insight into both more accurate models and disease-modifying therapies.


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