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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Tiago OuteiroORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© 2020 The Authors. The FASEB Journal published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. α-synuclein (aSyn) is a major player in Parkinson's disease and a group of other disorders collectively known as synucleinopathies, but the precise molecular mechanisms involved are still unclear. aSyn, as virtually all proteins, undergoes a series of posttranslational modifications during its lifetime, which can affect its biology and pathobiology. We recently showed that glycation of aSyn by methylglyoxal (MGO) potentiates its oligomerization and toxicity, induces dopaminergic neuronal cell loss in mice, and affects motor performance in flies. Small heat-shock proteins (sHsps) are molecular chaperones that facilitate the folding of proteins or target misfolded proteins for clearance. Importantly, sHsps were shown to prevent aSyn aggregation and cytotoxicity. Upon treating cells with increasing amounts of methylglyoxal, we found that the levels of Hsp27 decreased in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, we hypothesized that restoring the levels of Hsp27 in glycating environments could alleviate the pathogenicity of aSyn. Consistently, we found that Hsp27 reduced MGO-induced aSyn aggregation in cells, leading to the formation of nontoxic aSyn species. Remarkably, increasing the levels of Hsp27 suppressed the deleterious effects induced by MGO. Our findings suggest that in glycating environments, the levels of Hsp27 are important for modulating the glycation-associated cellular pathologies in synucleinopathies.
Author(s): Vicente Miranda H, Chegao A, Oliveira MS, Fernandes Gomes B, Enguita FJ, Outeiro TF
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: FASEB Journal
Year: 2020
Volume: 34
Issue: 5
Pages: 6718-6728
Print publication date: 01/05/2020
Online publication date: 07/04/2020
Acceptance date: 12/03/2020
Date deposited: 25/06/2021
ISSN (print): 0892-6638
ISSN (electronic): 1530-6860
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.201902936R
DOI: 10.1096/fj.201902936R
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