title: Polyglutamine-mediated aggregation and cell death.
abstract: The expansion of CAG repeats is the genetic defect underlying eight neurodegenerative diseases. A common feature of these disorders is the presence of intracellular aggregates in neuronal cells. It is still unclear the significance of these cellular inclusions in the neurodegenerative process, since cell death without aggregate formation has been reported. We have constructed a synthetic fusion protein containing 17 or 43 CAG repeats and the green fluorescent protein that recapitulates the features of CAG-expanded alleles. Expression of 43, but not 17 CAG repeats results in formation of nuclear aggregates in human neuroblastoma cells. Moreover, the normal allele (17 CAG) is sequestered in the inclusion bodies. The presence of nuclear inclusions tightly correlates with apoptosis in cells expressing the protein encoding 43 CAG repeats. Cells harboring nuclear aggregates stop proliferation and undergo apoptosis. Moreover, the inhibition of protein degradation pathway increases intracellular aggregates and cell death. These data indicate that intranuclear aggregates induce apoptosis and suggest that the degradation of unfolded proteins improves cell survival.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Patologia Cellulare e Molecolare, Università di Napoli "Federico II", Via Pansini 5, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: de Cristofaro
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Affaitati
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Feliciello
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Avvedimento
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Varrone
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D017209:Apoptosis; D002455:Cell Division; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002470:Cell Survival; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D002479:Inclusion Bodies / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000378:metabolism; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex; D011485:Protein Binding; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020449:Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014162:Transfection; D019680:Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion / Q000235:genetics; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D010455:Peptides; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C097188:polyglutamine; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex