title: Transduced Tat-alpha-synuclein protects against oxidative stress in vitro and in vivo.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder and is characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Although many studies showed that the aggregation of alpha-synuclein might be involved in the pathogenesis of PD, its protective properties against oxidative stress remain to be elucidated. In this study, human wild type and mutant alpha-synuclein genes were fused with a gene fragment encoding the nine amino acid transactivator of transcription (Tat) protein transduction domain of HIV-1 in a bacterial expression vector to produce a genetic in-frame WT Tat-alpha-synuclein (wild type) and mutant Tat-alpha-synucleins (mutants; A30P and A53T), respectively, and we investigated the protective effects of wild type and mutant Tat-alpha-synucleins in vitro and in vivo. WT Tat-alpha-synuclein rapidly transduced into an astrocyte cells and protected the cells against paraquat induced cell death. However, mutant Tat-alpha-synucleins did not protect at all. In the mice models exposed to the herbicide paraquat, the WT Tat-alpha-synuclein completely protected against dopaminergic neuronal cell death, whereas mutants failed in protecting against oxidative stress. We found that these protective effects were characterized by increasing the expression level of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in the neuronal cells and this expression level was dependent on the concentration of transduced WT Tat-alpha-synuclein. These results suggest that transduced Tat-alpha-synuclein might protect cell death from oxidative stress by increasing the expression level of HSP70 in vitro and in vivo and this may be of potential therapeutic benefit in the pathogenesis of PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Hallym University, Chunchon, Korea. sychoi@hallym.ac.kr
authors.forename: Hee Soon
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sun Hwa
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: So Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jae Jin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Seok Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Dae Won
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ki Yeon
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Moo Ho
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Won
authors.forename: Tae Cheon
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Hyung Joo
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Jung Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Sung Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Oh Shin
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Jin Hi
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jinseu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Won Sik
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Eum
authors.forename: Soo Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D016923:Cell Death; D002470:Cell Survival; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000235:genetics; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009154:Mutation; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000517:prevention & control; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D010269:Paraquat; D020734:Parkinsonian Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology; D021381:Protein Transport; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014161:Transduction, Genetic; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015696:Gene Products, tat; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D051844:alpha-Synuclein; D010269:Paraquat