title: Amelioration of protein misfolding disease by rapamycin: translation or autophagy?
abstract: Rapamycin is an inhibitor of mTOR, a key component of the mTORC1 complex that controls the growth and survival of cells in response to growth factors, nutrients, energy balance and stresses. The downstream targets of mTORC1 include ribosome biogenesis, transcription, translation and macroautophagy. Recently it was proposed that rapamycin and its derivatives enhance the clearance (and/or reduce the accumulation) of mutant intracellular proteins causing proteinopathies such as tau, alpha-synuclein, ataxin-3, and full-length or fragments of huntingtin containing a polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion, by upregulating macroautophagy. We tested this proposal directly using macroautophagy-deficient fibroblasts. We found that rapamycin inhibits the aggregation of a fragment of huntingtin (exon 1) containing 97 polyQs similarly in macroautophagy-proficient (Atg5(+/+)) and macroautophagy-deficient (Atg5(-/-)) cells. These data demonstrate that autophagy is not the only mechanism by which rapamycin can alleviate the accumulation of misfolded proteins. Our data suggest that rapamycin inhibits mutant huntingtin fragment accumulation due to inhibition of protein synthesis. A model illustrates how a modest reduction in polyQ synthesis can lead to a long-lasting reduction in polyQ aggregation. We propose that several mechanisms exist by which rapamycin reduces the accumulation and potential toxicity of misfolded proteins in diseases caused by protein misfolding and aggregation.
authors.affiliation: Southampton Neuroscience Group, School of Biological Sciences, Southampton, UK. aw3@soton.ac.uk
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wyttenbach
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hands
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lipkow
authors.forename: Aviva M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tolkovsky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000378:metabolism*; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D000071187:Autophagy-Related Protein 5; D006801:Humans; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D000076222:Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1; D051379:Mice; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D011506:Proteins; D020123:Sirolimus / Q000378:metabolism*; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; C495773:Atg5 protein, mouse; D000071187:Autophagy-Related Protein 5; C506812:Htt protein, mouse; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000076222:Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; D020123:Sirolimus