Clearance of mutant huntingtin.
Mutant huntingtin (htt) carries an expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) repeat (> 36 glutamines) in its N-terminal region, which leads htt to become misfolded and kill neuronal cells in Huntington disease (HD). The cytotoxicity of N-terminal mutant htt fragments is evident by severe neurological phenotypes of transgenic mice that express these htt fragments. Clearance of mutant htt is primarily mediated by the ubiquitin-proteasomal sysmtem (UPS) and autophagy. However, the relative efficiency of these two systems to remove toxic forms of mutant htt has not been rigorously compared. Using cellular and mouse models of HD, we found that inhibiting the UPS leads to a greater accumulation of mutant htt than inhibiting autophagy. Moreover, N-terminal mutant htt fragments, but not full-length mutant htt, accumulate in the HD mouse brains after inhibiting the UPS. These findings suggest that the UPS is more efficient than autophagy to remove N-terminal mutant htt.
Li
Xiao-Jiang
XJ
Li
He
H
Li
Shihua
S
D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D055879:Gene Knock-In Techniques; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / Q000378:metabolism*; D061988:Proteasome Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D017510:Protein Folding; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000378:metabolism
C086055:HTT protein, human; C506812:Htt protein, mouse; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D061988:Proteasome Inhibitors; D025801:Ubiquitin; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex