Importance of lipids for upper motor neuron health and disease

Mutations and Protein Interaction Landscape Reveal Key Cellular Events Perturbed in Upper Motor Neurons with HSP and PLS

Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) and primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) are rare motor neuron diseases, which affect mostly the upper motor neurons (UMNs) in patients. The UMNs display early vulnerability and progressive degeneration, while other cortical neurons mostly remain functional. Identification of numerous mutations either directly linked or associated with HSP and PLS begins to reveal the genetic component of UMN diseases. Since each of these mutations are identified on genes that code for a protein, and because cellular functions mostly depend on protein-protein interactions, we hypothesized that the mutations detected in patients and the alterations in protein interaction domains would hold the key to unravel the underlying causes of their vulnerability. In an effort to bring a mechanistic insight, we utilized computational analyses to identify interaction partners of proteins and developed the protein-protein interaction landscape with respect to HSP and PLS. Protein-protein interaction domains, upstream regulators and canonical pathways begin to highlight key cellular events. Here we report that proteins involved in maintaining lipid homeostasis and cytoarchitectural dynamics and their interactions are of great importance for UMN health and stability. Their perturbation may result in neuronal vulnerability, and thus maintaining their balance could offer therapeutic interventions.