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Mills KA, Phillips O, Mahajan A. Hope vs. Hype I: Spreading alpha-synuclein explains cognitive deficits in Parkinson disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2024:106042. [PMID: 38365523 DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2024.106042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024]
Abstract
The Parkinson Study Group (PSG) gathered North American experts in Parkinson disease during the 9th Annual Symposium on "Shaping the Management of Parkinson Disease: Debating Current Controversies". Debaters were tasked with agree or disagree positions to a particular prompt. This is the first in three-part series of "Hype vs. Hope" debates involving current trends and advances in Parkinson disease. With the prompt of "Spreading alpha-synuclein explains cognitive deficits in Parkinson disease," Dr. Kelly Mills, MD, MHS was tasked with the "agree" stance and Dr. Abhimanyu Mahajan, MD, MHS was tasked with the "disagree" stance. The following point-of-view article is an adaptation of this debate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly A Mills
- Johns Hopkins Department of Neurology, Baltimore, MD600 N. Wolfe Street, Meyer 6-181D, 21287, United States.
| | - Oliver Phillips
- Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, 18 Old Etna Road, 03756, United States.
| | - Abhimanyu Mahajan
- The University of Cincinnati James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Center for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, OH, 260 Stetson St., Suite 2300, Cincinnati, 45219, United States.
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Chocarro J, Rico AJ, Ariznabarreta G, Roda E, Honrubia A, Collantes M, Peñuelas I, Vázquez A, Rodríguez-Pérez AI, Labandeira-García JL, Vila M, Lanciego JL. Neuromelanin accumulation drives endogenous synucleinopathy in non-human primates. Brain 2023; 146:5000-5014. [PMID: 37769648 PMCID: PMC10689915 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Although neuromelanin is a dark pigment characteristic of dopaminergic neurons in the human substantia nigra pars compacta, its potential role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) has often been neglected since most commonly used laboratory animals lack neuromelanin. Here we took advantage of adeno-associated viral vectors encoding the human tyrosinase gene for triggering a time-dependent neuromelanin accumulation within substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic neurons in macaques up to similar levels of pigmentation as observed in elderly humans. Furthermore, neuromelanin accumulation induced an endogenous synucleinopathy mimicking intracellular inclusions typically observed in PD together with a progressive degeneration of neuromelanin-expressing dopaminergic neurons. Moreover, Lewy body-like intracellular inclusions were observed in cortical areas of the frontal lobe receiving dopaminergic innervation, supporting a circuit-specific anterograde spread of endogenous synucleinopathy by permissive trans-synaptic templating. In summary, the conducted strategy resulted in the development and characterization of a new macaque model of PD matching the known neuropathology of this disorder with unprecedented accuracy. Most importantly, evidence is provided showing that intracellular aggregation of endogenous α-synuclein is triggered by neuromelanin accumulation, therefore any therapeutic approach intended to decrease neuromelanin levels may provide appealing choices for the successful implementation of novel PD therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Chocarro
- CNS Gene Therapy Program, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Aligning Science Across Parkinsons’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Alberto J Rico
- CNS Gene Therapy Program, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Aligning Science Across Parkinsons’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Goiaz Ariznabarreta
- CNS Gene Therapy Program, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Aligning Science Across Parkinsons’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Elvira Roda
- CNS Gene Therapy Program, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Aligning Science Across Parkinsons’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Adriana Honrubia
- CNS Gene Therapy Program, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Aligning Science Across Parkinsons’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - María Collantes
- Translational Molecular Imaging Unit, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
| | - Iván Peñuelas
- Translational Molecular Imaging Unit, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
| | - Alfonso Vázquez
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Servicio Navarro de Salud, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
| | - Ana I Rodríguez-Pérez
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Research Center for Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - José L Labandeira-García
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Research Center for Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Miquel Vila
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Aligning Science Across Parkinsons’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
- Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, Neurodegenerative Diseses Research Group, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Spain
| | - José L Lanciego
- CNS Gene Therapy Program, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (Ciberned-ISCIII), 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Aligning Science Across Parkinsons’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
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Synucleins: New Data on Misfolding, Aggregation and Role in Diseases. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10123241. [PMID: 36551997 PMCID: PMC9775291 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10123241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The synucleins are a family of natively unfolded (or intrinsically unstructured) proteins consisting of α-, β-, and γ-synuclein involved in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. The current number of publications on synucleins has exceeded 16.000. They remain the subject of constant interest for over 35 years. Two reasons explain this unchanging attention: synuclein's association with several severe human diseases and the lack of understanding of the functional roles under normal physiological conditions. We analyzed recent publications to look at the main trends and developments in synuclein research and discuss possible future directions. Traditional areas of peak research interest which still remain high among last year's publications are comparative studies of structural features as well as functional research on of three members of the synuclein family. Another popular research topic in the area is a mechanism of α-synuclein accumulation, aggregation, and fibrillation. Exciting fast-growing area of recent research is α-synuclein and epigenetics. We do not present here a broad and comprehensive review of all directions of studies but summarize only the most significant recent findings relevant to these topics and outline potential future directions.
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