Cell line specific modulation of extracellular aβ42 by Hsp40

The HSP40 chaperone Ydj1 drives amyloid beta 42 toxicity

Amyloid beta 42 (Abeta42) is the principal trigger of neurodegeneration during Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the etiology of its noxious cellular effects remains elusive. In a combinatory genetic and proteomic approach using a yeast model to study aspects of intracellular Abeta42 toxicity, we here identify the HSP40 family member Ydj1, the yeast orthologue of human DnaJA1, as a crucial factor in Abeta42-mediated cell death. We demonstrate that Ydj1/DnaJA1 physically interacts with Abeta42 (in yeast and mouse), stabilizes Abeta42 oligomers, and mediates their translocation to mitochondria. Consequently, deletion of YDJ1 strongly reduces co-purification of Abeta42 with mitochondria and prevents Abeta42-induced mitochondria-dependent cell death. Consistently, purified DnaJ chaperone delays Abeta42 fibrillization in vitro, and heterologous expression of human DnaJA1 induces formation of Abeta42 oligomers and their deleterious translocation to mitochondria in vivo. Finally, downregulation of the Ydj1 fly homologue, Droj2, improves stress resistance, mitochondrial morphology, and memory performance in a Drosophila melanogaster AD model. These data reveal an unexpected and detrimental role for specific HSP40s in promoting hallmarks of Abeta42 toxicity.

Extracellular heat shock proteins: a new location, a new function

The expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) is a basic and well-conserved cellular response to an array of stresses. These proteins are involved in the repair of cellular damage induced by the stress, which is necessary for the salutary resolution from the insult. Moreover, they confer protection from subsequent insults, which has been coined stress tolerance. Because these proteins are expressed in subcellular compartments, it was thought that their function during stress conditions was circumscribed to the intracellular environment. However, it is now well established that HSPs can also be present outside cells where they appear to display a function different than the well-understood chaperone role. Extracellular HSPs act as alert stress signals priming other cells, particularly of the immune system, to avoid the propagation of the insult and favor resolution. Because the majority of HSPs do not possess a secretory peptide signal, they are likely to be exported by a nonclassic secretory pathway. Different mechanisms have been proposed to explain the export of HSPs, including translocation across the plasma membrane and release associated with lipid vesicles, as well as the passive release after cell death by necrosis. Extracellular HSPs appear in various flavors, including membrane-bound and membrane-free forms. All of these variants of extracellular HSPs suggest that their interactions with cells may be quite diverse, both in target cell types and the activation signaling pathways. This review addresses some of our current knowledge about the release and relevance of extracellular HSPs.

Barcoding heat shock proteins to human diseases: looking beyond the heat shock response

There are numerous human diseases that are associated with protein misfolding and the formation of toxic protein aggregates. Activating the heat shock response (HSR)--and thus generally restoring the disturbed protein homeostasis associated with such diseases--has often been suggested as a therapeutic strategy. However, most data on activating the HSR or its downstream targets in mouse models of diseases associated with aggregate formation have been rather disappointing. The human chaperonome consists of many more heat shock proteins (HSPs) that are not regulated by the HSR, however, and researchers are now focusing on these as potential therapeutic targets. In this Review, we summarize the existing literature on a set of aggregation diseases and propose that each of them can be characterized or 'barcoded' by a different set of HSPs that can rescue specific types of aggregation. Some of these 'non-canonical' HSPs have demonstrated effectiveness in vivo, in mouse models of protein-aggregation disease. Interestingly, several of these HSPs also cause diseases when mutated--so-called chaperonopathies--which are also discussed in this Review.