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Witkamp D, Oudejans E, Hoogterp L, Hu-A-Ng GV, Glaittli KA, Stevenson TJ, Huijsmans M, Abbink TEM, van der Knaap MS, Bonkowsky JL. Lithium: effects in animal models of vanishing white matter are not promising. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1275744. [PMID: 38352041 PMCID: PMC10861708 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1275744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Vanishing white matter (VWM) is a devastating autosomal recessive leukodystrophy, resulting in neurological deterioration and premature death, and without curative treatment. Pathogenic hypomorphic variants in subunits of the eukaryotic initiation factor 2B (eIF2B) cause VWM. eIF2B is required for regulating the integrated stress response (ISR), a physiological response to cellular stress. In patients' central nervous system, reduced eIF2B activity causes deregulation of the ISR. In VWM mouse models, the extent of ISR deregulation correlates with disease severity. One approach to restoring eIF2B activity is by inhibition of GSK3β, a kinase that phosphorylates eIF2B and reduces its activity. Lithium, an inhibitor of GSK3β, is thus expected to stimulate eIF2B activity and ameliorate VWM symptoms. The effects of lithium were tested in zebrafish and mouse VWM models. Lithium improved motor behavior in homozygous eif2b5 mutant zebrafish. In lithium-treated 2b4he2b5ho mutant mice, a paradoxical increase in some ISR transcripts was found. Furthermore, at the dosage tested, lithium induced significant polydipsia in both healthy controls and 2b4he2b5ho mutant mice and did not increase the expression of other markers of lithium efficacy. In conclusion, lithium is not a drug of choice for further development in VWM based on the limited or lack of efficacy and significant side-effect profile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diede Witkamp
- Child Neurology, Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Ellen Oudejans
- Child Neurology, Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Leoni Hoogterp
- Child Neurology, Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Gino V. Hu-A-Ng
- Child Neurology, Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Kathryn A. Glaittli
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Tamara J. Stevenson
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Marleen Huijsmans
- Child Neurology, Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Truus E. M. Abbink
- Child Neurology, Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Marjo S. van der Knaap
- Child Neurology, Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Joshua L. Bonkowsky
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
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Keefe MD, Soderholm HE, Shih HY, Stevenson TJ, Glaittli KA, Bowles DM, Scholl E, Colby S, Merchant S, Hsu EW, Bonkowsky JL. Vanishing white matter disease expression of truncated EIF2B5 activates induced stress response. eLife 2020; 9:56319. [PMID: 33300869 PMCID: PMC7752137 DOI: 10.7554/elife.56319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/09/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Vanishing white matter disease (VWM) is a severe leukodystrophy of the central nervous system caused by mutations in subunits of the eukaryotic initiation factor 2B complex (eIF2B). Current models only partially recapitulate key disease features, and pathophysiology is poorly understood. Through development and validation of zebrafish (Danio rerio) models of VWM, we demonstrate that zebrafish eif2b mutants phenocopy VWM, including impaired somatic growth, early lethality, effects on myelination, loss of oligodendrocyte precursor cells, increased apoptosis in the CNS, and impaired motor swimming behavior. Expression of human EIF2B2 in the zebrafish eif2b2 mutant rescues lethality and CNS apoptosis, demonstrating conservation of function between zebrafish and human. In the mutants, intron 12 retention leads to expression of a truncated eif2b5 transcript. Expression of the truncated eif2b5 in wild-type larva impairs motor behavior and activates the ISR, suggesting that a feed-forward mechanism in VWM is a significant component of disease pathophysiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew D Keefe
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Haille E Soderholm
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Hung-Yu Shih
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Tamara J Stevenson
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Kathryn A Glaittli
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - D Miranda Bowles
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Erika Scholl
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Samuel Colby
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Samer Merchant
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Edward W Hsu
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
| | - Joshua L Bonkowsky
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States.,Brain and Spine Center, Primary Children's Hospital, Salt Lake City, United States
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