Targeted depletion of TDP-43 expression in the spinal cord motor neurons leads to the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like phenotypes in mice.
|
| Abstract |
ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive and fatal motor neuron disease with no effective medicine. Importantly, the majority of the ALS cases are with TDP-43 proteinopathies characterized with TDP-43-positive, ubiquitin-positive inclusions (UBIs) in the cytosol. However, the role of the mismetabolism of TDP-43 in the pathogenesis of ALS with TDP-43 proteinopathies is unclear. Using the conditional mouse gene targeting approach, we show that mice with inactivation of the Tardbp gene in the spinal cord motor neurons (HB9:Cre-Tardbp(lx/-)) exhibit progressive and male-dominant development of ALS-related phenotypes including kyphosis, motor dysfunctions, muscle weakness/atrophy, motor neuron loss, and astrocytosis in the spinal cord. Significantly, ubiquitinated proteins accumulate in the TDP-43-depleted motor neurons of the spinal cords of HB9:Cre-Tardbp(lx/-) mice with the ALS phenotypes. This study not only establishes an important role of TDP-43 in the long term survival and functioning of the mammalian spinal cord motor neurons, but also establishes that loss of TDP-43 function could be one major cause for neurodegeneration in ALS with TDP-43 proteinopathies.
|
|---|---|
| Authors | Lien-Szu Wu, Wei-Cheng Cheng, C-K James Shen |
| Journal | The Journal of biological chemistry (J Biol Chem) Vol. 287 Issue 33 Pg. 27335-44 (Aug 10 2012) ISSN: 1083-351X [Electronic] United States |
| PMID | 22718760 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't) |
| Chemical References |
|
| Topics |
|
Join CureHunter, for free Research Interface BASIC access!
Realize the full power of the drug-disease research graph!