| First Author | Basso M | Year | 2009 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 12 | Pages | e8130 |
| PubMed ID | 19956584 | Mgi Jnum | J:155974 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:4418413 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0008130 |
| Citation | Basso M, et al. (2009) Characterization of detergent-insoluble proteins in ALS indicates a causal link between nitrative stress and aggregation in pathogenesis. PLoS One 4(12):e8130 |
| abstractText | BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal motor neuron disease, and protein aggregation has been proposed as a possible pathogenetic mechanism. However, the aggregate protein constituents are poorly characterized so knowledge on the role of aggregation in pathogenesis is limited. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We carried out a proteomic analysis of the protein composition of the insoluble fraction, as a model of protein aggregates, from familial ALS (fALS) mouse model at different disease stages. We identified several proteins enriched in the detergent-insoluble fraction already at a preclinical stage, including intermediate filaments, chaperones and mitochondrial proteins. Aconitase, HSC70 and cyclophilin A were also significantly enriched in the insoluble fraction of spinal cords of ALS patients. Moreover, we found that the majority of proteins in mice and HSP90 in patients were tyrosine-nitrated. We therefore investigated the role of nitrative stress in aggregate formation in fALS-like murine motor neuron-neuroblastoma (NSC-34) cell lines. By inhibiting nitric oxide synthesis the amount of insoluble proteins, particularly aconitase, HSC70, cyclophilin A and SOD1 can be substantially reduced. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Analysis of the insoluble fractions from cellular/mouse models and human tissues revealed novel aggregation-prone proteins and suggests that nitrative stress contribute to protein aggregate formation in ALS. |
