Skip to main content

The role of protein aggregates in neuronal pathology: guilty, innocent, or just trying to help?

  • Conference paper
Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders

Part of the book series: Journal of Neural Transmission. Supplementa ((NEURALTRANS,volume 70))

Summary

Protein aggregates such as Lewy bodies have done much for the scientists in the field of neurodegenerative diseases: They have highlighted the affected cell populations and they have trapped the mutant disease protein. Instead of a good reputation, however, protein aggregates have received incriminations, because they are consistently seen at the site of crime. Reviewing the arguments, crucial evidence has become known that (a) the specific neuronal pathology precedes the appearance of protein aggregates in mouse models of disease, (b) the neurodegenerative disease in patients occurs with comparable severity when visible protein aggregates remain absent, (c) the neurotoxicity in vitro is best reproduced by oligomers, not polymers of the mutant disease protein. Is it feasible that protein aggregates are inert byproducts of the disease protein malconformation, or that they even represent beneficial cellular efforts to sequestrate the soluble toxic disease protein, together with normal or aberrant interactor proteins? Whatever the answer will be, one positive role of protein aggregates seems clear: In contrast to earlier speculations that random cytoplasmic proteins are trapped within the aggregates, scientists now believe that the composition of the Lewy body reflects the network of interactions between crucial players in disease pathogenesis, such as the PARK1, PARK2 and PARK5 protein.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bandopadhyay R, de Silva R, Khan N, Graham E, Vaughan J, Engelender S, Ross C, Morris H, Morris C, Wood NW, Daniel S, Lees A (2001) No pathogenic mutations in the synphilin-1 gene in Parkinson’s disease. Neurosci Lett 307(2): 125–127

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bonifati V, Rizzu P, van Baren MJ, Schaap O, Breedveld GJ, Krieger E, Dekker MC, Squitieri F, Ibanez P, Joosse M, van Dongen JW, Vanacore N, van Swieten JC, Brice A, Meco G, van Duijn CM, Oostra BA, Heutink P (2003) Mutations in the DJ-1 gene associated with autosomal recessive earlyonset parkinsonism. Science 299(5604): 256–259

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bowman AB, Yoo SY, Dantuma NP, Zoghbi HY (2005) Neuronal dysfunction in a polyglutamine disease model occurs in the absence of ubiquitin-proteasome system impairment and inversely correlates with the degree of nuclear inclusion formation. Hum Mol Genet 14(5): 679–691

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Braak H, Del Tredici K, Bratzke H, Hamm-Clement J, Sandmann-Keil D, Rub U (2002) Staging of the intracerebral inclusion body pathology associated with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (preclinical and clinical stages). J Neurol 249[Suppl 3]: III/1–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Cabin DE, Shimazu K, Murphy D, Cole NB, Gottschalk W, McIlwain KL, Orrison B, Chen A, Ellis CE, Paylor R, Lu B, Nussbaum RL (2002) Synaptic vesicle depletion correlates with attenuated synaptic responses to prolonged repetitive stimulation in mice lacking alpha-synuclein. J Neurosci 22(20): 8797–8807

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cabin DE, Gispert-Sanchez S, Murphy D, Auburger G, Myers RR, Nussbaum RL (2005) Exacerbated synucleinopathy in mice expressing A53T SNCA on a Snca null background. Neurobiol Aging 26(1): 25–35

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chung KK, Zhang Y, Lim KL, Tanaka Y, Huang H, Gao J, Ross CA, Dawson VL, Dawson TM (2001) Parkin ubiquitinates the alpha-synuclein-interacting protein, synphilin-1: implications for Lewybody formation in Parkinson disease. Nat Med 7(10): 1144–1150

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Conway KA, Lee SJ, Rochet JC, Ding TT, Williamson RE, Lansbury PT Jr (2000) Acceleration of oligomerization, not fibrillization, is a shared property of both alpha-synuclein mutations linked to earlyonset Parkinson’s disease: implications for pathogenesis and therapy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97(2): 571–576

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crowther DC, Kinghorn KJ, Miranda E, Page R, Curry JA, Duthie FA, Gubb DC, Lomas DA (2005) Intraneuronal Abeta, non-amyloid aggregates and neurodegeneration in a Drosophila model of Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroscience 132(1): 123–135

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Davies SW, Turmaine M, Cozens BA, DiFiglia M, Sharp AH, Ross CA, Scherzinger E, Wanker EE, Mangiarini L, Bates GP (1997) Formation of neuronal intranuclear inclusions underlies the neurological dysfunction in mice transgenic for the HD mutation. Cell 90(3): 537–548

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dickson DW, Schmidt ML, Lee VM, Zhao ML, Yen SH, Trojanowski JQ (1994) Immunoreactivity profile of hippocampal CA2/3 neurites in diffuse Lewy body disease. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 87(3): 269–276

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dickson DW, Lin W, Liu WK, Yen SH (1999) Multiple system atrophy: a sporadic synucleinopathy. Brain Pathol 9(4): 721–732

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson KM, Li W, Ching KA, Batalov S, Tsai CC, Joazeiro CA (2003) Ubiquitin-mediated sequestration of normal cellular proteins into polyglutamine aggregates. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100(15): 8892–8897

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Doss-Pepe EW, Chen L, Madura K (2005) Alphasynuclein and parkin contribute to the assembly of ubiquitin lysine 63-linked multiubiquitin chains. J Biol Chem 280(17): 16619–16624

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Duda JE, Lee VM, Trojanowski JQ (2000) Neuropathology of synuclein aggregates. J Neurosci Res 61(2): 121–127

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eigen M (1996) Prionics or the kinetic basis of prion diseases. Biophys Chem 63(1): A1–A18

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Engelender S, Kaminsky Z, Guo X, Sharp AH, Amaravi RK, Kleiderlein JJ, Margolis RL, Troncoso JC, Lanahan AA, Worley PF, Dawson VL, Dawson TM, Ross CA (1999) Synphilin-1 associates with alpha-synuclein and promotes the formation of cytosolic inclusions. Nat Genet 22(1): 110–114

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farrer M, Chan P, Chen R, Tan L, Lincoln S, Hernandez D, Forno L, Gwinn-Hardy K, Petrucelli L, Hussey J, Singleton A, Tanner C, Hardy J, Langston JW (2001) Lewy bodies and parkinsonism in families with parkin mutations. Ann Neurol 50(3): 293–300

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fassbender K, Masters C, Beyreuther K (2001) Alzheimer’s disease: molecular concepts and therapeutic targets. Naturwissenschaften 88(6): 261–267

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Findeis MA (2002) Peptide inhibitors of beta amyloid aggregation. Curr Top Med Chem 2(4): 417–423

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Francotte P, Graindorge E, Boverie S, de Tullio P, Pirotte B (2004) New trends in the design of drugs against Alzheimer’s disease. Curr Med Chem 11(13): 1757–1778

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gispert S, Del Turco D, Garrett L, Chen A, Bernard DJ, Hamm-Clement J, Korf HW, Deller T, Braak H, Auburger G, Nussbaum RL (2003) Transgenic mice expressing mutant A53T human alpha-synuclein show neuronal dysfunction in the absence of aggregate formation. Mol Cell Neurosci 24(2): 419–429

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gomez-Tortosa E, Newell K, Irizarry MC, Sanders JL, Hyman BT (2000) Alpha-Synuclein immunoreactivity in dementia with Lewy bodies: morphological staging and comparison with ubiquitin immunostaining. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 99(4): 352–357

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heiser V, Scherzinger E, Boeddrich A, Nordhoff E, Lurz R, Schugardt N, Lehrach H, Wanker EE (2000) Inhibition of huntingtin fibrillogenesis by specific antibodies and small molecules: implications for Huntington’s disease therapy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97(12): 6739–6744

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huynh DP, Figueroa K, Hoang N, Pulst SM (2000) Nuclear localization or inclusion body formation of ataxin-2 are not necessary for SCA2 pathogenesis in mouse or human. Nat Genet 26(1): 44–50

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim RH, Peters M, Jang Y, Shi W, Pintilie M, Fletcher GC, DeLuca C, Liepa J, Zhou L, Snow B, Binari RC, Manoukian AS, Bray MR, Liu FF, Tsao MS, Mak TW(2005) DJ-1, a novel regulator of the tumor suppressor PTEN. Cancer Cell 7(3): 263–273

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, Nollen EA, Kitagawa K, Bindokas VP, Morimoto RI (2002) Polyglutamine protein aggregates are dynamic. Nat Cell Biol 4(10): 826–831

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koyano S, Uchihara T, Fujigasaki H, Nakamura A, Yagishita S, Iwabuchi K (1999) Neuronal intranuclear inclusions in spinocerebellar ataxia type 2: triple-labeling immunofluorescent study. Neurosci Lett 273(2): 117–120

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koyano S, Iwabuchi K, Yagishita S, Kuroiwa Y, Uchihara T (2002) Paradoxical absence of nuclear inclusion in cerebellar Purkinje cells of hereditary ataxias linked to CAG expansion. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 73(4): 450–452

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kruger R, Fischer C, Schulte T, Strauss KM, Muller T, Woitalla D, Berg D, Hungs M, Gobbele R, Berger K, Epplen JT, Riess O, Schols L (2003) Mutation analysis of the neurofilamentMgene in Parkinson’s disease. Neurosci Lett 351(2): 125–129

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuemmerle S, Gutekunst CA, Klein AM, Li XJ, Li SH, Beal MF, Hersch SM, Ferrante RJ (1999) Huntington aggregates may not predict neuronal death in Huntington’s disease. Ann Neurol 46(6): 842–849

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Iwatsubo T, Yamaguchi H, Fujimuro M, Yokosawa H, Ihara Y, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM (1996) Lewy bodies: purification from diffuse Lewy body disease brains. Ann NY Acad Sci 786: 195–205

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee G, Junn E, Tanaka M, Kim YM, Mouradian MM (2002) Synphilin-1 degradation by the ubiquitinproteasome pathway and effects on cell survival. J Neurochem 83(2): 346–352

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leroy E, Boyer R, Auburger G, Leube B, Ulm G, Mezey E, Harta G, Brownstein MJ, Jonnalagada S, Chernova T, Dehejia A, Lavedan C, Gasser T, Steinbach PJ, Wilkinson KD, Polymeropoulos MH (1998) The ubiquitin pathway in Parkinson’s disease. Nature 395(6701): 451–452

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Fallon L, Lashuel HA, Liu Z, Lansbury PT Jr (2002) The UCH-L1 gene encodes two opposing enzymatic activities that affect alpha-synuclein degradation and Parkinson’s disease susceptibility. Cell 111(2): 209–218

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzetti D, Watase K, Xu B, Matzuk MM, Orr HT, Zoghbi HY (2000) Repeat instability and motor incoordination in mice with a targeted expanded CAG repeat in the Sca1 locus. Hum Mol Genet 9(5): 779–785

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzo A, Yankner BA (1994) Beta-amyloid neurotoxicity requires fibril formation and is inhibited by congo red. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91(25): 12243–12247

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mandelkow EM, Mandelkow E (1998) Tau in Alzheimer’s disease. Trends Cell Biol 8(11): 425–427

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maraganore DM, Lesnick TG, Elbaz A, Chartier-Harlin MC, Gasser T, Kruger R, Hattori N, Mellick GD, Quattrone A, Satoh J, Toda T, Wang J, Ioannidis JP, de Andrade M, Rocca WA, UCHL1 Global Genetics Consortium (2004) UCHL1 is a Parkinson’s disease susceptibility gene. Ann Neurol 55(4): 512–521

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCampbell A, Taylor JP, Taye AA, Robitschek J, Li M, Walcott J, Merry D, Chai Y, Paulson H, Sobue G, Fischbeck KH (2000) CREB-binding protein sequestration by expanded polyglutamine. Hum Mol Genet 9(14): 2197–2202

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McNaught KS, Perl DP, Brownell AL, Olanow CW (2004) Systemic exposure to proteasome inhibitors causes a progressive model of Parkinson’s disease. Ann Neurol 56(1): 149–162

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Menalled LB, Sison JD, Dragatsis I, Zeitlin S, Chesselet MF (2003) Time course of early motor and neuropathological anomalies in a knock-in mouse model of Huntington’s disease with 140 CAG repeats. J Comp Neurol 465(1): 11–26

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mitsui K, Nakayama H, Akagi T, Nekooki M, Ohtawa K, Takio K, Hashikawa T, Nukina N (2002) Purification of polyglutamine aggregates and identification of elongation factor-1alpha and heat shock protein 84 as aggregate-interacting proteins. J Neurosci 22(21): 9267–9277

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami T, Shoji M, Imai Y, Inoue H, Kawarabayashi T, Matsubara E, Harigaya Y, Sasaki A, Takahashi R, Abe K (2004) Pael-R is accumulated in Lewy bodies of Parkinson’s disease. Ann Neurol 55(3): 439–442

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murrell J, Farlow M, Ghetti B, Benson MD (1991) A mutation in the amyloid precursor protein associated with hereditary Alzheimer’s disease. Science 254(5028): 97–99

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neumann M, Kahle PJ, Giasson BI, Ozmen L, Borroni E, Spooren W, Muller V, Odoy S, Fujiwara H, Hasegawa M, Iwatsubo T, Trojanowski JQ, Kretzschmar HA, Haass C (2002) Misfolded proteinase K-resistant hyperphosphorylated alphasynuclein in aged transgenic mice with locomotor deterioration and in human alpha-synucleinopathies. J Clin Invest 110(10): 1429–1439

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Polymeropoulos MH, Lavedan C, Leroy E, Ide SE, Dehejia A, Dutra A, Pike B, Root H, Rubenstein J, Boyer R, Stenroos ES, Chandrasekharappa S, Athanassiadou A, Papapetropoulos T, Johnson WG, Lazzarini AM, Duvoisin RC, Di Iorio G, Golbe LI, Nussbaum RL (1997) Mutation in the alpha-synuclein gene identified in families with Parkinson’s disease. Science 276(5321): 2045–2047

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prusiner SB (1998) The prion diseases. Brain Pathol 8(3): 499–513

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pulst SM, Nechiporuk A, Nechiporuk T, Gispert S, Chen XN, Lopes-Cendes I, Pearlman S, Starkman S, Orozco-Diaz G, Lunkes A, DeJong P, Rouleau GA, Auburger G, Korenberg JR, Figueroa C, Sahba S (1996) Moderate expansion of a normally biallelic trinucleotide repeat in spinocerebellar ataxia type 2. Nat Genet 14(3): 269–276

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rochet JC, Outeiro TF, Conway KA, Ding TT, Volles MJ, Lashuel HA, Bieganski RM, Lindquist SL, Lansbury PT (2004) Interactions among alphasynuclein, dopamine, and biomembranes: some clues for understanding neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease. J Mol Neurosci 23(1—2): 23–34

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saigoh K, Wang YL, Suh JG, Yamanishi T, Sakai Y, Kiyosawa H, Harada T, Ichihara N, Wakana S, Kikuchi T, Wada K (1999) Intragenic deletion in the gene encoding ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase in gad mice. Nat Genet 23(1): 47–51

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez I, Mahlke C, Yuan J (2003) Pivotal role of oligomerization in expanded polyglutamine neurodegenerative disorders. Nature 421(6921): 373–379

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schlossmacher MG, Frosch MP, Gai WP, Medina M, Sharma N, Forno L, Ochiishi T, Shimura H, Sharon R, Hattori N, Langston JW, Mizuno Y, Hyman BT, Selkoe DJ, Kosik KS (2002) Parkin localizes to the Lewy bodies of Parkinson disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. Am J Pathol 160(5): 1655–1667

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shimura H, Hattori N, Kubo S, Yoshikawa M, Kitada T, Matsumine H, Asakawa S, Minoshima S, Yamamura Y, Shimizu N, Mizuno Y (1999) Immunohistochemical and subcellular localization of Parkin protein: absence of protein in autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism patients. Ann Neurol 45(5): 668–672

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shimura H, Hattori N, Kubo S, Mizuno Y, Asakawa S, Minoshima S, Shimizu N, Iwai K, Chiba T, Tanaka K, Suzuki T (2000) Familial Parkinson disease gene product, parkin, is a ubiquitin-protein ligase. Nat Genet 25(3): 302–305

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shimura H, Schlossmacher MG, Hattori N, Frosch MP, Trockenbacher A, Schneider R, Mizuno Y, Kosik KS, Selkoe DJ (2001) Ubiquitination of a new form of alpha-synuclein by parkin from human brain: implications for Parkinson’s disease. Science 293(5528): 263–269

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Spillantini MG, Schmidt ML, Lee VM, Trojanowski JQ, Jakes R, Goedert M (1997) Alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies. Nature 388(6645): 839–840

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Talaga P (2001) Beta-amyloid aggregation inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: dream or reality? Mini Rev Med Chem 1(2): 175–186

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tandon A, Fraser P (2002) The presenilins. Genome Biol 3(11): reviews 3014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tateishi J, Kitamoto T (1995) Inherited prion diseases and transmission to rodents. Brain Pathol 5(1): 53–59

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Valente EM, Abou-Sleiman PM, Caputo V, Muqit MM, Harvey K, Gispert S, Ali Z, Del Turco D, Bentivoglio AR, Healy DG, Albanese A, Nussbaum R, Gonzalez-Maldonado R, Deller T, Salvi S, Cortelli P, Gilks WP, Latchman DS, Harvey RJ, Dallapiccola B, Auburger G, Wood NW (2004) Hereditary early-onset Parkinson’s disease caused by mutations in PINK1. Science 304(5674): 1158–1160

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Gines S, MacDonald ME, Gusella JF (2005) Reversal of a full-length mutant huntingtin neuronal cell phenotype by chemical inhibitors of polyglutamine-mediated aggregation. BMC Neurosci 6(1): 1

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zimprich A, Biskup S, Leitner P, Lichtner P, Farrer M, Lincoln S, Kachergus J, Hulihan M, Uitti RJ, Calne DB, Stoessl AJ, Pfeiffer RF, Patenge N, Carbajal IC, Vieregge P, Asmus F, Muller-Myhsok B, Dickson DW, Meitinger T, Strom TM, Wszolek ZK, Gasser T (2004) Mutations in LRRK2 cause autosomal-dominant parkinsonism with pleomorphic pathology. Neuron 44(4): 601–607

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zoghbi HY, Orr HT (2000) Glutamine repeats and neurodegeneration. Annu Rev Neurosci 23: 217–247

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2006 Springer-Verlag

About this paper

Cite this paper

Gispert-Sanchez, S., Auburger, G. (2006). The role of protein aggregates in neuronal pathology: guilty, innocent, or just trying to help?. In: Riederer, P., Reichmann, H., Youdim, M.B.H., Gerlach, M. (eds) Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders. Journal of Neural Transmission. Supplementa, vol 70. Springer, Vienna . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-45295-0_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-45295-0_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-211-28927-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-211-45295-0

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics