Cell-to-Cell Transmission of Dipeptide Repeat Proteins Linked to C9orf72 -ALS/FTD

• DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.032
• Publication Date: 2016-10-11T16:00:27Z
• Authors: Thomas Westergard; Brigid K. Jensen; Xinmei Wen; Jingli Cai; Elizabeth Kropf; Lorraine Iacovitti; Piera Pasinelli; Davide Trotti
• Keywords: Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid; 0301 basic medicine; QH301-705.5; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; exosomes; Exosomes; Vickie and Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience; 03 medical and health sciences; C9orf72; propagation; Animals; Humans; Biology (General); Jefferson Weinberg ALS Center; Motor Neurons; Neurons; dipeptide repeat proteins; C9orf72 Protein; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; FTD; Dipeptides; cell-to-cell transmission; Department of Neuroscience; Rats; Thomas Jefferson University; Spinal Cord; Other Medical Sciences; Frontotemporal Dementia; Stem Cell Center; DPR; ALS; Neuroglia

Aberrant hexanucleotide repeat expansions in C9orf72 are the most common genetic change underlying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). RNA transcripts containing these expansions undergo repeat-associated non-ATG translation (RAN-T) to form five dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs). DPRs are found as aggregates throughout the CNS of C9orf72-ALS/FTD patients, and some cause degeneration when expressed in vitro in neuronal cultures and in vivo in animal models. The spread of characteristic disease-related proteins drives the progression of pathology in many neurodegenerative diseases. While DPR toxic mechanisms continue to be investigated, the potential for DPRs to spread has yet to be determined. Using different experimental cell culture platforms, including spinal motor neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells from C9orf72-ALS patients, we found evidence for cell-to-cell spreading of DPRs via exosome-dependent and exosome-independent pathways, which may be relevant to disease.