bims-nenemi Biomed News
on Neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration and mitochondria
Issue of 2021‒12‒19
thirteen papers selected by
Marco Tigano
Thomas Jefferson University
  1. Multifaceted Roles of Mitochondrial Stress Responses under ETC Dysfunction - Repair, Destruction and Pathogenesis.
  2. The role of mitochondrial dynamics in mtDNA maintenance.
  3. Hypoxia Regulates Endogenous Double-Stranded RNA Production via Reduced Mitochondrial DNA Transcription.
  4. IGFBP-3 functions as a molecular switch that mediates mitochondrial and metabolic homeostasis.
  5. Enzymatic Delivery of Magnetic Nanoparticles into Mitochondria of Live Cells.
  6. PINK1 signalling in neurodegenerative disease.
  7. Crosstalk between anticancer drugs and mitochondrial functions.
  8. Cytoplasmic innate immune sensing by the caspase-4 non-canonical inflammasome promotes cellular senescence.
  9. MRE11-dependent instability in mitochondrial DNA fork protection activates a cGAS immune signaling pathway.
  10. ZFP36 protects against oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation-induced mitochondrial fragmentation and neuronal apoptosis through inhibiting NOX4-DRP1 pathway.
  11. The mining and construction of a knowledge base for gene-disease association in mitochondrial diseases.
  12. Copper depletion modulates mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to impair triple negative breast cancer metastasis.
  13. ER proteins decipher the tubulin code to regulate organelle distribution.
  1. FEBS J. 2021 Dec 16.
    Multifaceted Roles of Mitochondrial Stress Responses under ETC Dysfunction - Repair, Destruction and Pathogenesis.
    Shanshan Liu, Siqi Liu, Hui Jiang.
      Electron transport chain (ETC) dysfunction is a common feature of mitochondrial diseases and induces severe cellular stresses, including mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm ) reduction, mitochondrial matrix acidification, metabolic derangements and proteostatic stresses. Extensive studies of ETC dysfunction in yeast, C. elegans, cultured cells and mouse models have revealed multiple mitochondrial stress response pathways. Here, we summarize the current understanding of the triggers, sensors, signaling mechanisms, and the functional outcomes of mitochondrial stress responses in different species. We highlight Δψm reduction as a major trigger of stress responses in different species, but the responses are species-specific and the outcomes are context-dependent. ETC dysfunction elicits a mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt ) to repair damaged mitochondria in C. elegans, and activates a global adaptive program to maintain Δψm in yeast. Yeast and C. elegans responses are remarkably similar at the downstream responses, although they are activated by different signaling mechanisms. UPRmt generally protects ETC-defective worms, but its constitutive activation is toxic for wildtype worms and worms carrying mutant mtDNA. In contrast to lower organisms, ETC dysfunction in mammals mainly activates a mitochondrial integrated stress response (ISRmt ) to reprogram metabolism and a PINK1-Parkin mitophagy pathway to degrade damaged mitochondria. Accumulating in vivo results suggest that the ATF4 branch of ISRmt exacerbates metabolic derangements to accelerate mitochondrial disease progression. The in vivo roles of mitophagy in mitochondrial diseases are also context-dependent. These results thus reveal the common and unique aspects of mitochondrial stress responses in different species and highlight their multifaceted roles in mitochondrial diseases.
    Keywords:  ISRmt; Mitochondrial stress response; UPRmt; mitochondrial membrane potential; mitophagy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.16323
  2. J Cell Sci. 2021 Dec 15. pii: jcs258944. [Epub ahead of print]134(24):
    The role of mitochondrial dynamics in mtDNA maintenance.
    Rasha Sabouny, Timothy E Shutt.
      The dynamic nature of mitochondria, which can fuse, divide and move throughout the cell, allows these critical organelles to adapt their function in response to cellular demands, and is also important for regulating mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). While it is established that impairments in mitochondrial fusion and fission impact the mitochondrial genome and can lead to mtDNA depletion, abnormal nucleoid organization or accumulation of deletions, it is not entirely clear how or why remodeling mitochondrial network morphology affects mtDNA. Here, we focus on recent advances in our understanding of how mitochondrial dynamics contribute to the regulation of mtDNA and discuss links to human disease.
    Keywords:  Fission; Fusion; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial dynamics; Mitophagy; mtDNA
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.258944
  3. Front Oncol. 2021 ;11 779739
    Hypoxia Regulates Endogenous Double-Stranded RNA Production via Reduced Mitochondrial DNA Transcription.
    Esther Arnaiz, Ana Miar, Antonio Gregorio Dias Junior, Naveen Prasad, Ulrike Schulze, Dominic Waithe, James A Nathan, Jan Rehwinkel, Adrian L Harris.
      Hypoxia is a common phenomenon in solid tumours strongly linked to the hallmarks of cancer. Hypoxia promotes local immunosuppression and downregulates type I interferon (IFN) expression and signalling, which contribute to the success of many cancer therapies. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), transiently generated during mitochondrial transcription, endogenously activates the type I IFN pathway. We report the effects of hypoxia on the generation of mitochondrial dsRNA (mtdsRNA) in breast cancer. We found a significant decrease in dsRNA production in different cell lines under hypoxia. This effect was HIF1α/2α-independent. mtdsRNA was responsible for induction of type I IFN and significantly decreased after hypoxia. Mitochondrially encoded gene expression was downregulated and mtdsRNA bound by the dsRNA-specific J2 antibody was decreased during hypoxia. These findings reveal a new mechanism of hypoxia-induced immunosuppression that could be targeted by hypoxia-activated therapies.
    Keywords:  IFN; cancer; dsRNA; hypoxia; mitochondria
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.779739
  4. FASEB J. 2022 Jan;36(1): e22062
    IGFBP-3 functions as a molecular switch that mediates mitochondrial and metabolic homeostasis.
    Whitney L Stuard, Rossella Titone, Danielle M Robertson.
      Mitochondrial dysfunction or loss of homeostasis is a central hallmark of many human diseases. Mitochondrial homeostasis is mediated by multiple quality control mechanisms including mitophagy, a form of selective autophagy that recycles terminally ill or dysfunctional mitochondria in order to preserve mitochondrial integrity. Our prior studies have shown that members of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) family localize to the mitochondria and may play important roles in mediating mitochondrial health in the corneal epithelium, an integral tissue that is required for the maintenance of optical transparency and vision. Importantly, the IGF-binding protein-3, IGFBP-3, is secreted by corneal epithelial cells in response to stress and functions to mediate intracellular receptor trafficking in this cell type. In this study, we demonstrate a novel role for IGFBP-3 in mitochondrial homeostasis through regulation of the short isoform (s)BNIP3L/NIX mitophagy receptor in corneal epithelial cells and extend this finding to non-ocular epithelial cells. We further show that IGFBP-3-mediated control of mitochondrial homeostasis is associated with alterations in lamellar cristae morphology and mitochondrial dynamics. Interestingly, both loss and gain of function of IGFBP-3 drive an increase in mitochondrial respiration. This increase in respiration is associated with nuclear accumulation of IGFBP-3. Taken together, these findings support a novel role for IGFBP-3 as a key mediator of mitochondrial health in mucosal epithelia through the regulation of mitophagy and mitochondrial morphology.
    Keywords:  autophagy; insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor; mTOR; metabolism; mitochondria
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202100710RR
  5. ChemNanoMat. 2021 Oct;7(10): 1104-1107
    Enzymatic Delivery of Magnetic Nanoparticles into Mitochondria of Live Cells.
    Hongjian He, Jiaqi Guo, Bing Xu.
      Delivering magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) into mitochondria provide a facile approach to manipulate cell life because mitochondria play essential roles in cell survival and death. Here we report the use of enzyme-responsive peptide assemblies to deliver MNPs into mitochondria of live cells. The mitochondria-targeting peptide (Mito-Flag), as the substrate of enterokinase (ENTK), assembles with MNPs in solution. The MNPs that are encapsulated by Mito-Flag peptides selectively accumulate to the mitochondria of cancer cells, rather than normal cells. The mitochondrial localization of MNPs reduces the viability of the cancer cells, but hardly affects the survival of the normal cell. This work demonstrates a new and facile strategy to specifically transport MNPs to the mitochondria in cancer cells for exploring the applications of MNPs as the targeted drug for biomedicine and cancer therapy.
    Keywords:  Enzyme; Magnetic Nanoparticle; Mitochondria; Peptide; Self-Assembly
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/cnma.202100249
  6. Essays Biochem. 2021 Dec 13. pii: EBC20210036. [Epub ahead of print]
    PINK1 signalling in neurodegenerative disease.
    Daniel R Whiten, Dezerae Cox, Carolyn M Sue.
      PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) impacts cell health and human pathology through diverse pathways. The strict processing of full-length PINK1 on the outer mitochondrial membrane populates a cytoplasmic pool of cleaved PINK1 (cPINK1) that is constitutively degraded. However, despite rapid proteasomal clearance, cPINK1 still appears to exert quality control influence over the neuronal protein homeostasis network, including protein synthesis and degradation machineries. The cytoplasmic concentration and activity of this molecule is therefore a powerful sensor that coordinates aspects of mitochondrial and cellular health. In addition, full-length PINK1 is retained on the mitochondrial membrane following depolarisation, where it is a powerful inducer of multiple mitophagic pathways. This function is executed primarily through the phosphorylation of several ubiquitin ligases, including its most widely studied substrate Parkin. Furthermore, the phosphorylation of both pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins by mitochondrial PINK1 acts as a pro-cellular survival signal when faced with apoptotic stimuli. Through these varied roles PINK1 directly influences functions central to cell dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease.
    Keywords:  Mitochondria; Mitophagy; Neurodegneration; PTEN induced putative kinase 1; Parkinsons disease
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1042/EBC20210036
  7. Curr Res Pharmacol Drug Discov. 2021 ;2 100047
    Crosstalk between anticancer drugs and mitochondrial functions.
    Kuleshwar Sahu, Urvashi Langeh, Charan Singh, Arti Singh.
      Chemotherapy is an important component of cancer treatment, which has side effects like vomiting, peripheral neuropathy, and numerous organ toxicity but the most significant outcomes of chemotherapy are cognitive impairment, which is mainly referred to as chemobrain or CICI (chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment). It is characterized by difficulty with language, concentrating, processing speed, learning, and memory, as it affects the hippocampus areas of the brain. Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are one of the major mechanisms causing chemobrain. The generation of reactive oxygen species (byproducts of oxidative phosphorylation) mainly occurs in mitochondria that play a prominent role in the induction of oxidative stress. The homeostasis of ROS in the mitochondria is maintained by mitochondrial antioxidant mechanism via enzymes like catalase, glutathione, and superoxide dismutase. Lungs and breast cancer are the two most common types of cancer, which are the most leading cancers in the world with about 4.18 million cases. In this review we exposed the current knowledge regarding chemotherapy-induced oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction to cause cognitive impairment.We especially focused on the antineoplastic agent (ADRIAMYCIN, CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE), platinum group agent CISPLATIN, antimetabolite agents (METHOTREXATE), and nitrogen mustard agent (CARMUSTINE) which increase oxidative stress and inflammatory markers in the PNS (peripheral nervous system) as well as the central nervous system. We also highlight the behavioural and functional changes in the brain.
    Keywords:  Chemobrain; Chemotherapy; Cognitive impairment; Mitochondrial dysfunction; Oxidative stress; Reactive oxygen species
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crphar.2021.100047
  8. Cell Death Differ. 2021 Dec 16.
    Cytoplasmic innate immune sensing by the caspase-4 non-canonical inflammasome promotes cellular senescence.
    Irene Fernández-Duran, Andrea Quintanilla, Núria Tarrats, Jodie Birch, Priya Hari, Fraser R Millar, Anthony B Lagnado, Vanessa Smer-Barreto, Morwenna Muir, Valerie G Brunton, João F Passos, Juan Carlos Acosta.
      Cytoplasmic recognition of microbial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in human cells is elicited by the caspase-4 and caspase-5 noncanonical inflammasomes, which induce a form of inflammatory cell death termed pyroptosis. Here we show that LPS-mediated activation of caspase-4 also induces a stress response promoting cellular senescence, which is dependent on the caspase-4 substrate gasdermin-D and the tumor suppressor p53. Furthermore, we found that the caspase-4 noncanonical inflammasome is induced and assembled in response to oncogenic RAS signaling during oncogene-induced senescence (OIS). Moreover, targeting caspase-4 expression in OIS showed its critical role in the senescence-associated secretory phenotype and the cell cycle arrest induced in cellular senescence. Finally, we observed that caspase-4 induction occurs in vivo in mouse models of tumor suppression and ageing. Altogether, we are showing that cellular senescence is induced by cytoplasmic LPS recognition by the noncanonical inflammasome and that this pathway is conserved in the cellular response to oncogenic stress.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41418-021-00917-6
  9. Sci Adv. 2021 Dec 17. 7(51): eabf9441
    MRE11-dependent instability in mitochondrial DNA fork protection activates a cGAS immune signaling pathway.
    Jessica W Luzwick, Eszter Dombi, Rebecca A Boisvert, Sunetra Roy, Soyoung Park, Selvi Kunnimalaiyaan, Steffi Goffart, Detlev Schindler, Katharina Schlacher.
      [Figure: see text].
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf9441
  10. Brain Res Bull. 2021 Dec 09. pii: S0361-9230(21)00340-3. [Epub ahead of print]
    ZFP36 protects against oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation-induced mitochondrial fragmentation and neuronal apoptosis through inhibiting NOX4-DRP1 pathway.
    Hengjiang Guo, Yan Jiang, Zhiqing Gu, Lulu Ren, Change Zhu, Shenghua Yu, Rong Wei.
      The imbalance of mitochondrial dynamics plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Zinc-finger protein 36 (ZFP36) has been documented to have neuroprotective effects, however, whether ZFP36 is involved in the regulation of neuronal survival during cerebral I/R injury remains unknown. In this study, we found that the transcriptional and translational levels of ZFP36 were increased in immortalized hippocampal HT22 neuronal cells after oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) treatment. ZFP36 gene silencing exacerbated OGD/R-induced dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) activity, mitochondrial fragmentation, oxidative stress and neuronal apoptosis, whereas ZFP36 overexpression exhibited the opposite effects. Besides, we found that NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) was upregulated by OGD/R, and NOX4 inhibition remarkably attenuated OGD/R-instigated DRP1 activity, mitochondrial fragmentation and neuronal apoptosis. Further study demonstrated that ZFP36 targeted NOX4 mRNA directly by binding to the AU-rich elements (AREs) in the NOX4 3'-untranslated regions (3'-UTR) and inhibited NOX4 expression. Taken together, our data indicate that ZFP36 protects against OGD/R-induced neuronal injury by inhibiting NOX4-mediated DRP1 activation and excessive mitochondrial fission. Pharmacological targeting of ZFP36 to suppress excessive mitochondrial fission may provide new therapeutic strategies in the treatment of cerebral I/R injury.
    Keywords:  DRP1; ZFP36; mitochondrial dysfunction; mitochondrial fission; neuronal apoptosis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2021.12.003
  11. Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 13. 11(1): 23909
    The mining and construction of a knowledge base for gene-disease association in mitochondrial diseases.
    Wei Wang, Junying Song, Yunhai Chuai, Fu Chen, Chunlan Song, Mingming Shu, Yayun Wang, Yunfei Li, Xinyu Zhai, Shujie Han, Shun Yao, Kexin Shen, Wei Shang, Lei Zhang.
      Mitochondrial diseases are a group of heterogeneous genetic metabolic diseases caused by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or nuclear DNA (nDNA) gene mutations. Mining the gene-disease association of mitochondrial diseases is helpful for understanding the pathogenesis of mitochondrial diseases, for carrying out early clinical diagnosis for related diseases, and for formulating better treatment strategies for mitochondrial diseases. This project researched the relationship between genes and mitochondrial diseases, combined the Malacards, Genecards, and MITOMAP disease databases to mine the knowledge on mitochondrial diseases and genes, used database integration and the sequencing method of the phenolyzer tool to integrate disease-related genes from different databases, and sorted the disease-related candidate genes. Finally, we screened 531 mitochondrial related diseases, extracted 26,723 genes directly or indirectly related to mitochondria, collected 24,602 variant sites on 1474 genes, and established a mitochondrial disease knowledge base (MitDisease) with a core of genes, diseases, and variants. This knowledge base is helpful for clinicians who want to combine the results of gene testing for diagnosis, to understand the occurrence and development of mitochondrial diseases, and to develop corresponding treatment methods.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03249-0
  12. Nat Commun. 2021 Dec 15. 12(1): 7311
    Copper depletion modulates mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to impair triple negative breast cancer metastasis.
    Divya Ramchandani, Mirela Berisa, Diamile A Tavarez, Zhuoning Li, Matthew Miele, Yang Bai, Sharrell B Lee, Yi Ban, Noah Dephoure, Ronald C Hendrickson, Suzanne M Cloonan, Dingcheng Gao, Justin R Cross, Linda T Vahdat, Vivek Mittal.
      Copper serves as a co-factor for a host of metalloenzymes that contribute to malignant progression. The orally bioavailable copper chelating agent tetrathiomolybdate (TM) has been associated with a significant survival benefit in high-risk triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. Despite these promising data, the mechanisms by which copper depletion impacts metastasis are poorly understood and this remains a major barrier to advancing TM to a randomized phase II trial. Here, using two independent TNBC models, we report a discrete subpopulation of highly metastatic SOX2/OCT4+ cells within primary tumors that exhibit elevated intracellular copper levels and a marked sensitivity to TM. Global proteomic and metabolomic profiling identifies TM-mediated inactivation of Complex IV as the primary metabolic defect in the SOX2/OCT4+ cell population. We also identify AMPK/mTORC1 energy sensor as an important downstream pathway and show that AMPK inhibition rescues TM-mediated loss of invasion. Furthermore, loss of the mitochondria-specific copper chaperone, COX17, restricts copper deficiency to mitochondria and phenocopies TM-mediated alterations. These findings identify a copper-metabolism-metastasis axis with potential to enrich patient populations in next-generation therapeutic trials.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27559-z
  13. Nature. 2021 Dec 15.
    ER proteins decipher the tubulin code to regulate organelle distribution.
    Pengli Zheng, Christopher J Obara, Ewa Szczesna, Jonathon Nixon-Abell, Kishore K Mahalingan, Antonina Roll-Mecak, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Craig Blackstone.
      Organelles move along differentially modified microtubules to establish and maintain their proper distributions and functions1,2. However, how cells interpret these post-translational microtubule modification codes to selectively regulate organelle positioning remains largely unknown. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an interconnected network of diverse morphologies that extends promiscuously throughout the cytoplasm3, forming abundant contacts with other organelles4. Dysregulation of endoplasmic reticulum morphology is tightly linked to neurologic disorders and cancer5,6. Here we demonstrate that three membrane-bound endoplasmic reticulum proteins preferentially interact with different microtubule populations, with CLIMP63 binding centrosome microtubules, kinectin (KTN1) binding perinuclear polyglutamylated microtubules, and p180 binding glutamylated microtubules. Knockout of these proteins or manipulation of microtubule populations and glutamylation status results in marked changes in endoplasmic reticulum positioning, leading to similar redistributions of other organelles. During nutrient starvation, cells modulate CLIMP63 protein levels and p180-microtubule binding to bidirectionally move endoplasmic reticulum and lysosomes for proper autophagic responses.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04204-9
This page is being maintained by Thomas Krichel. It was last updated on 2022‒02‒07 at 15:39:19.