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Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are a heterogeneous population of neoplasms that arise from hormone-secreting islet cells of the pancreas and have increased markedly in incidence over the past four decades. Non-functional PanNETs, which occur more frequently than hormone-secreting tumors, are often not diagnosed until later stages of tumor development and have poorer prognoses. Development of successful therapeutics for PanNETs has been slow, partially due to a lack of diverse animal models for pre-clinical testing. Here, we report development of an inducible, conditional mouse model of PanNETs by using a bi-transgenic system for regulated expression of the aberrant activator of Cdk5, p25, specifically in β-islet cells. This model produces a heterogeneous population of PanNETs that includes a subgroup of well-differentiated, non-functional tumors. Production of these tumors demonstrates the causative potential of aberrantly active Cdk5 for generation of PanNETs. Further, we show that human PanNETs express Cdk5 pathway components, are dependent on Cdk5 for growth, and share genetic and transcriptional overlap with the INS-p25OE model. The utility of this model is enhanced by the ability to form tumor-derived allografts. This new model of PanNETs will facilitate molecular delineation of Cdk5-dependent PanNETs and the development of new targeted therapeutics., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Disparities in cancer patient responses have prompted widespread searches to identify differences in sensitive vs. nonsensitive populations and form the basis of personalized medicine. This customized approach is dependent upon the development of pathway-specific therapeutics in conjunction with biomarkers that predict patient responses. Here, we show that Cdk5 drives growth in subgroups of patients with multiple types of neuroendocrine neoplasms. Phosphoproteomics and high throughput screening identified phosphorylation sites downstream of Cdk5. These phosphorylation events serve as biomarkers and effectively pinpoint Cdk5-driven tumors. Toward achieving targeted therapy, we demonstrate that mouse models of neuroendocrine cancer are responsive to selective Cdk5 inhibitors and biomimetic nanoparticles are effective vehicles for enhanced tumor targeting and reduction of drug toxicity. Finally, we show that biomarkers of Cdk5-dependent tumors effectively predict response to anti-Cdk5 therapy in patient-derived xenografts. Thus, a phosphoprotein-based diagnostic assay combined with Cdk5-targeted therapy is a rational treatment approach for neuroendocrine malignancies., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder worldwide and characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the patients' midbrains. Both the presence of the protein α-synuclein in intracellular protein aggregates in surviving neurons and the genetic linking of the α-synuclein encoding gene point towards a major role of α-synuclein in PD etiology. The exact pathogenic mechanisms of PD development are not entirely described to date, neither is the specific role of α-synuclein in this context. Previous studies indicate that one aspect of α-synuclein-related cellular toxicity might be direct proteasome impairment. The 20/26S proteasomal machinery is an important instrument of intracellular protein degradation. Thus, direct proteasome impairment by α-synuclein might explain or at least contribute to the formation of intracellular protein aggregates. Therefore this study investigates direct proteasomal impairment by α-synuclein both in vitro using recombinant α-synuclein and isolated proteasomes as well as in living cells. Our experiments demonstrate that the impairment of proteasome activity by α-synuclein is highly dependent upon the cellular background and origin. We show that recombinant α-synuclein oligomers and fibrils scarcely affect 20S proteasome function in vitro, neither does transient α-synuclein expression in U2OS ps 2042 (Ubi(G76V)-GFP) cells. However, stable expression of both wild-type and mutant α-synuclein in dopaminergic SH-SY5Y and PC12 cells results in a prominent impairment of the chymotrypsin-like 20S/26S proteasomal protein cleavage. Thus, our results support the idea that α-synuclein in a specific cellular environment, potentially present in dopaminergic cells, cannot be processed by the proteasome and thus contributes to a selective vulnerability of dopaminergic cells to α-synuclein pathology.

Mutations in Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) are strongly associated with familial Parkinson's disease (PD). High expression levels in immune cells suggest a role of LRRK2 in regulating the immune system. In this study, we investigated the effect of the LRRK2 (G2019S) mutation in monocytes, using a human stem cell-derived model expressing LRRK2 at endogenous levels. We discovered alterations in the differentiation pattern of LRRK2 mutant, compared to non-mutant isogenic controls, leading to accelerated monocyte production and a reduction in the non-classical CD14+CD16+ monocyte subpopulation in the LRRK2 mutant cells. LPS-treatment of the iPSC-derived monocytes significantly increased the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, demonstrating a functional response without revealing any significant differences between the genotypes. Assessment of the migrational capacity of the differentiated monocytes revealed moderate deficits in LRRK2 mutant cells, compared to their respective controls. Our findings indicate a pivotal role of LRRK2 in hematopoietic fate decision, endorsing the involvement of the immune system in the development of PD., Competing Interests: Anna Speidel, Sandra Felk and Frank Gillardon are employed by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG. This does neither constitute conflicts of interest regarding the present study nor does it alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Mutations within the LRRK2 gene have been identified in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and have been implicated in the dysfunction of several cellular pathways. Here, we explore how pathogenic mutations and the inhibition of LRRK2 kinase activity affect cytoskeleton dynamics in mouse and human cell systems. We generated and characterized a novel transgenic mouse model expressing physiological levels of human wild type and G2019S-mutant LRRK2. No neuronal loss or neurodegeneration was detected in midbrain dopamine neurons at the age of 12 months. Postnatal hippocampal neurons derived from transgenic mice showed no alterations in the seven parameters examined concerning neurite outgrowth sampled automatically on several hundred neurons using high content imaging. Treatment with the kinase inhibitor LRRK2-IN-1 resulted in no significant changes in the neurite outgrowth. In human fibroblasts we analyzed whether pathogenic LRRK2 mutations change cytoskeleton functions such as cell adhesion. To this end we compared the adhesion characteristics of human skin fibroblasts derived from six PD patients carrying one of three different pathogenic LRRK2 mutations and from four age-matched control individuals. The mutant LRRK2 variants as well as the inhibition of LRRK2 kinase activity did not reveal any significant cell adhesion differences in cultured fibroblasts. In summary, our results in both human and mouse cell systems suggest that neither the expression of wild type or mutant LRRK2, nor the inhibition of LRRK2 kinase activity affect neurite complexity and cellular adhesion.

Background: Dominant mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene are the most prevalent cause of Parkinson's disease, however, little is known about the biological function of LRRK2 protein. LRRK2 is expressed in neural precursor cells suggesting a role in neurodevelopment., Methodology/principal Findings: In the present study, differential gene expression profiling revealed a faster silencing of pluripotency-associated genes, like Nanog, Oct4, and Lin28, during retinoic acid-induced neuronal differentiation of LRRK2-deficient mouse embryonic stem cells compared to wildtype cultures. By contrast, expression of neurotransmitter receptors and neurotransmitter release was increased in LRRK2+/- cultures indicating that LRRK2 promotes neuronal differentiation. Consistently, the number of neural progenitor cells was higher in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of adult LRRK2-deficient mice. Alterations in phosphorylation of the putative LRRK2 substrates, translation initiation factor 4E binding protein 1 and moesin, do not appear to be involved in altered differentiation, rather there is indirect evidence that a regulatory signaling network comprising retinoic acid receptors, let-7 miRNA and downstream target genes/mRNAs may be affected in LRRK2-deficient stem cells in culture., Conclusion/significance: Parkinson's disease-linked LRRK2 mutations that associated with enhanced kinase activity may affect retinoic acid receptor signaling during neurodevelopment and/or neuronal maintenance as has been shown in other mouse models of chronic neurodegenerative diseases.

Background: Mutations within the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene are a common cause of familial and sporadic Parkinson's disease. The multidomain protein LRRK2 exhibits overall low GTPase and kinase activity in vitro., Methodology/principal Findings: Here, we show that the rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor ARHGEF7 and the small GTPase CDC42 are interacting with LRRK2 in vitro and in vivo. GTPase activity of full-length LRRK2 increases in the presence of recombinant ARHGEF7. Interestingly, LRRK2 phosphorylates ARHGEF7 in vitro at previously unknown phosphorylation sites. We provide evidence that ARHGEF7 might act as a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for LRRK2 and that R1441C mutant LRRK2 with reduced GTP hydrolysis activity also shows reduced binding to ARHGEF7., Conclusions/significance: Downstream effects of phosphorylation of ARHGEF7 through LRRK2 could be (i) a feedback control mechanism for LRRK2 activity as well as (ii) an impact of LRRK2 on actin cytoskeleton regulation. A newly identified familial mutation N1437S, localized within the GTPase domain of LRRK2, further underlines the importance of the GTPase domain of LRRK2 in Parkinson's disease pathogenesis.

Background: Dominant mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) are the most common genetic cause of Parkinson's disease, however, the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are poorly understood. Several in vitro studies have shown that the most frequent mutation, LRRK2(G2019S), increases kinase activity and impairs neuronal survival. LRRK2 has been linked to the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase family and the receptor-interacting protein kinases based on sequence similarity within the kinase domain and in vitro substrate phosphorylation., Methodology/principal Findings: We used an unbiased proteomic approach to identify the kinase signaling pathways wherein LRRK2 may be active. By incubation of protein microarrays containing 260 signal transduction proteins we detected four arrayed Ste20 serine/threonine kinase family members (TAOK3, STK3, STK24, STK25) as novel LRRK2 substrates and LRRK2 interacting proteins, respectively. Moreover, we found that protein kinase C (PKC) zeta binds and phosphorylates LRRK2 both in vitro and in vivo., Conclusions/significance: Ste20 kinases and PKC zeta contribute to neuronal Tau phosphorylation, neurite outgrowth and synaptic plasticity under physiological conditions. Our data suggest that these kinases may also be involved in synaptic dysfunction and neurite fragmentation in transgenic mice and in human PD patients carrying toxic gain-of-function LRRK2 mutations.

The diagnosis of Parkinson disease (PD) is rendered on the basis of clinical parameters, whereby laboratory chemical tests or morphological imaging is only called upon to exclude other neurodegenerative diseases. The differentiation between PD and other diseases of the basal ganglia, especially the postsynaptic Parkinson syndromes multisystem atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), is of decisive importance, on the one hand, for the response to an appropriate therapy, and on the other hand, for the respective prognosis of the disease. However, particularly at the onset of symptoms, it is difficult to precisely distinguish these diseases from each other, presenting with an akinetic-rigid syndrome. It is not yet possible to conduct a neurochemical differentiation of Parkinson syndromes. Therefore, a reliable biomarker is still to be found that might predict the development of Parkinson dementia. Since this situation is currently the subject of various different studies, the following synopsis is intended to provide a brief summary of the investigations addressing the field of the early neurochemical differential diagnosis of Parkinson syndromes and the early diagnosis of Parkinson dementia, from direct alpha-synuclein detection to proteomic approaches. In addition, an overview of the tested biomarkers will be given with regard to their possible introduction as a screening method.

Inhibitor-1, the first identified endogenous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 1 (PP-1), was previously reported to be a substrate for cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) at Ser67. Further investigation has revealed the presence of an additional Cdk5 site identified by mass spectrometry and confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis as Ser6. Basal levels of phospho-Ser6 inhibitor-1, as detected by a phosphorylation state-specific antibody against the site, existed in specific regions of the brain and varied with age. In the striatum, basal in vivo phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of Ser6 were mediated by Cdk5, PP-2A, and PP-1, respectively. Additionally, calcineurin contributed to dephosphorylation under conditions of high Ca2+. In biochemical assays the function of Cdk5-dependent phosphorylation of inhibitor-1 at Ser6 and Ser67 was demonstrated to be an intramolecular impairment of the ability of inhibitor-1 to be dephosphorylated at Thr35; this effect was recapitulated in two systems in vivo. Dephosphorylation of inhibitor-1 at Thr35 is equivalent to inactivation of the protein, as inhibitor-1 only serves as an inhibitor of PP-1 when phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent kinase (PKA) at Thr35. Thus, inhibitor-1 serves as a critical junction between kinase- and phosphatase-signaling pathways, linking PP-1 to not only PKA and calcineurin but also Cdk5.

Following transection of the optic nerve (ON), retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) upregulate Bax protein expression and undergo apoptosis. The present study aimed at reducing Bax expression in order to test whether Bax plays a causative role in the induction of secondary RGC apoptosis. Following injection into the vitreous, fluoresceinated oligonucleotides transfected RGCs in vivo at the injection site in the temporal superior retina. Following ON lesion, and repeated injections of a partially phosphorothioated Bax antisense oligonucleotide, but not following injection of control oligonucleotides, expression of Bax protein was locally inhibited, and the number of surviving RGCs was increased in Bax antisense treated rats 8 days after axotomy. Our results indicate that Bax induction is a prerequisite for the execution of RGC apoptosis following ON axotomy. While the Bax antisense strategy offers an exciting perspective to inhibit secondary neuronal degeneration in vivo, both limited transfection efficacy, and the temporal restriction of this effect currently limit the use of this approach with respect to clinical applications for the treatment of neurodegeneration.

The effect of bcl-2 gene ablation on epidermal cell death induced by UV-B irradiation was investigated in mice. Exposure of depilated back skin of bcl-2-/- mice to 0.5 J/cm2 UV-B caused a prolonged increase in the number of epidermal cells showing nuclear DNA fragmentation compared to wild-type littermates. Consistently, skin explants from bcl-2-deficient mice exhibited a higher number of sunburn cells per cm epidermis (16.6+/-2.1 vs 7.0+/-1.5) following exposure to 0.1 J/cm2 UV-B in vitro. Furthermore, UV irradiation failed to increase pre-melanosomes in skin explants from mutant animals, and primary menalocyte cultures derived from bcl-2 null mutants were highly susceptible to UV-induced cell death compared to cultures from wild-type littermates. An accelerated reappearance of proliferating cells, showing nuclear immunoreactivity for Ki-67 and c-Fos, was observed in the UV-irradiated epidermis of bcl-2-deficient mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that effects of UV radiation on epidermal cell death and cell cycle progression are influenced by survival-promoting Bcl-2.