1. Fingolimod phosphate inhibits astrocyte inflammatory activity in mucolipidosis IV.
- Author
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Weinstock LD, Furness AM, Herron SS, Smith SS, Sankar SB, DeRosa SG, Gao D, Mepyans ME, Scotto Rosato A, Medina DL, Vardi A, Ferreira NS, Cho SM, Futerman AH, Slaugenhaupt SA, Wood LB, and Grishchuk Y
- Subjects
- Animals, Brain metabolism, Brain pathology, Cells, Cultured, Cytokines metabolism, Disease Models, Animal, Encephalitis drug therapy, Encephalitis genetics, Encephalitis metabolism, Encephalitis pathology, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Lysosomal Membrane Proteins metabolism, Male, Mice, Knockout, Mucolipidoses drug therapy, Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases metabolism, Phosphoproteins metabolism, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt metabolism, Transient Receptor Potential Channels genetics, Transient Receptor Potential Channels metabolism, Astrocytes drug effects, Astrocytes pathology, Brain drug effects, Fingolimod Hydrochloride pharmacology, Mucolipidoses pathology
- Abstract
Mucolipidosis IV (MLIV) is an orphan neurodevelopmental disease that causes severe neurologic dysfunction and loss of vision. Currently there is no therapy for MLIV. It is caused by loss of function of the lysosomal channel mucolipin-1, also known as TRPML1. Knockout of the Mcoln1 gene in a mouse model mirrors clinical and neuropathologic signs in humans. Using this model, we previously observed robust activation of microglia and astrocytes in early symptomatic stages of disease. Here we investigate the consequence of mucolipin-1 loss on astrocyte inflammatory activation in vivo and in vitro and apply a pharmacologic approach to restore Mcoln1-/- astrocyte homeostasis using a clinically approved immunomodulator, fingolimod. We found that Mcoln1-/- mice over-express numerous pro-inflammatory cytokines, some of which were also over-expressed in astrocyte cultures. Changes in the cytokine profile in Mcoln1-/- astrocytes are concomitant with changes in phospho-protein signaling, including activation of PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways. Fingolimod promotes cytokine homeostasis, down-regulates signaling within the PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways and restores the lysosomal compartment in Mcoln1-/- astrocytes. These data suggest that fingolimod is a promising candidate for preclinical evaluation in our MLIV mouse model, which, in case of success, can be rapidly translated into clinical trial., (© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)
- Published
- 2018
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