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Androgens and androgen-related molecules exert a plethora of functions across different tissues, mainly through binding to the transcription factor androgen receptor (AR). Despite widespread therapeutic use and misuse of androgens as potent anabolic agents, the molecular mechanisms of this effect on skeletal muscle are currently unknown. Muscle mass in adulthood is mainly regulated by the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) axis of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β pathway via recruitment of mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (SMAD4) protein. Here we show that, upon activation, AR forms a transcriptional complex with SMAD4 to orchestrate a muscle hypertrophy programme by modulating SMAD4 chromatin binding dynamics and enhancing its transactivation activity. We challenged this mechanism of action using spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) as a model of study. This adult-onset neuromuscular disease is caused by a polyglutamine expansion (polyQ) in AR and is characterized by progressive muscle weakness and atrophy secondary to a combination of lower motor neuron degeneration and primary muscle atrophy. Here we found that the presence of an elongated polyQ tract impairs AR cooperativity with SMAD4, leading to an inability to mount an effective anti-atrophy gene expression programme in skeletal muscle in response to denervation. Furthermore, adeno-associated virus, serotype 9 (AAV9)-mediated muscle-restricted delivery of BMP7 is able to rescue the muscle atrophy in SBMA mice, supporting the development of treatments able to fine-tune AR-SMAD4 transcriptional cooperativity as a promising target for SBMA and other conditions associated with muscle loss.

Objective To determine whether blood biomarkers of neuronal damage (neurofilament light chain [NfL]), muscle damage (creatine kinase [CK]), and muscle mass (creatinine) are altered in spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) and can be used as biomarkers for disease severity. Methods In this multicenter longitudinal prospective study, plasma and serum were collected from 2 cohorts of patients with SBMA in London, United Kingdom (n = 50), and Padova, Italy (n = 43), along with disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS]) and healthy controls, and levels of plasma and serum NfL, CK, and creatinine were measured. Disease severity was assessed by the SBMA Functional Rating Scale and the Adult Myopathy Assessment Tool at baseline and 12 and 24 months. Results Blood NfL concentrations were increased in ALS samples, but were unchanged in both SBMA cohorts, were stable after 12 and 24 months, and were not correlated with clinical severity. Normal NfL levels were also found in a well-established mouse model of SBMA. Conversely, CK concentrations were significantly raised in SBMA compared with ALS samples, and were not correlated to the clinical measures. Creatinine concentrations were significantly reduced in SBMA, and strongly and significantly correlated with disease severity. Conclusions While muscle damage and muscle mass biomarkers are abnormal in SBMA, axonal damage markers are unchanged, highlighting the relevant primary role of skeletal muscle in disease pathogenesis. Creatinine, but not CK, correlated with disease severity, confirming its role as a valuable biomarker in SBMA.

Primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a combination of neurological, psychiatric, and cognitive decline associated with calcium deposition on brain imaging. To date, mutations in five genes have been linked to PFBC. However, more than 50% of individuals affected by PFBC have no molecular diagnosis. We report four unrelated families presenting with initial learning difficulties and seizures and later psychiatric symptoms, cerebellar ataxia, extrapyramidal signs, and extensive calcifications on brain imaging. Through a combination of homozygosity mapping and exome sequencing, we mapped this phenotype to chromosome 21q21.3 and identified bi-allelic variants in JAM2. JAM2 encodes for the junctional-adhesion-molecule-2, a key tight-junction protein in blood-brain-barrier permeability. We show that JAM2 variants lead to reduction of JAM2 mRNA expression and absence of JAM2 protein in patient's fibroblasts, consistent with a loss-of-function mechanism. We show that the human phenotype is replicated in the jam2 complete knockout mouse (jam2 KO). Furthermore, neuropathology of jam2 KO mouse showed prominent vacuolation in the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum and particularly widespread vacuolation in the midbrain with reactive astrogliosis and neuronal density reduction. The regions of the human brain affected on neuroimaging are similar to the affected brain areas in the myorg PFBC null mouse. Along with JAM3 and OCLN, JAM2 is the third tight-junction gene in which bi-allelic variants are associated with brain calcification, suggesting that defective cell-to-cell adhesion and dysfunction of the movement of solutes through the paracellular spaces in the neurovascular unit is a key mechanism in CNS calcification.

Background: Spinal muscular atrophy with lower extremity predominance (SMA-LED) is an autosomal dominant congenital motor neuron disease. The condition presents with distal limb weakness and muscle atrophy, further compounded with intellectual disability. The most common cause are mutations in dynein cytoplasmic 1 heavy chain 1 (DYNC1H1; OMIM:600112), which encodes the largest subunit of cytoplasmic dynein 1. Dynein is defined by its role as a retrogradely oriented molecular motor but it is also fundamental to other cellular processes including growth cone dynamics and regulation of the Golgi apparatus. Moreover, mutations in dynactin 1 (DCTN1; OMIM: 601143) encoding p150 (Glued) subunit of the dynactin complex, which regulates cytoplasmic dynein function, cause autosomal dominant distal hereditary motor neuronopathy. \ud Objective: To dissect common molecular mechanisms underlying motor neuron degeneration caused by R399G and D338N mutations in DYNC1H1. \ud Methods: Immunofluorescence was performed on patient fibroblasts harbouring the R399G or D338N DYNC1H1 mutation to assess the integrity of the Golgi apparatus and the localization of dynein to the organelle. Modifications of microtubules and the interaction of dynein with golgin-160 were investigated using biochemical analysis. \ud Results: Decreased a-tubulin acetylation was a common molecular phenotype in patient fibroblasts harbouring the R399G (p50.05, N=3) or D338N (p50.01, N=5) mutation in comparison to wild-type fibroblasts (N=3 and N=5, respectively). However, only the R399G mutant fibroblasts (N=20) exhibited a significant (p50.0001) decrease of dynein at the Golgi apparatus in comparison to wild-type cells (N=21). Uniquely, the R399G mutation also caused a significant and inherent fragmentation of the Golgi apparatus, which correlated with the zygosity of the mutation (+/R339G p50.01 N=4, R399G/R399G p50.0001 N=4). A consequent compensational response was measured as an increased interaction between the dynein intermediate chain and golgin-160 in the R399G mutant cells. Excitingly, the treatment of R399G mutant fibroblasts with tubacin (N=32), an HDAC6 inhibitor, caused a striking statistically significant (p50.0001) amelioration of the Golgi apparatus integrity by increasing microtubule acetylation in comparison to untreated R399G mutant fibroblasts (N=33). \ud Discussion and conclusions: Using DYNC1H1 mutations we illustrate a dynein-dependent acetylation of the microtubule network, which if aberrant and compounded by a decrease in the amount of dynein present on the Golgi membranes results in the fragmentation of the organelle. Intriguingly, a-tubulin acetylation, is significantly reduced in motor neurons harbouring ALS associated mutant TUBA4A (OMIM: 191110). These data suggest a tentative link between genetic variations in DYNC1H1 and the microtubule cytoskeleton, which could contribute to aberrant tubulin modification, Golgi integrity, and axonal transport and consequently susceptibility to ALS. Importantly, we show that ameliorating the microtubule acetylation is sufficient to rescue the Golgi integrity, thereby providing a potential therapeutic target for this pathology.

Aprataxin (APTX) deficiency causes progressive cerebellar degeneration, ataxia and oculomotor apraxia in man. Cell free assays and crystal structure studies demonstrate a role for APTX in resolving 5′-adenylated nucleic acid breaks, however, APTX function in vertebrates remains unclear due to the lack of an appropriate model system. Here, we generated a murine model in which a pathogenic mutant of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1G93A) is expressed in an Aptx−/− mouse strain. We report a delayed population doubling and accelerated senescence in Aptx−/− primary mouse fibroblasts, which is not due to detectable telomere instability or cell cycle deregulation but is associated with a reduction in transcription recovery following oxidative stress. Expression of SOD1G93A uncovers a survival defect ex vivo in cultured cells and in vivo in tissues lacking Aptx. The surviving neurons feature numerous and deep nuclear envelope invaginations, a hallmark of cellular stress. Furthermore, they possess an elevated number of high-density nuclear regions and a concomitant increase in histone H3 K9 trimethylation, hallmarks of silenced chromatin. Finally, the accelerated cellular senescence was also observed at the organismal level as shown by down-regulation of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a hallmark of premature ageing. Together, this study demonstrates a protective role of Aptx in vivo and suggests that its loss results in progressive accumulation of DNA breaks in the nervous system, triggering hallmarks of premature ageing, systemically.

Background: In humans, mutations in the enzyme glycyl-tRNA synthetase (GARS) cause motor and sensory axon loss in the peripheral nervous system, and clinical phenotypes ranging from Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy to a severe infantile form of spinal muscular atrophy. GARS is ubiquitously expressed and may have functions in addition to its canonical role in protein synthesis through catalyzing the addition of glycine to cognate tRNAs. Methodology/Principal findings: We have recently described a new mouse model with a point mutation in the Gars gene resulting in a cysteine to arginine change at residue 201. Heterozygous Gars^{C201R/+} mice have locomotor and sensory deficits. In an investigation of genetic mutations that lead to death of motor and sensory neurons, we have crossed the Gars^{C201R/+} mice to two other mutants: the TgSOD1^{G93A} model of human amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and the Legs at odd angles mouse (Dync1h1^{Loa}) which has a defect in the heavy chain of the dynein complex. We found the Dync1h1^{Loa/+}; Gars^{C201R/+} double heterozygous mice are more impaired than either parent, and this is may be an additive effect of both mutations. Surprisingly, the Gars^{C201R} mutation significantly delayed disease onset in the SOD1^{G93A}; Gars^{C201R/+} double heterozygous mutant mice and increased lifespan by 29% on the genetic background investigated. Conclusions/Significance: These findings raise intriguing possibilities for the study of pathogenetic mechanisms in all three mouse mutant strains.