Harnessing chaperone-mediated autophagy for the selective degradation of mutant huntingtin protein

Nat Biotechnol. 2010 Mar;28(3):256-63. doi: 10.1038/nbt.1608. Epub 2010 Feb 28.

Abstract

Huntington's Disease (HD) is a dominantly inherited pathology caused by the accumulation of mutant huntingtin protein (HTT) containing an expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) tract. As the polyglutamine binding peptide 1 (QBP1) is known to bind an expanded polyQ tract but not the polyQ motif found in normal HTT, we selectively targeted mutant HTT for degradation by expressing a fusion molecule comprising two copies of QBP1 and copies of two different heat shock cognate protein 70 (HSC70)-binding motifs in cellular and mouse models of HD. Chaperone-mediated autophagy contributed to the specific degradation of mutant HTT in cultured cells expressing the construct. Intrastriatal delivery of a virus expressing the fusion molecule ameliorated the disease phenotype in the R6/2 mouse model of HD. Similar adaptor molecules comprising HSC70-binding motifs fused to an appropriate structure-specific binding agent(s) may have therapeutic potential for treating diseases caused by misfolded proteins other than those with expanded polyQ tracts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Animals
  • Autophagy / physiology*
  • Dependovirus / genetics
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins / genetics
  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Huntingtin Protein
  • Huntington Disease / genetics
  • Huntington Disease / metabolism
  • Huntington Disease / pathology
  • Mice
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism*
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics
  • Nuclear Proteins / metabolism*
  • Oligopeptides / genetics
  • Oligopeptides / metabolism
  • Peptides / genetics
  • Peptides / metabolism
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Multimerization
  • Rats
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins
  • HTT protein, human
  • Huntingtin Protein
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Oligopeptides
  • Peptides
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • polyglutamine-binding protein 1
  • polyglutamine