1. Academic Validation
  2. Role of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in SCA17 pathogenesis

Role of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in SCA17 pathogenesis

  • PLoS One. 2014 Dec 30;9(12):e115809. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115809.
Li-Ching Lee 1 Chiung-Mei Chen 2 Pin-Rong Wang 1 Ming-Tsan Su 1 Guey-Jen Lee-Chen 1 Chun-Yen Chang 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
  • 2 Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang-Gung University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
  • 3 Science Education Center, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Abstract

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 17 (SCA17) involves the expression of a polyglutamine (polyQ) expanded TATA-binding protein (TBP), a general transcription initiation factor. TBP interacts with other protein factors, including high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), to regulate gene expression. Previously, our proteomic analysis of soluble proteins prepared from mutant TBP (TBP/Q61) expressing cells revealed a reduced concentration of HMGB1. Here, we show that HMGB1 can be incorporated into mutant TBP aggregates, which leads to reduced soluble HMGB1 levels in TBP/Q(61∼79) expressing cells. HMGB1 overexpression reduced mutant TBP aggregation. HMGB1 cDNA and siRNA co-transfection, as well as an HSPA5 immunoblot and luciferase reporter assay demonstrated the important role of HMGB1 in the regulation of HSPA5 transcription. In starvation-stressed TBP/Q36 and TBP/Q79 cells, increased Reactive Oxygen Species generation accelerated the cytoplasmic translocation of HMGB1, which accompanied Autophagy activation. However, TBP/Q79 cells displayed a decrease in Autophagy activation as a result of the reduction in the cytoplasmic HMGB1 level. In neuronal SH-SY5Y cells with induced TBP/Q(61∼79) expression, HMGB1 expression was reduced and accompanied by a significant reduction in the total outgrowth and branches in the TBP/Q(61∼79) expressing cells compared with the non-induced cells. The decreased soluble HMGB1 and impaired starvation-induced Autophagy in cells suggest that HMGB1 may be a critical modulator of polyQ disease pathology and may represent a target for drug development.

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