2. Academic Validation
  3. Impaired prosaposin lysosomal trafficking in frontotemporal lobar degeneration due to progranulin mutations

Impaired prosaposin lysosomal trafficking in frontotemporal lobar degeneration due to progranulin mutations

  • Nat Commun. 2017 May 25;8:15277. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15277.
Xiaolai Zhou 1,  Lirong Sun 1 2,  Oliver Bracko 3,  Ji Whae Choi 1,  Yan Jia 1,  Alissa L Nana 4,  Owen Adam Brady 1,  Jean C Cruz Hernandez 3,  Nozomi Nishimura 3,  William W Seeley 4 5,  Fenghua Hu 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
  • 2 Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
  • 3 Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
  • 4 Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158, USA.
  • 5 Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158, USA.
PMID: 28541286 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15277
Abstract

Haploinsufficiency of progranulin (PGRN) due to mutations in the granulin (GRN) gene causes frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and complete loss of PGRN leads to a lysosomal storage disorder, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL). Accumulating evidence suggests that PGRN is essential for proper lysosomal function, but the precise mechanisms involved are not known. Here, we show that PGRN facilitates neuronal uptake and lysosomal delivery of prosaposin (PSAP), the precursor of saposin Peptides that are essential for lysosomal glycosphingolipid degradation. We found reduced levels of PSAP in neurons both in mice deficient in PGRN and in human samples from FTLD patients due to GRN mutations. Furthermore, mice with reduced PSAP expression demonstrated FTLD-like pathology and behavioural changes. Thus, our data demonstrate a role of PGRN in PSAP lysosomal trafficking and suggest that impaired lysosomal trafficking of PSAP is an underlying disease mechanism for NCL and FTLD due to GRN mutations.

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