Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P10636 (tau protein)
 5,110 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Polyglutamine diseases are a class of inherited neurodegenerative disorders, characterized by expansion of CAG trinucleotide repeats translated into elongated glutamine tracts within the mutant proteins. Overexpression of the non-coding hsromega transcripts has been shown to dominantly enhance polyQ induced cytotoxicity in Drosophila. In the present study we demonstrate that RNA interference mediated downregulation of hsromega-n transcripts is sufficient to suppress pathogenesis in several Drosophila models of human polyQ neurodegenerative diseases. Loss of hsromega-n RNA not only suppresses the eye-specific degeneration mediated by GMR-GAL4 driven expression of the 127Q or MJDtr-Q78 or ataxin1 82Q or httex1p Q93 transgene, but also rescues premature death of flies expressing the expanded polyQ proteins pan-neuronally using the elav-GAL4 driver. We further demonstrate that the morphological and functional rescue of polyQ toxicity observed upon hsromega-n RNAi is associated with substantial reduction of polyQ protein aggregation without affecting transcription of the 127Q transgene. Unlike in the polyQ expressing cells, co-expression of hsromega-n RNAi also abolishes the induction of Hsp70. These results suggest that the hsromega transcripts have a role in early stages of polyQ aggregate formation. Interestingly, hsromega-RNAi has, at best, only a marginal effect on neuropathy following overexpression of normal or mutant tau protein in flies. Functional analogues of the large non-coding hsromega transcripts in human thus appear to be promising candidates as therapeutic targets for the polyQ-mediated neurodegenerative diseases.
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PMID:RNAi for the large non-coding hsromega transcripts suppresses polyglutamine pathogenesis in Drosophila models. 1966 61

Neurons from the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related tauopathy patients contain neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Tau normally stabilizes microtubules (MTs); however, tau hyperphosphorylation leads to loss of this function with consequent MT destabilization and neuronal dysfunction. Accordingly, MT-stabilizing drugs such as paclitaxel and epothilone D have been shown as possible therapies for AD and related tauopathies. However, MT-stabilizing drugs have common side effects such as neuropathy and neutropenia. To find previously undescribed suppressors of tau-induced MT defects, we established a Drosophila model ectopically expressing human tau in muscle cells, which allow for clear visualization of the MT network. Overexpressed tau was hyperphosphorylated and resulted in decreased MT density and greater fragmentation, consistent with previous reports in AD patients and mouse models. From a genetic screen, we found that a histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) null mutation rescued tau-induced MT defects in both muscles and neurons. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of the tubulin-specific deacetylase activity of HDAC6 indicates that the rescue effect may be mediated by increased MT acetylation. These findings reveal HDAC6 as a unique potential drug target for AD and related tauopathies.
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PMID:HDAC6 mutations rescue human tau-induced microtubule defects in Drosophila. 2348 39

Vincristine is an important drug of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treatment protocols that can cause neurotoxicity. Patients treated with LAL/SHOP protocols often suffer from vincristine-related neurotoxicity in early phases of treatment. A genetic variant in CEP72, a gene involved in vincristine pharmacodynamics, was recently associated with neurotoxicity after prolonged vincristine treatment. This association was not replicated in our Spanish population during induction phase. To test the possibility that other variants in genes involved in vincristine pharmacodynamics were associated with vincristine neuropathy in early phases of the treatment, we evaluated the correlation with toxicity of 24 polymorphisms in 9 key genes in a large cohort of 152 Spanish children with B-ALL homogeneously treated. Results showed no association between any genetic variant in the TUBB1, TUBB2A, TUBB2B, TUBB3, TUBB4, MAPT, MIR146a, MIR202, and MIR411 genes and vincristine-related neurotoxicity. These results are in line with the hypothesis that there are different mechanisms causing pheripheral neurotoxicity after prolonged and short-term vincristine treatments.
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PMID:Variants in vincristine pharmacodynamic genes involved in neurotoxicity at induction phase in the therapy of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia. 3072 15

The microtubule-associated protein tau undergoes aberrant modification resulting in insoluble brain deposits in various neurodegenerative diseases, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD), progressive supranuclear palsy, and corticobasal degeneration. Tau aggregates can form in different cell types of the central nervous system (CNS) but are most prevalent in neurons. We have previously recapitulated aspects of human FTD in mouse models by overexpressing mutant human tau in CNS neurons, including a P301S tau variant in TAU58/2 mice, characterized by early-onset and progressive behavioral deficits and FTD-like neuropathology. The molecular mechanisms underlying the functional deficits of TAU58/2 mice remain mostly elusive. Here, we employed functional genomics (i.e. RNAseq) to determine differentially expressed genes in young and aged TAU58/2 mice to identify alterations in cellular processes that may contribute to neuropathy. We identified genes in cortical brain samples differentially regulated between young and old TAU58/2 mice relative to nontransgenic littermates and by comparative analysis with a dataset of CNS cell type-specific genes expressed in nontransgenic mice. Most differentially-regulated genes had known or putative roles in neurons and included presynaptic and excitatory genes. Specifically, we observed changes in presynaptic factors, glutamatergic signaling, and protein scaffolding. Moreover, in the aged mice, expression levels of several genes whose expression was annotated to occur in other brain cell types were altered. Immunoblotting and immunostaining of brain samples from the TAU58/2 mice confirmed altered expression and localization of identified and network-linked proteins. Our results have revealed genes dysregulated by progressive tau accumulation in an FTD mouse model.
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PMID:CNS cell type-specific gene profiling of P301S tau transgenic mice identifies genes dysregulated by progressive tau accumulation. 3136 28