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Reduced C9ORF72 function exacerbates gain of toxicity from ALS/FTD-causing repeat expansion in C9orf72

Nature Neuroscience volume 23, pages 615–624 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Hexanucleotide expansions in C9orf72, which encodes a predicted guanine exchange factor, are the most frequent genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Although repeat expansion has been established to generate toxic products, mRNAs encoding the C9ORF72 protein are also reduced in affected individuals. In this study, we tested how C9ORF72 protein levels affected repeat-mediated toxicity. In somatic transgenic mice expressing 66 GGGGCC repeats, inactivation of one or both endogenous C9orf72 alleles provoked or accelerated, respectively, early death. In mice expressing a C9orf72 transgene with 450 repeats that did not encode the C9ORF72 protein, inactivation of one or both endogenous C9orf72 alleles exacerbated cognitive deficits, hippocampal neuron loss, glial activation and accumulation of dipeptide-repeat proteins from translation of repeat-containing RNAs. Reduced C9ORF72 was shown to suppress repeat-mediated elevation in autophagy. These efforts support a disease mechanism in ALS/FTD resulting from reduced C9ORF72, which can lead to autophagy deficits, synergizing with repeat-dependent gain of toxicity.

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Fig. 1: Reduction or loss of C9ORF72 in mice expressing 66 GGGGCC repeats induces or accelerates, respectively, premature death and leads to increased dipeptide-repeat protein accumulation.
Fig. 2: No detection of a predicted C9ORF72 short isoform protein in the frontal cortex from human samples or C9450C transgenic mice.
Fig. 3: Reduction or loss of endogenous C9ORF72 exacerbates age-dependent cognitive abnormalities and motor deficits in C9450C mice.
Fig. 4: Loss of C9ORF72 promotes degeneration of hippocampal neurons and glial activation in C9450C transgenic mice.
Fig. 5: Loss of endogenous C9ORF72 inhibits autophagy accompanied by increased accumulation of polydipeptides produced by AUG-independent translation in C9450C transgenic mice.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Myers, M. Maldonado, J. Kim, J. Lim, J. Yasis, C.J. Heyser, D. Ditsworth, K. Osborn and J. Chew for their advice and technical assistance. We thank M. Fugere and B. Kaspar at AveXis for providing help in sorting mouse ESC-derived motor neurons. We thank Ionis Pharmaceuticals for providing ASOs. We thank all members of the D.W.C., C.L.-T., J.R., and S.D.C. groups for critical suggestions on this project. This work was supported by grants from NINDS/NIH R01-NS27036 to D.W.C. and S.D.C. and R01-NS087227 to C.L.-T.; from the NIA/NIH-supported UCSD Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (P50-AG005131) to C.L.-T. and D.W.C.; from Target ALS to C.L.-T. and J.R.; from NINDS/NIH R35-NS097273, P01-NS084974 and R01-NS088689 to L.P.; from P01-NS099114 to T.G. and L.P.; and from Target ALS to T.G., L.P. and Y.Z. C.L.-T. is the recipient of the Healey Family ALS Endowed Chair for Research. Q.Z. was the recipient of a Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship and a STARTER grant from the ALS Association. J.J. was the recipient of a career development grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (479769).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Somasish Ghosh Dastidar

    Present address: Molecular Neuroscience; Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India

  2. These authors contributed equally: Qiang Zhu, Jie Jiang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Qiang Zhu, Jie Jiang, Melissa McAlonis-Downes, Patrick King, Sandrine Da Cruz & Don W. Cleveland

  2. Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Jie Jiang

  3. Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Tania F. Gendron, Yongjie Zhang & Leonard Petrucelli

  4. Neuroscience Initiative, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Lulin Jiang & Huaxi Xu

  5. Department of Neurosciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Amy Taylor, Sandra Diaz Garcia, Maria J. Rodriguez, John Ravits & Don W. Cleveland

  6. Department of Pediatrics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Somasish Ghosh Dastidar & Albert R. La Spada

  7. Departments of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Cell Biology, Duke Center for Neurodegeneration and Neurotherapeutics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA

    Albert R. La Spada

  8. VIB Center for Brain and Disease Research, Leuven, Belgium

    Sandrine Da Cruz

  9. Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Sandrine Da Cruz

  10. Department of Neurology, The Sean M. Healey and AMG Center for ALS at Mass General, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne

  11. Broad Institute of Harvard University and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne

  12. Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Don W. Cleveland

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Contributions

Q.Z., J.J., S.D.C., C.L.-T. and D.W.C. designed the research. Q.Z., J.J., T.F.G., A.R.L.S., H.X., L.P., J.R., S.D.C., C.L.-T. and D.W.C. analyzed the data. Q.Z., J.J., T.F.G., M.M.D., L.J., A.T., S.D.G., S.G.D., M.J.R., P.K. and Y.Z. performed research. Q.Z., J.J., S.D.C., C.L.-T. and D.W.C. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne or Don W. Cleveland.

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D.W.C. is a consultant for Ionis Pharmaceuticals. The other authors report no conflicts of interest.

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Zhu, Q., Jiang, J., Gendron, T.F. et al. Reduced C9ORF72 function exacerbates gain of toxicity from ALS/FTD-causing repeat expansion in C9orf72. Nat Neurosci 23, 615–624 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-0619-5

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