Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of calcineurin

HD Lighthouse Contributing Editor's Comment: 

We recently covered a study by Dr. Kelvin Davies and colleagues in which overexpression of the RCAN1-1l gene is neuroprotective in a cell culture model of HD.  The RCAN1-1l, which is downregulated in HD, is a regulator of calcineurin.  The researchers suggest that .....

New research by French scientists Dr. 

-- Marsha L. Miller, Ph.D.
Posted to the HDL: 12-06-2009

Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of calcineurin corrects the BDNF transport defect in Huntington's disease

Jose R Pineda,Raúl Pardo, Diana Zala,Hua Yu,Sandrine Humbert, and Frédéric Saudou

abstract

Background

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurogenerative disease caused by an abnormal expansion of glutamine repeats in the huntingtin protein. There is currently no treatment to prevent the neurodegeneration caused by this devastating disorder. Huntingtin has been shown to be a positive regulator of vesicular transport, particularly for neurotrophins such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This function is lost in patients with HD, resulting in a decrease in neurotrophic support and subsequent neuronal death. One promising line of treatment is therefore the restoration of huntingtin function in BDNF transport.

Results

The phosphorylation of huntingtin at serine 421 (S421) restores its function in axonal transport. We therefore investigated whether inhibition of calcineurin, the bona fide huntingtin S421 phosphatase, restored the transport defects observed in HD. We found that pharmacological inhibition of calcineurin by FK506 led to sustained phosphorylation of mutant huntingtin at S421. FK506 restored BDNF transport in two complementary models: rat primary neuronal cultures expressing mutant huntingtin and mouse cortical neurons from HdhQ111/Q111 HD knock-in mice. This effect was the result of specific calcineurin inhibition, as calcineurin silencing restored both anterograde and retrograde transport in neurons from HdhQ111/Q111 mice. We also observed a specific increase in calcineurin activity in the brain of HdhQ111/Q111 mice potentially accounting for the selective loss of huntingtin phosphorylation and contributing to neuronal cell death in HD.

Conclusion:

Our results validate calcineurin as a target for the treatment of HD and provide the first demonstration of the restoration of huntingtin function by an FDA-approved compound.

Source: Molecular Brain 2009 Oct 27;2(1):33.