Biomedicines (Jun 2023)

UBL3 Interacts with Alpha-Synuclein in Cells and the Interaction Is Downregulated by the EGFR Pathway Inhibitor Osimertinib

  • Bin Chen,
  • Md. Mahmudul Hasan,
  • Hengsen Zhang,
  • Qing Zhai,
  • A. S. M. Waliullah,
  • Yashuang Ping,
  • Chi Zhang,
  • Soho Oyama,
  • Mst. Afsana Mimi,
  • Yuna Tomochika,
  • Yu Nagashima,
  • Tomohiko Nakamura,
  • Tomoaki Kahyo,
  • Kenji Ogawa,
  • Daita Kaneda,
  • Minoru Yoshida,
  • Mitsutoshi Setou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11061685
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 6
p. 1685

Abstract

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Ubiquitin-like 3 (UBL3) acts as a post-translational modification (PTM) factor and regulates protein sorting into small extracellular vesicles (sEVs). sEVs have been reported as vectors for the pathology propagation of neurodegenerative diseases, such as α-synucleinopathies. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) has been widely studied for its involvement in α-synucleinopathies. However, it is still unknown whether UBL3 interacts with α-syn, and is influenced by drugs or compounds. In this study, we investigated the interaction between UBL3 and α-syn, and any ensuing possible functional and pathological implications. We found that UBL3 can interact with α-syn by the Gaussia princeps based split luciferase complementation assay in cells and immunoprecipitation, while cysteine residues at its C-terminal, which are considered important as PTM factors for UBL3, were not essential for the interaction. The interaction was upregulated by 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium exposure. In drug screen results, the interaction was significantly downregulated by the treatment of osimertinib. These results suggest that UBL3 interacts with α-syn in cells and is significantly downregulated by epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway inhibitor osimertinib. Therefore, the UBL3 pathway may be a new therapeutic target for α-synucleinopathies in the future.

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