NDRG1 upregulation by ubiquitin proteasome system dysfunction aggravates neurodegeneration

Abstract

Abstract Protein turnover is crucial for cell survival, and the impairment of proteostasis leads to cell death. Aging is associated with a decline in proteostasis, as the progressive accumulation of damaged proteins is a hallmark of age-related disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We previously discovered that the declining function of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) in motor neurons contributes to sporadic ALS pathologies, such as progressive motor neuron loss, protein accumulation, and glial activation. However, the mechanisms of UPS dysfunction-induced cell damage, such as cell death and aggregation, are not fully understood. This study used transcriptome analysis of motor neurons with UPS dysfunction and found that the expression of N-myc downstream regulated 1 (NDRG1) gets upregulated by UPS dysfunction. Additionally, the upregulation of NDRG1 induces cell death in the Neuro2a mouse neuroblastoma cell line. These results suggest that NDRG1 is a potential marker for UPS dysfunction and may play a role in neurodegeneration, such as that seen in ALS.

Keywords

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Cell death
• NDRG1
• Neurodegeneration
• Proteasome
• Psmc4 (Rpt3)