Protein Transport
Efficient intracellular trafficking is required to maintain the structure and function of MNs, particularly because MNs have very long axons that connect the soma with distant synaptic sites [reviewed in De Vos and Hafezparast (2017)]. Disorganization of the neuronal cytoskeleton and inhibition of axonal, ER-Golgi, endosomal and nucleocytoplasmic transport, are now widely reported features of ALS [reviewed in Parakh et al. (2018b) and Burk and Pasterkamp (2019)]. Importantly, defects in trafficking could reduce the supply of components necessary for synaptic and/or somal function, and prevent clearance of waste products from the synapse, together contributing to neurodegeneration in ALS.
The existence of mutations in genes encoding cytoskeletal proteins or the cellular transport machinery highlights the involvement of these processes in ALS/FTD. These include tubulin α4A (Smith et al., 2014a; Perrone et al., 2017), a major component of microtubules, neurofilament heavy chain (Figlewicz et al., 1994), a type of intermediate filament, and profilin-1 (Wu et al., 2012; Dillen et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2014b), which is involved in actin polymerization. Similarly, dynactin-1, involved in axonal transport (Puls et al., 2003; Münch et al., 2004; Münch et al., 2005; Liu et al., 2017) and SCFD1 (Sec1 family domain containing 1), involved in ER to Golgi transport (van Rheenen et al., 2016), are also mutated in a small proportion of patients, further implying that protein transport is impaired in ALS/FTD.
Axonal transport defects may be an important factor underlying the selective vulnerability of MNs or MN subtypes in ALS/FTD. Abnormal accumulation of phosphorylated neurofilaments, mitochondria and lysosomes in the proximal axon of large MNs and axonal spheroids, are present in SALS and FALS patients (Hirano et al., 1984; Corbo and Hays, 1992; Okada et al., 1995; Rouleau et al., 1996; Sasaki and Iwata, 1996). Mutant SOD1 slows both anterograde (Williamson and Cleveland, 1999) and retrograde (Chen et al., 2007; Perlson et al., 2009) axonal transport. Cytoskeletal and motor proteins are differentially expressed in spinal MNs compared to oculomotor neurons. This includes peripherin (Hedlund et al., 2010; Comley et al., 2015), which is also found in ubiquitinated inclusions in the spinal cord of FALS (Robertson et al., 2003) and SALS patients (He and Hays, 2004). Overexpression of peripherin leads to defective axonal transport (Millecamps et al., 2006) and late-onset MN degeneration (Beaulieu et al., 1999), implying that differential expression of peripherin contributes to neurodegeneration.
Axonal transport requires the efficient regulation of both dynein and kinesin molecular motors (Melkov et al., 2016), which mediate transport in the retrograde and anterograde directions respectively. Dynein is differentially expressed in vulnerable and susceptible MNs because higher levels are present in spinal and hypoglossal MNs compared to oculomotor neurons (Ilieva et al., 2008). However, dynein levels were significantly decreased in motor nuclei in SOD1G93A mice compared to wild type mice although its expression in MNs was equivalent (Comley et al., 2015). Similar patterns were observed in ALS patients (Comley et al., 2015). Disruption of dynein inhibits axonal transport and results in abnormal redistribution of mitochondria (Varadi et al., 2004) and late-onset degeneration in mice (LaMonte et al., 2002). Several FALS-linked SOD1 mutants co-localize with dynein/dynactin in vitro and SOD1G93A mice (Ligon et al., 2005; Zhang et al., 2007; Shi et al., 2010), which perturbs axonal transport and synaptic mitochondrial content (De Vos et al., 2007). The lower expression of dynein in oculomotor neurons might therefore confer resistance to axonal transport defects in ALS. However, it is also possible that this simply reflects less need for retrograde transport in oculomotor neurons due to their smaller cell bodies, shorter axons and lower requirements for energy, compared to spinal and hypoglossal MNs. Nevertheless, the inefficient axonal transport of mitochondria may confer loss of energy at the synapse in vulnerable MN subpopulations. These MNs require more energy to function than other cells, leading to disturbed synaptic activity.
Kinesin-dependant axonal transport is also disrupted in ALS. Oxidized forms of wild type SOD1 immunopurified from SALS tissues inhibited kinesin-based fast axonal transport (Bosco et al., 2010). However, no interaction between members of the kinesin family (KIF5A, 5B or 5C) and SOD1 was detected in SOD1G93A mice. High expression of KIF proteins is also associated with neurodegeneration. KIF5C was abundantly expressed in vulnerable spinal MNs in SOD1G93A mice (Kanai et al., 2000), but a marked reduction in KIF3Aβ levels was detected in the motor cortex of SALS patients (Pantelidou et al., 2007). Furthermore, reduced kinesin-associated protein 3 (KIFAP3) expression was linked to an increase in the survival of ALS patients (Landers et al., 2009) and changes in the transport of choline acetyltransferase transporter (ChAT) along axons. KIF5C is expressed more in rat spinal MNs than oculomotor and hypoglossal MNs (Hedlund et al., 2010), However, further work is necessary to determine if this is related to ALS, and to examine whether KIFs are differentially expressed in neuronal subtypes.
Defects in the secretory pathway are also linked to ALS. Depletion of TDP-43 inhibits endosomal trafficking and results in lack of neurotrophic signaling and neurodegeneration (Schwenk et al., 2016). Similarly, inhibition of the first part of the classical secretory pathway, ER-Golgi transport, is also induced by mutant SOD1, TDP-43 and FUS (Sundaramoorthy et al., 2013; Soo et al., 2015). This mechanism has been described as a possible trigger for ER stress (Soo et al., 2015), which, as detailed above, is linked to neuronal susceptibility. Both endosomal and ER-Golgi transport are also linked to transport within the axon. However, it remains to be determined if these other forms of trafficking are directly associated with selective neuronal susceptibility in ALS.
Defective nucleocytoplasmic transport is emerging as an important cellular mechanism in the initiation or progression of ALS. Nuclear pore pathology is present in the brain of SALS and C9orf72 patients (Zhang K. et al., 2015; Chou et al., 2018). C9orf72 repeat expansions impair protein trafficking from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, and reduce the proportion of nuclear TDP-43 in patient-derived MNs (Zhang K. et al., 2015), thereby mimicking the nuclear depletion of TDP-43 in ALS patients (Neumann et al., 2006). Proteins involved in nucleocytoplasmic transport are abnormally localized in aggregates in the cortex of C9orf72 ALS patients, patient-derived MNs and the brain of C9orf72 mouse models (Zhang K. et al., 2015, Zhang et al., 2016). Similarly, TDP-43 pathology disrupts nuclear pore complexes and lamina morphology in cell lines and patient-derived MNs. Furthermore, insoluble TDP-43 aggregates also contain components of the nucleocytoplasmic machinery (Chou et al., 2018). Both protein import and RNA export were impaired by mutant TDP-43 in the brain of SALS mouse primary neurons (Chou et al., 2018). A recent meta-analysis of ALS modifier genes identified several genes encoding proteins involved in nucleocytoplasmic shuttling (Yanagi et al., 2019). In fact, the most enriched gene ontology term in this study was “protein import into the nucleus,” and it included KPNB1, encoding importin subunit beta-1, which was identified as a genetic modifier in three separate ALS models. Interestingly, the gene encoding lamin B1 subunit 1, which is involved in nuclear stability, was upregulated in oculomotor neurons compared to hypoglossal MNs and spinal cord MNs (Hedlund et al., 2010). Furthermore, lamin B1 is also known to possess cellular protective functions such as controlling the cellular response to oxidative stress (Malhas et al., 2009), DNA repair (Butin-Israeli et al., 2015) and RNA synthesis (Tang et al., 2008). It is therefore tempting to speculate that lamin B1 confers resistance to specific MN populations when highly expressed. However, further work is necessary to examine this possibility.