c-Abl-p38 alpha signaling plays an important role in MPTP-induced neuronal death

Subjects: Biology >> Biophysics >> Biochemistry & Molecular Biology submitted time 2016-05-05

Wu, R. Chen, H. Ma, J. He, Q. Yuan, Z. Wu, R. Ma, J. He, Q. Yuan, Z. Chen, H. Yuan, Z. Huang, Q. Li, M. Huang, Q. Li, M. Liu, Q.

Abstract： Oxidative stress is a major cause of sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we demonstrated that c-Abl plays an important role in oxidative stress-induced neuronal cell death. C-Abl, a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase, was activated in an 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine hydrochloride (MPTP)-induced acute PD model. Conditional knockout of c-Abl in neurons or treatment of mice with STI571, a c-Abl family kinase inhibitor, reduced the loss of dopaminergic neurons and ameliorated the locomotive defects induced by short-term MPTP treatment. By combining the SILAC (stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture) technique with other biochemical methods, we identified p38 alpha as a major substrate of c-Abl both in vitro and in vivo and c-Abl-mediated phosphorylation is critical for the dimerization of p38 alpha. Furthermore, p38 alpha inhibition mitigated the MPTP-induced loss of dopaminergic neurons. Taken together, these data suggested that c-Abl-p38 alpha signaling may represent a therapeutic target for PD.

Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review

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