Cited by 377Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ResearchAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsAutophagy in Disease and Therapy

Autophagy activators rescue and alleviate pathogenesis of a mouse model with proteinopathies of the TAR DNA-binding protein 43

Open access
Wang, I-Fang, Guo, Bo-Shen, Liu, Yu-Chih, Wu, Cheng-Chun, Yang, Chun-Hung, Tsai, Kuen-Jer, Shen, Che-Kun James·2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

TDP-43 is a multifunctional DNA/RNA-binding protein that has been identified as the major component of the cytoplasmic ubiquitin (+) inclusions (UBIs) in diseased cells of frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTLD-U) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Unfortunately, effective drugs for these neurodegenerative diseases are yet to be developed. We have tested the therapeutic potential of rapamycin, an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and three other autophagy activators (spermidine, carbamazepine, and tamoxifen) in a FTLD-U mouse model with TDP-43 proteinopathies. Rapamycin treatment has been reported to be beneficial in some animal models of neurodegenerative diseases but not others. Furthermore, the effects of rapamycin treatment in FTLD-U have not been investigated. We show that rapamycin treatment effectively rescues the learning/memory impairment of these mice at 3 mo of age, and it significantly slows down the age-dependent loss of their motor function. These behavioral improvements upon rapamycin treatment are accompanied by a decreased level of caspase-3 and a reduction of neuron loss in the forebrain of FTLD-U mice. Furthermore, the number of cells with cytosolic TDP-43 (+) inclusions and the amounts of full-length TDP-43 as well as its cleavage products (35 kDa and 25 kDa) in the urea-soluble fraction of the cellular extract are significantly decreased upon rapamycin treatment. These changes in TDP-43 metabolism are accompanied by rapamycin-induced decreases in mTOR-regulated phospho-p70 S6 kinase (P-p70) and the p62 protein, as well as increases in the autophagic marker LC3. Finally, rapamycin as well as spermidine, carbamazepine, and tamoxifen could also rescue the motor dysfunction of 7-mo-old FTLD-U mice. These data suggest that autophagy activation is a potentially useful route for the therapy of neurodegenerative diseases with TDP-43 proteinopathies.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1073/pnas.1206362109

Cites

37 of 37 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Inhibition of MTOR reduces TARDBP aggregation and toxicity in multiple cell and animal models of ALS.

    “Inhibition of MTOR likewise reduces TARDBP aggregation and toxicity in multiple cell and animal models of ALS [353,358,359].”
  • Inducing autophagy with rapamycin reduces TARDBP accumulation and mislocalization in vitro and in vivo.

    “inducing autophagy with rapamycin reduces TARDBP accumulation and mislocalization in vitro [352] and in vivo [353]”

Cites

1 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Wang, I.-F., Guo, B.-S., Liu, Y.-C., Wu, C.-C., Yang, C.-H., Tsai, K.-J., & Shen, C.-K. J.
Affiliations
  • Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica (TW)
  • National Cheng Kung University (TW)
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2012-08-29
Volume
109
Issue
37
Pages
15024-15029
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2111425566
Cited by
377
References
37
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 39 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 2
FWCI
21.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
Keywords
TDP-43, FTLD-U, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, autophagy, rapamycin, mTOR, spermidine, carbamazepine, tamoxifen, ubiquitin-positive inclusions, neurodegeneration, motor impairment, learning and memory impairment, caspase-3, p70 S6 kinase, p62, LC3, neuroprotection
MeSH terms
Analysis of Variance, Animals, Autophagy, Carbamazepine, Fluorometry, Memory Disorders, Psychomotor Performance, Spermidine, Tamoxifen, Blotting, Western, Maze Learning, Sirolimus, In Situ Nick-End Labeling, Rotarod Performance Test, Mice, Caspase 3, TDP-43 Proteinopathies, Frontotemporal Dementia, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review