Cited by 481Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ResearchCellular transport and secretionAutophagy in Disease and Therapy

C9ORF72, implicated in amytrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia, regulates endosomal trafficking

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Farg, Manal A., Sundaramoorthy, Vinod, Sultana, Jessica M., Yang, Shu, Atkinson, Rachel A.K., Levina, Vita, Halloran, Mark A., Gleeson, Paul A. +4 more·2014·Human Molecular Genetics

Abstract

Intronic expansion of a hexanucleotide GGGGCC repeat in the chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9ORF72) gene is the major cause of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. However, the cellular function of the C9ORF72 protein remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that C9ORF72 regulates endosomal trafficking. C9ORF72 colocalized with Rab proteins implicated in autophagy and endocytic transport: Rab1, Rab5, Rab7 and Rab11 in neuronal cell lines, primary cortical neurons and human spinal cord motor neurons, consistent with previous predictions that C9ORF72 bears Rab guanine exchange factor activity. Consistent with this notion, C9ORF72 was present in the extracellular space and as cytoplasmic vesicles. Depletion of C9ORF72 using siRNA inhibited transport of Shiga toxin from the plasma membrane to Golgi apparatus, internalization of TrkB receptor and altered the ratio of autophagosome marker light chain 3 (LC3) II:LC3I, indicating that C9ORF72 regulates endocytosis and autophagy. C9ORF72 also colocalized with ubiquilin-2 and LC3-positive vesicles, and co-migrated with lysosome-stained vesicles in neuronal cell lines, providing further evidence that C9ORF72 regulates autophagy. Investigation of proteins interacting with C9ORF72 using mass spectrometry identified other proteins implicated in ALS; ubiquilin-2 and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins, hnRNPA2/B1 and hnRNPA1, and actin. Treatment of cells overexpressing C9ORF72 with proteasome inhibitors induced the formation of stress granules positive for hnRNPA1 and hnRNPA2/B1. Immunohistochemistry of C9ORF72 ALS patient motor neurons revealed increased colocalization between C9ORF72 and Rab7 and Rab11 compared with controls, suggesting possible dysregulation of trafficking in patients bearing the C9ORF72 repeat expansion. Hence, this study identifies a role for C9ORF72 in Rab-mediated cellular trafficking.

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Crossref · 10.1093/hmg/ddu068

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  • Impaired endocytic signaling has been observed during C9ORF72 mutated conditions in C9ORF72 ALS/FTD patients as well as the SH-SY5Y cell line model, suggesting that expression of C9ORF72 modulates endocytosis.

    “Interestingly, the impaired endocytic signaling has been observed during C9ORF72 mutated conditions in C9ORF72 ALS/FTD patients as well as the SH-SY5Y cell line model, suggesting that the expression of C9ORF72 modulates endocytosis [172,173].”

    From Insights of Endocytosis Signaling in Health and Disease (2023) · cites this paper as [172]

    The “C9ORF72 regulates endocytosis in neuronal cell lines” section reports inhibited endocytosis after siRNA depletion of C9ORF72 in SH-SY5Y cells, supporting a role for its expression in endocytosis. The “Rab7 and Rab11 colocalize in C9ORF72 human spinal cord motor neurons” section reports increased colocalization in tissue from an ALS patient with the repeat expansion, suggesting possible trafficking dysregulation; it does not directly show impaired endocytosis in patients. The SH-SY5Y cells were depleted of C9ORF72, not described as carrying the mutation. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • The C9orf72 protein belongs to the DENN family and binds the GTPases RAB7 and RAB11, which are involved in endosome maturation and recycling.

    “The C9orf72 protein belongs to the DENN (differentially expressed in normal and neoplastic cells) family [143,144] and binds the GTPases RAB7 and RAB11, which are involved in endosome maturation and recycling [145].”

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  1. Manders, E.M.M., Verbeek, F.J. and Aten, J.A. (1993) Measurement of colocalization of objects in dual-color confocal images. J. Microsc-Oxford, 169, 375-382.

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Authors
Farg, M. A., Sundaramoorthy, V., Sultana, J. M., Yang, S., Atkinson, R. A. K., Levina, V., Halloran, M. A., Gleeson, P. A., Blair, I. P., Soo, K. Y., King, A. E., & Atkin, J. D.
Affiliations
  • Macquarie University (AU)
  • University of Tasmania (AU)
  • La Trobe University (AU)
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
Corresponding author
Atkin, Julie D.
Venue
Human Molecular Genetics
Published
2014-02-18
Volume
23
Issue
13
Pages
3579-3595
ISSN
  • 0964-6906 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2083
OpenAlex
W2102327538
Cited by
478
References
66
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 50 · 2016: 57 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 19
FWCI
38.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Human Molecular Genetics (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Own your potential (DEAKIN) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Funders
  • Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute of Australia
  • La Trobe University
  • University of Wollongong
  • Medical Research Council
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (1004670, 1030513, 1006141)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Cellular transport and secretion
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
Keywords
C9orf72, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, hexanucleotide repeat expansion, endosomal trafficking, Rab GTPases, autophagy, endocytosis, UBQLN2, hnRNP A1, HNRNPA2B1, stress granules, motor neurons, lysosomes, LC3, proteasome
MeSH terms
Autophagy-Related Proteins, C9orf72 Protein, rab7 GTP-Binding Proteins, rab11 GTP-Binding Proteins, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Animals, Biological Transport, Humans, Proteins, Endosomes, Mass Spectrometry, rab GTP-Binding Proteins, Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport, Heterogeneous-Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein Group A-B, Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, Mice, Frontotemporal Dementia

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