Curcumin reduces α-synuclein induced cytotoxicity in Parkinson's disease cell model

abstract: Background Overexpression and abnormal accumulation of aggregated α-synuclein (αS) have been linked to Parkinson's disease (PD) and other synucleinopathies. αS can misfold and adopt a variety of morphologies but recent studies implicate oligomeric forms as the most cytotoxic species. Both genetic mutations and chronic exposure to neurotoxins increase αS aggregation and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative damage in PD cell models. Results Here we show that curcumin can alleviate αS-induced toxicity, reduce ROS levels and protect cells against apoptosis. We also show that both intracellular overexpression of αS and extracellular addition of oligomeric αS increase ROS which induces apoptosis, suggesting that aggregated αS may induce similar toxic effects whether it is generated intra- or extracellulary. Conclusions Since curcumin is a natural food pigment that can cross the blood brain barrier and has widespread medicinal uses, it has potential therapeutic value for treating PD and other neurodegenerative disorders.The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-11-5

Bioreactor scale induced alteration in cell metabolic state can impact amino acid misincorporations in recombinant proteins produced in CHO cells

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Curcumin reduces α-synuclein induced cytotoxicity in Parkinson's disease cell model

Abstract Background Overexpression and abnormal accumulation of aggregated α-synuclein (αS) have been linked to Parkinson's disease (PD) and other synucleinopathies. αS can misfold and adopt a variety of morphologies but recent studies implicate oligomeric forms as the most cytotoxic species. Both genetic mutations and chronic exposure to neurotoxins increase αS aggregation and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative damage in PD cell models. Results Here we show that curcumin can alleviate αS-induced toxicity, reduce ROS levels and protect cells against apoptosis. We also show that both intracellular overexpression of αS and extracellular addition of oligomeric αS increase ROS which induces apoptosis, suggesting that aggregated αS may induce similar toxic effects whether it is generated intra- or extracellulary. Conclusions Since curcumin is a natural food pigment that can cross the blood brain barrier and has widespread medicinal uses, it has potential therapeutic value for treating PD and other neurodegenerative disorders.</p

Evidence for co-translational misincorporation of non-canonical amino acid hydroxyproline in recombinant antibodies produced in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell lines.

With the advent of highly sensitive technologies such as tandem mass spectrometry and next-generation sequencing, recombinant antibodies are now routinely analyzed for the presence of low-level sequence variants including amino acid misincorporations. During mAb cell culture process development, we found that proline was replaced with the non-canonical amino acid, hydroxyproline, in the protein sequence. We investigated the relationship between proline content in the cell culture media and proline sequence variants and found that the proline concentration was inversely correlated with the amount of sequence variants detected in the protein sequence. Hydroxyproline incorporation has been previously reported in recombinant proteins produced in mammalian expression systems as a post-translational modification. Given the dependency on proline levels, the mechanism was then investigated. To address the possibility of co-translational misincorporation of hydroxyproline, we used tandem mass spectrometry to measure incorporation of stable-isotope labelled hydroxyproline added to the feed of a production bioreactor. We discovered co-translational misincorporation of labelled hydroxyproline in the recombinant antibody. These findings are significant, since they underscore the need to track non-canonical amino acid incorporation as a co-translational event in CHO cells. Understanding the mechanism of hydroxyproline incorporation is crucial in developing an appropriate control strategy during biologics production

Mito-magneto: a tool for nanoparticle mediated mitochondria isolation

The field of intracellular organelle targeting using nanoparticles (NPs) is mushrooming rapidly. Thus, the area of nanotechnology-enabled targeting of mitochondrion, the cellular powerhouse, for diseases characterized by mitochondrial dysfunctions such as cancer, diseases of the central nervous system, cardiovascular diseases is also growing at a rapid pace. Optimization of NP’s ability to target the mitochondria requires quantification of the particles in this subcellular organelle and isolation of mitochondria from cells. Conventional gradient centrifugation used in currently available methods may not be appropriate for NP containing mitochondria isolation as these particles undergo Brownian motion under centrifugal forces yielding irreproducible results. There is only one method for centrifugation free mitochondria isolation, however this method requires immune-precipitation. Thus, a reliable centrifugation and immune-precipitation free method is urgently needed to support this growing field of nanotechnology-based mitochondria targeting. Here, we report a mitochondria-targeted magnetic NP, Mito-magneto, to avoid centrifugation and immune precipitation methods for isolation of functional, respiration active pure mitochondria which can be used to analyze and quantify mitochondria targeting properties of various NPs to provide an important tool for the growing field of “mitochondrial nanomedicine”

Mito-DCA: A Mitochondria Targeted Molecular Scaffold for Efficacious Delivery of Metabolic Modulator Dichloroacetate

[Image: see text] Tumor growth is fueled by the use of glycolysis, which normal cells use only in the scarcity of oxygen. Glycolysis makes tumor cells resistant to normal death processes. Targeting this unique tumor metabolism can provide an alternative strategy to selectively destroy the tumor, leaving normal tissue unharmed. The orphan drug dichloroacetate (DCA) is a mitochondrial kinase inhibitor that has the ability to show such characteristics. However, its molecular form shows poor uptake and bioavailability and limited ability to reach its target mitochondria. Here, we describe a targeted molecular scaffold for construction of a multiple DCA loaded compound, Mito-DCA, with three orders of magnitude enhanced potency and cancer cell specificity compared to DCA. Incorporation of a lipophilic triphenylphosphonium cation through a biodegradable linker in Mito-DCA allowed for mitochondria targeting. Mito-DCA did not show any significant metabolic effects toward normal cells but tumor cells with dysfunctional mitochondria were affected by Mito-DCA, which caused a switch from glycolysis to glucose oxidation and subsequent cell death via apoptosis. Effective delivery of DCA to the mitochondria resulted in significant reduction in lactate levels and played important roles in modulating dendritic cell (DC) phenotype evidenced by secretion of interleukin-12 from DCs upon activation with tumor antigens from Mito-DCA treated cancer cells. Targeting mitochondrial metabolic inhibitors to the mitochondria could lead to induction of an efficient antitumor immune response, thus introducing the concept of combining glycolysis inhibition with immune system to destroy tumor

Nanotechnology inspired tools for mitochondrial dysfunction related diseases

Mitochondrial dysfunctions are recognized as major factors for various diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurological disorders, and a group of diseases so called “mitochondrial dysfunction related diseases”. One of the major hurdles to gain therapeutic efficiency in diseases where the targets are located in the mitochondria is the accessibility of the targets in this compartmentalized organelle that imposes barriers towards internalization of ions and molecules. Over the time, different tools and techniques were developed to improve therapeutic index for mitochondria acting drugs. Nanotechnology has unfolded as one of the logical and encouraging tools for delivery of therapeutics in controlled and targeted manner simultaneously reducing side effects from drug overdose. Tailor-made nanomedicine based therapeutics can be an excellent tool in the toolbox for diseases associated with mitochondrial dysfunctions. In this review, we present an extensive coverage of possible therapeutic targets in different compartments of mitochondria for cancer, cardiovascular, and mitochondrial dysfunction related diseases