Aneurysm and Neurocysticercosis: Casual or Causal Relationship? Case Report and Review of the Literature

Four cases of suggestive inflammatory aneurysms in patients with neurocysticercosis have been described. We report a case of a 49-year-old woman who presented with subarachnoid haemorrhage from a right middle cerebral artery bifurcation aneurysm and had a casual relationship with neurocysticercosis. At surgery, a viable cysticercus without signs of inflammation or thickened leptomeninges was found in the distal position of the aneurysm. Postoperatively, the patient received albendazole and dextrochlorpheniramine. In the subsequent three years, the patient was asymptomatic and took drugs to prevent convulsion and arterial hypertension. The relationship between NCC and the presence of cerebral aneurysm is discussed

Oxidative Neurodegeneration Is Prevented by UCP0045037, an Allosteric Modulator for the Reduced Form of DJ-1, a Wild-Type of Familial Parkinson’s Disease-Linked PARK7

Although a loss-of-function mutation has been identified in familial Parkinson’s disease PARK7, the wild-type of DJ-1 is known to act as an oxidative stress sensor in neuronal cells. Recently, we identified UCP0045037 as a compound that bound to the reduced form of DJ-1 by in silico virtual screening. In this study, we determined the neuroprotective effects of UCP0045037 against focal cerebral ischemia-induced neurodegeneration in rats. Hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death was significantly inhibited by UCP0045037 in both rat mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and human normal SH-SY5Y cells. In contrast, DJ-1-knockdown SH-SY5Y cells lost the protective activity of UCP0045037. These results suggest that UCP0045037 interacts with endogenous DJ-1 and produces a neuroprotective response

BAG1 restores formation of functional DJ-1 L166P dimers and DJ-1 chaperone activity

The L166P mutation in DJ-1 is associated with Parkinson’s disease. DJ-1–interacting protein BAG1 chaperones mutant DJ-1 and reverses its mutant phenotype

Identification of a novel functional deletion variant in the 5'-UTR of the DJ-1 gene

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>DJ-1 forms part of the neuronal cellular defence mechanism against oxidative insults, due to its ability to undergo self-oxidation. Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of central nervous system damage in different neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease (PD). Various mutations in the <it>DJ-1 </it>(<it>PARK7</it>) gene have been shown to cause the autosomal recessive form of PD. In the present study South African PD patients were screened for mutations in <it>DJ-1 </it>and we aimed to investigate the functional significance of a novel 16 bp deletion variant identified in one patient.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The possible effect of the deletion on promoter activity was investigated using a Dual-Luciferase Reporter assay. The <it>DJ-1 </it>5'-UTR region containing the sequence flanking the 16 bp deletion was cloned into a pGL4.10-Basic luciferase-reporter vector and transfected into HEK293 and BE(2)-M17 neuroblastoma cells. Promoter activity under hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress conditions was also investigated. Computational (<it>in silico</it>) <it>cis</it>-regulatory analysis of <it>DJ-1 </it>promoter sequence was performed using the transcription factor-binding site database, TRANSFAC via the PATCH™ and rVISTA platforms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A novel 16 bp deletion variant (g.-6_+10del) was identified in <it>DJ-1 </it>which spans the transcription start site and is situated 93 bp 3' from a Sp1 site. The deletion caused a reduction in luciferase activity of approximately 47% in HEK293 cells and 60% in BE(2)-M17 cells compared to the wild-type (<it>P </it>< 0.0001), indicating the importance of the 16 bp sequence in transcription regulation. The activity of both constructs was up-regulated during oxidative stress. Bioinformatic analysis revealed putative binding sites for three transcription factors AhR, ARNT, HIF-1 within the 16 bp sequence. The frequency of the g.-6_+10del variant was determined to be 0.7% in South African PD patients (2 heterozygotes in 148 individuals).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first report of a functional <it>DJ-1 </it>promoter variant, which has the potential to influence transcript stability or translation efficiency. Further work is necessary to determine the extent to which the g.-6_+10del variant affects the normal function of the <it>DJ-1 </it>promoter and whether this variant confers a risk for PD.</p

Oxidation of DJ-1 Induced by 6-Hydroxydopamine Decreasing Intracellular Glutathione

DJ-1, the causative gene of a familial form of Parkinson's disease (PD), has been reported to undergo preferential oxidation of the cysteine residue at position 106 (Cys-106) under oxidative stress; however, details of the molecular mechanisms are not well known. In the present study, mechanisms of DJ-1 oxidation induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) were investigated by using SH-SY5Y cells. The treatment of these cells with 6-OHDA caused an obvious acidic spot sift of DJ-1 due to its oxidation. However, when catalase, which is an hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-removing enzyme, was added during the treatment, it failed to prevent the oxidation induced by 6-OHDA, suggesting that electrophilic p-quinone formed from 6-OHDA, but not H2O2, was responsible for the DJ-1 oxidation. Benzoquinone, another electrophilic p-quinone, also induced DJ-1 oxidation. The intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels were significantly decreased by 6-OHDA, irrespective of the presence or absence of catalase. The inhibition of GSH synthesis by buthionine sulfoximine resulted in a decrease in GSH levels and enhancement of DJ-1 oxidation. The pretreatment of cells with N-acetyl-cysteine prevented the loss of intracellular GSH and subsequently DJ-1 oxidation induced by 6-OHDA. Collectively, these results suggest that electrophilic p-quinone formed from 6-OHDA induces DJ-1 oxidation by decreasing intracellular GSH

A Plant DJ-1 Homolog Is Essential for Arabidopsis thaliana Chloroplast Development

Protein superfamilies can exhibit considerable diversification of function among their members in various organisms. The DJ-1 superfamily is composed of proteins that are principally involved in stress response and are widely distributed in all kingdoms of life. The model flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana contains three close homologs of animal DJ-1, all of which are tandem duplications of the DJ-1 domain. Consequently, the plant DJ-1 homologs are likely pseudo-dimeric proteins composed of a single polypeptide chain. We report that one A. thaliana DJ-1 homolog (AtDJ1C) is the first DJ-1 homolog in any organism that is required for viability. Homozygous disruption of the AtDJ1C gene results in non-viable, albino seedlings that can be complemented by expression of wild-type or epitope-tagged AtDJ1C. The plastids from these dj1c plants lack thylakoid membranes and granal stacks, indicating that AtDJ1C is required for proper chloroplast development. AtDJ1C is expressed early in leaf development when chloroplasts mature, but is downregulated in older tissue, consistent with a proposed role in plastid development. In addition to its plant-specific function, AtDJ1C is an atypical member of the DJ-1 superfamily that lacks a conserved cysteine residue that is required for the functions of most other superfamily members. The essential role for AtDJ1C in chloroplast maturation expands the known functional diversity of the DJ-1 superfamily and provides the first evidence of a role for specialized DJ-1-like proteins in eukaryotic development

Transcriptional Activation of Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor Gene by DJ-1 and Effect of DJ-1 on Cholesterol Homeostasis

DJ-1 is a novel oncogene and also causative gene for familial Parkinson’s disease park7. DJ-1 has multiple functions that include transcriptional regulation, anti-oxidative reaction and chaperone and mitochondrial regulation. For transcriptional regulation, DJ-1 acts as a coactivator that binds to various transcription factors, resulting in stimulation or repression of the expression of their target genes. In this study, we found the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene is a transcriptional target gene for DJ-1. Reduced expression of LDLR mRNA and protein was observed in DJ-1-knockdown cells and DJ-1-knockout mice and this occurred at the transcription level. Reporter gene assays using various deletion and point mutations of the LDLR promoter showed that DJ-1 stimulated promoter activity by binding to the sterol regulatory element (SRE) with sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) and that stimulating activity of DJ-1 toward LDLR promoter activity was enhanced by oxidation of DJ-1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation, gel-mobility shift and co-immunoprecipitation assays showed that DJ-1 made a complex with SREBP on the SRE. Furthermore, it was found that serum LDL cholesterol level was increased in DJ-1-knockout male, but not female, mice and that the increased serum LDL cholesterol level in DJ-1-knockout male mice was cancelled by administration with estrogen, suggesting that estrogen compensates the increased level of serum LDL cholesterol in DJ-1-knockout female mice. This is the first report that DJ-1 participates in metabolism of fatty acid synthesis through transcriptional regulation of the LDLR gene