7 research outputs found

    Antidepressive effects of targeting ELK-1 signal transduction

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    International audienceDepression, a devastating psychiatric disorder, is a leadingcause of disability worldwide. Current antidepressants addressspecific symptoms of the disease, but there is vast roomfor improvement1. In this respect, new compounds that actbeyond classical antidepressants to target signal transductionpathways governing synaptic plasticity and cellular resilienceare highly warranted2–4. The extracellular signal–regulatedkinase (ERK) pathway is implicated in mood regulation5–7, butits pleiotropic functions and lack of target specificity prohibitoptimal drug development. Here, we identified the transcriptionfactor ELK-1, an ERK downstream partner8, as a specificsignaling module in the pathophysiology and treatment ofdepression that can be targeted independently of ERK. ELK1mRNA was upregulated in postmortem hippocampal tissuesfrom depressed suicides; in blood samples from depressedindividuals, failure to reduce ELK1 expression was associatedwith resistance to treatment. In mice, hippocampal ELK-1 overexpressionper se produced depressive behaviors; conversely,the selective inhibition of ELK-1 activation prevented depression-like molecular, plasticity and behavioral states inducedby stress. Our work stresses the importance of target selectivityfor a successful approach for signal-transduction-basedantidepressants, singles out ELK-1 as a depression-relevanttransducer downstream of ERK and brings proof-of-conceptevidence for the druggability of ELK-1

    Clathrin adaptor CALM/PICALM is associated with neurofibrillary tangles and is cleaved in Alzheimer's brains.

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    PICALM, a clathrin adaptor protein, plays important roles in clathrin-mediated endocytosis in all cell types. Recently, genome-wide association studies identified single nucleotide polymorphisms in PICALM gene as genetic risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer disease (LOAD). We analysed by western blotting with several anti-PICALM antibodies the pattern of expression of PICALM in human brain extracts. We found that PICALM was abnormally cleaved in AD samples and that the level of the uncleaved 65-75 kDa full-length PICALM species was significantly decreased in AD brains. Cleavage of human PICALM after activation of endogenous calpain or caspase was demonstrated in vitro. Immunohistochemistry revealed that PICALM was associated in situ with neurofibrillary tangles, co-localising with conformationally abnormal and hyperphosphorylated tau in LOAD, familial AD and Down syndrome cases. PHF-tau proteins co-immunoprecipitated with PICALM. PICALM was highly expressed in microglia in LOAD. These observations suggest that PICALM is associated with the development of AD tau pathology. PICALM cleavage could contribute to endocytic dysfunction in AD.JOURNAL ARTICLESCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

    Preferential Binding to Elk-1 by SLE-Associated IL10 Risk Allele Upregulates IL10 Expression

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