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Mutant Ataxin-1 Inhibits Neural Progenitor Cell Proliferation in SCA1

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Abstract

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion of a polyglutamine (Q) repeat tract in the protein ataxin-1 (ATXN1). Beginning as a cerebellar ataxic disorder, SCA1 progresses to involve the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and brainstem. Using SCA1 knock-in mice that mirror the complexity of the human disease, we report a significant decrease in the capacity of adult neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) to proliferate. Remarkably, a decrease in NPCs proliferation can be observed in vitro, outside the degenerative milieu of surrounding neurons or glia, demonstrating that mutant ATXN1 acting cell autonomously within progenitor cells interferes with their ability to proliferate. Our findings suggest that compromised adult neurogenesis contributes to the progressive pathology of the disease particularly in areas such as the hippocampus and cerebral cortex where stem cells provide neurotropic factors and participate in adult neurogenesis. These findings not only shed light on the biology of the disease but also have therapeutic implications in any future stem cell-based clinical trials.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the members of the Opal lab for their intellectual input. We thank Jessica Huang for her help with the histopathology and mouse genotyping. MC was supported by startup funds for the Institute for the Translational Neuroscience and Minnesota Medical Foundation, while PO received grant support from the US National Institutes of Health (1R01 NS062051 and 1R01NS082351).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

      Marija Cvetanovic

    2. Davee Department of Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

      Yuan-Shih Hu & Puneet Opal

    3. Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

      Puneet Opal

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    1. Marija Cvetanovic
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    Correspondence to Puneet Opal.

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    All animal experiments were performed in compliance with National Institutes of Health’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the Northwestern University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

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    The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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    Marija Cvetanovic and Yuan-Shih Hu contributed equally to this work.

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    Cvetanovic, M., Hu, YS. & Opal, P. Mutant Ataxin-1 Inhibits Neural Progenitor Cell Proliferation in SCA1. Cerebellum 16, 340–347 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-016-0794-9

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-016-0794-9

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