The Gln-Ala repeat transcriptional activator CA150 interacts with huntingtin: neuropathologic and genetic evidence for a role in Huntington's disease pathogenesis

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Feb 13;98(4):1811-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.98.4.1811. Epub 2001 Jan 30.

Abstract

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by polyglutamine expansion in the protein huntingtin (htt). Pathogenesis in HD appears to involve the formation of ubiquitinated neuronal intranuclear inclusions containing N-terminal mutated htt, abnormal protein interactions, and the aggregate sequestration of a variety of proteins (noticeably, transcription factors). To identify novel htt-interacting proteins in a simple model system, we used a yeast two-hybrid screen with a Caenorhabditis elegans activation domain library. We found a predicted WW domain protein (ZK1127.9) that interacts with N-terminal fragments of htt in two-hybrid tests. A human homologue of ZK1127.9 is CA150, a transcriptional coactivator with a N-terminal insertion that contains an imperfect (Gln-Ala)(38) tract encoded by a polymorphic repeat DNA. CA150 interacted in vitro with full-length htt from lymphoblastoid cells. The expression of CA150, measured immunohistochemically, was markedly increased in human HD brain tissue compared with normal age-matched human brain tissue, and CA150 showed aggregate formation with partial colocalization to ubiquitin-positive aggregates. In 432 HD patients, the CA150 repeat length explains a small, but statistically significant, amount of the variability in the onset age. Our data suggest that abnormal expression of CA150, mediated by interaction with polyglutamine-expanded htt, may alter transcription and have a role in HD pathogenesis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Age of Onset
  • Alanine*
  • Animals
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Brain / pathology*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans
  • Dinucleotide Repeats*
  • Glutamine*
  • Helminth Proteins / genetics
  • Helminth Proteins / metabolism
  • Huntingtin Protein
  • Huntington Disease / genetics
  • Huntington Disease / metabolism
  • Huntington Disease / pathology*
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism*
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics
  • Nuclear Proteins / metabolism*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / physiology
  • Trans-Activators / genetics
  • Trans-Activators / metabolism
  • Trans-Activators / physiology*
  • Transcriptional Elongation Factors

Substances

  • HTT protein, human
  • Helminth Proteins
  • Huntingtin Protein
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • TCERG1 protein, human
  • Trans-Activators
  • Transcriptional Elongation Factors
  • Glutamine
  • Alanine