Browsing by Author "Wijeratne, H. R. Sagara"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Deletion of miR‐33, a regulator of the ABCA1–APOE pathway, ameliorates neuropathological phenotypes in APP/PS1 mice
    (Wiley, 2024) Tate, Mason; Wijeratne, H. R. Sagara; Kim, Byungwook; Philtjens, Stéphanie; You, Yanwen; Lee, Do-Hun; Gutierrez, Daniela A.; Sharify, Daniel; Wells, Megan; Perez-Cardelo, Magdalena; Doud, Emma H.; Fernandez-Hernando, Carlos; Lasagna-Reeves, Cristian; Mosley, Amber L.; Kim, Jungsu; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Rare variants in ABCA1 increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). ABCA1 facilitates the lipidation of apolipoprotein E (apoE). This study investigated whether microRNA-33 (miR-33)-mediated regulation of this ABCA1-APOE pathway affects phenotypes of an amyloid mouse model. Methods: We generated mir-33+/+;APP/PS1 and mir-33-/-;APP/PS1 mice to determine changes in amyloid pathology using biochemical and histological analyses. We used RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry to identify the transcriptomic and proteomic changes between our genotypes. We also performed mechanistic experiments by determining the role of miR-33 in microglial migration and amyloid beta (Aβ) phagocytosis. Results: Mir-33 deletion increases ABCA1 levels and reduces Aβ accumulation and glial activation. Multi-omics studies suggested miR-33 regulates the activation and migration of microglia. We confirm that the inhibition of miR-33 significantly increases microglial migration and Aβ phagocytosis. Discussion: These results suggest that miR-33 might be a potential drug target by modulating ABCA1 level, apoE lipidation, Aβ level, and microglial function. Highlights: Loss of microRNA-33 (miR-33) increased ABCA1 protein levels and the lipidation of apolipoprotein E. Loss of miR-33 reduced amyloid beta (Aβ) levels, plaque deposition, and gliosis. mRNAs and proteins dysregulated by miR-33 loss relate to microglia and Alzheimer's disease. Inhibition of miR-33 increased microglial migration and Aβ phagocytosis in vitro.
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    Effects of SPI1-mediated transcriptome remodeling on Alzheimer's disease-related phenotypes in mouse models of Aβ amyloidosis
    (Springer Nature, 2024-05-11) Kim, Byungwook; Dabin, Luke Child; Tate, Mason Douglas; Karahan, Hande; Sharify, Ahmad Daniel; Acri, Dominic J.; Al-Amin, Md Mamun; Philtjens, Stéphanie; Smith, Daniel Curtis; Wijeratne, H. R. Sagara; Park, Jung Hyun; Jucker, Mathias; Kim, Jungsu; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    SPI1 was recently reported as a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in large-scale genome-wide association studies. However, it is unknown whether SPI1 should be downregulated or increased to have therapeutic benefits. To investigate the effect of modulating SPI1 levels on AD pathogenesis, we performed extensive biochemical, histological, and transcriptomic analyses using both Spi1-knockdown and Spi1-overexpression mouse models. Here, we show that the knockdown of Spi1 expression significantly exacerbates insoluble amyloid-β (Aβ) levels, amyloid plaque deposition, and gliosis. Conversely, overexpression of Spi1 significantly ameliorates these phenotypes and dystrophic neurites. Further mechanistic studies using targeted and single-cell transcriptomics approaches demonstrate that altered Spi1 expression modulates several pathways, such as immune response pathways and complement system. Our data suggest that transcriptional reprogramming by targeting transcription factors, like Spi1, might hold promise as a therapeutic strategy. This approach could potentially expand the current landscape of druggable targets for AD.
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    Genetic and Functional Dissection of Neurodegeneration: Multiomic Analysis of Genetic Risk Variants in Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia 1B and Alzheimer's Disease
    (2025-05) Wijeratne, H. R. Sagara; Mosley, Amber; Kim, Jungsu; Baucum, A. J.; Vilseck, Jonah
    Each neurodegenerative diseases have a combination of features such as neuronal death, protein aggregation, inflammation, cytoskeletal abnormalities, altered proteostasis, synaptic defects, RNA/DNA defects, and altered energetics. While genetic variants are crucial to disease pathogenesis, the molecular mechanisms linking the genotype to these hallmarks remain unclear. We investigate two risk genes linked to different neurodegenerative diseases, pontocerebellar Hypoplasia 1B (PCH1b) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), using a multiomic approach to uncover their genetic and functional underpinnings. PCH1b is caused by variants in an RNA exosome complex subunit EXOSC3. These variants disrupt RNA processing, leading to neuronal dysfunction and progressive neurodegeneration. By analyzing cell lines carrying a variant in between two RNA-binding domains of EXOSC3, we found significant changes in RNA abundance across multiple RNA classes and showing enrichment of transcripts containing AU-rich elements. Molecular dynamics simulations of EXOSC3 indicate that the variants produce an unstructured EXOSC3 isoform, possibly prone to degradation. Proteomics reveals altered protein abundance and thermal stability in specific RNA exosome subunits, particularly affecting the MPP6 cofactor. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is the strongest genetic risk factor for sporadic AD though its exact molecular effects are not fully understood. Thermal proteome profiling of astrocytes from APOE knockout mice showed that APOE deficiency alters the thermal stability of mitochondrial proteins, particularly in Complex I of the electron transport chain. The functional consequences of this stability change is an increased ATP-linked respiration in APOE-deficient astrocytes, suggesting a shift in mitochondrial activity. These findings provide new insights into how APOE impacts mitochondrial function and protein stability, emphasizing thermal proteomic profiling as a powerful tool for studying neurodegenerative diseases. Multiomics analyses effectively link genotype to phenotype in neurodegenerative diseases by uncovering molecular alterations that define disease-specific hallmarks, such as RNA homeostasis changes in PCH1b and mitochondrial alteration in AD, offering valuable insights into their pathophysiology and therapeutic targets.
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    IB-DNQ and Rucaparib dual treatment alters cell cycle regulation and DNA repair in triple negative breast cancer cells
    (bioRxiv, 2024-05-18) Runnebohm, Avery M.; Wijeratne, H. R. Sagara; Peck Justice, Sarah A.; Wijeratne, Aruna B.; Roy, Gitanjali; Singh, Naveen; Hergenrother, Paul; Boothman, David A.; Motea, Edward A.; Mosley, Amber L.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), characterized by the lack of three canonical receptors, is unresponsive to commonly used hormonal therapies. One potential TNBC-specific therapeutic target is NQO1, as it is highly expressed in many TNBC patients and lowly expressed in non-cancer tissues. DNA damage induced by NQO1 bioactivatable drugs in combination with Rucaparib-mediated inhibition of PARP1-dependent DNA repair synergistically induces cell death. Methods: To gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind this synergistic effect, we used global proteomics, phosphoproteomics, and thermal proteome profiling to analyze changes in protein abundance, phosphorylation and protein thermal stability. Results: Very few protein abundance changes resulted from single or dual agent treatment; however, protein phosphorylation and thermal stability were impacted. Histone H2AX was among several proteins identified to have increased phosphorylation when cells were treated with the combination of IB-DNQ and Rucaparib, validating that the drugs induced persistent DNA damage. Thermal proteome profiling revealed destabilization of H2AX following combination treatment, potentially a result of the increase in phosphorylation. Kinase substrate enrichment analysis predicted altered activity for kinases involved in DNA repair and cell cycle following dual agent treatment. Further biophysical analysis of these two processes revealed alterations in SWI/SNF complex association and tubulin / p53 interactions. Conclusions: Our findings that the drugs target DNA repair and cell cycle regulation, canonical cancer treatment targets, in a way that is dependent on increased expression of a protein selectively found to be upregulated in cancers without impacting protein abundance illustrate that multi-omics methodologies are important to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind treatment induced cancer cell death.
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    Network analysis identifies strain-dependent response to tau and tau seeding-associated genes
    (Rockefeller University Press, 2023) Acri, Dominic J.; You, Yanwen; Tate, Mason D.; Karahan, Hande; Martinez, Pablo; McCord, Brianne; Sharify, A. Daniel; John, Sutha; Kim, Byungwook; Dabin, Luke C.; Philtjens, Stéphanie; Wijeratne, H. R. Sagara; McCray, Tyler J.; Smith, Daniel C.; Bissel, Stephanie J.; Lamb, Bruce T.; Lasagna-Reeves, Cristian A.; Kim, Jungsu; Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiology, School of Medicine
    Previous research demonstrated that genetic heterogeneity is a critical factor in modeling amyloid accumulation and other Alzheimer's disease phenotypes. However, it is unknown what mechanisms underlie these effects of genetic background on modeling tau aggregate-driven pathogenicity. In this study, we induced tau aggregation in wild-derived mice by expressing MAPT. To investigate the effect of genetic background on the action of tau aggregates, we performed RNA sequencing with brains of C57BL/6J, CAST/EiJ, PWK/PhJ, and WSB/EiJ mice (n = 64) and determined core transcriptional signature conserved in all genetic backgrounds and signature unique to wild-derived backgrounds. By measuring tau seeding activity using the cortex, we identified 19 key genes associated with tau seeding and amyloid response. Interestingly, microglial pathways were strongly associated with tau seeding activity in CAST/EiJ and PWK/PhJ backgrounds. Collectively, our study demonstrates that mouse genetic context affects tau-mediated alteration of transcriptome and tau seeding. The gene modules associated with tau seeding provide an important resource to better model tauopathy.
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    Obtaining Functional Proteomics Insights From Thermal Proteome Profiling Through Optimized Melt Shift Calculation and Statistical Analysis With InflectSSP
    (American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2023) McCracken, Neil A.; Liu, Hao; Runnebohm, Avery M.; Wijeratne, H. R. Sagara; Wijeratne, Aruna B.; Staschke, Kirk A.; Mosley, Amber L.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    Thermal proteome profiling (TPP) is an invaluable tool for functional proteomics studies that has been shown to discover changes associated with protein–ligand, protein–protein, and protein–RNA interaction dynamics along with changes in protein stability resulting from cellular signaling. The increasing number of reports employing this assay has not been met concomitantly with new approaches leading to advancements in the quality and sensitivity of the corresponding data analysis. The gap between data acquisition and data analysis tools is important to fill as TPP findings have reported subtle melt shift changes related to signaling events such as protein posttranslational modifications. In this study, we have improved the Inflect data analysis pipeline (now referred to as InflectSSP, available at https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=InflectSSP) to increase the sensitivity of detection for both large and subtle changes in the proteome as measured by TPP. Specifically, InflectSSP now has integrated statistical and bioinformatic functions to improve objective functional proteomics findings from the quantitative results obtained from TPP studies through increasing both the sensitivity and specificity of the data analysis pipeline. InflectSSP incorporates calculation of a “melt coefficient” into the pipeline with production of average melt curves for biological replicate studies to aid in identification of proteins with significant melts. To benchmark InflectSSP, we have reanalyzed two previously reported datasets to demonstrate the performance of our publicly available R-based program for TPP data analysis. We report new findings following temporal treatment of human cells with the small molecule thapsigargin that induces the unfolded protein response as a consequence of inhibition of sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 2A. InflectSSP analysis of our unfolded protein response study revealed highly reproducible and statistically significant target engagement over a time course of treatment while simultaneously providing new insights into the possible mechanisms of action of the small molecule thapsigargin.