Effectiveness of Albumin-Fused Thioredoxin against 6-Hydroxydopamine-Induced Neurotoxicity In Vitro

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2023-06, Vol.24 (11), p.9758
• Main Authors: Sakakibara, Okina, Shimoda, Mikako, Yamamoto, Gaku, Higashi, Youichirou, Ikeda-Imafuku, Mayumi, Ishima, Yu, Kawahara, Masahiro, Tanaka, Ken-Ichiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 6-Hydroxydopamine; Albumin; Albumins; Albumins - metabolism; Animals; Antioxidants; Apoptosis; Cell death; Cellular stress response; Dementia disorders; Disulfide reductase; Dopamine; Dopamine receptors; Extracellular signal-regulated kinase; Fusion protein; Hypothalamus; Immunologic Factors - pharmacology; Inflammation; Intracellular signalling; Kidney diseases; Kinases; MAP kinase; Mice; Mitochondria; Nervous system diseases; Neurons; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - metabolism; Neurotoxicity; NF-κB protein; Oxidative Stress; Oxidopamine - toxicity; Parkinson Disease - drug therapy; Parkinson Disease - metabolism; Parkinson's disease; Pathogenesis; Pharmacology; Protein kinases; Proteins; Reactive oxygen species; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Reductases; Scientific equipment and supplies industry; Substantia nigra; Thioredoxin; Thioredoxins - metabolism; Trace metals
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms24119758

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by oxidative stress-dependent loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and elevated microglial inflammatory responses. Recent studies show that cell loss also occurs in the hypothalamus in PD. However, effective treatments for the disorder are lacking. Thioredoxin is the major protein disulfide reductase in vivo. We previously synthesized an albumin-thioredoxin fusion protein (Alb-Trx), which has a longer plasma half-life than thioredoxin, and reported its effectiveness in the treatment of respiratory and renal diseases. Moreover, we reported that the fusion protein inhibits trace metal-dependent cell death in cerebrovascular dementia. Here, we investigated the effectiveness of Alb-Trx against 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced neurotoxicity in vitro. Alb-Trx significantly inhibited 6-OHDA-induced neuronal cell death and the integrated stress response. Alb-Trx also markedly inhibited 6-OHDA-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, at a concentration similar to that inhibiting cell death. Exposure to 6-OHDA perturbed the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, with increased phosphorylated Jun N-terminal kinase and decreased phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase levels. Alb-Trx pretreatment ameliorated these changes. Furthermore, Alb-Trx suppressed 6-OHDA-induced neuroinflammatory responses by inhibiting NF-κB activation. These findings suggest that Alb-Trx reduces neuronal cell death and neuroinflammatory responses by ameliorating ROS-mediated disruptions in intracellular signaling pathways. Thus, Alb-Trx may have potential as a novel therapeutic agent for PD.