The essential and downstream common proteins of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A protein-protein interaction network analysis

• Published in: PloS one 2017-03, Vol.12 (3), p.e0172246-e0172246
• Main Authors: Mao, Yimin, Kuo, Su-Wei, Chen, Le, Heckman, C J, Jiang, M C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenosine Triphosphatases - metabolism; Algorithms; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - complications; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - genetics; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - pathology; Biological activity; Biology and Life Sciences; Cell Cycle Proteins - metabolism; Cluster Analysis; Computational neuroscience; Computer and Information Sciences; Databases, Factual; Defects; Degeneration; Dementia; Dementia disorders; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Etiology; Frontotemporal dementia; Frontotemporal Dementia - complications; Frontotemporal Dementia - genetics; Frontotemporal Dementia - pathology; FUS protein; Gene mutation; Genes; Genetic aspects; Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A1; Heterogeneous-Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein Group A-B - metabolism; Humans; Medicine and Health Sciences; Molecular modelling; Motor neurons; Mutation; Network analysis; Neurodegeneration; Neurosciences; Phenotype; Physiology; Protein interaction; Protein Interaction Maps - genetics; Protein-protein interactions; Proteins; Research and Analysis Methods; RNA-Binding Protein FUS - metabolism; Science; Ubiquitin; Valosin Containing Protein
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172246

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a devastative neurodegenerative disease characterized by selective loss of motoneurons. While several breakthroughs have been made in identifying ALS genetic defects, the detailed molecular mechanisms are still unclear. These genetic defects involve in numerous biological processes, which converge to a common destiny: motoneuron degeneration. In addition, the common comorbid Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) further complicates the investigation of ALS etiology. In this study, we aimed to explore the protein-protein interaction network built on known ALS-causative genes to identify essential proteins and common downstream proteins between classical ALS and ALS+FTD (classical ALS + ALS/FTD) groups. The results suggest that classical ALS and ALS+FTD share similar essential protein set (VCP, FUS, TDP-43 and hnRNPA1) but have distinctive functional enrichment profiles. Thus, disruptions to these essential proteins might cause motoneuron susceptible to cellular stresses and eventually vulnerable to proteinopathies. Moreover, we identified a common downstream protein, ubiquitin-C, extensively interconnected with ALS-causative proteins (22 out of 24) which was not linked to ALS previously. Our in silico approach provides the computational background for identifying ALS therapeutic targets, and points out the potential downstream common ground of ALS-causative mutations.