Studies

To study mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, neuronal cell lines are important model systems and are often differentiated into postmitotic neuron-like cells to resemble more closely primary neurons obtained from brains. One such cell line is the Lund Human Mesencephalic (LUHMES) cell line which can be differentiated into dopamine-like neurons and is frequently used to study mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and neurotoxicity. Neuronal differentiation of LUHMES cells is commonly verified ...

The metalloprotease ADAM10 is a drug target in Alzheimer's disease, where it cleaves the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and lowers amyloid-beta. Yet, ADAM10 has additional substrates, which may cause mechanism-based side effects upon therapeutic ADAM10 activation. However, they may also serve-in addition to APP-as biomarkers to monitor ADAM10 activity in patients and to develop APP-selective ADAM10 activators. Our study demonstrates that one such substrate is the neuronal cell adhesion protein ...

Remyelination can occur naturally in demyelinating lesions, but often fails in human demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The function of the innate immune system is essential for the regenerative response, but how exactly microglia and macrophages clear myelin debris after injury and tailor a specific regenerative response is unclear. Here, we asked whether pro-inflammatory microglial/macrophage activation is required for this process. We established a novel toxin-based spinal ...

After demyelinating injury of the central nervous system, resolution of the mounting acute innate inflammation is crucial for the initiation of a regenerative response. To identify factors in lesion recovery after demyelination injury, we used a toxin-induced model, in which a single dose of lysolecithin is injected into the corpus callosum to induce a focal demyelinating lesion. Afterwards, we investigated the proteome of demyelinating lesions at different time points post injection (dpi) in a ...

Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase 19 (USP19) is a unique deubiquitinase, characterized by multiple variants generated by alternative splicing. Several variants bear a C-terminal transmembrane domain that anchors them to the endoplasmic reticulum. Other than regulating protein stability by preventing proteasome degradation, USP19 has been reported to rescue substrates from endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein degradation in a catalytic-independent manner, promote autophagy, and address ...

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is an age-related condition and a major cause of intracerebral hemorrhage and cognitive decline that shows close links with Alzheimer's disease (AD). CAA is characterized by the aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and formation of Aβ deposits in the brain vasculature resulting in a disruption of the angioarchitecture. Capillaries are a critical site of Aβ pathology in CAA type 1 and become dysfunctional during disease progression. Here, applying an advanced ...

Age-related decline in brain endothelial cell (BEC) function critically contributes to cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative disease. Comprehensive atlases of the BEC transcriptome have become available but results from proteomic profiling are lacking. To gain insights into endothelial pathways affected by aging, we developed a magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS)-based mouse BEC enrichment protocol compatible with high-resolution mass-spectrometry and analysed the profiles of protein abundance ...