Cancer versus neurodegeneration: characterizing the role of alpha-synuclein in melanoma.

MALIZIA, FLORENCIA; ANSELMINO, LUCIANO; MENACHO MÁRQUEZ, MAURICIO

Congreso; Reunión Anual SAIC-SAFE-SAB-SAP 2019; 2019

Both cancer and Parkinson disease (PD) are a consequence of the interaction between genes and environmental factors; a key difference is that the biological processes leading to these pathologies occur in different cellular environments, leading to cell division or death. Recent studies suggested that alpha-synuclein (αS), a key regulator in PD, although toxic to dopaminergic neurons, is protective for advanced melanoma.In this work, we began to explore the biological role of αS in processes associated to melanoma development and progression. First, by bioinformatics and Western Blot studies, we confirmed that αS is highly expressed in melanoma samples, being part of high molecular weight aggregates. Indeed, by differential lysis with detergents we found that αS is preferentially present at the cytoplasm or bound to membrane structures in mouse (B16-F0) and human (SK-MEL 28 and A375) melanoma cells. By using shRNA technologies and plasmid expression vectors, we were able to modulate αS expression in melanoma cells. Growth studies based on cells counting indicated that reduced expression of αS leads to proliferative defects (P