INVESTIGADORES
ALZA Natalia Paola
artículos
Título:
Neutral lipids as early biomarkers of cellular fate: the case of alpha-synuclein overexpression
Autor/es:
ALZA, N.P.; CONDE, M.; SCODELARO BILBAO, P.G.; SALVADOR, G.
Revista:
Cell Death and Disease
Editorial:
Nature Publishing Group
Referencias:
Año: 2021 vol. 12
ISSN:
2041-4889
Resumen:
α-synuclein (α-syn) accumulation and aggregation is a common pathological factor found in synucleinopathies, a group of neurodegenerative disorders that includes Parkinson´s disease (PD). It has been proposed that lipid dyshomeostasis is responsible for the occurrence of PD-related processes, however the precise role of lipids in the onset and progression of neurodegenerative disorders remains unclear. Our aim was to investigate the effect of α-syn overexpression on neutral lipid metabolism and how this impacts on neuronal fate. We found lipid droplet (LD) accumulation in cells overexpressing α-syn to be associated with a rise in triacylglycerol (TAG) and cholesteryl ester (CE) levels. α-syn overexpression promoted diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 upregulation and acyl-CoA synthetase activation, triggering TAG buildup, that was accompanied by an increase in diacylglycerol acylation. Moreover, the CE increment was associated with higher activity of acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase. Interestingly, α-syn overexpression increased cholesterol lysosomal accumulation. We observed that sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-1 and SREBP-2 were differentially regulated by α-syn overexpression. The latter gave rise to a reduction in SREBP-1 nuclear translocation and consequently in fatty acid synthase expression, whereas it produced an increase in SREBP-2 nuclear localization. Surprisingly, and despite increased cholesterol levels, SREBP-2 downstream genes related to cholesterolgenesis were not upregulated as expected. Notably, phospholipid (PL) levels were diminished in cells overexpressing α-syn. This decrease was related to the activation of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) with a concomitant imbalance of the PL deacylation-acylation cycle. Fatty acids released from PLs by iPLA2 and cPLA2 action were esterified into TAGs, thus promoting a biological response to α-syn overexpression with uncompromised cell viability. When the described steady-state was disturbed under conditions favoring higher levels of α-syn, the response was an enhanced LD accumulation, this imbalance ultimately leading to neuronal death.