Effects of peptidyl-prolyl isomerase 1 depletion in animal models of prion diseases

ABSTRACT

Pin1 is a peptidyl-prolyl isomerase that induces the cis-trans conversion of specific Ser/Thr-Pro peptide bonds in phosphorylated proteins, leading to conformational changes through which Pin1 regulates protein stability and activity. Since down-regulation of Pin1 has been described in several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Huntington's Disease (HD), we investigated its potential role in prion diseases. Animals generated on wild-type (Pin1^+/+), hemizygous (Pin1^+/−) or knock-out (Pin1^−/−) background for Pin1 were experimentally infected with RML prions. The study indicates that, neither the total depletion nor reduced levels of Pin1 significantly altered the clinical and neuropathological features of the disease.

KEYWORDS:

• Pin1
• prion
• PMCA
• neurodegeneration

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to prof. Giannino Del Sal (University of Trieste) for providing a colony of transgenic mice with different genetic background for Pin1.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministero della Salute (Current Research to FM) and Associazione Italiana Encefalopatie da Prioni (AIEnP).