Parkinson's Disease-Specific Autoantibodies against the Neuroprotective Co-Chaperone STIP1.

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a debilitating movement disorder characterised by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. As neuroprotective agents mitigating the rate of neurodegeneration are unavailable, the current therapies largely focus only on symptomatic relief. Here, we identified stress-inducible phosphoprotein 1 (STIP1) as a putative neuroprotective factor targeted by PD-specific autoantibodies. STIP1 is a co-chaperone with reported neuroprotective capacities in mouse Alzheimer’s disease and stroke models. With human dopaminergic neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, STIP1 was found to alleviate staurosporine-induced neurotoxicity. A case-control study involving 50 PD patients (average age = 62.94 ± 8.48, Hoehn and Yahr >2 = 55%) and 50 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) (average age = 63.1 ± 8) further revealed high levels of STIP1 autoantibodies in 20% of PD patients compared to 10% of HCs. Using an overlapping peptide library covering the STIP1 protein, we identified four PD-specific B cell epitopes that were not recognised in HCs. All of these epitopes were located within regions crucial for STIP1’s chaperone function or prion protein association. Our clinical and neuro-immunological studies highlight the potential of the STIP1 co-chaperone as an endogenous neuroprotective agent in PD and suggest the possible involvement of autoimmune mechanisms via the production of autoantibodies in a subset of individuals.

• Authors: Jolene Su Yi Tan, Bernett Lee, Jackwee Lim, Dong Rui Ma, Jia Xin Goh, Suh Yee Goh, Muhammad Yaaseen Gulam, Ser Mei Koh, Weiling Wendy Lee, Lei Feng, Qing Wang, Yinxia Chao, Olaf Rötzschke, Eng King Tan
• Journal: Cells (Cells) Vol. 11 Issue 10 (05 16 2022) ISSN: 2073-4409 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 35626686 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Autoantibodies
• Heat-Shock Proteins
• Molecular Chaperones
• Neuroprotective Agents
• Phosphoproteins
• STIP1 protein, human

Topics

• Animals
• Autoantibodies
• Case-Control Studies
• Heat-Shock Proteins (therapeutic use)
• Humans
• Mice
• Molecular Chaperones (metabolism)
• Neuroprotective Agents (pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Parkinson Disease (metabolism)
• Phosphoproteins