Faulty Cell Signaling Derails Cerebral Cortex Development, Could It Lead to Autism?

Summary: Researchers reveal the deletion of a specific protein in progenitor cells leads to disrupted brain development.

Source: UNC Health Care.

As the embryonic brain develops, an incredibly complex cascade of cellular events occur, starting with progenitors – the originating cells that generate neurons and spur proper cortex development. If this cascade malfunctions – if one tiny protein doesn’t do its job – then the brain can develop abnormally.

UNC scientists led by Eva Anton, PhD, professor of cell biology and physiology in the UNC School of Medicine, have shown how the deletion of the protein APC in progenitor cells leads to massive disruption of brain development and the canonical Wnt protein pathway – a signaling cascade- that previously was linked to genes associated with autism.

“Although our experiments were done in mouse genetic models, human APC mutations have been associated with autism,” said Anton, a member of the UNC Neuroscience Center and the new UNC Autism Research Center. “These mutations disrupt the ability of brain progenitors to respond appropriately to the environmental cues necessary for them to divide, and to generate and guide neurons during brain development.”

The Anton lab findings come on the heels of other studies in autism suggesting that, in some cases, the long path toward autism symptoms begins when the development of progenitor cells in the cerebral cortex is disrupted. Other researchers conducted genetic analyses of people with autism to discover that the Wnt signaling pathway was disrupted in these patients.

These two studies led Anton to suspect that something within the Wnt signaling process in progenitor cells could be a culprit, and he set out to test his hypothesis.

In the developing embryonic brain, Wnt triggers a so-called degradation complex inside the progenitor cell’s cytoplasm. This complex destroys the protein β-catenin, thus limiting β-catenin’s ability to enter the nucleus. And that’s important because as progenitor cells divide, this control of b-catenin’s access to the nucleus plays an important role in gene expression and ultimately how neurons are created and how they are channeled to their proper position in various parts of the brain. Given the important role Wnt signaling plays in cell proliferation, it isn’t surprising that Wnt signaling also drives various cancers, as other researchers have found.

In experiments led by Naoki Nakagawa, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Anton’s lab, UNC scientists explored what would happen if they altered the degradation complex. One protein in that complex is APC. When Nakagawa deleted APC, the β-catenin was left unchecked, triggering unregulated patterns of gene expression in progenitors.

“If that happens, everything falls apart,” Anton said. “The brain doesn’t form properly. We need β-catenin to get tagged for destruction by that protein complex. If it doesn’t, then Wnt abnormally activates genes in progenitors, causing them to behave abnormally.”

When Nakagawa titered down β-catenin in mice that lacked APC, the mice developed normally. In yet another experiment in mice with APC, Anton’s team hyper-activated β-catenin independent of APC and again the brains didn’t develop properly. “This showed us that it truly was the deregulation of β-catenin that caused problems,” Anton said. “And it’s APC in that protein complex that’s key to proper regulation.”

The left images shows typical brain cell organization in control mice. The right images shows deleting the protein APC in progenitor cells derailed normal neuron generation and migration. NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Anton Lab, UNC School of Medicine.

Although this work suggests neuropsychiatric conditions may arise due to mutations in the embryonic brain – which means it would be much more difficult to medically address – Anton says it’s too early to say nothing could be done to address problems of Wnt signaling in progenitors, in relation to its role in the rise of autism in children later.

“We want to now focus on the syndromic autism genes,” Anton said. “Those are the genes we know can cause autism. Some of these genes are expressed in progenitor cells. We want see if deregulation of Wnt signaling triggers changes in syndromic autism gene expression and function in human progenitors,” Anton said.

For that, Anton’s lab would start with mouse models. If they show that Wnt signaling in progenitors involves autism genes, then Anton’s lab could turn to human progenitor cells and grow them into “minibrains” to study if progenitors are truly affected in autism patients.

Anton added, “Although progenitor defects cannot be treated in mature brain neurons, with such studies we could at least pinpoint what changed and what needs to be corrected in people who develop autism because of subtle but crucial brain changes before birth.”

About this neuroscience research article

The National Institutes of Health funded this research. Other authors included postdoc Keiko Yabuno-Nakagawa, PhD, lab manager Robin Taylor, and former Anton lab postdocs Jingjun Li, PhD, Martin Cowles, PhD, and Tae-Yeon Eom, PhD.

Source: Mark Derewicz – UNC Health Care
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to the Anton Lab, UNC School of Medicine.
Original Research: Abstract for “APC sets the Wnt tone necessary for cerebral cortical progenitor development” by Naoki Nakagawa, Jingjun Li, Keiko Yabuno-Nakagawa, Tae-Yeon Eom, Martis Cowles, Tavien Mapp, Robin Taylor, and E.S. Anton in Genes & Development. Published online September 15 2017 doi:10.1101/gad.302679.117

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]UNC Health Care “Faulty Cell Signaling Derails Cerebral Cortex Development, Could It Lead to Autism?.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 20 September 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/autism-cerebral-cortex-7532/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]UNC Health Care (2017, September 20). Faulty Cell Signaling Derails Cerebral Cortex Development, Could It Lead to Autism?. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved September 20, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/autism-cerebral-cortex-7532/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]UNC Health Care “Faulty Cell Signaling Derails Cerebral Cortex Development, Could It Lead to Autism?.” https://neurosciencenews.com/autism-cerebral-cortex-7532/ (accessed September 20, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

APC sets the Wnt tone necessary for cerebral cortical progenitor development

Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) regulates the activity of β-catenin, an integral component of Wnt signaling. However, the selective role of the APC–β-catenin pathway in cerebral cortical development is unknown. Here we genetically dissected the relative contributions of APC-regulated β-catenin signaling in cortical progenitor development, a necessary early step in cerebral cortical formation. Radial progenitor-specific inactivation of the APC–β-catenin pathway indicates that the maintenance of appropriate β-catenin-mediated Wnt tone is necessary for the orderly differentiation of cortical progenitors and the resultant formation of the cerebral cortex. APC deletion deregulates β-catenin, leads to high Wnt tone, and disrupts Notch1 signaling and primary cilium maintenance necessary for radial progenitor functions. β-Catenin deregulation directly disrupts cilium maintenance and signaling via Tulp3, essential for intraflagellar transport of ciliary signaling receptors. Surprisingly, deletion of β-catenin or inhibition of β-catenin activity in APC-null progenitors rescues the APC-null phenotype. These results reveal that APC-regulated β-catenin activity in cortical progenitors sets the appropriate Wnt tone necessary for normal cerebral cortical development.

“APC sets the Wnt tone necessary for cerebral cortical progenitor development” by Naoki Nakagawa, Jingjun Li, Keiko Yabuno-Nakagawa, Tae-Yeon Eom, Martis Cowles, Tavien Mapp, Robin Taylor, and E.S. Anton in Genes & Development. Published online September 15 2017 doi:10.1101/gad.302679.117

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