Huntington's Disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) tract in the protein huntingtin (htt). Sadly, a decade of research into the mechanisms of polyQ- dependent neurodegeneration has failed to produce even a single effective therapy for HD. Although small molecules have been identified that inhibit the aggregation of a mutant htt fragment in vitro, many bind to secondary structures shared by other proteins, and it is not known if any of these molecules will be effective and specific in more complex models of HD. We recently completed a loss-of-function (LOF) genomic screen in S. cerevisiae with single gene deletion strains that identified kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO), an enzyme in the KP of tryptophan degradation, as a potent suppressor of mutant htt toxicity. The brain levels of two neurotoxic metabolites in the KP, quinolinic acid (QUIN) and 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK), are increased in the striatum and neocortex in early grade HD;similar increases in QUIN and/or 3-HK are present in three mouse models of HD. QUIN and 3-HK have long been hypothetically linked to the pathophysiology of HD. Indeed, intrastriatal injection of QUIN together with 3-HK causes striatal lesions that may be mediated by the combination of N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor over-stimulation (excitotoxicity) and free radical formation. In our proposal, we present data showing that Ro 61-8048, a high-affinity, orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of KMO, decreases QUIN, 3-HK and mutant htt toxicity in yeast, and significantly improved neurological index, rotarod performance, locomotor activity and ambulatory distance in a small pilot study using a mouse model of HD. Remarkably, we show KMO is expressed exclusively in microglia. Microglial activation has been documented in postmortem brains of early grade HD patients and in HD mouse models. However, little is known about the role of microglia in HD pathophysiology. We show that primary microglia isolated from HD mice have significantly increased levels of 3-HK. We hypothesize that mutant htt induces a transcriptional defect that activates the KP in microglia, and that inhibiting the KP via pharmacological and genetic approaches will improve behavioral and pathological outcome measures in HD mouse models. We propose to test these hypotheses by studying the role of mutant htt and the KP in cultured microglia and in vivo in mouse models of HD. These experiments will establish whether KMO inhibitors such as Ro 61-4048, which showed promising results in a small pilot study, deserves further consideration for pre-clinical development as a HD therapy. More broadly, our genetic experiments in mice will determine whether pharmacological inhibition of KMO is a bona fide therapeutic approach to treating HD.

Public Health Relevance

In this project we will use genetic and pharmacological approaches to determine if blocking a metabolic pathway implicated in Huntington's disease (the kynurenine pathway) confers protection in mouse models of this disorder. The kynurenine pathway is found predominantly in microglia, the macrophages of the brain, which are activated abnormally in pre-symptomatic Huntington's disease patients. If successful, our studies may lead to clinical tests of small molecule inhibitors of the pathway in patients with Huntington's disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS057715-05
Application #
8231519
Study Section
Cellular and Molecular Biology of Glia Study Section (CMBG)
Program Officer
Sutherland, Margaret L
Project Start
2008-03-01
Project End
2014-02-28
Budget Start
2012-03-01
Budget End
2014-02-28
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$371,193
Indirect Cost
$104,774
Name
J. David Gladstone Institutes
Department
Type
DUNS #
099992430
City
San Francisco
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94158
Larkin, Paul B; Sathyasaikumar, Korrapati V; Notarangelo, Francesca M et al. (2016) Tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 make separate, tissue-specific contributions to basal and inflammation-induced kynurenine pathway metabolism in mice. Biochim Biophys Acta 1860:2345-2354
Breda, Carlo; Sathyasaikumar, Korrapati V; Sograte Idrissi, Shama et al. (2016) Tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) inhibition ameliorates neurodegeneration by modulation of kynurenine pathway metabolites. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113:5435-40
Giorgini, Flaviano; Huang, Shao-Yi; Sathyasaikumar, Korrapati V et al. (2013) Targeted deletion of kynurenine 3-monooxygenase in mice: a new tool for studying kynurenine pathway metabolism in periphery and brain. J Biol Chem 288:36554-66
Wang, Xiao-Dan; Notarangelo, Francesca M; Wang, Ji-Zuo et al. (2012) Kynurenic acid and 3-hydroxykynurenine production from D-kynurenine in mice. Brain Res 1455:1-9
Notarangelo, Francesca M; Wu, Hui-Qiu; Macherone, Anthony et al. (2012) Gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry detection of extracellular kynurenine and related metabolites in normal and lesioned rat brain. Anal Biochem 421:573-81
Kwan, Wanda; Träger, Ulrike; Davalos, Dimitrios et al. (2012) Mutant huntingtin impairs immune cell migration in Huntington disease. J Clin Invest 122:4737-47
Perez-de la Cruz, Veronica; Amori, Laura; Sathyasaikumar, Korrapati V et al. (2012) Enzymatic transamination of D-kynurenine generates kynurenic acid in rat and human brain. J Neurochem 120:1026-35
Stachowski, Erin K; Schwarcz, Robert (2012) Regulation of quinolinic acid neosynthesis in mouse, rat and human brain by iron and iron chelators in vitro. J Neural Transm (Vienna) 119:123-31
Green, Edward W; Campesan, Susanna; Breda, Carlo et al. (2012) Drosophila eye color mutants as therapeutic tools for Huntington disease. Fly (Austin) 6:117-20
Larkin, Paul B; Muchowski, Paul J (2012) Genetic Deficiency of Complement Component 3 Does Not Alter Disease Progression in a Mouse Model of Huntington's Disease. J Huntingtons Dis 1:107-18

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