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ATF4-activated parkin induction contributes to deferasirox-mediated cytoprotection in Parkinson’s disease

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Abstract

The E3 ubiquitin ligase parkin plays neuroprotective functions in the brain and the deficits of parkin’s ligase function in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with reduced survival of dopaminergic neurons. Thus, compounds enhancing parkin expression have been developed as potential neuroprotective agents that prevent ongoing neurodegeneration in PD environments. Besides, iron chelators have been shown to have neuroprotective effects in diverse neurological disorders including PD. Although repression of iron accumulation and oxidative stress in brains has been implicated in their marked neuroprotective potential, molecular mechanisms of iron chelator’s neuroprotective function are largely unexplored. Here, we show that the iron chelator deferasirox provides cytoprotection against oxidative stress through enhancing parkin expression under basal conditions. Parkin expression is required for cytoprotection against oxidative stress in SH-SY5Y cells with deferasirox treatment as confirmed by abolished deferasirox’s cytoprotective effect after parkin knockdown by shRNA. Similar to the previously reported parkin inducing compound diaminodiphenyl sulfone, deferasirox-mediated parkin expression was induced by activation of the PERK-ATF4 pathway, which is associated with and stimulated by mild endoplasmic reticulum stress. The translational potential of deferasirox for PD treatment was further evaluated in cultured mouse dopaminergic neurons. There was a robust ATF4 activation and parkin expression in response to deferasirox treatment in dopaminergic neurons under basal conditions. Consequently, the enhanced parkin expression by deferasirox provided substantial neuroprotection against 6-hydroxydopamine-induced oxidative stress. Taken together, our study results revealed a novel mechanism through which an iron chelator, deferasirox induces neuroprotection. Since parkin function in the brain is compromised in PD and during aging, maintenance of parkin expression through the iron chelator treatment could be beneficial by increasing dopaminergic neuronal survival.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (2018R1D1A1B07046762), the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and Korea Dementia Research Center (KDRC), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare and Ministry of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea (HU22C0143000022).

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    1. Department of Pharmacology, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 16419, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea

      Sangwoo Ham, Ji Hun Kim, Heejeong Kim, Jeong-Yong Shin & Yunjong Lee

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    Conceptualization, S.H., and Y.L.; methodology, S.H., J-Y.S., J.H.K. and H.K.; formal analysis, S.H.; investigation, S.H., J-Y.S., J.H.K.; resources, Y.L.; data curation, S.H.; writing—original draft preparation, S.H., J.H.K., and Y.L.; writing—review and editing, S.H., J.H.K., and Y.L.; supervision, Y.L.; funding acquisition, Y.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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    Ham, S., Kim, J.H., Kim, H. et al. ATF4-activated parkin induction contributes to deferasirox-mediated cytoprotection in Parkinson’s disease. Toxicol Res. 39, 191–199 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43188-022-00157-x

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