Brain injury induces HIF-1α-dependent transcriptional activation of LRRK2 that exacerbates brain damage

• Published in: Cell death & disease Vol. 9; no. 11; pp. 1125 - 19
• Main Authors: Bae, Yun-Hee, Joo, Hyejin, Bae, Jinhyun, Hyeon, Seung Jae, Her, Song, Ko, Eunhwa, Choi, Hwan Geun, Ryu, Hoon, Hur, Eun-Mi, Bu, Youngmin, Lee, Byoung Dae
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 12.11.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 13; 13/2; 14; 14/19; 38; 631/378/1689/364; 631/378/1934; 64; 64/60; 82; 82/80; Animals; Antibodies; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Apoptosis - genetics; Base Sequence; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - genetics; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - metabolism; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - pathology; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - prevention & control; Cell Biology; Cell Culture; Cell death; Cerebral Cortex - drug effects; Cerebral Cortex - metabolism; Cerebral Cortex - pathology; Chromatin; Cognitive ability; Cortex; Female; Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit - genetics; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit - metabolism; Hypoxia-inducible factors; Immunology; Immunoprecipitation; Inflammation; Kinases; Leucine; Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2 - antagonists & inhibitors; Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2 - genetics; Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2 - metabolism; Life Sciences; LRRK2 protein; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR; Mitochondria - drug effects; Mitochondria - metabolism; Mitochondria - pathology; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - metabolism; Neurons - pathology; Neuroprotective Agents - pharmacology; Primary Cell Culture; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Protein Binding; Protein Kinase Inhibitors - pharmacology; Psychomotor Performance - drug effects; Signal Transduction; Therapeutic applications; Transcription activation; Transcription, Genetic; Traumatic brain injury
• DOI: 10.1038/s41419-018-1180-y
• ISSN: 2041-4889

Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 ( LRRK2 ), originally identified as a causative genetic factor in Parkinson’s disease, is now associated with a number of pathologies. Here, we show that brain injury induces a robust expression of endogenous LRRK2 and suggest a role of LRRK2 after injury. We found that various in vitro and in vivo models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) markedly enhanced LRRK2 expression in neurons and also increased the level of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α. Luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed direct binding of HIF-1α in LRRK2 proximal promoter. We also found that HIF-1α-dependent transcriptional induction of LRRK2 exacerbated neuronal cell death following injury. Furthermore, application of G1023, a specific, brain-permeable inhibitor of LRRK2, substantially prevented brain tissue damage, cell death, and inflammatory response and alleviated motor and cognitive defects induced by controlled cortical impact injury. Together, these results suggest HIF-1α-LRRK2 axis as a potential therapeutic target for brain injury.