Development of transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans expressing human transthyretin as a model for drug screening

Familial amyloid polyneuropathy is a hereditary systemic amyloidosis caused by a mutation in the transthyretin (TTR) gene. Amyloid deposits in tissues of patients contain not only full-length TTR but also C-terminal TTR fragments. However, in vivo models to evaluate the pathogenicity of TTR fragment...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2018-12, Vol.8 (1), p.17884-13, Article 17884
Main Authors: Tsuda, Yukimoto, Yamanaka, Kunitoshi, Toyoshima, Risa, Ueda, Mitsuharu, Masuda, Teruaki, Misumi, Yohei, Ogura, Teru, Ando, Yukio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amyloid
Amyloid Neuropathies, Familial - drug therapy
Amyloid Neuropathies, Familial - pathology
Amyloidosis
Animals
Animals, Genetically Modified
Body wall
Caenorhabditis elegans
Catechin - analogs & derivatives
Catechin - pharmacology
Cytotoxicity
Disease Models, Animal
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical - methods
Drug screening
Epigallocatechin-3-gallate
Green fluorescent protein
Green Fluorescent Proteins - analysis
Green Fluorescent Proteins - genetics
Green tea
Humans
Life span
Locomotion
Longevity
Motility
Nematodes
Neuroprotective Agents - pharmacology
Pathogenicity
Phenotypes
Polyneuropathy
Prealbumin - biosynthesis
Prealbumin - genetics
Recombinant Fusion Proteins - biosynthesis
Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics
Staining and Labeling
Transthyretin
Worms
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Summary:Familial amyloid polyneuropathy is a hereditary systemic amyloidosis caused by a mutation in the transthyretin (TTR) gene. Amyloid deposits in tissues of patients contain not only full-length TTR but also C-terminal TTR fragments. However, in vivo models to evaluate the pathogenicity of TTR fragments have not yet been developed. Here, we generated transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans strains expressing several types of TTR fragments or full-length TTR fused to enhanced green fluorescent protein in the body wall muscle cells and analyzed the phenotypes of the worms. The transgenic strain expressing residues 81-127 of TTR, which included the β-strands F and H, formed aggregates and caused defective worm motility and a significantly shortened lifespan compared with other strains. These findings suggest that the C-terminal fragments of TTR may contribute to cytotoxicity of TTR amyloidosis in vivo. By using this C. elegans model system, we found that (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, a major polyphenol in green tea, significantly inhibited the formation of aggregates, the defective motility, and the shortened lifespan caused by residues 81-127 of TTR. These results suggest that our newly developed C. elegans model system will be useful for in vivo pathological analyses of TTR amyloidosis as well as drug screening.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-36357-5