• Microglia jointly degrade fibrillar alpha-synuclein cargo by distribution through tunneling nanotubes

      Scheiblich, Hannah; Dansokho, Cira; Mercan, Dilek; Schmidt, Susanne V.; Bousset, Luc; Wischhof, Lena; Eikens, Frederik; Odainic, Alexandru; Spitzer, Jasper; Griep, Angelika; et al. (2021-09-22)
      Microglia are the CNS resident immune cells that react to misfolded proteins through pattern recognition receptor ligation and activation of inflammatory pathways. Here, we studied how microglia handle and cope with alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn) fibrils and their clearance. We found that microglia exposed to alpha-syn establish a cellular network through the formation of F-actin-dependent intercellular connections, which transfer alpha-syn from overloaded microglia to neighboring naive microglia where the alpha-syn cargo got rapidly and effectively degraded. Lowering the alpha-syn burden attenuated the inflammatory profile of microglia and improved their survival. This degradation strategy was compromised in cells carrying the LRRK2 G2019S mutation. We confirmed the intercellular transfer of alpha-syn assemblies in microglia using organotypic slice cultures, 2-photon microscopy, and neuropathology of patients. Together, these data identify a mechanism by which microglia create an "on-demand" functional network in order to improve pathogenic alpha-syn clearance.
    • Quantitative Correlation of in Vivo Properties with in Vitro Assay Results: The in Vitro Binding of a Biotin-DNA Analogue Modifier with Streptavidin Predicts the in Vivo Avidin-Induced Clearability of the Analogue-Modified Antibody

      Dou, Shuping; Virostko, John; Greiner, Dale L.; Powers, Alvin C.; Liu, Guozheng (2015-08-03)
      Quantitative prediction of in vivo behavior using an in vitro assay would dramatically accelerate pharmaceutical development. However, studies quantitatively correlating in vivo properties with in vitro assay results are rare because of the difficulty in quantitatively understanding the in vivo behavior of an agent. We now demonstrate such a correlation as a case study based on our quantitative understanding of the in vivo chemistry. In an ongoing pretargeting project, we designed a trifunctional antibody (Ab) that concomitantly carried a biotin and a DNA analogue (hereafter termed MORF). The biotin and the MORF were fused into one structure prior to conjugation to the Ab for the concomitant attachment. Because it was known that avidin-bound Ab molecules leave the circulation rapidly, this design would theoretically allow complete clearance by avidin. The clearability of the trifunctional Ab was determined by calculating the blood MORF concentration ratio of avidin-treated Ab to non-avidin-treated Ab using mice injected with these compounds. In theory, any compromised clearability should be due to the presence of impurities. In vitro, we measured the biotinylated percentage of the Ab-reacting (MORF-biotin) superset-NH2 modifier, by addition of streptavidin to the radiolabeled (MORF-biotin) superset-NH2 samples and subsequent high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. On the basis of our previous quantitative understanding, we predicted that the clearability of the Ab would be equal to the biotinylation percentage measured via HPLC. We validated this prediction within a 3% difference. In addition to the high avidin-induced clearability of the trifunctional Ab (up to approximately 95%) achieved by the design, we were able to predict the required quality of the (MORF-biotin) superset-NH2 modifier for any given in vivo clearability. This approach may greatly reduce the steps and time currently required in pharmaceutical development in the process of synthesis, chemical analysis, in vitro cell study, and in vivo validation.