Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Publication

Flavones provide resistance to DUX4-induced toxicity via an mTor-independent mechanism

Cohen, Justin
Huang, Shushu
Koczwara, Katherine E
Woods, Kristen T
Ho, Vincent
Woodman, Keryn G
Arbiser, Jack L
Daman, Katelyn
Lek, Monkol
Emerson, Charles P. Jr.
... show 1 more
Embargo Expiration Date
Abstract

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is among the most common of the muscular dystrophies, affecting nearly 1 in 8000 individuals, and is a cause of profound disability. Genetically, FSHD is linked to the contraction and/or epigenetic de-repression of the D4Z4 repeat array on chromosome 4, thereby allowing expression of the DUX4 gene in skeletal muscle. If the DUX4 transcript incorporates a stabilizing polyadenylation site the myotoxic DUX4 protein will be synthesized, resulting in muscle wasting. The mechanism of toxicity remains unclear, as many DUX4-induced cytopathologies have been described, however cell death does primarily occur through caspase 3/7-dependent apoptosis. To date, most FSHD therapeutic development has focused on molecular methods targeting DUX4 expression or the DUX4 transcript, while therapies targeting processes downstream of DUX4 activity have received less attention. Several studies have demonstrated that inhibition of multiple signal transduction pathways can ameliorate DUX4-induced toxicity, and thus compounds targeting these pathways have the potential to be developed into FSHD therapeutics. To this end, we have screened a group of small molecules curated based on their reported activity in relevant pathways and/or structural relationships with known toxicity-modulating molecules. We have identified a panel of five compounds that function downstream of DUX4 activity to inhibit DUX4-induced toxicity. Unexpectedly, this effect was mediated through an mTor-independent mechanism that preserved expression of ULK1 and correlated with an increase in a marker of active cellular autophagy. This identifies these flavones as compounds of interest for therapeutic development, and potentially identifies the autophagy pathway as a target for therapeutics.

Source

Cohen J, Huang S, Koczwara KE, Woods KT, Ho V, Woodman KG, Arbiser JL, Daman K, Lek M, Emerson CP Jr, DeSimone AM. Flavones provide resistance to DUX4-induced toxicity via an mTor-independent mechanism. Cell Death Dis. 2023 Nov 16;14(11):749. doi: 10.1038/s41419-023-06257-2. PMID: 37973788; PMCID: PMC10654915.

Year of Medical School at Time of Visit
Sponsors
Dates of Travel
DOI
10.1038/s41419-023-06257-2
PubMed ID
37973788
Other Identifiers
Notes
Funding and Acknowledgements
Corresponding Author
Related Resources
Related Resources
Repository Citation
Rights
Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2023Attribution 4.0 International