Tag: SCA3

Snapshot: What is RNAi?

RNA interference, or RNAi, is a natural biological process that inhibits the expression of a specific gene. In medicine, targeted RNAi therapies can be used to silence the expression of a disease-causing gene. To understand RNAi, you first have to understand RNA.

DNA is transcribed to make mRNA, which is tranlated by the ribosome to make protein.

An overview of  RNA is the messager between the DNA (the instructions) and the protein (the product). RNA is transcribed from the DNA. The ribosome translates the mRNA into protein. Graphic designed by Colleen Stoyas and illustrated by Celeste Suart.

Genes encode the instruction manual of our biology, but this material cannot leave the nucleus of your cells. Think of genes as a lecturer that provides instruction for your homework, which you must copy and take home to use later. The equivalent of copying this message in the cell is RNA, which transcribes the gene instructions and leaves the nucleus to be read and translated into protein. This protein then performs functions within the cell (see above image).

How can RNAi be used in ataxia?

In specific forms of ataxia, a gene mutation may provide the instructions for a protein that acts improperly and leads to disease. RNAi is a method of silencing RNA that interferes with the reading of this message, keeping a protein from being made. It works by generating a small interfering RNA in the laboratory that matches the gene of interest. When this small interfering RNA enters the cell, it binds the matching messenger RNA copied from a gene. When these two RNAs bind, the cell is triggered to cut up the message and destroy it. This means the disease-causing protein is never made. (see below image)

RNAi works by binding the mRNA, preventing it from being transcribed by the ribosome. This stops protein from being made.
How does RNAi work? It binds matching messenger RNA. This stops it from being translated by the ribosome into protein. Graphic designed by Colleen Stoyas and illustrated by Celeste Suart.

While RNAi is straightforward in the lab, getting it to work in humans can be tricky. The small interfering RNA cannot be taken in a pill, because it will not survive digestion. Additionally, the small interfering RNA is degraded along with the target messenger RNA, and so it must be continually administered. Using a viral payload, or encapsulating the interfering RNA in the coat proteins of a virus, has successfully delivered RNAi therapies in mouse models of SCA1, SCA3, and SCA7. In this method the virus integrates into your cells, which can then continue to produce the small interfering RNA. This means a single dose could potentially be all that is needed. Viral delivery to the brain is complicated, but not impossible. More work remains to be done clinically in order to determine if RNAi therapy is viable in a viral payload to treat multiple forms of spinocerebellar ataxia.

If you would like to learn more about RNAi, take a look at this video by TED-ED or entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Snapshot written by Dr. Colleen Stoyas and edited by Frida Niss.

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Zapping the brain to help ataxia

Written by Dr. Judit M. Perez Ortiz Edited by Dr. Sriram Jayabal

In a new study, scientists have found that “zapping” the brain with an electromagnetic wand may someday help patients with spinocerebellar ataxia.

In an era of ever-evolving technological advances used for personal entertainment and space travel, medical scientists are harnessing the power of electromagnetism to safely penetrate the skull and manipulate brain cells by mimicking their favorite language – electric current.

Clinicians currently have access to powerful and effective tools designed to stimulate brain cells (known as neurons) for various neurological and psychiatric conditions. Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs), however, are not yet in the mix. Though several techniques exist, the methods used to stimulate neurons in the brain can be broadly classified into invasive and non-invasive approaches. For instance, Vagus Nerve Stimulation is used for drug-resistant epileptic seizures, while Deep Brain Stimulation is used for Parkinson’s disease and severe depression. In both instances, a surgical procedure is required because the implanted electrodes have to come in direct contact with the target nerve or brain structure. Disadvantages associated with these surgical methods include the risk of infection, bleeding, and hardware malfunction. Non-invasive approaches to stimulate the brain include electroconvulsive (“shock”) therapy, in which electrodes are placed on the scalp surface to provoke a controlled seizure that yields a therapeutic effect. However, shock therapy requires anesthesia, and patients run the risk of memory issues as a side effect. A second non-invasive brain stimulation tool is also available, called repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS). There are many factors that make rTMS clinically appealing: it does not require surgery, it is already FDA-approved (for severe depression), it is painless, and it has been found to be safe. Further, unlike the broad brain stimulation achieved by electroshock therapy, rTMS delivers a more precise stimulation in a defined brain region, which leaves untargeted brain regions untouched.

cartoon of neuronal brain cells and electricity flowing between them
Artist’s depiction of electrical signals in the brain. Image courtesy of flickr.

Besides its circular or figure-eight attachment, the rTMS device looks quite a bit like a magic wand. Though this is no wizard’s tool, you could say that it does cast a powerful spell: the attachments on the end of the rTMS device are electromagnetic coils, which have the power to “zap” specific brain regions. In a remarkably simple procedure, the wand is gently placed over the patient’s scalp, where it delivers electromagnetic pulses that create just enough electric current to stimulate underlying brain cells without adversely affecting them.

A new pilot study conducted at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that using rTMS to stimulate the cerebellum of SCA patients is safe and may improve some aspects of ataxia. First, the investigators recorded the study participants’ baseline movement performance using a battery of tests designed to evaluate different features of ataxia, including balance, gait, and posture. Then, half of the study participants were randomly assigned to receive rTMS, while the other half were assigned to the control, or “sham” group.

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Recovering Purkinje cell health could improve quality of life in SCA3

Written by Jorge Diogo Da Silva Edited by Dr. David Bushart

Normalizing neuronal dysfunction in SCA3/MJD by activating a receptor inside cells

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), also known as Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), is an inherited neurodegenerative disease that typically begins in mid-adulthood. This disease causes loss of coordination and balance (a group of symptoms known as ataxia), abnormal eye movements, and other motor symptoms, all of which limit a patient’s daily life activities. Treating SCA3 patients is currently very challenging, since there are no drugs or other treatments that slow or stop the progression of this disease. While several therapeutic options have been tested in clinical trials, none have shown considerable and consistent effects in improving disease symptoms. Therefore, it is imperative that other treatments are investigated and tested in the clinical setting, in the hopes that we might find a way to improve the lives of SCA3 patients.

The cause of this disease is very well-characterized: patients with SCA3 have an abnormal form of a protein called ataxin-3. All proteins are made up of a sequence of several smaller building blocks known as amino acids. In ataxin-3’s sequence, there is a region where one type of amino acid, glutamine, is repeated consecutively. SCA3 arises when the number of these repeated amino acids is very high (an abnormality known as a polyglutamine expansion), which is toxic for cells.

One of the regions of the brain that is most responsible for regulating balance and movement coordination is the cerebellum, which is located just behind the brainstem (the region connecting the spinal cord to the rest of the brain). As expected, the cerebellum is one of the most affected brain regions in SCA3, since it helps control gait and coordination. Purkinje cells, which are some of the largest neurons in the brain, make up a substantial portion of the cerebellum. These cells receive information from other neurons that detect our surroundings, then emit a signal to the brain regions that control muscles and regulate our movement. This allows us to make movements that are coherent and fluid.

cross section of the cerebellum with purkinje cells stained blue
Cerebellum Cross Section with Purkinje Cells. Image courtesy of Berkshire Community College Bioscience Image Library

Since Purkinje cells are dysfunctional in SCA3, it is reasonable to think that improving the well-being of these cells could also reduce symptoms. In a recent publication, Watanave and colleagues described how they explored a strategy to improve Purkinje cell function using drugs in a mouse model of SCA3, with findings that could be relevant for future studies in patients.

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A Creatine-rich Diet Delays Disease in SCA3 Mice

Written by Dr. Lauren R. Moore Edited by Larissa Nitschke

Creatine, a common dietary supplement taken by athletes, delays symptoms and improves balance and strength in SCA3 mice.

Could a common nutritional supplement used by athletes to boost performance also provide benefits to ataxia patients? This was the main question addressed by a recent study of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3 (SCA3), the most common dominantly-inherited ataxia in the world. The study, published in March 2018, was led by Dr. Sara Duarte-Silva at the University of Minho in Portugal. Dr. Duarte-Silva and her team investigated whether feeding SCA3 mice a diet enriched with creatine – a popular dietary supplement – improves the symptoms and brain changes that are associated with SCA3. Researchers found that a high-creatine diet delayed disease and slowed the worsening of symptoms in SCA3 mice. This study provides promising evidence that increasing or adding creatine in daily consumption may have protective benefits for SCA3 patients.

SCA3 is one of six hereditary ataxias caused by a unique type of genetic mutation known as a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion. This occurs when a repeating sequence of three DNA nucleotides – Cytosine-Adenine-Guanine or “CAG” for short – is expanded, creating an abnormally high number of repeats. In SCA3, mutation occurs in a gene encoding the protein ATXN3 and produces an abnormally long “sticky” region in the disease protein. This sticky region, called a polyglutamine expansion, impairs ATXN3’s normal functions and causes it to build up in brain cells as toxic protein clumps. As a result, the brain’s ability to make and store energy is often impaired in SCA3 patients (a deficit that is also seen in many other brain disorders). Thus, drugs or compounds that improve overall energy production and use in brain cells could be beneficial in SCA3 and other ataxias.

man with white pill in his hand
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

One such compound that may increase energy efficiency – particularly in the brain and muscles – is creatine. Creatine is made naturally by the body, but can also be consumed through foods like red meats and seafood. In addition, creatine is a common ingredient in many commercially-available dietary supplements that claim to improve athletic performance by boosting energy and building muscle. Creatine has recently been shown to have some benefits in mouse models of other brain diseases with similarities to SCA3. However, whether creatine could benefit SCA3 patients hadn’t been investigated prior to this study.

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Connecting genetic repeats to symptom variability in SCA3/MJD

Written by Terry Suk Edited by Dr. Hayley McLoughlin

In this classic article, researchers describe how CAG repeat number variation can inform differences in the way SCA3/MJD symptoms present.

Machado-Joseph Disease (MJD) was first described in the 1970’s in four families of Azorean descent. However, it was not initially clear that these families had the same disease, since the symptoms they displayed were highly variable. These symptoms included differing degrees of motor incoordination, muscular atrophy (i.e., loss of muscle mass), spasticity, and rigidity. Later, these four diseases were labeled using the single title of MJD due to their similar genetic inheritance and irregularly high symptom variability1.

In the early 1990’s, a group of French families were diagnosed with Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type III (SCA3), a disease that appeared similar to SCA1 and SCA2 but was shown to be caused by distinct genetic mutation. The symptoms of SCA3 were similar to those of MJD and, importantly, also showed a high degree of variability. The major differences between the two diseases, however, were mostly based on geographical origin (Azorean versus French descent) and family history. Thus, these were considered separate diseases, and very few (if any) ataxia researchers studied both.

Small human figurine standing on a map of the world, specifically on top of France
Initial research done by Cancel and colleagues focused on four French families. Photo by slon_dot_pics on Pexels.com

Then, in 1994, MJD-1 was discovered to be the gene responsible for MJD. The disease-causing mutation in MJD-1 was found to be an expansion of a repetitive DNA sequence in the gene, described as “CAG repeats” (CAG = Cytosine, Adenine, and Guanine)2. Around this time, another research group narrowed down the location of the gene responsible for SCA33. Interestingly, this happened to reside in the same area of the genome as MJD‑1, which was appropriately named the “SCA3/MJD region” soon after. As mentioned above, both SCA3 and MJD patients displayed a wide variety of symptoms. This lead one group of researchers, Cancel and colleagues, to ask the following question in their 1995 publication: What is it about the SCA3/MJD region that leads SCA3 and MJD patients to exhibit such broad symptomatic variability?

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