Cystamine and intrabody co-treatment confers additional benefits in a fly model of Huntington's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a lethal, neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of the polyglutamine repeat in the Huntingtin gene (HTT), leading to mutant protein misfolding, aggregation, and neuronal death. Feeding a Drosophila HD model cystamine, or expressing a transgene encoding the anti-htt intracellular antibody (intrabody) C4-scFv in the nervous system, demonstrated therapeutic potential, but suppression of pathology was incomplete. We hypothesized that a combinatorial approach entailing drug and intrabody administration could enhance rescue of HD pathology in flies and that timing of treatment would affect outcomes. Feeding cystamine to adult HD flies expressing the intrabody resulted in a significant, additional rescue of photoreceptor neurodegeneration, but no additional benefit in longevity. Feeding cystamine during both larval and adult stages produced the converse result: longevity was significantly improved, but increased photoreceptor survival was not. We conclude that cystamine-intrabody combination therapies can be effective, reducing neurodegeneration and prolonging survival, depending on administration protocols.

Comparison of the canine and human acid beta-galactosidase gene.

Several canine cDNA libraries were screened with human beta-galactosidase cDNA as probe. Seven positive clones were isolated and sequenced yielding a partial (2060 bp) canine beta-galactosidase cDNA with 86% identity to the human beta-galactosidase cDNA. Preliminary analysis of a canine genomic library indicated conservation of exon number and size. Analysis by Northern blotting disclosed a single mRNA of 2.4 kb in fibroblasts and liver from normal dogs and dogs affected with GM1 gangliosidosis. Although incomplete, these results indicate canine GM1 gangliosidosis is a suitable animal model of the human disease and should further efforts to devise a gene therapy strategy for its treatment.

Clinical and clinicopathologic characteristics of ovine GM-1 gangliosidosis.

Ovine GM-1 gangliosidosis is an inherited lysosomal storage disease. Nine lambs affected with the disease were studied to characterize clinical signs and to determine if there were any pathognomonic clinicopathologic abnormalities. Evaluation included physical, ophthalmic, and neurologic examinations, complete blood counts, serum enzyme and electrolyte analyses, urinalyses, cerebrospinal fluid analyses, blood gas analyses, roentgenograms, electromyograms, and electrocardiograms. Two affected lambs had clinicopathologic tests performed before and after the onset of clinical signs. The only consistent abnormalities recognized were nonspecific signs referable to the central nervous system; predominantly ataxia, conscious proprioceptive deficit most severe in the hind limbs, blindness, and recumbency. Lambs continued to eat and drink, though at diminished levels and with loss of body condition. It was concluded that there are no pathognomonic clinicopathologic abnormalities associated with ovine GM-1 gangliosidosis, and antemortem diagnosis requires enzyme assay of leukocytes or cultured fibroblasts, or lectin histochemistry of tissues obtained by biopsy. Lysosomal storage diseases should be considered among the differential diagnoses in young animals presenting with early neonatal death or with nonspecific neurological signs, in concert with an absence of diagnostic clinicopathologic findings.

Ultrastructural lesions of ovine GM1 gangliosidosis.

Ovine GM1 gangliosidosis, an inherited disease of sheep with deficiencies of beta-galactosidase and alpha-neuraminidase, storage of GM1 ganglioside, asialo-GM1 and neutral long chain oligosaccharides in the brain, autosomal recessive inheritance, and histopathologic lesions typical of lysosomal storage diseases, has been described recently. Selected tissues from two sheep with the condition and an age-matched control were examined by transmission electron microscopy to characterize the ultrastructural lesions. In all central and peripheral neurons, the majority of the cytoplasmic space was occupied by membrane-limited enlarged bodies judged to be lysosomes, with a resultant displacement of normal organelles. The neuronal lysosomes usually contained stacks and concentric whorls of lamellae of stored material with a periodicity of 25 to 75 nM. Individual lamellae consisted of fine, multilayered (three to 10, and occasionally more) bands. Less commonly, enlarged neuronal lysosomes contained fibrillogranular or electron dense material. Central nervous system microglia and peripheral nervous system satellite cells had less extensive storage of similar material within enlarged lysosomes, whereas oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and Schwann cells were relatively unaffected. Hepatocytes and renal epithelial cells also had storage of less quantity than neurons, but within even larger lysosomes. In contrast to neuronal storage material, visceral storage consisted of vesicles containing fibrillogranular or electron dense material within a mostly electron lucent matrix with only occasional lamellae. Kupffer cells and macrophages from bone marrow were affected similarly to but less severely than hepatocytes and renal epithelial cells, whereas hematopoietic cells and chondrocytes were unaffected. Both neuronal and visceral storage were evident, but the neuronal storage was much more extensive.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Prenatal lesions in an ovine fetus with GM1 gangliosidosis.

Sheep affected with ovine GM1 gangliosidosis are normal at birth and develop clinical signs, initially ataxia, commencing at approximately 5 months of age, which progresses rapidly to recumbency. Superovulation and embryo transfer techniques were applied to a flock of carrier sheep of ovine GM1 gangliosidosis to increase the numbers of carrier and affected animals. A recipient ewe with 3 at-risk fetuses died at 4 months of gestation (normal ovine gestation is 5 months), and spectrofluorimetric assay of cerebral lysosomal beta-galactosidase of the fetuses showed that 2 were carriers and one was an affected fetus. The affected fetus had marked cytoplasmic enlargement and vacuolization of central and peripheral nervous system neuronal soma and of hepatocytes and renal epithelial cells. Lectin histochemistry indicated abnormal storage of complex carbohydrates, with terminal saccharide moieties consisting of beta-galactose, N-acetylneuraminic acid, and N-acetylgalactosamine. This case underlines the need for prenatal initiation of therapy and also demonstrates that vacuolization alone is not the cause of clinical signs in this lysosomal storage disease in that clinical signs do not commence until at least 5 months after vacuolization is histologically apparent.

Inheritance of an ovine lysosomal storage disease associated with deficiencies of beta-galactosidase and alpha-neuraminidase.

Prospective and retrospective genetic studies were performed on sheep with a recently described inherited lysosomal storage disease that involves a profound deficiency of beta-galactosidase and an associated deficiency of alpha-neuraminidase. Retrospective studies of the flock of sheep in which four affected lambs were born indicated little inbreeding but the presence of a common ram in both the maternal and paternal sides of the pedigrees. When unrelated rams were used in the flock in subsequent years, no affected lambs were born. The affected lambs' parents were phenotypically normal, so the disease was investigated as a putative autosomal recessive condition in prospective breedings of related sheep over two breeding seasons. For the third breeding season, heterozygous ewes were superovulated and bred to a heterozygous ram, and the resultant embryos were transferred to recipient ewes. Later in the same breeding season, the heterozygous ewes were re-bred naturally to the heterozygous ram. Lambs were identified as affected by the development of signs of ataxia, levels of beta-galactosidase that were less than 7% of the levels in controls by spectrofluorometric assay, or the histopathologic demonstration of vacuolization of neurons. Heterozygous sheep were identified by the production of affected offspring and/or by levels of beta-galactosidase in fibroblast cultures that were approximately 50% of control levels. The phenotypic ratio of affected sheep to normal sheep and the genotypic ratio of affected to heterozygous to normal sheep were consistent, by chi-square analysis, with an autosomal recessive trait. It was concluded that this ovine lysosomal storage disease is an autosomal recessive disease.

Isolation, characterization, and mapping of a human acid beta-galactosidase cDNA.

A lambda gt11 human testicular cDNA library was screened with degenerate oligonucleotide probe mixtures based on amino acid sequence data generated from cyanogen bromide fragments and tryptic fragments of purified human beta-galactosidase. Six positive clones were identified after screening 2 x 10(6) plaques. The sequences of these six clones were determined and found to be derived from two different cDNAs. The sequence of the longest of these cDNAs is nearly identical to that recently determined by Oshima et al. (1988). It codes for a 76-kD protein and all 11 peptides that were generated from the purified enzyme. The second clone is shorter by 393 bp in the central portion of the coding region. Analysis by Northern blotting revealed the presence of a single mRNA species of 2.45 kb in lymphoblasts and testicular tissue. It is deduced from the amino acid sequence data that proteolytic processing of the precursor form of beta-galactosidase must occur by cleavage in the carboxy-terminal portion of the polypeptide perhaps around amino acid 530 at a uniquely hydrophilic sequence. Using a probe generated from the 3' region of the cDNA, we have mapped the locus coding for human beta-galactosidase to chromosome 3p21-3pter.

Interspecific genetic complementation analysis of human and sheep fibroblasts with beta-galactosidase deficiency.

Interspecific somatic cell hybrids were analyzed by genetic complementation to determine if a lysosomal storage disease in sheep associated with deficiencies of beta-galactosidase and alpha-neuraminidase was homologous with any of four beta-galactosidase-deficient human diseases. Fibroblasts from beta-galactosidase-deficient sheep, cats, and human patients were fused and assayed histochemically for beta-galactosidase, with 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl beta-D-galactoside. We observed complementation in heterokaryons consisting of fibroblasts from beta-galactosidase-deficient sheep and fibroblasts from patients with galactosialidosis or mucolipidosis type II, but no complementation in heterokaryons consisting of fibroblasts from beta-galactosidase-deficient sheep and fibroblasts from human or feline GM1 gangliosidosis (type I) or from human mucopolysaccharidosis type IVB fibroblasts. We conclude that the ovine disease is due to a mutation at the genetic locus homologous with that of GM1 gangliosidosis and mucopolysaccharidosis type IVB, suggesting that the primary defect in the ovine disease is a mutation of the beta-galactosidase structural gene.

Lectin histochemistry of an ovine lysosomal storage disease with deficiencies of beta-galactosidase and alpha-neuraminidase.

Lectin histochemistry is a useful technique to identify and to localize in cells and tissues the terminal carbohydrate moieties of glycoproteins and glycolipids. The specific diagnosis of some glycoprotein storage diseases was accomplished using lectin staining patterns, and such methods of diagnosis have been attempted for some glycolipid storage diseases. This technique was applied to formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded and frozen neural, hepatic, and renal tissues of sheep with an inherited lysosomal storage disease with deficiencies of beta-galactosidase and alpha-neuraminidase. The cytoplasm of central nervous system neurons of affected sheep in paraffin-embedded sections stained with peanut agglutinin (PNA), Ricinus communis agglutinin-I (RCA-I), Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA), and soybean agglutinin (SBA). The cytoplasm of neurons in frozen sections of these tissues stained with PNA, RCA-I, wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), and Ulex europaeus agglutinin-I (UEA-I). The cytoplasm of frozen and paraffin-embedded sections of liver and kidney of affected sheep stained with PNA, whereas paraffin-embedded sections also stained with RCA-I. These results suggest the stored material in this disease has terminal saccharide moieties consisting of beta-galactose, N-acetylneuraminic acid, and N-acetylgalactosamine. Paraffin processing altered lectin staining patterns. Although the staining pattern in this glycolipid storage disease was complex, lectin histochemistry may prove to be a useful technique for the characterization of storage products and for the diagnosis of lysosomal storage diseases.

The lesions of an ovine lysosomal storage disease. Initial characterization.

An inherited disease associated with deficiencies of beta-galactosidase and alpha-neuraminidase has been identified recently in sheep. The clinical signs, the deficiency of lysosomal enzymes, and the familial nature of the disorder suggested that the condition was a lysosomal storage disease. Four affected sheep were necropsied and their tissues were examined by histopathologic and histochemical methods to determine if the lesions were consistent with a lysosomal storage disease. Central nervous system neurons were enlarged with finely to coarsely granular cytoplasmic material, or less often, neurons were distended with multiple, variably-sized vacuoles. Loss of neurons without gliosis was evident and the Nissl substance was either dispersed and fragmented or condensed around the nuclei of remaining neurons. Neurons of intestinal and other peripheral ganglia, retinal ganglion cells, and heart Purkinje fibers were enlarged similarly. White matter of the cerebrum and spinal cord had numerous spheroid to ellipsoid axonal enlargements. Periportal hepatocytes and renal epithelial cells were enlarged with marked vacuolation. The neuronal storage material stained intensely with periodic acid-Schiff/alcian blue, with Luxol fast blue, for acid phosphatase, and moderately with oil red O stains. Renal and hepatocyte storage material stained intensely with oil red O and moderately with periodic acid-Schiff/alcian blue and Sudan black B stains. The lesions in these sheep were consistent with those of a lysosomal storage disease. Both neuronal and visceral storage occurred, but the neuronal storage was more severe.

Beta-galactosidase activity in fibroblasts and tissues from sheep with a lysosomal storage disease.

Tissues and fibroblasts of sheep affected with an inherited, neuronal lysosomal storage disease expressed a deficiency of beta-galactosidase activity. Cerebrum, kidney, lung, spinal cord, and spleen from affected sheep had less than 8% of the beta-galactosidase activity present in the respective tissues of normal sheep. No evidence for the presence of an endogenous inhibitor in affected sheep was detected by mixing studies. Liver of affected sheep expressed a deficiency of beta-galactosidase activity only in the presence of the beta-D-glycosidase inhibitors, glucono-delta-lactone and 2,5-dihydroxymethyl-3,4-dihydroxypyrrolidine. In these studies, we demonstrated the existence of tissue-specific beta-galactosidases in sheep and showed that the affected sheep have a deficiency of the lysosomal beta-galactosidase. Our results suggest that the high residual beta-galactosidase activity in liver of affected sheep can be attributed to a nonlysosomal beta-galactosidase that has a neutral pH optimum and may be under temporal regulation.

Inherited lysosomal storage disease associated with deficiencies of beta-galactosidase and alpha-neuraminidase in sheep.

Histopathologic, ultrastructural and Golgi impregnation studies disclosed lesions characteristic of a neuronal lysosomal storage disease in related sheep with onset of neurologic signs at 4-6 months. Biochemical and enzymatic evaluation disclosed storage of GM1 ganglioside, asialo-GM1, and neutral long chain oligosaccharides in brain, urinary excretion of neutral long chain oligosaccharides, and deficiencies of lysosomal beta-galactosidase and alpha-neuraminidase. Retrospective and limited prospective genetic studies suggested autosomal recessive inheritance. A gene-dosage effect on beta-galactosidase levels was documented in fibroblasts from putative heterozygous sheep. Fibroblasts from affected sheep did not have increased beta-galactosidase activity after incubation with the protease inhibitor, leupeptin. In some aspects this disease is similar to GM1 gangliosidosis, but is unique in that a genetic defect in lysosomal beta-galactosidase may cause the deficiency of lysosomal alpha-neuraminidase.