Here we report that a non-KIR domain FTLD-associated variant of p62 (p.R110C), affecting a residue close to the N-terminal PB1 oligomerisation domain, also reduces Keap1-p62 binding in cellulo and thereby reduces Nrf2 activity in reporter assays.
The multifunctional protein p62 is associated with neuropathological inclusions in several neurodegenerative disorders, including frontotemporal lobar degeneration, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and motor neurone disease are linked by the possession of a hexanucleotide repeat expansion in C9ORF72, and both show neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions within cerebellar and hippocampal neurones which are TDP-43 negative but immunoreactive for p62 and dipeptide repeat proteins (DPR), these being generated by a non-ATG RAN translation of the expanded region of the gene.
Neuropathological examination in six cases with C9ORF72 mutation from the frontotemporal lobar degeneration series identified histomorphological features consistent with either type A or B TAR DNA-binding protein-43 deposition; however, p62-positive (in excess of TAR DNA-binding protein-43 positive) neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions in hippocampus and cerebellum were a consistent feature of these cases, in contrast to the similar frequency of p62 and TAR DNA-binding protein-43 deposition in 53 control cases with frontotemporal lobar degeneration-TAR DNA-binding protein.
Here we immunoprecipitated endogenous p62 in the cerebral cortex from patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP-43 inclusions (FTLD-TDP) and found that p62 coimmunoprecipitated several proteins, including TDP-43, which is a major disease protein in FTLD-TDP.