Characterization and biodistribution of under-employed gene therapy vector AAV7.

The use of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) as gene delivery vectors has vast potential for the treatment of many severe human diseases. Over one hundred naturally existing AAV capsid variants have been described and classified into phylogenetic clades based on their sequences. AAV8, AAV9, AAVrh.

Longevity-related molecular pathways are subject to midlife "switch" in humans.

Emerging evidence indicates that molecular aging may follow nonlinear or discontinuous trajectories. Whether this occurs in human neuromuscular tissue, particularly for the noncoding transcriptome, and independent of metabolic and aerobic capacities, is unknown. Applying our novel RNA method to quantify tissue coding and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), we identified ~800 transcripts tracking with age up to ~60 years in human muscle and brain.

Purification of H3 and H4 Histone Proteins and the Quantification of Acetylated Histone Marks in Cells and Brain Tissue.

In all eukaryotic organisms, chromatin, the physiological template of all genetic information, is essential for heredity. Chromatin is subject to an array of diverse posttranslational modifications (PTMs) that mostly occur in the amino termini of histone proteins (i.e.

Enhancement of BDNF Expression and Memory by HDAC Inhibition Requires BET Bromodomain Reader Proteins.

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors may have therapeutic utility in multiple neurological and psychiatric disorders, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we identify BRD4, a BET bromodomain reader of acetyl-lysine histones, as an essential component involved in potentiated expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and memory following HDAC inhibition. In studies, we reveal that pharmacological inhibition of BRD4 reversed the increase in mRNA induced by the class I/IIb HDAC inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA).

Inhibition of HDAC3 reverses Alzheimer's disease-related pathologies in vitro and in the 3xTg-AD mouse model.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of age-related dementia. Neuropathological hallmarks of AD include brain deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and accumulation of both hyperphosphorylated and acetylated tau. RGFP-966, a brain-penetrant and selective HDAC3 inhibitor, or HDAC3 silencing, increases BDNF expression, increases histone H3 and H4 acetylation, decreases tau phosphorylation and tau acetylation at disease-associated sites, reduces β-secretase cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), and decreases Aβ accumulation in HEK-293 cells overexpressing APP with the double Swedish mutation (HEK/APP).

M344 promotes nonamyloidogenic amyloid precursor protein processing while normalizing Alzheimer's disease genes and improving memory.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) comprises multifactorial ailments for which current therapeutic strategies remain insufficient to broadly address the underlying pathophysiology. Epigenetic gene regulation relies upon multifactorial processes that regulate multiple gene and protein pathways, including those involved in AD. We therefore took an epigenetic approach where a single drug would simultaneously affect the expression of a number of defined AD-related targets.

NAAG Peptidase Inhibitors Act via mGluR3: Animal Models of Memory, Alzheimer's, and Ethanol Intoxication.

Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) inactivates the peptide neurotransmitter N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) following synaptic release. Inhibitors of GCPII increase extracellular NAAG levels and are efficacious in animal models of clinical disorders via NAAG activation of a group II metabotropic glutamate receptor. mGluR2 and mGluR3 knock-out (ko) mice were used to test the hypothesis that mGluR3 mediates the activity of GCPII inhibitors ZJ43 and 2-PMPA in animal models of memory and memory loss.

miR-184 regulates ezrin, LAMP-1 expression, affects phagocytosis in human retinal pigment epithelium and is downregulated in age-related macular degeneration.

MicroRNA 184 (miR-184) is known to play a key role in neurological development and apoptosis and is highly expressed in mouse brain, mouse corneal epithelium, zebrafish lens and human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). However, the role of miR-184 in RPE is largely unknown. We investigated the role of miR-184 in RPE and its possible implication in age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The PKD domain distinguishes the trafficking and amyloidogenic properties of the pigment cell protein PMEL and its homologue GPNMB.

Proteolytic fragments of the pigment cell-specific glycoprotein, PMEL, form the amyloid fibrillar matrix underlying melanins in melanosomes. The fibrils form within multivesicular endosomes to which PMEL is selectively sorted and that serve as melanosome precursors. GPNMB is a tissue-restricted glycoprotein with substantial sequence homology to PMEL, but no known function, and was proposed to localize to non-fibrillar domains of distinct melanosome subcompartments in melanocytes.

NAAG peptidase inhibitors and deletion of NAAG peptidase gene enhance memory in novel object recognition test.

The peptide neurotransmitter N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) is inactivated by the extracellular enzyme glutamate carboxypeptidase II. Inhibitors of this enzyme reverse dizocilpine (MK-801)-induced impairment of short-term memory in the novel object recognition test. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that NAAG peptidase inhibition enhances long-term (24h delay) memory of C57BL mice.

Advances in understanding the peptide neurotransmitter NAAG and appearance of a new member of the NAAG neuropeptide family.

A substantial body of data was reported between 1984 and 2000 demonstrating that the neuropeptide N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) not only functions as a neurotransmitter but also is the third most prevalent transmitter in the mammalian nervous system behind glutamate and GABA. By 2005, this conclusion was validated further through a series of studies in vivo and in vitro. The primary enzyme responsible for the inactivation of NAAG following its synaptic release had been cloned, characterized and knocked out.