Small-molecule dissolution of stress granules by redox modulation benefits ALS models
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, are often associated with mutations in stress granule proteins. Aberrant stress granule condensate formation is associated with disease, making it a potential target for pharmacological intervention. Here, we identified lipoamide, a small molecule that specifically prevents cytoplasmic condensation of stress granule proteins. Thermal proteome profiling showed that lipoamide stabilizes intrinsically disordered domain-containing proteins, including SRSF1 and SFPQ, which are stress granule proteins necessary for lipoamide activity. SFPQ has redox-state-specific condensate dissolving behavior, which is modulated by the redox-active lipoamide dithiolane ring. In animals, lipoamide ameliorates aging-associated aggregation of a stress granule reporter protein, improves neuronal morphology and recovers motor defects caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-associated FUS and TDP-43 mutants. Thus, lipoamide is a well-tolerated small-molecule modulator of stress granule condensation, and dissection of its molecular mechanism identified a cellular pathway for redox regulation of stress granule formation. (Figure presented.)
Details
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 1577–1588 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Nature chemical biology |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 14 May 2025 |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2025 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
| PubMed | 40369342 |
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| ORCID | /0000-0003-4017-6505/work/186620952 |