Proteasome subunit proteins and neuropathology in tauopathies and synucleinopathies: Consequences for proteomic analyses

Accumulation of proteins in inclusions in neurological disorders is partly due to dysfunction of the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Proteasomal dysfunction may be caused by misexpression of one or more of its subunits. A large number of antibodies reactive with proteasome subunits were screened on material from patients exhibiting tau- and synucleinopathies. Many antisera against proteasomal subunits (11S activator, 19S regulator ATPase/non-ATPase, and 20S α and β resulted in a distinct nuclear and/or cytoplasmic staining of the entorhinal-hippocampal area and the temporal cortex of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. In particular an antibody directed against 19S regulator ATPase subunit 6b (S6b) specifically stained the neurofibrillary tangles and dystrophic neurites in AD, Down syndrome and aged nondemented controls. In other tauopathies (Pick's disease, frontotemporal dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy and argyrophilic grain disease), neuronal and/or glial inclusions were also S6b immunoreactive. In contrast, in synucleinopathies (Lewy body disease (LBD) and multiple system atrophy) no S6b staining was seen. Real time quantitative PCR on the temporal cortex of AD patients revealed a significant increase in S6b subunit mRNA. This increase was not found in the gyrus cinguli anterior of patients with LBD. This differential expression of S6b most likely will result in different proteomic patterns. Here we present evidence to show that S6b coexists with a reporter for proteasomal dysfunction (ubiquitin +1), and we conclude that S6b transcript up-regulation and the dysfunction in tauopathies may be functionally related. © 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.