Gregory Hook, Thomas Reinheckel, Junjun Ni, Zhou Wu, Mark Kindy, Christoph Peters, Vivian Hook
{"title":"Cathepsin B Gene Knockout Improves Behavioral Deficits and Reduces Pathology in Models of Neurologic Disorders.","authors":"Gregory Hook, Thomas Reinheckel, Junjun Ni, Zhou Wu, Mark Kindy, Christoph Peters, Vivian Hook","doi":"10.1124/pharmrev.121.000527","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cathepsin B (CTSB) is a powerful lysosomal protease. This review evaluated <i>CTSB</i> gene knockout (KO) outcomes for amelioration of brain dysfunctions in neurologic diseases and aging animal models. Deletion of the <i>CTSB</i> gene resulted in significant improvements in behavioral deficits, neuropathology, and/or biomarkers in traumatic brain injury, ischemia, inflammatory pain, opiate tolerance, epilepsy, aging, transgenic Alzheimer's disease (AD), and periodontitis AD models as shown in 12 studies. One study found beneficial effects for double <i>CTSB</i> and cathepsin S KO mice in a multiple sclerosis model. Transgenic AD models using amyloid precursor protein (APP) mimicking common sporadic AD in three studies showed that <i>CTSB</i> KO improved memory, neuropathology, and biomarkers; two studies used APP representing rare familial AD and found no <i>CTSB</i> KO effect, and two studies used highly engineered APP constructs and reported slight increases in a biomarker. In clinical studies, all reports found that CTSB enzyme was upregulated in diverse neurologic disorders, including AD in which elevated CTSB was positively correlated with cognitive dysfunction. In a wide range of neurologic animal models, CTSB was also upregulated and not downregulated. Further, human genetic mutation data provided precedence for CTSB upregulation causing disease. Thus, the consilience of data is that <i>CTSB</i> gene KO results in improved brain dysfunction and reduced pathology through blockade of CTSB enzyme upregulation that causes human neurologic disease phenotypes. The overall findings provide strong support for CTSB as a rational drug target and for CTSB inhibitors as therapeutic candidates for a wide range of neurologic disorders. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: This review provides a comprehensive compilation of the extensive data on the effects of deleting the cathepsin B (<i>CTSB</i>) gene in neurological and aging mouse models of brain disorders. Mice lacking the <i>CTSB</i> gene display improved neurobehavioral deficits, reduced neuropathology, and amelioration of neuronal cell death and inflammatory biomarkers. The significance of the compelling CTSB evidence is that the data consilience validates CTSB as a drug target for discovery of CTSB inhibitors as potential therapeutics for treating numerous neurological diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":19780,"journal":{"name":"Pharmacological Reviews","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":19.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9553114/pdf/pharmrev.121.000527.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pharmacological Reviews","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1124/pharmrev.121.000527","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Cathepsin B (CTSB) is a powerful lysosomal protease. This review evaluated CTSB gene knockout (KO) outcomes for amelioration of brain dysfunctions in neurologic diseases and aging animal models. Deletion of the CTSB gene resulted in significant improvements in behavioral deficits, neuropathology, and/or biomarkers in traumatic brain injury, ischemia, inflammatory pain, opiate tolerance, epilepsy, aging, transgenic Alzheimer's disease (AD), and periodontitis AD models as shown in 12 studies. One study found beneficial effects for double CTSB and cathepsin S KO mice in a multiple sclerosis model. Transgenic AD models using amyloid precursor protein (APP) mimicking common sporadic AD in three studies showed that CTSB KO improved memory, neuropathology, and biomarkers; two studies used APP representing rare familial AD and found no CTSB KO effect, and two studies used highly engineered APP constructs and reported slight increases in a biomarker. In clinical studies, all reports found that CTSB enzyme was upregulated in diverse neurologic disorders, including AD in which elevated CTSB was positively correlated with cognitive dysfunction. In a wide range of neurologic animal models, CTSB was also upregulated and not downregulated. Further, human genetic mutation data provided precedence for CTSB upregulation causing disease. Thus, the consilience of data is that CTSB gene KO results in improved brain dysfunction and reduced pathology through blockade of CTSB enzyme upregulation that causes human neurologic disease phenotypes. The overall findings provide strong support for CTSB as a rational drug target and for CTSB inhibitors as therapeutic candidates for a wide range of neurologic disorders. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: This review provides a comprehensive compilation of the extensive data on the effects of deleting the cathepsin B (CTSB) gene in neurological and aging mouse models of brain disorders. Mice lacking the CTSB gene display improved neurobehavioral deficits, reduced neuropathology, and amelioration of neuronal cell death and inflammatory biomarkers. The significance of the compelling CTSB evidence is that the data consilience validates CTSB as a drug target for discovery of CTSB inhibitors as potential therapeutics for treating numerous neurological diseases.
期刊介绍:
Pharmacological Reviews is a highly popular and well-received journal that has a long and rich history of success. It was first published in 1949 and is currently published bimonthly online by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. The journal is indexed or abstracted by various databases, including Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews Database, Biosciences Information Service, Current Contents/Life Sciences, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Index Medicus, Index to Scientific Reviews, Medical Documentation Service, Reference Update, Research Alerts, Science Citation Index, and SciSearch. Pharmacological Reviews offers comprehensive reviews of new pharmacological fields and is able to stay up-to-date with published content. Overall, it is highly regarded by scholars.