Abstract
Microglial activation worsens neuronal loss and contributes to progressive neurological diseases like Parkinson's disease (PD). This inflammatory progression is countered by dynorphin (Dyn), the endogenous ligand of the kappa-opioid receptor (KOR). We show that microglial β-arrestin mediates the ability of Dyn/KOR to limit endotoxin-elicited production of pro-inflammatory effectors and cytokines, subsequently protecting neurons from inflammation-induced neurotoxicity. Agonist-activated KOR enhances the interaction of β-arrestin2 with transforming growth factor-beta-activated kinase 1 (TAK1)-binding protein 1 (TAB1), disrupting TAK1-TAB1 mediated pro-inflammatory gene expression. We reveal a new physiological role for β-arrestin in neuroprotection via receptor internalization-triggered blockade of signal effectors of microglial inflammatory neurotoxicity. This result offers novel drug targets in the convergent KOR/β-arrestin2 and inflammatory pathways for treating microglial inflammatory neuropathologies like PD.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 397-406 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Cell Death and Differentiation |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgements. We thank Martin Wessendorf, Y-W Lin, A Smith, A Kim and I Zhang for technical help. This work was supported by NIH Grants DK54733, DK60521, DA11190, DA01583, and DA11806, the Dean’s Commitment (LNW), and the Distinguished McKnight Professorship of University of Minnesota (LNW).
Keywords
- dynorphin
- kappa-opioid receptor
- microglial inflammation
- neurotoxicity
- β-arrestin
