Summary Huntington’s disease (HD) is caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the Huntingtin (HTT) gene. The mechanism(s) by which mutant HTT (mHTT) causes disease is unclear. Nucleocytoplasmic transport, the trafficking of macromolecules between the nucleus and cytoplasm is tightly regulated by nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) made up of nucleoporins (NUPs). Previous studies offered clues that mHTT may disrupt nucleocytoplasmic transport and a mutation of a NUP can cause HD-like pathology. Therefore, we evaluated the NPC and nucleocytoplasmic transport in multiple models of HD including mouse and fly models, neurons transfected with mHTT, HD iPSC-derived neurons and human HD brain regions. These studies revealed severe mislocalization and aggregation of NUPs and defective nucleocytoplasmic transport. HD repeat-associated non-ATG (RAN) translation proteins also disrupted nucleocytoplasmic transport. Additionally, overexpression of NUPs and treatment with drugs that prevent aberrant NUP biology also mitigated this transport defect and neurotoxicity, providing future novel therapy targets.

Background: Regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is focused on proteasomal degradation of the HIF-1␣ subunit. Results: Pharmacological and genetic approaches establish that HIF-1␣ binds to effectors of chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) and is targeted for lysosomal degradation. Conclusion: CMA targets HIF-1␣ for lysosomal degradation. Significance: Lysosomal degradation of HIF-1␣ represents a novel mechanism of HIF-1 regulation and a potential therapeutic target.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. However, the etiology of PD remains largely unknown. Macroautophagy is known to play an essential role in the degradation of abnormal proteins and organelles. Furthermore, the loss of autophagy-related (Atg) genes results in neurodegeneration and abnormal protein accumulation. Since these are also pathologic features of Parkinson disease, the conditional impairment of autophagy may lead to improved animal models for the study of PD. Using transgenic mice expressing Cre recombinase under the control of either the dopamine transporter or the engrailed-1 promoters, we generated mice with the conditional deletion of Atg7 in the dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta, other regions of the midbrain, and also the hindbrain. This conditional impairment of autophagy results in the age-related loss of dopaminergic neurons and corresponding loss of striatal dopamine, the accumulation of low molecular weight α-synuclein, and the presence of ubiquitinated protein aggregates, recapitulating many of the pathologic features of PD. These conditional knockout animals provide insight into the process of autophagy in Parkinson disease pathology.