Image-based profiling is a maturing strategy by which the rich information present in biological images is reduced to a multidimensional profile, a collection of extracted image-based features. These profiles can be mined for relevant patterns, revealing unexpected biological activity that is useful for many steps in the drug discovery process. Such applications include identifying disease-associated screenable phenotypes, understanding disease mechanisms and predicting a drug’s activity, toxicity or mechanism of action. Several of these applications have been recently validated and have moved into production mode within academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Some of these have yielded disappointing results in practice but are now of renewed interest due to improved machine-learning strategies that better leverage image-based information. Although challenges remain, novel computational technologies such as deep learning and single-cell methods that better capture the biological information in images hold promise for accelerating drug discovery.

Microglia are emerging as a key cell type in neurodegenerative diseases, yet human microglia are challenging to study in vitro, especially in the large numbers of individuals needed for genetic studies. Here we demonstrate the effectiveness of an in vitro model system of human monocyte-derived microglia-like cells (MDMi) to recapitulate many aspects of microglia phenotype and function. We then used this model system to perform an expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) study examining 94 genes from loci associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis in 94 healthy individuals. We found six loci (CD33, PILRB, NUP160, LRRK2, RGS1, METTL21B) in which the risk haplotype drives the association with both disease susceptibility and altered expression of a nearby gene (cis-eQTL). In the PILRB and LRRK2 loci, the cis-eQTL is found in the MDMi cells but not in peripheral monocytes, suggesting that differentiation leads to the acquisition of a cellular state, which uncovers the functional consequence of certain genetic variants. We further validated the effect of risk haplotypes at the protein level for PILRB and CD33, and we confirmed that the CD33 risk haplotype alters a functional outcome, phagocytosis, in MDMi. Finally, we hypothesize that the MDMi-specific increased LRRK2 gene expression could be the key functional outcome of the GWAS Parkinson’s disease LRKK2 SNP, rs76904798.

Missense mutations in the multi-domain kinase LRRK2 cause late onset familial Parkinson's disease. They most commonly with classic proteinopathy in the form of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites comprised of insoluble α-synuclein, but in rare cases can also manifest tauopathy. The normal function of LRRK2 has remained elusive, as have the cellular consequences of its mutation. Data from LRRK2 null model organisms and LRRK2-inhibitor treated animals support a physiological role for LRRK2 in regulating lysosome function. Since idiopathic and LRRK2-linked PD are associated with the intraneuronal accumulation of protein aggregates, a series of critical questions emerge. First, how do pathogenic mutations that increase LRRK2 kinase activity affect lysosome biology in neurons? Second, are mutation-induced changes in lysosome function sufficient to alter the metabolism of α-synuclein? Lastly, are changes caused by pathogenic mutation sensitive to reversal with LRRK2 kinase inhibitors? Here, we report that mutation of LRRK2 induces modest but significant changes in lysosomal morphology and acidification, and decreased basal autophagic flux when compared to WT neurons. These changes were associated with an accumulation of detergent-insoluble α-synuclein and increased neuronal release of α-synuclein and were reversed by pharmacologic inhibition of LRRK2 kinase activity. These data demonstrate a critical and disease-relevant influence of native neuronal LRRK2 kinase activity on lysosome function and α-synuclein homeostasis. Furthermore, they also suggest that lysosome dysfunction, altered neuronal α-synuclein metabolism, and the insidious accumulation of aggregated protein over decades may contribute to pathogenesis in this late-onset form of familial PD.

Summary Genetic and clinical association studies have identified disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) as a candidate risk gene for major mental illness. DISC1 is interrupted by a balanced chr(1;11) translocation in a Scottish family, in which the translocation predisposes to psychiatric disorders. We investigate the consequences of DISC1 interruption in human neural cells using TALENs or CRISPR-Cas9 to target the DISC1 locus. We show that disruption of DISC1 near the site of the translocation results in decreased DISC1 protein levels due to nonsense-mediated decay of long splice variants. This results in an increased level of canonical Wnt signaling in neural progenitor cells and altered expression of fate markers such as Foxg1 and Tbr2. These gene expression changes are rescued by antagonizing Wnt signaling in a critical developmental window, supporting the hypothesis that DISC1-dependent suppression of basal Wnt signaling influences the distribution of cell types generated during cortical development.

In image-based profiling, software extracts thousands of morphological features of cells from multi-channel fluorescence microscopy images, yielding single-cell profiles that can be used for basic research and drug discovery. Powerful applications have been proven, including clustering chemical and genetic perturbations based on their similar morphological impact, identifying disease phenotypes by observing differences in profiles between healthy and diseased cells, and predicting assay outcomes using machine learning, among many others. Here we provide an updated protocol for the most popular assay for image-based profiling, Cell Painting. Introduced in 2013, it uses six stains imaged in five channels and labels eight diverse components of the cell: DNA, cytoplasmic RNA, nucleoli, actin, golgi apparatus, plasma membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria. The original protocol was updated in 2016 based on several years' experience running it at two sites, after optimizing it by visual stain quality. Here we describe the work of the Joint Undertaking for Morphological Profiling (JUMP) Cell Painting Consortium, aiming to improve upon the assay via quantitative optimization, based on the measured ability of the assay to detect morphological phenotypes and group similar perturbations together. We find that the assay gives very robust outputs despite a variety of changes to the protocol and that two vendors' dyes work equivalently well. We present Cell Painting version 3, in which some steps are simplified and several stain concentrations can be reduced, saving costs. Cell culture and image acquisition take 1 to 2 weeks for a typically sized batch of 20 or fewer plates; feature extraction and data analysis take an additional 1 to 2 weeks.

Background: Amyloid ␤ binds CD36 and activates microglia to produce cytokines and neurotoxins leading to neurodegeneration. Results: We developed an assay to find inhibitors of amyloid ␤ binding to CD36 and identified ursolic acid as such an inhibitor. Conclusions: Ursolic acid blocks CD36-mediated microglial activation by amyloid ␤. Significance: Ursolic acid is a potential therapeutic agent for Alzheimer disease.

TDP-43 is an RNA binding protein found to accumulate in the cytoplasm of brain and spinal cord from patients affected with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Nuclear TDP-43 protein regulates transcription through several mechanisms, and under stressed conditions it forms cytoplasmic aggregates that co-localize with stress granule (SG) proteins in cell culture. These granules are also found in the brain and spinal cord of patients affected with ALS and FTLD. The mechanism through which TDP-43 might contribute to neurodegenerative diseases is poorly understood. In order to investigate the pathophysiology of TDP-43 aggregation and to isolate potential therapeutic targets, we screened a chemical library of 75,000 compounds using high content analysis with PC12 cells that inducibly express human TDP-43 tagged with GFP. The screen identified 16 compounds that dose-dependently decreased the TDP-43 inclusions without significant cellular toxicity or changes in total TDP-43 expression levels. To validate the effect of the compounds, we tested compounds by Western Blot analysis and in a model that replicates some of the relevant disease phenotypes. The hits from this assay will be useful for elucidating regulation of TDP-43, stress granule response, and possible ALS therapeutics.

Although the amyloid β-protein (Aβ) is believed to play an initiating role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the molecular characteristics of the key pathogenic Aβ forms are not well understood. As a result, it has proved difficult to identify optimal agents that target disease-relevant forms of Aβ. Here, we combined the use of Aβ-rich aqueous extracts of brain samples from AD patients as a source of human Aβ and live-cell imaging of iPSC-derived human neurons to develop a bioassay capable of quantifying the relative protective effects of multiple anti-Aβ antibodies. We report the characterization of 1C22, an aggregate-preferring murine anti-Aβ antibody, which better protects against forms of Aβ oligomers that are toxic to neurites than do the murine precursors of the clinical immunotherapeutics, bapineuzumab and solanezumab. These results suggest further examination of 1C22 is warranted, and that this bioassay maybe useful as a primary screen to identify yet more potent anti-Aβ therapeutics.