Huntington disease (HD), an autosomal dominant, progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is caused by an expanded CAG repeat sequence leading to an increase in the number of glutamine residues in the encoded protein. The normal CAG repeat range is 5-36, whereas 38 or more repeats are found in the diseased state; the severity of disease is roughly proportional to the number of CAG repeats. HD shows anticipation, in which subsequent generations display earlier disease onsets due to intergenerational repeat expansion. For longer repeat lengths, somatic instability of the repeat size has been observed both in human cases at autopsy and in transgenic mouse models containing either a genomic fragment of human HD exon 1 (ref. 9) or an expanded repeat inserted into the endogenous mouse gene Hdh (ref. 10). With increasing repeat number, the protein changes conformation and becomes increasingly prone to aggregation, suggesting important functional correlations between repeat length and pathology. Because dinucleotide repeat instability is known to increase when the mismatch repair enzyme MSH2 is missing, we examined instability of the HD CAG repeat by crossing transgenic mice carrying exon 1 of human HD (ref. 16) with Msh2-/- mice. Our results show that Msh2 is required for somatic instability of the CAG repeat.

Expansions of trinucleotide CAG/CTG repeats in somatic tissues are thought to contribute to ongoing disease progression through an affected individual's life with Huntington's disease or myotonic dystrophy. Broad ranges of repeat instability arise between individuals with expanded repeats, suggesting the existence of modifiers of repeat instability. Mice with expanded CAG/CTG repeats show variable levels of instability depending upon mouse strain. However, to date the genetic modifiers underlying these differences have not been identified. We show that in liver and striatum the R6/1 Huntington's disease (HD) (CAG)∼100 transgene, when present in a congenic C57BL/6J (B6) background, incurred expansion-biased repeat mutations, whereas the repeat was stable in a congenic BALB/cByJ (CBy) background. Reciprocal congenic mice revealed the Msh3 gene as the determinant for the differences in repeat instability. Expansion bias was observed in congenic mice homozygous for the B6 Msh3 gene on a CBy background, while the CAG tract was stabilized in congenics homozygous for the CBy Msh3 gene on a B6 background. The CAG stabilization was as dramatic as genetic deficiency of Msh2. The B6 and CBy Msh3 genes had identical promoters but differed in coding regions and showed strikingly different protein levels. B6 MSH3 variant protein is highly expressed and associated with CAG expansions, while the CBy MSH3 variant protein is expressed at barely detectable levels, associating with CAG stability. The DHFR protein, which is divergently transcribed from a promoter shared by the Msh3 gene, did not show varied levels between mouse strains. Thus, naturally occurring MSH3 protein polymorphisms are modifiers of CAG repeat instability, likely through variable MSH3 protein stability. Since evidence supports that somatic CAG instability is a modifier and predictor of disease, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that variable levels of CAG instability associated with polymorphisms of DNA repair genes may have prognostic implications for various repeat-associated diseases.

Abstract17β-Estradiol (E 2 ) may influence cognitive and/or affective behavior in part via the β isoform of the estrogen receptor (ERβ). Endocrine status and behavior in cognitive (object recognition, T-maze), anxiety (open field, elevated plus maze, mirror maze, emergence), and motor/coordination (rotarod, activity chamber) tasks of proestrous and diestrous wildtype (WT) and ERβ knockout (βERKO) mice was examined. Proestrous (WT or βERKO), versus diestrous, mice had higher E 2 and progestin levels in plasma, hippocampus, and cortex. The only effect of genotype on hormone levels was for corticosterone, such that βERKO mice had higher concentrations of corticosterone than did WT mice. Proestrous WT, but not βERKO, mice had improved performance in the object recognition (greater percentage of time with novel object) and T-maze tasks (greater percentage of spontaneous alternations) and less anxiety-like behavior in the plus maze (increased duration on open arms) and mirror chamber task (increased duration in mirror) than did diestrous mice. This pattern was not seen in the rotarod, open field, or activity monitor, suggesting effects may be specific to affective and cognitive behavior, rather than motor behavior/coordination. Thus, enhanced performance in cognitive tasks and anti-anxiety-like behavior of proestrous mice may require actions of ERβ in the hippocampus and/or cortex.

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The Huntington's disease R6/2 transgenic mouse model, containing exon 1 of the human huntingtin gene with a greatly increased CAG repeat length, shows multiple effects of the altered polyglutamine in the resultant protein. The authors report that exploratory and fear conditioning behavioral changes appear well before the onset of obvious pathology. The first differences in exploratory and fear conditioning behavior emerge by 4 and 5 weeks of age, respectively. These behaviors correlate with the earliest neurochemical and molecular changes previously reported and provide insight into functional mechanisms by which cellular and subcellular disease changes may mediate neurological symptoms. These studies provide behavioral protocols suitable for high-throughput screening of therapeutic agents.

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Female and male mice of the BTBR T + Itpr3 tf /J (BTBR) strain have behaviors that resemble autism spectrum disorder. In comparison to C57BL/6 (B6) mice, BTBR mice have elevated humoral immunity, in that they have naturally high serum IgG levels and generate high levels of IgG antibodies, including autoantibodies to brain antigens. This study focused on the specificities of autoantibodies and the immune cells and their transcription factors that might be responsible for the autoantibodies. BTBR IgG autoantibodies bind to neurons better than microglia and with highest titer to nuclear antigens. Two of the antigens identified were alpha-enolase (ENO1) and dihydrolipoyllysine-residue succinyltransferase component of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex, mitochondrial (DLST). Surprisingly based on IgG levels, the blood and spleens of BTBR mice have more CD4 + and CD8 + T cells, but fewer B cells than B6 mice. The high levels of autoantibodies in BTBR relates to their splenic T follicular helper (Tfh) cell levels, which likely are responsible for the higher number of plasma cells in BTBR mice than B6 mice. BTBR mice have increased gene expression of interleukin-21 receptor ( I l -21 r ) and Paired Box 5 ( Pax5 ), which are known to aid B cell differentiation to plasma cells, and an increased Lysine Demethylase 6B ( Kdm6b )/DNA Methyltransferase 1 ( Dnmt1 ) ratio, which increases gene expression. Identification of gene expression and immune activities of BTBR mice may aid understanding of mechanisms associated with autism since neuroimmune network interactions have been posited and induction of autoantibodies may drive the neuroinflammation associated with autism.