Herantis Pharma (Finland)

Cerebral Dopamine Neurotrophic Factor (CDNF) is known to protect neurons in various pathologies. HER-096 is a CDNF-derived brain-penetrating peptidomimetic which also possesses neuroprotective properties. However, the mechanism underlying the cytoprotective effects is not fully understood. Using primary cortical co-culture of neurons and astrocytes we have found that both CDNF and HER-096 can induce intracellular calcium signals predominantly in astrocytes by release of Ca2 + from endoplasmic reticulum to cytosol. This decrease in the ER Ca2+ pool activates store-operated calcium entrance (SOCE). Initial Ca2+ signal in these cells could be inhibited by the sigma-1 receptor antagonist BD-1047. CDNF and HER-096 reduced the glutamate-induced delayed Ca2+ deregulation and mitochondrial depolarisation which leads to significant protection against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. Thus, the CDNF and HER-096 sigma-1 receptor mediated Ca2+ signal in astrocytes and neurons, from the ER, could modify the effects of high concentrations of glutamate that lead to neuroprotection.

Progress in development of disease-modifying treatments in Parkinson's Disease Henri Huttunen, Chief Scientific Officer, Herantis Pharma Plc, charts progress in the development of disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s disease. Recent FDA approvals of two potentially disease-modifying Alzheimer’s disease drugs give hope that similar successes in Parkinson’s disease may be around the corner. However, despite the recent advances in understanding complex disease biology and the development of novel drug targets and biomarkers, progress in the clinical development of new treatments remains slow.

A molecular hallmark in Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathogenesis are α-synuclein aggregates. Cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF) is an atypical growth factor that is mostly resident in the endoplasmic reticulum but exerts its effects both intracellularly and extracellularly. One of the beneficial effects of CDNF can be protecting neurons from the toxic effects of α-synuclein. Here, we investigated the effects of CDNF on α-synuclein aggregation in vitro and in vivo. We found that CDNF directly interacts with α-synuclein with a KD = 23 ± 6 nM and reduces its auto-association. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, we identified interaction sites on the CDNF protein. Remarkably, CDNF reduces the neuronal internalization of α-synuclein fibrils and induces the formation of insoluble phosphorylated α-synuclein inclusions. Intra-striatal CDNF administration alleviates motor deficits in rodents challenged with α-synuclein fibrils, though it did not reduce the number of phosphorylated α-synuclein inclusions in the substantia nigra. CDNF’s beneficial effects on rodent behavior appear not to be related to the number of inclusions formed in the current context, and further study of its effects on the aggregation mechanism in vivo are needed. Nonetheless, the interaction of CDNF with α-synuclein, modifying its aggregation, spreading, and associated behavioral alterations, provides novel insights into the potential of CDNF as a therapeutic strategy in PD and other synucleinopathies.

Amblyopia is a developmental disorder associated with abnormal visual experience during early childhood commonly arising from strabismus and/or anisometropia and leading to dysfunctions in visual cortex and to various visual deficits. The different forms of neuronal activity that are attenuated in amblyopia have been only partially characterized. In electrophysiological recordings of healthy human brain, the presentation of visual stimuli is associated with event-related activity and oscillatory responses. It has remained poorly understood whether these forms of activity are reduced in amblyopia and whether possible dysfunctions would arise from lower- or higher-order visual areas. We recorded neuronal activity with magnetoencephalography (MEG) from anisometropic amblyopic patients and control participants during two visual tasks presented separately for each eye and estimated neuronal activity from source-reconstructed MEG data. We investigated whether event-related and oscillatory responses would be reduced for amblyopia and localized their cortical sources. Oscillation amplitudes and evoked responses were reduced for stimuli presented to the amblyopic eye in higher-order visual areas and in parietal and prefrontal cortices. Importantly, the reduction of oscillation amplitudes but not that of evoked responses was correlated with decreased visual acuity in amblyopia. These results show that attenuated oscillatory responses are correlated with visual deficits in anisometric amblyopia.