Browsing by Author "Shulman, Joshua M."
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Item Functional screening of lysosomal storage disorder genes identifies modifiers of alpha-synuclein neurotoxicity(Public Library of Science, 2023) Yu, Meigen; Ye, Hui; De-Paula, Ruth B.; Mangleburg, Carl Grant; Wu, Timothy; Lee, Tom V.; Li, Yarong; Duong, Duc; Phillips, Bridget; Cruchaga, Carlos; Allen, Genevera I.; Seyfried, Nicholas T.; Al-Ramahi, Ismael; Botas, Juan; Shulman, Joshua M.Heterozygous variants in the glucocerebrosidase (GBA) gene are common and potent risk factors for Parkinson’s disease (PD). GBA also causes the autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorder (LSD), Gaucher disease, and emerging evidence from human genetics implicates many other LSD genes in PD susceptibility. We have systemically tested 86 conserved fly homologs of 37 human LSD genes for requirements in the aging adult Drosophila brain and for potential genetic interactions with neurodegeneration caused by α-synuclein (αSyn), which forms Lewy body pathology in PD. Our screen identifies 15 genetic enhancers of αSyn-induced progressive locomotor dysfunction, including knockdown of fly homologs of GBA and other LSD genes with independent support as PD susceptibility factors from human genetics (SCARB2, SMPD1, CTSD, GNPTAB, SLC17A5). For several genes, results from multiple alleles suggest dose-sensitivity and context-dependent pleiotropy in the presence or absence of αSyn. Homologs of two genes causing cholesterol storage disorders, Npc1a / NPC1 and Lip4 / LIPA, were independently confirmed as loss-of-function enhancers of αSyn-induced retinal degeneration. The enzymes encoded by several modifier genes are upregulated in αSyn transgenic flies, based on unbiased proteomics, revealing a possible, albeit ineffective, compensatory response. Overall, our results reinforce the important role of lysosomal genes in brain health and PD pathogenesis, and implicate several metabolic pathways, including cholesterol homeostasis, in αSyn-mediated neurotoxicity.Item Quantifying cognitive resilience in Alzheimer’s Disease: The Alzheimer’s Disease Cognitive Resilience Score(Public Library of Science, 2020) Yao, Tianyi; Sweeney, Elizabeth; Nagorski, John; Shulman, Joshua M.; Allen, Genevera I.Even though there is a clear link between Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) related neuropathology and cognitive decline, numerous studies have observed that healthy cognition can exist in the presence of extensive AD pathology, a phenomenon sometimes called Cognitive Resilience (CR). To better understand and study CR, we develop the Alzheimer’s Disease Cognitive Resilience Score (AD-CR Score), which we define as the difference between the observed and expected cognition given the observed level of AD pathology. Unlike other definitions of CR, our AD-CR Score is a fully non-parametric, stand-alone, individual-level quantification of CR that is derived independently of other factors or proxy variables. Using data from two ongoing, longitudinal cohort studies of aging, the Religious Orders Study (ROS) and the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP), we validate our AD-CR Score by showing strong associations with known factors related to CR such as baseline and longitudinal cognition, non AD-related pathology, education, personality, APOE, parkinsonism, depression, and life activities. Even though the proposed AD-CR Score cannot be directly calculated during an individual’s lifetime because it uses postmortem pathology, we also develop a machine learning framework that achieves promising results in terms of predicting whether an individual will have an extremely high or low AD-CR Score using only measures available during the lifetime. Given this, our AD-CR Score can be used for further investigations into mechanisms of CR, and potentially for subject stratification prior to clinical trials of personalized therapies.