Browsing by Subject "prolyl oligopeptidase"

Autophagy is a pathway for cells to degrade intracellular components that are no longer needed or are detrimental for the cells. It is essential for cell homeostasis and survival and has been related to various diseases and pathophysiology. Autophagy is a complex process and there are still several unclear und unknown aspects to it. Regulation of autophagy is essential to prevent unwanted and escess activation, and several pathways and molecules, both stimulatory and inhibitory, are included. Different signaling pathways are sensitive to a variety of environmental clues. Two main autophagy pathways are mTOR-dependent pathway and mTOR-independent pathway. Induction of autophagy in the latter pathway is dependent on the interaction of Bcl-2 and Beclin 1. Prolyl oligopeptidase (PREP) is a peptidase enzyme that has several substrates. PREP-inhibition by KYP-2047 can reduce aggregation of α-synuclein in two ways: by increasing rate of autophagy and by decreasing dimerization. The aim of this study was to find out how PREP affects the interaction between Bcl-2 and Beclin 1 and how this affects autophagy. Based on previous studies, PREP-inhibition seems to increase the amount of Beclin 1 and to affect the phosphorylation of Bcl-2 and Beclin 1, leading to dissociation of the complex. Hypothesis was to see differences in colocalization of Bcl-2 and Beclin 1 in cells treated with different PREP-modifications and for PREP-inhibition to decrease the colocalization. Human embryonic kidney cells 293 (HEK-293) and hPREP knockout cell line created from them by using CRISPR/Cas9-silencing were used in the experiments. Two experiments were performed on regular HEK-cells: inhibitor experiment with KYP-2047 (1 or 10 µM) and overexpression experiment (transfection with either active or inactive hPREP plasmid). After immunofluorescence staining, cells were analysed with confocal microscope and colocation analysis of Bcl-2 and Beclin 1 was performed. The intensity of Beclin 1 in the nuclei was stronger than in other parts of the cell in all samples, which could indicate a stronger activity of its nuclear tasks compared to autophagy. However, the antibody used for immunofluorescence has most likely caused this staining pattern. Based on previous knowledge, it was expected to see differences in colocalization of Bcl-2 and Beclin 1 in cells treated with different PREP-modifications. However, there were no significant differences in colocalization of Beclin 1 and Bcl-2 in any of the experiments but it was nearly 100 percent in all treatments. Since rate of autophagy in cells was not detected, it is impossible to determine, if there were changes in autophagy that were not reflected as changes in colocalization of these two proteins. It is possible that even a small change in colocalization can affect the rate of autophagy or there might be subpopulations where the interaction is interrupted and these changes are so small that they are not detectable with the methods used in this experiment. Both Bcl-2 and Beclin 1 also have functions not related to autophagy, which could be one reason behind the results gained in this study.

Prolyl oligopeptidase (POP, prolyl endopeptidase, EC 3.4.21.26) is a serine-type peptidase (family S9 of clan SC) hydrolyzing peptides shorter than 30 amino acids. POP has been found in various mammalian and bacterial sources and it is widely distributed throughout different organisms. In human and rat, POP enzyme activity has been detected in most tissues, with the highest activity found mostly in the brain. POP has gained scientific interest as being involved in the hydrolyzis of many bioactive peptides connected with learning and memory functions, and also with neurodegenerative disorders. In drug or lesion induced amnesia models and in aged rodents, POP inhibitors have been able to revert memory loss. POP may have a fuction in IP3 signaling and it may be a possible target of mood stabilizing substances. POP may also have a role in protein trafficking, sorting and secretion. The role of POP during ontogeny has not yet been resolved. POP enzyme activity and expression have shown fluctuation during development. Specially high enzyme activities have been measured in the brain during early development. Reduced neuronal proliferation and differentation in presence of POP inhibitor have been reported. Nuclear POP has been observed in proliferating peripheral tissues and in cell cultures at the early stage of development. Also, POP coding mRNA is abundantly expressed during brain ontogeny and the highest levels of expression are associated with proliferative germinal matrices. This observation indicates a special role for POP in the regulation of neurogenesis during development. For the experimental part, the study was undertaken to investigate the expression and distribution of POP protein and enzymatic activity of POP in developing rat brain (from embryonic day 14 to post natal day 7) using immunohistochemistry, POP enzyme activity measurements and western blot-analysis. The aim was also to find in vivo confirmation of the nuclear colocalization of POP during early brain ontogeny. For immunohistochemistry, cryosections from the brains of the fetuses/rats were made and stained using specific antibody for POP and fluorescent markers for POP and nuclei. The enzyme activity assay was based on the fluorescence of 7- amino-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) generated from the fluorogenic substrate succinyl-glycyl-prolyl-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (Suc-Gly-Pro-AMC) by POP. The amounts of POP protein and the specifity of POP antibody in rat embryos was confirmed by western blot analysis. We observed that enzymatic activity of POP is highest at embryonic day 18 while the protein amounts reach their peak at birth. POP was widely present throughout the developmental stages from embryonic day 14 to parturition day, although the POP-immunoreactivity varied abundantly. At embryonic days 14 and 18 notably amounts of POP was distributed at proliferative germinal zones. Furthermore, POP was located in the nucleus early in the development but is transferred to cytosol before birth. At P0 and P7 the POP-immunoreactivity was also widely observed, but the amount of POP was notably reduced at P7. POP was present in cytosol and in intercellular space, but no nuclear POP was observed. These findings support the idea of POP being involved in specific brain functions, such as neuronal proliferation and differentation. Our results in vivo confirm the previous cell culture results supporting the role of POP in neurogenesis. Moreover, an inconsistency of POP protein amounts and enzymatic activity late in the development suggests a strong regulation of POP activity and a possible non-hydrolytic role at that stage.

Prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) is a serine peptidase found at high concentrations in the brain, which cleaves short proline-containing peptides at the carboxyl side of proline. POP activity has been shown to differ between healthy people and ones suffering from certain neurodegenerative diseases. Amongst its other functions, it has been shown to accelerate α-synuclein aggregation. Inhibiting the enzyme prevents this acceleration. Many highly potent peptidic POP inhibitors, based on the enzyme’s natural substrates, have been synthesized. One of the problems with many of these peptide-like inhibitors is their inability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier efficiently. Recently, a new surprisingly potent non-peptidic inhibitor based on a novel heteroaromatic scaffold was discovered. There was a need to synthesize analogues of this inhibitor in order to gain a better understanding of the structure-activity relationship for compounds based on the new scaffold. Unfortunately, the heteroaromatic scaffold is relatively unstable without a stabilizing substituent. The aim of this research was synthesizing stable analogues, primarily by replacing the original heteroaromatic ring with other, more stable heteroaromatic rings. It was hypothesized that the activity of the original compound could be retained, as heteroaromatics can often act as bioisosteres of each other. Multiple close analogues containing the new heteroaromatic rings were successfully synthesized and tested. Although they were considerable more stable compared to the original compound, there was a significant decrease in potency. However, the new compounds were not completely inactive, and they provided useful information on the viability and importance of several different substituents. Furthermore, measuring the IC50 value is not enough to evaluate their overall effect on POP, since the inhibition of the proteolytic activity of POP does not seem to correlate with the inhibition of its other functions. Further investigation and development of the new compound series is needed.

Prolyloligopeptidase (PREP) and alphasynuclein are linked to various neurological and psychiatric conditions of which the most relevant considering this study is parkinsonism. PREP cleaves small peptides after a proline residue. It has also protein-protein ineractions with alphatubulin, GAP-43 and alphasynuclein. PREP inhibitors have been shown to have an effect to elimination of alphasyuclein via autophagy. Thiazole is a heteroaromatic compound with two heteroatoms (sulphur and nitrogen). Thiazole can be found as a structural component among various active pharmaceutical ingredients with wide array of indications. Synthetic route for thiazole was published in 1887 and a considerable amount of literature regarding the use of thiazole in medicinal and synthetic chemistry has been published. The aim of the study was to extend the the scope of research done in the research group on small-molecular thiazole-based PREP inhibitors. The goal was to develop a synthetic route to access a series of molecules and gain information of the possible biological activities of the produced compounds by determining their IC50-values in vitro, effect on dimerization of alphasynuclein and removal of alphasynuclein via autophagy in a cell culture. Optimization of the synthetic route and search of alternative reactions were among the aims to some extent. During the course of study yields of some steps of the synthesis were improved and some new molecules had biological activity.