Association between TDP-43 and mitochondria in inclusion body myositis

Mikayla L. Huntley, Ju Gao, Pichet Termsarasab, Luwen Wang, Sophia Zeng, Thananan Thammongkolchai, Ying Liu, Mark L. Cohen, Xinglong Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the most common cause of primary myopathy in individuals aged 50 years and over, and is pathologically characterized by protein aggregates of p62 and mislocalized cytoplasmic TDP-43, as well as mitochondrial abnormalities in affected muscle fibers. Our recent studies have shown the accumulation of TDP-43 in mitochondria in neurons from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), and revealed mitochondria as critical mediators of TDP-43 neurotoxicity. In this study, we investigated the association between mitochondria and TDP-43 in biopsied skeletal muscle samples from IBM patients. We found that IBM pathological markers TDP-43, phosphorylated TDP-43, and p62 all coexisted with intensively stained key subunits of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation complexes I–V in the same skeletal muscle fibers of patients with IBM. Further immunoblot analysis showed increased levels of TDP-43, truncated TDP-43, phosphorylated TDP-43, and p62, but decreased levels of key subunits of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation complexes I and III in IBM patients compared to aged matched control subjects. This is the first demonstration of the close association of TDP-43 accumulation with mitochondria in degenerating muscle fibers in IBM and this association may contribute to the development of mitochondrial dysfunction and pathological protein aggregates.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1041-1048
Number of pages8
JournalLaboratory Investigation
Volume99
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2019
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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