Publications related to Huntingtin

Reanalysis of mtDNA mutations of human primordial germ cells (PGCs) reveals NUMT contamination and suggests that selection in PGCs may be positive

The resilience of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) to a high mutational pressure depends, in part, on negative purifying selection in the germline. A paradigm in the field has been that such selection, at least in part, takes place in primordial germ cells ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2023

N-terminal mutant huntingtin deposition correlates with CAG repeat length and symptom onset, but not neuronal loss in Huntington's disease

Hilal Lashuel, Lorène Aeschbach, Nathan Alain Denis Riguet

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by a CAG repeat expansion mutation in the gene encoding the huntingtin (Htt) protein, with mutant Htt protein subsequently forming aggregates within the brain. Mutant Htt is a current target for novel therapeutic strateg ...

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE2022

An integrative approach to elucidate the mechanisms and dynamics of Huntingtin aggregation and inclusion formation in neuronal models of Huntington's Disease

Nathan Alain Denis Riguet

Despite the fact that the gene responsible for Huntington's disease (HD) is known, we still do not understand the underlying mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration and death. Identifying and understanding the mechanisms controlling mutant huntingtin (mHtt ...

EPFL2022

A New Chemoenzymatic Semisynthetic Approach Provides Insight into the Role of Phosphorylation beyond Exon1 of Huntingtin and Reveals N-Terminal Fragment Length-Dependent Distinct Mechanisms of Aggregation

Hilal Lashuel, Jonathan Jean-Pierre Ricci, Andreas Reif, Rajasekhar Kolla, Iman Rostami, Gopinath Pushparathinam

Huntington’s disease is a neurodegenerative dis- order caused by the expansion of a polyglutamine repeat (>36Q) in the N-terminal domain of the huntingtin protein (Htt), which renders the protein or fragments thereof more prone to aggregate and form inclus ...

2021

Pharmacological characterization of mutant huntingtin aggregate-directed PET imaging tracer candidates

Hilal Lashuel, Anass Chiki

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the first exon of the huntingtin (HTT) gene coding for the huntingtin (HTT) protein. The misfolding and consequential aggregation of CAG-expanded mutant HTT (mHTT) underpin HD p ...

Nature Portfolio2021

Enforced dimerization between XBP1s and ATF6f enhances the protective effects of the UPR in models of neurodegeneration

Hilal Lashuel, Sonia Donzelli

Alteration to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis is observed in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases associated with abnormal protein aggregation. Activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) enables an adaptive reaction to recover ER proteost ...

2021

Investigating Crosstalk Among PTMs Provides Novel Insight Into the Structural Basis Underlying the Differential Effects of Nt17 PTMs on Mutant Httex1 Aggregation

Hilal Lashuel, Matteo Dal Peraro, Luciano Andres Abriata, Lucien Fabrice Krapp, Anass Chiki, Driss Boudeffa, Iman Rostami, Rajasekhar Kolla, Zhidian Zhang

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) within the first 17 amino acids (Nt17) of the Huntingtin protein (Htt) have been shown to inhibit the aggregation and attenuate the toxicity of mutant Htt proteins in vitro and in various models of Huntington’s disea ...

2021

The Nt17 Domain and its Helical Conformation Regulate the Aggregation, Cellular Properties and Neurotoxicity of Mutant Huntingtin Exon 1

Giovanni Dietler, Hilal Lashuel, Anne-Laure Mahul Mellier, Francesco Simone Ruggeri, Anass Chiki, Sean Michael Deguire, Urszula Beata Cendrowska, Sophie Vieweg, Nathan Alain Denis Riguet

Converging evidence points to the N-terminal domain comprising the first 17 amino acids of the Huntingtin protein (Nt17) as a key regulator of its aggregation, cellular properties and toxicity. In this study, we further investigated the interplay between N ...

Elsevier2021

Development of novel methods and tools to decipher the huntingtin post-translation modifications code

Anass Chiki

Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal genetic neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the Huntingtin gene of more than 36 repeats. This repeat is translated into a polyglutamine (polyQ) stretch within the first exon-encoded region of ...

EPFL2020

Ultrasensitive quantitative measurement of huntingtin phosphorylation at residue S13

Hilal Lashuel, Lara Petricca, Sean Michael Deguire

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of a CAG triplet repeat (encoding for a polyglutamine tract) within the first exon of the huntingtin gene. Expression of the mutant huntingtin (mHTT) protein can r ...

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE2020

The Polyglutamine Expansion at the N-Terminal of Huntingtin Protein Modulates the Dynamic Configuration and Phosphorylation of the C-Terminal HEAT Domain

Matteo Dal Peraro, Giorgio Elikem Tamo, Maria Josefina Marcaida Lopez, Ruedi Aebersold

The polyQ expansion in huntingtin protein (HTT) is the prime cause of Huntington's disease (HD). The recent cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of HTT-HAP40 complex provided the structural information on its HEAT-repeat domains. Here, we present an ...

CELL PRESS2020

TBK1 phosphorylates mutant Huntingtin and suppresses its aggregation and toxicity in Huntington's disease models

Johan Auwerx, Hilal Lashuel, Laurent Mouchiroud, Anass Chiki, Lara Petricca, Ramanath Narayana Hegde

Phosphorylation of the N‐terminal domain of the huntingtin (HTT ) protein has emerged as an important regulator of its localization, structure, aggregation, clearance and toxicity. However, validation of the effect of bona fide phosphorylation in vivo and ...

2020

Site-Specific Phosphorylation of Huntingtin Exon 1 Recombinant Proteins Enabled by the Discovery of Novel Kinases

Hilal Lashuel, Luciano Andres Abriata, Jonathan Jean-Pierre Ricci, Anass Chiki, Andreas Reif, Ramanath Narayana Hegde, Driss Boudeffa

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) within the first 17 amino acids (Nt17) of exon 1 of the Huntingtin protein (Httex1) play important roles in modulating its cellular properties and functions in health and disease. In particular, phosphorylation of th ...

2020

The Role of Post-translational Modifications on the Energy Landscape of Huntingtin N-Terminus

Hilal Lashuel, Charlotte Julie Caroline Gehin

Huntington disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by a polymorphic tract of polyglutamine repeats in exon 1 of the huntingtin protein, which is thought to be responsible for protein aggregation and neuronal death. The polyglutamine tract is p ...

2019

Generation of Native, Untagged Huntingtin Exon1 Monomer and Fibrils Using a SUMO Fusion Strategy

Hilal Lashuel, Jonathan Jean-Pierre Ricci, Anass Chiki, Andreas Reif

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an inherited fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG expansion (36) in the first exon of the HD gene, resulting in the expression of the Huntingtin protein (Htt) or N-terminal fragments thereof with an expanded polygl ...

2018

Polyglutamine expansion affects huntingtin conformation in multiple Huntington’s disease models

Hilal Lashuel, Lara Petricca, Sean Michael Deguire

Conformational changes in disease-associated or mutant proteins represent a key pathological aspect of Huntington's disease (HD) and other protein misfolding diseases. Using immunoassays and biophysical approaches, we and others have recently reported that ...

Springer Nature2017

Monomeric Huntingtin Exon 1 Has Similar Overall Structural Features for Wild-Type and Pathological Polyglutamine Lengths

Hilal Lashuel, John Blaine Warner IV

Huntington’s disease is caused by expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ) domain within exon 1 of the huntingtin gene (Httex1). A popular hypothesis is that the Httex1 protein undergoes sharp conformational changes as the polyQ length exceeds a threshold of 3 ...

2017

The role of the polyglutamine and N-terminal domains in regulating the aggregation and structural properties of Huntingtin Exon 1

Sophie Vieweg

Huntington Disease (HD) is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene leading to the formation of mutant Huntingtin protein (Htt) with an expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) domain (>36Q). Generation of short N-terminal Htt fragments by proteolysis ...

EPFL2017

Phosphorylation of huntingtin at residue T3 is decreased in Huntington’s disease and modulates mutant huntingtin protein conformation

Hilal Lashuel, Anass Chiki, Lara Petricca, Sean Michael Deguire

Posttranslational modifications can have profound effects on the biological and biophysical properties of proteins associated with misfolding and aggregation. However, their detection and quantification in clinical samples and an understanding of the mecha ...

2017

Nanoscale studies link amyloid maturity with polyglutamine diseases onset

Giovanni Dietler, Hilal Lashuel, Giovanni Longo, Francesco Simone Ruggeri, Urszula Beata Cendrowska

The presence of expanded poly-glutamine (polyQ) repeats in proteins is directly linked to the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's disease. However, the molecular and structural basis underlying the increased toxicity ...

Nature Research2016