- Richter, Franziska;
- Fleming, Sheila M;
- Watson, Melanie;
- Lemesre, Vincent;
- Pellegrino, Lee;
- Ranes, Brian;
- Zhu, Chunni;
- Mortazavi, Farzad;
- Mulligan, Caitlin K;
- Sioshansi, Pedrom C;
- Hean, Sindalana;
- De La Rosa, Krystal;
- Khanna, Richie;
- Flanagan, John;
- Lockhart, David J;
- Wustman, Brandon A;
- Clark, Sean W;
- Chesselet, Marie-Françoise
Mutation of the lysosomal hydrolase acid-β-glucosidase (GCase), which leads to reduced GCase activity, is one of the most frequent genetic risk factors for Parkinson's disease (PD) and promotes α-synuclein accumulation in the brain, a hallmark of PD and other synucleinopathies. Whether targeting GCase pharmacologically is a valid therapeutic strategy for sporadic PD in the absence of GCase mutation is unknown. We have investigated whether increasing the stability, trafficking, and activity of wild-type GCase could be beneficial in synucleinopathies by administering the pharmacological chaperone AT2101 (afegostat-tartrate, isofagomine) to mice that overexpress human wild-type α-synuclein (Thy1-aSyn mice). AT2101 administered orally for 4 months to Thy1-aSyn mice improved motor and nonmotor function, abolished microglial inflammatory response in the substantia nigra, reduced α-synuclein immunoreactivity in nigral dopaminergic neurons, and reduced the number of small α-synuclein aggregates, while increasing the number of large α-synuclein aggregates. These data support the further investigation of pharmacological chaperones that target GCase as a therapeutic approach for sporadic PD and other synucleinopathies, even in the absence of glucocerebrosidase mutations.