Targeting TDP-43 phosphorylation by Casein Kinase-1δ inhibitors: a novel strategy for the treatment of frontotemporal dementia

[Background] Mutations in the progranulin gene (GRN) are the most common cause of frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP-43 inclusions (FTLD-TDP). TDP-43 pathology is characterized by the hyperphosphorylation of the protein at Serine 409/410 residues. Casein kinase-1δ (CK-1δ) was reported to phosphorylate TDP-43 directly. Previous works from our laboratory described the presence of CDK6/pRb-dependent cell cycle alterations, and cytosolic accumulation of TDP-43 protein in lymphoblast from FTLD-TDP patients carriers of a loss-of function mutation in GRN gene (c.709-1G > A). In this work, we have investigated the effects of two brain penetrant CK-1δ inhibitors (IGS-2.7 and IGS-3.27) designed and synthetized in our laboratory on cell proliferation, TDP-43 phosphorylation and subcellular localization, as well as their effects on the known nuclear TDP-43 function repressing the expression of CDK6.
[Results] We report here that both CK-1δ inhibitors (IGS-2.7 and IGS-3.27) normalized the proliferative activity of PGRN-deficient lymphoblasts by preventing the phosphorylation of TDP-43 fragments, its nucleo-cytosol translocation and the overactivation of the CDK6/pRb cascade. Moreover, ours results show neuroprotective effects of CK-1δ inhibitors in a neuronal cell model of induced TDP-43 phosphorylation.
[Conclusions] Our results suggest that modulating CK-1δ activity could be considered a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of FTLD-TDP and other TDP-43 proteinopathies.
This work has been supported by grants from The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (projects SAF2012-37979-C03-01 to Ana Martinez and SAF2011-28603 to Angeles Martín-Requero). Moreover, Dr. Angeles Martín-Requero was supported by Ramón Areces foundation and Dr. López de Munain received research support from Ilundain Foundation.