Biology subjects

Hens, B.

Publications and source records attributed to Hens, B..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Striatal spinophilin enhances D2R interaction with cytosolic proteins to mediate persistent D2R agonist-induced locomotor suppression.

Loss of dopamine neurons in Parkinson disease (PD) leads to motor deficits. Dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) agonists treat PD-associated motor deficits by acting on postsynaptic receptors located within the striatum that have been upregulated due dopamine loss. However, mechanisms that contribute to increased D2R activity in PD to enhance D2R function are poorly described. Spinophilin is a protein phosphatase 1 targeting protein that is expressed in postsynaptic dendritic spines and interacts with postsynaptic D2Rs. However, how spinophilin regulates D2R function is unknown. In the current study, we found that genetic knockout of spinophilin limited the suppression of locomotion caused by the D2R agonist, quinpirole. Mechanistically, we found that spinophilin is required for quinpirole-induced increases in the interaction of the D2R with intracellular proteins, suggesting spinophilin mediates agonist-induced D2R internalization. Therefore, our data support future studies targeting the spinophilin/D2R interaction to enhance the efficacy of current PD therapeutics.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Proximity labeling and orthogonal nanobody pulldown (ID-oPD) approaches to map the spinophilin interactome uncover a putative role for spinophilin in protein homeostasis.

Spinophilin is a dendritic spine enriched scaffolding and protein phosphatase 1 targeting protein. To detail spinophilin interacting proteins, we created an Ultra-ID and ALFA-tagged spinophilin encoding construct that permits proximity labeling and orthogonal nanobody pulldown (ID-oPD) of spinophilin-associated protein complexes in heterologous cells. We identified 614 specific, and 312 specific and selective, spinophilin interacting proteins in HEK293 cells and validated a subset of these using orthogonal approaches. Many of these proteins are involved in mRNA processing and translation. In the brain, we determined that spinophilin mRNA is highly neuropil localized and that spinophilin may normally function to limit its own expression but promote the expression of other PSD-associated proteins. Overall, our use of an ID-oPD approach uncovers a novel putative role for spinophilin in mRNA translation and synaptic protein expression specifically within dendritic spines.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Antiviral treatment of SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters reveals a weak effect of favipiravir and a complete lack of effect for hydroxychloroquine

SARS-CoV-2 rapidly spread around the globe after its emergence in Wuhan in December 2019. With no specific therapeutic and prophylactic options available, the virus was able to infect millions of people. To date, close to half a million patients succumbed to the viral disease, COVID-19. The high need for treatment options, together with the lack of small animal models of infection has led to clinical trials with repurposed drugs before any preclinical in vivo evidence attesting their efficacy was available. We used Syrian hamsters to establish a model to evaluate antiviral activity of small molecules in both an infection and a transmission setting. Upon intranasal infection, the animals developed high titers of SARS-CoV-2 in the lungs and pathology similar to that observed in mild COVID-19 patients. Treatment of SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters with favipiravir or hydroxychloroquine (with and without azithromycin) resulted in respectively a mild or no reduction in viral RNA and infectious virus. Micro-CT scan analysis of the lungs showed no improvement compared to non-treated animals, which was confirmed by histopathology. In addition, both compounds did not prevent virus transmission through direct contact and thus failed as prophylactic treatments. By modelling the PK profile of hydroxychloroquine based on the trough plasma concentrations, we show that the total lung exposure to the drug was not the limiting factor. In conclusion, we here characterized a hamster infection and transmission model to be a robust model for studying in vivo efficacy of antiviral compounds. The information acquired using hydroxychloroquine and favipiravir in this model is of critical value to those designing (current and) future clinical trials. At this point, the data here presented on hydroxychloroquine either alone or combined with azithromycin (together with previously reported in vivo data in macaques and ferrets) provide no scientific basis for further use of the drug in humans.

microbiology↗