ESCRT Machinery Dysfunction in Motor Neurone Disease: TSG101, CHMP2B, and VPS4a Differentially Regulate TDP-43 Pathology, Autophagy, and Exosome Biogenesis

Abstract

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is characterised by progressive degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons, accompanied by cytoplasmic mislocalisation and hyperphosphorylation of TDP-43 -- hallmarks that implicate failure of endolysosomal proteostasis. The Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport (ESCRT) pathway governs multivesicular body (MVB) formation, lysosomal cargo delivery, and autophagosome closure, yet its expression profile in human MND tissue and mechanistic contribution to disease pathology have not been established. Here, we report subunit-specific dysregulation of ESCRT proteins in postmortem motor cortex and spinal cord from MND patients: CHMP2B (ESCRT-III) is significantly upregulated in both regions, whilst TSG101 (ESCRT-I) and VPS37A (ESCRT-I) are significantly downregulated in motor cortex, indicating a region-specific remodelling of the ESCRT network. In a tunicamycin-induced ER stress model using NSC-34 motor neuron-like cells and primary cortical neurons, TSG101 overexpression reduced total and phosphorylated TDP-43, suppressed mTOR signalling, and restored autophagic flux, whereas TSG101 knockdown exacerbated TDP-43 accumulation and cytoplasmic mislocalisation. CHMP2B modulation selectively regulated TDP-43 phosphorylation without altering total TDP-43 levels, consistent with a casein kinase 1-dependent mechanism operating independently of bulk autophagy. Both TSG101 and VPS4a were required to maintain neuronal CD9 tetraspanin localisation to early endosomes; their depletion redirected CD9 to late endosomal and lysosomal compartments under ER stress. Extracellular vesicle characterisation revealed a functional divergence: TSG101 is required for general exosome biogenesis, whereas VPS4a ATPase activity specifically mediates loading of pathological TDP-43 cargo into EVs. Dynamic light scattering confirmed that ER stress and ESCRT modulation produce distinct, condition-specific alterations in EV size and polydispersity. These findings establish ESCRT dysfunction as a multifaceted contributor to MND pathogenesis and identify TSG101, CHMP2B, and VPS4a as mechanistically distinct therapeutic targets warranting preclinical validation.