Recent Advances in Understanding of the Role of Synuclein Family Members in Health and Disease: Third Edition

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurobiology and Clinical Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 774

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Museum Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
Interests: neorodegeneration; mechanisms of proteinopaty; synuclein family; physiological functions of synucleins; chemical neurotransmission; dopamine; synucleinsynuclein-associated pathology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Extensive studies of α-synuclein function and dysfunction revealed its involvement in multiple normal and aberrant molecular processes and, consequently, various effects on the nervous system cell biology. However, certain other types of cells normally express this protein, and they may also be affected by α-synuclein dysfunction and thus contribute to pathological changes in α-synucleinopathies. It would be beneficial to summarize scattered data on these aspects of α-synuclein biology and pathology. Recent studies have drawn attention to the other two members of the family, b-synuclein and g-synuclein, whose role in homeostasis and pathology is still poorly understood. Three members of this family share many structural properties and have an overlapping pattern of expression and intracellular distribution in the developing and adult nervous systems, which points to functional redundancy within the family. However, each synuclein has its own functions unshared with two other synucleins, and in some cellular mechanisms and pathways, these functions could be antagonistic rather than synergistic.

This Special Issue aims to highlight the most recent research on both already well-known and emerging aspects of synuclein family biology and the role of the dysfunction of these proteins in neurodegenerative and other pathological conditions.

Dr. Natalia N. Ninkina
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • synuclein family
  • alpha-synuclein
  • beta-synuclein
  • gamma-synuclein
  • physiological functions of synucleins
  • synucleins and lipids
  • function of synucleins outside of the nervous system
  • synuclein-associated pathology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

10 pages, 860 KiB  
Article
Erythrocytic α-Synuclein in Parkinson’s Disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy—A Pilot Study
by Costanza Maria Cristiani, Luana Scaramuzzino, Elvira Immacolata Parrotta, Giovanni Cuda, Aldo Quattrone and Andrea Quattrone
Biomedicines 2024, 12(11), 2510; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12112510 - 2 Nov 2024
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Abstract
Background/Objectives: The current research examines the accuracy of α-synuclein in RBCs as a diagnostic biomarker for PD and PSP, despite their distinct molecular etiologies. Methods: We used ELISA to measure total, oligomeric, and p129-α-synuclein levels in erythrocytes from 8 PSP patients, 19 PD [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: The current research examines the accuracy of α-synuclein in RBCs as a diagnostic biomarker for PD and PSP, despite their distinct molecular etiologies. Methods: We used ELISA to measure total, oligomeric, and p129-α-synuclein levels in erythrocytes from 8 PSP patients, 19 PD patients, and 18 healthy controls (HCs). The classification performances of RBC α-synuclein levels were investigated by receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. We also evaluated a possible correlation between RBC α-synuclein level and the biological and clinical features of our cohorts. Results: RBC total α-synuclein was higher in PSP patients compared to both PD patients and HCs, achieving good classification performance (AUC: 0.853) in distinguishing PSP patients from PD patients, with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 70.6%; moreover, the levels of this biomarker positively correlated with disease severity in PSP group. Regarding oligomeric α-synuclein and p129-α-synuclein, the latter was slightly increased in RBCs from PSP patients compared to HCs, but no correlations were detected. Conclusions: Although these findings need to be confirmed in larger studies, our pilot work suggests that RBC total α-synuclein may represent a potential molecular biomarker for the differential diagnosis and clinical staging of PSP. Full article
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