Overexpressed alpha-synuclein regulated the nuclear factor-kappaB signal pathway

Alpha-synuclein is a presynaptic protein which is implicated in some neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple systems atrophy, and Hallervorden-Spatz disease, and its overexpression contributes to the loss of dopaminergic neurons. Although the role of alpha-synuclein in these paradigms has been widely documented, its exact function is still elusive. And the dysfunction of the transcription factor nuclear factor (NF-kappa B) also exists in many neurodegenerative diseases. In this reason the purpose of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of alpha-synuclein's toxicity and its association with NF-kappa B by MTT assay, Western blot method, and luciferase assay. Results showed that overexpressed alpha-synuclein and 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) suppressed the SH-SY5Y cell viability and attenuate NF-kappa B-mediated luciferase expression significantly. Moreover, the impairment function was enhanced with the increase of alpha-synuclein protein level. We also found that overexpressed alpha-synuclein localized both in the cytoplasms and nuclei, down-regulated the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression and up-regulated the pro-apoptotic glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3 beta) protein level. In conclusion, all these findings mentioned above suggested that alpha-synuclein shared some toxic functional homology with neurotoxin MPP+, and the proapoptotic effects of alpha-synuclein might be mediated at least in part by the impairment of NF-kappa B signaling pathway which involves GSK3 beta.