לוח שנה משולב

Multiple lines of evidence link numerous diseases to inherited errors in alternative splicing, the process connecting different exon and intron sequences to diversify gene expression. We explore potential involvement of acquired alternative splicing changes in non-familial Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases (AD, PD), where synaptic functioning fails and cholinergic or dopaminergic neurons die prematurely. Using whole genome microarrays, we found massive decline in exon exclusion events in the AD entorhinal cortex. In brain-injected mice, blocking exon exclusion caused learning and memory impairments and destruction of cholinergic neurons caused AD-like changes in exon exclusion. Suggesting physiological relevance, blocking exon exclusion in primary neuronal cells was preventable by cholinergic stimulation and caused dendritic and synapse loss. In comparison, blood leukocytes from advanced PD patients showed different alternative splicing changes. These were largely reversed by deep brain stimulation (DBS), which reduces motor symptoms, and were reversed again after disconnecting the stimulus. Measured modifications correlated with neurological treatment efficacy and classified controls from advanced PD patients and pre- from post-surgery patients. In an independent patient cohort, a "molecular signature" (6 out of the modified transcripts) further classified controls from patients with early PD or other neurological diseases. Our findings demonstrate functionally relevant disease-specific alternative splicing changes in the AD brain and PD leukocytes; highlight acquired alternative splicing changes as causally involved in different neurodegenerative diseases and identify new targets for intervention in DBS-treatable neurological diseases.