Validation of FGF14 as a New Molecular Target of GSK3

描述(申请人提供)：精神疾病是一种慢性的、破坏性的疾病，被认为是由不适应的大脑可塑性引起的，非常需要有效和安全的药物治疗。识别可能维持这些异常神经适应的机制联系将促进我们对精神障碍生物学的理解，潜在地为药物开发提供新的平台。利用一种创新的基于生物发光的分子筛选方法，结合生化、电生理和成像分析，我们提供了突破性的结果，表明在情绪障碍、抑郁症和精神分裂症中发现的一种关键酶-糖原合成酶激酶3(GSK3)与神经元兴奋性之间存在联系，我们认为这是与精神障碍和某些成瘾行为相关的神经元回路功能障碍的潜在机制。基于先前的发现，证明成纤维细胞生长因子14(FGF14)是NAV通道小体中控制神经元兴奋性的功能相关成分，我们提出了令人兴奋的新数据，表明FGF14：NAV通道复合体的形成受GSK3和GSK3结构性阻遏物蛋白激酶B(Akt)的双向控制，并且GSK3直接磷酸化FGF14。Akt和GSK的药理抑制分别增加和阻止FGF14：NAV通道复合体的形成，而GSK3的抑制则阻断Akt的抑制作用。在海马神经元中，抑制GSK3使FGF14：NAV通道复合体从轴突起始段(AIS)分散，损害固有的FGF14：NAV通道，减少兴奋性突触传递，而抑制Akt则导致相反的表型。此外，我们还证明了FPep1，一种模拟FGF14：NAV通道界面的小干扰肽，可以防止FGF14：NAV通道复合体的组装，为最小化GSK3对体内神经元兴奋性的影响提供了一种工具。在这项提议中，我们将结合基于生物发光的技术、质谱学、磷酸化分析、共聚焦成像和电生理学来确定GSK3控制FGF14：NAV通道复合体形成(目标1)并促进神经元中FGF14：NAV通道复合体的靶向(目标2)的分子机制，并评估GSK3是否通过FGF14：NAV通道复合体对皮质边缘回路的兴奋性和神经可塑性产生影响，该影响可被针对FGF14的药理学或遗传学方法逆转(目标3)。这项研究的积极结果将为GSK3在大脑中的分子机制提供新的见解，并为治疗GSK3相关精神疾病的新药开发提供前所未有的机会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Psychiatric diseases are chronic, devastating disorders thought to arise from maladaptive brain plasticity, and potent and safe pharmacotherapies are in great need. Identifying the mechanistic links that might sustain these aberrant neuroadaptations will advance our understanding of the biology of mental disorders, potentially providing new platforms for medication development. Using an innovative bioluminescence-based molecular screening approach combined with biochemical, electrophysiological, and imaging assays, we provide breakthrough results showing a link between glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3), a critical enzyme found dysfunctional in mood disorders, depression and schizophrenia, and neuronal excitability, which we propose as a potential mechanism underlying dysfunction of neuronal circuitries associated with psychiatric disorders and certain addictive behaviors. Building on previous discoveries demonstrating that fibroblast growth factor 14 (FGF14) is a functionally relevant component of the Nav channelosome that controls neuronal excitability, we present exciting new data showing that the FGF14:Nav channel complex formation is bi-directionally controlled by GSK3 and by the GSK3 constitutive repressor, protein kinase B (Akt), and that GSK3 directly phosphorylates FGF14. Pharmacological inhibition of Akt and GSK increases and prevents, respectively, the FGF14:Nav channel complex formation, whereas inhibition of GSK3 occludes the effect of Akt inhibition. In hippocampal neurons, GSK3 inhibition disperses the FGF14:Nav channel complex from the axonal initial segment (AIS), the site of action potential initiation, impairs intrinsic fring and reduces excitatory synaptic transmission, whereas inhibition of Akt leads to opposite phenotypes. Furthermore, we show that Fpep1, a small interfering peptide modeled upon the FGF14:Nav channel interface, prevents the FGF14:Nav channel complex assembly, providing a tool for minimizing the effect of GSK3 on neuronal excitability in vivo. In this proposal we will employ a combination of bioluminescence-based technology, mass spectrometry, phosphorylation assays, confocal imaging and electrophysiology to determine the molecular mechanism by which GSK3 controls the FGF14:Nav channel complex formation (Aim 1) and promotes targeting of the FGF14:Nav channel complex in neurons (Aim 2) and to evaluate whether GSK3 exerts an effect on excitability and neuroplasticity in cortico-limbic circuits through the FGF14:Nav channel complex that could be reversed by pharmacological or genetic approaches targeting FGF14 (Aim 3). Positive outcomes of this study will provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms of GSK3 in the brain and offer an unprecedented opportunity for new medication development against GSK3-linked psychiatric disorders.