Human Molecular Genetics, 2016, Vol. 25, No. 12 2514–2524 doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddw115 Advance Access Publication Date: 19 May 2016 Original Article Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/hmg/article-abstract/25/12/2514/2525740 by Univ of Connecticut user on 21 May 2019 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Allele-specific regulation of mutant Huntingtin by Wig1, a downstream target of p53 Sun-Hong Kim1,†, Neelam Shahani1,†,‡, Byoung-II Bae2,¶, Juan I. Sbodio2, Youjin Chung1, Kazuhiro Nakaso3, Bindu D. Paul2 and Akira Sawa1,2,* 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 2Neuroscience Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA and 3Division of Medical Biochemistry, Department of Pathophysiological and Therapeutic Science, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 86, Nishicho, Yonago, 683-8503, Japan *To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Tel: þ1 4109554726; Fax: þ1 4106141792; Email:
[email protected] Abstract p53 has been implicated in the pathophysiology of Huntington’s disease (HD). Nonetheless, the molecular mechanism of how p53 may play a unique role in the pathology remains elusive. To address this question at the molecular and cellular biology levels, we initially screened differentially expressed molecules specifically dependent on p53 in a HD animal model. Among the candidate molecules, wild-type p53-induced gene 1 (Wig1) is markedly upregulated in the cerebral cortex of HD patients. Wig1 preferentially upregulates the level of mutant Huntingtin (Htt) compared with wild-type Htt. This allele-specific charac- teristic of Wig1 is likely to be explained by higher affinity binding to mutant Htt transcripts than normal counterpart for the stabilization. Knockdown of Wig1 level significantly ameliorates mutant Htt-elicited cytotoxicity and aggregate formation.