RESEARCH ARTICLE iPSC-derived neuronal models of PANK2- associated neurodegeneration reveal mitochondrial dysfunction contributing to early disease Charles Arber1*, Plamena R. Angelova1, Sarah Wiethoff1, Yugo Tsuchiya2, Francesca Mazzacuva3, Elisavet Preza1, Kailash P. Bhatia1, Kevin Mills3, Ivan Gout2, Andrey Y. Abramov1, John Hardy1, James A. Duce4, Henry Houlden1, Selina Wray1 a1111111111 a1111111111 1 Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom, 2 Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, United a1111111111 Kingdom, 3 Centre for Translational Omics, Genetics and Genomic Medicine Programme, UCL Institute of a1111111111 Child Health, London, United Kingdom, 4 School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological a1111111111 Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom *
[email protected] OPEN ACCESS Abstract Citation: Arber C, Angelova PR, Wiethoff S, Tsuchiya Y, Mazzacuva F, Preza E, et al. (2017) Mutations in PANK2 lead to neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation. PANK2 has a iPSC-derived neuronal models of PANK2- role in the biosynthesis of coenzyme A (CoA) from dietary vitamin B5, but the neuropatho- associated neurodegeneration reveal mitochondrial logical mechanism and reasons for iron accumulation remain unknown. In this study, atypi- dysfunction contributing to early disease. PLoS cal patient-derived fibroblasts were reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells ONE 12(9): e0184104. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0184104 (iPSCs) and subsequently differentiated into cortical neuronal cells for studying disease mechanisms in human neurons. We observed no changes in PANK2 expression between Editor: Fanis Missirlis, CINVESTAV-IPN, MEXICO control and patient cells, but a reduction in protein levels was apparent in patient cells.