A new role for laminins as modulators of protein toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Protein misfolding is a common theme in aging and several age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The processes involved in the development of these diseases are many and complex. Here, we show that components of the basement membrane (BM), particularly laminin, affect protein integrity of the muscle cells they support. We knocked down gene expression of epi-1, a laminin α-chain, and found that this resulted in increased proteotoxicity in different Caenorhabditis elegans transgenic models, expressing aggregating proteins in the body wall muscle. The effect could partially be rescued by decreased insulin-like signaling, known to slow the aging process and the onset of various age-related diseases. Our data points to an underlying molecular mechanism involving prote

SUBMITTER: Jensen LT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3257398 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature