Cytoplasmic Restriction of Mutated SOD1 Impairs the DNA Repair Process in Spinal Cord Neurons

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) caused by mutation of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), affects various cellular processes and results in the death of motor neurons with fatal defects. Currently, several neurological disorders associated with DNA damage are known to directly induce neurodegenerative diseases. In this research, we found that cytoplasmic restriction of SOD1G93A, which inhibited the nucleic translocation of SOD1WT, was directly related to increasing DNA damage in SOD1-mutated ALS disease. Our study showed that nucleic transport of DNA repair-processing proteins, such as p53, APEX1, HDAC1, and ALS-linked FUS were interfered with under increased endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the presence of SOD1G93A. During aging, the unsuccessful recognition and repair process of damaged DNA, due to the mislocalized DNA repair proteins might be closely associated with the enhanced susceptibility of DNA damage in SOD1-mutated neurons. In addition, the co-expression of protein disulphide isomerase (PDI) directly interacting with SOD1 protein in neurons enhances the nucleic transport of cytoplasmic-restricted SOD1G93A. Therefore, our results showed that enhanced DNA damage by SOD1 mutation-induced ALS disease and further suggested that PDI could be a strong candidate molecule to protect neuronal apoptosis by reducing DNA damage in ALS disease.