Activation of the IκB Kinase Complex and Nuclear Factor-κB Contributes to Mutant Huntingtin Neurotoxicity

Abstract

Transcriptional dysregulation by mutant huntingtin (Htt) protein has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease (HD). We find that cultured cells expressing mutant Htt and striatal cells from HD transgenic mice have elevated nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activity. Furthermore, NF-κB is concentrated in the nucleus of neurons in the brains of HD transgenic mice. In inducible PC12 cells and in HD transgenic mice, mutant Htt activates the IκB kinase complex (IKK), a key regulator of NF-κB. Activation of IKK is likely mediated by direct interaction with mutant Htt, because the expanded polyglutamine stretch and adjacent proline-rich motifs in mutant Htt interact with IKKγ, a regulatory subunit of IKK. Activation of IKK may also influence the toxicity of mutant Htt, because expression of IKKγ promotes aggregation and nuclear localization of mutant Htt exon-1. Moreover, in acute striatal slice cultures, inhibition of IKK activity with an N-terminally truncated form of IKKγ blocks mutant Htt-induced toxicity in medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs). In addition, blocking degradation of NF-κB inhibitors with a dominant-negative ubiquitin ligase β-transducin repeat-containing protein also reduces the toxicity of mutant Htt in MSNs. Therefore, aberrant NF-κB activation may contribute to the neurodegeneration induced by mutant Htt.