Altered microRNA expression in animal models of Huntington’s disease and potential therapeutic strategies

A review of recent animal models of Huntington’s disease showed many microRNAs had altered expression levels in the striatum and cerebral cortex, and which were mostly downregulated. Among the altered microRNAs were miR-9/9*, miR-29b, miR-124a, miR-132, miR-128, miR-139, miR-122, miR-138, miR-23b, miR-135b, miR-181 (all downregulated) and miR-448 (upregulated), and similar changes had been previously found in Huntington’s disease patients. In the animal cell studies, the altered microRNAs included miR-9, miR-9*, miR-135b, miR-222 (all downregulated) and miR-214 (upregulated). In the animal models, overexpression of miR-155 and miR-196a caused a decrease in mutant huntingtin mRNA and protein level, lowered the mutant huntingtin aggregates in striatum and cortex, and improved performance in behavioral tests. Improved performance in behavioral tests also occurred with overexpression of miR-132 and miR-124. In the animal cell models, overexpression of miR-22 increased the viability of rat primary cortical and striatal neurons infected with mutant huntingtin and decreased huntingtin -enriched foci of ≥ 2 µm. Also, overexpression of miR-22 enhanced the survival of rat primary striatal neurons treated with 3-nitropropionic acid. Exogenous expression of miR-214, miR-146a, miR-150, and miR-125b decreased endogenous expression of huntingtin mRNA and protein in Hdh(Q111) /Hdh(Q111) cells. Further studies with animal models of Huntington’s disease are warranted to validate these findings and identify specific microRNAs whose overexpression inhibits the production of mutant huntingtin protein and other harmful processes and may provide a more effective means of treating Huntington’s disease in patients and slowing its progression.