p38-TFEB pathways promote microglia activation through inhibiting CMA-mediated NLRP3 degradation in Parkinson's disease

BACKGROUND: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), accompanied by accumulation of α-synuclein, chronic neuroinflammation and autophagy dysfunction. Previous studies suggested that misfolded α-synuclein induces the inflammatory response and autophagy dysfunction in microglial cells. The NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway plays a crucial role in the neuroinflammatory process in the central nervous system. However, the relationship between autophagy deficiency and NLRP3 activation induced by α-synuclein accumulation is not well understood. METHODS: Through immunoblotting, immunocytochemistry, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, ELISA and behavioral tests, we investigated the role of p38-TFEB-NLRP3 signaling pathways on neuroinflammation in the α-synuclein A53T PD models. RESULTS: Our results showed that increased protein levels of NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-1 in the α-synuclein A53T PD models. P38 is activated by overexpression of α-synuclein A53T mutant, which inhibited the master transcriptional activator of autophagy TFEB. And we found that NLRP3 was degraded by chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) in microglial cells. Furthermore, p38-TFEB pathways inhibited CMA-mediated NLRP3 degradation in Parkinson's disease. Inhibition of p38 had a protective effect on Parkinson's disease model via suppressing the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome pathway. Moreover, both p38 inhibitor SB203580 and NLRP3 inhibitor MCC950 not only prevented neurodegeneration in vivo, but also alleviated movement impairment in α-synuclein A53T-tg mice model of Parkinson’s disease. CONCLUSION: Our research reveals p38-TFEB pathways promote microglia activation through inhibiting CMA-mediated NLRP3 degradation in Parkinson's disease, which could be a potential therapeutic strategy for PD. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: p38-TFEB pathways promote microglia activation through inhibiting CMA-mediated NLRP3 degradation in Parkinson's disease. In this model, p38 activates NLRP3 inflammasome via inhibiting TFEB in microglia. TFEB signaling negatively regulates NLRP3 inflammasome through increasing LAMP2A expression, which binds to NLRP3 and promotes its degradation via chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). NLRP3-mediated microglial activation promotes the death of dopaminergic neurons. [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12974-021-02349-y.