Therapeutic effects of TP5, a Cdk5/p25 inhibitor, in in vitro and in vivo models of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease. Current treatments for PD are symptomatic and only increase striatal dopamine levels. Proactive neuroprotective approaches that slow the progression of PD and maintain appropriate dopamine neuron populations are needed to treat the disease. One suggested mechanism contributing to the pathology of PD involves the binding of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) to p25, creating a hyperactivated complex to induce cell death. The objective of this study is to investigate the neuroprotective and neurorestorative properties of Truncated Peptide 5 (TP5), a derivative of the p35 activator involved in Cdk5 regulation, via the inhibition of Cdk5/p25 complex function. SH-SY5Y cell line and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans were exposed to paraquat (PQ), an oxidative stressor, to induce Parkinsonian phenotypes. TP5 was administered prior to PQ exposure to determine its neuroprotective effects and, in further experiments, after PQ exposure to examine its neurorestorative effects. In the SH-SY5Y cell line, TP5 was found to have neuroprotective effects using a cell viability assay and demonstrated neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects in C. elegans by examining dopaminergic neurons and dopamine-dependent behaviour. TP5 decreased elevated Cdk5 activation in worms that were exposed to PQ. TP5’s inhibition of Cdk5/p25 hyperactivity led to the protection of dopamine neurons in these PD models. This suggests that TP5 can act as a potential therapeutic drug towards PD.