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IKKβ signaling mediates metabolic changes in the hypothalamus of a Huntington's disease mouse model

Soylu-Kucharz R, Khoshnan A and Petersén Å.

iScience 2022 Jan 19;25(2):103771. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103771. eCollection 2022 Feb 18.

Abstract

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. Metabolic changes are associated with HD progression, but underlying mechanisms are not fully known.

As the IKKβ/NF-κB pathway is an essential regulator of metabolism, we investigated the involvement of IKKβ, the upstream activator of NF-κB in hypothalamus-specific HD metabolic changes. We expressed amyloidogenic N-terminal fragments of mutant HTT (mHTT) in the hypothalamus of mice with brain-specific ablation of IKKβ (Nestin/IKKβlox/lox) and control mice (IKKβlox/lox). We assessed effects on body weight, metabolic hormones, and hypothalamic neuropathology. Hypothalamic expression of mHTT led to an obese phenotype only in female mice. CNS-specific inactivation of IKKβ prohibited weight gain in females, which was independent of neuroprotection and microglial activation.

Our study suggests that mHTT in the hypothalamus causes metabolic imbalance in a sex-specific fashion, and central inhibition of the IKKβ pathway attenuates the obese phenotype.

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