Purification and Characterization of the Nerve Growth Factor R221W mutant causing Insensitivity to Pain

•   We have previously identified a homozygous missense (R221W) mutation in the NGFβ gene which causes insensitivity to pain in patients. The mutation impairs the secretion of NGF and the majority of the protein accumulates as proNGF. NGF mediates its function by binding and activating the TrkA and p75 receptors and is important for the survival of the sensory and sympathetic neurons as well as the cholinergic neurons of the basal forebrain. However, the R221W mutation seems to discriminate between these types of neurons as it is the sensory neurons that are mainly affected in the patients. A second human NGFβ mutation causes a more severe form of pain insensitivity with additional anhidrosis and cognitive dysfunctions in affected patients which is also seen in patients with mutations in the gene encoding the TrkA receptor. Because R221W NGF cause a less severe phenotype we hypothesised that the mutation mainly affects the p75 interaction which is also strengthened by the fact that the substitution is located in a region known to interact with p75. In this report, we show that R221W NGF is able to bind and activate TrkA at a level comparable to wild-type NGF in cells stably expressing TrkA while the activation of the downstream target ERK1/2 is impaired in cells that co-express TrkA and p75. We also describe the effects of the mutation in terms of expression and purification properties from E.coli which indicate the likelihood that eukaryotic folding machinery is needed for correct folding of R221W NGF.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biokemi och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

NGF

TrkA

p75

Pain insensitivity

protein

molecular medicine (medical sciences)

molekylär medicin (medicinska vetenskaper)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)