Loss of activity of the lysosomal glycosidase β-glucocerebrosidase (GCase) causes the lysosomal storage disease Gaucher disease (GD) and has emerged as the greatest genetic risk factor for the development of both Parkinson disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies. There is significant interest into how GCase dysfunction contributes to these diseases, however, progress toward a full understanding is complicated by presence of endogenous cellular factors that influence lysosomal GCase activity. Indeed, such factors are thought to contribute to the high degree of variable penetrance of
GBA
mutations among patients. Robust methods to quantitatively measure GCase activity within lysosomes are therefore needed to advance research in this area, as well as to develop clinical assays to monitor disease progression and assess GCase-directed therapeutics. Here, we report a selective fluorescence-quenched substrate, LysoFQ-GBA, which enables measuring endogenous levels of lysosomal GCase activity within living cells. LysoFQ-GBA is a sensitive tool for studying chemical or genetic perturbations of GCase activity using either fluorescence microscopy or flow cytometry. We validate the quantitative nature of measurements made with LysoFQ-GBA using various cell types and demonstrate that it accurately reports on both target engagement by GCase inhibitors and the
GBA
allele status of cells. Furthermore, through comparisons of GD, PD, and control patient-derived tissues, we show there is a close correlation in the lysosomal GCase activity within monocytes, neuronal progenitor cells, and neurons. Accordingly, analysis of clinical blood samples using LysoFQ-GBA may provide a surrogate marker of lysosomal GCase activity in neuronal tissue.
溶酶体糖苷酶β-
葡萄糖鞘
氨酸酶(GCase)活性的丧失导致了溶酶体贮存疾病高氏病(GD),已成为帕
金森病(PD)和带有Lewy小体的痴呆症发展的最大遗传风险因素。人们对GCase功能失调如何导致这些疾病非常感兴趣,但存在影响溶酶体GCase活性的内源性细胞因素,这使得对这一领域的全面理解进展复杂。事实上,这些因素被认为是导致患者之间GBA突变可变穿透度高的原因之一。因此,需要强有力的方法定量测量溶酶体内GCase活性,以推进这一领域的研究,并开发临床检测来监测疾病进展和评估GCase定向治疗。在这里,我们报告了一种选择性荧光猝灭底物LysoFQ-GBA,它可以测量活细胞内溶酶体内源性GCase活性
水平。LysoFQ-GBA是一个敏感的工具,可用于使用荧光显微镜或流式细胞术研究GCase活性的
化学或遗传扰动。我们使用各种细胞类型验证了使用LysoFQ-GBA进行的测量的定量性质,并证明它准确地报告了GCase
抑制剂的靶标作用和细胞的GBA等位
基因状态。此外,通过比较GD、PD和对照患者衍生的组织,我们展示了单核细胞、神经前体细胞和神经元中溶酶体GCase活性之间的密切相关性。因此,使用LysoFQ-GBA分析临床血样可能提供神经组织中溶酶体GCase活性的替代标志物。