SIRT1-based therapy targets a gene program involved in mitochondrial turnover in a model of retinal neurodegeneration

Neurodegenerative diseases of the eye such as optic neuritis (ON) are hallmarked by retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss and optic nerve degeneration leading to irreversible blindness. Therapeutic interventions enhancing expression or activity of SIRT1, an NAD⁺-dependent deacetylase, support, at least in part, survival of RGCs in the face of injury. Herein, we used mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) which recapitulates axonal and neuronal damages characteristic of ON to identify gene regulatory networks affected by constitutive ubiquitous Sirt1 expression in SIRT1 knock-in mice and wild-type mice upon targeted adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated SIRT1 expression in RGCs. RNA seq data analysis showed that the most upregulated genes in EAE mouse retinas include those involved in inflammation, immune response, apoptosis, and mitochondrial turnover. The latter includes genes regulating mitophagy (e.g., Atg4), mitochondrial transport (e.g., Ipo- 6, Xpo- 6), and mitochondrial localization (e.g., Chrna4, Scn9a). The constitutive or RGC-targeted SIRT1 overexpression in EAE mice upregulated the expression of non-mitochondrial genes such as Ecel1 and downregulated the expression of mitophagy genes (e.g., Atg2b, Arifip1) which were upregulated by EAE alone. Thus, SIRT1 induces neuroprotection by, at least in part, balancing mitochondrial biogenesis and mitophagy and/or enhancing mitochondrial self-repair to preserve the bioenergetic capacity of RGCs.