Joseph disease and Huntington disease: protein patterns in fibroblasts and brain

Proteins were separated on two-dimensional acrylamide gels obtained from brain samples of patients with Joseph disease, Huntington disease (HD) and multiple sclerosis. Similar protein separations were made from cultured skin fibroblasts of Joseph disease patients. Two major classes of proteins, one with a MW of 50,000 probably representing the glial filamentous acidic protein, or another class with a MW of 40,000 (proteins Jc, Jd, L1 and L2) were increased in the cerebellum of six Joseph disease patients. The same protein species were abnormally increased in HD brains, mainly in the basal ganglia and frontal cortex. These identical classes of protein changes were present in two nosologically separate autosomal dominant neurological disorders, Joseph disease (a spinocerebellar degeneration) and HD (a basal ganglia and cerebral cortical degeneration) and may reflect a biochemical correlation of gliosis and neuronal disease. However, these changes may be evidence that the two diseases are allelic mutations of the same gene. The dominantly inherited spinocerebellar degenerations may result from a primary deficit of glial-neuronal interaction, resulting in neuronal loss but with a compensatory increase in the number of glial cells attempting to provide additional trophic-metabolic support.