Identification of novel targets for PGC-1alpha and histone deacetylase inhibitors in neuroblastoma cells.

Recent evidence suggests that the transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator 1alpha (PGC-1alpha) is involved in the pathology of Huntington's Disease (HD). While animals lacking PGC-1alpha express lower levels of genes involved in antioxidant defense and oxidative phosphorylation in the brain, little is known about other targets for PGC-1alpha in neuronal cells and whether there are ways to pharmacologically target PGC-1alpha in neurons. Here, PGC-1alpha overexpression in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells upregulated expression of genes involved in mitochondrial function, glucose transport, fatty acid metabolism, and synaptic function. Overexpression also decreased vulnerability to hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death and caspase 3 activation. Treatment of cells with the histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi's) trichostatin A and valproic acid upregulated PGC-1alpha and glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4). These results suggest that PGC-1alpha regulates multiple pathways in neurons and that HDACi's may be good candidates to target PGC-1alpha and GLUT4 in HD and other neurological disorders.