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Winslow, Ashley R

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Winslow

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Ashley R

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Winslow, Ashley R
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.05215c2e-ed9e-49bd-a8e4-b56d7afe198d

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    Exosomal cell-to-cell transmission of alpha synuclein oligomers
    (BioMed Central, 2012) Danzer, Karin M; Kranich, Lisa R; Ruf, Wolfgang P; Cagsal-Getkin, Ozge; Winslow, Ashley R; Zhu, Liya; Vanderburg, Charles; McLean, Pamela J
    Background: Aggregation of alpha-synuclein (αsyn) and resulting cytotoxicity is a hallmark of sporadic and familial Parkinson’s disease (PD) as well as dementia with Lewy bodies, with recent evidence implicating oligomeric and pre-fibrillar forms of αsyn as the pathogenic species. Recent in vitro studies support the idea of transcellular spread of extracellular, secreted αsyn across membranes. The aim of this study is to characterize the transcellular spread of αsyn oligomers and determine their extracellular location. Results: Using a novel protein fragment complementation assay where αsyn is fused to non-bioluminescent amino-or carboxy-terminus fragments of humanized Gaussia Luciferase we demonstrate here that αsyn oligomers can be found in at least two extracellular fractions: either associated with exosomes or free. Exosome-associated αsyn oligomers are more likely to be taken up by recipient cells and can induce more toxicity compared to free αsyn oligomers. Specifically, we determine that αsyn oligomers are present on both the outside as well as inside of exosomes. Notably, the pathway of secretion of αsyn oligomers is strongly influenced by autophagic activity. Conclusions: Our data suggest that αsyn may be secreted via different secretory pathways. We hypothesize that exosome-mediated release of αsyn oligomers is a mechanism whereby cells clear toxic αsyn oligomers when autophagic mechanisms fail to be sufficient. Preventing the early events in αsyn exosomal release and uptake by inducing autophagy may be a novel approach to halt disease spreading in PD and other synucleinopathies.
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    Differential Expression of Exosomal microRNAs in Prefrontal Cortices of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Patients
    (Public Library of Science, 2013) Banigan, Meredith G.; Kao, Patricia F.; Kozubek, James A.; Winslow, Ashley R; Medina, Juan; Costa, Joan; Schmitt, Andrea; Schneider, Anja; Cabral, Howard; Cagsal-Getkin, Ozge; Vanderburg, Charles; Delalle, Ivana
    Exosomes are cellular secretory vesicles containing microRNAs (miRNAs). Once secreted, exosomes are able to attach to recipient cells and release miRNAs potentially modulating the function of the recipient cell. We hypothesized that exosomal miRNA expression in brains of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) might differ from controls, reflecting either disease-specific or common aberrations in SZ and BD patients. The sources of the analyzed samples included McLean 66 Cohort Collection (Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center), BrainNet Europe II (BNE, a consortium of 18 brain banks across Europe) and Boston Medical Center (BMC). Exosomal miRNAs from frozen postmortem prefrontal cortices with well-preserved RNA were isolated and submitted to profiling by Luminex FLEXMAP 3D microfluidic device. Multiple statistical analyses of microarray data suggested that certain exosomal miRNAs were differentially expressed in SZ and BD subjects in comparison to controls. RT-PCR validation confirmed that two miRNAs, miR-497 in SZ samples and miR-29c in BD samples, have significantly increased expression when compared to control samples. These results warrant future studies to evaluate the potential of exosome-derived miRNAs to serve as biomarkers of SZ and BD.