Anti-AIPL1 monoclonal antibody, clone 4C5

Background. Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) usually describes patients with severely reduced vision due to a retinal dystrophy in early childhood. Methods. In 135 families in a case series with severely reduced vision due to a retinal dystrophy in early childhood a complete ophthalmologic examination was extended by two-color threshold perimetry, fundus autofluorescence (FAF), und optical coherence tomography (OCT). Mutation screening included AIPL1, CRB1, CRX, GUCY2D, LRAT, RPE65, RPGRIP, and TULP1. Results. GUCY2D mutations caused the most severe phenotype with severely reduced vision from birth but unremarkable fundus appearance. RPE65 mutations were correlated with an obvious lack of FAF. CRB1 mutations showed a significantly thickened retina on OCT. CRX mutations were associated with a progressive form of cone-rod dystrophy. Conclusion. A genotype-phenotype correlation for selected genes allows an optimized strategy for the molecular genetic work-up.

Mutations in AIPL1 cause the inherited blindness Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). AIPL1 has previously been shown to interact with NUB1, which facilitates the proteasomal degradation of proteins modified with the ubiquitin-like protein FAT10. Here we report that AIPL1 binds non-covalently to free FAT10 and FAT10ylated proteins and can form a ternary complex with FAT10 and NUB1. In addition, AIPL1 antagonised the NUB1-mediated degradation of the model FAT10 conjugate, FAT10-DHFR, and pathogenic mutations of AIPL1 were defective in inhibiting this degradation. While all AIPL1 mutants tested still bound FAT10-DHFR, there was a close correlation between the ability of the mutants to interact with NUB1 and their ability to prevent NUB1-mediated degradation. Interestingly, AIPL1 also co-immunoprecipitated the E1 activating enzyme for FAT10, UBA6, suggesting AIPL1 may have a role in directly regulating the FAT10 conjugation machinery. These studies are the first to implicate FAT10 in retinal cell biology and LCA pathogenesis, and reveal a new role of AIPL1 in regulating the FAT10 pathway.