Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is an autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder that results from polyglutamine expansion of the ataxin-7 (ATXN7) protein. Remarkably, although mutant ATXN7 is expressed throughout the body, pathology is restricted primarily to the cerebellum and retina. One major goal has been to identify factors that contribute to the tissue specificity of SCA7. Here w...

Reelin, the protein defective in reeler mutant mice, plays a key role during brain development. Reelin is processed proteolytically at two sites, and the central fragment mimics function in vitro. Here, we show that processing is functionally important in vivo, a question that could not be addressed in our previous study. New monoclonal antibodies directed against central Reelin block its bindi...

Reelin is a positional signal for the lamination of the dentate gyrus. In the reeler mutant lacking Reelin, granule cells are scattered all over the dentate gyrus. We have recently shown that the reeler phenotype of the dentate gyrus can be rescued in vitro by coculturing reeler hippocampal slices with slices from wild-type hippocampus. Here we studied whether Reelin from other brain regions ca...

OBJECTIVES: Autism is the most genetically influenced neuropsychiatric disorder with unknown etiology. Reelin, one of the autism candidate genes plays a major role in neuronal migration during neurodevelopment and in regulation of synaptic plasticity in postnatal period. Autistic patients have decreased levels of reelin in plasma and frontal and cerebellar cortices. Testosterone pathway is susp...

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is often accompanied by granule cell dispersion (GCD), a migration defect of granule cells in the dentate gyrus. We have previously shown that a decrease in the expression of reelin, an extracellular matrix protein important for neuronal positioning, is associated with the development of GCD in TLE patients. Here, we used unilateral intrahippocampal injection of kai...

Two major signaling pathways that control neuronal positioning during brain development have been uncovered as a result of genetic and biochemical studies on neurological mouse mutants. Mice deficient in Reelin, Disabled 1 (Dab1), or both the very low-density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) and the apolipoprotein E receptor 2 (ApoER2) exhibit identical neuroanatomic defects in laminar structures t...

Abstract Normal brain development relies on precise genetic and epigenetic spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression. How dysregulation neurodevelopment relates to medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric tumor, remains elusive. Here, we uncovered a novel neurodevelopmental epigenomic program that regulates Purkinje cell migration in developing cerebellum is hijacked induce tumor metastati...

Reelin is a secreted glycoprotein that regulates neuronal positioning in cortical brain structures through the VLDLR and ApoER2 receptors and the adaptor protein Dab1. In addition to cellular disorganization, dendrite abnormalities are present in the brain of reeler mice lacking Reelin. It is unclear whether these defects are due primarily to cellular ectopia or the absence of Reelin. Here we e...

The Reelin signaling pathway plays a crucial role in regulating neocortical development. However, little is known about how Reelin controls the cytoskeleton during neuronal migration. Here, we identify CLASP2 as a key cytoskeletal effector in the Reelin signaling pathway. We demonstrate that CLASP2 has distinct roles during neocortical development regulating neuron production and controlling ne...