Elevated urine bis(monoacylglycerol)phosphate (BMP) levels have been found in gain-of-kinase function LRRK2 G2019S mutation carriers. Here, we have expanded urine BMP analysis to other Parkinson’s disease (PD) associated mutations and found them to be consistently elevated in carriers of LRRK2 G2019S and R1441G/C as well as VPS35 D620N mutations. Urine BMP levels are promising biomarkers for patient stratification and potentially target engagement in clinical trials of emerging targeted PD therapies.

The p53 tumor suppressor is widely found to be mutated in human cancer. This protein is regarded as a molecular hub regulating different cell responses, namely cell death. Compelling data have demonstrated that the impairment of p53 activity correlates with tumor development and maintenance. For these reasons, the reactivation of p53 function is regarded as a promising strategy to halt cancer. In the present work, the recombinant mutant p53R280K DNA binding domain (DBD) was produced for the first time, and its crystal structure was determined in the absence of DNA to a resolution of 2.0 Å. The solved structure contains four molecules in the asymmetric unit, four zinc(II) ions, and 336 water molecules. The structure was compared with the wild-type p53 DBD structure, isolated and in complex with DNA. These comparisons contributed to a deeper understanding of the mutant p53R280K structure, as well as the loss of DNA binding related to halted transcriptional activity. The structural information derived may also contribute to the rational design of mutant p53 reactivating molecules with potential application in cancer treatment.

Lysosomes are implicated in a wide spectrum of human diseases, including monogenic lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs), age-associated neurodegeneration, and cancer. Profiling lysosomal content using tag-based lysosomal immunoprecipitation (LysoTagIP) in cell and animal models has substantially moved the field forward, but studying lysosomal dysfunction in patients remains challenging. Here, we report the development of the ‘tagless LysoIP’ method, designed to enable the rapid enrichment of lysosomes, via immunoprecipitation, using the endogenous integral lysosomal membrane protein TMEM192, directly from clinical samples and human cell lines (e.g., induced pluripotent stem cell–derived neurons). Isolated lysosomes were intact and suitable for subsequent multimodal omics analyses. To validate our approach, we applied the tagless LysoIP to enrich lysosomes from peripheral blood mononuclear cells derived from fresh blood of healthy donors and patients with CLN3 disease, an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative LSD. Metabolic profiling of isolated lysosomes revealed massive accumulation of glycerophosphodiesters (GPDs) in patients’ lysosomes. Interestingly, a patient with a milder phenotype and genotype displayed lower accumulation of lysosomal GPDs, consistent with their potential role as disease biomarkers. Altogether, the tagless LysoIP provides a framework to study native lysosomes from patient samples, identify disease biomarkers, and discover human-relevant disease mechanisms.

Lysosomes are implicated in a wide spectrum of human diseases including monogenic lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs), age-associated neurodegeneration and cancer. Profiling lysosomal content using tag-based lysosomal immunoprecipitation (LysoTagIP) in cell and animal models allowed major discoveries in the field, however studying lysosomal dysfunction in human patients remains challenging. Here, we report the development of the “tagless LysoIP method” to enable rapid enrichment of lysosomes, via immunoprecipitation, using the endogenous integral lysosomal membrane protein TMEM192, directly from clinical samples and human cell lines (e.g. induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSCs) derived neurons). Isolated lysosomes are intact and suitable for subsequent multimodal omics analyses. To validate our approach, we employed the tagless LysoIP to enrich lysosomes from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from fresh blood from patients with CLN3 disease, a neurodegenerative LSD. Metabolic profiling of isolated lysosomes showed massive accumulation of glycerophosphodiesters (GPDs) in patients’ lysosomes. Interestingly, a patient with a milder phenotype and genotype displayed lower accumulation of lysosomal GPDs, consistent with their potential role as disease biomarkers. Altogether, the tagless LysoIP provides a framework to study native lysosomes from patient samples, identify novel biomarkers and discover human-relevant disease mechanisms.

Summary: We report that biallelic LRRK2 loss-of-function (LoF) causes a Mendelian form of interstitial lung disease characterized by alveolar epithelial cell dysfunction and lung fibrosis in two brothers with a homozygous nonsense variant. Integrated clinical, imaging, histopathological, and biomarker analyses showed absent LRRK2 protein, reduced Rab10 phosphorylation, impaired alveolar type 2 cell function, and disrupted surfactant homeostasis. Consistent with a recessive genetic disorder, heterozygous LoF carriers have not been reported to have a lung phenotype. Additional biallelic LRRK2 LoF cases were identified in ILD cohorts, linking LRRK2 LoF to lung disease, in contrast to heterozygous activating missense variants that cause Parkinson’s disease (PD).