Trehalose Consumption Ameliorates Pathogenesis in an Inducible Mouse Model of the Fragile X-associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome

Trehalose is a naturally occurring sugar found in various food and pharmaceutical preparations with the ability to enhance cellular proteostasis and reduce formation of toxic intracellular protein aggregates, making it a promising therapeutic candidate for various neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we explored the effectiveness of nutritional trehalose supplementation in ameliorating symptoms in a mouse model of Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS), an incurable late onset manifestation of moderately expanded trinucleotide CGG repeat expansion mutations in the 5 untranslated region of the fragile X messenger ribonucleoprotein 1 gene (fmr1). An inducible mouse model of FXTAS expressing 90 CGG repeats in the brain had been previously developed, which faithfully captures hallmarks of the disorder, the formation of intracellular inclusions and the disturbance of motor function. Taking advantage of the inducible nature of the model, we investigated the therapeutic potential of orally administered trehalose under two regimens, modelling disease prevention and disease treatment. Trehaloses effectiveness in combating protein aggregation is frequently attributed to its ability to induce autophagy. Accordingly, trehalose supplementation under the prevention regimen ameliorated the formation of intranuclear inclusions and improved the motor deficiencies resulting from the induced expression of 90 CGG repeats, but it failed to reverse the existing nuclear pathology as a treatment strategy. Given the favorable safety profile of trehalose, it is promising to further explore the potential of this agent for early stage FXTAS.