Human Peripheral Blood Macrophages As a Model for Studying Glucocerebrosidase Dysfunction

Abstract

Decreased activity of glucocerebrosidase (GCase) as a result of mutations in the GBA gene causes Gaucher’s disease (GD), which belongs to the group of lysosomal storage disorders. The risk of Parkinson’s disease in homo- and heterozygous carriers of GBA mutations is elevated seven- to eightfold. Screening of novel compounds designed to enhance GCase activity requires development of in vitro models based on primary cell cultures obtained from patients carrying GBA mutations. In this work, the efficiency of different methods used to culture peripheral blood macrophages of GD patients and control subjects was compared, and GCase activity and lysosphingolipid concentrations were evaluated using tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC‒MS/MS) in dried cell spots. For the first time, the efficacy of restoring the activity of mutant GCase has been assessed in primary macrophages of GD patients cultured in the presence of pharmacological GCase chaperones isofagomine and ambroxol. Based on these results, a convenient method of in vitro screening of candidate pharmacological agents designed to increase GCase activity can be proposed.