Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) modification of the androgen receptor attenuates polyglutamine-mediated aggregation.

The neurodegenerative disorder spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy or Kennedy disease is caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion within the androgen receptor (AR) gene. The resulting expanded polyglutamine tract in the N-terminal region of the receptor renders AR prone to ligand-dependent misfolding and formation of oligomers and aggregates that are linked to neuronal toxicity. How AR misfolding is influenced by post-translational modifications, however, is poorly understood. AR is a target of SUMOylation, and this modification inhibits AR activity in a promoter context-dependent manner. SUMOylation is up-regulated in response to multiple forms of cellular stress and may therefore play an important cytoprotective role. Consistent with this view, we find that gratuitous enhancement of overall SUMOylation significantly reduced the formation of polyglutamine-expanded AR aggregates without affecting the levels of the receptor. Remarkably, this effect requires SUMOylation of AR itself because it depends on intact AR SUMOylation sites. Functional analyses, however, indicate that the protective effects of enhanced AR SUMOylation are not due to alterations in AR transcriptional activity because a branched protein structure in the appropriate context of the N-terminal region of AR is necessary to antagonize aggregation but not for inhibiting AR transactivation. Remarkably, small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) attenuates AR aggregation through a unique mechanism that does not depend on critical features essential for its interaction with canonical SUMO binding motifs. Our findings therefore reveal a novel function of SUMOylation and suggest that approaches that enhance AR SUMOylation may be of clinical use in polyglutamine expansion diseases.