- Bengoa-Vergniory, Nora;
- Faggiani, Emilie;
- Ramos-Gonzalez, Paula;
- Kirkiz, Ecem;
- Connor-Robson, Natalie;
- Brown, Liam V;
- Siddique, Ibrar;
- Li, Zizheng;
- Vingill, Siv;
- Cioroch, Milena;
- Cavaliere, Fabio;
- Threlfell, Sarah;
- Roberts, Bradley;
- Schrader, Thomas;
- Klärner, Frank-Gerrit;
- Cragg, Stephanie;
- Dehay, Benjamin;
- Bitan, Gal;
- Matute, Carlos;
- Bezard, Erwan;
- Wade-Martins, Richard
Parkinson's disease (PD) affects millions of patients worldwide and is characterized by alpha-synuclein aggregation in dopamine neurons. Molecular tweezers have shown high potential as anti-aggregation agents targeting positively charged residues of proteins undergoing amyloidogenic processes. Here we report that the molecular tweezer CLR01 decreased aggregation and toxicity in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived dopaminergic cultures treated with PD brain protein extracts. In microfluidic devices CLR01 reduced alpha-synuclein aggregation in cell somas when axonal terminals were exposed to alpha-synuclein oligomers. We then tested CLR01 in vivo in a humanized alpha-synuclein overexpressing mouse model; mice treated at 12 months of age when motor defects are mild exhibited an improvement in motor defects and a decreased oligomeric alpha-synuclein burden. Finally, CLR01 reduced alpha-synuclein-associated pathology in mice injected with alpha-synuclein aggregates into the striatum or substantia nigra. Taken together, these results highlight CLR01 as a disease-modifying therapy for PD and support further clinical investigation.