RESUMEN
In this study, we have assessed the expression and splicing status of genes involved in the pathogenesis or affecting the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the postmortem inferior temporal cortex samples obtained from 60 subjects with varying degree of AD-related neurofibrillary pathology. These subjects were grouped based on neurofibrillary pathology into 3 groups: Braak stages 0-II, Braak stages III-IV, and Braak stages V-VI. We also examined the right frontal cortical biopsies obtained during life from 22 patients with idiopathic shunt-responding normal pressure hydrocephalus, a disease that displays similar pathologic alterations as seen in AD. These 22 patients were categorized according to dichotomized amyloid-ß positive or negative pathology in the biopsies. We observed that the expression of FRMD4A significantly decreased, and the expression of MS4A6A significantly increased in relation to increasing AD-related neurofibrillary pathology. Moreover, the expression of 2 exons in both CLU and TREM2 significantly increased with increase in AD-related neurofibrillary pathology. However, a similar trend toward increased expression in CLU and TREM2 was observed with most of the studied exons, suggesting a global change in the expression rather than altered splicing. Correlation of gene expression with well-established AD-related factors, such as α-, ß-, and γ-secretase activities, brain amyloid-ß42 levels, and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, revealed a positive correlation between ß-secretase activity and the expression of TREM2 and BIN1. In expression quantitative trait loci analysis, we did not detect significant effects of the risk alleles on gene expression or splicing. Analysis of the normal pressure hydrocephalus biopsies revealed no differences in the expression or splicing profiles of the studied genes between amyloid-ß positive and negative patients. Using the protein-protein interaction-based in vitro pathway analysis tools, we found that downregulation of FRMD4A associated with increased APP-ß-secretase interaction, increased amyloid-ß40 secretion, and altered phosphorylation of tau. Taken together, our results suggest that the expression of FRMD4A, MS4A6A, CLU, and TREM2 is altered in relation to increasing AD-related neurofibrillary pathology, and that FRMD4A may play a role in amyloidogenic and tau-related pathways in AD. Therefore, investigation of gene expression changes in the brain and effects of the identified genes on disease-associated pathways in vitro may provide mechanistic insights on how alterations in these genes may contribute to AD pathogenesis.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de Alzheimer/genética , Encéfalo/metabolismo , Perfilación de la Expresión Génica , Predisposición Genética a la Enfermedad/genética , Transcriptoma/genética , Proteínas Adaptadoras Transductoras de Señales/genética , Proteínas Adaptadoras Transductoras de Señales/metabolismo , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/metabolismo , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/patología , Secretasas de la Proteína Precursora del Amiloide/metabolismo , Péptidos beta-Amiloides/genética , Péptidos beta-Amiloides/metabolismo , Encéfalo/patología , Femenino , Expresión Génica , Humanos , Técnicas In Vitro , Masculino , Glicoproteínas de Membrana/genética , Glicoproteínas de Membrana/metabolismo , Proteínas de la Membrana/genética , Proteínas de la Membrana/metabolismo , Neurofibrillas/patología , Proteínas Nucleares/genética , Proteínas Nucleares/metabolismo , Fosforilación , Receptores Inmunológicos/genética , Receptores Inmunológicos/metabolismo , Riesgo , Proteínas Supresoras de Tumor/genética , Proteínas Supresoras de Tumor/metabolismo , Proteínas tau/genética , Proteínas tau/metabolismoRESUMEN
Abnormal phosphorylation and aggregation of the microtubule-associated protein Tau are hallmarks of various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer disease. Molecular mechanisms that regulate Tau phosphorylation are complex and currently incompletely understood. We have developed a novel live cell reporter system based on protein-fragment complementation assay to study dynamic changes in Tau phosphorylation status. In this assay, fusion proteins of Tau and Pin1 (peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans-isomerase 1) carrying complementary fragments of a luciferase protein serve as a sensor of altered protein-protein interaction between Tau and Pin1, a critical regulator of Tau dephosphorylation at several disease-associated proline-directed phosphorylation sites. Using this system, we identified several structurally distinct GABA(A) receptor modulators as novel regulators of Tau phosphorylation in a chemical library screen. GABA(A) receptor activation promoted specific phosphorylation of Tau at the AT8 epitope (Ser-199/Ser-202/Thr-205) in cultures of mature cortical neurons. Increased Tau phosphorylation by GABA(A) receptor activity was associated with reduced Tau binding to protein phosphatase 2A and was dependent on Cdk5 but not GSK3ß kinase activity.