Alpha 1-Antichymotrypsin, an Inflammatory Protein Overexpressed in the Brains of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease, Induces Tau Hyperphosphorylation through c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase Activation.

The association of inflammatory proteins with neuritic plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients has led to the hypothesis that inflammation plays a pivotal role in the development of pathology in AD. Earlier studies have shown that alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) enhances amyloid beta fibrillization and accelerated plaque formation in APP transgenic mice. Later studies from our laboratory have shown that purified ACT induces tau hyperphosphorylation and degeneration in neurons. In order to understand the mechanisms by which inflammatory proteins enhance tau hyperphosphorylation, we injected interleukin-1 ß (IL-1 ß ) intracerebroventricularly into mice expressing human ACT, human tau, or both transgenes. It was found that the hyperphosphorylation of tau in ACT and ACT/htau mice after IL-1 ß injection correlated with increased phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). We verified the involvement of JNK in ACT-induced tau phosphorylation by utilizing JNK inhibitors in cultured primary neurons treated with ACT, and we found that the inhibitor showed complete prevention of ACT-induced tau phosphorylation. These results indicate that JNK is one of the major kinases involved in the ACT-mediated tau hyperphosphorylation and suggest that inhibitors of this kinase may protect against inflammation-induced tau hyperphosphorylation and neurodegeneration associated with AD.

GM-CSF upregulated in rheumatoid arthritis reverses cognitive impairment and amyloidosis in Alzheimer mice.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a negative risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). While it has been commonly assumed that RA patients' usage of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) helped prevent onset and progression of AD, NSAID clinical trials have proven unsuccessful in AD patients. To determine whether intrinsic factors within RA pathogenesis itself may underlie RA's protective effect, we investigated the activity of colony-stimulating factors, upregulated in RA, on the pathology and behavior of transgenic AD mice. 5 microg bolus injections of macrophage, granulocyte, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factors (M-CSF, G-CSF, or GM-CSF) were administered unilaterally into the hippocampus of aged cognitively-impaired AD mice and the resulting amyloid load reductions determined one week later, using the artificial cerebrospinal fluid-injected contralateral sides as controls. G-CSF and more significantly, GM-CSF reduced amyloidosis throughout the treated brain hemisphere one week following bolus administration to AD mice. 20 daily subcutaneous injections of 5 microg of GM-CSF (the most amyloid-reducing CSF in the bolus experiment) were administered to balanced cohorts of AD mice after assessment in a battery of cognitive tests. Reductions in amyloid load and improvements in cognitive function were assessed. Subcutaneous GM-CSF administration significantly reduced brain amyloidosis and completely reversed the cognitive impairment, while increasing hippocampal synaptic area and microglial density. These findings, along with two decades of accrued safety data using Leukine, recombinant human GMCSF, in elderly leukopenic patients, suggest that Leukine should be tested as a treatment to reverse cerebral amyloid pathology and cognitive impairment in AD.

Alzheimer Abeta peptide induces chromosome mis-segregation and aneuploidy, including trisomy 21: requirement for tau and APP.

Both sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients exhibit increased chromosome aneuploidy, particularly trisomy 21, in neurons and other cells. Significantly, trisomy 21/Down syndrome patients develop early onset AD pathology. We investigated the mechanism underlying mosaic chromosome aneuploidy in AD and report that FAD mutations in the Alzheimer Amyloid Precursor Protein gene, APP, induce chromosome mis-segregation and aneuploidy in transgenic mice and in transfected cells. Furthermore, adding synthetic Abeta peptide, the pathogenic product of APP, to cultured cells causes rapid and robust chromosome mis-segregation leading to aneuploid, including trisomy 21, daughters, which is prevented by LiCl addition or Ca(2+) chelation and is replicated in tau KO cells, implicating GSK-3beta, calpain, and Tau-dependent microtubule transport in the aneugenic activity of Abeta. Furthermore, APP KO cells are resistant to the aneugenic activity of Abeta, as they have been shown previously to be resistant to Abeta-induced tau phosphorylation and cell toxicity. These results indicate that Abeta-induced microtubule dysfunction leads to aneuploid neurons and may thereby contribute to the pathogenesis of AD.

A novel technique for simultaneous bilateral brain infusions in a mouse model of neurodegenerative disease.

A common problem faced by researchers using transgenic models to study disease is the phenotypic variability that exists within a group or colony of animals. Significant pathological analyses thus often require large numbers of mice to perform. Many lines of transgenic mice harboring the gene for human amyloid precursor protein (APP) with different mutations causing familial Alzheimer's disease have been developed over the past decade to study plaque deposition and other aspects of AD. However, variations in size, density, plaque number, and total amyloid load between animals of the same age and genotype have been identified by our lab and others. Therefore, to study the effects of compounds on amyloid pathology, it was imperative to develop a technique that would allow each brain hemisphere to receive different infusions. We have developed catheters that facilitate simultaneous bilateral infusion in mouse brains, thereby using the contralateral hemisphere of the same animal as an internal control while studying, for example, the effect of compounds on amyloid plaques, a pathological hallmark of the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Several molecules have been identified within the plaques including the major component, the Abeta peptide, and two inflammation-related proteins, apolipoprotein E (apoE) and the serine protease inhibitor alpha-1-antichymotrypsin (ACT). In these experiments, ACT was infused unilaterally over a period of 28 days into the parenchyma and lateral ventricles of PS/APP mice and observed to associate with amyloid plaques, with minimal mortality. Utilizing the ACT/Abeta interaction, details of this procedure are discussed here in detail.