RESUMO
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) share many clinical, pathological, and genetic features, but a detailed understanding of their associated transcriptional alterations across vulnerable cortical cell types is lacking. Here, we report a high-resolution, comparative single-cell molecular atlas of the human primary motor and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices and their transcriptional alterations in sporadic and familial ALS and FTLD. By integrating transcriptional and genetic information, we identify known and previously unidentified vulnerable populations in cortical layer 5 and show that ALS- and FTLD-implicated motor and spindle neurons possess a virtually indistinguishable molecular identity. We implicate potential disease mechanisms affecting these cell types as well as non-neuronal drivers of pathogenesis. Finally, we show that neuron loss in cortical layer 5 tracks more closely with transcriptional identity rather than cellular morphology and extends beyond previously reported vulnerable cell types.
Assuntos
Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica , Degeneração Lobar Frontotemporal , Córtex Pré-Frontal , Animais , Humanos , Camundongos , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/genética , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/metabolismo , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/patologia , Demência Frontotemporal/genética , Degeneração Lobar Frontotemporal/genética , Degeneração Lobar Frontotemporal/metabolismo , Degeneração Lobar Frontotemporal/patologia , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Neurônios/metabolismo , Córtex Pré-Frontal/metabolismo , Córtex Pré-Frontal/patologia , Análise da Expressão Gênica de Célula ÚnicaRESUMO
Recent Aß-immunotherapy trials have yielded the first clear evidence that removing aggregated Aß from the brains of symptomatic patients can slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The clinical benefit achieved in these trials has been modest, however, highlighting the need for both a deeper understanding of disease mechanisms and the importance of intervening early in the pathogenic cascade. An immunoprevention strategy for Alzheimer's disease is required that will integrate the findings from clinical trials with mechanistic insights from preclinical disease models to select promising antibodies, optimize the timing of intervention, identify early biomarkers, and mitigate potential side effects.
Assuntos
Doença de Alzheimer , Humanos , Doença de Alzheimer/tratamento farmacológico , Doença de Alzheimer/imunologia , Doença de Alzheimer/prevenção & controle , Doença de Alzheimer/terapia , Peptídeos beta-Amiloides , Anticorpos/uso terapêutico , Imunoterapia , AnimaisRESUMO
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) because of MAPT mutation causes pathological accumulation of tau and glutamatergic cortical neuronal death by unknown mechanisms. We used human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cerebral organoids expressing tau-V337M and isogenic corrected controls to discover early alterations because of the mutation that precede neurodegeneration. At 2 months, mutant organoids show upregulated expression of MAPT, glutamatergic signaling pathways, and regulators, including the RNA-binding protein ELAVL4, and increased stress granules. Over the following 4 months, mutant organoids accumulate splicing changes, disruption of autophagy function, and build-up of tau and P-tau-S396. By 6 months, tau-V337M organoids show specific loss of glutamatergic neurons as seen in individuals with FTD. Mutant neurons are susceptible to glutamate toxicity, which can be rescued pharmacologically by the PIKFYVE kinase inhibitor apilimod. Our results demonstrate a sequence of events that precede neurodegeneration, revealing molecular pathways associated with glutamate signaling as potential targets for therapeutic intervention in FTD.
Assuntos
Cérebro/patologia , Proteína Semelhante a ELAV 4/genética , Ácido Glutâmico/metabolismo , Mutação/genética , Neurônios/patologia , Organoides/metabolismo , Splicing de RNA/genética , Proteínas tau/genética , Autofagia/efeitos dos fármacos , Autofagia/genética , Biomarcadores/metabolismo , Padronização Corporal/efeitos dos fármacos , Padronização Corporal/genética , Morte Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Linhagem Celular , Humanos , Hidrazonas/farmacologia , Lisossomos/efeitos dos fármacos , Lisossomos/metabolismo , Morfolinas/farmacologia , Neurônios/efeitos dos fármacos , Neurônios/metabolismo , Organoides/efeitos dos fármacos , Organoides/ultraestrutura , Fosforilação/efeitos dos fármacos , Pirimidinas/farmacologia , Splicing de RNA/efeitos dos fármacos , Transdução de Sinais/efeitos dos fármacos , Grânulos de Estresse/efeitos dos fármacos , Grânulos de Estresse/metabolismo , Sinapses/metabolismo , Regulação para Cima/efeitos dos fármacos , Regulação para Cima/genéticaRESUMO
Class 2 CRISPR-Cas systems endow microbes with diverse mechanisms for adaptive immunity. Here, we analyzed prokaryotic genome and metagenome sequences to identify an uncharacterized family of RNA-guided, RNA-targeting CRISPR systems that we classify as type VI-D. Biochemical characterization and protein engineering of seven distinct orthologs generated a ribonuclease effector derived from Ruminococcus flavefaciens XPD3002 (CasRx) with robust activity in human cells. CasRx-mediated knockdown exhibits high efficiency and specificity relative to RNA interference across diverse endogenous transcripts. As one of the most compact single-effector Cas enzymes, CasRx can also be flexibly packaged into adeno-associated virus. We target virally encoded, catalytically inactive CasRx to cis elements of pre-mRNA to manipulate alternative splicing, alleviating dysregulated tau isoform ratios in a neuronal model of frontotemporal dementia. Our results present CasRx as a programmable RNA-binding module for efficient targeting of cellular RNA, enabling a general platform for transcriptome engineering and future therapeutic development.
Assuntos
Sistemas CRISPR-Cas , Biologia Computacional/métodos , Engenharia Genética/métodos , Engenharia de Proteínas/métodos , RNA/análise , Processamento Alternativo , Animais , Proteínas de Bactérias/metabolismo , Diferenciação Celular , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Células HEK293 , Humanos , Células-Tronco Pluripotentes Induzidas/citologia , Lentivirus/genética , Camundongos , Interferência de RNA , RNA Guia de Cinetoplastídeos/genética , Ruminococcus , Análise de Sequência de RNA , TranscriptomaRESUMO
Reversible phase separation underpins the role of FUS in ribonucleoprotein granules and other membrane-free organelles and is, in part, driven by the intrinsically disordered low-complexity (LC) domain of FUS. Here, we report that cooperative cation-π interactions between tyrosines in the LC domain and arginines in structured C-terminal domains also contribute to phase separation. These interactions are modulated by post-translational arginine methylation, wherein arginine hypomethylation strongly promotes phase separation and gelation. Indeed, significant hypomethylation, which occurs in FUS-associated frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), induces FUS condensation into stable intermolecular ß-sheet-rich hydrogels that disrupt RNP granule function and impair new protein synthesis in neuron terminals. We show that transportin acts as a physiological molecular chaperone of FUS in neuron terminals, reducing phase separation and gelation of methylated and hypomethylated FUS and rescuing protein synthesis. These results demonstrate how FUS condensation is physiologically regulated and how perturbations in these mechanisms can lead to disease.
Assuntos
Arginina/química , Chaperonas Moleculares/química , Proteína FUS de Ligação a RNA/química , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/metabolismo , Animais , Cátions , Metilação de DNA , Demência Frontotemporal/metabolismo , Degeneração Lobar Frontotemporal/metabolismo , Humanos , Microscopia de Força Atômica , Microscopia de Fluorescência , Ligação Proteica , Domínios Proteicos , Processamento de Proteína Pós-Traducional , Estrutura Secundária de Proteína , Proteína FUS de Ligação a RNA/metabolismo , Tirosina/química , Xenopus laevisRESUMO
Over 40% of the human genome is composed of retrotransposons, DNA species that hold the potential to replicate via an RNA intermediate and are evolutionarily related to retroviruses. Retrotransposons are most studied for their ability to jump within a genome, which can cause DNA damage and novel insertional mutations. Retrotransposon-encoded products, including viral-like proteins, double-stranded RNAs, and extrachromosomal circular DNAs, can also be potent activators of the innate immune system. A growing body of evidence suggests that retrotransposons are activated in age-related neurodegenerative disorders and that such activation causally contributes to neurotoxicity. Here we provide an overview of retrotransposon biology and outline evidence of retrotransposon activation in age-related neurodegenerative disorders, with an emphasis on those involving TAR-DNA binding protein-43 (TDP-43) and tau. Studies to date provide the basis for ongoing clinical trials and hold promise for innovative strategies to ameliorate the adverse effects of retrotransposon dysregulation in neurodegenerative disorders.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Retrovirus Endógenos , Doenças Neurodegenerativas , Retroelementos , Humanos , Doenças Neurodegenerativas/genética , Retroelementos/genética , Retrovirus Endógenos/genética , Animais , Envelhecimento/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/metabolismo , Proteínas tau/genética , Proteínas tau/metabolismoRESUMO
Eukaryotic translation is tightly regulated to ensure that protein production occurs at the right time and place. Recent studies on abnormal repeat proteins, especially in age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases caused by nucleotide repeat expansion, have highlighted or identified two forms of unconventional translation initiation: usage of AUG-like sites (near cognates) or repeat-associated non-AUG (RAN) translation. We discuss how repeat proteins may differ due to not just unconventional initiation, but also ribosomal frameshifting and/or imperfect repeat DNA replication, expansion, and repair, and we highlight how research on translation of repeats may uncover insights into the biology of translation and its contribution to disease.
Assuntos
Doenças Neurodegenerativas/genética , Biossíntese de Proteínas , Animais , Códon de Iniciação , Mudança da Fase de Leitura do Gene Ribossômico , Humanos , Doenças Neurodegenerativas/metabolismo , Fases de Leitura Aberta , Sequências Reguladoras de Ácido Ribonucleico , Expansão das Repetições de TrinucleotídeosRESUMO
As many countries experience population aging, patients with cancer are becoming older and have more preexisting comorbidities, which include prevalent, age-related, chronic conditions such as dementia. People living with dementia (PLWD) are vulnerable to health disparities, and dementia has high potential to complicate and adversely affect care and outcomes across the cancer trajectory. This report offers an overview of dementia and its prevalence among patients with cancer and a summary of the research literature examining cancer care for PLWD. The reviewed research indicates that PLWD are more likely to have cancer diagnosed at an advanced stage, receive no or less extensive cancer treatment, and have poorer survival after a cancer diagnosis. These cancer disparities do not necessarily signify inappropriately later diagnosis or lower treatment of people with dementia as a group, and they are arguably less feasible and appropriate targets for care optimization. The reviewed research indicates that PLWD also have an increased risk of cancer-related emergency presentations, lower quality processes of cancer-related decision making, accessibility-related barriers to cancer investigations and treatment, higher experienced treatment burden and higher caregiver burden for families, and undertreated cancer-related pain. The authors propose that optimal cancer care for PLWD should focus on proactively minimizing these risk areas and thus must be highly person-centered, with holistic decision making, individualized reasonable adjustments to practice, and strong inclusion and support of family carers. Comprehensive recommendations are made for clinical practice and future research to help clinicians and providers deliver best and equitable cancer care for PLWD and their families.
Assuntos
Demência , Neoplasias , Humanos , Demência/complicações , Demência/diagnóstico , Demência/terapia , Cuidadores , Neoplasias/complicações , Neoplasias/terapiaRESUMO
The history of Alzheimer's disease (AD) started in 1907, but we needed to wait until the end of the century to identify the components of pathological hallmarks and genetic subtypes and to formulate the first pathogenic hypothesis. Thanks to biomarkers and new technologies, the concept of AD then rapidly changed from a static view of an amnestic dementia of the presenium to a biological entity that could be clinically manifested as normal cognition or dementia of different types. What is clearly emerging from studies is that AD is heterogeneous in each aspect, such as amyloid composition, tau distribution, relation between amyloid and tau, clinical symptoms, and genetic background, and thus it is probably impossible to explain AD with a single pathological process. The scientific approach to AD suffers from chronological mismatches between clinical, pathological, and technological data, causing difficulty in conceiving diagnostic gold standards and in creating models for drug discovery and screening. A recent mathematical computer-based approach offers the opportunity to study AD in real life and to provide a new point of view and the final missing pieces of the AD puzzle.
Assuntos
Doença de Alzheimer/diagnóstico , Peptídeos beta-Amiloides/metabolismo , Encéfalo/patologia , Fragmentos de Peptídeos/metabolismo , Placa Amiloide/diagnóstico , Doença de Alzheimer/metabolismo , Doença de Alzheimer/patologia , Biomarcadores/metabolismo , Encéfalo/metabolismo , Humanos , Placa Amiloide/metabolismo , Placa Amiloide/patologiaRESUMO
Transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) tools have been applied to conduct proteome-wide association studies (PWASs) by integrating proteomics data with genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data. The genetic effects of PWAS-identified significant genes are potentially mediated through genetically regulated protein abundance, thus informing the underlying disease mechanisms better than GWAS loci. However, existing TWAS/PWAS tools are limited by considering only one statistical model. We propose an omnibus PWAS pipeline to account for multiple statistical models and demonstrate improved performance by simulation and application studies of Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia. We employ the Aggregated Cauchy Association Test to derive omnibus PWAS (PWAS-O) p values from PWAS p values obtained by three existing tools assuming complementary statistical models-TIGAR, PrediXcan, and FUSION. Our simulation studies demonstrated improved power, with well-calibrated type I error, for PWAS-O over all three individual tools. We applied PWAS-O to studying AD dementia with reference proteomic data profiled from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of postmortem brains from individuals of European ancestry. We identified 43 risk genes, including 5 not identified by previous studies, which are interconnected through a protein-protein interaction network that includes the well-known AD risk genes TOMM40, APOC1, and APOC2. We also validated causal genetic effects mediated through the proteome for 27 (63%) PWAS-O risk genes, providing insights into the underlying biological mechanisms of AD dementia and highlighting promising targets for therapeutic development. PWAS-O can be easily applied to studying other complex diseases.
RESUMO
Over four decades of research support the link between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and somatostatin (somatotropin-releasing inhibitory factor, SRIF). SRIF and SRIF-expressing neurons play an essential role in brain function, modulating hippocampal activity and memory formation. Loss of SRIF and SRIF-expressing neurons in the brain rests at the center of a series of interdependent pathological events driven by amyloid-beta peptide (Aß), culminating in cognitive decline and dementia. The connection between the SRIF and AD further extends to the neuropsychiatric symptoms, seizure activity, and inflammation. Whereas, preclinical AD investigations show SRIF or SRIF-receptor agonist administration capable of enhancing cognition. SRIF receptor subtype-4 activation in particular presents unique attributes, with the potential to mitigate learning and memory decline, reduce comorbid symptoms, and enhance enzymatic degradation of Aß in the brain. Here we review the links between SRIF and AD, along with the therapeutic implications. Significance Statement Somatostatin and somatostatin-expressing neurons in the brain are extensively involved in cognition. Loss of somatostatin and somatostatin-expressing neurons in Alzheimer's disease rests at the center of a series of interdependent pathological events contributing to cognitive decline and dementia. Targeting somatostatin mediated processes has significant therapeutic potential for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
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α-Synuclein (α-Syn) aggregation in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites has emerged as a key pathogenetic feature in Parkinson's disease (PD), Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Multiple System Atrophy. Various factors, including post-translational modifications (PTMs), can influence the propensity of α-Syn to misfold and aggregate. PTMs are biochemical modifications of a protein that occur during or after translation and are typically mediated by enzymes. PTMs modulate several characteristics of proteins including their structure, activity, localization, and stability. α-Syn undergoes various post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation, ubiquitination, SUMOylation, acetylation, glycation, O-GlcNAcylation, nitration, oxidation, polyamination, arginylation, and truncation. Different PTMs of a protein can physically interact with one another or work together to influence a particular physiological or pathological feature in a process known as PTMs crosstalk. The development of detection techniques for the co-occurrence of PTMs in recent years has uncovered previously unappreciated mechanisms of their crosstalk. This has led to the emergence of evidence supporting an association between α-Syn PTMs crosstalk and synucleinopathies. In this review, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of α-Syn PTMs, their impact on misfolding and pathogenicity, the pharmacological means of targeting them, and their potential as biomarkers of disease. We also highlight the importance of the crosstalk between these PTMs in α-Syn function and aggregation. Insight into these PTMS and the complexities of their crosstalk can improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of synucleinopathies and identify novel targets of therapeutic potential. Significance Statement α-Synuclein as a key pathogenic protein in Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies, making it a leading therapeutic target for disease modification. Multiple post-translational modifications occur at various sites in α-Synuclein and alter its biophysical and pathological properties, some interacting with one another to add to the complexity of the pathogenicity of this protein. This review details these modifications, their implications in disease and potential therapeutic opportunities.
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RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are critical players in RNA expression and metabolism, thus, the proper regulation of this class of proteins is critical for cellular health. Regulation of RBPs often occurs through post-translational modifications (PTMs), which allow the cell to quickly and efficiently respond to cellular and environmental stimuli. PTMs have recently emerged as important regulators of RBPs implicated in neurodegenerative disorders, in particular amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Here, we summarize how disease-associated PTMs influence the biophysical properties, molecular interactions, subcellular localization, and function of ALS/FTD-linked RBPs, such as FUS and TDP-43. We will discuss how PTMs are believed to play pathological, protective, or ambiguous roles in these neurodegenerative disorders.
Assuntos
Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica , Demência Frontotemporal , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/genética , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/metabolismo , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/patologia , Demência Frontotemporal/genética , Demência Frontotemporal/metabolismo , Humanos , Processamento de Proteína Pós-Traducional , Proteína FUS de Ligação a RNA/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a RNA/metabolismoRESUMO
When the US Food and Drug Administration used the accelerated approval process to authorize the use of the antiamyloid drug aducanumab to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD), many people hoped this signaled a new era of disease-modifying treatment. But 2 years later, aducanumab's failure to launch provides a cautionary tale about the complexities of dementia and the need for a thorough and transparent review of the role that regulatory agencies and various stakeholders play in approving AD drugs. We highlight the events leading to aducanumab's controversial approval and discuss some of the key lessons learned from the drug's failure to deliver the hoped-for benefits. These lessons include the inherent limitations of antiamyloid strategies for a complex disease in which amyloid is only one of several pathological processes, the need for clinical trials that better reflect the diversity of communities affected by AD, the potential pitfalls of futility analyses in clinical trials, the need for greater transparency and other modifications to the approval process, and the dementia field's unreadiness to move from the highly controlled environment of clinical trials to the widespread and chronic use of resource-intensive, disease-modifying drugs in real-world treatment scenarios. People with dementia desperately need effective therapies. We hope that the aducanumab story will inspire changes to the approval process-changes that restore public trust and improve future efforts to deliver disease-modifying therapies to the clinic.
Assuntos
Doença de Alzheimer , Estados Unidos , Humanos , Doença de Alzheimer/tratamento farmacológico , Proteínas Amiloidogênicas , Anticorpos Monoclonais Humanizados/uso terapêutico , United States Food and Drug Administration , Peptídeos beta-AmiloidesRESUMO
Time-of-day significantly influences the severity and incidence of stroke. Evidence has emerged not only for circadian governance over stroke risk factors, but also for important determinants of clinical outcome. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the interplay between chronobiology and cerebrovascular disease. We discuss circadian regulation of pathophysiological mechanisms underlying stroke onset or tolerance as well as in vascular dementia. This includes cell death mechanisms, metabolism, mitochondrial function, and inflammation/immunity. Furthermore, we present clinical evidence supporting the link between disrupted circadian rhythms and increased susceptibility to stroke and dementia. We propose that circadian regulation of biochemical and physiological pathways in the brain increase susceptibility to damage after stroke in sleep and attenuate treatment effectiveness during the active phase. This review underscores the importance of considering circadian biology for understanding the pathology and treatment choice for stroke and vascular dementia and speculates that considering a patient's chronotype may be an important factor in developing precision treatment following stroke.
Assuntos
Relógios Circadianos , Demência Vascular , Acidente Vascular Cerebral , Humanos , Ritmo Circadiano , Sono/fisiologia , Fatores de Risco , Acidente Vascular Cerebral/epidemiologia , Acidente Vascular Cerebral/terapia , Relógios Circadianos/fisiologiaRESUMO
hnRNPA2, a component of RNA-processing membraneless organelles, forms inclusions when mutated in a syndrome characterized by the degeneration of neurons (bearing features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS] and frontotemporal dementia), muscle, and bone. Here we provide a unified structural view of hnRNPA2 self-assembly, aggregation, and interaction and the distinct effects of small chemical changes-disease mutations and arginine methylation-on these assemblies. The hnRNPA2 low-complexity (LC) domain is compact and intrinsically disordered as a monomer, retaining predominant disorder in a liquid-liquid phase-separated form. Disease mutations D290V and P298L induce aggregation by enhancing and extending, respectively, the aggregation-prone region. Co-aggregating in disease inclusions, hnRNPA2 LC directly interacts with and induces phase separation of TDP-43. Conversely, arginine methylation reduces hnRNPA2 phase separation, disrupting arginine-mediated contacts. These results highlight the mechanistic role of specific LC domain interactions and modifications conserved across many hnRNP family members but altered by aggregation-causing pathological mutations.
Assuntos
Ribonucleoproteínas Nucleares Heterogêneas Grupo A-B/química , Ribonucleoproteínas Nucleares Heterogêneas Grupo A-B/metabolismo , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/genética , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/metabolismo , Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica/patologia , Arginina/genética , Arginina/metabolismo , Demência Frontotemporal/genética , Demência Frontotemporal/metabolismo , Demência Frontotemporal/patologia , Ribonucleoproteínas Nucleares Heterogêneas Grupo A-B/genética , Humanos , Corpos de Inclusão/genética , Corpos de Inclusão/metabolismo , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Metilação , Mutação , Neurônios/metabolismo , Neurônios/patologia , Processamento de Proteína Pós-TraducionalRESUMO
Myocardial infarction is associated with increased risk for vascular dementia. In both myocardial infarction and vascular dementia, there is evidence that elevated inflammatory biomarkers are associated with worsened clinical outcomes. Myocardial infarction leads to a systemic inflammatory response, which may contribute to recruitment or activation of myeloid cells, including monocytes, microglia, and perivascular macrophages, within the central nervous system. However, our understanding of the causative roles for these cells linking cardiac injury to the development and progression of dementia is incomplete. Herein, we provide an overview of inflammatory cellular and molecular links between myocardial infarction and vascular dementia and discuss strategies to resolve inflammation after myocardial infarction to limit neurovascular injury.
Assuntos
Demência Vascular , Infarto do Miocárdio , Humanos , Demência Vascular/etiologia , Monócitos , Macrófagos , InflamaçãoRESUMO
Dementia is a brain disease which results in irreversible and progressive loss of cognition and motor activity. Despite global efforts, there is no simple and reliable diagnosis or treatment option. Current diagnosis involves indirect testing of commonly inaccessible biofluids and low-resolution brain imaging. We have developed a portable, wireless readout-based Graphene field-effect transistor (GFET) biosensor platform that can detect viruses, proteins, and small molecules with single-molecule sensitivity and specificity. We report the detection of three important amyloids, namely, Amyloid beta (Aß), Tau (τ), and α-Synuclein (αS) using DNA aptamer nanoprobes. These amyloids were isolated, purified, and characterized from the autopsied brain tissues of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. The limit of detection (LoD) of the sensor is 10 fM, 1-10 pM, 10-100 fM for Aß, τ, and αS, respectively. Synthetic as well as autopsied brain-derived amyloids showed a statistically significant sensor response with respect to derived thresholds, confirming the ability to define diseased vs. nondiseased states. The detection of each amyloid was specific to their aptamers; Aß, τ, and αS peptides when tested, respectively, with aptamers nonspecific to them showed statistically insignificant cross-reactivity. Thus, the aptamer-based GFET biosensor has high sensitivity and precision across a range of epidemiologically significant AD and PD variants. This portable diagnostic system would allow at-home and POC testing for neurodegenerative diseases globally.
Assuntos
Doença de Alzheimer , Aptâmeros de Nucleotídeos , Grafite , Doença de Parkinson , Humanos , Peptídeos beta-Amiloides/metabolismo , Doença de Alzheimer/diagnóstico , Doença de Alzheimer/metabolismo , Doença de Parkinson/diagnóstico , Biomarcadores , Proteínas tauRESUMO
The deficit in cerebral blood flow (CBF) seen in patients with hypertension-induced vascular dementia is increasingly viewed as a therapeutic target for disease-modifying therapy. Progress is limited, however, due to uncertainty surrounding the mechanisms through which elevated blood pressure reduces CBF. To investigate this, we used the BPH/2 mouse, a polygenic model of hypertension. At 8 mo of age, hypertensive mice exhibited reduced CBF and cognitive impairment, mimicking the human presentation of vascular dementia. Small cerebral resistance arteries that run across the surface of the brain (pial arteries) showed enhanced pressure-induced constriction due to diminished activity of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BK) channels-key vasodilatory ion channels of cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells. Activation of BK channels by transient intracellular Ca2+ signals from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), termed Ca2+ sparks, leads to hyperpolarization and vasodilation. Combining patch-clamp electrophysiology, high-speed confocal imaging, and proximity ligation assays, we demonstrated that this vasodilatory mechanism is uncoupled in hypertensive mice, an effect attributable to physical separation of the plasma membrane from the SR rather than altered properties of BK channels or Ca2+ sparks, which remained intact. This pathogenic mechanism is responsible for the observed increase in constriction and can now be targeted as a possible avenue for restoring healthy CBF in vascular dementia.
Assuntos
Demência Vascular , Hipertensão , Camundongos , Humanos , Animais , Canais de Potássio Ativados por Cálcio de Condutância Alta/metabolismo , Demência Vascular/etiologia , Demência Vascular/metabolismo , Músculo Liso Vascular/metabolismo , Artérias Cerebrais/metabolismo , Sinalização do Cálcio/fisiologia , Cálcio/metabolismoRESUMO
Numerous studies have investigated the impacts of common types of chronic pain (CP) on patients' cognitive function and observed that CP was associated with later dementia. More recently, there is a growing recognition that CP conditions frequently coexist at multiple body sites and may bring more burdens on patients' overall health. However, whether and how multisite CP (MCP) contributes to an increased risk of dementia, compared to single-site CP (SCP) and pain-free (PF), is largely unclear. In the current study, utilizing the UK Biobank cohort, we first investigated dementia risk in individuals (n = 354,943) with different numbers of coexisting CP sites using Cox proportional hazards regression models. We then applied generalized additive models to investigate whether MCP leads to excessive deterioration of participants' (n = 19,116) cognition and brain structure. We found that individuals with MCP were associated with significantly higher dementia risk, broader and faster cognitive impairment, and greater hippocampal atrophy than both PF individuals and those with SCP. Moreover, the detrimental effects of MCP on dementia risk and hippocampal volume aggravated along with the number of coexisting CP sites. Mediation analyses further revealed that the decline of fluid intelligence in MCP individuals was partially mediated by hippocampal atrophy. Our results suggested that cognitive decline and hippocampal atrophy interact biologically and may underlie the increased risk of dementia associated with MCP.