Tannic acid is a natural ß-secretase inhibitor that prevents cognitive impairment and mitigates Alzheimer-like pathology in transgenic mice.

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) proteolysis is essential for production of amyloid-ß (Aß) peptides that form ß-amyloid plaques in brains of Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Recent focus has been directed toward a group of naturally occurring anti-amyloidogenic polyphenols known as flavonoids. We orally administered the flavonoid tannic acid (TA) to the transgenic PSAPP mouse model of cerebral amyloidosis (bearing mutant human APP and presenilin-1 transgenes) and evaluated cognitive function and AD-like pathology. Consumption of TA for 6 months prevented transgene-associated behavioral impairment including hyperactivity, decreased object recognition, and defective spatial reference memory, but did not alter nontransgenic mouse behavior. Accordingly, brain parenchymal and cerebral vascular ß-amyloid deposits and abundance of various Aß species including oligomers were mitigated in TA-treated PSAPP mice. These effects occurred with decreased cleavage of the ß-carboxyl-terminal APP fragment, lowered soluble APP-ß production, reduced ß-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 protein stability and activity, and attenuated neuroinflammation. As in vitro validation, we treated well characterized mutant human APP-overexpressing murine neuron-like cells with TA and found significantly reduced Aß production associated with less amyloidogenic APP proteolysis. Taken together, these results raise the possibility that dietary supplementation with TA may be prophylactic for AD by inhibiting ß-secretase activity and neuroinflammation and thereby mitigating AD pathology.

Overexpression of human S100B exacerbates cerebral amyloidosis and gliosis in the Tg2576 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common progressive dementia and is pathologically characterized by brain deposition of amyloid-beta (Abeta) peptide as senile plaques. Inflammatory and immune response pathways are chronically activated in AD patient brains at low levels, and likely play a role in disease progression. Like microglia, activated astrocytes produce numerous acute-phase reactants and proinflammatory molecules in the AD brain. One such molecule, S100B, is highly expressed by reactive astrocytes in close vicinity of beta-amyloid deposits. We have previously shown that augmented and prolonged activation of astrocytes has a detrimental impact on neuronal survival. Furthermore, we have implicated astrocyte-derived S100B as a candidate molecule responsible for this deleterious effect. To evaluate a putative relationship between S100B and AD pathogenesis, we crossed transgenic mice overexpressing human S100B (TghuS100B mice) with the Tg2576 mouse model of AD, and examined AD-like pathology. Brain parenchymal and cerebral vascular beta-amyloid deposits and Abeta levels were increased in bigenic Tg2576-huS100B mice. These effects were associated with increased cleavage of the beta-C-terminal fragment of amyloid precursor protein (APP), elevation of the N-terminal APP cleavage product (soluble APPbeta), and activation of beta-site APP cleaving enzyme 1. In addition, double transgenic mice showed augmented reactive astrocytosis and microgliosis, high levels of S100 expression, and increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines as early as 7-9 months of age. These results provide evidence that (over)-expression of S100B acts to accelerate AD-like pathology, and suggest that inhibiting astrocytic activation by blocking S100B biosynthesis may be a promising therapeutic strategy to delay AD progression..

Females exhibit more extensive amyloid, but not tau, pathology in an Alzheimer transgenic model.

Epidemiological studies indicate that women have a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) even after adjustment for age. Though transgenic mouse models of AD develop AD-related amyloid beta (Abeta) and/or tau pathology, gender differences have not been well documented in these models. In this study, we found that female 3xTg-AD transgenic mice expressing mutant APP, presenilin-1 and tau have significantly more aggressive Abeta pathology. We also found an increase in beta-secretase activity and a reduction of neprilysin in female mice compared to males; this suggests that a combination of increased Abeta production and decreased Abeta degradation may contribute to higher risk of AD in females. In contrast to significantly more aggressive Abeta pathology in females, gender did not affect the levels of phosphorylated tau in 3xTg-AD mice. These results point to the involvement of Abeta pathways in the higher risk of AD in women. In addition to comparison of pathology between genders at 9, 16 and 23 months of age, we examined the progression of Abeta pathology at additional age points; i.e., brain Abeta load, intraneuronal oligomeric Abeta distribution and plaque load, in male 3xTg-AD mice at 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 20 and 23 months of age. These findings confirm progressive Abeta pathology in 3xTg-AD transgenic mice, and provide guidance for their use in therapeutic research.

Coordinated increase of γ-secretase reaction products in the plasma of some female Japanese sporadic Alzheimer's disease patients: quantitative analysis of p3-Alcα with a new ELISA system.

BACKGROUND: Aggregatable amyloid ß-peptide (Aß) and non-aggregatable p3-Alcα are metabolic products of the γ-secretase cleavage of amyloid ß-protein precursor (APP) and Alcadeinα (Alcα), respectively. Familial AD (FAD) -linked mutations in the presenilin 1 or 2 (PS1 or PS2) component of γ-secretase can cause alternative intramembranous processing of APP and Alcα, leading to a coordinated generation of variants of both Aß and p3-Alcα. Variant Alcα peptides have been observed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with mild cognitive impairment and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). Since, like APP, Alcα is largely expressed in brain, one might predict that alternative processing of Alcα would be reflected in body fluids of some AD patients. These patients with misprocessing of multiple γ-secretase substrates might define an endophenotype of p3-Alcα, in whom AD is due either to dysfunction of γ-secretase or to a disorder of the clearance of hydrophobic peptides such as those derived from transmembrane domains. RESULTS: We developed a simple procedure for extraction of p3-Alcα from plasma and for analyzing this extract in a sensitive, p3-Alcα-specific sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. Plasma p3-Alcα levels and Aß40 levels were examined in sporadic AD subjects from two independent Japanese cohorts. In some of these patients, levels of plasma p3-Alcα were significantly higher, and were accompanied by parallel changes in Aß40 levels. This AD-related difference was more marked in female subjects, but this phenomenon was not observed in subjects with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). CONCLUSION: Reagents and procedures have been established that enable extraction of p3-Alcα from plasma and for quantification of plasma p3-Alcα levels by ELISA. Some populations of AD subjects apparently show increased levels of both p3-Alcα and Aß40. Quantification of p3-Alcα level may be useful as a readily accessible biomarker for a population of sporadic AD patients in which disease pathogenesis is associated with either dysfunction of γ-secretase or with a disorder of the clearance of transmembrane domain-derived peptides.

Monoclonal antibody against the turn of the 42-residue amyloid ß-protein at positions 22 and 23.

Aggregation of the 42-mer amyloid ß-protein (Aß42) plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have proposed a toxic conformer with a turn at positions 22 and 23, as well as a nontoxic conformer with a turn at positions 25 and 26, in Aß42 aggregates from systematic proline scanning and solid-state NMR studies. Although recent clinical trials of immunization targeting Aß42 aggregates have proved useful, some adverse effects were reported. One of the reasons was hypothesized to be excessive immunoreactions derived from the unintended removal of nontoxic Aß42, which plays an important role in the physiological function. To develop a monoclonal antibody for toxic Aß42, E22P-Aß10-35, a minimum moiety for neurotoxicity containing the turn at positions 22 and 23, was used for the generation of antibodies, following the selection of clones using Aß42 mutants of E22P (turn-inducing) and E22V (turn-preventing). The obtained clone (11A1) showed a high binding affinity (K(D) = 10.3 nM) for Aß42 using surface plasmon resonance. 11A1 also inhibited the neurotoxicity of Aß42 in PC12 cells. Immunohistochemical studies showed that not only extracellular but intracellular amyloid was stained in human AD brains. In Western blotting analyses using human brains, low-molecular weight-oligomers rather than the monomer of Aß were readily recognized by 11A1. These results imply that 11A1 could detect toxic Aß42 oligomers with the turn at positions 22 and 23 and that 11A1 could be applicable for the therapeutic targeting of toxic Aß42 in AD.

Establishment of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system to detect the amino terminal secretory form of rat Erc/Mesothelin.

By representational difference analysis, we previously identified the rat Erc (Expressed in renal carcinoma) gene that was more abundantly expressed in the renal carcinoma tissues of Eker rats than in the rat normal kidney. In this study, we raised antibodies against the amino-terminal portion of the rat Erc, and demonstrated the existence of a approximately 30-kDa secretory form in the supernatant of cultured cells derived from rat renal carcinoma. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system using these antibodies detected high concentrations of this form in the sera of Eker rats bearing renal carcinomas, and in the sera of rats transplanted with mesothelioma cells. Mesothelin, a human homolog of the rat Erc, was recently reported to be a serum marker of malignant mesothelioma. The prognosis of mesothelioma is poor and there is no effective treatment at present. There are several rat model systems of mesothelioma that may be promising tools in the development of an antimesothelioma treatment. We hope our ELISA to detect the soluble form of rat Erc/Mesothelin is useful in the rat model system to exploit the antimesothelioma therapy to be used in human cases.