Project description:Myeloid-lineage cells accomplish a myriad of homeostatic tasks including the recognition of pathogens, regulation of the inflammatory milieu, and mediation of tissue repair and regeneration. The innate immune receptor and its adaptor protein—triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) and DNAX-activating protein of 12 kDa (DAP12)—possess the ability to modulate critical cellular functions via crosstalk with diverse signaling pathways. As such, mutations in TREM2 and DAP12 have been found to be associated with a range of disease phenotypes. In particular, mutations in TREM2 increase the risk for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The leading hypothesis is that microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, are the major myeloid cells affected by dysregulated TREM2-DAP12 function. Here, we review how impaired signaling by the TREM2-DAP12 pathway leads to altered immune responses in phagocytosis, cytokine production, and microglial proliferation and survival, thus contributing to disease pathogenesis.
Project description:TREM2 variants have been identified as risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). Because TREM2 encodes a receptor exclusively expressed on immune cells, identification of these variants conclusively demonstrates that the immune response can play an active role in the pathogenesis of NDDs. These TREM2 variants also confer the highest risk for developing Alzheimer's disease of any risk factor identified in nearly two decades, suggesting that understanding more about TREM2 function could provide key insights into NDD pathology and provide avenues for novel immune-related NDD biomarkers and therapeutics. The expression, signaling and function of TREM2 in NDDs have been extensively investigated in an effort to understand the role of immune function in disease pathogenesis and progression. We provide a comprehensive review of our current understanding of TREM2 biology, including new insights into the regulation of TREM2 expression, and TREM2 signaling and function across NDDs. While many open questions remain, the current body of literature provides clarity on several issues. While it is still often cited that TREM2 expression is decreased by pro-inflammatory stimuli, it is now clear that this is true in vitro, but inflammatory stimuli in vivo almost universally increase TREM2 expression. Likewise, while TREM2 function is classically described as promoting an anti-inflammatory phenotype, more than half of published studies demonstrate a pro-inflammatory role for TREM2, suggesting that its role in inflammation is much more complex. Finally, these components of TREM2 biology are applied to a discussion of how TREM2 impacts NDD pathologies and the latest assessment of how these findings might be applied to immune-directed clinical biomarkers and therapeutics.
Project description:Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been genetically and pathologically associated with neuroinflammation. Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is a microglial receptor involved in innate immunity. TREM2 rare protein coding genetic variants have been linked to AD. A soluble TREM2 (sTREM2) cleavage product is elevated in AD. It is unclear whether there is a relationship between elevated sTREM2 and markers of inflammation. The hypothesis of this investigation was that central and peripheral inflammation play a role in sTREM2 levels in AD. A consistent association of peripheral or central markers of inflammation and CSF sTREM2 levels was not found, suggesting a limited impact of general inflammation on sTREM2 levels. An association between peripheral sTREM2 levels and CSF sTREM2, as well as an association between CSF sTREM2 and a marker of blood brain barrier integrity, was observed in AD, suggesting a potential role of peripheral TREM2 in central TREM2 biology.
Project description:BackgroundCerebrospinal fluid (CSF) soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (sTREM2) is a potential biomarker and therapy target for neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the association between CSF sTREM2 level and NDDs, and to reveal the dynamic changes in CSF sTREM2 level in Alzheimer's disease (AD) continuum.MethodsWe systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases for observational studies, which compared the levels of CSF sTREM2 between NDDs and controls. Sources of heterogeneity were analyzed using sensitivity analysis, subgroup analysis and meta-regression. We assessed pooled data using a random-effects model.ResultsTwenty-two observational studies which included 5716 participates were identified. Compared with the controls, the whole AD continuum group showed a significant increase in CSF sTREM2 level (standardized mean difference [SMD]: 0.41, 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.24, 0.58, p < 0.001). The mild cognitive impairment (MCI) group displayed the largest effect size (SMD, 0.49 [95% CI: 0.10, 0.88], p = 0.014), followed by the AD cohort (SMD, 0.40 [95% CI: 0.18, 0.63], p < 0.001). The increase in sTREM2 in the preclinical stage of AD (pre-AD) group was the lowest (SMD, 0.29 [95% CI: 0.03, 0.55], p = 0.031). Other NDDs also showed an increase in the CSF sTREM2 levels compared with control groups (SMD, 0.77 [95% CI: 0.37, 1.16], p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe pooled data confirmed that NDDs are associated with increased CSF sTREM2 level, thereby suggesting the CSF sTREM2 as a potential dynamic biomarker and therapy target for NDDs.
Project description:Genetic variations in the myeloid immune receptor TREM2 are linked to several neurodegenerative diseases. To determine how TREM2 variants contribute to these diseases, we performed structural and functional studies of wild-type and variant proteins. Our 3.1 Å TREM2 crystal structure revealed that mutations found in Nasu-Hakola disease are buried whereas Alzheimer's disease risk variants are found on the surface, suggesting that these mutations have distinct effects on TREM2 function. Biophysical and cellular methods indicate that Nasu-Hakola mutations impact protein stability and decrease folded TREM2 surface expression, whereas Alzheimer's risk variants impact binding to a TREM2 ligand. Additionally, the Alzheimer's risk variants appear to epitope map a functional surface on TREM2 that is unique within the larger TREM family. These findings provide a guide to structural and functional differences among genetic variants of TREM2, indicating that therapies targeting the TREM2 pathway should be tailored to these genetic and functional differences with patient-specific medicine approaches for neurodegenerative disorders.
Project description:Triggering receptor expressed by myeloid cells 2 (TREM2), a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, has anti-inflammatory phagocytic function in myeloid cells. Several studies have shown that TREM2 gene variant rs75932628-T increased the risks for Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It has been suggested that the risks could be resulted from the loss of TREM2 function caused by the mutation. Indeed, new evidence showed that several mutations in the immunoglobulin-like V-region led to low cell surface expression of TREM2 and reduced phagocytic function. Because of the emerging importance in understanding TREM2 expression and functions in human neurodegenerative diseases, we conducted biochemical and morphological studies of TREM2 expression in human post-mortem temporal cortical samples from AD and normal cases. Increased expression of TREM2 protein was found to significantly correlate with increases of phosphorylated-tau and active caspase 3, a marker of apoptosis, and also loss of the presynaptic protein SNAP25. Strong intensities of TREM2 immunoreactivity were observed in the microglia associated with amyloid plaques and in neuritic pathology-enriched areas. Based on the findings that TREM2 expression correlated with neurodegenerative markers, further investigation on whether there is abnormality of TREM2 functions in AD brains with nonmutated TREM2 is needed.
Project description:Single nucleotide variations in Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells 2 (TREM2) have been linked to both late-onset Alzheimer's disease and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the latter presenting either in isolation or with cystic bone lesions in a condition called Nasu-Hakola disease. Models of the extracellular domain of TREM2 show that Nasu-Hakola disease-associated mutations are grossly inactivating by truncation, frameshift, or unfolding, that Alzheimer's disease (AD)-associated variants localize to a putative ligand-interacting region (PLIR) on the extracellular surface, and that FTD-associated variants are found in the hydrophobic core. However, while these disease-associated residues are predicted to play some role in disrupting ligand binding to the extracellular domain of TREM2, how they ultimately lead to disease remains unknown. Here, we used in silico molecular modeling to investigate all-atom models of TREM2 and characterize the effects on conformation and dynamical motion of AD-associated R47H and R62H as well as FTD-associated T96K, D86V, and T66M variants compared to the benign N68K variant and the common variant. Our model, which is based on a published 2.2 Å resolution crystal structure of the TREM2 extracellular domain, finds that both AD- and FTD-associated variants cause localized instability in three loops adjacent to the PLIR that correspond to the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) of antibodies. This instability ultimately disrupts tethering between these CDRs and the core of the immunoglobulin domain, exposing a group of otherwise-buried, negatively charged residues. This instability and exposure of negatively charged residues is most severe following introduction of the T66M variant that has been described as causing FTD even in the heterozygous state and is less severe following introduction of variants that are less strongly tied to FTD or of those associated with AD. Thus, our results provide further evidence that the proposed loss-of-function caused by neurodegenerative disease-associated variants may be driven by altered conformational stability of the ligand-interacting CDR and, ultimately, loss of affinity or specificity for TREM2 ligands.
Project description:ObjectiveA rare variant in TREM2 (p.R47H, rs75932628) has been consistently reported to increase the risk for Alzheimer disease (AD), while mixed evidence has been reported for association of the variant with other neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we investigated the frequency of the R47H variant in a diverse and well-characterized multicenter neurodegenerative disease cohort.MethodsWe examined the frequency of the R47H variant in a diverse neurodegenerative disease cohort, including a total of 3058 patients clinically diagnosed with AD, frontotemporal dementia spectrum syndromes, mild cognitive impairment, progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome, corticobasal syndrome, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 5089 control subjects.ResultsWe observed a significant association between the R47H variant and AD, while no association was observed with any other neurodegenerative disease included in this study.ConclusionsOur results support the consensus that the R47H variant is significantly associated with AD. However, we did not find evidence for association of the R47H variant with other neurodegenerative diseases.
Project description:Microglia play a pivotal role in the maintenance of brain homeostasis but lose homeostatic function during neurodegenerative disorders. We identified a specific apolipoprotein E (APOE)-dependent molecular signature in microglia from models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in microglia surrounding neuritic β-amyloid (Aβ)-plaques in the brains of people with AD. The APOE pathway mediated a switch from a homeostatic to a neurodegenerative microglia phenotype after phagocytosis of apoptotic neurons. TREM2 (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2) induced APOE signaling, and targeting the TREM2-APOE pathway restored the homeostatic signature of microglia in ALS and AD mouse models and prevented neuronal loss in an acute model of neurodegeneration. APOE-mediated neurodegenerative microglia had lost their tolerogenic function. Our work identifies the TREM2-APOE pathway as a major regulator of microglial functional phenotype in neurodegenerative diseases and serves as a novel target that could aid in the restoration of homeostatic microglia.