Dataset Information

An Essential Role for Alzheimer's-Linked Amyloid Beta Oligomers in Neurodevelopment: Transient Expression of Multiple Proteoforms during Retina Histogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Human amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) is a brain catabolite that at nanomolar concentrations can form neurotoxic oligomers (AβOs), which are known to accumulate in Alzheimer's disease. Because a predisposition to form neurotoxins seems surprising, we have investigated whether circumstances might exist where AβO accumulation may in fact be beneficial. Our investigation focused on the embryonic chick retina, which expresses the same Aβ as humans. Using conformation-selective antibodies, immunoblots, mass spectrometry, and fluorescence microscopy, we discovered that AβOs are indeed present in the developing retina, where multiple proteoforms are expressed in a highly regulated cell-specific manner. The expression of the AβO proteoforms was selectively associated with transiently expressed phosphorylated Tau (pTau) proteoforms that, like AβOs, are linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD). To test whether the AβOs were functional in development, embryos were cultured ex ovo and then injected intravitreally with either a beta-site APP-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE-1) inhibitor or an AβO-selective antibody to prematurely lower the levels of AβOs. The consequence was disrupted histogenesis resulting in dysplasia resembling that seen in various retina pathologies. We suggest the hypothesis that embryonic AβOs are a new type of short-lived peptidergic hormone with a role in neural development. Such a role could help explain why a peptide that manifests deleterious gain-of-function activity when it oligomerizes in the aging brain has been evolutionarily conserved.

SUBMITTER: Bartley SC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8875314 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An Essential Role for Alzheimer's-Linked Amyloid Beta Oligomers in Neurodevelopment: Transient Expression of Multiple Proteoforms during Retina Histogenesis.

Bartley Samuel C SC Proctor Madison T MT Xia Hongjie H Ho Evelyn E Kang Dong S DS Schuster Kristen K Bicca Maíra A MA Seckler Henrique S HS Viola Kirsten L KL Patrie Steven M SM Kelleher Neil L NL De Mello Fernando G FG Klein William L WL

International journal of molecular sciences 20220217 4

Human amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) is a brain catabolite that at nanomolar concentrations can form neurotoxic oligomers (AβOs), which are known to accumulate in Alzheimer's disease. Because a predisposition to form neurotoxins seems surprising, we have investigated whether circumstances might exist where AβO accumulation may in fact be beneficial. Our investigation focused on the embryonic chick retina, which expresses the same Aβ as humans. Using conformation-selective antibodies, immunoblots, mas ...[more]

PMID: 35216328

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Project description:Alzheimer's disease begins about two decades before the onset of symptoms or neuron death, and is believed to be caused by pathogenic amyloid-β aggregates that initiate a cascade of molecular events culminating in widespread neurodegeneration. The microtubule binding protein tau may mediate the effects of amyloid-β in this cascade. Amyloid plaques comprised of insoluble, fibrillar amyloid-β aggregates are the most characteristic feature of Alzheimer's disease. However, the correspondence between the distribution of plaques and the pattern of neurodegeneration is tenuous. This discrepancy has stimulated the investigation of other amyloid-β aggregates, including soluble amyloid-β oligomers. Different soluble amyloid-β oligomers have been studied in several mouse models, but not systematically in humans. Here, we measured three amyloid-β oligomers previously described in mouse models-amyloid-β trimers, Aβ*56 and amyloid-β dimers-in brain tissue from 75 cognitively intact individuals, ranging from young children to the elderly, and 58 impaired subjects with mild cognitive impairment or probable Alzheimer's disease. As in mouse models, where amyloid-β trimers appear to be the fundamental amyloid-β assembly unit of Aβ*56 and are present in young mice prior to memory decline, amyloid-β trimers in humans were present in children and adolescents; their levels rose gradually with age and were significantly above baseline in subjects in their 70s. Aβ*56 levels were negligible in children and young adults, rose significantly above baseline in subjects in their 40s and increased steadily thereafter. Amyloid-β dimers were undetectable until subjects were in their 60s; their levels then increased sharply and correlated with plaque load. Remarkably, in cognitively intact individuals we found strong positive correlations between Aβ*56 and two pathological forms of soluble tau (tau-CP13 and tau-Alz50), and negative correlations between Aβ*56 and two postsynaptic proteins (drebrin and fyn kinase), but none between amyloid-β dimers or amyloid-β trimers and tau or synaptic proteins. Comparing impaired with age-matched unimpaired subjects, we found the highest levels of amyloid-β dimers, but the lowest levels of Aβ*56 and amyloid-β trimers, in subjects with probable Alzheimer's disease. In conclusion, in cognitively normal adults Aβ*56 increased ahead of amyloid-β dimers or amyloid-β trimers, and pathological tau proteins and postsynaptic proteins correlated with Aβ*56, but not amyloid-β dimers or amyloid-β trimers. We propose that Aβ*56 may play a pathogenic role very early in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.

Project description:Protein aggregation is common to dozens of diseases including prionoses, diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Over the past 15 years, there has been a paradigm shift in understanding the structural basis for these proteinopathies. Precedent for this shift has come from investigation of soluble Aβ oligomers (AβOs), toxins now widely regarded as instigating neuron damage leading to Alzheimer's dementia. Toxic AβOs accumulate in AD brain and constitute long-lived alternatives to the disease-defining Aβ fibrils deposited in amyloid plaques. Key experiments using fibril-free AβO solutions demonstrated that while Aβ is essential for memory loss, the fibrillar Aβ in amyloid deposits is not the agent. The AD-like cellular pathologies induced by AβOs suggest their impact provides a unifying mechanism for AD pathogenesis, explaining why early stage disease is specific for memory and accounting for major facets of AD neuropathology. Alternative ideas for triggering mechanisms are being actively investigated. Some research favors insertion of AβOs into membrane, while other evidence supports ligand-like accumulation at particular synapses. Over a dozen candidate toxin receptors have been proposed. AβO binding triggers a redistribution of critical synaptic proteins and induces hyperactivity in metabotropic and ionotropic glutamate receptors. This leads to Ca(2+) overload and instigates major facets of AD neuropathology, including tau hyperphosphorylation, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, and synapse loss. Because different species of AβOs have been identified, a remaining question is which oligomer is the major pathogenic culprit. The possibility has been raised that more than one species plays a role. Despite some key unknowns, the clinical relevance of AβOs has been established, and new studies are beginning to point to co-morbidities such as diabetes and hypercholesterolemia as etiological factors. Because pathogenic AβOs appear early in the disease, they offer appealing targets for therapeutics and diagnostics. Promising therapeutic strategies include use of CNS insulin signaling enhancers to protect against the presence of toxins and elimination of the toxins through use of highly specific AβO antibodies. An AD-dependent accumulation of AβOs in CSF suggests their potential use as biomarkers and new AβO probes are opening the door to brain imaging. Overall, current evidence indicates that Aβ oligomers provide a substantive molecular basis for the cause, treatment and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Dataset Information

An Essential Role for Alzheimer's-Linked Amyloid Beta Oligomers in Neurodevelopment: Transient Expression of Multiple Proteoforms during Retina Histogenesis.

Publications

An Essential Role for Alzheimer's-Linked Amyloid Beta Oligomers in Neurodevelopment: Transient Expression of Multiple Proteoforms during Retina Histogenesis.

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