| 1. |
- Boman, Andrea, et al.
(författare)
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The role of LAMP-2 in AβPP processing and Aβ degradation; implications for Alzheimer’s Disease
- 2015
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Dysfunction in the lysosomal network, i.e., the endosomal, lysosomal and autophagy systems, are implicated in the pathways in Alzheimer’s disease brain pathology. This dysfunction is mirrored in the cerebrospinal fluid where a specific subset of lysosomal network proteins are found at elevated levels, lysosomal associated membrane protein-2 (LAMP-2) being one of the identified lysosomal proteins. Here we report that hippocampus and frontal cortex in Alzheimer’s disease cases have increased mRNA and protein expression of LAMP-2, and thus these brain areas are likely involved in the increased LAMP-2 levels seen in cerebrospinal fluid from Alzheimer’s disease patients. The increased LAMP-2 levels correlated with increased levels of β-amyloid1-42 (Aβ1-42). Oligomeric Aβ1-42 caused an upregulation of intracellular LAMP-2 in neuroblastoma cells, but did not trigger the release of LAMP-2 to the extracellular milieu, indicating that other cell types or mechanisms are responsible for the LAMP-2 release seen in cerebrospinal fluid. Overexpression of LAMP-2 in neuroblastoma cells caused a trend of reduction of secreted Aβ1-42 and changed the processing pattern of the Aβ precursor protein. These results indicate that Aβ1-42 mediated increase of LAMP-2 expression can act as a regulator of Aβ generation and secretion. LAMP-2 overexpression did not change the cellular uptake of extracellularly added Aβ1-42, but caused a delayed clearance of Aβ1-42. Whether the prolonged intracellular localization of Aβ1-42 in LAMP-2 overexpressing cells can change the transmission or degradation of Aβ remains to be investigated.
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| 2. |
- Helmfors, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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A protective role of lysozyme in Alzheimer disease
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Alzheimer disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder where extracellular plaques composed of amyloid β (Aβ) peptides and neuroinflammation are some of the main hallmarks of the disease. Activated microglial cells, which are the resident macrophages in the central nervous system, are suggested to trigger the inflammation response in AD. To discover neuroinflammation biomarkers would be important to reveal the pathological mechanisms of AD and develop therapies that target inflammation mediators. Lysozyme is part of the innate immune system and is secreted from macrophages during various inflammation conditions. However, the involvement of lysozyme in AD pathology has not been explored previously. We have discovered that lysozyme is up-regulated in cerebrospinal fluid from AD patients. Cells exposed to Aβ increased the expression of lysozyme indicating that Aβ might be responsible for the upregulation of lysozyme detected in cerebrospinal fluid. In vitro studies revealed that lysozyme binds to monomeric Aβ1-42 and alters the aggregation pathway counteracting formation of toxic Aβ species. In a newly developed Drosophila model, co-expression of lysozyme with Aβ in brain neurons reduced the formation of insoluble Aβ species, prolonged the survival and improved the activity of the double transgenic flies compared to flies only expressing Aβ. Our findings identify lysozyme as a modulator of Aβ aggregation and toxicity and our discoveries has the potential to be used for development of new treatment strategies and to use lysozyme as a biomarker for AD.
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| 3. |
- Nyström, Sofie, et al.
(författare)
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Properties of defined recombinant oligomeric forms of Aβ1‐42
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Oligomers of Aβ1-42 have been identified in human Alzheimer´s disease (AD) patients and in mouse models of AD. These species have attracted intense interest as possible neurological pathogens in AD. In our hands, expression of recombinant human Aβ1-42 in Escherichia coli followed by purification in the presence of cupric ions (CuCl2) afforded recovery of high quantities (>5 mg/L of culture) of well defined trimeric, hexameric, nonameric and dodecameric Aβ1-42. Strong denaturing conditions such as 6 M GuHCI, 8 M urea or boiling in 6.5 M urea supplemented with 2.5 % SDS all failed to separate the oligomers into smaller building blocks implicating that the oligomers are composed of covalently cross-linked Aβ1-42 monomers. Purification in the absence of cupric ions resulted in monomeric Aβ1-42. The Aβ1-42 oligomers were toxic and induced apoptosis when administered to neuroblastoma cells in culture. The described method producing oligomeric Aβ1-42 from a recombinant expression system paves the way for mechanistic studies, structural analysis, drug screening and opens up for vaccine development.
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| 4. |
- Sörgjerd, Karin, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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BiP can function as a molecular shepherd that alleviates oligomer toxicity and amass amyloid
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A wide range of diseases are linked to protein misfolding and aggregation inside and outside the cell. It is of utmost interest to understand how the molecular chaperone machinery of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) handles the expression of highly amyloidogenic proteins. We explored the hypothesis that the ER located Hsp70 molecular chaperone BiP plays a crucial role in amyloid diseases and influence the misfolding process and disease progression. We used the transthyretin mutant TTR D18G associated with an unusual central nervous system amyloid disease as the model substrate because it represents the most destabilized and degraded TTR variant known. Over-expression of TTR D18G in concert with BiP showed that BiP selectively recognize the amyloidogenic mutant protein as compared to wild type in human cells and collects the mutant in stable intermediate size oligomers within the ER. Furthermore, whereas TTR D18G was found to be highly cytotoxic to neuroblastoma cells, TTR D18G preincubated with BiP was non-toxic indicating that BiP protects the cell from cytotoxicity. BiP was also found present in cerebellar amyloid deposits and co-localized with TTR in a TTR D18G patient suggesting that the complex can be found in the extracellular space. We promote a fundamental role of BiP in misfolding diseases and describe a molecular shepharding function of BiP in sequestrating amyloidogenic protein molecules in benign oligomeric states.
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| 5. |
- Sörgjerd, Karin, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Prefibrillar Amyloid Aggregates and Cold Shocked Tetrameric Wild Type Transthyretin are Cytotoxic
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Recent studies suggest that soluble, oligomeric species, which are intermediates in the fibril formation process in amyloid disease, might be the key species in amyloid pathogenesis. Soluble oligomers of TTR were produced by kinetic sampling from a TTR fibrillation reaction (A-state TTR, pH 2, 100 mM NaCl). The reaction was terminated at different time points, and different states in the aggregation process were captured and analyzed to elucidate the oligomer properties followed by sampling for cytotoxicity using exposure towards human SH-SYY5 neuroblastoma cells. Employing ThT fluorescence, time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy of pyrenelabeled TTR, chemical cross-linking and electron microscopy we demonstrated that early formed oligomers from A-state TTR were soluble and comprised on the average 20-30 TTR monomers. Early oligomers were highly cytotoxic and induced apoptosis as indicated by the MTT assay and caspase-3 activation, whereas mature fibrils were non-toxic. We also indicate an activated unfolded protein response in cells exposed to oligomers as evidenced by an increased expression of the endoplasmic reticulum located molecular chaperone BiP. Following exposure, BiP appeared relocalized to the cytoplasm. Surprisingly, we also found that native tetrameric TTR purified and stored under cold conditions (4 °C) was highly cytotoxic. The effect could be partially restored by increasing the temperature of the protein. The molecular basis for this pathogenicity is rather unclear but likely stems from previously reported increased sensitivity towards dissociation and denaturation of TTR at low temperatures and opens the possibility that rearranged tetrameric TTR is cytotoxic towards neuroblastoma cells.
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