| 1. |
- Hiltunen, Anniina E., et al.
(author)
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Variant in NHLRC2 leads to increased hnRNP C2 in developing neurons and the hippocampus of a mouse model of FINCA disease
- 2020
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In: Molecular Medicine. - : SPRINGER. - 1076-1551 .- 1528-3658. ; 26:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundFINCA disease is a pediatric cerebropulmonary disease caused by variants in the NHL repeat-containing 2 (NHLRC2) gene. Neurological symptoms are among the first manifestations of FINCA disease, but the consequences of NHLRC2 deficiency in the central nervous system are currently unexplored.MethodsThe orthologous mouse gene is essential for development, and its complete loss leads to early embryonic lethality. In the current study, we used CRISPR/Cas9 to generate an Nhlrc2 knockin (KI) mouse line, harboring the FINCA patient missense mutation (c.442G>T, p.Asp148Tyr). A FINCA mouse model, resembling the compound heterozygote genotype of FINCA patients, was obtained by crossing the KI and Nhlrc2 knockout mouse lines. To reveal NHLRC2-interacting proteins in developing neurons, we compared cortical neuronal precursor cells of E13.5 FINCA and wild-type mouse embryos by two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis.ResultsDespite the significant decrease in NHLRC2, the mice did not develop severe early onset multiorgan disease in either sex. We discovered 19 altered proteins in FINCA neuronal precursor cells; several of which are involved in vesicular transport pathways and actin dynamics which have been previously reported in other cell types including human to have an association with dysfunctional NHLRC2. Interestingly, isoform C2 of hnRNP C1/C2 was significantly increased in both developing neurons and the hippocampus of adult female FINCA mice, connecting NHLRC2 dysfunction with accumulation of RNA binding protein.ConclusionsWe describe here the first NHLRC2-deficient mouse model to overcome embryonic lethality, enabling further studies on predisposing and causative mechanisms behind FINCA disease. Our novel findings suggest that disrupted RNA metabolism may contribute to the neurodegeneration observed in FINCA patients.
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| 3. |
- Aho, Leena, et al.
(author)
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Immunohistochemical Visualization of Amyloid-β Protein Precursor and Amyloid-β in Extra- and Intracellular Compartments in the Human Brain
- 2010
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In: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 20:4, s. 1015-1028
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Amyloid-beta (Abeta) peptide, a cleavage product of the amyloid-beta protein precursor (AbetaPP), has been reported to be detected in the intracellular compartment. Most studies reporting the presence of intracellular Abeta are based on the use of immunohistochemistry. In this study, the presence of AbetaPP and Abeta was assessed by applying immunohistochemistry in postmortem human brain tissue samples obtained from 10 neurologically intact subjects, the youngest being 2 years of age, one aged with mild cognitive impairment, 14 neurologically diseased, and in one brain biopsy sample obtained from a subject with normal pressure hydrocephalus. Intracellular immunoreactivity was detected in all ages independent of the disease state or existence of extracellular Abeta aggregates with all antibodies directed to AbetaPP, with three Abeta antibodies (4G8, 6E10, and 82E1), clones that are unable to distinguish Abeta from AbetaPP. These results suggest that it is AbetaPP rather than Abeta that is detected intracellularly when using the antibodies listed above. Furthermore, the staining results varied when different pretreatment strategies were applied. Interestingly intracellular Abeta was detected with antibodies directed to the C-terminus of Abeta (neoepitope) in subjects with Alzheimer's disease. The lack of intracellular immunoreactivity in unimpaired subjects, when using antibodies against neoepitopes, may be due to a lack or a low level of the protein that is thus undetectable at light microscopic level by immunohistochemistry method. The staining results and conclusions depended strongly on the chosen antibody and the pretreatment strategy and thus multiple antibodies must be used when assessing the intracellular accumulation of Abeta.
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| 4. |
- Belloy, Michael E., et al.
(author)
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Challenges at the APOE locus : a robust quality control approach for accurate APOE genotyping
- 2022
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In: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. - : Springer Nature. - 1758-9193. ; 14:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Genetic variants within the APOE locus may modulate Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk independently or in conjunction with APOE*2/3/4 genotypes. Identifying such variants and mechanisms would importantly advance our understanding of APOE pathophysiology and provide critical guidance for AD therapies aimed at APOE. The APOE locus however remains relatively poorly understood in AD, owing to multiple challenges that include its complex linkage structure and uncertainty in APOE*2/3/4 genotype quality. Here, we present a novel APOE*2/3/4 filtering approach and showcase its relevance on AD risk association analyses for the rs439401 variant, which is located 1801 base pairs downstream of APOE and has been associated with a potential regulatory effect on APOE.Methods: We used thirty-two AD-related cohorts, with genetic data from various high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism microarrays, whole-genome sequencing, and whole-exome sequencing. Study participants were filtered to be ages 60 and older, non-Hispanic, of European ancestry, and diagnosed as cognitively normal or AD (n = 65,701). Primary analyses investigated AD risk in APOE*4/4 carriers. Additional supporting analyses were performed in APOE*3/4 and 3/3 strata. Outcomes were compared under two different APOE*2/3/4 filtering approaches.Results: Using more conventional APOE*2/3/4 filtering criteria (approach 1), we showed that, when in-phase with APOE*4, rs439401 was variably associated with protective effects on AD case-control status. However, when applying a novel filter that increases the certainty of the APOE*2/3/4 genotypes by applying more stringent criteria for concordance between the provided APOE genotype and imputed APOE genotype (approach 2), we observed that all significant effects were lost. Conclusions: We showed that careful consideration of APOE genotype and appropriate sample filtering were crucial to robustly interrogate the role of the APOE locus on AD risk. Our study presents a novel APOE filtering approach and provides important guidelines for research into the APOE locus, as well as for elucidating genetic interaction effects with APOE*2/3/4.
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| 6. |
- Blom, Elin Susanne, et al.
(author)
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Low prevalence of APP duplications in Swedish and Finnish patients with early onset Alzheimer's disease
- 2008
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In: European Journal of Human Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1018-4813 .- 1476-5438. ; 16:2, s. 171-5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (EOAD/CAA) was recently associated with duplications of the gene for the amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP). In this study, we have screened for duplications of APP in patients with EOAD from Sweden and Finland. Seventy-five individuals from families with EOAD and 66 individuals with EOAD without known familial inheritance were screened by quantitative PCR. On the basis of the initial results, a portion of the samples was also investigated with quantitative multiplex PCR. No duplications of APP were identified, whereby we conclude that this is not a common cause of EOAD in the Swedish and Finnish populations, at least not in our collection of families and cases.
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| 7. |
- Escott-Price, Valentina, et al.
(author)
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Gene-Wide Analysis Detects Two New Susceptibility Genes for Alzheimer's Disease
- 2014
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:6, s. e94661-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Alzheimer's disease is a common debilitating dementia with known heritability, for which 20 late onset susceptibility loci have been identified, but more remain to be discovered. This study sought to identify new susceptibility genes, using an alternative gene-wide analytical approach which tests for patterns of association within genes, in the powerful genome-wide association dataset of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project Consortium, comprising over 7 m genotypes from 25,580 Alzheimer's cases and 48,466 controls. Principal Findings: In addition to earlier reported genes, we detected genome-wide significant loci on chromosomes 8 (TP53INP1, p = 1.4x10(-6)) and 14 (IGHV1-67 p = 7.9x10(-8)) which indexed novel susceptibility loci. Significance: The additional genes identified in this study, have an array of functions previously implicated in Alzheimer's disease, including aspects of energy metabolism, protein degradation and the immune system and add further weight to these pathways as potential therapeutic targets in Alzheimer's disease.
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| 8. |
- Giedraitis, Vilmantas, et al.
(author)
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CALHM1 P86L polymorphism does not alter amyloid-beta or tau in cerebrospinal fluid
- 2010
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In: Neuroscience Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-3940 .- 1872-7972. ; 469:2, s. 265-267
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recently, the P86L alteration in CALHM1 (calcium homeostasis modulator-1) was reported to be associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, the risk allele increased amyloid-beta (A beta) levels in conditioned media from cultured cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that CALHM1 P86L may modulate A beta or tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Nearly 200 individuals with AD or other cognitive disorders were included for CSF analysis and CALHM1 genotyping. No significant differences in CSF levels of A beta 42, tau or phospho-tau were found across the various CALHM1 genotypes. In conclusion, we found no evidence that CALHM1 P86L is associated with altered CSF levels of the investigated AD biomarkers.
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| 9. |
- Herukka, Sanna-Kaisa, et al.
(author)
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Amyloid-beta and Tau Dynamics in Human Brain Interstitial Fluid in Patients with Suspected Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
- 2015
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In: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 46:1, s. 261-269
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Amyloid-beta (A beta(1-42)), total tau (T-tau), and phosphorylated tau (P-tau(181)) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are the most promising biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Still, little is known about the dynamics of these molecules in the living brain. In a transgenic mouse brain, soluble A beta decreases with increasing age and advanced A beta pathology as seen similarly in CSF. Objective: To assess the relationship between AD-related pathological changes in human brain tissue, ventricular and lumbar CSF, and brain interstitial fluid (ISF). Methods: Altogether 11 patients with suspected idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus underwent frontal cortical brain biopsy, 24-h intraventricular pressure monitoring, and a microdialysis procedure. AD-related biomarkers were analyzed from brain tissue, CSF, and ISF. Results: ISF T-tau levels decreased strongly within the first 12 h, then plateauing until the end of the experiment. A beta(1-42) and P-tau(181) remained stable during the experiment (n = 3). T-tau and P-tau were higher in the ISF than in ventricular or lumbar CSF, while A beta(1-42) levels were within similar range in both CSF and ISF samples. ISF P-tau correlated with the ventricular CSF T-tau (r = 0.70, p = 0.017) and P-tau(181) (r = 0.64, p = 0.034). Five patients with amyloid pathology in the brain biopsy tended to reveal lower ISF A beta(1-42) levels than those six without amyloid pathology. Conclusions: This is the first study to report ISF A beta and tau levels in the human brain without significant brain injury. The set-up used enables sampling from the brain ISF for at least 24 h without causing adverse effects due to the microdialysis procedure to follow the dynamics of the key molecules in AD pathogenesis in the living brain at various stages of the disease.
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| 10. |
- Jansen, Iris E, et al.
(author)
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Genome-wide meta-analysis for Alzheimer's disease cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers.
- 2022
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In: Acta neuropathologica. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1432-0533 .- 0001-6322. ; 144:5, s. 821-842
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) and phosphorylated tau (pTau) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) reflect core features of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) more directly than clinical diagnosis. Initiated by the European Alzheimer & Dementia Biobank (EADB), the largest collaborative effort on genetics underlying CSF biomarkers was established, including 31 cohorts with a total of 13,116 individuals (discovery n=8074; replication n=5042 individuals). Besides the APOE locus, novel associations with two other well-established AD risk loci were observed; CR1 was shown a locus for Aβ42 and BIN1 for pTau. GMNC and C16orf95 were further identified as loci for pTau, of which the latter is novel. Clustering methods exploring the influence of all known AD risk loci on the CSF protein levels, revealed 4 biological categories suggesting multiple Aβ42 and pTau related biological pathways involved in the etiology of AD. In functional follow-up analyses, GMNC and C16orf95 both associated with lateral ventricular volume, implying an overlap in genetic etiology for tau levels and brain ventricular volume.
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