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Gain of toxic apolipoprotein E4 effects in human iPSC-derived neurons is ameliorated by a small-molecule structure corrector.

ABSTRACT: Efforts to develop drugs for Alzheimer's disease (AD) have shown promise in animal studies, only to fail in human trials, suggesting a pressing need to study AD in human model systems. Using human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells that expressed apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4), a variant of the APOE gene product and the major genetic risk factor for AD, we demonstrated that ApoE4-expressing neurons had higher levels of tau phosphorylation, unrelated to their increased production of amyloid-? (A?) peptides, and that they displayed GABAergic neuron degeneration. ApoE4 increased A? production in human, but not in mouse, neurons. Converting ApoE4 to ApoE3 by gene editing rescued these phenotypes, indicating the specific effects of ApoE4. Neurons that lacked APOE behaved similarly to those expressing ApoE3, and the introduction of ApoE4 expression recapitulated the pathological phenotypes, suggesting a gain of toxic effects from ApoE4. Treatment of ApoE4-expressing neurons with a small-molecule structure corrector ameliorated the detrimental effects, thus showing that correcting the pathogenic conformation of ApoE4 is a viable therapeutic approach for ApoE4-related AD.

SUBMITTER: Wang C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5948154 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Gain of toxic apolipoprotein E4 effects in human iPSC-derived neurons is ameliorated by a small-molecule structure corrector.

Wang Chengzhong C Najm Ramsey R Xu Qin Q Jeong Dah-Eun DE Walker David D Balestra Maureen E ME Yoon Seo Yeon SY Yuan Heidi H Li Gang G Miller Zachary A ZA Miller Bruce L BL Malloy Mary J MJ Huang Yadong Y

Nature medicine 20180409 5

Efforts to develop drugs for Alzheimer's disease (AD) have shown promise in animal studies, only to fail in human trials, suggesting a pressing need to study AD in human model systems. Using human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells that expressed apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4), a variant of the APOE gene product and the major genetic risk factor for AD, we demonstrated that ApoE4-expressing neurons had higher levels of tau phosphorylation, unrelated to their increased production of a ...[more]

PMID: 29632371

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Project description:In addition to being the greatest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, expression of the ?4 allele of apolipoprotein E can lead to cognitive decline during ageing that is independent of Alzheimer's amyloid-? and tau pathology. In human post-mortem tissue and mouse models humanized for apolipoprotein E, we examined the impact of apolipoprotein E4 expression on brain exosomes, vesicles that are produced within and secreted from late-endocytic multivesicular bodies. Compared to humans or mice homozygous for the risk-neutral ?3 allele we show that the ?4 allele, whether homozygous or heterozygous with an ?3 allele, drives lower exosome levels in the brain extracellular space. In mice, we show that the apolipoprotein E4-driven change in brain exosome levels is age-dependent: while not present at age 6 months, it is detectable at 12 months of age. Expression levels of the exosome pathway regulators tumor susceptibility gene 101 (TSG101) and Ras-related protein Rab35 (RAB35) were found to be reduced in the brain at the protein and mRNA levels, arguing that apolipoprotein E4 genotype leads to a downregulation of exosome biosynthesis and release. Compromised exosome production is likely to have adverse effects, including diminishing a cell's ability to eliminate materials from the endosomal-lysosomal system. This reduction in brain exosome levels in 12-month-old apolipoprotein E4 mice occurs earlier than our previously reported brain endosomal pathway changes, arguing that an apolipoprotein E4-driven failure in exosome production plays a primary role in endosomal and lysosomal deficits that occur in apolipoprotein E4 mouse and human brains. Disruption of these interdependent endosomal-exosomal-lysosomal systems in apolipoprotein E4-expressing individuals may contribute to amyloidogenic amyloid-? precursor protein processing, compromise trophic signalling and synaptic function, and interfere with a neuron's ability to degrade material, all of which are events that lead to neuronal vulnerability and higher risk of Alzheimer's disease development. Together, these data suggest that exosome pathway dysfunction is a previously unappreciated component of the brain pathologies that occur as a result of apolipoprotein E4 expression.

Dataset Information

Gain of toxic apolipoprotein E4 effects in human iPSC-derived neurons is ameliorated by a small-molecule structure corrector.

Publications

Gain of toxic apolipoprotein E4 effects in human iPSC-derived neurons is ameliorated by a small-molecule structure corrector.

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