Impaired clearance of amyloid β (Aβ) in late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects disease progression. The role of peripheral monocytes in Aβ clearance from the central nervous system (CNS) is unclear. We use a flow cytometry assay to identify Aβ-binding monocytes in blood, validated by confocal microscopy, Western blotting, and mass spectrometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is allelic variation of the APOE gene, with the following risk structure: ε4 > ε3 > ε2. The biochemical basis for this risk profile is unclear. Here, we reveal a new role for the APOE gene product, apolipoprotein E (ApoE) in regulating cellular copper homeostasis, which is perturbed in the AD brain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Ferroptosis is a form of regulated cell death characterised by lipid peroxidation as the terminal endpoint and a requirement for iron. Although it protects against cancer and infection, ferroptosis is also implicated in causing neuronal death in degenerative diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). The precise role for ferroptosis in causing neuronal death is yet to be fully resolved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVitamin A (retinol) is a lipid-soluble vitamin that acts as a precursor for several bioactive compounds, such as retinaldehyde (retinal) and isomers of retinoic acid. Retinol and all-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) penetrate the blood-brain barrier and are reported to be neuroprotective in several animal models. We characterised the impact of retinol and its metabolites, all-trans-retinal (atRAL) and atRA, on ferroptosis-a programmed cell death caused by iron-dependent phospholipid peroxidation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDysregulated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)/tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) signalling is implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. A failure of neurotrophic support may participate in neurodegenerative mechanisms, such as ferroptosis, which has likewise been implicated in this disease class. The current study investigated whether modulators of TrkB signalling affect ferroptosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A putative role for iron in driving Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression is complicated by previously reported associations with neuroinflammation, apolipoprotein E and AD proteinopathy. To establish how iron interacts with clinicopathological features of AD and at what disease stage iron influences cognitive outcomes, we investigated the association of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of iron (ferritin), inflammation (acute phase response proteins) and apolipoproteins with pathological biomarkers (CSF Aβ/t-tau, p-tau181), clinical staging and longitudinal cognitive deterioration in subjects from the BioFINDER cohort, with replication of key results in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort.
Methods: Ferritin, acute phase response proteins (n=9) and apolipoproteins (n=6) were measured in CSF samples from BioFINDER (n=1239; 4 years cognitive follow-up) participants stratified by cognitive status (cognitively unimpaired, mild cognitive impairment, AD) and for the presence of amyloid and tangle pathology using CSF Aβ/t-tau (A+) and p-tau181 (T+).
Allelic variation to the APOE gene confers the greatest genetic risk for sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). Independent of genotype, low abundance of apolipoprotein E (apoE), is characteristic of AD CSF, and predicts cognitive decline. The mechanisms underlying the genotype and apoE level risks are uncertain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMutations in presenilin 1 and 2 (PS1 and PS2) cause autosomal dominant familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD). Ferroptosis has been implicated as a mechanism of neurodegeneration in AD since neocortical iron burden predicts Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression. We found that loss of the presenilins dramatically sensitizes multiple cell types to ferroptosis, but not apoptosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neuroinflammation is implicated in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) and related conditions, yet prior clinical biomarker data report mixed findings.
Objectives: The aim was to measure a panel of neuroinflammatory acute phase response (APR) proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of participants with PD and related disorders.
Methods: Eleven APR proteins were measured in the CSF of 867 participants from the BioFINDER cohort who were healthy (612) or had a diagnosis of PD (155), multiple system atrophy (MSA) (26), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) (22), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) (23), or Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD) (29).
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia, with complex pathophysiology that is not fully understood. While β-amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangles define the pathology of the disease, the mechanism of neurodegeneration is uncertain. Ferroptosis is an iron-mediated programmed cell death mechanism characterised by phospholipid peroxidation that has been observed in clinical AD samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe emergence of ferroptosis as a cell death pathway associated with brain disorders including stroke and neurodegenerative diseases emphasizes the need to develop therapeutics able to target the brain and to protect neurons from ferroptotic death. Selenium plays an essential role in reducing lipid peroxidation generated during ferroptosis through its incorporation into the catalytic site of glutathione peroxidase 4. Here, we compared the anti-ferroptotic activity of several organic and inorganic selenium compounds: methylselenocysteine, selenocystine, selenomethionine, selenocystamine, ebselen, sodium selenite, and sodium selenate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFerroptosis is an iron-dependent cell death, which is different from apoptosis, necrosis, autophagy, and other forms of cell death. The process of ferroptotic cell death is defined by the accumulation of lethal lipid species derived from the peroxidation of lipids, which can be prevented by iron chelators (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is unknown how neuroinflammation may feature in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We profiled acute phase response (APR) proteins (α1-antitrypsin, α1-antichymotrypsin, ceruloplasmin, complement C3, ferritin, α-fibrinogen, β-fibrinogen, γ-fibrinogen, haptoglobin, hemopexin) in CSF of 1291 subjects along the clinical and biomarker spectrum of AD to investigate the association between inflammatory changes, disease outcomes, and demographic variables. Subjects were stratified by Aβ/t-tau as well as the following clinical diagnoses: cognitively normal (CN); subjective cognitive decline (SCD); mild cognitive impairment (MCI); and AD dementia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Diacetyl-bis(4-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazonato)copper (Cu (atsm)) ameliorates neurodegeneration and delays disease progression in mouse models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's disease (PD), yet the mechanism of action remains uncertain. Promising results were recently reported for separate Phase 1 studies in ALS patients and PD patients. Affected tissue in these disorders shares features of elevated Fe, low glutathione and increased lipid peroxidation consistent with ferroptosis, a novel form of regulated cell death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceuticals (Basel)
June 2019
Iron dyshomeostasis is a feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The impact of iron on AD is attributed to its interactions with the central proteins of AD pathology (amyloid precursor protein and tau) and/or through the iron-mediated generation of prooxidant molecules (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) into the Aβ peptide has been an extensively researched mechanism for Alzheimer's disease, but the normal function of the protein is less understood. APP functions to regulate neuronal iron content by stabilizing the surface presentation of ferroportin-the only iron exporter channel of cells. The present study aims to quantify the contribution of APP to brain and peripheral iron by examining the lifetime impact on brain and liver iron levels in APP knockout mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolybdenum cofactor deficiency (MoCD) is an autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism characterized by neurodegeneration and death in early childhood. The rapid and progressive neurodegeneration in MoCD presents a major clinical challenge and may relate to the poor understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved. Recently, we reported that treating patients with cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate (cPMP) is a successful therapy for a subset of infants with MoCD and prevents irreversible brain damage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDirect electrochemistry of human sulfite oxidase (HSO) has been achieved on carboxylate-terminated self-assembled monolayers cast on a Au working electrode in the presence of the promoter chitosan. The modified electrode facilitates a well-defined nonturnover redox response from the heme cofactor (Fe) in 750 mM Tris, MOPS, and bicine buffer solutions. The formal redox potential of the nonturnover response varies slightly depending on the nature of the thiol monolayer on the Au electrode.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApolipoprotein E (ApoE) plays a crucial role in the homeostatic control of lipids in both the periphery and the central nervous system (CNS). In humans, ApoE exists in three different isoforms: ε2, ε3 and ε4. ApoE ε3 is the most common isoform, while the ε4 isoform confers the greatest genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain iron homeostasis is increasingly recognized as a potential target for the development of drug therapies for aging-related disorders. Dysregulation of iron metabolism associated with cellular damage and oxidative stress is reported as a common event in several neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases. Indeed, many proteins initially characterized in those diseases such as amyloid-β protein, α-synuclein, and huntingtin have been linked to iron neurochemistry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Molybdenum cofactor deficiency (MoCD) is characterised by early, rapidly progressive postnatal encephalopathy and intractable seizures, leading to severe disability and early death. Previous treatment attempts have been unsuccessful. After a pioneering single treatment we now report the outcome of the complete first cohort of patients receiving substitution treatment with cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate (cPMP), a biosynthetic precursor of the cofactor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMammalian sulfite oxidase (SO) is a dimeric enzyme consisting of a molybdenum cofactor- (Moco) and haem-containing domain and catalyses the oxidation of toxic sulfite to sulfate. Following sulfite oxidation, electrons are passed from Moco via the haem cofactor to cytochrome c, the terminal electron acceptor. In contrast, plant SO (PSO) lacks the haem domain and electrons shuttle from Moco to molecular oxygen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSulfur metabolism has gained increasing medical interest over the last years. In particular, cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) has been recognized as a potential marker in oncology due to its altered gene expression in various cancer types. Human CDO is a non-heme iron-dependent enzyme, which catalyzes the irreversible oxidation of cysteine to cysteine sulfinic acid, which is further metabolized to taurine or pyruvate and sulfate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGephyrin is a postsynaptic scaffolding protein, essential for the clustering of glycine and γ-aminobutyric acid type-A receptors (GABAARs) at inhibitory synapses. An impairment of GABAergic synaptic inhibition represents a key pathway of epileptogenesis. Recently, exonic microdeletions in the gephyrin (GPHN) gene have been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia and epileptic seizures.
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