Background: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have an increased genetic risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD), with most adults developing AD neuropathology in their 40s. Despite having a low frequency of systemic vascular risk factors such as hypertension and atherosclerosis, adults with DS display cerebrovascular pathology, including microbleeds, microinfarcts, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. This suggests that blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity may be compromised allowing the extravasation of blood proteins in the brain parenchyma. The blood coagulation factor fibrin promotes immune-mediated neurodegeneration and is a marker of BBB disruption in a wide range of neurological diseases. This study investigated the severity of fibrin deposition as a measure of BBB integrity in the brains of adults with DS and AD pathology (DSAD). We hypothesized that fibrin deposition is increased in DSAD in comparison to neurotypical controls without DS or AD.
Method: Fibrin immunoreactivity was assessed by free-floating immunohistochemistry in 30µm tissue sections from the occipital cortex from neurotypical controls (n = 12; 41-65 years old) and DSAD (n = 12; 46-66 years old). Using whole slide imaging, brain sections were digitized, and the severity of fibrin deposition was scored using Aperio Imagescope.
Result: Individuals with DSAD display significantly higher fibrin deposition in the white and grey matter of the occipital cortex in comparison to the age-matched neurotypical controls (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: Neurotypical controls display minimal fibrin deposition in the brain parenchyma and perivascular space. However, compared to neurotypical controls, adults with DS at advanced stages of AD neuropathology display significant fibrin deposition in the occipital cortex, suggesting that the BBB may be compromised in this population.
Funding: NIH U19AG068054, RF1AG079519, P30AG066519 and 23AARFD-1022715.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/alz.089882 | DOI Listing |
Alzheimers Dement
December 2024
Gladstone Institutes, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Background: Cerebrovascular alterations and innate immune activation are key features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the mechanisms that link blood-brain barrier disruption to neurodegeneration are poorly understood and well-defined druggable targets at the neurovascular interface are limited.
Method: By developing a multiomic and genetic loss-of-function pipeline, we reported the transcriptomic and global phosphoproteomic landscape of blood-induced microglia activation and the causal role for fibrin in induction of neurodegenerative genes and oxidative stress pathways in innate immune cells.
Alzheimers Dement
December 2024
The UC Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), Irvine, CA, USA.
Background: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have an increased genetic risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD), with most adults developing AD neuropathology in their 40s. Despite having a low frequency of systemic vascular risk factors such as hypertension and atherosclerosis, adults with DS display cerebrovascular pathology, including microbleeds, microinfarcts, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. This suggests that blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity may be compromised allowing the extravasation of blood proteins in the brain parenchyma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Med Imaging Graph
December 2024
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multidimensional Information Processing, School of Communication and Electronic Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China. Electronic address:
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Program in Translational Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Sci Rep
December 2024
Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Immunology, Institute of Molecular Biology NAS RA, 7 Hasratyan Str., Yerevan, 0014, Armenia.
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