In certain neurodegenerative diseases such Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), it is hypothesised that misfolded α-synuclein (α-syn) and β-amyloid both contribute to pathology. α-Syn and β-amyloid have been suggested to synergistically promote one another’s accumulation and aggregation, but the mechanisms are unknown. β-Amyloid is generated from β-/γ-secretase-mediated processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). This study investigated how α-syn overexpression in cells affects β-amyloid production from APP, using multiplex assays, luciferase reporter assays, and western blotting. Wildtype α-syn expression induces β-amyloid generation from APP in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells, and similar changes to APP processing occur in another neuronal cell model. Dominant-negative overexpression of α-syn mutants revealed that disrupting the N-terminal domain can increase APP amyloidogenic processing. Secretase enzymes that perform APP processing were next investigated. γ-Secretase activity, measured by a luciferase reporter, was not increased by α-syn overexpression. A higher ratio of β- to α-secretase processing was hypothesised, which led to expression and activity studies of the major β- and α-secretases, BACE1 and ADAM10 respectively. It was shown that the BACE1 protein expression is post-transcriptionally upregulated in α-syn cells, with increased APP cleavage in cells. ADAM10 protein expression is transcriptionally suppressed in wild-type α-syn cells, reducing total levels of catalytically active enzyme. However the change in ADAM10-mediated APP processing may be negligible since, critically, plasma membrane expression of ADAM10 appears to be maintained. To aid understanding of the mechanism that connects α-syn to APP processing, BACE1 expression was used in pharmacological studies of cell stress signalling. This approach revealed that in α-syn cells BACE1 lysosomal and/or proteasomal degradation may be disturbed. Additionally, BACE1 expression is induced by translational de-repression mediated by eIF2α ser-51 phosphorylation, which was increased in α-syn cells. Although preliminary, the data suggests a role for oxidative stress mediating the increased BACE1 expression in wild-type α-syn cells.

Amyloid plaques, a neuropathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), are largely composed of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide, derived from cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β- and γ-secretase. The endosome is increasingly recognized as an important crossroads for APP and the secretases, with major implications for APP processing and amyloidogenesis. Amongst various posttranslational modifications affecting APP, ubiquitination of cytodomain lysines may represent a key signal controlling endosomal sorting. Here, we show that substitution of APP COOH-terminal lysines with arginines disrupts APP ubiquitination, though the pool of ubiquitinated APP is small or transient. Nonetheless, this small deficiency in ubiquitination can have a significant impact on APP, such that the number of lysines mutated trends toward an increase in APP metabolism. An APP mutant lacking all COOH-terminal lysines undergoes the most pronounced increase in processing, leading to accumulation of both secreted and intracellular Aβ40, without change in Aβ42. This phenotype is abolished by artificial ubiquitination of APP using rapalog-mediated proximity inducers. Lack of APP COOH-terminal lysines does not affect APP endocytosis, but leads to a redistribution of APP from endosomal intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) to the endosomal limiting membrane, with subsequent decrease in APP COOH-terminal fragment (CTF) content of secreted exosomes, but minimal effects on APP lysosomal degradation. Both the secreted and intracellular increase in Aβ40 is abolished by depletion of presenilin 2 (PSEN2), recently shown to be enriched on the endosomal limiting membrane compared to presenilin 1 (PSEN1). In a separate set of studies, we found that a familial AD mutant, L723P, which occurs immediately next to a string of three lysines in the juxtamembrane region, behaves more similarly to other FAD-causing mutations. APP L723P exhibits a selective increase in Aβ42, and a delay in degradation, but no change in exosomal content, despite some missorting to the endosomal limiting membrane. Our findings demonstrate that ubiquitin can act as a signal for endosomal sorting at five lysines in the APP cytodomain, disruption of which prevents sequestration of APP in ILVs and results in the processing of a larger pool of APP-CTF by PSEN2 on the endosomal membrane.

Leung Man-hin. / Thesis submitted in: August 2004. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-133). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Abbreviations --- p.v / Figure List --- p.vii / Chapter Chapter 1: --- General introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Amyloid cascade hypothesis --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Tauopathy --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- The amyloid precursor proteins / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Structure of amyloid precursor proteins and related peptides --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Amyloid precursor protein mutations --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3.3 --- Amyloid precursor protein processing --- p.10 / Chapter 1.3.4 --- Physiological roles of APP --- p.12 / Chapter 1.3.5 --- The pathophysiological role of Ap --- p.17 / Chapter 1.3.6 --- The pathophysiological role of APP-CTF --- p.20 / Chapter 1.4 --- The role of proteases in amyloid precursor protein processing / Chapter 1.4.1 --- α-secretase and p-secretase --- p.22 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- γ-secretase complex --- p.30 / Chapter 1.4.3 --- Caspases --- p.36 / Chapter 1.4.4 --- Kallikrein-like proteases --- p.37 / Chapter 1.5 --- Objective of the present study --- p.40 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Materials and methods / Chapter 2.1 --- Experimental procedure / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Plasmid construction --- p.42 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- "DNA purification, ligation and restriction enzyme digestion" --- p.44 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Competent cell preparation --- p.47 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Transformation --- p.47 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- Plasmid miniprep --- p.48 / Chapter 2.1.6 --- Prokaryotic expression of neurosin --- p.49 / Chapter 2.1.7 --- SDS-PAGE --- p.51 / Chapter 2.1.8 --- Protein sample preparation --- p.51 / Chapter 2.1.9 --- Western Blot --- p.52 / Chapter 2.1.10 --- Immobilized metal affinity chromatography --- p.54 / Chapter 2.1.11 --- Enzyme assay --- p.55 / Chapter 2.1.12 --- Cell culture and transfection --- p.56 / Chapter 2.1.13 --- Live cell imaging --- p.57 / Chapter 2.2 --- Materials --- p.59 / Chapter Chapter 3 : --- Results / Chapter 3.1 --- Recombinant expression and characterization of neurosin / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Construction of neurosin prokaryotic expression vectors --- p.62 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Prokaryotic expression of neurosin --- p.64 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Neurosin was expressed as inclusion bodies --- p.68 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Co-expression of molecular chaperones with neurosin --- p.70 / Chapter 3.1.5 --- Purification of recombinant neurosin by IMAC --- p.76 / Chapter 3.1.6 --- Enzyme assay --- p.81 / Chapter 3.2 --- Effect of neurosin on APP processing in neuronal cells / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Generation of APP constructs --- p.84 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Expression of APP in mammalian cultures --- p.89 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Cellular localization of APP and its processing products --- p.96 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- The role of over-expression of neurosin on APP processing in B103 cells --- p.101 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Discussion / Chapter 4.1 --- Discussion of neurosin expression --- p.103 / Chapter 4.2 --- Discussion of APP cell model --- p.109 / Chapter 4.3 --- Conclusion --- p.119 / References --- p.121 / Appendix / Chapter A. --- Tables on primers used --- p.138 / Chapter B. --- Plasmid maps --- p.139 / Chapter C. --- Raw data on the DNA sequencing --- p.141

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of aggregates of amyloid beta (Aβ) in senile plaques and tau in neurofibrillary tangles, as well as marked neuron and synapse loss. Of these pathological changes, synapse loss correlates most strongly with cognitive decline. Understanding the contributions of different risk factors, toxic proteins, and protein networks to synaptic dysfunction and loss is essential to understanding and one day curing this disease. Oligomeric species of both Aβ and tau are implicated in synapse, however the interaction between them requires further exploration. The first aim of this thesis was to investigate the interaction of Aβ and tau in a novel mouse model AD. In this model APP/PS1 mice were crossed with mice expressing full length wild type human tau (hTau). Expression of hTau in APP/PS1 mice increased plaque size by~50% and increased plaque-associated dystrophic neurites. However, no increase in neurite curvature, neuron loss, or synapse loss was observed in the hTau APP/PS1 animals compared with APP/PS1 alone. The underlying cause of most cases of AD is not known, however genetic risk factors have been identified, the strongest of which is the APOE e4 allele. APOE e4 is associated with increased risk of developing AD and increased rates of cognitive decline compared to the more common APOE e3 allele. The second aim of this thesis was to detect differences in the AD synaptic proteome compared with controls and to also investigate the effect of an APOE e4 allele on those changes. Unbiased label free LC-MS/ MS based proteomics of synapses isolated from human AD and control post-mortem brains of known APOE genotypes was used. Of the 1043 proteins detected in 20 synaptic preparations 17% (173) were found to differ significantly (p < 0.05, fold change >1.2) in AD compared with control. A significant sub-set of these proteins were affected by APOE e4 allele genotype. One of these was Clusterin which was not only increased in the AD synapse but further increased in cases with an APOE e4 allele. Clusterin is closely related to ApoE has also been genetically linked to AD in genome-wide association studies. Aim three was to further investigate the involvement of Clusterin at the synapse and the interaction of ApoE with Clusterin using array tomography. Array tomography confirmed an increase in Clusterin co-localization with presynapses and postsynapses in AD cases compared with controls and found a further increase in cases with an APOE e4 allele. Array tomography also found an increase in synapses which co-localized with Clusterin and Aβ together in cases with an APOE e4 allele. This implies that Clusterin is important in Aβ mediated synapse loss in AD. To further investigate the role of synapse loss in AD aim 4 of this thesis was to develop a novel human based model of Aβ mediated synapse loss. This model uses cortical neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells from a control individual that are challenged with Aβ extracted from brains from AD and control individuals. This model shows a significant and concentration dependent reduction in the number of synapses in response Aβ from AD brain but not to control brain extract or AD brain extract immunodepleted of Aβ. The work presented in this thesis has investigated two novel models of AD to assess the effect of known toxic proteins in AD related synapse degeneration. This work also shows that profound protein changes occur at the synapse in AD and that many of these are affected by APOE genotype. Many of these changes potentially cause or contribute to synaptic dysfunction in AD and therefore could be important for therapeutic interventions.

No description available.

The present study evaluated olfactory and cognitive abilities of the Tg6799 (also called 5xFAD) strain of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model mice of two different age groups (2-3 and 8-10 months of age), and one group of healthy control mice (9-10 months). Employment of an operant conditioning paradigm using an automated olfactometer, an olfactory habituation/dishabituation test and a spatial learning test with non olfactory cues resulted in data showing that the 5xFAD mice develop olfactory impairments already at 2-3 months of age. The impairments consisted in a robust impairment in olfactory sensitivity, decreased responsiveness to novel odors and an inability to discriminate between enantiomeric odor molecules in the 5xFAD mice compared to control mice. Spatial learning deficits were also detected at this age, suggesting that cognitive functions were also affected. No differences in magnitude of the olfactory or spatial learning impairments could be detected between the age groups of model mice tested. Histological examination of development and presence of amyloid β (Aβ) plaques in the brains showed that plaques develop mainly between the ages of 3 and 8 months. This indicates that soluble Aβ rather than the formation of plaques might be responsible for the olfactory impairment and spatial learning impairments found. By 10 months of age plaque load of the 5xFAD mice was massive. The results of the present study clearly show that the 5xFAD strain might be suitable for research on human AD with regard to the early onset of olfactory impairments.

The research field of conjugated polymers has grown due to the optical and electronic properties of the material, useful in applications such as solar cells and printed electronics, but also in biosensors and for interactions with biomolecules. In this thesis conjugated polymers have been used in two related topics; to detect conformational changes in proteins and to assemble the polymers with biomolecules into nanowires. Within biosensing, conjugated polymers have been used for detection of a wide range of biological events, such as DNA hybridization or enzymatic activity, utilizing both electronic and optical changes in the polymer. Here the focus has been to use the polymers as optical probes to discriminate between native and misfolded protein, as well as to follow the misfolding processes in vitro. The understanding and detection of protein misfolding, for example amyloid fibril formation, is a topic of growing importance. The misfolding process is strongly associated with several devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). We have developed detection schemes for discrimination between proteins in the native or amyloid fibril state based on luminescent polythiophene derivatives. Through a synthesis strategy based on polymerization of trimer blocks rather than of monomers, polythiophene derivatives with higher optical signal specificity for amyloid-like fibrils were obtained. Self-assembly of nanowires containing conjugated polymers is a route to generate structures of unique opto-electrical characteristics without the need for tedious topdown processes. Biomolecules can have nanowire geometries of extraordinary aspect ratio and functionalities. The DNA molecule is the most well known and exploited of these. In this thesis work the more stable amyloid fibril has been used as a template to organize conjugated polymers. Luminescent, semi-conducting, conjugated polymers have been incorporated in and assembled onto amyloid fibrils. Using luminescence quenching we have demonstrated that the conjugated material can retain the electro-activity after the incorporation process. Furthermore, the amyloid fibril/conjugated polymer hybrid structures can be organized on surfaces by the means of molecular combing and soft lithography. In the process of generating self-assembled biomolecular nanowires functionalized with conjugated polymers, we have shown a new synthesis strategy for a water-soluble highly conducting polythiophene derivative. This material, PEDOT-S, has shown affinity for amyloid fibrils, but can also be very useful in conventional opto-electronic polymer-based devices.

Amyloidoses are a group of protein misfolding diseases characterized by deposits of insoluble fibrillar protein aggregates. Medin amyloid, which is the focus of this thesis, appears in the media of the thoracic aorta in nearly all individuals over 50 years. The fibrils are derived from a 50 amino acid residue fragment of the precursor protein lactadherin. How medin amyloid arises is unknown, but in paper I we demonstrated, with immunohistochemical and in vitro binding experiments, that both lactadherin and medin interact with elastin, implying that the elastic fibre is central in amyloid formation. In paper II, we further showed that the last 18-19 amino acid residues constitute the amyloid-promoting region. In paper III, the consequence of medin deposition was investigated. Aortic specimens from patients with thoracic aorta aneurysm and dissection were examined for medin content. The tissue findings indicated that the two disease groups contained more medin oligomers than normal aortas. Interestingly, recent reports demonstrate that the toxicity of amyloid proteins is attributed to prefibrillar oligomeric aggregates rather than to mature fibrils. In support of this finding, we observed that prefibrillar medin, in contrast to medin fibrils, was toxic in cell culture. Amyloid formation is a nucleation-dependent process. Addition of preformed fibrils to an amyloid protein solution dramatically accelerates fibrillation, a phenomenon called seeding. In paper IV, serum amyloid A-derived (AA) amyloid was found co-localized with medin deposits in the aorta. In vitro, medin fibrils enhanced the formation of AA fibrils, indicative of a seeding mechanism. The data are of great importance as they suggest that one type of amyloid is capable of inducing fibrillation and deposition of another amyloid type. In conclusion, the results of this thesis shed light on how medin is formed, the function of lactadherin and the consequences of medin deposition for aortic pathology.

BACKGROUND: Serum amyloid P component (SAP) is a glycoprotein that is universally found associated with different types of amyloid deposits. It has been suggested that it stabilizes amyloid fibrils and therefore protects them from proteolytic degradation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this paper, we show that SAP binds not only to mature amyloid fibrils but also to early aggregates of amyloidogenic mutants of the plasma protein transthyretin (TTR). It does not inhibit fibril formation of TTR mutants, which spontaneously form amyloid in vitro at physiological pH. We found that SAP prevents cell death induced by mutant TTR, while several other molecules that are also known to decorate amyloid fibrils do not have such effect. Using a Drosophila model for TTR-associated amyloidosis, we found a new role for SAP as a protective factor in inhibition of TTR-induced toxicity. Overexpression of mutated TTR leads to a neurological phenotype with changes in wing posture. SAP-transgenic flies were crossed with mutated TTR-expressing flies and the results clearly confirmed a protective effect of SAP on TTR-induced phenotype, with an almost complete reduction in abnormal wing posture. Furthermore, we found in vivo that binding of SAP to mutated TTR counteracts the otherwise detrimental effects of aggregation of amyloidogenic TTR on retinal structure. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Together, these two approaches firmly establish the protective effect of SAP on TTR-induced cell death and degenerative phenotypes, and suggest a novel role for SAP through which the toxicity of early amyloidogenic aggregates is attenuated. / <p>Epub 2013 Feb 4.</p>

Immunoglobulin-mediated inhibition of amyloid fibril formation in vivo is a promising strategy for the treatment of protein misfolding diseases such as the amyloidoses. Here we focus on transthyretin amyloidoses, a group of protein conformation diseases caused by the misfolding of the serum protein transthyretin into fibrillar structures that deposit in specific organs and tissues—often with serious pathological consequences. Using a structure-guided immunological approach, we report a novel antibody that selectively recognizes monomeric, misfolded conformations of transthyretin in vitro. Raised to an epitope normally buried in the native form of transthyretin, this antibody was found to suppress transthyretin fibrillogenesis at substoichiometric concentrations in vitro. Overall, the selectivity and inhibitory nature of the antibody signals the potential use of conformation specific antibodies in the diagnosis and treatment of transthyretin amyloidoses, conditions which remain difficult to treat and are widely under/misdiagnosed at the current time.