Blocking the apolipoprotein E/Amyloid β interaction in triple transgenic mice ameliorates Alzheimer's disease related amyloid β and tau pathology

• Published in: Journal of neurochemistry 2014-02, Vol.128 (4), p.577-591
• Main Authors: Liu, Shan, Breitbart, Ariel, Sun, Yanjie, Mehta, Pankaj D., Boutajangout, Allal, Scholtzova, Henrieta, Wisniewski, Thomas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alzheimer Disease - drug therapy; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Alzheimer's disease; Amino Acid Sequence; Amyloid beta-Peptides - antagonists & inhibitors; Amyloid beta-Peptides - pharmacology; Amyloid β; Amyloidosis - drug therapy; Amyloidosis - pathology; Amyloidosis - psychology; Animals; apolipoprotein E; Apolipoproteins E - antagonists & inhibitors; behavior; Blotting, Western; Brain Chemistry - drug effects; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Exploratory Behavior - physiology; Gliosis - pathology; histochemistry; Immunohistochemistry; Maze Learning - drug effects; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Molecular Sequence Data; Motor Activity - physiology; Peptide Fragments - pharmacology; Postural Balance - drug effects; tau; tau Proteins - metabolism
• ISSN: 0022-3042; 1471-4159
• DOI: 10.1111/jnc.12484

Inheritance of the apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) genotype has been identified as the major genetic risk factor for late‐onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Studies have shown that the binding between apoE and amyloid‐β (Aβ) peptides occurs at residues 244–272 of apoE and residues 12–28 of Aβ. ApoE4 has been implicated in promoting Aβ deposition and impairing clearance of Aβ. We hypothesized that blocking the apoE/Aβ interaction would serve as an effective new approach to AD therapy. We have previously shown that treatment with Aβ12‐28P can reduce amyloid plaques in APP/PS1 transgenic (Tg) mice and vascular amyloid in TgSwDI mice with congophilic amyloid angiopathy. In the present study, we investigated whether the Aβ12‐28P elicits a therapeutic effect on tau‐related pathology in addition to amyloid pathology using old triple transgenic AD mice (3xTg, with PS1M146V, APPSwe and tauP30IL transgenes) with established pathology from the ages of 21 to 26 months. We show that treatment with Aβ12‐28P substantially reduces tau pathology both immunohistochemically and biochemically, as well as reducing the amyloid burden and suppressing the activation of astrocytes and microglia. These affects correlate with a behavioral amelioration in the treated Tg mice. The apolipoprotein E (apoE)/amyloid beta (Aβ) interaction plays an important role in the aggregation and clearance of Aβ. We show that the apoE/Aβ binding blocker, Aβ12‐28P, elicits a therapeutic effect on tau related pathology, in addition to amyloid deposition, in 3xTg Alzheimer's disease model mice. These affects correlate with a behavioral amelioration in the treated Tg mice. We believe this presents a novel therapeutic approach for AD. The apolipoprotein E (apoE)/amyloid beta (Aβ) interaction plays an important role in the aggregation and clearance of Aβ. We show that the apoE/Aβ binding blocker, Aβ12‐28P, elicits a therapeutic effect on tau related pathology, in addition to amyloid deposition, in 3xTg Alzheimer's disease model mice. These affects correlate with a behavioral amelioration in the treated Tg mice. We believe this presents a novel therapeutic approach for AD.