Model identifies genetic predisposition of Alzheimer’s disease as key decider in cell susceptibility to stress
File(s)ijms-22-12001-v2.pdf (3.29 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Stefani, Ioanna
Blaudin de The, Francois-Xavier
Kontoravdi, Kleio
Polizzi, Karen
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Accumulation of unfolded/misfolded proteins in neuronal cells perturbs endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis, triggering a stress cascade called unfolded protein response (UPR), markers of which are upregulated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain specimens. We measured the UPR dynamic response in three human neuroblastoma cell lines overexpressing the wild-type and two familial AD (FAD)-associated mutant forms of amyloid precursor protein (APP), the Swedish and Swedish-Indiana mutations, using gene expression analysis. The results reveal a differential response to subsequent environmental stress depending on the genetic background, with cells overexpressing the Swedish variant of APP exhibiting the highest global response. We further developed a dynamic mathematical model of the UPR that describes the activation of the three branches of this stress response in response to unfolded protein accumulation. Model-based analysis of the experimental data suggests that the mutant cell lines experienced a higher protein load and subsequent magnitude of transcriptional activation compared to the cells overexpressing wild-type APP, pointing to higher susceptibility of mutation-carrying cells to stress. The model was then used to understand the effect of therapeutic agents salubrinal, lithium, and valproate on signalling through different UPR branches. This study proposes a novel integrated platform to support the development of therapeutics for AD.
Date Issued
2021-11-05
Date Acceptance
2021-10-27
Citation
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2021, 22 (21), pp.1-15
ISSN
1422-0067
Publisher
MDPI AG
Start Page
1
End Page
15
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume
22
Issue
21
Copyright Statement
© 2021 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
Alzheimer's Research UK (ARUK)
Identifier
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/21/12001
Grant Number
ART/PPG2009B/5
Subjects
amyloid precursor protein
beta-amyloid
endoplasmic reticulum stress
mathematical modelling
neurodegeneration
unfolded protein response
0399 Other Chemical Sciences
0604 Genetics
0699 Other Biological Sciences
Chemical Physics
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-11-05