Epigenetic Regulation in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease

衰老和阿尔茨海默病的表观遗传调控

• 批准号: 10564831
• 负责人: Hongxin Dong
• 金额: $ 64.01万
• 依托单位: NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AT CHICAGO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-12-15 至 2027-11-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10564831
• 关键词: APP-PS1; Acceleration; Adult; Affect; Age; Age Months; Age Years; Aging; Alzheimer' s Disease; Alzheimer' s disease model; Alzheimer' s disease patient; Alzheimer' s disease risk; Alzheimer' s neuropathogenesis; Amyloid; Animal Model; Autopsy; Behavior; Biological Assay; Biological Markers; Brain; CRISPR/Cas technology; DNA Methylation; Development; Diagnosis; Disease; Dose; Elderly; Elements; Environment; Epigenetic Process; Functional disorder; Gene Expression; Gene Expression Regulation; Gene Modified; Genes; Genetic; Genetic Transcription; Glutamate Receptor; Hippocampus; Histone Acetylation; Histones; Human; Individual; Life; Link; MS-275; Maps; Mediating; Memory; Memory Loss; Memory impairment; Molecular; Molecular Target; Mus; Neurodegenerative Disorders; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurons; Pathogenesis; Pathway Analysis; Pharmacological Treatment; Play; Prefrontal Cortex; Prevention; Prevention strategy; Promoter Regions; Research; Risk; Risk Factors; Role; Stimulus; Synaptic plasticity; Testing; Therapeutic; Tissues; Twin Studies; Wild Type Mouse; Work; aged; brain tissue; chromatin immunoprecipitation; drug action; epigenetic regulation; epigenome; genetic approach; genome-wide; histone deacetylase 2; histone methylation; histone modification; improved; inhibitor; knock-down; mouse model; neuropathology; new therapeutic target; normal aging; novel; novel therapeutic intervention; overexpression; prevent; promoter; protein expression; response; synaptic function; tool; transcriptome sequencing; treatment strategy

ABSTRACT Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory loss and neuropathological changes in the brain. Aging remains the single largest risk factor for sporadic AD, but the mechanisms underlying this risk are not well understood. Epigenetics has been implicated in both aging and the pathogenesis of AD. Promising results from our group and others have showed that epigenetic alterations occur during aging and thereby affect neuronal function, as well as contributing to memory deficits and the pathogenesis of AD. In the proposed project, we will use mouse models of both aging and AD, as well as human postmortem tissues, to determine the histone modifications in the epigenome that occur during aging. We will also determine whether these changes promote the development of neuropathological changes that are associated with AD. Our hypothesis is that dysregulations of histone modification during aging promote AD by initiating the development of AD-related changes in neuronal networks at the molecular level. In turn, we also hypothesize that histonedeacetylase (HDAC) inhibitorscan mitigate or even prevent the neuropathogenesis of AD. To test our hypotheses, we will first map histone modifications that occur at three critical life stages (3, 12 and 18 months of age) in both wild-type (WT) and APP/PS1 mice, as well as human postmortem tissues (AD patients, young, aged healthy controls), to determine whether differential histone acetylation and methylation contribute to memory deficits and neuropathological changes associated with AD. This will be achieved through CUT&RUN seq and RNA seq combined with pathway analysis to determine the functional consequence of significant genes that are regulated by epigenetics. We will also profile histone modifications at specific gene promoter regions that are related to memory, synaptic plasticity, and the typical elements of AD neuropathology. Second, given that HDACs are key factors in histone modification and in the regulation of gene transcription, we will determine whether dysfunction of any specific HDACs causes memory deficits in AD mouse models. For this purpose, we will utilize genetic editing tools including CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-down and AAV9-eGFP- mediated over-expression to identify critical HDACs (eg. HDAC2 and 3) that modulate histone acetylation and methylation marks at gene promoters specifically linked to memory and neuronal plasticity. Finally, we will determine whether HDAC inhibitors have beneficial effects on memory-like behaviors and AD-like neuropathological changes in APP/PS1 mice (3, 12 and 18 months of age) as well as in age-matched WT mice. More specifically, we will investigate whether non-selective (i.e., VPA) or selective HDAC inhibitors (i.e., MS-275 and CI-994) are effective in preventing and/or rescuing memory function and neuronal changes in aging and AD mouse models. Overall, this project will significantly improve our understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms that link aging with the neuropathogenesis of AD. Identification of these mechanisms will lay the basis for developing novel therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of AD.

摘要 阿尔茨海默病(AD)是一种进行性神经退行性疾病，其特征是记忆丧失和 脑部的神经病变。老龄化仍然是散发性阿尔茨海默病的最大危险因素，但 这种风险背后的机制还没有被很好地理解。表观遗传学被认为与衰老和 阿尔茨海默病发病机制。来自我们小组和其他人的有希望的结果表明，表观遗传变化发生了 在衰老过程中，从而影响神经元功能，以及导致记忆缺陷和 阿尔茨海默病发病机制。在拟议的项目中，我们将使用衰老和AD的小鼠模型，以及人类模型 死后组织，以确定在老化过程中表观基因组中发生的组蛋白修饰。我们会 还要确定这些变化是否促进了神经病理变化的发展 与AD关联。我们的假设是，衰老过程中组蛋白修饰的失调通过以下方式促进AD 在分子水平上启动AD相关神经元网络的发展变化。反过来，我们还 假设组蛋白脱乙酰酶(HDAC)抑制剂可以减轻甚至预防脑血管疾病的神经发病 广告。为了验证我们的假设，我们将首先绘制在三个关键生命阶段(3、12)发生的组蛋白修饰 和18月龄)在野生型(WT)和APP/PS1小鼠以及人死后组织(AD)中 患者，年轻的，老年的健康对照)，以确定组蛋白乙酰化和甲基化的差异 导致记忆缺陷和与AD相关的神经病理改变。这将通过以下方式实现 切割和运行序列和RNA序列结合通径分析来确定功能结果 受表观遗传学调控的重要基因。我们还将分析特定基因上的组蛋白修饰 启动子区域与记忆、突触可塑性和阿尔茨海默病的典型神经病理因素有关。 第二，鉴于HDAC是组蛋白修饰和基因转录调控的关键因素，我们 将确定任何特定HDAC的功能障碍是否会导致AD小鼠模型的记忆障碍。为了这个 目的，我们将利用基因编辑工具，包括CRISPR/Cas9介导的敲除和AAV9-EGFP- 经调解的 过度表达 确定关键的HDAC(例如，HDAC2和3)调节组蛋白乙酰化和 与记忆和神经元可塑性相关的基因启动子上的甲基化标记。最后，我们会 确定HDAC抑制剂是否对记忆样行为和AD样行为有有益影响 APP/PS1小鼠(3、12和18月龄)以及年龄匹配的WT小鼠的神经病理变化。 更具体地说，我们将调查非选择性(即VPA)或选择性HDAC抑制剂(即MS-275) 和CI-994)在预防和/或挽救衰老和AD的记忆功能和神经元变化方面有效 老鼠模型。总体而言，这个项目将显著提高我们对表观遗传机制的理解。 将衰老与阿尔茨海默病的神经发病机制联系起来。对这些机制的识别将为 开发防治阿尔茨海默病的新治疗策略。