Abstract
Atherosclerosis (ATH) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are both age-dependent inflammatory diseases, associated with infiltrated macrophages and vascular pathology and overlapping molecules. C/EBPβ, an Aβ or inflammatory cytokine-activated transcription factor, and AEP (asparagine endopeptidase) are intimately implicated in both ATH and AD; however, whether C/EBPβ/AEP signaling couples ATH to AD pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. Here we show that C/EBPβ/AEP pathway mediates ATH pathology and couples ATH to AD. Deletion of C/EBPβ or AEP from primary macrophages diminishes cholesterol load, and inactivation of this pathway reduces foam cell formation and lesions in aorta in ApoE−/− mice, fed with HFD (high-fat-diet). Knockout of ApoE from 3xTg AD mouse model augments serum LDL and increases lesion areas in the aorta. Depletion of C/EBPβ or AEP from 3xTg/ApoE−/− mice substantially attenuates these effects and elevates cerebral blood flow and vessel length, improving cognitive functions. Strikingly, knockdown of ApoE from the hippocampus of 3xTg mice decreases the cerebral blood flow and vessel length and aggravates AD pathologies, leading to cognitive deficits. Inactivation of C/EBPβ/AEP pathway alleviates these events and restores cognitive functions. Hence, our findings demonstrate that C/EBPβ/AEP signaling couples ATH to AD via mediating vascular pathology.
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Health (RO1, AG065177) to KY. This study was supported in part by the Rodent Behavioral Core (RBC), which is subsidized by the Emory University School of Medicine and is one of the Emory Integrated Core Facilities. Additional support was provided by the Viral Vector Core of the Emory Neuroscience NINDS Core Facilities (P30NS055077). Further support was provided by the Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1TR002378.
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KY conceived the project, designed the experiments, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. JL and GC designed and performed most of the experiments and analyzed the data. XL prepared primary macrophages and assisted with in vivo and in vitro experiments. ZZW, SPY and QC assisted with data analysis and interpretation and critically read the manuscript.
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Liao, J., Chen, G., Liu, X. et al. C/EBPβ/AEP signaling couples atherosclerosis to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Mol Psychiatry 27, 3034–3046 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01556-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01556-0
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