Cited by 12Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsLysosomal Storage Disorders ResearchDementia and Cognitive Impairment Research

Loss of lysosomal acid lipase contributes to Alzheimer's disease pathology and cognitive decline

Open access
Barnett, Alexandra M., McNair, Elizabeth M., Dawkins, Lamar, Zou, Jian, Nikolova, Viktoriya D., Moy, Sheryl S., Sutherland, Greg T., Stevens, Julia +8 more·2025·Alzheimer's & Dementia

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Underlying drivers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain unknown, though several distinct risk exposures share a common pathological progression. METHODS: The cellular and molecular consequences of two common midlife AD risk factors—heavy alcohol use and obesity—were compared to uncover novel mediators that contribute to AD. RESULTS: Both AD risk exposures reduced levels of neuronal lysosomal acid lipase (LAL), which contributed to AD pathology and cognitive decline. LAL was lost with age in mice and humans with greater losses in AD and inverse associations with amyloid β (Aβ). LAL loss preceded Aβ pathology in AD mice, and neuronal LAL knockdown enhanced pathology and cognitive decline. In human AD brain, robust reductions in LAL protein were found with indications of a transcriptional mechanism. LAL gene therapy reduced pathology and improved cognition and affect in vivo. DISCUSSION: LAL loss is an age‐related contributor to AD pathology that can be targeted therapeutically. Highlights: The loss of lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) contributes to Alzheimer's disease progression. LAL is lost is normal aging and Alzheimer's disease risk exposures. LAL loss is greater in human Alzheimer's brain and predicts the extent of pathology. LAL gene therapy blunts Alzheimer’ pathology, improving cognition and mood with age.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/alz.70486

Cites

17 of 17 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 59

  1. [1]Pedditzi E, Peters R, Beckett N. The risk of overweight/obesity in mid‐life and late life for the development of dementia: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of longitudinal studies. Age Ageing. 2016; 45(1): 14‐ 21. 26764391
  2. [2]Xu W, Tan L, Wang HF, et al. Meta‐analysis of modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2015; 86(12): 1299‐ 1306. 26294005
  3. [3]Harwood DG, Kalechstein A, Barker WW, et al. The effect of alcohol and tobacco consumption, and apolipoprotein E genotype, on the age of onset in Alzheimer's disease. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010; 25(5): 511‐ 518. 19750560
  4. [4]Schwarzinger M, Pollock BG, Hasan OSM, Dufouil C, Rehm J, QalyDays Study G. Contribution of alcohol use disorders to the burden of dementia in France 2008‐13: a nationwide retrospective cohort study. Lancet Public Health. 2018; 3(3): e124‐ e132. 29475810
  5. [5]Long JM, Holtzman DM. Alzheimer disease: an update on pathobiology and treatment strategies. Cell. 2019; 179(2): 312‐ 339. 31564456 PMC6778042
  6. [6]Barrachina M, Maes T, Buesa C, Ferrer I. Lysosome‐associated membrane protein 1 (LAMP‐1) in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2006; 32(5): 505‐ 516. 16972884
  7. [7]Almeida MF, Bahr BA, Kinsey ST. Endosomal‐lysosomal dysfunction in metabolic diseases and Alzheimer's disease. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2020; 154: 303‐ 324. 32739009 PMC8428780
  8. [8]Wolfe DM, Lee JH, Kumar A, Lee S, Orenstein SJ, Nixon RA. Autophagy failure in Alzheimer's disease and the role of defective lysosomal acidification. Eur J Neurosci. 2013; 37(12): 1949‐ 1961. 23773064 PMC3694736
  9. [9]Nixon RA. The role of autophagy in neurodegenerative disease. Nat Med. 2013; 19(8): 983‐ 997. 23921753
  10. [10]Peric A, Annaert W. Early etiology of Alzheimer's disease: tipping the balance toward autophagy or endosomal dysfunction?. Acta Neuropathol. 2015; 129(3): 363‐ 381. 25556159 PMC4331606
  11. [11]Ginsberg SD, Alldred MJ, Counts SE, et al. Microarray analysis of hippocampal CA1 neurons implicates early endosomal dysfunction during Alzheimer's disease progression. Biol Psychiatry. 2010; 68(10): 885‐ 893. 20655510 PMC2965820
  12. [14]Huang Y, Mahley RW. Apolipoprotein E: structure and function in lipid metabolism, neurobiology, and Alzheimer's diseases. Neurobiol Dis. 2014; 72(Pt A): 3‐ 12. 25173806 PMC4253862
  13. [16]Katzov H, Chalmers K, Palmgren J, et al. Genetic variants of ABCA1 modify Alzheimer disease risk and quantitative traits related to beta‐amyloid metabolism. Hum Mutat. 2004; 23(4): 358‐ 367. 15024730
  14. [17]Mace S, Cousin E, Ricard S, et al. ABCA2 is a strong genetic risk factor for early‐onset Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Dis. 2005; 18(1): 119‐ 125. 15649702
  15. [21]Oddo S, Caccamo A, Shepherd JD, et al. Triple‐transgenic model of Alzheimer's disease with plaques and tangles: intracellular Abeta and synaptic dysfunction. Neuron. 2003; 39(3): 409‐ 421. 12895417
  16. [22]Oddo S, Caccamo A, Kitazawa M, Tseng BP, LaFerla FM. Amyloid deposition precedes tangle formation in a triple transgenic model of Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Aging. 2003; 24(8): 1063‐ 1070. 14643377
  17. [24]Gouras GK, Willen K, Tampellini D. Critical role of intraneuronal Abeta in Alzheimer's disease: technical challenges in studying intracellular Abeta. Life Sci. 2012; 91(23‐24): 1153‐ 1158. 22727791 PMC3479332
  18. [26]Christensen DZ, Kraus SL, Flohr A, Cotel MC, Wirths O, Bayer TA. Transient intraneuronal A beta rather than extracellular plaque pathology correlates with neuron loss in the frontal cortex of APP/PS1KI mice. Acta Neuropathol. 2008; 116(6): 647‐ 655. 18974993
  19. [27]Takahashi RH, Milner TA, Li F, et al. Intraneuronal Alzheimer abeta42 accumulates in multivesicular bodies and is associated with synaptic pathology. Am J Pathol. 2002; 161(5): 1869‐ 1879. 12414533 PMC1850783
  20. [29]Langui D, Girardot N, El Hachimi KH, et al. Subcellular topography of neuronal Abeta peptide in APPxPS1 transgenic mice. Am J Pathol. 2004; 165(5): 1465‐ 1477. 15509518 PMC1618656
  21. [31]Cataldo AM, Petanceska S, Terio NB, et al. Abeta localization in abnormal endosomes: association with earliest Abeta elevations in AD and Down syndrome. Neurobiol Aging. 2004; 25(10): 1263‐ 1272. 15465622
  22. [32]Repnik U, Cesen MH, Turk B. The endolysosomal system in cell death and survival. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2013; 5(1): a008755. 23284043 PMC3579391
  23. [33]Hansen TE, Johansen T. Following autophagy step by step. BMC Biol. 2011; 9: 39. 21635796 PMC3107173
  24. [34]Schott MB, Weller SG, Schulze RJ, et al. Lipid droplet size directs lipolysis and lipophagy catabolism in hepatocytes. J Cell Biol. 2019; 218(10): 3320‐ 3335. 31391210 PMC6781454
  25. [35]Singh R, Kaushik S, Wang Y, et al. Autophagy regulates lipid metabolism. Nature. 2009; 458(7242): 1131‐ 1135. 19339967 PMC2676208
  26. [36]Yu JT, Xu W, Tan CC, et al. Evidence‐based prevention of Alzheimer's disease: systematic review and meta‐analysis of 243 observational prospective studies and 153 randomised controlled trials. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2020; 91(11): 1201‐ 1209. 32690803 PMC7569385
  27. [37]Hoffman JL, Faccidomo S, Kim M, et al. Alcohol drinking exacerbates neural and behavioral pathology in the 3xTg‐AD mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2019; 148: 169‐ 230. 31733664 PMC6939615
  28. [38]Barnett AM, David E, Rohlman AR, et al. Adolescent binge alcohol enhances early Alzheimer's disease pathology in adulthood through proinflammatory neuroimmune activation. Front Pharmacol. 2022; 13: 884170. 35559229 PMC9086457
  29. [39]Huang D, Yu M, Yang S, et al. Ethanol alters APP processing and aggravates Alzheimer‐associated phenotypes. Mol Neurobiol. 2018; 55(6): 5006‐ 5018. 28799137
  30. [40]Ledesma JC, Rodriguez‐Arias M, Gavito AL, et al. Adolescent binge‐ethanol accelerates cognitive impairment and beta‐amyloid production and dysregulates endocannabinoid signaling in the hippocampus of APP/PSE mice. Addict Biol. 2021; 26(1): e12883. 32043730
  31. [42]Julien C, Tremblay C, Phivilay A, et al. High‐fat diet aggravates amyloid‐beta and tau pathologies in the 3xTg‐AD mouse model. Neurobiol Aging. 2010; 31(9): 1516‐ 1531. 18926603
  32. [43]Vetreno RP, Qin L, Coleman LG Jr, Crews FT. Increased Toll‐like receptor‐MyD88‐NFkappaB‐proinflammatory neuroimmune signaling in the orbitofrontal cortex of humans with alcohol use disorder. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2021; 45(9): 1747‐ 1761. 34415075 PMC8526379
  33. [44]Coleman LG Jr, Zou J, Crews FT. Microglial‐derived miRNA let‐7 and HMGB1 contribute to ethanol‐induced neurotoxicity via TLR7. J Neuroinflam. 2017; 14(1): 22. PMC5264311 28118842
  34. [45]Zou J, McNair E, DeCastro S, et al. Microglia either promote or restrain TRAIL‐mediated excitotoxicity caused by Abeta(1‐42) oligomers. J Neuroinflam. 2024; 21(1): 215. PMC11367981 39218898
  35. [46]Schmidt W, Popham RE, Israel Y. Dose‐specific effects of alcohol on the lifespan of mice and the possible relevance to man. Br J Addict. 1987; 82(7): 775‐ 788. 3478068
  36. [47]Pruett S, Tan W, Howell GE 3rd, Nanduri B. Dosage scaling of alcohol in binge exposure models in mice: an empirical assessment of the relationship between dose, alcohol exposure, and peak blood concentrations in humans and mice. Alcohol. 2020; 89: 9‐ 17. 32259574 PMC8221372
  37. [48]Qin L, Zou J, Barnett A, Vetreno RP, Crews FT, Coleman LG. TRAIL mediates neuronal death in AUD: a link between neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Int J Mol Sci. 2021; 22(5): 2547. 33806288 PMC7961445
  38. [49]Wang X, Spandidos A, Wang H, Seed B. PrimerBank: a PCR primer database for quantitative gene expression analysis, 2012 update. Nucleic Acids Res. 2012; 40(Database issue): D1144‐ 9. 22086960 PMC3245149
  39. [50]Zou J, Walter TJ, Barnett A, Rohlman A, Crews FT, Coleman LG. Ethanol induces secretion of proinflammatory extracellular vesicles that inhibit adult hippocampal neurogenesis through G9a/GLP‐Epigenetic signaling. Front Immunol. 2022; 13: 866073. 35634322 PMC9136051
  40. [51]McIlwain KL, Merriweather MY, Yuva‐Paylor LA, Paylor R. The use of behavioral test batteries: effects of training history. Physiol Behav. 2001; 73(5): 705‐ 717. 11566205
  41. [52]Paylor R, Spencer CM, Yuva‐Paylor LA, Pieke‐Dahl S. The use of behavioral test batteries, II: effect of test interval. Physiol Behav. 2006; 87(1): 95‐ 102. 16197969
  42. [54]Carroll JC, Rosario ER, Kreimer S, et al. Sex differences in beta‐amyloid accumulation in 3xTg‐AD mice: role of neonatal sex steroid hormone exposure. Brain Res. 2010; 1366: 233‐ 245. 20934413 PMC2993873
  43. [55]Crews FT, Fisher RP, Qin L, Vetreno RP. HMGB1 neuroimmune signaling and REST‐G9a gene repression contribute to ethanol‐induced reversible suppression of the cholinergic neuron phenotype. Mol Psychiatry. 2023; 28(12): 5159‐ 5172. 37402853 PMC10764639
  44. [56]Belfiore R, Rodin A, Ferreira E, et al. Temporal and regional progression of Alzheimer's disease‐like pathology in 3xTg‐AD mice. Aging Cell. 2019; 18(1): e12873. 30488653 PMC6351836
  45. [57]Thijssen EH, La Joie R, Wolf A, et al. Diagnostic value of plasma phosphorylated tau181 in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Nat Med. 2020; 26(3): 387‐ 397. 32123386 PMC7101073
  46. [60]Chan KY, Jang MJ, Yoo BB, et al. Engineered AAVs for efficient noninvasive gene delivery to the central and peripheral nervous systems. Nat Neurosci. 2017; 20(8): 1172‐ 1179. 28671695 PMC5529245
  47. [61]Gomaraschi M, Bonacina F, Norata GD. Lysosomal acid lipase: from cellular lipid handler to immunometabolic target. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2019; 40(2): 104‐ 115. 30665623
  48. [62]Pilz PK, Arnold SW, Rischawy AT, Plappert CF. Longterm‐habituation of the startle response in mice is stimulus modality, but not context specific. Front Integr Neurosci. 2014; 7: 103. 24409126 PMC3885814
  49. [64]Mayer A, Landry HM, Churchman LS. Pause & go: from the discovery of RNA polymerase pausing to its functional implications. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2017; 46: 72‐ 80. 28363125 PMC5505790
  50. [65]Gyenis A, Chang J, Demmers J, et al. Genome‐wide RNA polymerase stalling shapes the transcriptome during aging. Nat Genet. 2023; 55(2): 268‐ 279. 36658433 PMC9925383
  51. [66]Han X, Zhu J, Zhang X, et al. Plin4‐dependent lipid droplets hamper neuronal mitophagy in the MPTP/p‐Induced mouse model of Parkinson's disease. Front Neurosci. 2018; 12: 397. 29967574 PMC6015897
  52. [67]Kaushik S, Cuervo AM. Degradation of lipid droplet‐associated proteins by chaperone‐mediated autophagy facilitates lipolysis. Nat Cell Biol. 2015; 17(6): 759‐ 770. 25961502 PMC4449813
  53. [68]Zhang B, Gaiteri C, Bodea LG, et al. Integrated systems approach identifies genetic nodes and networks in late‐onset Alzheimer's disease. Cell. 2013; 153(3): 707‐ 720. 23622250 PMC3677161
  54. [69]Heneka MT, Carson MJ, El Khoury J, et al. Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease. Lancet Neurol. 2015; 14(4): 388‐ 405. 25792098 PMC5909703
  55. [70]Dani M, Wood M, Mizoguchi R, et al. Microglial activation correlates in vivo with both tau and amyloid in Alzheimer's disease. Brain. 2018; 141(9): 2740‐ 2754. 30052812
  56. [71]Prater KE, Green KJ, Mamde S, et al. Human microglia show unique transcriptional changes in Alzheimer's disease. Nat Aging. 2023; 3(7): 894‐ 907. 37248328 PMC10353942
  57. [72]Grace PM, Strand KA, Galer EL, et al. Morphine paradoxically prolongs neuropathic pain in rats by amplifying spinal NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA. 2016; 113(24): E3441‐ 50. 27247388 PMC4914184
  58. [73]Parusel S, Yi MH, Hunt CL, Wu LJ. Chemogenetic and optogenetic manipulations of microglia in chronic pain. Neurosci Bull. 2023; 39(3): 368‐ 378. 35976535 PMC10043090
  59. [74]Li Y, Munoz‐Mayorga D, Nie Y, et al. Microglial lipid droplet accumulation in tauopathy brain is regulated by neuronal AMPK. Cell Metab. 2024; 36(6): 1351‐ 1370. e8. 38657612 PMC11153007

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Barnett, A. M., McNair, E. M., Dawkins, L., Zou, J., Nikolova, V. D., Moy, S. S., Sutherland, G. T., Stevens, J., Colie, M., Katemboh, K., Kellner, H., Ho, K., Damian, C., DeCastro, S., Vetreno, R. P., & Coleman, L. G.
Affiliations
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
  • The University of Sydney (AU)
Corresponding author
Coleman, Leon G.
Venue
Alzheimer's & Dementia
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2025-07
Volume
21
Issue
7
Pages
e70486-e70486
ISSN
  • 1552-5260 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-5279
OpenAlex
W4412493138
Cited by
12
References
17
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 3
FWCI
6.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Alzheimer s & Dementia (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P50HD103573)
  • National Institute on Aging (AG072894)
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R24AA012725, R01AA028924, K08AA024829, K01AA025713)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Lysosomal Storage Disorders Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
Keywords
lysosomal acid lipase, Alzheimer's disease

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review