AXL-mediate GEF-H1 phosphorylation was involved in microglia synapse phagocytosis in 5xFAD mice
Abstract
Studies indicated that microglial synapse phagocytosis played a critical role in synapse loss and pathogenesis in Alzheimer's disease. AXL was one of key phagocytic receptors and was upgraded in disease associated microglia. This study aimed to investigate the role of AXL-mediated microglial synapse phagocytosis in AD mice model. Our data indicated that AXL was increased in microglia in 5xFAD mouse AD model. The lentivirus PLV-CXC3CR1-shAXl was applied to especially knockdown the AXL expression in microglia and the shAXL treatment ameliorated the cognitive impairment in 5xFAD mice. AXL knockdown decreased the 6E10 positive amyloid plaques, the diffusion index of amyloid plaques and the level of phosphorylated Tau. shAXL treatment increased microglial complexity and reduced the microglial synapse phagocytosis. This study further demonstrated that GEF-H1 was identified as a substrate of AXL and mainly phosphorylated at Y470 by AXL. The AXL-mediated GEF-H1-Y470 phosphorylation enhanced the phagocytic capacity of BV2. It seems paradoxical that amyloid plaque load and microglial phagocytosis were both decreased at the same time when the AXL was knockdown, but these indicated that microglia phagocytosis related synapse loss played a more critical role in cognitive impairment and AD pathogenesis than amyloid plaque load. Our study demonstrated that the activated AXL in microglia in 5xFAD enhanced synapse phagocytosis via phosphorylating GEF-H1 at Y470, which led to synapse loss and cognitive impairment. The application of AXL blockage would be a potential therapeutic strategy for AD treatment.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Cites
Morris water maze: procedures for assessing spatial and related forms of learning and memory
Vorhees, C. V., & Williams, M. T. (2006) · Nature Protocols · doi:10.1038/nprot.2006.116 · Cited by 4,629 · see citing works
Kettenmann, H., Hanisch, U.-K., Noda, M., & Verkhratsky, A. (2011) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00011.2010 · Cited by 3,547 · see citing works
Complement and microglia mediate early synapse loss in Alzheimer mouse models
Hong, S., Beja-Glasser, V. F., Nfonoyim, B. M., Frouin, A., Li, S., Ramakrishnan, S., Merry, K. M., Shi, Q., Rosenthal, A., Barres, B. A., et al. (2016) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aad8373 · Cited by 3,343 · see citing works
Alzheimer Disease: An Update on Pathobiology and Treatment Strategies
Long, J. M., & Holtzman, D. M. (2019) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2019.09.001 · Cited by 3,204 · see citing works
Neuroinflammation and microglial activation in Alzheimer disease: where do we go from here?
Leng, F., & Edison, P. (2021) · Nature Reviews Neurology · doi:10.1038/s41582-020-00435-y · Cited by 3,179 · see citing works
Knopman, D. S., Amieva, H., Petersen, R. C., Chételat, G., Holtzman, D. M., Hyman, B. T., Nixon, R. A., & Jones, D. T. (2021) · Nature Reviews Disease Primers · doi:10.1038/s41572-021-00269-y · Cited by 2,606 · see citing works
Disease-Associated Microglia: A Universal Immune Sensor of Neurodegeneration
Deczkowska, A., Keren-Shaul, H., Weiner, A., Colonna, M., Schwartz, M., & Amit, I. (2018) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.05.003 · Cited by 1,474 · see citing works
The SYK tyrosine kinase: A crucial player in diverse biological functions
Mócsai, A., Ruland, J., & Tybulewicz, V. L. J. (2010) · Nature Reviews Immunology · doi:10.1038/nri2765 · Cited by 1,368 · see citing works
Object recognition test in mice
Leger, M., Quiedeville, A., Bouet, V., Haelewyn, B., Boulouard, M., Schumann-Bard, P., & Freret, T. (2013) · Nature Protocols · doi:10.1038/nprot.2013.155 · Cited by 1,357 · see citing works
The TAM family: phosphatidylserine-sensing receptor tyrosine kinases gone awry in cancer
Graham, D. K., DeRyckere, D., Davies, K. D., & Earp, H. S. (2014) · Nature reviews. Cancer · doi:10.1038/nrc3847 · Cited by 708 · see citing works
Complement C3 deficiency protects against neurodegeneration in aged plaque-rich APP/PS1 mice
Shi, Q., Chowdhury, S., Ma, R., Le, K. X., Hong, S., Caldarone, B. J., Stevens, B., & Lemere, C. A. (2017) · Science Translational Medicine · doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aaf6295 · Cited by 593 · see citing works
Synaptic degeneration in Alzheimer disease
Tzioras, M., McGeachan, R. I., Durrant, C. S., & Spires-Jones, T. L. (2023) · Nature Reviews Neurology · doi:10.1038/s41582-022-00749-z · Cited by 504 · see citing works
Microglia use TAM receptors to detect and engulf amyloid β plaques
Huang, Y., Happonen, K. E., Burrola, P. G., O’Connor, C., Hah, N., Huang, L., Nimmerjahn, A., & Lemke, G. (2021) · Nature Immunology · doi:10.1038/s41590-021-00913-5 · Cited by 483 · see citing works
TREM2 drives microglia response to amyloid-β via SYK-dependent and -independent pathways
Wang, S., Sudan, R., Peng, V., Zhou, Y., Du, S., Yuede, C. M., Lei, T., Hou, J., Cai, Z., Cella, M., et al. (2022) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.09.033 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Rab family of small GTPases: an updated view on their regulation and functions
Homma, Y., Hiragi, S., & Fukuda, M. (2020) · FEBS Journal · doi:10.1111/febs.15453 · Cited by 468 · see citing works
Wu, T., Dejanovic, B., Gandham, V. D., Gogineni, A., Edmonds, R., Schauer, S., Srinivasan, K., Huntley, M. A., Wang, Y., Wang, T.-M., et al. (2019) · Cell Reports · doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2019.07.060 · Cited by 466 · see citing works
Synapses and Alzheimer's Disease
Sheng, M., Sabatini, B. L., & Sudhof, T. C. (2012) · Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology · doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a005777 · Cited by 436 · see citing works
Diversification of TAM receptor tyrosine kinase function
Zagórska, A., Través, P. G., Lew, E. D., Dransfield, I., & Lemke, G. (2014) · Nature Immunology · doi:10.1038/ni.2986 · Cited by 430 · see citing works
Dejanovic, B., Wu, T., Tsai, M.-C., Graykowski, D., Gandham, V. D., Rose, C. M., Bakalarski, C. E., Ngu, H., Wang, Y., Pandey, S., et al. (2022) · Nature Aging · doi:10.1038/s43587-022-00281-1 · Cited by 341 · see citing works
SYK coordinates neuroprotective microglial responses in neurodegenerative disease
Ennerfelt, H., Frost, E. L., Shapiro, D. A., Holliday, C., Zengeler, K. E., Voithofer, G., Bolte, A. C., Lammert, C. R., Kulas, J. A., Ulland, T. K., et al. (2022) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.09.030 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
Function of Rho family proteins in actin dynamics during phagocytosis and engulfment
Chimini, G., & Chavrier, P. (2000) · Nature Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/35036454 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
The neuroimmune axis of Alzheimer’s disease
Jorfi, M., Maaser‐Hecker, A., & Tanzi, R. E. (2023) · Genome Medicine · doi:10.1186/s13073-023-01155-w · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Microglial phagocytosis of neurons in neurodegeneration, and its regulation
Butler, C. A., Popescu, A. S., Kitchener, E. J. A., Allendorf, D. H., Puigdellívol, M., & Brown, G. C. (2021) · Journal of Neurochemistry · doi:10.1111/jnc.15327 · Cited by 293 · see citing works
Yuan, P., Condello, C., Keene, C. D., Wang, Y., Bird, T. D., Paul, S. M., Luo, W., Colonna, M., Baddeley, D., & Grutzendler, J. (2016) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2016.09.016 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Meilandt, W. J., Ngu, H., Gogineni, A., Lalehzadeh, G., Lee, S.-H., Srinivasan, K., Imperio, J., Wu, T., Weber, M., Kruse, A. J., et al. (2020) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1871-19.2019 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
Local apoptotic-like mechanisms underlie complement-mediated synaptic pruning
Györffy, B. A., Kun, J., Török, G., Bulyáki, É., Borhegyi, Z., Gulyássy, P., Kis, V., Szocsics, P., Micsonai, A., Matkó, J., et al. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1722613115 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Microglial efferocytosis: Diving into the Alzheimer’s disease gene pool
Romero-Molina, C., Garretti, F., Andrews, S. J., Marcora, E., & Goate, A. M. (2022) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2022.10.015 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Tzioras, M., Daniels, M. J. D., Davies, C., Baxter, P. S., King, D., McKay, S., Varga, B. V., Popovic, K., Hernandez, M., Stevenson, A. J., et al. (2023) · Cell Reports Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.xcrm.2023.101175 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
An Engulfment Assay: A Protocol to Assess Interactions Between CNS Phagocytes and Neurons
Schafer, D. P., Lehrman, E. K., Heller, C. T., & Stevens, B. (2014) · Journal of Visualized Experiments · doi:10.3791/51482 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
In vivo tau pathology is associated with synaptic loss and altered synaptic function
Coomans, E. M., Schoonhoven, D. N., Tuncel, H., Verfaillie, S. C. J., Wolters, E. E., Boellaard, R., Ossenkoppele, R., den Braber, A., Scheper, W., Schober, P. R., et al. (2021) · Alzheimer s Research & Therapy · doi:10.1186/s13195-021-00772-0 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Althammer, F., Ferreira‐Neto, H. C., Rubaharan, M., Roy, R. K., Patel, A. A., Murphy, A. Z., Cox, D. N., & Stern, J. E. (2020) · Journal of Neuroinflammation · doi:10.1186/s12974-020-01892-4 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Regulation and functions of the RhoA regulatory guanine nucleotide exchange factor GEF-H1
Joo, E., & Olson, M. F. (2021) · Small GTPases · doi:10.1080/21541248.2020.1840889 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Microglial clearance of focal apoptotic synapses
Nonaka, S., & Nakanishi, H. (2019) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2019.134317 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Ren, X., Yao, L., Wang, Y., Mei, L., & Xiong, W. (2022) · Journal of Neuroinflammation · doi:10.1186/s12974-022-02422-0 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Tajbakhsh, A., Read, M. I., Barreto, G. E., Ávila-Rodriguez, M., Hayat, S. M. G., & Sahebkar, A. (2021) · European Journal of Pharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.ejphar.2021.173873 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
An Engulfment Assay: A Protocol to Assess Interactions Between CNS Phagocytes and Neurons
Schafer, D. P., Lehrman, E. K., Heller, C. T., et al. (2014) · Journal of Visualized Experiments · doi:10.3791/51482-v · Cited by 31 · see citing works
VAV1 as a putative therapeutic target in autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases
Neurath, M. F., & Berg, L. J. (2024) · Trends in Immunology · doi:10.1016/j.it.2024.06.004 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Soluble Fc Fusion Proteins for Biomedical Research
Flanagan, M. L., Arias, R. S., Hu, P., Khawli, L. A., & Epstein, A. L. (2007) · Methods in molecular biology · doi:10.1007/978-1-59745-323-3_3 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Generation of Transgenic Drosophila Expressing shRNAs in the miR-1 BackbonePreprint
Chang, K., Marran, K., Valentine, A., & Hannon, G. J. (2014) · Cold Spring Harbor Protocols · doi:10.1101/pdb.prot080762 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Still being checked.
- Authors
- Chen, G., Zhang, J., Dong, A., Xiao, L., Huang, P., Huang, T., Ye, Q., & Huang, E.
- Affiliations
- Fujian Medical University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Huang, En
- Venue
- Experimental Neurology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2025-10
- Volume
- 392
- Pages
- 115327
- ISSN
- 0014-4886 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4410952255
- Cited by
- 1
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1
- FWCI
- 0.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Experimental Neurology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- AXL receptor tyrosine kinase, GEF-H1, Alzheimer's disease, 5xFAD mice, synaptic loss, amyloid plaques, phosphorylated tau, cognitive impairment, microglial phagocytosis, disease-associated microglia, therapeutic target
- MeSH terms
- Axl Receptor Tyrosine Kinase, Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Disease Models, Animal, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Transgenic, Phagocytosis, Phosphorylation, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Synapses, Microglia, Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases, Mice, Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors
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