Cited by 68Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsDementia and Cognitive Impairment Research

Trem2 deficiency differentially affects phenotype and transcriptome of human APOE3 and APOE4 mice

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Fitz, Nicholas F., Wolfe, Cody M., Playso, Brittany E., Biedrzycki, Richard J., Lu, Yi, Nam, Kyong Nyon, Lefterov, Iliya, Koldamova, Radosveta·2020·Molecular Neurodegeneration

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder influenced by aging and genetic risk factors. The inheritance of APOE ε4 and variants of Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) are major genetic risk factors for AD. Recent studies showed that APOE binds to TREM2, thus raising the possibility of an APOE-TREM2 interaction that can modulate AD pathology. Methods: The aim of this study was to investigate this interaction using complex AD model mice - a crossbreed of Trem2 ko and APP/PSEN1dE9 mice expressing human APOE3 or APOE4 isoforms (APP/E3 and APP/E4 respectively), and their WT littermates (E3 and E4), and evaluate cognition, steady-state amyloid load, plaque compaction, plaque growth rate, glial response, and brain transcriptome. Results: In both, APP/E3 and APP/E4 mice, Trem2 deletion reduced plaque compaction but did not significantly affect steady-state plaque load. Importantly, the lack of TREM2 increased plaque growth that negatively correlated to the diminished microglia barrier, an effect most pronounced at earlier stages of amyloid deposition. We also found that Trem2 deficiency significantly decreased plaque-associated APOE protein in APP/E4 but not in APP/E3 mice in agreement with RNA-seq data. Interestingly, we observed a significant decrease of Apoe mRNA expression in plaque-associated microglia of APP/E4/Trem2 ko vs APP/E4 mice. The absence of TREM2, worsened cognitive performance in APP transgenic mice but not their WT littermates. Gene expression analysis identified Trem2 signature - a cluster of highly connected immune response genes, commonly downregulated as a result of Trem2 deletion in all genotypes including APP and WT littermates. Furthermore, we identified sets of genes that were affected in TREM2- and APOE isoform-dependent manner. Among them were Clec7a and Csf1r upregulated in APP/E4 vs APP/E3 mice, a result further validated by in situ hybridization analysis. In contrast, Tyrobp and several genes involved in the C1Q complement cascade had a higher expression level in APP/E3 versus their APP/E4 counterparts. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that lack of Trem2 differentially impacts the phenotype and brain transcriptome of APP mice expressing human APOE isoforms. The changes probably reflect the different effect of APOE isoforms on amyloid deposition.

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  • CLEC7A is a disease-associated microglia gene that increases after TBI in mice, in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, and in aged microglia associated with neurodegenerative disease.

    “CLEC7A (FC = 2.02, p = 0.02) is a disease-associated microglia gene which has been shown to increase after TBI in mice [19], in a mouse model of AD [38, 56], and in aged microglia associated with neurodegenerative disease [135].”

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Authors
Fitz, N. F., Wolfe, C. M., Playso, B. E., Biedrzycki, R. J., Lu, Y., Nam, K. N., Lefterov, I., & Koldamova, R.
Affiliations
University of Pittsburgh (US)
Corresponding author
  • Lefterov, Iliya
  • Koldamova, Radosveta
Venue
Molecular Neurodegeneration
Published
2020-07-23
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
41-41
ISSN
1750-1326 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3044901278
Cited by
68
References
65
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 3
FWCI
6.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Molecular Neurodegeneration (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (AG056371, AG066198, AG057565)
  • Alzheimer's Association (AARF-16-443213)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
Keywords
TREM2, APOE ε4, APOE3, Alzheimer's disease, amyloid plaques, microglia, plaque progression, cognitive impairment, brain transcriptome, Dectin-1, CSF1R, TYROBP, immune response genes
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Brain, Disease Models, Animal, Membrane Glycoproteins, Mice, Transgenic, Receptors, Immunologic, Amyloid beta-Peptides, Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor, Apolipoprotein E3, Apolipoprotein E4, Plaque, Amyloid

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