Cited by 403Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsDementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms

Neuron-Specific Apolipoprotein E4 Proteolysis Is Associated with Increased Tau Phosphorylation in Brains of Transgenic Mice

Open access
Brecht, Walter J., Harris, Faith M., Chang, Shengjun, Tesseur, Ina, Yu, Gui-Qiu, Xu, Qin, Dee Fish, Jo, Wyss-Coray, Tony +4 more·2004·The Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is found in amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains, but its role in their pathogenesis is unclear. Previously, we found C-terminal-truncated fragments of apoE in AD brains and showed that such fragments can cause neurodegeneration and can induce NFT-like inclusions in cultured neuronal cells and in transgenic mice. Here, we analyzed apoE fragmentation in brain tissue homogenates from transgenic mice expressing apoE3 or apoE4 in neurons [neuron-specific enolase (NSE)-apoE] or astrocytes [glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-apoE] by Western blotting. The C-terminal-truncated fragments of apoE accumulated, in an age-dependent manner, in the brains of NSE-apoE4 and, to a significantly lesser extent, NSE-apoE3 mice; however, no fragments were detected in GFAP-apoE3 or GFAP-apoE4 mice. In NSE-apoE mice, the pattern of apoE fragmentation resembled that seen in AD brains, and the fragmentation was specific for certain brain regions, occurring in the neocortex and hippocampus, which are vulnerable to AD-related neurodegeneration, but not in the less vulnerable cerebellum. Excitotoxic challenge with kainic acid significantly increased apoE fragmentation in NSE-apoE4 but not NSE-apoE3 mice. Phosphorylated tau (p-tau) also accumulated in an age-dependent manner in NSE-apoE4 mice and, to a much lesser extent, in NSE-apoE3 mice but not in GFAP-apoE3 or GFAP-apoE4 mice. Intraneuronal p-tau inclusions in the hippocampus were prominent in 21-month-old NSE-apoE4 mice but barely detectable in NSE-apoE3 mice. Thus, the accumulation of potentially pathogenic C-terminal-truncated fragments of apoE depends on both the isoform and the cellular source of apoE. Neuron-specific proteolytic cleavage of apoE4 is associated with increased phosphorylation of tau and may play a key role in the development of AD-related neuronal deficits.

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 · 10.1523/jneurosci.4315-03.2004

Cites

70 of 70 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?

  • APOE4 exacerbates AD-related pathologies, including amyloid-beta plaques, Tau tangles, neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation.

    “It exacerbates AD-related pathologies, including amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques, Tau tangles, neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation4–16.”

    From The APOE-R136S mutation protects against APOE4-driven tau pathology, neurodegeneration, and neuroinflammation (2023) · cites this paper as [8]

    The Introduction (page not provided) discusses amyloid-beta plaque formation as a proposed APOE4 mechanism and reports neurodegeneration and NFT-like inclusions associated with apoE fragments. The Results section on p-tau-containing inclusions (page not provided) finds more such inclusions in apoE4 than apoE3 mice. The paper does not establish that APOE4 exacerbates amyloid-beta plaques, and the passages found do not address neuroinflammation. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The L28P mutation induces serious folding defects on the protein, leading to a functional phenotype demonstrated previously with a heavily truncated apoE4 proteolytic fragment similar to apoE4 fragments proposed to appear early in the pathogenetic process of Alzheimer disease.

    “The mutation induces serious folding defects on the protein, leading to a functional phenotype demonstrated previously with a heavily truncated apoE4 proteolytic fragment similar to apoE4 fragments proposed to appear early in the pathogenetic process of AD (15).”

    From Molecular Basis for Increased Risk for Late-onset Alzheimer Disease Due to the Naturally Occurring L28P Mutation in Apolipoprotein E4 (2014) · cites this paper as [15]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Not all apoE4 forms found in the brains of AD patients are equally bioactive, and specific apoE4 forms may be involved in processes associated with AD pathogenesis.

    “These and other findings suggest that not all apoE4 forms found in the brains of AD patients are equally bioactive and that specific apoE4 forms may be involved in processes associated with AD pathogenesis (10, 14 -17).”
  • ApoE4 fragmentation occurs in a brain region-dependent way, preferentially in the neocortex and hippocampus of NSE-ApoE4 transgenic mice.

    “ApoE4 fragmentation occurs in a brain region-dependent way, preferentially in the neocortex and hippocampus of neuron-specific enolase (NSE)-ApoE4 transgenic mice”
  • In rat hippocampal neurons, ApoE4 caused increase in basal mitochondrial Ca2+ levels and exacerbated neuronal Ca2+ entry in response to NMDAR activation, correlated with neurotoxicity.

    “ApoE4 was demonstrated to cause an increase in basal mitochondrial Ca2+ levels and also an exacerbated neuronal Ca2+ entry in response to N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activation, which was correlated with neurotoxicity [30].”

    From Apoe4 and Alzheimer’s Disease Pathogenesis—Mitochondrial Deregulation and Targeted Therapeutic Strategies (2023) · cites this paper as [30]

    The Results section on excitotoxic challenge reports increased apoE4 fragmentation after kainic acid treatment in transgenic mice, not calcium measurements in rat hippocampal neurons. A search for basal mitochondrial Ca2+, NMDAR-evoked Ca2+ entry, and their correlation with neurotoxicity found no passage addressing those claims in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Brecht, W. J., Harris, F. M., Chang, S., Tesseur, I., Yu, G.-Q., Xu, Q., Dee Fish, J., Wyss-Coray, T., Buttini, M., Mucke, L., Mahley, R. W., & Huang, Y.
Affiliations
Gladstone Institutes (US)
Corresponding author
Huang, Yadong
Venue
The Journal of Neuroscience
Published
2004-03-10
Volume
24
Issue
10
Pages
2527-2534
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W2156998090
Cited by
403
References
70
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 16
FWCI
9.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • MetLife Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health (AG‐022074, AG11385)
  • National Institute on Aging (R01 AG11385, P01AG022074, R01AG011385)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R21NS046465)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
Keywords
APOE ε4, apolipoprotein E3, tau phosphorylation, Alzheimer's disease, neuron-specific enolase, glial fibrillary acidic protein, transgenic mice, neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques, excitotoxicity, kainic acid, hippocampus, neocortex, cerebellum, astrocytes, neurons
MeSH terms
Aging, Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Apolipoproteins E, Astrocytes, Brain, Brain Chemistry, Female, Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein, Humans, Kainic Acid, Mice, Transgenic, Neurons, Neurotoxins, Peptide Fragments, Phosphopyruvate Hydratase, Phosphorylation, Promoter Regions, Genetic, tau Proteins, Gene Targeting, Mice, Apolipoprotein E3, Apolipoprotein E4

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