The DOI matches its Crossref record; 74 of the 74 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Novel Alzheimer risk genes determine the microglia response to amyloid-β but not to TAU pathology
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Polygenic risk scores have identified that genetic variants without genome‐wide significance still add to the genetic risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Whether and how subthreshold risk loci translate into relevant disease pathways is unknown. We investigate here the involvement of AD risk variants in the transcriptional responses of two mouse models: APPswe/PS1 L166P and Thy‐TAU22. A unique gene expression module, highly enriched for AD risk genes, is specifically responsive to Aβ but not TAU pathology. We identify in this module 7 established AD risk genes ( APOE , CLU , INPP5D , CD33, PLCG2 , SPI1, and FCER1G ) and 11 AD GWAS genes below the genome‐wide significance threshold ( GPC2, TREML2, SYK, GRN, SLC2A5, SAMSN1, PYDC1, HEXB, RRBP1, LYN, and BLNK), that become significantly upregulated when exposed to Aβ. Single microglia sequencing confirms that Aβ, not TAU, pathology induces marked transcriptional changes in microglia, including increased proportions of activated microglia. We conclude that genetic risk of AD functionally translates into different microglia pathway responses to Aβ pathology, placing AD genetic risk downstream of the amyloid pathway but upstream of TAU pathology.
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“Sierskma et al. identified 18 genes that both overlapped with AD GWAS datasets and were maintained between young and old APP transgenic mice, which were predominantly expressed by microglia and appear to be regulated by Spi150.”
From Modest changes in Spi1 dosage reveal the potential for altered microglial function as seen in Alzheimer’s disease (2021) · cites this paper as [50]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“which is enriched with AD risk genes and is a microglial response to amyloid rather than tau pathology.”
From Spatial Transcriptomics and In Situ Sequencing to Study Alzheimer’s Disease (2020) · cites this paper as Sierksma et al., 2020
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Sierskma et al. identified 18 genes that both overlapped with AD GWAS datasets and were maintained between young and old APP transgenic mice, which were predominantly expressed by microglia and appear to be regulated by Spi150.”
From Modest changes in Spi1 dosage reveal the potential for altered microglial function as seen in Alzheimer’s disease (2021) · cites this paper as [50]
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In the citing paper
“Furthermore, recent scRNA-seq studies identified marked transcriptional changes in microglia in response to Aβ (52).”
From Deletion of Abi3 gene locus exacerbates neuropathological features of Alzheimer’s disease in a mouse model of Aβ amyloidosis (2021) · cites this paper as [52]
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“Several studies have shown that this hypothesis-generating, unbiased readout can be used to investigate Aβ accumulation (Sierksma et al., 2020), region-specific expression of tau (Castanho et al., 2020), and activated immune response (Kang et al., 2018).”
From Network analysis identifies strain-dependent response to tau and tau seeding-associated genes (2023) · cites this paper as Sierksma et al., 2020
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In the citing paper
“Single microglia sequencing of two different mouse models of AD, one displaying either Aβ or tau pathology, further confirmed the expression of AD risk genes, including PLCG2 gene, and also confirmed that more microglia adopt an activated phenotype when facing Aβ than tau pathology (166).”
From The role of PLCγ2 in immunological disorders, cancer, and neurodegeneration (2021) · cites this paper as [166]
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In the citing paper
“Computational models place TREM2 and other effectors in the pathway – including Syk and BLNK – in a module associated with microglia responses to Aβ [91].”
From TREM2/PLCγ2 signalling in immune cells: function, structural insight, and potential therapeutic modulation (2021) · cites this paper as [91]
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In the citing paper
“Interestingly, PlxnB1/B2 and Sema4D levels have been shown to be upregulated in aged thy-TAU22 mice by bulk RNAseq analysis (Sierksma, Lu et al. 2020) and in PlxnB1 in human GRN-FTD astrocytes (Gerrits, Giannini et al. 2022) (Figure S8E).”
From SORLA up-regulation suppresses pathological effects in aged tauopathy mouse brain (2026) · cites this paper as Sierksma, Lu et al. 2020
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“which is an oligodendroglial response in the amyloid- but not the tau-model.”
From Spatial Transcriptomics and In Situ Sequencing to Study Alzheimer’s Disease (2020) · cites this paper as Sierksma et al., 2020
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Cites
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limma powers differential expression analyses for RNA-sequencing and microarray studies
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Liao, Y., Smyth, G. K., & Shi, W. (2014) · Bioinformatics · doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btt656 · Cited by 27,219
Comprehensive Integration of Single-Cell Data
Stuart, T., Butler, A., Hoffman, P., Hafemeister, C., Papalexi, E., Mauck, W. M., Hao, Y., Stoeckius, M., Smibert, P., & Satija, R. (2019) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2019.05.031 · Cited by 15,453
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Integrating single-cell transcriptomic data across different conditions, technologies, and species
Butler, A., Hoffman, P., Smibert, P., Papalexi, E., & Satija, R. (2018) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/nbt.4096 · Cited by 13,174
TopHat: discovering splice junctions with RNA-Seq
Trapnell, C., Pachter, L. S., & Salzberg, S. L. (2009) · Bioinformatics · doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btp120 · Cited by 11,682
The control of the false discovery rate in multiple testing under dependency
Benjamini, Y., & Yekutieli, D. (2001) · The Annals of Statistics · doi:10.1214/aos/1013699998 · Cited by 10,490
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The role of macrophage scavenger receptor 1 (Msr1) in prion pathogenesis
Li, B., Chen, M., Aguzzi, A., & Zhu, C. (2021) · Journal of Molecular Medicine · doi:10.1007/s00109-021-02061-7 · Cited by 7
Network analysis identifies strain-dependent response to tau and tau seeding-associated genes
Acri, D. J., You, Y., Tate, M. D., Karahan, H., Martinez, P., McCord, B., Sharify, A. D., John, S., Kim, B., Dabin, L. C., et al. (2023) · Journal of Experimental Medicine · doi:10.1084/jem.20230180 · Cited by 3
SORLA up-regulation suppresses pathological effects in aged tauopathy mouse brain
Huang, H., Shi, C. H., Yang, W., Piña-Crespo, J. C., Bhatnagar, J., Curatolo, J., Murad, R., Shah, P., Campos, A., Houser, A., et al. (2026) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aed6825 · Cited by 1
Metadata
- Authors
- Sierksma, A., Lu, A., Mancuso, R., Fattorelli, N., Thrupp, N., Salta, E., Zoco, J., Blum, D., Buée, L., De Strooper, B., & Fiers, M.
- Affiliations
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research (BE)
- Inserm (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Fiers, Mark
- ORCID
- Venue
- EMBO Molecular Medicine
- Published
- 2020-01-17
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e10606-e10606
- ISSN
- 1757-4676 (ISSN-L)
- 1757-4684
- PMC
- PMC7059012
- OpenAlex
- W3000035810
- Cited by
- 291
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 58 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 28
- FWCI
- 28.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- EMBO Molecular Medicine (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lirias (KU Leuven) (acceptedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Lirias (KU Leuven) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Leuven Universitair Fonds
- Alzheimer Research Foundation (P16017)
- Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (1139520N, 12A5316N, G0C9219N)
- Alzheimer's Association (AARF‐16‐442853)
- KU Leuven
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie
- Vlaamse Overheid
- Vlaams Initiatief voor Netwerken voor Dementie Onderzoek
- Geneeskundige Stichting Koningin Elisabeth
- Bax‐Vanluffelen Chair for Alzheimer's Disease
- Agence National Recherche (ANR‐16‐COEN‐0007)
- UK Research and Innovation|MRC|Medical Research Foundation
- Alzheimer Society
- Alzheimer Research UK
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › 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
- Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's disease risk genes, microglia, amyloid-beta, tau pathology, polygenic risk score, single-cell RNA sequencing, microglial activation, apolipoprotein E, clusterin, CD33, PLCγ2, PU.1, FCER1G, Syk, GPC2
- MeSH terms
- Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Disease Models, Animal, Hippocampus, Male, Mice, Transgenic, Amyloid beta-Peptides, tau Proteins, Microglia, Mice, Gene Regulatory Networks
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