Regional protein expression in human Alzheimer's brain correlates with disease severity

Commun Biol. 2019 Feb 4:2:43. doi: 10.1038/s42003-018-0254-9. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that currently affects 36 million people worldwide with no effective treatment available. Development of AD follows a distinctive pattern in the brain and is poorly modelled in animals. Therefore, it is vital to widen the spatial scope of the study of AD and prioritise the study of human brains. Here we show that functionally distinct human brain regions display varying and region-specific changes in protein expression. These changes provide insights into the progression of disease, novel AD-related pathways, the presence of a gradient of protein expression change from less to more affected regions and a possibly protective protein expression profile in the cerebellum. This spatial proteomics analysis provides a framework which can underpin current research and open new avenues to enhance molecular understanding of AD pathophysiology, provide new targets for intervention and broaden the conceptual frameworks for future AD research.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alzheimer Disease / genetics*
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology
  • Autopsy
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cerebellum / metabolism*
  • Cerebellum / pathology
  • Disease Progression
  • Entorhinal Cortex / metabolism
  • Entorhinal Cortex / pathology
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Gene Regulatory Networks*
  • Gyrus Cinguli / metabolism
  • Gyrus Cinguli / pathology
  • Hippocampus / metabolism
  • Hippocampus / pathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Motor Cortex / metabolism
  • Motor Cortex / pathology
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / classification
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics*
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism
  • Organ Specificity
  • Signal Transduction
  • Somatosensory Cortex / metabolism
  • Somatosensory Cortex / pathology

Substances

  • Nerve Tissue Proteins