title: Mechanistic involvement of the calpain-calpastatin system in Alzheimer neuropathology.
abstract: The mechanism by which amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) accumulation causes neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unresolved. Given that Aβ perturbs calcium homeostasis in neurons, we investigated the possible involvement of calpain, a calcium-activated neutral protease. We first demonstrated close postsynaptic association of calpain activation with Aβ plaque formation in brains from both patients with AD and transgenic (Tg) mice overexpressing amyloid precursor protein (APP). Using a viral vector-based tracer, we then showed that axonal termini were dynamically misdirected to calpain activation-positive Aβ plaques. Consistently, cerebrospinal fluid from patients with AD contained a higher level of calpain-cleaved spectrin than that of controls. Genetic deficiency of calpastatin (CS), a calpain-specific inhibitor protein, augmented Aβ amyloidosis, tau phosphorylation, microgliosis, and somatodendritic dystrophy, and increased mortality in APP-Tg mice. In contrast, brain-specific CS overexpression had the opposite effect. These findings implicate that calpain activation plays a pivotal role in the Aβ-triggered pathological cascade, highlighting a target for pharmacological intervention in the treatment of AD.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Proteolytic Neuroscience, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Nobuhisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuba
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suemoto
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Maiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Staufenbiel
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suhara
authors.forename: Takaomi C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Saido
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002154:Calpain / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008875:Middle Aged; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010766:Phosphorylation; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D016875:tau Proteins; C033668:calpastatin; D002154:Calpain; D020169:Caspases