Showing posts with label tau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tau. Show all posts

Herpes Simplex Virus type-1 infection induces synaptic dysfunction in cultured cortical neurons via GSK-3 activation and intraneuronal amyloid-β pr... - PubMed - NCBI

Increasing evidence suggests that recurrent Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection spreading to the CNS is a risk factor for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) but the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated yet. Here we demonstrate that in cultured mouse cortical neurons HSV-1 induced Ca(2+)-dependent activation of glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3. This event was critical for the HSV-1-dependent phosphorylation of amyloid precursor protein (APP) at Thr668 and the following intraneuronal accumulation of amyloid-β protein (Aβ). HSV-1-infected neurons also exhibited: i) significantly reduced expression of the presynaptic proteins synapsin-1 and synaptophysin; ii) depressed synaptic transmission. These effects depended on GSK-3 activation and intraneuronal accumulation of Aβ. In fact, either the selective GSK-3 inhibitor, SB216763, or a specific antibody recognizing Aβ (4G8) significantly counteracted the effects induced by HSV-1 at the synaptic level. Moreover, in neurons derived from APP KO mice and infected with HSV-1 Aβ accumulation was not found and synaptic protein expression was only slightly reduced when compared to wild-type infected neurons. These data further support our contention that HSV-1 infections spreading to the CNS may contribute to AD phenotype.

Tau Ligand Reveals Tangles In Vivo | The Scientist Magazine®

  "The only way to truly confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is through an autopsy, and researchers have been working on ways to image the neurodegenerative disease before it's too late. A few groups are forging ahead to image tau—a protein whose clusters in neurons are associated with Alzheimer's—in living humans using tracer molecules and positron emission tomography (PET). Data from one such molecule, imaged in six adults, were reported today (September 18) in Neuron."

Researchers identify new group of proteins in the brains of Alzheimer's patients

The researchers identified a new group of proteins, termed RNA-binding proteins, which accumulate in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, and are present at much lower levels in subjects who are cognitively intact. The group found two different proteins, both of which show striking patterns of accumulation. "Proteins such as TIA-1 and TTP, accumulate in neurons that accumulate tau protein, and co-localize with neurofibrillary tangles. These proteins are a component off stress granules.

Old Drug May Hold New Promise in Alzheimer's Disease

This is lithium, which has been known to inhibit GSK3 beta, the tau phophorylator,  for some time. It has beneficial effects in mild cognitive impairment, but is so far without effect in Alzheimer's disease
Refs
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Alzheimer’s disease plaques and tangles: Cemeteries of a Pyrrhic immune victory against herpes simplex infection at the cost of neuronal destruction

Neurochem.Int (in press)
Plaques and tangles are highly and significantly enriched in herpes simplex (HSV-1) binding proteins (by 11 and 15-fold respectively (P = 4.47E-39) and 132/341 (39%) of the known HSV-1 binding partners or associates are present in these structures. The classes involved include the majority (63-100%) of the known HSV-1 host protein carriers and receptors, 85-91% of the viral associated proteins involved in endocytosis, intracellular transport and exocytosis and 71% of the host proteins associated with the HSV-1 virion. The viral associated proteins found in plaques or tangles trace out a complete itinerary of the virus from entry to exocytosis and the virus also binds to plaque or tangle components involved in apoptosis, DNA transcription, translation initiation, protein chaperoning, the ubiquitin/proteasome system and the immune network. Along this route, the virus deletes mitochondrial DNA, as seen in Alzheimer’s disease, sequesters the neuroprotective peptide, ADNP, and interferes with key proteins related to amyloid precursor protein processing and signalling as well as beta-amyloid processing, microtubule stability and tau phosphorylation, the core pathologies of Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid-containing plaques or neurofibrillary tangles also contain a large number of complement, acute phase and immune-related proteins, and the presence of these pathogen defence related classes along with HSV-1 binding proteins suggests that amyloid plaques and tangles represent cemeteries for a battle between the virus and the host’s defence network. The presence of the complement membrane attack complex in Alzheimer’s disease neurones suggests that complement mediated neuronal lysis may be a consequence of this struggle.  HSV-1 infection is known to increase beta-amyloid deposition and tau phosphorylation and also results in cortical and hippocampal neuronal loss, cerebral shrinkage and memory deficits in mice. This survey supports the contention that herpes simplex viral infection contributes to Alzheimer’s disease, in genetically predisposed individuals. Genetic conditioning effects are likely to be important, as all of the major risk promoting genes in Alzheimer’s disease, (Apolipoprotein E, clusterin, complement receptor 1 and the phosphatidylinositol binding clathrin assembly protein PICALM), and many lesser susceptibility genes, are related to the herpes simplex life cycle Ref. 33 susceptibility genes are related to the immune system. Vaccination or antiviral agents and immune suppressants should therefore perhaps be considered as viable therapeutic options, prior to, or in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Neurodegenerative disease: The missing link

tau regulates the interaction of postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) with NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors, which are thought to mediate Abeta toxicity.

The human genome is composed of viral DNA

Evidence from over 2 million viral/human alignments, shows that the human genome is composed of viral DNA.
This is not just retroviruses (XMRV and HIV-1) but common viruses such as the rhinovirus, Epstein-Barr, influenza, herpes, papillomavirus, coronavirus and many more. This supports the idea, proposed over a century ago, by J.B.S.Haldane and Felix D'Herelle that viruses are responsible for the origin of life, and also the idea that viral inserts are responsible for evolutionary jumps.(the insertion of several viral genes, if passed on through the germ line, effectively creates a new being)
As if that were not interesting enough, here is the important factor , exemplified by Alzheimer's disease  Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The insertion points of the viruses implicated as risk factors in any particular disease correspond to the locations of the genes implicated in the disease.
The more important the gene in Alzheimer's disease (and others), the more viral proteins it matches (and those of other pathogens).
These viral matches appear to cover the whole human genome, and every human protein is homologous to one virus or another.
In the human genome, these matches are characterised by millions of gapped consecutive and contiguous segments which translate into short contiguous peptide stretches (5-12 amino acids long).The older the viral insertion, the more fragmented the DNA, the shorter the protein matches,but the greater the number of human/viral homologues. 
These human protein matches (vatches) are identical to those in the proteins expressed by the viruses implicated in the disease.
Because the viral protein is similar to human receptors, peptide ligands, enzymes,  etc it can act as a dummy ligand or a decoy receptor, and also interfere with the interactome of its human counterpart. This is shown quite clearly in the DISC1/viral interactome
Upon infection, antibodies to the virus also risk targeting their human counterparts, which will in effect be knocked down when the antibody binds. The protein equivalent of gene knockouts. If the peptides are highly immunogenic, then cells containing the virus, or its human analogue will be targeted for destruction. This is exemplified by the fact that immunisation with tau in mice provokes the neurofibrillary tangle pathology seen in Alzheimer's disease.Tau is homologous to Herpes simplex and other viral proteins.
All of the diseases on the website pages Alzheimer's disease, Bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia, Chonic fatigue, and more, have an autoimmune component, pathogens are implicated in all, and the genes and pathogens fit together, hand in glove, for all (Bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's and schizophrenia).
Viruses (known and unsuspected culrits) are also homologous to the autoantigens in multiple sclerosis and to the mutant proteins in Huntington's disease and cystic fibrosis (see website)
This suggests that many human diseases work via this common mechanism, and therefore that most are preventable, by vaccination or elimination of the pathogen, and perhaps curable by immunosuppressant therapy.

Examples of how this works are here
A pdf of a prepublication is available at NaturePrecedings.
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