Distinct amyloid-β and tau-associated microglia profiles in Alzheimer’s disease

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

Dokumenter

  • Emma Gerrits
  • Nieske Brouwer
  • Susanne M. Kooistra
  • Maya E. Woodbury
  • Yannick Vermeiren
  • Mirjam Lambourne
  • Jan Mulder
  • Markus Kummer
  • Thomas Möller
  • Knut Biber
  • Wilfred F.A.den Dunnen
  • Peter P. De Deyn
  • Bart J.L. Eggen
  • Boddeke, Erik

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia and is characterized by abnormal extracellular aggregates of amyloid-β and intraneuronal hyperphosphorylated tau tangles and neuropil threads. Microglia, the tissue-resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS), are important for CNS homeostasis and implicated in AD pathology. In amyloid mouse models, a phagocytic/activated microglia phenotype has been identified. How increasing levels of amyloid-β and tau pathology affect human microglia transcriptional profiles is unknown. Here, we performed snRNAseq on 482,472 nuclei from non-demented control brains and AD brains containing only amyloid-β plaques or both amyloid-β plaques and tau pathology. Within the microglia population, distinct expression profiles were identified of which two were AD pathology-associated. The phagocytic/activated AD1-microglia population abundance strongly correlated with tissue amyloid-β load and localized to amyloid-β plaques. The AD2-microglia abundance strongly correlated with tissue phospho-tau load and these microglia were more abundant in samples with overt tau pathology. This full characterization of human disease-associated microglia phenotypes provides new insights in the pathophysiological role of microglia in AD and offers new targets for microglia-state-specific therapeutic strategies.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftActa Neuropathologica
Vol/bind141
Sider (fra-til)681–696
ISSN0001-6322
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

ID: 257870995