Mitophagy inhibits amyloid-β and tau pathology and reverses cognitive deficits in models of Alzheimer's disease

  • Nat Neurosci. 2019 Mar;22(3):401-412. doi: 10.1038/s41593-018-0332-9.
Evandro F Fang  #  1  2 ,  Yujun Hou  #  3 ,  Konstantinos Palikaras  #  4  5 ,  Bryan A Adriaanse  6 ,  Jesse S Kerr  3 ,  Beimeng Yang  3 ,  Sofie Lautrup  3 ,  Md Mahdi Hasan-Olive  7 ,  Domenica Caponio  7 ,  Xiuli Dan  3 ,  Paula Rocktäschel  6 ,  Deborah L Croteau  3 ,  Mansour Akbari  8 ,  Nigel H Greig  9 ,  Tormod Fladby  10  11 ,  Hilde Nilsen  7 ,  M Zameel Cader  6 ,  Mark P Mattson  12  13 ,  Nektarios Tavernarakis  4  5 ,  Vilhelm A Bohr  14  15
Affiliations
  • 1. Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. [email protected].
  • 2. Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway. [email protected].
  • 3. Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • 4. Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Heraklion, Greece.
  • 5. Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
  • 6. Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
  • 7. Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway.
  • 8. Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • 9. Translational Gerontology Branch, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • 10. Division of Medicine and Laboratory Sciences, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
  • 11. Department of Neurology, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway.
  • 12. Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • 13. Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • 14. Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. [email protected].
  • 15. Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 30742114 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-018-0332-9
Abstract

Accumulation of damaged mitochondria is a hallmark of aging and age-related neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The molecular mechanisms of impaired mitochondrial homeostasis in AD are being investigated. Here we provide evidence that Mitophagy is impaired in the hippocampus of AD patients, in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human AD neurons, and in animal AD models. In both Amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau Caenorhabditis elegans models of AD, Mitophagy stimulation (through NAD+ supplementation, urolithin A, and actinonin) reverses memory impairment through PINK-1 (PTEN-induced kinase-1)-, PDR-1 (Parkinson's disease-related-1; parkin)-, or DCT-1 (DAF-16/FOXO-controlled germline-tumor affecting-1)-dependent pathways. Mitophagy diminishes insoluble Aβ1-42 and Aβ1-40 and prevents cognitive impairment in an APP/PS1 mouse model through microglial phagocytosis of extracellular Aβ plaques and suppression of neuroinflammation. Mitophagy enhancement abolishes AD-related tau hyperphosphorylation in human neuronal cells and reverses memory impairment in transgenic tau nematodes and mice. Our findings suggest that impaired removal of defective mitochondria is a pivotal event in AD pathogenesis and that Mitophagy represents a potential therapeutic intervention.