Increased expression of heme-binding protein 1 early in Alzheimer's disease is linked to neurotoxicity
- Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany
- National University of Singapore, Singapore
- University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany
- University of Leipzig, Germany
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder leading to progressive cognitive decline. Despite decades of research, understanding AD progression at the molecular level, especially at its early stages, remains elusive. Here, we identified several presymptomatic AD markers by investigating brain proteome changes over the course of neurodegeneration in a transgenic mouse model of AD (3×Tg-AD). We show that one of these markers, heme-binding protein 1 (Hebp1), is elevated in the brains of both 3×Tg-AD mice and patients affected by rapidly-progressing forms of AD. Hebp1, predominantly expressed in neurons, interacts with the mitochondrial contact site complex (MICOS) and exhibits a perimitochondrial localization. Strikingly, wildtype, but not Hebp1-deficient, neurons showed elevated cytotoxicity in response to heme-induced apoptosis. Increased survivability in Hebp1-deficient neurons is conferred by blocking the activation of the mitochondrial-associated caspase signaling pathway. Taken together, our data highlight a role of Hebp1 in progressive neuronal loss during AD progression.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this manuscript are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for Figs 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Article and author information
Author details
Mahdokht Kohansal-Nodehi
Funding
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (CH 1385/1-1)
- John JE Chua
National University of Singapore
- John JE Chua
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Open-access funding)
- John JE Chua
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Yukiko Goda, RIKEN, Japan
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal procedures used here fully comply with the guidelines as stipulated in the section 4 of the Animal Welfare Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (section 4 of TierSchG, Tierschutzgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) or in accordance with the Principles of Laboratory Animal Care, and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the National University of Singapore (protocol number: 2015-01121 (R15-1121)). Procedures performed in the animal facility at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany were registered accordingly to the section 11 Abs. 1 TierSchG as documented by 39 20 00_2a Si/rö, dated 11th Dec 2013 ("Erlaubnis, Wirbeltiere zur Versuchszwecken zu züchten und zu halten"), by the Veterinär- und Verbraucherschutzamt für den Landkreis und die Stadt Göttingen and examined regularly by the supervisory veterinary authority of the Landkreis Göttingen. All procedures were supervised by the animal welfare officer and the animal welfare committee of the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany established accordingly to the TierSchG and the regulation about animal used in experiments, dated on 1st Aug 2013 (TierSchVersV, Tierschutz-Versuchstier-Verordung).
Human subjects: All experimental protocols were approved and the study conformed to the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association. All study participants or their legal next of kin gave informed consent and the study was approved by the local ethics committee in Göttingen (No. 24/8/12). All samples were anonymized with regard to their personal data.
Version history
- Received: April 8, 2019
- Accepted: August 25, 2019
- Accepted Manuscript published: August 27, 2019 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: September 10, 2019 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2019, Yagensky et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Increased expression of heme-binding protein 1 early in Alzheimer's disease is linked to neurotoxicity
eLife 8:e47498.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47498
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