👤 Daniel Western

Cerebrospinal fluid amyloid beta 42, total tau, and phosphorylated tau 181 are well accepted markers of Alzheimer's disease. These biomarkers better reflect disease pathogenesis compared to clinical diagnosis. Here, we perform a genome wide association study meta-analysis including 18,948 individuals of European ancestry and identify 12 genome-wide significant loci across all three biomarkers, eight of them novel. We replicate the association of biomarkers with APOE, CR1, GMNC/CCDC50 and C16orf95/MAP1LC3B. Novel loci include BIN1 for amyloid beta and GNA12, MS4A6A, SLCO1A2 with both total tau and phosphorylated tau 181, as well as additional loci on chr. 8, near ANGPT1 and chr. 9 near SMARCA2. We also demonstrate that these variants have significant association with Alzheimer's disease risk, disease progression and/or brain amyloidosis. The associated genes are implicated in lipid metabolism independent of APOE, coupled with autophagy and brain volume regulation driven by total tau and phosphorylated tau 181 dysregulation. Show less

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 is the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, it is known that other pathways independent of APOE also play a role in AD. Disentangling APOE-dependent and independent effects is instrumental for understanding the biology of AD. We conducted an APOE-stratified multi-omic analysis in multiple large datasets to identify AD-associated plasma proteins and metabolites. More than 64% of the identified proteins were not found in non-APOE stratified studies, and 17% of the proteins showed APOE-specific trends. Mitochondrial dysfunction was associated in AD independently of APOE and was accompanied by disruptions in glucose and lipid metabolism and cell death and increased in inflammatory signaling activation. Lipid upregulation was found in AD cases when compared with controls with the same APOE genotype, indicating that additional factors beyond APOE affect lipid regulation and AD risk. These findings may be informative in guiding the development of effective medications for AD. Show less

The epithelial Na(+) channel (ENaC) is a critical component of the pathway maintaining salt and water balance. The channel is regulated by members of the Nedd4 family of ubiquitin-protein ligases, which bind to channel subunits and catalyze channel internalization and degradation. ENaC mutations that abolish this interaction cause Liddle's syndrome, a genetic form of hypertension. Here, we test the hypothesis that WW domain-containing protein 2 (WWP2), a member of the Nedd4 family of ubiquitin-protein ligases, is a candidate to regulate ENaC. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that WWP2 is expressed in epithelial tissues that express ENaC, as well as in a wide variety of other tissues. WWP2 contains four WW domains, three of which bound differentially to ENaC subunits. In contrast, all four human Nedd4-2 WW domains bound to ENaC. WWP2 inhibited ENaC when coexpressed in epithelia, requiring a direct interaction between the proteins; mutation of the ENaC PY motifs abolished inhibition. Thus expression, binding, and functional data all suggest that WWP2 is a candidate to regulate ENaC-mediated Na(+) transport in epithelia. Show less