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AD Therapeutic Approaches Tap Complement, Mitochondrial Antioxidant
7 August 2009. The theme “don’t go whole hog” might come to mind for those who check out two recent papers suggesting potential therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer disease. In one study, published in the July 15 Journal of Immunology, researchers report that blocking the receptor of a downstream complement activation product (C5a) relieves pathology and cognitive decline in AD mice. In the second study, featured in this week’s PNAS Early Edition, scientists reduced amyloid plaques and memory loss in an AD mouse model by overexpressing an antioxidant specific to mitochondria (SOD-2). By targeting select components instead of hitting entire systems—one mediating inflammation, the other manhandling oxidative stress—these studies hint that fine-tuning may be key to designing effective AD therapies.

Tweaking the Complement Pathway
In the first study, researchers led by Andrea Tenner of the University of California, Irvine, treated AD mice with a compound that inhibits a downstream component of the complement system—a cascade of reactions that rallies inflammatory cells to help fight pathogens. By now, connections between AD and complement run deep. Fibrillar Aβ can trigger the complement pathway (Rogers et al., 1992; Bradt et al., 1998), and complement factors cozy up with Aβ in fibrillar amyloid plaques (Akiyama et al., 2000; Loeffler et al., 2008). Several years ago, Tenner’s group showed that Tg2576 AD transgenic mice lacking C1q (a protein that helps initiate the complement cascade) developed milder neuropathology than AD mice with an intact complement system (Fonseca et al., 2004).

Based on those findings, complement activation seemed harmful in AD; however, other studies have suggested the opposite—by showing that deficiency in complement component C3 exacerbates pathology and neuron loss in AD mice (Wyss-Coray et al., 2002; Maier et al., 2008 and ARF related news story). That work, along with recent data from Tenner’s own lab indicating that even C1q could be neuroprotective (Pisalyaput and Tenner, 2008), led her team to target C5a, a complement component downstream of C1q and C3, in the current study.

First author Maria Fonseca and colleagues administered an oral C5a receptor antagonist to two AD mouse strains, and to wild-type littermates, at an age when Aβ deposition had begun in the AD mice. Twelve-week treatment began at 12 to 15 months in Tg2576 mice, which develop Aβ pathology and memory loss, and at 17 to 20 months in 3xTg mice, which additionally have tau pathology. The drug candidate (PMX205), a cyclic hexapeptide, is under development at Cephalon, Inc., Frazer, Pennsylvania. A related compound (PMX53) has shown therapeutic benefit in animal models of peripheral inflammation and appeared safe in Phase 1 human testing, Tenner said. PMX205 was designed with enhanced lipophilic qualities and presumably penetrates the brain more easily, but neither this capability nor the chemical’s pharmacokinetic properties have been explored, and the compound remains to be tested in humans.

Meanwhile, the current study shows that PMX205 treatment reduced fibrillar Aβ plaques in the cortex and hippocampus of Tg2576 mice. Treated animals also had fewer activated glia surrounding the plaques, and increased hippocampal staining of synaptophysin (a presynaptic protein used to assess neuronal integrity). In hippocampal neurons of 3xTg mice, the C5a antagonist also brought a sharp reduction in hyperphosphorylated tau.

Alongside the decreased AD-like pathology, PMX205 improved some measures of cognition in the mice. AD mice that got the compound did better than non-treated controls at learning to avoid a dark chamber—a passive avoidance task with hippocampal (memory) and amygdala (anxiety) components.

While the compound’s pathological and behavioral effects look promising in mice, scientists understand very little about its mechanism of action. “We don’t know whether it’s working on peripheral inflammation, keeping that down, or if it’s getting into the brain and doing things there,” Tenner told ARF. Bruce Lamb of Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, noted in an e-mail to ARF that C5a receptor antagonists have also been protective in rodent models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (see, e.g., Woodruff et al., 2008), and thus wonders if there is a more general mechanism involved.

Tenner believes PMX205 has succeeded in mice thus far because it preserves the benefits of complement activation while modulating its detrimental effects. By targeting the receptor for C5a, her team left intact C1q, C3, and other upstream complement components that help lyse and kill pathogens. “You’re not bludgeoning the immune system; you’re curtailing it,” she said, noting that even the proinflammatory cytokines can be neuroprotective in small doses. However, problems can arise when complement activation lures glial cells to the vicinity of Aβ. These inflammatory cells spew out more cytokines, which can interact with neurons and enhance their pathologic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP). “That’s what’s going to drive and accelerate this whole process,” Tenner said. “If you can knock that out, you can have things a lot better under control.”

Mitochondrial-targeted Antioxidants
In the second paper, Eric Klann, New York University, and colleagues were able to relieve amyloid pathology and memory loss in Tg2576 mice not by eradicating but instead by boosting something. That something was a form of an antioxidant specifically localized to mitochondria—superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD-2).

A growing literature links mitochondrial dysfunction in general to AD (for reviews, see Reddy and Beal, 2008 and Wang et al., 2007) and, in particular, SOD-2 deficits to Aβ. Aβ deposition takes the wind out of SOD-2, leading to an excess of free radicals (Anantharaman et al., 2006). Further support for the SOD-2/Aβ connection comes from work showing that reduced levels of SOD-2 intensify pathology and behavioral impairments in AD mice (Li et al., 2004 and ARF related news story; Esposito et al., 2006). “We build upon that, showing that if we overexpress that enzyme, we can prevent those deficits by just having some extra SOD-2,” Klann told ARF.

First author Cynthia Massaad and colleagues crossed Tg2576 animals with mice that overexpress SOD-2. These double transgenic mice had reduced amyloid plaques in the cortex and hippocampus, lower levels of hippocampal superoxide, and better associative and spatial memory, compared to Tg2576 mice lacking the SOD-2 transgene. Curiously, SOD-2 overexpression did not affect absolute Aβ levels but did encourage a less pathogenic Aβ composition by lowering the Aβ1-42 to Aβ1-40 ratio.

In regard to interpreting these data, the authors write that the studies “explored the therapeutic effectiveness of SOD-2 from a genetic standpoint and hence, at this stage, do not offer any insight for temporal effectiveness.” In a phone interview with ARF, Klann described two types of mouse experiments that could more closely approximate a human therapy begun in mid- to late life. The first is pharmacological. Toward this end, Klann’s group has treated hippocampal slices with mitoquinone (MitoQ)—a compound under development at Antipodean Pharmaceuticals, Auckland, New Zealand—showing it can alleviate impaired synaptic plasticity induced by soluble Aβ. In the future, he wants to test whether the quinone can relieve memory loss in an AD mouse model. MitoQ has not been tested in people with AD but has been used in a Phase 2 study of newly diagnosed Parkinson disease patients, in whom it showed no therapeutic benefit (see MedPageToday article on company data presented at the 2008 American Academy of Neurology meeting).

In AD patients, general antioxidants (e.g., vitamins C and E) have also shown no success in clinical trials—most likely because they are not very specific, Klann said. “We know that reactive oxygen species have roles in normal physiological processes. That’s probably why [antioxidants] haven’t been all that effective in treating many disorders. We’ll have to be specific in targeting the sources responsible for enhanced oxygen levels on a disease-by-disease basis,” he said.

Hemachandra Reddy of Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, seems to agree. “Given the limited success of recent clinical trials using natural antioxidants in AD patients, findings from this new study may have some important implications for the development of mitochondria-targeted therapeutics for AD patients,” he wrote in an e-mail to ARF. Using a genetic approach similar to the current study, Reddy’s group has crossed Tg2576 AD mice with transgenic mice that overexpress mitochondria-targeted catalase—to see if they have delayed pathology. These mice make more catalase in the mitochondrial matrix and thus neutralize free radicals more quickly.

In the meantime, Klann hopes his existing data can offer proof-of-principle for funding to make a tet-on/tet-off SOD-2 mouse. “That would be really nice because you could let the mouse develop, and then turn on SOD-2, determine whether or not the animal has memory deficits, and then turn it off and see if the memory deficits come back.”—Esther Landhuis.

References:
Fonseca MI, Ager RR, Chu SH, Yazan O, Sanderson SD, Laferla FM, Taylor SM, Woodruff TM, Tenner AJ. Treatment with a C5aR antagonist decreases pathology and enhances behavioral performance in murine models of Alzheimer's disease. J Immunol. 2009 Jul 15;183(2):1375-83. Abstract

Massaad CA, Washington TM, Pautler RG, Klann E. Overexpression of SOD-2 reduces hippocampal superoxide and prevents memory deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. PNAS Early Edition. 2009 August. Abstract

 
Comments on News and Primary Papers
  Primary Papers: Treatment with a C5aR antagonist decreases pathology and enhances behavioral performance in murine models of Alzheimer's disease.

Comment by:  Piet Eikelenboom
Submitted 13 August 2009  |  Permalink Posted 13 August 2009

In this study the researchers examined the role of the complement system in murine models of Alzheimer disease (AD). In human AD brains immunohistochemical studies have demonstrated that both early and late complement factors are found in amyloid plaques. Immunohistochemical studies in transgenic mice models for AD have shown the presence of the early complement factors in amyloid plaques also, but there is a lack of information about the presence of late complement factors (C5-C9) in such plaques (see Schwab et al., 2004). The present paper describes the effect of C5aT antagonists and the finding suggests indirectly the involvement of C5 in pathology. However, no direct information about an increase of C5 is given and also no immunohistochemical data demonstrating the presence of C5 in the amyloid plaques in the mouse.

But despite these points, the paper is potentially very interesting. It seems that the role of the early complement factors (c1q, C3) is especially important in the aggregation,...  Read more


  Primary Papers: Overexpression of SOD-2 reduces hippocampal superoxide and prevents memory deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Comment by:  Gemma Casadesus, Hyoung-gon Lee, Paula Moreira, George Perry, ARF Advisor (Disclosure), Mark A. Smith (Disclosure), Xiongwei Zhu
Submitted 17 August 2009  |  Permalink Posted 17 August 2009

Strengthening the Links Between Amyloid-β, Mitochondria and Oxidative Stress
Striking features of Alzheimer disease pathophysiology are amyloid-β deposits, reduced brain metabolism, oxidative stress, and cognitive decline. The links between these features are strengthened by the Massaad study. They show that reduction of mitochondrial oxidative stress through overexpression of SOD-2 in a mouse model of Aβ overproduction results not in a reduction in total Aβ, but an alteration in the 40/42 ratio, so that less Aβ is deposited. Further, they show SOD-2 expression improves memory in these mice. These findings support the view that Aβ’s response to oxidative stress has important adaptive features.

Massaad et al. demonstrate it is not just that Aβ is a source for reactive oxygen, or that the enzymes that control Aβ production touch oxidative balance, but rather that almost every critical feature of the cell controls the Aβ system and response to it. Stress in oxidative balance is no error on nature’s part; this critical feature of cellular protection has been adapted,...  Read more


  Comment by:  P. Hemachandra Reddy
Submitted 17 August 2009  |  Permalink Posted 17 August 2009

The findings of Massaad and colleagues will advance our basic understanding of the neuroprotective role of mitochondrially targeted antioxidants in Alzheimer disease (AD) pathogenesis. Their findings suggest that mitochondrial superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) decreases hippocampal superoxide radicals, ameliorates learning/memory deficits, and decreases amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques in double transgenic mice that overexpress SOD2 and mutant human amyloid precursor protein. Interestingly, they also found a decreased ratio of Aβ1-42 to 1-40 in double transgenic mice. These findings further support the mitochondrial oxidative damage hypothesis of AD, and may have important implications for mitochondrially targeted antioxidant therapeutics in AD.

Increasing evidence suggests that mitochondrial abnormalities are involved in the development and progression of AD (reviewed in Reddy, 2009). Further, it has been proposed that mitochondrially generated free radicals and oxidative damage are involved in abnormal processing of APP and in generating Aβ peptide by activating β- and γ-secretases...  Read more


  Primary Papers: Overexpression of SOD-2 reduces hippocampal superoxide and prevents memory deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Comment by:  Magali Dumont
Submitted 18 August 2009  |  Permalink Posted 18 August 2009

This paper shows the beneficial effects of SOD-2 overexpression in transgenic Alzheimer mice. Massaad and colleagues’ data confirmed our previous findings showing that in transgenic Alzheimer mice, overexpression of SOD-2 reduces oxidative stress and amyloid deposition, and improves memory impairments (Dumont et al., 2009).

The mechanism of these effects still remains unclear. In both our and Massaad’s work, the SDS-soluble or formic acid (FA)-soluble pools of Aβ1-42 and Aβ1-40 remained unchanged. Moreover, we also demonstrated that levels of β and α C-terminal fragments of APP were unaffected by SOD-2 overexpression. An interesting outcome of the paper of Massaad is the decrease of Aβ42/40 ratio in the FA-soluble fraction, suggesting a reduction of the most pathogenic isoform of Aβ.

Our study and that of Massaad provide strong evidence that the mitochondrial antioxidant system plays an important role in Alzheimer disease pathogenesis. This is consistent with other evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative damage...  Read more

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