脑内可穿透的生长抑素肽增强海马 Aβ42 的 Neprilysin 介导致降解
Enhanced neprilysin-mediated degradation of hippocampal Aβ42 with a somatostatin peptide that enters the brain.
机构信息
Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
出版信息
Theranostics. 2021 Jan 1;11(2):789-804. doi: 10.7150/thno.50263. eCollection 2021.
Aggregation of the amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide is one of the main neuropathological events in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neprilysin is the major enzyme degrading Aβ, with its activity enhanced by the neuropeptide somatostatin (SST). SST levels are decreased in the brains of AD patients. The poor delivery of SST over the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and its extremely short half-life of only 3 min limit its therapeutic significance. We recombinantly fused SST to a BBB transporter binding to the transferrin receptor. Using primary neuronal cultures and neuroblastoma cell lines, the ability of the formed fusion protein to activate neprilysin was studied. SST-scFv8D3 was administered to mice overexpressing the Aβ-precursor protein (AβPP) with the Swedish mutation (APPswe) as a single injection or as a course of three injections over a 72 h period. Levels of neprilysin and Aβ were quantified using an Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Distribution of SST-scFv8D3 in the brain, blood and peripheral organs was studied by radiolabeling with iodine-125. The construct, SST-scFv8D3, exhibited 120 times longer half-life than SST alone, reached the brain in high amounts when injected intravenously and significantly increased the brain concentration of neprilysin in APPswe mice. A significant decrease in the levels of membrane-bound Aβ42 was detected in the hippocampus and the adjacent cortical area after only three injections. With intravenous injections of our BBB permeable SST peptide, we were able to significantly increase the levels neprilysin, an effect that was followed by a significant and selective degradation of membrane-bound Aβ42 in the hippocampus. Being that membrane-bound Aβ triggers neuronal toxicity and the hippocampus is the central brain area in the progression of AD, the study has illuminated a new potential treatment paradigm with a promising safety profile targeting only the disease affected areas.
β淀粉样蛋白(Aβ)肽的聚集是阿尔茨海默病(AD)的主要神经病理学事件之一。神经肽生长抑素(SST)可增强神经肽生长抑素(neprilysin)降解 Aβ 的活性,SST 水平在 AD 患者的大脑中降低。SST 通过血脑屏障(BBB)的传递效率差,半衰期极短(仅 3 分钟),限制了其治疗意义。我们将 SST 与结合转铁蛋白受体的 BBB 转运体重组融合。使用原代神经元培养物和神经母细胞瘤细胞系,研究了形成的融合蛋白激活 Neprilysin 的能力。SST-scFv8D3 作为单次注射或在 72 小时内注射三次的疗程给予过表达 Aβ 前体蛋白(AβPP)与瑞典突变(APPswe)的小鼠。使用酶联免疫吸附测定(ELISA)定量 Neprilysin 和 Aβ 的水平。通过用碘-125 放射性标记研究 SST-scFv8D3 在大脑、血液和外周器官中的分布。该构建体 SST-scFv8D3 的半衰期比单独的 SST 长 120 倍,当静脉注射时可大量到达大脑,并显著增加 APPswe 小鼠大脑中 Neprilysin 的浓度。仅三次注射后,在海马体和相邻皮质区检测到膜结合 Aβ42 的水平显著降低。通过静脉注射我们的 BBB 可渗透的 SST 肽,我们能够显著增加 Neprilysin 的水平,这种作用随后导致海马体中膜结合 Aβ42 的显著和选择性降解。由于膜结合的 Aβ 触发神经元毒性,而海马体是 AD 进展的中枢脑区,该研究为仅针对疾病受累区域的具有良好治疗前景的新潜在治疗范式提供了依据。