Yu Lei, Huo Zhiguang, Yang Jingyun, Palma-Gudiel Helena, Boyle Patricia A, Schneider Julie A, Bennett David A, Zhao Jinying
Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States.
Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 Oct 27;13:765259. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.765259. eCollection 2021.
Glycosylation, the process of adding glycans (i.e., sugars) to proteins, is the most abundant post-translational modification. N-glycosylation is the most common form of glycosylation, and the N-glycan moieties play key roles in regulating protein functions and many other biological processes. Thus, identification and quantification of N-glycome (complete repertoire of all N-glycans in a sample) may provide new sources of biomarkers and shed light on health and disease. To date, little is known about the role of altered N-glycome in Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease-related Dementias (AD/ADRD). The current study included 45 older adults who had no cognitive impairment (NCI) at baseline, followed and examined annually, and underwent brain autopsy after death. During about 12-year follow-up, 15 developed mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 15 developed AD, and 15 remained NCI. Relative abundances of N-glycans in serum at 2 time points (baseline and proximate to death, ∼12.3 years apart) and postmortem brain tissue (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) were quantified using MALDI-TOF-MS. Regression models were used to test the associations of N-glycans with AD/ADRD phenotypes. We detected 71 serum and 141 brain N-glycans, of which 46 were in common. Most serum N-glycans had mean fold changes less than one between baseline and proximate to death. The cross-tissue N-glycan correlations were weak. Baseline serum N-glycans were more strongly associated with AD/ADRD compared to change in serum N-glycans over time and brain N-glycans. The N-glycan associations were observed in both AD and non-AD neuropathologies. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive glycomic analysis in both blood and brain in relation to AD pathology. Our results suggest that altered N-glycans may serve as mechanistic biomarkers for early diagnosis and progression of AD/ADRD.
糖基化是指在蛋白质上添加聚糖(即糖类)的过程,是最丰富的翻译后修饰。N-糖基化是最常见的糖基化形式,N-聚糖部分在调节蛋白质功能和许多其他生物过程中发挥关键作用。因此,鉴定和定量N-糖组(样品中所有N-聚糖的完整库)可能会提供新的生物标志物来源,并有助于了解健康与疾病状况。迄今为止,关于N-糖组改变在阿尔茨海默病及阿尔茨海默病相关痴呆症(AD/ADRD)中的作用知之甚少。当前的研究纳入了45名基线时无认知障碍(NCI)的老年人,每年进行随访和检查,并在死后进行脑尸检。在约12年的随访期间,15人发展为轻度认知障碍(MCI),15人发展为AD,15人仍为NCI。使用基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱(MALDI-TOF-MS)对血清中两个时间点(基线和接近死亡时,相隔约12.3年)以及死后脑组织(背外侧前额叶皮质)中N-聚糖的相对丰度进行了定量。使用回归模型来测试N-聚糖与AD/ADRD表型之间的关联。我们检测到71种血清N-聚糖和141种脑N-聚糖,其中46种是共有的。大多数血清N-聚糖在基线和接近死亡时的平均倍数变化小于1。跨组织的N-聚糖相关性较弱。与血清N-聚糖随时间的变化以及脑N-聚糖相比,基线血清N-聚糖与AD/ADRD的相关性更强。在AD和非AD神经病理学中均观察到了N-聚糖的关联。据我们所知,这是首次针对与AD病理学相关的血液和大脑进行的全面糖组学分析。我们的结果表明,改变的N-聚糖可能作为AD/ADRD早期诊断和病情进展的机制性生物标志物。