Granulovacuolar degeneration bodies (GVBs) are membrane-bound vacuolar structures harboring a dense core that accumulate in the brains of patients with neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies. Insight into the origin of GVBs and their connection to tau pathology has been limited by the lack of suitable experimental models for GVB formation. Here, we used confocal, automated, super-resolution and electron microscopy to demonstrate that the seeding of tau pathology triggers the formation of GVBs in different mouse models in vivo and in primary mouse neurons in vitro. Seeding-induced intracellular tau aggregation, but not seed exposure alone, causes GVB formation in cultured neurons, but not in astrocytes. The extent of tau pathology strongly correlates with the GVB load. Tau-induced GVBs are immunoreactive for the established GVB markers CK1δ, CK1ɛ, CHMP2B, pPERK, peIF2α and pIRE1α and contain a LAMP1- and LIMP2-positive single membrane that surrounds the dense core and vacuole. The proteolysis reporter DQ-BSA is detected in the majority of GVBs, demonstrating that GVBs contain degraded endocytic cargo. GFP-tagged CK1δ accumulates in the GVB core, whereas GFP-tagged tau or GFP alone does not, indicating selective targeting of cytosolic proteins to GVBs. Taken together, we established the first in vitro model for GVB formation by seeding tau pathology in primary neurons. The tau-induced GVBs have the marker signature and morphological characteristics of GVBs in the human brain. We show that GVBs are lysosomal structures distinguished by the accumulation of a characteristic subset of proteins in a dense core.

ApoJ/clusterin is a multifunctional protein highly expressed in the brain. The implication of ApoJ in β-amyloid (Aβ) fibrillization and clearance in the context of Alzheimer’s disease has been widely studied, although the source and concentration of ApoJ that promotes or inhibits Aβ cerebral accumulation is not clear yet. ApoJ is abundant in plasma and approximately 20% can appear bound to HDL-particles. In this regard, the impact of plasmatic ApoJ and its lipidation status on cerebral β-amyloidosis is still not known. Hence, our main objective was to study the effect of a peripheral increase of free ApoJ or reconstituted HDL particles containing ApoJ in an experimental model of cerebral β-amyloidosis. Fourteen-month-old APP23 transgenic mice were subjected to subchronic intravenous treatment with rHDL-rApoJ nanodiscs or free rApoJ for 1 month. Aβ concentration and distribution in the brain, as well as Aβ levels in plasma and CSF, were determined after treatments. Other features associated to AD pathology, such as neuronal loss and neuroinflammation, were also evaluated. Both ApoJ-based treatments prevented the Aβ accumulation in cerebral arteries and induced a decrease in total brain insoluble Aβ42 levels. The peripheral treatment with rApoJ also induced an increase in the Aβ40 levels in CSF, whereas the concentration remained unaltered in plasma. At all the endpoints studied, the lipidation of rApoJ did not enhance the protective properties of free rApoJ. The effects obtained after subchronic treatment with free rApoJ were accompanied by a reduction in hippocampal neuronal loss and an enhancement of the expression of a phagocytic marker in microglial cells surrounding Aβ deposits. Finally, despite the activation of this phagocytic phenotype, treatments did not induce a global neuroinflammatory status. In fact, free rApoJ treatment was able to reduce the levels of interleukin-17 (IL17) and keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC) chemokine in the brain. Our results demonstrate that an increase in circulating human rApoJ induces a reduction of insoluble Aβ and CAA load in the brain of APP23 mice. Thus, our study suggests that peripheral interventions, based on treatments with multifunctional physiological chaperones, offer therapeutic opportunities to regulate the cerebral Aβ load.

Genome‐wide association studies have described several genes as genetic susceptibility loci for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Among them, CD2AP encodes CD2‐associated protein, a scaffold protein implicated in dynamic actin remodeling and membrane trafficking during endocytosis and cytokinesis. Although a clear link between CD2AP defects and glomerular pathology has been described, little is known about the function of CD2AP in the brain. The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of CD2AP in the AD brain and its potential associations with tau aggregation and β‐amyloid (Aβ) deposition. First, we performed immunohistochemical analysis of CD2AP expression in brain tissue from AD patients and controls (N = 60). Our results showed granular CD2AP immunoreactivity in the human brain endothelium in all samples. In AD cases, no CD2AP was found to be associated with Aβ deposits in vessels or parenchymal plaques. CD2AP neuronal inclusions similar to neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and neuropil thread‐like deposits were found only in AD samples. Moreover, immunofluorescence analysis revealed that CD2AP colocalized with pTau. Regarding CD2AP neuronal distribution, a hierarchical progression from the entorhinal to the temporal and occipital cortex was detected. We found that CD2AP immunodetection in neurons was strongly and positively associated with Braak neurofibrillary stage, independent of age and other pathological hallmarks. To further investigate the association between pTau and CD2AP, we included samples from cases of primary tauopathies (corticobasal degeneration [CBD], progressive supranuclear palsy [PSP], and Pick's disease [PiD]) in our study. Among these cases, CD2AP positivity was only found in PiD samples as neurofibrillary tangle‐like and Pick body‐like deposits, whereas no neuronal CD2AP deposits were detected in PSP or CBD samples, which suggested an association of CD2AP neuronal expression with 3R‐Tau‐diseases. In conclusion, our findings open a new road to investigate the complex cellular mechanism underlying the tangle conformation and tau pathology in the brain.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a common cause of lobar intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in elderly individuals and it is the result of the cerebrovascular deposition of beta-amyloid (Aβ) protein. CAA is frequently found in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), although it has an independent contribution to the cognitive deterioration associated with age. Specific apolipoproteins (Apo) have been associated with Aβ fibrillization and clearance from the brain. In this regard, in the present study, we analyzed the brain levels of ApoE, ApoA-I and ApoJ/clusterin in autopsy brains from 20 post-mortem cases with CAA type I, CAA type II, with parenchymal Aβ deposits or without Aβ deposits. Our objective was to find a possible differential pattern of apolipoproteins distribution in the brain depending on the CAA pathological presentation. The protein expression levels were adjusted by the APOE genotype of the patients included in the study. We found that ApoE and ApoJ were abundantly present in meningeal, cortical and capillary vessels of the brains with vascular Aβ accumulation. ApoE and ApoJ also deposited extracellularly in the parenchyma, especially in cases presenting Aβ diffuse and neuritic parenchymal deposits. In contrast, ApoA-I staining was only relevant in capillary walls in CAA type I cases. On the other hand, ICH was the principal cause of death among CAA patients in our cohort. We found that CAA patients with ICH more commonly had APOEε2 compared with CAA patients without ICH. In addition, patients who suffered an ICH presented higher vascular ApoE levels in brain. However, higher ApoE presence in cortical arteries was the only independent predictor of suffering an ICH in our cohort after adjusting by age and APOE genotype. In conclusion, while ApoE and ApoJ appear to be involved in both vascular and parenchymal Aβ pathology, ApoA-I seems to be mainly associated with CAA, especially in CAA type I pathology. We consider that our study helps to molecularly characterize the distribution subtypes of Aβ deposition within the brain.

The pathological accumulation of parenchymal and vascular amyloid-beta (Aβ) are the main hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (CAA), respectively. Emerging evidence raises an important contribution of vascular dysfunction in AD pathology that could partially explain the failure of anti-Aβ therapies in this field. Transgenic mice models of cerebral β-amyloidosis are essential to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying amyloid accumulation in the cerebrovasculature and its interactions with neuritic plaque deposition. Here, our main objective was to evaluate the progression of both parenchymal and vascular deposition in APP23 and 5xFAD transgenic mice in relation to age and sex. We first showed a significant age-dependent accumulation of extracellular Aβ deposits in both transgenic models, with a greater increase in APP23 females. We confirmed that CAA pathology was more prominent in the APP23 mice, demonstrating a higher progression of Aβ-positive vessels with age, but not linked to sex, and detecting a pronounced burden of cerebral microbleeds (cMBs) by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In contrast, 5xFAD mice did not present CAA, as shown by the negligible Aβ presence in cerebral vessels and the occurrence of occasional cMBs comparable to WT mice. In conclusion, the APP23 mouse model is an interesting tool to study the overlap between vascular and parenchymal Aβ deposition and to evaluate future disease-modifying therapy before its translation to the clinic.

Brain accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) is a crucial feature in Alzheimer´s disease (AD) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), although the pathophysiological relationship between these diseases remains unclear. Numerous proteins are associated with Aβ deposited in parenchymal plaques and/or cerebral vessels. We hypothesized that the study of these proteins would increase our understanding of the overlap and biological differences between these two pathologies and may yield new diagnostic tools and specific therapeutic targets. We used a laser capture microdissection approach combined with mass spectrometry in the APP23 transgenic mouse model of cerebral-β-amyloidosis to specifically identify vascular Aβ-associated proteins. We focused on one of the main proteins detected in the Aβ-affected cerebrovasculature: MFG-E8 (milk fat globule-EGF factor 8), also known as lactadherin. We first validated the presence of MFG-E8 in mouse and human brains. Immunofluorescence and immunoblotting studies revealed that MFG-E8 brain levels were higher in APP23 mice than in WT mice. Furthermore, MFG-E8 was strongly detected in Aβ-positive vessels in human postmortem CAA brains, whereas MFG-E8 was not present in parenchymal Aβ deposits. Levels of MFG-E8 were additionally analysed in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients diagnosed with CAA, patients with AD and control subjects. Whereas no differences were found in MFG-E8 serum levels between groups, MFG-E8 concentration was significantly lower in the CSF of CAA patients compared to controls and AD patients. Finally, in human vascular smooth muscle cells MFG-E8 was protective against the toxic effects of the treatment with the Aβ40 peptide containing the Dutch mutation. In summary, our study shows that MFG-E8 is highly associated with CAA pathology and highlights MFG-E8 as a new CSF biomarker that could potentially be used to differentiate cerebrovascular Aβ pathology from parenchymal Aβ deposition.