Background: While still controversial, it has been demonstrated that vascular defects can precede the onset of other AD hallmarks features, making it an important therapeutic target. Given that the protein transthyretin (TTR) has been established as neuroprotective in AD, here we investigated the influence of TTR in the vasculature.Methods: We evaluated the thickness of the basement membrane and the length of brain microvessels, by immunohistochemistry, in AβPPswe/PS1A246E (AD) transgenic mice and non-transgenic mice (NT) bearing one (TTR+/−) or two (TTR+/+) copies of the TTR gene. The angiogenic potential of TTR was evaluated in vitro using the tube formation assay, and in vivo using the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay.Results: AD transgenic mice with TTR genetic reduction, AD/TTR+/−, exhibited a thicker BM in brain microvessels and decreased vessel length than animals with normal TTR levels, AD/TTR+/+. Further in vivo investigation, using the CAM assay, revealed that TTR is a pro-angiogenic molecule, and the neovessels formed are functional. Also, TTR increased the expression of key angiogenic molecules such as proteins interleukins 6 and 8, angiopoietin 2, and vascular endothelial growth factor, by endothelial cells, in vitro, under tube formation conditions. We showed that while TTR reduction also leads to a thicker BM in NT mice, this effect is more pronounced in AD mice than in NT animals, strengthening the idea that TTR is a neuroprotective protein. We also studied the effect of TTR tetrameric stabilization on BM thickness, showing that AD mice treated with the TTR tetrameric stabilizer iododiflunisal (IDIF) displayed a significant reduction of BM thickness and increased vessel length, when compared to non-treated littermates.Conclusion: Our in vivo results demonstrate the involvement of TTR in angiogenesis, particularly as a modulator of vascular alterations occurring in AD. Since TTR is decreased early in AD, its tetrameric stabilization can represent a therapeutic avenue for the early treatment of AD through the maintenance of the vascular structure.

Transthyretin (TTR), a 55 kDa evolutionarily conserved protein, presents altered levels in several conditions, including malnutrition, inflammation, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s Disease. It has been shown that TTR is involved in several functions, such as insulin release from pancreatic β-cells, recovery of blood glucose and glucagon levels of the islets of Langerhans, food intake, and body weight. Here, the role of TTR in hepatic glucose metabolism was explored by studying the levels of glucose in mice with different TTR genetic backgrounds, namely with two copies of the TTR gene, TTR+/+; with only one copy, TTR+/−; and without TTR, TTR−/−. Results showed that TTR haploinsufficiency (TTR+/−) leads to higher glucose in both plasma and in primary hepatocyte culture media and lower expression of the influx glucose transporters, GLUT1, GLUT3, and GLUT4. Further, we showed that TTR haploinsufficiency decreases pyruvate kinase M type (PKM) levels in mice livers, by qRT-PCR, but it does not affect the hepatic production of the studied metabolites, as determined by 1H NMR. Finally, we demonstrated that TTR increases mitochondrial density in HepG2 cells and that TTR insufficiency triggers a higher degree of oxidative phosphorylation in the liver. Altogether, these results indicate that TTR contributes to the homeostasis of glucose by regulating the levels of glucose transporters and PKM enzyme and by protecting against mitochondrial oxidative stress.

While still controversial, it has been demonstrated that vascular defects can precede the onset of the other AD hallmarks features, making it an important therapeutic target. Given that the protein transthyretin (TTR) has been established as neuroprotective in AD, here we investigated the influence of TTR in the vasculature. AD transgenic mice with TTR genetic reduction, AD/TTR+/−, exhibited a thicker BM in brain microvessels and decreased vessel length than animals with normal TTR levels, AD/TTR+/+. Further in vivo investigation, using the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay, revealed that TTR is a pro-angiogenic molecule. Also, TTR increased the expression of key angiogenic molecules, by endothelial cells under tube formation conditions. We showed that TTR reduction leads to a thicker BM in AD mice than in NT animals, strengthening the idea that TTR is a neuroprotective protein. We also studied the effect of TTR tetrameric stabilization on BM thickness, showing that AD mice treated with iododiflunisal (IDIF) displayed a significant reduction of BM thickness and increased vessel length when compared to non-treated littermates. Our in vivo results show the involvement of TTR in angiogenesis, particularly as a modulator of vascular alterations occurring in AD. Since TTR is decreased early in AD, its tetrameric stabilization can represent a therapeutic avenue for the early treatment of AD through the maintenance of the vascular structure.