Pharmacological inhibition of O-GlcNAcase (OGA) prevents cognitive decline and amyloid plaque formation in bigenic tau/APP mutant mice

Mol Neurodegener. 2014 Oct 26:9:42. doi: 10.1186/1750-1326-9-42.

Abstract

Background: Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are the defining pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Increasing the quantity of the O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) post-translational modification of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins slows neurodegeneration and blocks the formation of NFTs in a tauopathy mouse model. It remains unknown, however, if O-GlcNAc can influence the formation of amyloid plaques in the presence of tau pathology.

Results: We treated double transgenic TAPP mice, which express both mutant human tau and amyloid precursor protein (APP), with a highly selective orally bioavailable inhibitor of the enzyme responsible for removing O-GlcNAc (OGA) to increase O-GlcNAc in the brain. We find that increased O-GlcNAc levels block cognitive decline in the TAPP mice and this effect parallels decreased β-amyloid peptide levels and decreased levels of amyloid plaques.

Conclusions: This study indicates that increased O-GlcNAc can influence β-amyloid pathology in the presence of tau pathology. The findings provide good support for OGA as a promising therapeutic target to alter disease progression in Alzheimer disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / enzymology*
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / genetics
  • Animals
  • Blotting, Western
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Maze Learning / drug effects
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases / metabolism*
  • Plaque, Amyloid / pathology*
  • tau Proteins / genetics

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • tau Proteins
  • N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases
  • O-GlcNAc transferase