Alzheimer?s Disease (AD) is a common neurological disease that results in dementia and affects more than 5.7 million Americans. At a molecular level AD is characterized by the formation of ?-amyloid plaques in the interneuronal space and neurofibrillary tangles within neurons. The formation of ?-amyloid plaques arises due to the aggregation of the amyloid ? (A?) peptide, and both soluble A? peptides and ?-amyloid plaques have been linked to cytotoxicity and AD pathogenesis. Despite these clear links to AD, the normal physiological role of A? is incompletely understood. Recent research suggests that A? plays a role in the innate immune response to infection, and accordingly pathogen infection has been associated with increased levels of A? and the subsequent formation of ?-amyloid plaques. The goal of the proposed research is to test the link between A? and innate immune responses using the Drosophila melanogaster-parasitoid wasp model system. In this system, Drosophila are infected by wasps and mount a genetically conserved cellular innate immune response to kill the invading parasite. Preliminary studies show that loss the A? precursor protein APPL blocks the production of a successful immune response, suggesting that the role of A? in host defense is evolutionarily conserved.
Specific Aim 1 will further define the roles of A?, APPL and the APPL processing enzyme BACE in the innate immune response. Notably, the overexpression of human A? in Drosophila leads to an infection dependent autoimmune response, in which A? appears to target immune cells against self tissue, leading to immune induced tissue damage.
Specific Aim 1 will also provide insight into the role of A? in the production of this self directed immune damage, including characterizing the localization of A? during the immune response and identifying the immune cell receptors that are responding to A? expression. Additionally, during infection the parasitoid wasps transfer venom proteins into the Drosophila host. This venom contains virulence factors that allow the parasite to overcome the host immune response. Two parasitoid wasp species have been identified that block the self directed immune damage mediated by A? expression, suggesting that they utilize venom virulence proteins that target A?.
Specific Aim 2 will characterize this activity and identify the A? inhibitory proteins found in parasite venom. This proposal will provide insight into the relationship between A? and innate immunity and may help uncover novel targets for the treatment of AD.
Alzheimer?s Disease is a common disease that causes dementia in patients and affects 5.7 million Americans. Our proposed research will investigate the recently discovered links between Alzheimer?s Disease and immunity using a simple model to understand the role of Alzheimer?s Disease genes in the immune response to pathogen infection. By understanding this interaction, we hope to shed light on how immunity and infection can affect the development of Alzheimer?s Disease and identify potential targets for the advancement of new therapies.
