Alzheimer?s disease (AD) currently affects an estimated 5.8 million individuals in the United States, a number that is expected to grow to 7 million by 2050. In the US AD is the sixth leading cause of death overall and the fifth leading cause of death in individuals 65 and older. There are currently no disease modifying therapies known to slow or halt AD progression, thus a better understanding of AD pathogenesis is essential to address an impeding global health crisis. While it is understood that amyloid beta (A?) leads to progressive synapse loss and is a major contributing feature of AD, it is not well-understood how A? signaling triggers tau pathology. Studies designed to reveal how A? contributes to this second equally critical component of the disease are critical. Multiple genome wide association studies have identified Pyk2 (PTK2B) as a genetic risk factor for late- onset Alzheimer?s disease, which comprises a vast majority of AD cases. Pyk2 is both activated by A? signaling and is required for the presentation of a number of A? associated phenotypes including synapse loss and memory impairment. However, preliminary data I have gathered suggests that Pyk2, which has been demonstrated to interact both directly and indirectly with tau, is protective against tau-mediated neuronal dysfunction.
The Aims of this proposal will determine how Pyk2 functions to protect neurons from tau-mediated damage and how A? may modulate that function in a way that diminishes this protective capacity.
Aim 1 will investigate the role of Pyk2 in protecting neurons against tau-mediated synaptic dysfunction and toxicity. Experiment 1a will use an electrophysiological approach to determine whether Pyk2 expression is protective against tau-mediated impairments of synaptic transmission and plasticity in a well-described tauopathy animal model. Experiment 1b and Experiment 1c will determine whether Pyk2 expression modulates tau-associated synaptic disorganization in vitro and in vivo, respectively.
Aim 2 will investigate Pyk2?s role in regulating A?-induced tau dysfunction and how that role is modulated by A?. Experiment 2a will determine whether Pyk2 expression is protective against A?-induced tau hyperphosphorylation and dendritic mislocalization in human neurons. Experiment 2b will assess how A? signaling modulates the expression and localization of Pyk2. Experiment 2c will determine how Pyk2 protein binding partners are modulated by A? signaling. To the best of our knowledge, these experiments represent the first attempts to understand Pyk2?s role in protecting synapses against tau-mediated damage and how that might be perturbed in the presence of A?. These experiments will yield critical information regarding the link between A? and tau and will likely reveal novel protein targets for future AD therapies.
Alzheimer?s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease involving two distinct protein pathologies (A? and tau), and a more complete understanding of how these pathologies are linked is essential to the development of disease modifying therapies for the successful treatment of AD. The AD risk factor Pyk2 (PTK2B) plays an essential role in A? signaling and has been found to protect neurons from tau-mediated damage. This Project will investigate how Pyk2 protects neurons from tau-mediated dysfunction and toxicity and how this protective role may be disrupted in the presence of A?.
