Biology subjects

Trautwig, A. N.

Publications and source records attributed to Trautwig, A. N..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

TDP-43 toxic gain of function links ALS/FTLD-TDP and Alzheimer's Disease through splicing

Loss of nuclear TDP-43 splicing activity is a common feature across neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), but its relevance to Alzheimers disease (AD) remains unclear. Here, we show that TDP-43 pathology in AD is broadly associated with splicing abnormalities, including aberrant splicing of amyloid precursor protein (APP). TDP-43 drives the formation of elongated APP isoforms, disrupting alternative splicing across ALS, FTLD-TDP and AD, providing a compelling mechanism for a long-standing observation of APP isoform dysregulation. We further establish a mechanistic link between TDP-43, APP splicing, and A{beta} pathology. Surprisingly, the disruption to alternative APP splicing is mediated by a toxic gain of cytoplasmic TDP-43 function, rather than loss of its nuclear role. Using proximity proteomics and base editing in human iPSC-derived neurons, we show that TDP-43 pathology causes cytoplasmic co-sequestration of splicing regulators SCAF11, SRSF5, and TIAL1. Knockdown of these regulators also results in APP mis-splicing and increased A{beta} burden, without affecting other TDP-43 targets such as STMN2 or UNC13A. Together, our findings suggest that TDP-43-mediated splicing dysfunction upstream of APP contributes to the pathogenesis of seemingly disparate neurodegenerative diseases, uniting AD and ALS/FTLD-TDP through a shared molecular mechanism.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Large- Scale Deep Proteomic Analysis in Alzheimer's Disease Brain Regions Across Race and Ethnicity

AbstractO_ST_ABSIntroductionC_ST_ABSAlzheimers disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease, yet our comprehension predominantly relies on studies within the non-Hispanic White (NHW) population. Here we aimed to provide comprehensive insights into the proteomic landscape of AD across diverse racial and ethnic groups. MethodsDorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) brain tissues were donated from multiple centers (Mayo Clinic, Emory University, Rush University, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine) and were harmonized through neuropathological evaluation, specifically adhering to the Braak staging and CERAD criteria. Among 1105 DLPFC tissue samples (998 unique individuals), 333 were from African American donors, 223 from Latino Americans, 529 from NHW donors, and the rest were from a mixed or unknown racial background. Among 280 STG tissue samples (244 unique individuals), 86 were African American, 76 Latino American, 116 NHW and the rest were mixed or unknown ethnicity. All tissues were uniformly homogenized and analyzed by tandem mass tag mass spectrometry (TMT-MS). ResultsAs a Quality control (QC) measure, proteins with more than 50% missing values were removed and iterative principal component analysis was conducted to remove outliers within brain regions. After QC, 9,180 and 9,734 proteins remained in the DLPC and STG proteome, respectively, of which approximately 9,000 proteins were shared between regions. Protein levels of microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) and amyloid-precursor protein (APP) demonstrated AD-related elevations in DLPFC tissues with a strong association with CERAD and Braak across racial groups. APOE4 protein levels in brain were highly concordant with APOE genotype of the individuals. DiscussionThis comprehensive region resolved large-scale proteomic dataset provides a resource for the understanding of ethnoracial-specific protein differences in AD brain.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Network Analysis of the Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteome Reveals Shared and Unique Differences Between Sporadic and Familial Forms of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

BackgroundAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease involving loss of motor neurons, typically results in death within 3-5 years of disease onset. Although roughly 10 % of cases can be linked to a specific inherited mutation (e.g., C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion or SOD1 mutation), the cause of the majority of cases is unknown. Consequently, there is a critical need for biomarkers that reflect disease onset and progression across ALS subgroups. MethodsWe employed tandem mass tag mass spectrometry (TMT-MS) based proteomics on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to identify and quantify 2105 proteins from ALS patients with sporadic disease (n=35), C9orf72 ALS (n=10), and SOD1 ALS (n=6), as well as age-matched healthy controls (n=44) and asymptomatic C9orf72 carriers (n=6). We used differential protein abundance and network analyses to determine how protein profiles vary across disease types in ALS CSF. ResultsIntegrated differential and co-expression network analysis identified proteomic differences between ALS and control, and differentially abundant proteins between sporadic, C9orf72 and SOD1 ALS. Groups of proteins also differentiated asymptomatic C9orf72 mutation carriers from those with C9orf72 ALS, marking a pre-symptomatic proteomic signature of C9orf72 ALS. Similarly, additional proteins differentiated asymptomatic from controls. Leveraging additional publicly available ALS and AD proteomic datasets, we validated our ALS CSF network and identified ALS-specific proteins within Module 5 (M5)-Extracellular matrix (e.g., IGF2, RARRES2, LGALS3, GALNT15, and LYZ) and shared biomarkers across neurodegenerative diseases linked to Module 10 (M10)-Ubiquitination/Gluconeogenesis (e.g., NEFL, NEFM, CHIT1, and CHI3L1). ConclusionsThis study represents a comprehensive analysis of the CSF proteome across sporadic and genetic causes of ALS that resolves differences among these disease subgroups and points to varying pathogenic pathways that result in disease.

neuroscience↗