Neuronal Expression of GFAP in Patients with Alzheimer Pathology
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Molecular Psychiatry (2003) 8, 786–796 & 2003 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved 1359-4184/03 $25.00 www.nature.com/mp ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Neuronal expression of GFAP in patients with Alzheimer pathology and identification of novel GFAP splice forms EM Hol*,1, RF Roelofs1, E Moraal1, MAF Sonnemans1, JA Sluijs1, EA Proper2,3, PNE de Graan2, DF Fischer1 and FW van Leeuwen1 1Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, Meibergdreef 33, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 2Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neurosciences, UMCU, Universiteitsweg 100, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is considered to be a highly specific marker for glia. Here, we report on the expression of GFAP in neurons in the human hippocampus. Intriguingly, this neuronal GFAP is coded by out-of-frame splice variants and its expression is associated with Alzheimer pathology. We identified three novel GFAP splice forms: D 135 nt, D exon 6 and D 164 nt. Neuronal GFAP is mainly observed in the pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus of Alzheimer and Down syndrome patients and aged controls, but not in neurons of patients suffering from hippocampal sclerosis. Apparently, the hippocampal neurons in patients with Alzheimer’s disease pathology are capable of expressing glia-specific genes. Molecular Psychiatry (2003) 8, 786–796. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001379 Keywords: glial fibrillary acidic protein; aberrant splicing; neurofibrillary tangles; Alzheimer’s disease; Down syndrome; neurodegenerative disease Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the main cause of senile nondemented controls.4 The mechanism of molecular dementia1 and is accompanied by neuronal cyto- misreading is still elusive; however, we envision skeletal pathology, amyloid plaques and gliosis. that the deletions are either introduced during Characteristic deposits of aberrant proteins, such as transcription or might reflect post-transcriptional 2 3 10 b-amyloid (A40/42), hyperphosphorylated tau and modifications. Apparently, high expression of a þ 1 proteins4 are observed in the neuropathological gene facilitates the detection of molecular misreading, hallmarks of AD, that is, the plaques, tangles and as we have shown earlier for vasopressin in the neuropil threads. Furthermore, it is evident that the homozygous Brattleboro rat11 and APP in DS patients.4 severity of the AD pathology strongly correlates with Therefore, the high level of GFAP expression in the density of the activated astrocytes.5 In these cells, AD and DS patients prompted us to study the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) whether faulty GFAP mRNAs are expressed in these is strongly upregulated.6,7 patients. The human GFAP gene is located on The þ 1 proteins that accumulate in brains of AD chromosome 1712 and encodes a class III intermediate patients are proteins with a wild-type N-terminus and filament protein, which is expressed in astrocytes.13 an out-of-frame C-terminus.8 Owing to molecular Recently, it has been shown that mutations in the misreading, small deletions occur in mRNA in or GFAP gene are associated with Alexander disease,14,15 adjacent to short repetitive sequences, resulting in which is a progressive degenerative neurological frameshifted mRNA and consequently the translation disorder. The disease is characterized by cytoplasmic of þ 1 proteins.8,9 In a previous study, we have shown inclusions in astrocytes containing GFAP, the so-called that molecular misreading of two human genes Rosenthal fibers.16 Alexander disease is the first occurs, that is, amyloid precursor protein (APP) and example of neuropathology caused by mutations in ubiquitin B (UBB). Both aberrant proteins, APP þ 1 and the GFAP gene. UBB þ 1, are present in aggregates and coexpressed in In this study, we focused on the human enthorinal neurons in the hippocampus and cortex of AD cortex and hippocampus, since this area is the earliest patients, Down syndrome (DS) patients and aged and most affected area in AD.17,18 During the course of our experiments, we observed that frameshifted GFAP is indeed expressed in the hippocampus of AD and *Correspondence: Dr EM Hol, PhD, Netherlands Institute for DS patients. It turned out that this aberrant GFAP Brain Research, Meibergdreef 33, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The protein was not the result of classical molecular Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]; misreading, but the result of alternative splicing of 3 Present address: Department of Clinical Chemistry, Isala Klinie- GFAP pre-mRNA. To our surprise, we observed that ken, Weezenlanden, Zwolle, The Netherlands. Received 05 August 2002; revised 17 April 2003; accepted 29 this GFAP protein is expressed in hippocampal April 2003 neurons in AD and DS patients. GFAP expression in neurofibrillary tangles EM Hol et al 787 Materials and methods Triton X-100, pH 7.6) or (ii) a combination of MC-1 (1 : 100) and GFAPwt (1 : 5000, DAKO, Carpinteria, CA, Human brain material USA). Subsequently, the sections were washed in Post-mortem human brain material was obtained from TBS and incubated for 1 h with anti-mouse-Cy2 the Netherlands Brain Bank in Amsterdam, the (Jackson ImmunoResearch Labs; 1 : 50)/anti-rabbit- Netherlands (coordinator: Dr R Ravid). The hippo- Cy3 (Jackson ImmunoResearch Labs; 1 : 200)/TO- campi were obtained at autopsy and fixed for 1 month PRO-3 (Molecular Probes; 1 : 1000). Sections were by immersion in 4% formalin in neutral phosphate- embedded in Mowiol (0.1 M Tris-HCl pH 8.5, 25% buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4). All cases were glycerol, 10% w/v Mowiol 4-88). Images were neuropathologically confirmed using convential his- acquired by confocal laser scanning microscopy topathological stainings including Bodian, methena- (Zeiss 510). mine-silver and Congo red. In addition, hippocampal tissue was obtained by tissue biopsy from pharmaco- In situ hybridization resistant temporal lobe epilepsy patients (Dr CWM Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) immunostaining was van Veelen and Dr PC van Rijen UMCU, Utrecht The combined with GFAP in situ hybridization on 6 mm Netherlands) and was fixed in 4% buffered formalin paraffin sections of a 70-year-old female AD patient for 1 day. (NBB-83002). The sections were deparaffinized, re- hydrated and rinsed in RNAse-free TBS. Monoclonal Immunocytochemistry anti-NSE (1 : 100 Novo-Castra in supermix) was Paraffin sections (6 mm thick) or 50 mm thick vibra- applied to the sections for an overnight incubation tome sections of post-mortem hippocampi of 15 AD at 41C. Subsequently, the sections were rinsed in TBS patients, five DS patients, 25 nondemented controls followed by an incubation with biotin-labeled horse- and epileptic tissue biopsy material of 12 pharma- anti-mouse (Vector, Burlingame, CA, USA; 1 : 400 in coresistant temporal lobe epilepsy patients were supermix) at room temperature for 1 h. After another wt þ 1 stained for the presence of GFAP and GFAP . rinse in TBS, the sections were incubated with avidin The paraffin sections were deparaffinized in xylene biotin complex (ABC, Vector Burlingame, CA, USA; and graded ethanol dilution series and washed in 1 : 1000 in supermix) at room temperature for 45 min. Tris-buffered saline (TBS; pH 7.6). These sections and The sections were rinsed with TBS and stained with the vibratome sections were incubated with 100% diaminobenzidine in 0.05 M Tris buffer (pH 7.6). After formic acid on a rocking table for 30 min, rinsed in a2Â 2 min wash in PBS, the sections were deprotei- distilled water for 30 min and in PBS (pH 7.6) for nized and processed for in situ hybridization as 30 min. The vibratome sections were treated with described before.4 A 40-mer oligonucleotide probe graded methanols and finally with 20% methanol/ (see Figure 1a) complementary to nt 2328–2367 of 0 0.3% H2O2 to inhibit pseudoperoxidase activity of GFAP mRNA (5 -CTTAATTCCCACAATCCAGAGGC- erythrocytes. Subsequently, the sections were incu- CAGTGCAACTGGTCAC-30) was labeled using term- bated with various polyclonal antibodies as described inal transferase and 35S-dATP. Control hybridizations 4 wt previously. These antibodies included: GFAP (i) were performed with a sense probe 50-GTGAC- DAKO raised against bovine GFAP (1 : 300 paraffin, CAGTTGCACTTGGCCTCTGGATTG TGGGAATTA- 1 : 2000 vibratome; DAKO, Carpinteria, CA, USA), (ii) AG-30. Sigma raised against human GFAP (1 : 1000) or (iii) Dahl19 (1 : 2000), GFAP þ 1 (epitope DRGDAGWRGH, Nonradioactive in situ hybridization þ 1 1 : 1000, bleeding 010498), APP (1 : 250, bleeding Nonradioactive in situ hybridization was performed þ 1 020294), UBB (1 : 400, Ubi2 bleeding 010994) and on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded human post- þ 1 GFAP preimmune serum (1 : 1000, bleeding mortem hippocampus of a 66-year-old male AD 270198). patient (NBB-88073). Digoxigenin-labeled (DIG) GFAP sense and antisense cRNA was generated by Confocal microscopy in vitro transcription using T3 or T7 RNA polymerase, To diminish the autofluorescence in the formalde- respectively. The RNA was transcribed from human hyde-fixed hippocampi, the paraffin sections were GFAP cDNA nt 1121–1295 (see Figure 1a). The tissue irradiated with light (Philips, Holland 40 W, 301 * CO, sections (6 mm) were deparaffinized, rehydrated and 230 V, spoltineR63) for 48 h.20 Hereafter, the paraffin treated with proteinase K (10 mg/ml in 10 mM Tris- sections were deparaffinized in xylene and rehy- HCl, pH 7.5, 2 mM CaCl2)at371C for 30 min. The drated in graded ethanols. The sections were washed sections were postfixed in 4% buffered formalin in in TBS (pH 7.6) and heated in TBS in a pressure PBS for 5 min, followed by an incubation in ammo- cooker for 20 min. After cooling down, the sections nium chloride (1% in PBS) for 15 min. After rinsing were washed twice in TBS and incubated for 48 h at twice with PBS, the sections were incubated in 0.1% 41C with (i) a mouse monoclonal antibody recogniz- Triton X-100 in PBS for 20 min.