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B-Crystallin in Tauopathies with Glial Pathology



From the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,* Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, and the Institute on Aging,
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Department of Biology,
University of Oldenburg, Germany
| Abstract |
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-synuclein in Parkinsons disease and polyglutamine in Huntingtons disease. We analyzed a variety of tauopathies with antibodies to a panel of HSPs to determine their role in the pathogenesis of these disorders. Although HSPs are not found in neuronal tau inclusions, we demonstrate increased expression of the small HSP
B-crystallin in glial inclusions of both sporadic and familial tauopathies.
B-crystallin was observed in a subset of astrocytic and oligodendrocytic tau inclusions as well as the neuropil thread pathology in cellular processes, but the co-expression of
B-crystallin with tau inclusions was relatively specific to tauopathies with extensive glial pathology. Thus, increased
B-crystallin expression in glial tau inclusions may represent a response by glia to the accumulation of misfolded or aggregated tau protein that is linked to the pathogenesis of the glial pathology and distinct from mechanisms underlying neuronal tau pathology in neurodegenerative disease.
In many tauopathies, including sporadic disorders such as corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) as well as the familial tauopathy frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17), there is not only tau pathology in neurons but also robust tau pathology in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes,4 wherein tau is normally expressed at very low levels.5,6 Furthermore, there is also extensive tau pathology within the processes of neurons and glia in the form of neuropil threads in both gray and white matter.7 The pathogenic mechanisms underlying the in vivo aggregation of tau are primarily unknown, although distinct mechanisms may underlie this aggregation in neurons versus glia.8
Heat-shock proteins (HSPs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of neurodegenerative disorders including Huntingtons disease and Parkinsons disease.9
HSPs are a large group of proteins that are highly conserved across species and function as molecular chaperones playing a critical role in protein stabilization, folding, and assembly.10,11
In Huntingtons disease, HSP70 was demonstrated to be neuroprotective against polyglutamine toxicity, whereas in Parkinsons disease, HSP70 suppressed
-synuclein neurotoxicity in dopaminergic neurons.12,13
Furthermore, the expression of the small HSPs HSP27 and
B-crystallin (
BC), normally present at low levels in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes14,15
is induced in other neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alexanders disease,14
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease,15
and AD.16,17
However, in AD the enhanced expression of
BC is restricted to reactive astrocytes and microglia.16,17
In some tauopathies,
BC is expressed in a subset of degenerating achromatic or ballooned neurons that are only variably immunoreactive for tau proteins.18
Yet, it remains uncertain whether other HSPs are induced in tauopathies. In this study we analyzed a variety of disorders with tau pathology for the induction of HSPs. We demonstrate the increased expression of
BC in glia of both sporadic and familial tauopathies. The enhanced expression of
BC was specific to those disorders with prominent glial pathology thereby suggesting distinct pathogenic mechanisms for tau aggregation in neurons versus glia in neurodegenerative tauopathies.
| Materials and Methods |
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Brain tissue was obtained from the brain bank at the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease and AD Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Fixed and frozen brain tissues from patients with the neuropathological diagnoses of CBD, PSP, FTDP-17, AD, and schizophrenia, as well as normal control brains, were analyzed histochemically and biochemically. Pathological diagnoses conformed with the established diagnostic criteria used for CBD,19
PSP,20
FTDP-17,21
and AD22
were used. All of the AD patients examined in this study were given a clinical diagnosis of probable AD22
and demonstrated extensive neurofibrillary pathology consistent with Braak stage V-VI.23
Brain regions examined included affected neocortex and basal ganglia from five CBD, six PSP, two FTDP-17 (N279K and intron 10 + 16), six schizophrenia, and four normal patients and affected neocortex and hippocampus from eight AD patients. Occipital lobe/visual cortex was used as a relatively unaffected control brain region. Demographic information for the patients analyzed is presented in Table 1
.
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Primary monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for HSPs and dilutions (indicated in parentheses) including those specific for: HSP90 (1:200),24
HSP70 (1:200),25
Hsc70 (1:800),26
HSP60 (1:500),25
HSP40 (1:5000),27
BC (1:1000 to 2500),28
HSP27 (1:200)29
were purchased from StressGen Biotechnologies Corp. (Victoria, Canada). Other mAbs specific for HSP2730
and HSP7031
were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc. (Santa Cruz, CA) and used to confirm the results obtained with StressGen mAb. Immunoreactivity to
BC was also detected with a rabbit polyclonal antibody (1:200) purchased from StressGen Biotechnologies Corp. Antibodies used to assess tau pathology included the mAbs PHF-1 (1:2000), generously provided by Peter Davies (Department of Pathology and Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY),32
Tau14 (1:3000),33
and Tau46 (1:1000)33
as well as a rabbit polyclonal antiserum made to the N-terminal 12 amino acids of tau (Ntau, 1:250) (BabCo/Covance, Denver, PA). A rabbit polyclonal antibody specific for the astrocyte-specific intermediate filament glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was purchased from DAKO (1:10,000) (Carpinteria, CA).
Histochemistry and Immunohistochemistry
Tissue obtained at the time of autopsy was fixed in 10% formalin, paraffin-embedded, and cut into 6-µm-thick sections. In all cases, fixation time was limited to 30 hours. Immunohistochemistry was performed as previously described using the avidin-biotin complex (ABC) method (Vectastain ABC kit; Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA) and 3,3'-diaminobenzidine as chromogen.34
Tau pathology and
BC immunoreactivity in all cases was assessed semiquantitatively by two individuals as absent (0), mild (1+), moderate (2+), or marked (3+) as shown in Table 2
. Double-labeling immunofluorescence studies were performed by co-incubating sections with antibodies specific for tau and
BC. After extensive washes, sections were labeled using Alexa Fluor 488- and 594-conjugated secondary antibodies (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR), washed, and coverslipped with Vectashield-DAPI-mounting medium (Vector Laboratories). The sections were viewed with an Olympus BX51 (Tokyo, Japan) microscope equipped with bright-field and fluorescence light sources. Both bright-field and fluorescent images were obtained from the same field using a ProGres C14, Jenoptik camera (Laser Optik Systeme, Germany).
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Fresh, frozen brain tissue was obtained from the mid-frontal lobe, striatum (caudate and putamen), and globus pallidus for biochemical analysis. Tissue was obtained from the hemisphere contralateral to that used for the immunohistochemical analysis. Gray and white matter was dissected from the mid-frontal cortex. Biochemical analysis of tau and
BC was performed as previously described.35
Briefly, sequential extraction of tau proteins was performed using buffers with increasing abilities to solubilize proteins as follows: 1) high-salt Tris-buffered saline (HS-TBS) (0.75 mol/L NaCl, 50mmol/L Tris buffer, pH 7.4, 2 mmol/L ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid); 2) 1% Triton in HS-TBS; 3) RIPA buffer (0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), 1% Nonidet P-40, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate, 2mmol/L ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, 150 mmol/L NaCl, 50 mmol/L Tris buffer, pH 8.0); 4) SDS; and 5) 70% formic acid (FA). Extractions were performed at a concentration of 2.0 ml of extraction buffer per g of starting tissue except for FA, which was used at 0.5 ml/g of tissue. Each extraction step was repeated twice, samples were spun at 45,000 rpm for 30 minutes at 4°C and supernatants were collected. For Western blot analysis, nitrocellulose replicas were prepared from 7.5% or 15% SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis slab gels and probed with antibodies specific for tau or
BC as indicated. For all Western blots, 5 to 10 µl of extract was used corresponding to 2.5 to 5 µg of tissue, and bound mAbs were detected with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse IgG (Santa Cruz Biotechnologies, Santa Cruz, CA). Immunoreactive proteins were revealed using enhanced chemiluminescence (NEN Life Science, Boston, MA). Quantitative Western blot analysis was performed as previously described36
using a mixture of Tau14 and Tau46 or mAb
BC followed by 2 mCi/ml of I125-labeled goat anti-mouse IgG (IgG; New England Nuclear, Boston, MA) as secondary antibodies. The radiolabeled blots were exposed to Phosphorimager plates, and the protein bands were visualized and quantified with ImageQuant software (Molecular Dynamics Inc., Sunnyvale, CA).
| Results |
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BC Immunoreactivity in Affected Neocortex and Basal Ganglia of Tauopathies
To investigate the possibility of a relationship between molecular chaperones and tauopathies, we immunostained brain sections with a variety of different tau pathologies using a panel of antibodies to HSPs including HSP90, HSP70, Hsc70, HSP60, HSP40,
BC, and HSP27. Although the majority of the antibodies revealed little or no change in HSP immunoreactivity relative to control brains, the HSP
BC, and to a lesser extent, HSP27, and HSP60, demonstrated enhanced immunostaining. To further characterize the expression of HSPs in tauopathies, we examined selected brain regions including mid-frontal and visual cortex and basal ganglia from a large panel of tauopathy and control brains (Table 1)
with antibodies to these HSPs as well as to tau. Although there was a modest increase in
BC immunostaining in cells with the morphology of reactive astrocytes, in severely affected neocortex, there was a marked increase in both the quantity and intensity of the
BC immunoreactivity, particularly in white matter of CBD and FTDP-17 patients as compared to schizophrenia and normal patients (Figure 1)
. In PSP, there was a modest increase in
BC immunoreactivity relative to control brains that correlated with mild and variable neocortical tau pathology (Figure 1
and Table 2
). Similarly, there was enhanced
BC expression relative to control normal adult and schizophrenia patients in the globus pallidus and, to a lesser extent striatum (caudate and putamen) in CBD, PSP, and FTDP-17, all of which are tauopathies with prominent tau pathology in the basal ganglia (Figure 2
and Table 2
). In contrast, there was no increase in
BC immunostaining in the unaffected occipital lobes that lacked tau pathology in all patients examined (Table 2)
. Moreover, semiquantitative analysis of tau and
BC immunostaining demonstrated a correlation between
BC expression and the amount of tau pathology (Figure 3)
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BC, HSP27 reactivity was detected in glia in CBD, PSP, and FTDP-17 patients albeit to a lesser extent than that observed for
BC (Figure 4)
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BC with Tau Pathology in Glia
The increase in
BC immunostaining was detected in tauopathies with prominent glial pathology including CBD, PSP, and FTDP-17.1,3
The
BC immunostaining exhibited a variety of morphologies including cytoplasmic staining in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, often resembling coiled bodies (Figures 1 and 2)
, as well as the well-documented ballooned neurons (data not shown) that are only variably tau-positive.18,42
There was also prominent staining in cellular processes morphologically resembling the neuritic or thread pathology observed in these tauopathies (Figure 2H
, inset). In contrast, there was only a modest increase in
BC immunostaining in the AD neocortex and entorhinal cortex wherein neuronal tau pathology predominates (Figure 5)
. In addition, immunostaining for GFAP, a marker for reactive astrocytes, revealed no qualitative differences between tauopathies with prominent glial pathology and AD (data not shown), suggesting that this increase in
BC expression is not simply a manifestation of the astrogliosis that accompanies neurodegeneration.
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BC expression was specifically induced in glia with tau pathology, we analyzed brain sections by two-color immunofluorescence. A subset of tau-positive oligodendrocytes (coiled bodies), astrocytes, and neuropil threads co-localized with
BC in the neocortex and globus pallidus of tauopathy brains (Figure 6)
BC staining was detected in cells with the morphology of glia, only a subset of the
BC expression co-localized with glial tau pathology. These findings suggest that expression of
BC may be a protective response before and/or during the accumulation of tau aggregates in glia.
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BC in Tauopathies with Prominent Glial Pathology
To further characterize the relationship between the
BC expression and tau pathology, we analyzed the expression and solubility of
BC in affected regions of tauopathy patients. We performed serial protein extractions under conditions of increasing ability to solubilize proteins followed by quantitative Western blotting similar to that described previously to characterize tau pathology.35
Although the majority of tau in both normal and affected brains is extracted in the soluble fractions (high-salt TBS and 1% Triton X-100), the amount of soluble
BC was low and variable in both control and tauopathy brains (Figure 7)
. Instead, the majority of
BC was detected in the fractions extracted with 2% SDS or 70% FA. Similar relocalizations from the detergent soluble to the insoluble cytoskeletal fractions were described in rat astrocytoma cells43
and NIH 3T3 cells.44
Consistent with the above, in affected neocortex and basal ganglia of both CBD and PSP brains, there was an increase in the amount of insoluble
BC in both the 2% SDS and 70% FA extracts, compared to the corresponding regions of schizophrenia and normal control brains, and this correlated with the accumulation of insoluble, hyperphosphorylated tau in CBD and PSP (Figure 7)
. In addition, there were modest increases in insoluble
BC detected in PSP brains despite the absence of
BC detected by immunohistochemistry. Interestingly, this correlates with the accumulation of insoluble tau detected in subcortical white matter without significant tau pathology detected by immunohistochemistry.45
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BC extracted in 2% SDS and 70% FA fractions demonstrated marked increases in insoluble protein levels as compared to normal brains (Figure 8)
BC from CBD, PSP, and schizophrenia patients with that from normal controls. Although only small increases in insoluble
BC were detected in the 2% SDS fractions, there was a marked increase (10- to 40-fold) in the
BC detected in the 70% FA fraction from affected regions of tauopathy patients compared to normal controls. In general, CBD patients demonstrated larger increases in insoluble
BC that correlated with the amount of insoluble (FA-extractable) tau. In contrast, there was no significant increase in insoluble
BC in schizophrenia brains.
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| Discussion |
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BC and to a lesser extent HSP27 was specifically increased in tauopathies with abundant glial pathology. Similar changes in expression were not observed in AD, a neurodegenerative disorder with predominantly neuronal tau pathology.47
Furthermore, a subset of the
BC expression co-localized in oligodendrocytes and astrocytes with tau inclusions. The increased
BC immunostaining correlated with large increases in insoluble, FA extractable
BC in affected brain region with glial tau pathology.
Several previous studies suggested a role for
BC in both brain injury and neurodegeneration.48
Although in the normal adult human brain, low levels of
BC are expressed in oligodendroglia and astrocytes,14,15
there is increased expression of
BC in reactive astrocytes in various neurodegenerative diseases.15,16,49
In AD,
BC expression is increased primarily in reactive astrocytes, but also in microglia and oligodendrocytes.16
Furthermore, in several neurodegenerative disorders, ballooned neurons express the small HSPs
BC and HSP27.50,51
However, although ballooned neurons are often detected in tauopathies such as CBD, these cells are only variably immunoreactive for the tau protein.18
In glial cell lines,
BC is predominantly a soluble protein that can be extracted with 0.2 to 0.5% Triton X-100. In contrast, under conditions of serum starvation, most of the
BC was sequestered in the detergent-insoluble fraction.43
Similarly, in response to physiological stressors such as heat shock, there is an increased partitioning of
BC into the detergent insoluble cytoskeletal fraction.52-54
In our study, in both normal and affected brain tissue only a subset of
BC is extracted with high-salt buffers or Triton X-100, whereas the majority of
BC is extractable only with detergents that disrupt the cytoskeleton, such as 2% SDS. However, in affected regions of brains with glial tau pathology, there is a dramatic increase in the SDS-insoluble/FA-soluble
BC that corresponds to the presence of insoluble, hyperphosphorylated tau. Furthermore, this increase in detergent-insoluble
BC was more dramatic in the cortical white matter relative to gray matter, which correlates with the robust glial tau pathology in the white matter of these disorders. In contrast, the tau pathology in the gray matter involves both neurons and glia.47
The role of increased expression of the low-molecular weight HSPs in tauopathies and neurodegeneration is primarily unknown. One possibility is that
BC expression reflects reactive astrogliosis in the brain. However, in our study, there was no significant difference in reactive changes as assessed by GFAP expression between tauopathies with robust glial pathology and AD. This finding suggests that induction of
BC was specifically linked to the glial tau pathology observed in these disorders. The expression of molecular chaperones has also been suggested to be neuroprotective.9,11,41
This hypothesis is supported by studies in Drosophila models of Parkinsons disease and Huntingtons disease, wherein HSP70 has shown to be a potent modulator of the toxicity associated with aggregated polyglutamine and
-synuclein toxicity.9,12,13
Furthermore, up-regulation of HSP70 in transgenic mice expressing Ataxin-1 implicated in spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) disease prevented deterioration of Purkinje cells and the consequent motor impairments.55
HSP70 has also been implicated in the modulation of neuronal tau pathology observed in AD.41 In this recent study, Dou and colleagues41 demonstrated that HSP70 and HSP90 prevent tau aggregation and promote its partitioning into microtubules. Furthermore, HSP70 predominantly stained neurons devoid of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) suggesting that HSP70 might be protective and antagonize NFT formation. In our study, occasional neurons with the morphology of NFTs were stained for iHSP70 in AD brains (data not shown). In contrast, we did not detect an increase in iHSP70 expression in both sporadic and familial tauopathies other than AD using two different mAbs. This difference in HSP expression is probably because of biochemical differences in composition of protein aggregates and the cell types affected in sporadic and familial tauopathies in contrast to AD, further suggesting distinct pathogenetic mechanisms in neurons and glia.
The detection of
BC and HSP27 in glial tau inclusions may be an attempt by the cell to prevent tau aggregation and/or reduce its cytotoxicity. These small HSPs have been implicated in stress-induced cell death. Specifically,
BC confers resistance to apoptosis induced by a wide range of stimuli such as oxidative stress and heat shock.56
Moreover,
BC can negatively regulate tumor necrosis factor-
and inhibit the activation of caspase-3, a key proapoptotic protease.56
However, although glial cells undergoing apoptosis are associated with development of NFTs in affected areas of AD brains,57
there is no evidence of apoptosis in glial cells with tau inclusions in sporadic or familial tauopathies. In our study, although a subset of the
BC expression co-localized in cells and processes with tau inclusions, the majority of
BC expression was detected in glia that lacked tau pathology. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that
BC is neuroprotective by preventing the formation of tau aggregates. We speculate that accumulation of tau aggregates in glia is cytotoxic but that the up-regulation of small HSPs might delay and/or prevent this aggregation and consequent cell death. However, an alternative hypothesis is that the altered
BC expression contributes to the pathogenesis of glial tau aggregates. Richter-Landsberg and Goldbaum58
demonstrated that glia respond to cellular stress by up-regulating the expression of HSPs. However, when a certain critical threshold is passed, these stress responses can cause cellular dysfunction, thus contributing to the degenerative processes.58
In our study,
BC immunoreactivity was specific to diseases with prominent glial pathology, implying distinct pathogenic mechanisms in neuronal and glial tau pathology. Previous studies reported
BC expression in AD, primarily in reactive astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes.16
Similarly, we observed
BC-positive reactive astrocytes and rare
BC-positive tangle-bearing neurons. However, our data are more consistent with observations made by Mao and colleagues59
who showed no correlation between
BC-positive neurons and tau-positive tangles. The biochemical composition of aggregates formed in CBD and PSP as well as the two FTDP-17 cases are intrinsically different from that of AD. The neurofibrillary tau pathology in AD is composed of all six central nervous system tau isoforms containing both three and four microtubule-binding repeats.1,3
In contrast, both the neuronal and glial tau pathology in CBD and PSP as well as the two FTDP-17 patients (N279K and intron 10 + 16 mutations) are composed predominantly of only those tau isoforms containing four microtubule-binding repeats.1,3
Ultrastructurally, the tau pathology in AD is characterized primarily by paired helical filaments that are 8 to 20 nm in width with a periodicity of 80 nm,60
in contrast to 15 to 18 nm straight filaments and twisted ribbons with a long periodicity detected in CBD and PSP, respectively.4
Furthermore, in CBD, there may be distinct patterns of tau phosphorylation in gray matter versus white matter pathology.8
Thus, the observed differences in
BC immunoreactivity between tauopathies with prominent glial pathology and AD lead us to speculate that different classes of HSPs are differentially up-regulated in specific cell types. Alternatively, neurons and glial cells might have different thresholds for stress response and consequently induction of
BC. Nonetheless,
BC expression may be a cell-specific response to tau aggregates in glia, and it will be important to elucidate the roles that HSPs and glial tau pathologies play in neurodegenerative diseases.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Footnotes |
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Supported by the National Institute on Aging (mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award to M. S. F.).
V. M. Y. L. is the John H. Ware Third Chair of Alzheimers disease research; and J. Q. T. is the William Maul Measey-Truman G. Schnabel, Jr., Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology.
Accepted for publication September 22, 2003.
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