Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, in collaboration with the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital and other institutions, have uncovered new insights into how Alzheimer’s disease affects not only the brain but also other organs. Their study, published in Neuron, suggests that Alzheimer's disease impacts tissues throughout the body and could lead to novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Dr. Hongjie Li, assistant professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor, explained their approach: “Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation in the brain of amyloid plaques containing the Aβ42 protein and tangles of thread-like structures of the Tau protein. To better understand how the disorder affects other organs in the body, we created an Alzheimer's Disease Fly Cell Atlas.”
The research team engineered fruit flies expressing Aβ42 or Tau proteins specifically in neurons to focus on adult characteristics without developmental interference. Ye-Jin Park, a graduate student involved in the study, noted that “expressing Aβ42 or Tau in neurons affected both neurons and other tissues.” They found that sensory neurons related to vision, hearing, and smell were particularly vulnerable.
Dr. Tzu-Chiao Lu highlighted that “Tau expression in neurons led to significant changes mostly in peripheral tissues,” including altered fat metabolism and digestion. These findings suggest that Tau expression may accelerate aging processes.
Hugo Bellen emphasized that these discoveries enhance understanding of Alzheimer’s disease: “These and other findings described in the Alzheimer's Disease Fly Cell Atlas improve our understanding of how Alzheimer’s disease-associated proteins affect an organism as a whole.”
The study was supported by several grants from institutions such as NIH/NIA and CPRIT Scholarship in Cancer Research. Contributors included researchers from various universities like National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University – Taiwan and U.T. Health San Antonio.
