Tau pathology epigenetically remodels the neuron-glial cross-talk in Alzheimer’s disease
Lanting Zhou, Dan Liu, Huicong Kang, Lu Lu, He‐Zhou Huang, Wen-Qing Ai, Yang Zhou, Man‐Fei Deng, Hao Li, Zhiqiang Liu, Wei-Feng Zhang, Yazhuo Hu, Zhitao Han, Hong‐Hong Zhang, Jianjun Jia, Avijite Kumer Sarkar, Saldin Sharaydeh, Jie Wang, Heng‐Ye Man, Marcel Schilling, Lars Bertram, Youming Lu, Ziyuan Guo, Ling‐Qiang Zhu
Abstract
The neuron-glia cross-talk is critical to brain homeostasis and is particularly affected by neurodegenerative diseases. How neurons manipulate the neuron-astrocyte interaction under pathological conditions, such as hyperphosphorylated tau, a pathological hallmark in Alzheimer's disease (AD), remains elusive. In this study, we identified excessively elevated neuronal expression of adenosine receptor 1 (Adora1 or A1R) in 3×Tg mice, MAPT P301L (rTg4510) mice, patients with AD, and patient-derived neurons. The up-regulation of A1R was found to be tau pathology dependent and posttranscriptionally regulated by Mef2c via miR-133a-3p. Rebuilding the miR-133a-3p/A1R signal effectively rescued synaptic and memory impairments in AD mice. Furthermore, neuronal A1R promoted the release of lipocalin 2 (Lcn2) and resulted in astrocyte activation. Last, silencing neuronal Lcn2 in AD mice ameliorated astrocyte activation and restored synaptic plasticity and learning/memory. Our findings reveal that the tau pathology remodels neuron-glial cross-talk and promotes neurodegenerative progression. Approaches targeting A1R and modulating this signaling pathway might be a potential therapeutic strategy for AD.