Sirtuin 2 Inhibition Improves Cognitive Performance and Acts on Amyloid-β Protein Precursor Processing in Two Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Models

Gloria Biella, Federica Fusco, Emanuele Nardo, Ottavia Bernocchi, Alessio Colombo, Stefan F. Lichtenthaler, Gianluigi Forloni, Diego Albani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

The neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are extracellular plaques built up by the accumulation of the amyloid-β protein precursor (AβPP)-derived peptide β (Aβ), and intracellular tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Sirtuin 2 (SIRT2) is a member of the sirtuin family, featuring conserved enzymes with deacetylase activity and involved in several cell molecular pathways. We investigated the importance of SIRT2 inhibition in AD. We inhibited SIRT2 by small molecules (AGK-2, AK-7) and examined AβPP metabolism in H4-SW neuroglioma cells overexpressing AβPP and two AD transgenic mouse models (3xTg-AD and APP23). The in vitro studies suggested that the inhibition of SIRT2 reduced Aβ production; in vivo data showed an improvement of cognitive performance in the novel object recognition test, and an effect on AβPP proteolytic processing leading to a reduction of soluble β-AβPP and an increase of soluble α-AβPP protein. In 3xTg-AD mice, we noticed that total tau protein level rose. Overall, our pre-clinical data support a role for SIRT2 inhibition in the improvement of cognitive performance and the modulation of molecular mechanisms relevant for AD, thus deserving attention as possible therapeutic strategy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1193-1207
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Alzheimer's Disease
Volume53
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • AK-7
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Sirtuin 2
  • amyloid-β protein precursor processing
  • tau

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