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Xu D, Vincent A, González-Gutiérrez A, Aleyakpo B, Anoar S, Giblin A, Atilano ML, Adams M, Shen D, Thoeng A, Tsintzas E, Maeland M, Isaacs AM, Sierralta J, Niccoli T. A monocarboxylate transporter rescues frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease models. PLoS Genet 2023; 19:e1010893. [PMID: 37733679 PMCID: PMC10513295 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Brains are highly metabolically active organs, consuming 20% of a person's energy at resting state. A decline in glucose metabolism is a common feature across a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Another common feature is the progressive accumulation of insoluble protein deposits, it's unclear if the two are linked. Glucose metabolism in the brain is highly coupled between neurons and glia, with glucose taken up by glia and metabolised to lactate, which is then shuttled via transporters to neurons, where it is converted back to pyruvate and fed into the TCA cycle for ATP production. Monocarboxylates are also involved in signalling, and play broad ranging roles in brain homeostasis and metabolic reprogramming. However, the role of monocarboxylates in dementia has not been tested. Here, we find that increasing pyruvate import in Drosophila neurons by over-expression of the transporter bumpel, leads to a rescue of lifespan and behavioural phenotypes in fly models of both frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The rescue is linked to a clearance of late stage autolysosomes, leading to degradation of toxic peptides associated with disease. We propose upregulation of pyruvate import into neurons as potentially a broad-scope therapeutic approach to increase neuronal autophagy, which could be beneficial for multiple dementias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongwei Xu
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alec Vincent
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andrés González-Gutiérrez
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Neuroscience Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Benjamin Aleyakpo
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sharifah Anoar
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ashling Giblin
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, Cruciform Building, London, United Kingdom
| | - Magda L. Atilano
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, Cruciform Building, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mirjam Adams
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Dunxin Shen
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Annora Thoeng
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Elli Tsintzas
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Marie Maeland
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Adrian M. Isaacs
- UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, Cruciform Building, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jimena Sierralta
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Neuroscience Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Teresa Niccoli
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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