Frameshift proteins in autosomal dominant forms of Alzheimer disease and other tauopathies

Abstract

Frameshift (+1) proteins such as APP⁺¹ and UBB⁺¹ accumulate in sporadic cases of Alzheimer disease (AD) and in older subjects with Down syndrome (DS). We investigated whether these proteins also accumulate at an early stage of neuropathogenesis in young DS individuals without neuropathology and in early-onset familial forms of AD (FAD), as well as in other tauopathies, such as Pick disease (PiD) or progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). APP⁺¹ is present in many neurons and beaded neurites in very young cases of DS, which suggests that it is axonally transported. In older DS patients (>37 years), a mixed pattern of APP⁺¹ immunoreactivity was observed in healthy looking neurons and neurites, dystrophic neurites, in association with neuritic plaques, as well as neurofibrillary tangles. UBB⁺¹ immunoreactivity was exclusively present in AD type of neuropathology. A similar pattern of APP⁺¹ and UBB⁺¹ immunoreactivity was also observed for FAD and much less explicit in nondemented controls after the age of 51 years. Furthermore, we observed accumulation of +1 proteins in other types of tauopathies, such as PiD, frontotemporal dementia, PSP and argyrophylic grain disease. These data suggest that accumulation of +1 proteins contributes to the early stages of dementia and plays a pathogenic role in a number of diseases that involve the accumulation of tau.