Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROPATHOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY
Volume 63, Issue 4, Pages 323-328Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/jnen/63.4.323
Keywords
apolipoprotein E; beta-amyloid; cholesterol; diffuse plaque; Lewy body; neurofibrillary tangle; phosphorylated tau
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Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [AG05128] Funding Source: Medline
- NINDS NIH HHS [NS39764, NS24453] Funding Source: Medline
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Niemann-Pick type C1 disease (NPC1) is an autosomal recessive neurovisceral storage disease caused by the mutation of NPC1 gene, resulting in perturbed intracellular transport of unesterified cholesterol. In NPC1, early-onset tauopathy is a constant feature. In addition, in NPC1 patients with ApoE 84 homozygosity, deposition of Abeta occurs mimicking Alzheimer disease (AD). Since AD is frequently associated with neuronal expression of a-synuclein, we investigated phosphorylated (Xsynuclein (psyn) immunoreactivity in the brains of 12 NPC1 patients, ages at death ranging from 9 months to 55 years. Psyn immunoreactivity was demonstrated in the perikarya of storage neurons and oligodendroglia in 10 cases. The immunoreactivity appeared more intense in subjects who had the ApoE epsilon4 allele. Lewy bodies were found in the substantia nigra in 2 of these cases. The psyn immunoreactivity was most intense in the substantia nigra where tauopathy was most severe. Phosphorylated tau and alpha-synuclein frequently colocalized. This study first documents alpha-synucleinopathy in NPC1. This observation suggests that the defect in intiacellular cholesterol trafficking in NPC1 may provoke aberrant phosphorylation of a-synuclein and tau, and that this phosphorylation is enhanced by the ApoE epsilon4 allele. Thus, elucidation of metabolic pathways in NPC1 could provide clues to common mechanisms associated with neurodegeneration.
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