• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.387-397
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• 2016

Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) of microtubule-associated protein tau are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been known to be involved in the pathogenesis of AD. However, the exact role of ER stress in tau pathology has not yet been clearly elucidated. In present study, the possible relationship between tau pathology and ER stress was examined in terms of sorcin, which is a calcium binding protein and plays an important role in calcium homeostasis. Our previous yeast two hybrid study showed that sorcin is a novel tau interacting protein. Caspase-3-cleaved tau (T4C3) showed significantly increased tau-sorcin interaction compared to wild type tau (T4). Thapsigargin-induced ER stress and co-expression of constitutively active $GSK3{\beta}$ ($GSK3{\beta}-S9A$) also exhibited significantly increased tau-sorcin interactions. T4C3-expressing cells showed potentiated thapsigargin -induced apoptosis and disruption of intracellular calcium homeostasis compared to T4-expressing cells. Overexpression of sorcin significantly attenuated thapsigargin-induced apoptosis and disruption of calcium homeostasis. In contrary, siRNA-mediated knock-down of sorcin showed significantly increased thapsigargin-induced apoptosis and disruption of calcium homeostasis. These data strongly suggest that sequestration of sorcin by aberrant forms of tau compromises the function of sorcin, such as calcium homeostasis and cellular resistance by ER stress, which may consequently result in the contribution to the progression of AD.

• 생물정신의학
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.97-106
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• 2003

Criticisms about amyloid cascade hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease(AD) are based on the findings, first, that the degree of dementia does not correlate with the number of plaques, and second, that the neurofibrillary tangle formation seems to predate plaque formation. In addition, neurofibrillary tangle counts correlate well with the degree of cognitive impairment. These findings suggest the independent importance of tau abnormality in AD research which is involved in the neurofibrillary tangle formation. Recently, tau pathology without amyloid deposits and mutations in tau protein gene were reported to be the major pathogenic mechanism in Pick's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration and FTDP-17(frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked with chromosome 17). These data suggest that understanding the causes and consequences of tau dysfunction might give new clinical and therapeutic solutions to many known tauopathies.

• 운동영양학회지
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.93-100
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• 2012

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in adults. Microtubule associated protein tau is abnormally phosphorylated in AD and aggregates as paired helical filaments (PHFs) in neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). NFTs are the most common intraneuronal inclusion in the brains of patients with AD and have been implicated in mediating neuronal cell death and cognitive deficit. Aberrant phosphorylation of tau is an early pathological event in AD, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. MAP kinases are a family of Serine/Threonine (Ser/Thr) kinases that involved hyper - phosphorylation of tau in AD. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of treadmill exercise on phosphorylation of tau level and activation of MAPKs including JNK, ERK, p38-MAPK. To address this, Tg mouse model of AD, Tg-NSE/hTau 23, which expresses human tau 23 in the brain, was chosen. Animals were subjected to treadmill exercise for 12 weeks from 24 months of age. Treadmill exercise in Tg group improved cognitive function compared with Tg-SED group in watermaze test. In addition, treadmill exercised Tg mice significantly reduced the activation of JNK54/46, p38-MAPK and tau (Ser404, Ser202, Thr231), and increased activation of ERK44/42 in cerebral cortex. These results suggest that treadmill exercise may provide a therapeutic potential to alleviate the tau pathology like AD.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제31권6호
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• pp.867-874
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• 2021

Epalrestat (EPS) is a brain penetrant aldose reductase inhibitor, an approved drug currently used for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. At near-plasma concentration, EPS induces glutathione biosynthesis, which in turn reduces oxidative stress in the neuronal cells. In this study, we found that EPS reduces neurodegeneration by inhibiting reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced oxidative injury, mitochondrial membrane damage, apoptosis and tauopathy. EPS treatment up to 50 µM did not show any toxic effect on SH-SY5Y cell line (neuroblastoma cells). However, we observed toxic effect at a concentration of 100 µM and above. At 50 µM concentration, EPS showed better antioxidant activity against H₂O₂ (100 µM)-induced cytotoxicity, ROS formation and mitochondrial membrane damage in retinoic acid-differentiated SH-SY5Y cell line. Furthermore, our study revealed that 50 µM of EPS concentration reduced the glycogen synthase kinase-3 β (GSK3-β) expression and total tau protein level in H₂O₂ (100 µM)-treated cells. Findings from this study confirms the therapeutic efficacy of EPS on regulating Alzheimer's disease (AD) by regulating GSK3-β and total tau proteins phosphorylation, which helped to restore the cellular viability. This process could also reduce toxic fibrillary tangle formation and disease progression of AD. Therefore, it is our view that an optimal concentration of EPS therapy could decrease AD pathology by reducing tau phosphorylation through regulating the expression level of GSK3-β.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.447-456
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• 2014

Until now, a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) that has an ability to slow or arrest Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression has not been developed, and all clinical trials involving AD patients enrolled by clinical assessment alone also have not been successful. Given the growing consensus that the DMT is likely to require treatment initiation well before full-blown dementia emerges, the early detection of AD will provide opportunities to successfully identify new drugs that slow the course of AD pathology. Recent advances in early detection of AD and prediction of progression of the disease using various biomarkers, including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) $A{\beta}_{1-42}$, total tau and p-tau181 levels, and imagining biomarkers, are now being actively integrated into the designs of AD clinical trials. In terms of therapeutic mechanisms, monitoring these markers may be helpful for go/no-go decision making as well as surrogate markers for disease severity or progression. Furthermore, CSF biomarkers can be used as a tool to enrich patients for clinical trials with prospect of increasing statistical power and reducing costs in drug development. However, the standardization of technical aspects of analysis of these biomarkers is an essential prerequisite to the clinical uses. To accomplish this, global efforts are underway to standardize CSF biomarker measurements and a quality control program supported by the Alzheimer's Association. The current review summarizes therapeutic targets of developing drugs in AD pathophysiology, and provides the most recent advances in the clinical utility of CSF biomarkers and the integration of CSF biomarkers in current clinical trials.

• 대한영상의학회지
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• 제83권3호
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• pp.453-472
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• 2022

양전자방출단층촬영(PET)을 이용한 단백질병리의 생체영상기술은 퇴행성 치매의 질병 기전을 이해하는데 필요한 정보를 제공할 뿐 아니라, 질병의 조기 발견과 치료법 개발에서 중요한 역할을 수행하고 있다. 베타아밀로이드와 타우 PET 영상은 인체 뇌병리에 기반한 알츠하이머병 연속체에 대한 진단 바이오마커로 확립되어 조기진단과 감별진단을 용이하게 하고, 질병 예후를 예측하고 있다. 또한, 치매치료제 개발에서 예후 및 대리 바이오마커로의 역할이 커지고 있다. 이 종설에서는 치매를 유발하는 알츠하이머병 및 기타 퇴행성 뇌질환에서 베타아밀로이드와 타우 단백질의 뇌축적을 영상화하는 PET의 최근 임상적 적용과 최근 동향을 살펴보고, 잠재적 유용성을 소개하고자 한다.

• 대한방사성의약품학회지
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.61-68
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• 2020

Aggregated neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are a pathological hallmark in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and many radiopharmaceuticals targeting NFTs have been developed so far. Among these, [¹⁸F]flortaucipir (TAUVID^TM) is the first approved radiopharmaceutical in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to image tau pathology. In the present study, we describe the optimized radiosynthetic method for the routine production of [¹⁸F] flortaucipir using a commercialized automation module (i.e. GE TRACERlab^TM FX_FN pro). [¹⁸F]Flortaucipir was prepared by nucleophilic substitution from its N-tert-butoxycarbonyl protected nitro precursor, tertbutyl 7-(6-nitropyridin-3-yl)-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole-5-carboxylate, at 130℃ for 10 min in dimethyl sulfoxide. The mean radiochemical yield was 20 ± 4.3% (decay-corrected, n = 47) with the molar activity of 218 ± 32 GBq/µmol at the end of synthesis. The radiochemical purity was determined to be above 95%. The overall production time including quality control is approximately 100min. The final produced [¹⁸F]flortaucipir injection meets the USP criteria for quality control. Thus, this fully automated system is validated for clinical use.

• 수면정신생리
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.1-3
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• 2022

Sleep is associated with Alzheimer's dementia. Many previous researches have shown that inadequate sleep is one of the risk factors that predict Alzheimer's dementia. The causal mechanism of this association is not clear. Slow wave sleep and REM sleep are critical stages in memory consolidation, and by sequential hypothesis both stages are important. Deposition of amyloid beta and tau, the main pathology of Alzheimer's dementia, are also associated with sleep. This review provides the association of sleep and Alzheimer's dementia, and future research is necessary to examine the specific mechanism of this association between sleep and Alzheimer's dementia, which may lead to an early intervention in sleep.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제23권9호
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• pp.1096-1103
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• 2013

만성외상성뇌병증(Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE)은 운동선수와 매우 밀접하게 관련되어 있으며 장기간에 걸쳐 반복적인 외상성뇌손상(traumatic brain injury, TBI)로 인한 퇴행성뇌질환이다. 신경영양인자(neurotrophic factor)는 여러 종류가 알려져 있으며 이들은 뇌와 척수의 물리적 손상시에 신경보호효과가 있다. 따라서, 신경영양인자의 혼합물인 cebrolysin을 이용하여 CTE질환에 가장 적합하다고 여겨지는 repetitive mild TBI (rmTBI) 모델에서 cerebrolysin의 신경보호효과를 알아보고자 하였다. 실험군은 5군(groups 1 and 2: rmTBI for 4 weeks following cerebrolysin injection for 4 weeks; groups 3 and 4: rmTBI for 8 weeks with or without cerebrolysin injection for 4 weeks; group 5: control)으로 나누어 진행하였다. CTE의 가장 대표적 표시인자인 tau 단백질의 인산화를 조직학적으로 조사한 결과, 대뇌겉질과 해마내 CA3 영역에서 phospho-tau단백질의 발현이 증가되었으며 cerebrolysin ($10{\mu}l$ of 1 mg/ml)를 미정맥으로 투여시 p-tau발현이 감소되었다. CTE의 병인으로 알려진 별아교세포와 미세아교세포의 활성을 각각의 표시인인 GFAP, iba-1을 이용하여 면역조직화학염색을 시행하였다. 별아교세포의 활성은 rmTBI에 의하여 증가하였으며 cerebrolysin에 의해 회복되었으나 미세아교세포의 활성은 관찰되지 않았다. 또한 rmTBI모델에서 체내 탐식세포(macrophage)의 뇌내유입유무를 관찰하고자 CD45 염색을 시행하였으나 유의한 차이를 관찰하지 못하였다. 이상의 결과를 종합하면, cerebrolysin이 rmTBI에 의한 tau단백질의 인산화 및 별아교세포의 활성을 조절하는 것으로 사료된다. 따라서 cerebrolysin이 CTE 환자에 대한 치료 약물의 후보가 될 수 있음을 시사한다.

• 대한임상검사과학회지
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• 제54권4호
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• pp.249-255
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• 2022

알츠하이머병은 주요한 공중보건 문제로 나타나며 연구분야에서도 최우선적인 과제이다. 알츠하이머병(AD)에서 뇌척수액(CSF)을 활용한 바이오마커인 아밀로이드-β(Aβ42), 총 타우(T-tau) 및 인산화 타우(P-tau)가 알츠하이머병 병태생리학의 핵심 요소를 반영한다. 임상 연구 및 새로운 측정법을 통한 임상적으로 활용되는 진단은 전임상 알츠하이머병에 대해 민감적이고 특이적이며 신뢰할 수 있는 바이오마커의 발굴, 뿐만 아니라 치매의 조기 발견 및 감별 진단과 질병 진행 모니터링에 도움이 되는 검사법의 개발에도 중요할 것이다. 증상 전 단계에서 AD의 조기 발견은 시냅스 손상 및 신경 손실이 확장되기 전에 개입이 수행되기 때문에 치료 개입을 조기에 가능하게 하고 치료 성공을 위한 가능성이 더 큰 좋은 기회로 이어진다. 따라서 새롭고 접근하기 쉽고 비용이 적게 드는 바이오마커를 임상 진단에 활용하는 것이 매우 유익할 것이다. 치매의 초기단계에 일어나는 병리학적 변화나, 질병의 진행정도를 추적할 수 있는 다양한 바이오마커들의 진단방법을 찾는 일은 치료제 개발처럼 중요한 연구 분야이다. 조기진단을 위해 임상증상을 대변하거나(surrogate marker), 증상이 나타나기 이전 상태를 측정할 수 있는 새로운 진단마커가 필요한 상황이다. 이러한 이유로 인지기능 저하정도를 측정하여 정상, 경도인지장애(mild cognition impairment, MCI) 및 전임상(preclinical) 상태의 사람을 판별할 수 있는 바이오마커(biomarker)를 활용한 조기진단법 개발의 중요성이 강조되고 있다.