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Alipour M, Tebianian M, Tofigh N, Taheri RS, Mousavi SA, Naseri A, Ahmadi A, Munawar N, Shahpasand K. Active immunotherapy against pathogenic Cis pT231-tau suppresses neurodegeneration in traumatic brain injury mouse models. Neuropeptides 2022; 96:102285. [PMID: 36087426 DOI: 10.1016/j.npep.2022.102285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), characterized by acute neurological impairment, is associated with a higher incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Parkinson's disease (PD), whose hallmarks include hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Recently, phosphorylated tau at Thr231 has been shown to exist in two distinct cis and trans conformations. Moreover, targeted elimination of cis P-tau by passive immunotherapy with an appropriate mAb that efficiently suppresses tau-mediated neurodegeneration in severe TBI mouse models has proven to be a useful tool to characterize the neurotoxic role of cis P-tau as an early driver of the tauopathy process after TBI. Here, we investigated whether active immunotherapy can develop sufficient neutralizing antibodies to specifically target and eliminate cis P-tau in the brain of TBI mouse models. First, we explored the therapeutic efficacy of two different vaccines. C57BL/6 J mice were immunized with either cis or trans P-tau conformational peptides plus adjuvant. After rmTBI in mice, we found that cis peptide administration developed a specific Ab that precisely targeted and neutralized cis P-tau, inhibited the development of neuropathology and brain dysfunction, and restored various structural and functional sequelae associated with TBI in chronic phases. In contrast, trans P-tau peptide application not only lacked neuroprotective properties, but also contributed to a number of neuropathological features, including progressive TBI-induced neuroinflammation, widespread tau-mediated neurodegeneration, worsening functional deficits, and brain atrophy. Taken together, our results suggest that active immunotherapy strategies against pathogenic cis P-tau can halt the process of tauopathy and would have profound clinical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masoume Alipour
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran; Faculty of Basic Science and Advanced Medical Technologies, Royan Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran
| | - Majid Tebianian
- Biotechnology Department, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran
| | - Nahid Tofigh
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran
| | - Reyhaneh Sadat Taheri
- Department of Motor Behavior, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Sayed Alireza Mousavi
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Asal Naseri
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Amin Ahmadi
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tabriz Medical University, Tabriz, Iran
| | - Nayla Munawar
- Department of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates
| | - Koorosh Shahpasand
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
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