Neurology Commons^™

Astrocytes Infected With Chlamydia Pneumoniae Demonstrate Altered Expression And Activity Of Secretases Involved In The Generation Of Β-Amyloid Found In Alzheimer Disease, Zein Al-Atrache, Danielle B Lopez, Susan Hingley, Denah Appelt

PCOM Scholarly Papers

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies strongly suggest that the pathophysiology of late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD) versus early-onset AD has environmental rather than genetic causes, thus revealing potentially novel therapeutic targets to limit disease progression. Several studies supporting the "pathogen hypothesis" of AD demonstrate a strong association between pathogens and the production of β-amyloid, the pathologic hallmark of AD. Although the mechanism of pathogen-induced neurodegeneration of AD remains unclear, astrocytes, a key player of the CNS innate immune response and producer/metabolizer of β-amyloid, have been implicated. We hypothesized that Chlamydia pneumoniae infection of human astrocytes alters the expression of the amyloid precursor protein …