2026-04-17T19:21:24Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request
oai:recercat.cat:2117/1190172026-02-07T07:34:25Zcom_2072_1033col_2072_452950
RECERCAT author Fernandez, Ana M. author Hervas, Ruben author Dominguez Fraile, Manuel author Garrido Victoria, Navarro author Gómez Gutiérrez, Patricia author Vega, Miguel author Vitorica, Javier author Pérez González, Juan Jesús author Torres Aleman, Ignacio 2016-01-01 Astrocytes actively participate in neuro-inflammatory processes associated to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and other brain pathologies. We recently showed that an astrocyte-specific intracellular signaling pathway involving an interaction of the phosphatase calcineurin with the transcription factor FOXO3 is a major driver in AD-associated pathological inflammation, suggesting a potential new druggable target for this devastating disease. We have now developed decoy molecules to interfere with calcineurin/FOXO3 interactions, and tested them in astrocytes and neuronal co-cultures exposed to amyloid-beta (A beta) toxicity. We observed that interference of calcineurin/FOXO3 interactions exerts a protective action against A beta-induced neuronal death and favors the production of a set of growth factors that we hypothesize form part of a cytoprotective pathway to resolve inflammation. Furthermore, interference of the A beta-induced interaction of calcineurin with FOXO3 by decoy compounds significantly decreased amyloid-beta protein precursor (A beta PP) synthesis, reduced the A beta PP amyloidogenic pathway, resulting in lower A beta levels, and blocked the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF alpha and IL-6 in astrocytes. Collectively, these data indicate that interrupting pro-inflammatory calcineurin/FOXO3 interactions in astrocytes triggered by A beta accumulation in brain may constitute an effective new therapeutic approach in AD. Future studies with intranasal delivery, or brain barrier permeable decoy compounds, are warranted.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ Open Access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Spain Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria química Alzheimer's disease Astrocytes Neurochemistry Alzheimer's disease astrocytes calcineurin decoy compounds Foxo precursos protein growth-factor alpha Alzheimer, Malaltia d' Neurobiologia molecular Neuroquímica Blockade of the Interaction of Calcineurin with FOXO in Astrocytes Protects Against Amyloid-beta-Induced Neuronal Death Article