Tauopathy in the APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mouse model of familial Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Despite compelling evidence that the accumulation of amyloid-beta (A{beta}) promotes cortical MAPT (tau) aggregation in familial and idiopathic Alzheimers disease (AD), murine models of cerebral amyloidosis are not considered to develop tau-associated pathology. The absence of neurofibrillary lesions in amyloidosis mice remains a challenge for the amyloidocentric paradigm of AD pathogenesis. It has resulted in the generation of transgenic mice harboring mutations in their tau gene, which may be inappropriate for studying a disease with no known TAU mutations, such as AD. Here, we have used APPswe/PS1{Delta}E9 mice to show that tau pathology can develop spontaneously in murine models of familial AD. Tauopathy was abundant around A{beta} deposits, with Gallyas- and thioflavin-S-positive perinuclear inclusions accumulating in the APPswe/PS1{Delta}E9 cortex by 18 months of age. Age-dependent increases in Gallyas signal correlated positively with binding levels of the paired helical filament (PHF) ligand [18F]Flortaucipir, in all brain areas examined. Sarkosyl-insoluble PHFs were visualized by electron microscopy. Tandem mass tag proteomics identified sequences of hyperphosphorylated tau in transgenic mice, along with signs of RNA missplicing, ribosomal dysregulation and disturbed energy metabolism. Human frontal gyrus tissue was used to validate these findings, revealing primarily quantitative differences between the tauopathy observed in AD patient vs. transgenic mouse tissue. Levels of tau mRNA were not different between APPswe/PS1{Delta}E9 and littermate control animals. As physiological levels of endogenous, wild-type tau aggregate secondarily to A{beta} in transgenic mice, this study demonstrates that amyloidosis is both necessary and sufficient to drive tauopathy in experimental models of familial AD.