Published April 23, 2018 | Version Submitted + Published + Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Tau Internalization is Regulated by 6-O Sulfation on Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans (HSPGs)

  • 1. ROR icon University of California, Santa Barbara
  • 2. ROR icon University of California, San Francisco
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

The misfolding and accumulation of tau protein into intracellular aggregates known as neurofibrillary tangles is a pathological hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. However, while tau propagation is a known marker for disease progression, exactly how tau propagates from one cell to another and what mechanisms govern this spread are still unclear. Here, we report that cellular internalization of tau is regulated by quaternary structure and have developed a cellular assay to screen for genetic modulators of tau uptake. Using CRISPRi technology we have tested 3200 genes for their ability to regulate tau entry and identified enzymes in the heparan sulfate proteoglycan biosynthetic pathway as key regulators. We show that 6-O-sulfation is critical for tau-heparan sulfate interactions and that this modification regulates uptake in human central nervous system cell lines, iPS-derived neurons, and mouse brain slice culture. Together, these results suggest novel strategies to halt tau transmission.

Additional Information

© 2018 the Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Received: 08 June 2017; Accepted: 28 March 2018; Published online: 23 April 2018. We thank Jason Gestwicki (UCSF) for the 2N4R pRK172 plasmid, Bruce Conklin (UCSF) for the CRISPRi iPS cells, the UCSB NRI-MCDB Microscopy Facility for use of the TEM and Confocal Microscope, the UCSB Stem Cell Core for use of the facility, and the UCSB BNL for access to the DLS. J.J.C. was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Alzheimer's Association and the QB3/Calico Longevity Fellowship. S.K.S. was supported by a National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship. A.W.S. was supported by an NIH Training Grant (NIH/NRSA 5T32 GM007616-38). L.C.H.-W. was supported by an NIH/NIGMS grant (R01 GM093627). Support also came from an NIH Director's New Innovator Award (NIH/NIGMS DP2 GM119139) (M.K.), an Allen Distinguished Investigator Award (Paul G. Allen Family Foundation) (M.K.), the Tau Center Without Walls (NIH/NINDS U54 NS100717) (M.K., K.S.K), the Tau Consortium (K.S.K.) the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub (M.K.) and the Paul F. Glenn Center for Aging Research (M.K.). Author Contributions: J.N.R., J.J.C., A.W.S., G.M.M., and T.S. performed experiments and interpreted results. S.K.S. made and validated the H4 CRISPRi cell line. L.C.H.-W., M.K., and K.S.K., interpreted results and directed the research. J.N.R., J.J.C., L.C.H.-W., M.K., and K.S.K. wrote the manuscript. K.S.K. serves as a consultant and has shares in ADRx, serves as co-director of the Tau Consortium and is on the scientific advisory board of Cohen Veterans Bioscience. The remaining authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Attached Files

Published - s41598-018-24904-z.pdf

Submitted - 167874.full.pdf

Supplemental Material - 41598_2018_24904_MOESM1_ESM.docx

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Additional details

Identifiers

PMCID
PMC5913225
Eprint ID
86129
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20180430-133533074

Related works

Describes
10.1101/167874 (DOI)

Funding

Alzheimer's Association
QB3/Calico Longevity Fellowship
National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship
NIH Predoctoral Fellowship
5T32 GM007616-38
NIH
R01 GM093627
NIH
DP2 GM119139
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
NIH
U54 NS100717
Tau Consortium
Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub
Paul F. Glenn Center for Aging Research

Dates

Created
2018-04-30
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2022-03-11
Created from EPrint's last_modified field