Publication
Title
Loss of DPP6 in neurodegenerative dementia : a genetic player in the dysfunction of neuronal excitability
Author
Abstract
Emerging evidence suggested a converging mechanism in neurodegenerative brain diseases (NBD) involving early neuronal network dysfunctions and alterations in the homeostasis of neuronal firing as culprits of neurodegeneration. In this study, we used paired-end short-read and direct long-read whole genome sequencing to investigate an unresolved autosomal dominant dementia family significantly linked to 7q36. We identified and validated a chromosomal inversion of ca. 4 Mb, segregating on the disease haplotype and disrupting the coding sequence of dipeptidyl-peptidase 6 gene (DPP6). DPP6 resequencing identified significantly more rare variantsnonsense, frameshift, and missensein early-onset Alzheimers disease (EOAD, p value = 0.03, OR = 2.21 95% CI 1.054.82) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD, p = 0.006, OR = 2.59, 95% CI 1.285.49) patient cohorts. DPP6 is a type II transmembrane protein with a highly structured extracellular domain and is mainly expressed in brain, where it binds to the potassium channel Kv4.2 enhancing its expression, regulating its gating properties and controlling the dendritic excitability of hippocampal neurons. Using in vitro modeling, we showed that the missense variants found in patients destabilize DPP6 and reduce its membrane expression (p < 0.001 and p < 0.0001) leading to a loss of protein. Reduced DPP6 and/or Kv4.2 expression was also detected in brain tissue of missense variant carriers. Loss of DPP6 is known to cause neuronal hyperexcitability and behavioral alterations in Dpp6-KO mice. Taken together, the results of our genomic, genetic, expression and modeling analyses, provided direct evidence supporting the involvement of DPP6 loss in dementia. We propose that loss of function variants have a higher penetrance and disease impact, whereas the missense variants have a variable risk contribution to disease that can vary from high to low penetrance. Our findings of DPP6, as novel gene in dementia, strengthen the involvement of neuronal hyperexcitability and alteration in the homeostasis of neuronal firing as a disease mechanism to further investigate.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Acta neuropathologica. - Berlin, 1961, currens
Publication
Berlin : 2019
ISSN
0001-6322 [print]
1432-0533 [online]
DOI
10.1007/S00401-019-01976-3
Volume/pages
137 :6 (2019) , p. 901-918
ISI
000468746900003
Pubmed ID
30874922
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Investigating the role of DPP6 in neurodegenerative dementia: an hypothesis based approach.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 15.03.2019
Last edited 02.10.2024
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