Lack of neuronal IFN-?-IFNAR causes lewy body- and parkinson's disease-like dementia.
08.10.2015
Ejlerskov P, Hultberg JG, Wang J, Carlsson R, Ambjorn M, Kuss M, Liu Y, Porcu G, Kolkova K, Friis Rundsten C, Ruscher K, Pakkenberg B, Goldmann T, Loreth D, Prinz M, Rubinsztein DC, Issazadeh-Navikas S.
Cell. 2015;163(2):324-39.
Neurodegenerative diseases have been linked to inflammation, but whether altered immunomodulation plays a causative role in neurodegeneration is not clear. We show that lack of cytokine interferon-? (IFN-?) signaling causes spontaneous neurodegeneration in the absence of neurodegenerative disease-causing mutant proteins. Mice lacking Ifnb function exhibited motor and cognitive learning impairments with accompanying ?-synuclein-containing Lewy bodies in the brain, as well as a reduction in dopaminergic neurons and defective dopamine signaling in the nigrostriatal region. Lack of IFN-beta; signaling caused defects in neuronal autophagy prior to ?-synucleinopathy, which was associated with accumulation of senescent mitochondria. These results indicate a protective role for IFN-? in neuronal homeostasis and validate Ifnb mutant mice as a model for sporadic Lewy body and Parkinson's disease dementia.
