Edward Wilson

All Publications

• Soluble TREM2 is elevated in Parkinson's disease subgroups with increased CSF tau. Brain : a journal of neurology Wilson, E. N., Swarovski, M. S., Linortner, P., Shahid, M., Zuckerman, A. J., Wang, Q., Channappa, D., Minhas, P. S., Mhatre, S. D., Plowey, E. D., Quinn, J. F., Zabetian, C. P., Tian, L., Longo, F. M., Cholerton, B., Montine, T. J., Poston, K. L., Andreasson, K. I. 2020

  Abstract

  Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease and affects 1% of the population above 60 years old. Although Parkinson's disease commonly manifests with motor symptoms, a majority of patients with Parkinson's disease subsequently develop cognitive impairment, which often progresses to dementia, a major cause of morbidity and disability. Parkinson's disease is characterized by ?-synuclein accumulation that frequently associates with amyloid-? and tau fibrils, the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease neuropathological changes; this co-occurrence suggests that onset of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease may be associated with appearance of pathological amyloid-? and/or tau. Recent studies have highlighted the appearance of the soluble form of the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (sTREM2) receptor in CSF during development of Alzheimer's disease. Given the known association of microglial activation with advancing Parkinson's disease, we investigated whether CSF and/or plasma sTREM2 differed between CSF biomarker-defined Parkinson's disease participant subgroups. In this cross-sectional study, we examined 165 participants consisting of 17 cognitively normal elderly subjects, 45 patients with Parkinson's disease with no cognitive impairment, 86 with mild cognitive impairment, and 17 with dementia. Stratification of subjects by CSF amyloid-? and tau levels revealed that CSF sTREM2 concentrations were elevated in Parkinson's disease subgroups with a positive tau CSF biomarker signature, but not in Parkinson's disease subgroups with a positive CSF amyloid-? biomarker signature. These findings indicate that CSF sTREM2 could serve as a surrogate immune biomarker of neuronal injury in Parkinson's disease.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/brain/awaa021

  View details for PubMedID 32065223

• NP03, a Microdose Lithium Formulation, Blunts Early Amyloid Post-Plaque Neuropathology in McGill-R-Thy1-APP Alzheimer-Like Transgenic Rats. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD Wilson, E. N., Do Carmo, S., Welikovitch, L. A., Hall, H., Aguilar, L. F., Foret, M. K., Iulita, M. F., Jia, D. T., Marks, A. R., Allard, S., Emmerson, J. T., Ducatenzeiler, A., Cuello, A. C. 2019

  Abstract

  Epidemiological, preclinical, and clinical studies have suggested a role for microdose lithium in reducing Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk by modulating key mechanisms associated with AD pathology. The novel microdose lithium formulation, NP03, has disease-modifying effects in the McGill-R-Thy1-APP transgenic rat model of AD-like amyloidosis at pre-plaque stages, before frank amyloid-beta (Abeta) plaque deposition, during which Abeta is primarily intraneuronal. Here, we are interested in determining whether the positive effects of microdose lithium extend into early Abeta post-plaque stages. We administered NP03 (40mug Li/kg; 1 ml/kg body weight) to McGill-R-Thy1-APP transgenic rats for 12 weeks spanning the transition phase from plaque-free to plaque-bearing. The effect of NP03 on remote working memory was assessed using the novel object recognition task. Levels of human Abeta38, Abeta40, and Abeta42 as well as levels of pro-inflammatory mediators were measured in brain-extracts and plasma using electrochemiluminescent assays. Mature Abeta plaques were visualized with a thioflavin-S staining. Vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) bouton density and levels of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 (CXCL1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) were probed using quantitative immunohistochemistry. During the early Abeta post-plaque stage, we find that NP03 rescues functional deficits in object recognition, reduces loss of cholinergic boutons in the hippocampus, reduces levels of soluble and insoluble cortical Abeta42 and reduces hippocampal Abeta plaque number. In addition, NP03 reduces markers of neuroinflammation and cellular oxidative stress. Together these results indicate that microdose lithium NP03 is effective at later stages of amyloid pathology, after appearance of Abeta plaques.

  View details for DOI 10.3233/JAD-190862

  View details for PubMedID 31868669

• Intraneuronal Amyloid Beta Accumulation Disrupts Hippocampal CRTC1-Dependent Gene Expression and Cognitive Function in a Rat Model of Alzheimer Disease CEREBRAL CORTEX Wilson, E. N., Abela, A. R., Do Carmo, S., Allard, S., Marks, A. R., Welikovitch, L. A., Ducatenzeiler, A., Chudasama, Y., Cuello, A. C. 2017; 27 (2): 1501-1511

  Abstract

  In Alzheimer disease (AD), the accumulation of amyloid beta (A?) begins decades before cognitive symptoms and progresses from intraneuronal material to extracellular plaques. To date, however, the precise mechanism by which the early buildup of A? peptides leads to cognitive dysfunction remains unknown. Here, we investigate the impact of the early A? accumulation on temporal and frontal lobe dysfunction. We compared the performance of McGill-R-Thy1-APP transgenic AD rats with wild-type littermate controls on a visual discrimination task using a touchscreen operant platform. Subsequently, we conducted studies to establish the biochemical and molecular basis for the behavioral alterations. It was found that the presence of intraneuronal A? caused a severe associative learning deficit in the AD rats. This coincided with reduced nuclear translocation and genomic occupancy of the CREB co-activator, CRTC1, and decreased production of synaptic plasticity-associated transcripts Arc, c-fos, Egr1, and Bdnf. Thus, blockade of CRTC1-dependent gene expression in the early, preplaque phase of AD-like pathology provides a molecular basis for the cognitive deficits that figure so prominently in early AD.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/cercor/bhv332

  View details for Web of Science ID 000397257600048

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5378482

• BACE1 inhibition by microdose lithium formulation NP03 rescues memory loss and early stage amyloid neuropathology Translational Psychiatry Wilson, E. N., Do Carmo, S., Iulita, M., Hall, H., Ducatenzeiler, A., Marks, A. R., Allard, S., Jia, D., Windheim, J., Cuello, A. C. 2017; 7: 1-10

  View details for DOI 10.1038/tp.2017.169

• PGE(2) signaling via the neuronal EP2 receptor increases injury in a model of cerebral ischemia PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Liu, Q., Liang, X., Wang, Q., Wilson, E. N., Lam, R., Wang, J., Kong, W., Tsai, C., Pan, T., Larkin, P. B., Shamloo, M., Andreasson, K. I. 2019; 116 (20): 10019?24

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1818544116

  View details for Web of Science ID 000467804000053

• Peripheral TREM1 responses to brain and intestinal immunogens amplify stroke severity Nature Immunology Liu, Q., Johnson, E., et al 2019

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41590-019-0421-2

• Microdose Lithium NP03 Diminishes Pre-Plaque Oxidative Damage and Neuroinflammation in a Rat Model of Alzheimer?s-like Amyloidosis Current Alzheimer Research Wilson, E. N., Do Carmo, S., Iulita, M., Hall, H., Austin, G. L., Jia, D., Malcolm, J. C., Foret, M. K., Marks, A. R., Butterfield, D., Cuello, A. 2018

  View details for DOI 10.2174/1567205015666180904154446

• Differential deregulation of NGF and BDNF neurotrophins in a transgenic rat model of Alzheimer's disease Neurobiology of Disease Iulita, M., Bistué Millón, M., Pentz, R., Aguilar, L., Do Carmo, S., Allard, S., Michalski, B., Wilson, E. N., Ducatenzeiler, A., Bruno, M. A., Fahnestock, M., Cuello, A. 2017: 307?23

  Abstract

  Evidence from human neuropathological studies indicates that the levels of the neurotrophins nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are compromised in Alzheimer's disease. However, the causes and temporal (pathology-dependent) evolution of these alterations are not completely understood. To elucidate these issues, we investigated the McGill-R-Thy1-APP transgenic rat, which exhibits progressive intracellular and extracellular amyloid-beta (A?) pathology and ensuing cognitive deficits. Neurochemical analyses revealed a differential dysregulation of NGF and BDNF transcripts and protein expression. While BDNF mRNA levels were significantly reduced at very early stages of amyloid pathology, before plaques appeared, there were no changes in NGF mRNA expression even at advanced stages. Paradoxically, the protein levels of the NGF precursor were increased. These changes in neurotrophin expression are identical to those seen during the progression of Alzheimer's disease. At advanced pathological stages, deficits in the protease cascade controlling the maturation and degradation of NGF were evident in McGill transgenic rats, in line with the paradoxical upregulation of proNGF, as seen in Alzheimer's disease, in the absence of changes in NGF mRNA. The compromise in NGF metabolism and BDNF levels was accompanied by downregulation of cortical cholinergic synapses; strengthening the evidence that neurotrophin dysregulation affects cholinergic synapses and synaptic plasticity. Our findings suggest a differential temporal deregulation of NGF and BDNF neurotrophins, whereby deficits in BDNF mRNA appear at early stages of intraneuronal A? pathology, before alterations in NGF metabolism and cholinergic synapse loss manifest.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.nbd.2017.08.019

• Full Reversal of Cognitive Decline in Rat Model of Alzheimer Disease Wilson, E. N., Iulita, M., Do Carmo, S., Cuello, A. CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC. 2015: 375

  View details for Web of Science ID 000369408300299

• Longitudinal testing of hippocampal plasticity reveals the onset and maintenance of endogenous human Aß-induced synaptic dysfunction in individual freely behaving pre-plaque transgenic rats: rapid reversal by anti-Aß agents. Acta neuropathologica communications Qi, Y., Klyubin, I., Harney, S. C., Hu, N., Cullen, W. K., Grant, M. K., Steffen, J., Wilson, E. N., Do Carmo, S., Remy, S., Fuhrmann, M., Ashe, K. H., Cuello, A. C., Rowan, M. J. 2014; 2: 175-?

  Abstract

  Long before synaptic loss occurs in Alzheimer's disease significant harbingers of disease may be detected at the functional level. Here we examined if synaptic long-term potentiation is selectively disrupted prior to extracellular deposition of Aß in a very complete model of Alzheimer's disease amyloidosis, the McGill-R-Thy1-APP transgenic rat. Longitudinal studies in freely behaving animals revealed an age-dependent, relatively rapid-onset and persistent inhibition of long-term potentiation without a change in baseline synaptic transmission in the CA1 area of the hippocampus. Thus the ability of a standard 200 Hz conditioning protocol to induce significant NMDA receptor-dependent short- and long-term potentiation was lost at about 3.5 months of age and this deficit persisted for at least another 2-3 months, when plaques start to appear. Consistent with in vitro evidence for a causal role of a selective reduction in NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic currents, the deficit in synaptic plasticity in vivo was associated with a reduction in the synaptic burst response to the conditioning stimulation and was overcome using stronger 400 Hz stimulation. Moreover, intracerebroventricular treatment for 3 days with an N-terminally directed monoclonal anti- human Aß antibody, McSA1, transiently reversed the impairment of synaptic plasticity. Similar brief treatment with the BACE1 inhibitor LY2886721 or the ?-secretase inhibitor MRK-560 was found to have a comparable short-lived ameliorative effect when tracked in individual rats. These findings provide strong evidence that endogenously generated human Aß selectively disrupts the induction of long-term potentiation in a manner that enables potential therapeutic options to be assessed longitudinally at the pre-plaque stage of Alzheimer's disease amyloidosis.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/s40478-014-0175-x

  View details for PubMedID 25540024

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4293804

• Neurovascular architecture following monocular deprivation in monkey primary visual cortex Wilson, E. N., Duffy, K. R. CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC. 2010: 310

  View details for Web of Science ID 000285987800169