Amyloid-β Induces Chemokine Secretion and Monocyte Migration across a Human Blood-Brain Barrier Model

Abstract

Aside from numerous parenchymal and vascular deposits of amyloid beta (A beta) peptide, neurofibrillary tangles, and neuronal and synaptic loss, the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease is accompanied by a subtle and chronic inflammatory reaction that manifests itself as microglial activation. However, in Alzheimer's disease, alterations in the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and chemotaxis, in part mediated by chemokines and cytokines, may permit the recruitment and transendothelial passage of peripheral cells into the brain parenchyma. Human monocytes from different donors were tested for their capacity to differentiate into macrophages and their ability to secrete cytokines and chemokines in the presence of A beta 1-42. A paradigm of the blood-brain barrier was constructed utilizing human brain endothelial and astroglial cells with the anatomical and physiological characteristics observed in vivo. This model was used to test the ability of monocytes/macrophages to transmigrate when challenged by A beta 1-42 on the brain side of the blood-brain barrier model. In cultures of peripheral monocytes, A beta 1-42 induced the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-1 beta, and IL-12, as well as CC chemokines MCP-1, MIP-1 alpha, and MIP-1 beta, and CXC chemokine IL-8 in a dose-related fashion. In the blood-brain barrier model, A beta 1-42 and monocytes on the brain side potentiated monocyte transmigration from the blood side to the brain side. A beta 1-42 stimulated differentiation of monocytes into adherent macrophages in a dose-related fashion. The magnitude of these proinflammatory effects of A beta 1-42 varied dramatically with monocytes from different donors. In some individuals, circulating monocytes/macrophages, when recruited by chemokines produced by activated microglia and macrophages, could add to the inflammatory destruction of the brain in Alzheimer's disease.