Microglial REV-ERBα regulates inflammation and lipid droplet formation to drive tauopathy in male mice

Jiyeon Lee, Julie M. Dimitry, Jong Hee Song, Minsoo Son, Patrick W. Sheehan, Melvin W. King, G. Travis Tabor, Young Ah Goo, Mitchell A. Lazar, Leonard Petrucelli and Erik S. Musiek ()
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Jiyeon Lee: Washington University School of Medicine
Julie M. Dimitry: Washington University School of Medicine
Jong Hee Song: Mass Spectrometry Technology Access Center at McDonnell Genome Institute (MTAC@MGI) at Washington University School of Medicine
Minsoo Son: Mass Spectrometry Technology Access Center at McDonnell Genome Institute (MTAC@MGI) at Washington University School of Medicine
Patrick W. Sheehan: Washington University School of Medicine
Melvin W. King: Washington University School of Medicine
G. Travis Tabor: Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine
Young Ah Goo: Mass Spectrometry Technology Access Center at McDonnell Genome Institute (MTAC@MGI) at Washington University School of Medicine
Mitchell A. Lazar: University of Pennsylvania
Leonard Petrucelli: Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic
Erik S. Musiek: Washington University School of Medicine

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Alzheimer’s disease, the most common age-related neurodegenerative disease, is characterized by tau aggregation and associated with disrupted circadian rhythms and dampened clock gene expression. REV-ERBα is a core circadian clock protein which also serves as a nuclear receptor and transcriptional repressor involved in lipid metabolism and macrophage function. Global REV-ERBα deletion has been shown to promote microglial activation and mitigate amyloid plaque formation. However, the cell-autonomous effects of microglial REV-ERBα in healthy brain and in tauopathy are unexplored. Here, we show that microglial REV-ERBα deletion enhances inflammatory signaling, disrupts lipid metabolism, and causes lipid droplet (LD) accumulation specifically in male microglia. These events impair microglial tau phagocytosis, which can be partially rescued by blockage of LD formation. In vivo, microglial REV-ERBα deletion exacerbates tau aggregation and neuroinflammation in two mouse tauopathy models, specifically in male mice. These data demonstrate the importance of microglial lipid droplets in tau accumulation and reveal REV-ERBα as a therapeutically accessible, sex-dependent regulator of microglial inflammatory signaling, lipid metabolism, and tauopathy.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40927-1

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