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Review
. 2012 Jan;9(1):35-66.
doi: 10.2174/156720512799015037.

Brain insulin resistance and deficiency as therapeutic targets in Alzheimer's disease

Suzanne M de la Monte  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article
Review

Brain insulin resistance and deficiency as therapeutic targets in Alzheimer's disease

Suzanne M de la Monte. Curr Alzheimer Res. 2012 Jan.
Free PMC article

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease [AD] is the most common cause of dementia in North America. Despite 30+ years of intense investigation, the field lacks consensus regarding the etiology and pathogenesis of sporadic AD, and therefore we still do not know the best strategies for treating and preventing this debilitating and costly disease. However, growing evidence supports the concept that AD is fundamentally a metabolic disease with substantial and progressive derangements in brain glucose utilization and responsiveness to insulin and insulin-like growth factor [IGF] stimulation. Moreover, AD is now recognized to be heterogeneous in nature, and not solely the end-product of aberrantly processed, misfolded, and aggregated oligomeric amyloid-beta peptides and hyperphosphorylated tau. Other factors, including impairments in energy metabolism, increased oxidative stress, inflammation, insulin and IGF resistance, and insulin/IGF deficiency in the brain should be incorporated into all equations used to develop diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to AD. Herein, the contributions of impaired insulin and IGF signaling to AD-associated neuronal loss, synaptic disconnection, tau hyperphosphorylation, amyloid-beta accumulation, and impaired energy metabolism are reviewed. In addition, we discuss current therapeutic strategies and suggest additional approaches based on the hypothesis that AD is principally a metabolic disease similar to diabetes mellitus. Ultimately, our ability to effectively detect, monitor, treat, and prevent AD will require more efficient, accurate and integrative diagnostic tools that utilize clinical, neuroimaging, biochemical, and molecular biomarker data. Finally, it is imperative that future therapeutic strategies for AD abandon the concept of uni-modal therapy in favor of multi-modal treatments that target distinct impairments at different levels within the brain insulin/IGF signaling cascades.

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Figures

Fig. (1)
Fig. (1)
Roles of brain insulin deficiency and brain insulin resistance in Tau pathology. Tau protein is normally regulated by insulin and IGF signalling. Insulin deficiency [effective trophic factor withdrawal] and insulin resistance lead to the over-activation of kinases and inhibition of phosphatases, which result in hyper-phosphorylation of tau. Attendant increased oxidative stress leads to ROS generation and ubiquitination, followed by misfolding of Tau. Misfolded tau aggregates and forms insoluble twisted fibrils that are neurotoxic and mediate dementia-associated neuropathological processes, i.e. neurofibrillary tangle formation, proliferation of dystrophic neuritis and neuropil threads, and synaptic disconnection.
Fig. (2)
Fig. (2)
Brain insulin resistance and AβPP-Aβ deposition and toxicity. Brain insulin resistance caused by peripheral insulin resistance diseases or primary toxic and neurodegenerative processes in the brain promote neuroinflammation and increased expression of AβPP. Throught the action of Beta and Gamma secretases, AbPP is cleaved to generate excessive 40-42 kD AβPP-Aβ peptides that aggregate and form insoluble fibrils and plaques, or oligomers and AβPP-Aβ-derived diffusible ligands (ADDLs), which are neurotoxic. AβPP-Aβ oligomers and ADDLs promote oxidative stress and increased activation of kinases that lead to Tau hyperphosphorylation, and its eventual ubiquitination, misfolding, and aggregation. AβPP-Aβ oligomers and ADDLs may also block insulin receptor function and contribute to insulin resistance. Carriers of the ApoE e4 allele or Presenilin mutations are predisposed to excessive and abnormal AβPP cleavage, and AβPP-Aβ accumulation, aggregation, and fibril formation, correlating with increased rates and familial occurrences of AD.
Fig. (3)
Fig. (3)
High caloric intake and/or chronic low-level nitrosamine exposures [through diet, smoking, agriculture], promote fatty liver disease (steatohepatitis) that progresses due to injury and inflammation, eventually leading to hepatic insulin resistance. The same poor physiological states also promote obesity, diabetes mellitus, and other peripheral insulin resistance diseases. Toxic lipids, including ceramides, made in the liver, get released into the circulation, cross the blood-brain barrier, and cause brain insulin resistance, inflammation, energy failure, toxicity, and local production of toxic ceramides. The end result is progressive neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer’s disease.
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