C/EBPβ/AEP Signaling Drives Alzheimer's Disease Pathogenesis

 Jing Xiong1  · Zhentao Zhang1  · Keqiang Ye2
1 Department of Neurology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China 
2 Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Shenzhen 518034, China

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia. Almost two-thirds of patients with AD are female. The reason for the higher susceptibility to AD onset in women is unclear. However, hormone changes during the menopausal transition are known to be associated with AD. Most recently, we reported that follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) promotes AD pathology and enhances cognitive dysfunctions via activating the CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein (C/EBPβ)/asparagine endopeptidase (AEP) pathway. This review summarizes our current understanding of the crucial role of the C/EBPβ/AEP pathway in driving AD pathogenesis by cleaving multiple critical AD players, including APP and Tau, explaining the roles and the mechanisms of FSH in increasing the susceptibility to AD in postmenopausal females. The FSH-C/EBPβ/AEP pathway may serve as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of AD.


Keywords
Alzheimer's disease; C/EBPβ; Asparagine endopeptidase; Pathogenesis; Follicle stimulating hormone