The Involvement of Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells in Alzheimer's Disease
- Chen, Xin (Rola)
- Advisor(s): Cherqui, Stephanie
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder that affects over 6 million Americans aged 65 and older. The major symptoms include neuronal deterioration, memory difficulty, cognitive decline, and chronic inflammation due to the accumulation of β- amyloid (Aβ) plaques and hyperphosphorylated tau in the neural network. Although no effective treatments are available in human patients, our previous study has shown cognitive and molecular rescue in an AD mouse model, 5xFAD mice, through the systemic transplantation of wild-type (WT) hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). We showed that WT HSPCs differentiate into microglia-like cells in the brain leading to the prevention of neuroinflammation and microgliosis, while 5xFAD HSPC transplantation did not have any beneficial impact. The mechanism behind the impact of HSPCs on AD is not yet understood, and this thesis focused on investigating this topic.