A Polyaminobiaryl-Based β-secretase Modulator Alleviates Cognitive Impairments, Amyloid Load, Astrogliosis, and Neuroinflammation in APPSwe/PSEN1ΔE9 Mice Model of Amyloid Pathology

Abstract

The progress in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) treatment suggests a combined therapeutic approach targeting the two lesional processes of AD, which include amyloid plaques made of toxic Aβ species and neurofibrillary tangles formed of aggregates of abnormally modified Tau proteins. A pharmacophoric design, novel drug synthesis, and structure-activity relationship enabled the selection of a polyamino biaryl PEL24-199 compound. The pharmacologic activity consists of a non-competitive β-secretase (BACE1) modulatory activity in cells. Curative treatment of the Thy-Tau22 model of Tau pathology restores short-term spatial memory, decreases neurofibrillary degeneration, and alleviates astrogliosis and neuroinflammatory reactions. Modulatory effects of PEL24-199 towards APP catalytic byproducts are described in vitro, but whether PEL24-199 can alleviate the Aβ plaque load and associated inflammatory counterparts in vivo remains to be elucidated. We investigated short- and long-term spatial memory, Aβ plaque load, and inflammatory processes in APPSwe/PSEN1ΔE9 PEL24-199 treated transgenic model of amyloid pathology to achieve this objective. PEL24-199 curative treatment induced the recovery of spatial memory and decreased the amyloid plaque load in association with decreased astrogliosis and neuroinflammation. The present results underline the synthesis and selection of a promising polyaminobiaryl-based drug that modulates both Tau and, in this case, APP pathology in vivo via a neuroinflammatory-dependent process.