2. Academic Validation
  3. β2-microglobulin is a systemic pro-aging factor that impairs cognitive function and neurogenesis

β2-microglobulin is a systemic pro-aging factor that impairs cognitive function and neurogenesis

  • Nat Med. 2015 Aug;21(8):932-7. doi: 10.1038/nm.3898.
Lucas K Smith 1,  Yingbo He 2,  Jeong-Soo Park 3,  Gregor Bieri 4,  Cedric E Snethlage 5,  Karin Lin 6,  Geraldine Gontier 5,  Rafael Wabl 2,  Kristopher E Plambeck 5,  Joe Udeochu 1,  Elizabeth G Wheatley 7,  Jill Bouchard 5,  Alexander Eggel 8,  Ramya Narasimha 2,  Jacqueline L Grant 9,  Jian Luo 2,  Tony Wyss-Coray 10,  Saul A Villeda 11
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 1] Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [2] The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, San Francisco, California, USA. [3] Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • 2 Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
  • 3 1] Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. [2] Department of Biochemistry, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
  • 4 1] Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [2] The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, San Francisco, California, USA. [3] Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. [4] Neuroscience Graduate Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
  • 5 1] Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [2] The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • 6 1] Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [2] The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, San Francisco, California, USA. [3] Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • 7 1] Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [2] The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, San Francisco, California, USA. [3] Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • 8 Department of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergology, University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  • 9 1] Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. [2] Neuroscience Graduate Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
  • 10 1] Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. [2] Neuroscience Graduate Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. [3] Center for Tissue Regeneration, Repair and Restoration, Veterans' Affairs (VA) Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California, USA.
  • 11 1] Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [2] The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, San Francisco, California, USA. [3] Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [4] Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [5] Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. [6] California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), San Francisco, California, USA.
PMID: 26147761 DOI: 10.1038/nm.3898
Abstract

Aging drives cognitive and regenerative impairments in the adult brain, increasing susceptibility to neurodegenerative disorders in healthy individuals. Experiments using heterochronic parabiosis, in which the circulatory systems of young and old Animals are joined, indicate that circulating pro-aging factors in old blood drive aging phenotypes in the brain. Here we identify β2-microglobulin (B2M), a component of major histocompatibility complex class 1 (MHC I) molecules, as a circulating factor that negatively regulates cognitive and regenerative function in the adult hippocampus in an age-dependent manner. B2M is elevated in the blood of aging humans and mice, and it is increased within the hippocampus of aged mice and young heterochronic parabionts. Exogenous B2M injected systemically, or locally in the hippocampus, impairs hippocampal-dependent cognitive function and neurogenesis in young mice. The negative effects of B2M and heterochronic parabiosis are, in part, mitigated in the hippocampus of young transporter associated with antigen processing 1 (Tap1)-deficient mice with reduced cell surface expression of MHC I. The absence of endogenous B2M expression abrogates age-related cognitive decline and enhances neurogenesis in aged mice. Our data indicate that systemic B2M accumulation in aging blood promotes age-related cognitive dysfunction and impairs neurogenesis, in part via MHC I, suggesting that B2M may be targeted therapeutically in old age.

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