Increasing microglial TMEM119 for Alzheimer’s disease

Increasing the expression of the microglial transmembrane protein TMEM119 could help treat Alzheimer’s disease by preventing the transition of homeostatic microglia to disease-associated microglia, while increasing microglial phagocytosis and lysosomal degradation of Aβ plaques.

TMEM119 protein expression was lower in the brains of mice with genetically induced Alzheimer’s disease and Aβ pathology than in those from healthy controls. In the Alzheimer’s mouse model, TMEM119 protein expression was lower in microglia less than 25 µm away from Aβ plaques than in microglia more than 50 µm away from Aβ plaques. In the same mice, TMEM119 mRNA expression was lower in brain tissue containing Aβ plaques than in tissue without Aβ plaques. ...