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Updated: Apr 10, 2026
Modulation of Tau Subcellular Localization as a Tool to Investigate the Expression of Disease-related Genes
Published on: December 20, 2019
Integrative genomic and functional analyses reveal NINL as a modulator of tau aggregation
Samantha K Swift1,2, Guangming Huang1, J Nicholas Cochran3
1Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Introduction:
Proteostasis dysfunction is a hallmark of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet the genetic and molecular pathways that disrupt protein homeostasis remain poorly understood.
Methods:
We integrated human genetics, transcriptomics, and functional studies to identify proteostasis network components involved in tauopathy.
Results:
We identified 18 proteostasis network genes harboring 75 rare, damaging variants enriched in FTD and/or AD. These genes, spanning multiple proteostasis pathways, were differentially expressed in microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT) mutant neurons and dysregulated in FTD and AD brains. NINL, which encodes Nlp, emerged as the only gene consistently upregulated across all datasets. NINL overexpression reduced tau seeding and enhanced lysosomal proteolytic activity, whereas two FTD-enriched NINL frame shift variants impaired Nlp expression and abolished these protective effects.
Discussion:
We identified a set of proteostasis genes with genetic and transcriptional links to neurodegeneration and revealed NINL as a novel regulator of tau aggregation.
