Pathological Mechanisms Linking Diabetes Mellitus and Alzheimer's Disease: the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products (RAGE)

Yanyan Kong; Fushuai Wang; Jiao Wang; Cuiping Liu; Yinping Zhou; Zhengqin Xu; Chencheng Zhang; Bomin Sun; Yihui Guan

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2020.00217

Pathological Mechanisms Linking Diabetes Mellitus and Alzheimer's Disease: the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products (RAGE)

Front Aging Neurosci. 2020 Jul 22:12:217. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2020.00217. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Yanyan Kong^{1

2}, Fushuai Wang³, Jiao Wang³, Cuiping Liu³, Yinping Zhou³, Zhengqin Xu³, Chencheng Zhang¹, Bomin Sun¹, Yihui Guan²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² PET Center, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
³ Laboratory of Molecular Neural Biology, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Diabetes and Alzheimer's disease (AD) place a significant burden on health care systems in the world and its aging populations. These diseases have long been regarded as separate entities; however, advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and the receptors for AGEs (RAGE) may be a link between diabetes and AD. In our study, mice injected with AGEs through stereotaxic surgery showed significant AD-like features: behavior showed decreased memory; immunofluorescence showed increased phosphorylated tau and APP. These results suggest links between diabetes and AD. Patients with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing AD, and the possible underlying molecular components of this association are now beginning to emerge.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; PI3K; RAGE; advanced glycation end products; diabetes.