Molecular chaperones and co-chaperones, which are part of the protein quality control machinery, have been shown to regulate distinct aspects of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology in multiple ways. Notably, the co-chaperone STI1, which presents increased levels in AD, can protect mammalian neurons from amyloid-β toxicity in vitro and reduced STI1 levels worsen Aβ toxicity in C. elegans. However, whether increased STI1 levels can protect neurons in vivo remains unknown. We determined that overexpression of STI1 and/or Hsp90 protected C. elegans expressing Aβ(3-42) against Aβ-mediated paralysis. Mammalian neurons were also protected by elevated levels of endogenous STI1 in vitro, and this effect was mainly due to extracellular STI1. Surprisingly, in the 5xFAD mouse model of AD, by overexpressing STI1, we find increased amyloid burden, which amplifies neurotoxicity and worsens spatial memory deficits in these mutants. Increased levels of STI1 disturbed the expression of Aβ-regulating enzymes (BACE1 and MMP-2), suggesting potential mechanisms by which amyloid burden is increased in mice. Notably, we observed that STI1 accumulates in dense-core AD plaques in both 5xFAD mice and human brain tissue. Our findings suggest that elevated levels of STI1 contribute to Aβ accumulation, and that STI1 is deposited in AD plaques in mice and humans. We conclude that despite the protective effects of STI1 in C. elegans and in mammalian cultured neurons, in vivo, the predominant effect of elevated STI1 is deleterious in AD.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Amyloidosis; Hsp70; Hsp90; Prion protein; STIP1/HOP.