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The Role of Clusterin in Alzheimer’s Disease: Pathways, Pathogenesis, and Therapy

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Abstract

Genetic variation in clusterin gene, also known as apolipoprotein J, has been associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) through replicated genome-wide studies, and plasma clusterin levels are associated with brain atrophy, baseline prevalence and severity, and rapid clinical progression in patients with AD, highlighting the importance of clusterin in AD pathogenesis. Emerging data suggest that clusterin contributes to AD through various pathways, including amyloid-β aggregation and clearance, lipid metabolism, neuroinflammation, and neuronal cell cycle control and apoptosis. Moreover, epigenetic regulation of the clusterin expression also seems to play an important role in the pathogenesis of AD. Emerging knowledge of the contribution of clusterin to the pathogenesis of AD presents new opportunities for AD therapy.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81000544, 81171209), the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (ZR2010HQ004, ZR2011HZ001), the Medicine and Health Science Technology Development Project of Shandong Province (2011WSA02018, 2011WSA02020), and the Shandong Provincial Outstanding Medical Academic Professional Program.

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We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

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  1. Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, School of Medicine, Qingdao University, No.5 Donghai Middle Road, Qingdao, Shandong Province, 266071, China

    Jin-Tai Yu & Lan Tan

  2. College of Medicine and Pharmaceutics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, People’s Republic of China

    Jin-Tai Yu & Lan Tan

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Yu, JT., Tan, L. The Role of Clusterin in Alzheimer’s Disease: Pathways, Pathogenesis, and Therapy. Mol Neurobiol 45, 314–326 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-012-8237-1

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