DOI 10.1007/s00418-015-1347-x ORIGINAL PAPER The antimicrobial protein, CAP37, is upregulated in pyramidal neurons during Alzheimer’s disease

© The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com source(s) of CAP37 in brains of AD patients. Brain tissues from patients and age-matched controls were analyzed for CAP37 expression using immunohistochemistry (IHC). To determine factors that induce CAP37 in AD, HCN-1A pri-mary human neurons were treated with tumor necrosis fac-tor-alpha (TNF-α) or amyloid β1−40 (Aβ) and analyzed by IHC. Western blotting and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were used to con-firm CAP37 expression in neurons and brain tissues. IHC revealed CAP37 in cortical neurons in temporal and pari-etal lobes as well as CA3 and CA4 hippocampal neurons in patients with AD. CAP37 was found in more neurons in AD patients compared with age-matched controls. qRT-PCR and Western blotting showed an increase in CAP37 transcript and protein in the AD temporal lobe, a brain region that is highly impacted in AD. qRT-PCR observa-tions confirmed CAP37 expression in neurons. TNF-α and Aβ increased neuronal expression of CAP37. These find-ings support our hypothesis that neuronal CAP37 may modulate the neuroinflammatory response in AD