The Mutation You Want: It Protects the Brain, Extends Life

The lucky carriers of a coding variant in the phospholipase Cγ2 (PLCG2) gene may reap even more benefits than previously thought. In the May 27 Acta Neuropathologica, researchers confirm that people with the rs72824905-G allele not only enjoy protection from Alzheimer’s disease, but also from frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). What’s more, they are more likely to be nonagenarians or even centenarians.

  • A protective PLCG2 mutation was previously found to reduce AD risk.
  • New data indicate it protects against FTD and DLB.
  • People who live past 90 are more likely to carry the mutation.

Scientists led by Henne Holstege, Alzheimer Center of the Amsterdam UMC, studied this rare mutation in 16 cohorts comprising more than 53,000 patients with various diseases, 149,000 controls, and 3,500 people who lived past 90. The nonsynonymous cytosine-to-guanine change yields an arginine at amino acid 522 instead of a proline. How this change affects the lipase is unknown. The authors urge the field to investigate the mechanism to see if it can be replicated with a drug.

“Collectively, these findings further strengthen the role of the microglial-enriched gene PLCG2 in AD and DLB, whose neuropathologies can co-occur,” wrote co-author Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, to Alzforum. “It also raises the intriguing possibility that innate immunity, protection from several neurodegenerative diseases, and longevity are connected.” Ertekin-Taner is one of 108 named authors and consortia on the paper. Rita Guerreiro, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, was more cautious. She noted that establishing an association between AD-related variants and other neurodegenerative disease can be confounded by the much lower prevalence of diseases such as FTD and DLB, and by the variable frequencies of rare variants in populations. “Consequently, it is difficult to assess if the nominal associations found for DLB and FTD are real, or if they result from the absence of population stratification corrections, or if they represent residual associations, with possible AD contaminations in these cohorts,” she wrote (see comment below).

Cognitively Normal. Despite hippocampal and posterior cortical atrophy (top) and amyloid in the precuneus and frontal lobes (bottom), this 102-year-old ApoE4 homozygote performs normally on all neuropsychological tests. She carries the rs72824905-G variant. [Courtesy of van der Lee et al., 2019. Acta Neuropath.]

Two years ago, first author Sven van der Lee and colleagues from the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium reported that the rs72824905-G allele of PLCG2 protected against AD (Sims et al., 2017; Aug 2017 conference news). The PLCG2 protein is highly expressed in microglia and more so in the brains of AD patients in areas with pathology (Friedman et al., 2018; Conway et al., 2018). Phospholipases help transduce signals from activated cell surface receptors (Rhee, 2001). 

It is still unclear, however, if or how the phospholipase modulates microglial function. Some reports suggest it activates the NLRP3 inflammasome, which spurs the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (Chae et al., 2015). 

In the current study, the authors wondered whether the allele protects against other neurodegenerative diseases (Apr 2019 conference news; Apr 2019 news). Because the variant is so rare, van der Lee and colleagues assembled genomic data from a dozen disease cohorts, totaling 4,985 patients with AD, 2,437 with FTD, 1,446 with DLB, 882 with PSP, 28,448 with PD, 10,953 with ALS, and 4,476 with MS. Each cohort had its own control group.

The researchers found that rs72824905-G lowered the risk for AD, DLB, and FTD, with odds ratios of 0.57, 0.54, and 0.61, respectively. Despite plumbing such a large patient sample, the researchers found no correlation between the mutation and multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease. The variant had been associated previously with increased risk for progressive supranuclear palsy, but there weren’t enough PSP patients in van der Lee’s sample to confirm or refute that finding (Conway et al., 2018). 

In addition, according to data from five cohorts, people with the rs72824905-G variant were more likely to live to age 90, and the scientists discovered even greater prevalence of the allele among centenarians. The odds ratios for nonagenarians and centenarians having the allele were 1.49 and 2.36, respectively. It is unclear whether the mutation is associated with longer lifespan because it reduces the chances of developing certain dementias or if it has an independent effect on longevity. One 102-year-old carrier performed as well on neuropsychological tests as did age-matched peers who had no signs of dementia, despite being homozygous for ApoE4 and having brain atrophy and amyloid plaques on MRI and PET scans (see image above). Eighty percent of ApoE4 homozygotes develop dementia by age 90 and very few live past 100.

“We found that in centenarians, the variant is enriched, whereas in several forms of dementia, the variant is depleted,” Holstege told Alzforum. She thinks that although AD, DLB, and FTD have different pathologies, they may share some common biology involving PLCG2. “There is probably some overlapping etiology between AD, DLB, and FTD that is different from ALS, MS and PD.” Van der Lee agreed the commonality must be overarching, saying, “We think immunity is the most obvious candidate.”

What does the rs72824905-G mutation do to PLCG2? Scientists don’t know. Its effect is most likely subtle, the authors wrote, because other mutations that hyperactivate the enzyme can cause inflammatory immunodeficiency disorders (Zhou et al., 2012; Schade et al., 2016). One publication reported a slight increase in phospholipase activity in vitro with the rs72824905-G variant (Magno et al., 2019). 

Oleg Butovsky, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, speculated that, because AD, FTD, and DLB tend to strike later than ALS and MS, rs72824905-G may affect processes of aging. For example, the variant might bolster the microglial response to amyloid, neurofibrillary tangles, and α-synuclein pathology.—Gwyneth Dickey Zakaib

Comments

  1. This study represents an independent replication of the association of PLCG2 rs72824905 with Alzheimer’s disease and suggests the possibility of an association with DLB, FTD, and longevity.

    Once an association with Alzheimer's disease is established for a variant/gene it is tempting to try to also establish an association with AD-related diseases such as FTD and DLB. This is usually not as straightforward for these diseases as it is for AD for two main reasons. First, the lower prevalence of FTD and DLB in the population makes it more difficult to establish large cohorts, and consequently, have sufficiently powered studies. Smaller numbers can amplify the heterogeneity in diagnoses usually associated with these diseases. Second, the frequencies of rare variants vary greatly among populations, which can be a strong confounder in this type of study. Consequently, it is difficult to assess if the nominal associations found for DLB and FTD are real, or if they result from the absence of population stratification corrections, or if they represent residual associations, with possible AD contaminations in these cohorts

    In our own data, we don’t see an association for this variant in DLB when studying a larger cohort of neuropathologically diagnosed cases and using stringent quality-control procedures and correction for population stratification. Additionally, the diseases not showing an association with the variant are the ones with more statistical power and corrected for population stratification (PD, ALS and MS).

    A similar line of investigation was published after TREM2 p.R47H (also a rare variant) was found to associate with the risk of developing AD. However, the largest and methodologically more complete study of this variant found no consistent evidence for association with the risk of FTD, PD, or ALS (Lill et al., 2015). 

    For neurodegenerative diseases, rare variants are still, largely, an intractable topic. To fully address this, genetic ancestry needs to be taken into account when studying sufficiently large, well-characterized cohorts.

    References:

    Lill CM, Rengmark A, Pihlstrøm L, Fogh I, Shatunov A, Sleiman PM, Wang LS, Liu T, Lassen CF, Meissner E, Alexopoulos P, Calvo A, Chio A, Dizdar N, Faltraco F, Forsgren L, Kirchheiner J, Kurz A, Larsen JP, Liebsch M, Linder J, Morrison KE, Nissbrandt H, Otto M, Pahnke J, Partch A, Restagno G, Rujescu D, Schnack C, Shaw CE, Shaw PJ, Tumani H, Tysnes OB, Valladares O, Silani V, van den Berg LH, van Rheenen W, Veldink JH, Lindenberger U, Steinhagen-Thiessen E, SLAGEN Consortium, Teipel S, Perneczky R, Hakonarson H, Hampel H, von Arnim CA, Olsen JH, Van Deerlin VM, Al-Chalabi A, Toft M, Ritz B, Bertram L. The role of TREM2 R47H as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease. Alzheimers Dement. 2015 Dec;11(12):1407-1416. Epub 2015 Apr 30 PubMed.

    View all comments by Rita Guerreiro

  2. In 2017, using a whole-exome microarray and genotype imputation, a large three-stage case-control study of 85,133 participants identified an Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) protective coding variant in phospholipase C γ2 (PLCG2; Pro522Arg, rs72824905), a risk variant in Abelson Interactor Protein 3 (ABI3; Ser209Phe, rs616338), as well as a new risk variant in the previously known AD susceptibility gene TREM2 (Sims et al., 2017).

    In the first follow-up study of these variants from Mayo Clinic, we investigated five different neurodegenerative diseases for their associations with these PLCG2 and ABI3 variants (Conway et al., 2018). This first follow-up study was comprised of the following: Caucasian case-control cohorts: 2,742 AD, 231 progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), 838 Parkinson’s disease (PD), 306 dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and 150 multiple system atrophy (MSA) vs. 3,351 controls; and an African-American AD case-control cohort (181 AD, 331 controls). Of the Caucasian cohorts, 1479 AD and 1491 controls were non-overlapping with the prior report.

    We validated the previously reported associations in the Caucasian AD case-control cohort and observed a similar direction of effect in DLB. Using brain gene expression data we had generated in our AMP-AD study (Allen et al., 2016), we also identified microglial gene-enriched co-expression networks with significantly higher levels in the AD temporal cortex compared to control brains, and determined this co-expression network association to be driven likely by microglial cell population changes in this brain region affected by AD pathology. We concluded that these findings, while requiring replication in larger cohorts, suggested distinct effects of the microglial genes ABI3 and PLCG2 in neurodegenerative diseases that harbor significant (AD and DLB) vs. low/no Aβ pathology.

    In the most recent international collaboration led by van der Lee and colleagues, the PLCG2 rs72824905 variant was assessed for its association with seven neurodegenerative diseases and with longevity (van der Lee et al., 2019). Consistent with the prior studies, this largest replication study to date confirmed the association with AD and found an association with DLB, where the rs72824905-G conferred a protective effect. Furthermore, this study also identified association of this variant with reduced risk of frontotemporal dementia and increased likelihood of longevity.

    Collectively, these findings further strengthen the role of the microglial-enriched gene PLCG2 in AD and DLB, the neuropathologies of which can co-occur. The van der Lee study also raises an intriguing hypothesis regarding a connection between innate immunity, longevity, and protection from several neurodegenerative diseases. The precise mechanism by which this protection occurs, the influence of this variant on specific neuropathologies and the effects of genetic variation in PLCG2 in diverse populations are future topics that remain to be addressed.

    References:

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Rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 implicate microglial-mediated innate immunity in Alzheimer's disease. Nat Genet. 2017 Sep;49(9):1373-1384. Epub 2017 Jul 17 PubMed.

    Conway OJ, Carrasquillo MM, Wang X, Bredenberg JM, Reddy JS, Strickland SL, Younkin CS, Burgess JD, Allen M, Lincoln SJ, Nguyen T, Malphrus KG, Soto AI, Walton RL, Boeve BF, Petersen RC, Lucas JA, Ferman TJ, Cheshire WP, van Gerpen JA, Uitti RJ, Wszolek ZK, Ross OA, Dickson DW, Graff-Radford NR, Ertekin-Taner N. ABI3 and PLCG2 missense variants as risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases in Caucasians and African Americans. Mol Neurodegener. 2018 Oct 11;13(1):53. PubMed.

    Allen M, Carrasquillo MM, Funk C, Heavner BD, Zou F, Younkin CS, Burgess JD, Chai HS, Crook J, Eddy JA, Li H, Logsdon B, Peters MA, Dang KK, Wang X, Serie D, Wang C, Nguyen T, Lincoln S, Malphrus K, Bisceglio G, Li M, Golde TE, Mangravite LM, Asmann Y, Price ND, Petersen RC, Graff-Radford NR, Dickson DW, Younkin SG, Ertekin-Taner N. Human whole genome genotype and transcriptome data for Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Sci Data. 2016 Oct 11;3:160089. PubMed.

    van der Lee SJ, Conway OJ, Jansen I, Carrasquillo MM, Kleineidam L, van den Akker E, Hernández I, van Eijk KR, Stringa N, Chen JA, Zettergren A, Andlauer TF, Diez-Fairen M, Simon-Sanchez J, Lleó A, Zetterberg H, Nygaard M, Blauwendraat C, Savage JE, Mengel-From J, Moreno-Grau S, Wagner M, Fortea J, Keogh MJ, Blennow K, Skoog I, Friese MA, Pletnikova O, Zulaica M, Lage C, de Rojas I, Riedel-Heller S, Illán-Gala I, Wei W, Jeune B, Orellana A, Then Bergh F, Wang X, Hulsman M, Beker N, Tesi N, Morris CM, Indakoetxea B, Collij LE, Scherer M, Morenas-Rodríguez E, Ironside JW, van Berckel BN, Alcolea D, Wiendl H, Strickland SL, Pastor P, Rodríguez Rodríguez E, DESGESCO (Dementia Genetics Spanish Consortium), EADB (Alzheimer Disease European DNA biobank), EADB (Alzheimer Disease European DNA biobank), IFGC (International FTD-Genomics Consortium), IPDGC (The International Parkinson Disease Genomics Consortium), IPDGC (The International Parkinson Disease Genomics Consortium), RiMod-FTD (Risk and Modifying factors in Fronto-Temporal Dementia), Netherlands Brain Bank (NBB), Boeve BF, Petersen RC, Ferman TJ, van Gerpen JA, Reinders MJ, Uitti RJ, Tárraga L, Maier W, Dols-Icardo O, Kawalia A, Dalmasso MC, Boada M, Zettl UK, van Schoor NM, Beekman M, Allen M, Masliah E, de Munain AL, Pantelyat A, Wszolek ZK, Ross OA, Dickson DW, Graff-Radford NR, Knopman D, Rademakers R, Lemstra AW, Pijnenburg YA, Scheltens P, Gasser T, Chinnery PF, Hemmer B, Huisman MA, Troncoso J, Moreno F, Nohr EA, Sørensen TI, Heutink P, Sánchez-Juan P, Posthuma D, GIFT (Genetic Investigation in Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease) Study Group, Clarimón J, Christensen K, Ertekin-Taner N, Scholz SW, Ramirez A, Ruiz A, Slagboom E, van der Flier WM, Holstege H. A nonsynonymous mutation in PLCG2 reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, and increases the likelihood of longevity. Acta Neuropathol. 2019 Aug;138(2):237-250. Epub 2019 May 27 PubMed. Correction.

    View all comments by Nilufer Ertekin-Taner

  3. The paper by van der Lee et al. is another in a series of genetic studies assessing the association between the rs72824905-G variant in the PLCG2 gene and neurodegenerative diseases (Conway et al., 2018; Kleineidam et al., 2018; Sims et al., 2017). The authors confirm the protective effect of this polymorphism, and extend the previous findings by describing protection against FTD and DLB, but not PD MS and ALS. Interestingly, they also associated the polymorphism with longevity.

    Phospholipase C-γ-2 is a potentially druggable target, although currently there are no good pharmacological tools to investigate its function. Thus, the new findings suggest a potential path for drug development beyond the treatment of AD, and potentially, to promote healthy aging. Understanding the biological mechanism underlying the protective effect is fundamental for designing an appropriate therapeutic approach.

    PLCγ2 is enriched in the hematopoietic system, where it has been implicated in a variety of cell-type-specific processes, such as the regulation of B cell development and maturation and collagen-dependent platelet aggregation (Wang et al., 2000). Although the peripheral immune system and its interactions with the brain could contribute as potential mediators of the protective effect, the central players in the brain are resident macrophages, particularly, microglia.

    PLCγ2 function in microglia is unexplored. Van der Lee et al., speculate a potential role in activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, as shown for peripheral blood mononuclear cells (Chae et al., 2015). However, the functional output of the PLCγ2 pathway ultimately depends on the particular cellular context, including not only upstream immune receptors, but also cell-type specific interaction partners, complexes, and signalling networks. Therefore, extrapolating the function of PLCγ2 as studied in the peripheral immune system to microglia should be done with caution, and would need further experimental support.

    In combination with the cellular context, the type of mutation might strongly impact the resulting phenotype. As in the case of PLCG2-associated antibody deficiency and immune dysregulation (PLAID) and autoinflammatory PLAID, both mutations lead to a significant increase in PLCγ2 activity in B cell signalling, nevertheless the distal downstream functional consequences differ substantially (Koss et al., 2014). The protective variant lies within a regulatory domain of PLCγ2, as do some of the previously described activating mutations. In contrast to the strong activation described for the immune-disease variants above, the AD protective polymorphism has been shown to slightly enhance enzymatic activity in stimulated conditions, at least in heterologous cell systems (Magno et al., 2019). If this is replicated in microglia, it would suggest that a life-long subtle potentiation of the PLCγ2 pathway is required for protection. Again, it is essential to determine the specific consequences of the variant on the microglia phenotypes to understand what the activation of this pathway entails. Would the enzyme be differently wired in the signalling cascade? Would the affinity for the substrate change? How is protection mediated?

    Protein interaction network models and co-localization studies point to Trem2 as a potential receptor upstream of PLCγ2. Downstream effectors are IP3, leading to increased cytoplasmic Ca2+, and diacyl glycerol that activates PKC and the downstream NF-κB and MAPK pathways. Increase of basal intracellular calcium is critical in activation of microglia and their processes, such as proliferation, migration, ramification, phagocytosis, and release of cytokines and other effector molecules (Kettenmann et al., 2011). Whether activation of these pathways would translate to a more efficient response to insults and clearance of dead cells, pathogenic proteins, or aggregates that accumulate with aging needs to be determined. The link with Trem2 signaling and its involvement in phagocytosis, together with the finding that the protective variant is also associated with reduced tau pathology in AD patients (Kleineidam et al., 2018), suggests that a somewhat more efficient clearance mechanism might support the protective effect. This might also explain the potential protection against other neurodegenerative disorders that are associated with accumulation of toxic aggregates.

    It has been described that microglia become senescent over decades during brain aging due to chronic activation and exhaustion (Streit et al., 2014). One other possibility is that the PLCγ2 protective variant confers an advantage later in life, for example by keeping microglia cells more “healthy” and less prone to this exhaustion effect. As commented above, AD, FTD, and DLB tend to strike later than ALS and MS. This effect could also be linked to healthy aging.

    Finally, microglia are interconnected with other brain cells and the activation/potentiation of the above-mentioned signaling pathways could affect the function of neurons, astrocytes, endothelial cells via direct contact (e.g., synapse phagocytosis), as well as via production of cytokines and other mediators.

    GWAS have pointed to the immune system as a key player in AD. Moreover, the identification of protective coding variants can inform hypothesis-driven drug discovery programs. PLCγ2 and the protective variant provide such an example. However, considerable research effort is required to further characterize the function of this enzyme and the impact of the protective mutation in specific cell types associated with the disease development, as well on brain function more generally.

    Identifying specific pharmacological tool compounds (activators or inhibitors) to explore this pathway on disease-relevant cell systems would be beneficial for the field.

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    Magno L, Lessard CB, Martins M, Lang V, Cruz P, Asi Y, Katan M, Bilsland J, Lashley T, Chakrabarty P, Golde TE, Whiting PJ. Alzheimer's disease phospholipase C-gamma-2 (PLCG2) protective variant is a functional hypermorph. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2019 Feb 2;11(1):16. PubMed.

    Sims R, van der Lee SJ, Naj AC, Bellenguez C, Badarinarayan N, Jakobsdottir J, Kunkle BW, Boland A, Raybould R, Bis JC, Martin ER, Grenier-Boley B, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Chouraki V, Kuzma AB, Sleegers K, Vronskaya M, Ruiz A, Graham RR, Olaso R, Hoffmann P, Grove ML, Vardarajan BN, Hiltunen M, Nöthen MM, White CC, Hamilton-Nelson KL, Epelbaum J, Maier W, Choi SH, Beecham GW, Dulary C, Herms S, Smith AV, Funk CC, Derbois C, Forstner AJ, Ahmad S, Li H, Bacq D, Harold D, Satizabal CL, Valladares O, Squassina A, Thomas R, Brody JA, Qu L, Sánchez-Juan P, Morgan T, Wolters FJ, Zhao Y, Garcia FS, Denning N, Fornage M, Malamon J, Naranjo MC, Majounie E, Mosley TH, Dombroski B, Wallon D, Lupton MK, Dupuis J, Whitehead P, Fratiglioni L, Medway C, Jian X, Mukherjee S, Keller L, Brown K, Lin H, Cantwell LB, Panza F, McGuinness B, Moreno-Grau S, Burgess JD, Solfrizzi V, Proitsi P, Adams HH, Allen M, Seripa D, Pastor P, Cupples LA, Price ND, Hannequin D, Frank-García A, Levy D, Chakrabarty P, Caffarra P, Giegling I, Beiser AS, Giedraitis V, Hampel H, Garcia ME, Wang X, Lannfelt L, Mecocci P, Eiriksdottir G, Crane PK, Pasquier F, Boccardi V, Henández I, Barber RC, Scherer M, Tarraga L, Adams PM, Leber M, Chen Y, Albert MS, Riedel-Heller S, Emilsson V, Beekly D, Braae A, Schmidt R, Blacker D, Masullo C, Schmidt H, Doody RS, Spalletta G, Jr WT, Fairchild TJ, Bossù P, Lopez OL, Frosch MP, Sacchinelli E, Ghetti B, Yang Q, Huebinger RM, Jessen F, Li S, Kamboh MI, Morris J, Sotolongo-Grau O, Katz MJ, Corcoran C, Dunstan M, Braddel A, Thomas C, Meggy A, Marshall R, Gerrish A, Chapman J, Aguilar M, Taylor S, Hill M, Fairén MD, Hodges A, Vellas B, Soininen H, Kloszewska I, Daniilidou M, Uphill J, Patel Y, Hughes JT, Lord J, Turton J, Hartmann AM, Cecchetti R, Fenoglio C, Serpente M, Arcaro M, Caltagirone C, Orfei MD, Ciaramella A, Pichler S, Mayhaus M, Gu W, Lleó A, Fortea J, Blesa R, Barber IS, Brookes K, Cupidi C, Maletta RG, Carrell D, Sorbi S, Moebus S, Urbano M, Pilotto A, Kornhuber J, Bosco P, Todd S, Craig D, Johnston J, Gill M, Lawlor B, Lynch A, Fox NC, Hardy J, ARUK Consortium, Albin RL, Apostolova LG, Arnold SE, Asthana S, Atwood CS, Baldwin CT, Barnes LL, Barral S, Beach TG, Becker JT, Bigio EH, Bird TD, Boeve BF, Bowen JD, Boxer A, Burke JR, Burns JM, Buxbaum JD, Cairns NJ, Cao C, Carlson CS, Carlsson CM, Carney RM, Carrasquillo MM, Carroll SL, Diaz CC, Chui HC, Clark DG, Cribbs DH, Crocco EA, DeCarli C, Dick M, Duara R, Evans DA, Faber KM, Fallon KB, Fardo DW, Farlow MR, Ferris S, Foroud TM, Galasko DR, Gearing M, Geschwind DH, Gilbert JR, Graff-Radford NR, Green RC, Growdon JH, Hamilton RL, Harrell LE, Honig LS, Huentelman MJ, Hulette CM, Hyman BT, Jarvik GP, Abner E, Jin LW, Jun G, Karydas A, Kaye JA, Kim R, Kowall NW, Kramer JH, LaFerla FM, Lah JJ, Leverenz JB, Levey AI, Li G, Lieberman AP, Lunetta KL, Lyketsos CG, Marson DC, Martiniuk F, Mash DC, Masliah E, McCormick WC, McCurry SM, McDavid AN, McKee AC, Mesulam M, Miller BL, Miller CA, Miller JW, Morris JC, Murrell JR, Myers AJ, O'Bryant S, Olichney JM, Pankratz VS, Parisi JE, Paulson HL, Perry W, Peskind E, Pierce A, Poon WW, Potter H, Quinn JF, Raj A, Raskind M, Reisberg B, Reitz C, Ringman JM, Roberson ED, Rogaeva E, Rosen HJ, Rosenberg RN, Sager MA, Saykin AJ, Schneider JA, Schneider LS, Seeley WW, Smith AG, Sonnen JA, Spina S, Stern RA, Swerdlow RH, Tanzi RE, Thornton-Wells TA, Trojanowski JQ, Troncoso JC, Van Deerlin VM, Van Eldik LJ, Vinters HV, Vonsattel JP, Weintraub S, Welsh-Bohmer KA, Wilhelmsen KC, Williamson J, Wingo TS, Woltjer RL, Wright CB, Yu CE, Yu L, Garzia F, Golamaully F, Septier G, Engelborghs S, Vandenberghe R, De Deyn PP, Fernadez CM, Benito YA, Thonberg H, Forsell C, Lilius L, Kinhult-Stählbom A, Kilander L, Brundin R, Concari L, Helisalmi S, Koivisto AM, Haapasalo A, Dermecourt V, Fievet N, Hanon O, Dufouil C, Brice A, Ritchie K, Dubois B, Himali JJ, Keene CD, Tschanz J, Fitzpatrick AL, Kukull WA, Norton M, Aspelund T, Larson EB, Munger R, Rotter JI, Lipton RB, Bullido MJ, Hofman A, Montine TJ, Coto E, Boerwinkle E, Petersen RC, Alvarez V, Rivadeneira F, Reiman EM, Gallo M, O'Donnell CJ, Reisch JS, Bruni AC, Royall DR, Dichgans M, Sano M, Galimberti D, St George-Hyslop P, Scarpini E, Tsuang DW, Mancuso M, Bonuccelli U, Winslow AR, Daniele A, Wu CK, GERAD/PERADES, CHARGE, ADGC, EADI, Peters O, Nacmias B, Riemenschneider M, Heun R, Brayne C, Rubinsztein DC, Bras J, Guerreiro R, Al-Chalabi A, Shaw CE, Collinge J, Mann D, Tsolaki M, Clarimón J, Sussams R, Lovestone S, O'Donovan MC, Owen MJ, Behrens TW, Mead S, Goate AM, Uitterlinden AG, Holmes C, Cruchaga C, Ingelsson M, Bennett DA, Powell J, Golde TE, Graff C, De Jager PL, Morgan K, Ertekin-Taner N, Combarros O, Psaty BM, Passmore P, Younkin SG, Berr C, Gudnason V, Rujescu D, Dickson DW, Dartigues JF, DeStefano AL, Ortega-Cubero S, Hakonarson H, Campion D, Boada M, Kauwe JK, Farrer LA, Van Broeckhoven C, Ikram MA, Jones L, Haines JL, Tzourio C, Launer LJ, Escott-Price V, Mayeux R, Deleuze JF, Amin N, Holmans PA, Pericak-Vance MA, Amouyel P, van Duijn CM, Ramirez A, Wang LS, Lambert JC, Seshadri S, Williams J, Schellenberg GD. 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    Streit WJ, Xue QS, Tischer J, Bechmann I. Microglial pathology. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2014 Sep 26;2(1):142. PubMed.

    Wang D, Feng J, Wen R, Marine JC, Sangster MY, Parganas E, Hoffmeyer A, Jackson CW, Cleveland JL, Murray PJ, Ihle JN. Phospholipase Cgamma2 is essential in the functions of B cell and several Fc receptors. Immunity. 2000 Jul;13(1):25-35. PubMed.

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References

News Citations

  1. Searching for New AD Risk Variants? Move Beyond GWAS
  2. Parsing How Alzheimer’s Genetic Risk Works Through Microglia
  3. Cut Loose, Soluble TREM2 Beckons Microglia to Mop Up Plaques

Paper Citations

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JF, Amin N, Holmans PA, Pericak-Vance MA, Amouyel P, van Duijn CM, Ramirez A, Wang LS, Lambert JC, Seshadri S, Williams J, Schellenberg GD. 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  6. Zhou Q, Lee GS, Brady J, Datta S, Katan M, Sheikh A, Martins MS, Bunney TD, Santich BH, Moir S, Kuhns DB, Long Priel DA, Ombrello A, Stone D, Ombrello MJ, Khan J, Milner JD, Kastner DL, Aksentijevich I. A hypermorphic missense mutation in PLCG2, encoding phospholipase Cγ2, causes a dominantly inherited autoinflammatory disease with immunodeficiency. Am J Hum Genet. 2012 Oct 5;91(4):713-20. Epub 2012 Sep 20 PubMed.
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  8. Magno L, Lessard CB, Martins M, Lang V, Cruz P, Asi Y, Katan M, Bilsland J, Lashley T, Chakrabarty P, Golde TE, Whiting PJ. Alzheimer's disease phospholipase C-gamma-2 (PLCG2) protective variant is a functional hypermorph. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2019 Feb 2;11(1):16. PubMed.

Further Reading

Papers

  1. Dalmasso MC, Brusco LI, Olivar N, Muchnik C, Hanses C, Milz E, Becker J, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Hoffmann P, Prestia FA, Galeano P, Avalos MS, Martinez LE, Carulla ME, Azurmendi PJ, Liberczuk C, Fezza C, Sampaño M, Fierens M, Jemar G, Solis P, Medel N, Lisso J, Sevillano Z, Bosco P, Bossù P, Spalletta G, Galimberti D, Mancuso M, Nacmias B, Sorbi S, Mecocci P, Pilotto A, Caffarra P, Panza F, Bullido M, Clarimon J, Sánchez-Juan P, Coto E, Sanchez-Garcia F, Graff C, Ingelsson M, Bellenguez C, Castaño EM, Kairiyama C, Politis DG, Kochen S, Scaro H, Maier W, Jessen F, Mangone CA, Lambert JC, Morelli L, Ramirez A. Transethnic meta-analysis of rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 supports their general contribution to Alzheimer's disease. Transl Psychiatry. 2019 Jan 31;9(1):55. PubMed.
  2. Lancaster TM. Associations between rare microglia-linked Alzheimer's disease risk variants and subcortical brain volumes in young individuals. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2019 Dec;11:368-373. Epub 2019 May 2 PubMed.
  3. Magno L, Lessard CB, Martins M, Lang V, Cruz P, Asi Y, Katan M, Bilsland J, Lashley T, Chakrabarty P, Golde TE, Whiting PJ. Alzheimer's disease phospholipase C-gamma-2 (PLCG2) protective variant is a functional hypermorph. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2019 Feb 2;11(1):16. PubMed.
  4. Tesi N, van der Lee SJ, Hulsman M, Jansen IE, Stringa N, van Schoor N, Meijers-Heijboer H, Huisman M, Scheltens P, Reinders MJ, van der Flier WM, Holstege H. Centenarian controls increase variant effect sizes by an average twofold in an extreme case-extreme control analysis of Alzheimer's disease. Eur J Hum Genet. 2019 Feb;27(2):244-253. Epub 2018 Sep 26 PubMed.
  5. Sims R, van der Lee SJ, Naj AC, Bellenguez C, Badarinarayan N, Jakobsdottir J, Kunkle BW, Boland A, Raybould R, Bis JC, Martin ER, Grenier-Boley B, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Chouraki V, Kuzma AB, Sleegers K, Vronskaya M, Ruiz A, Graham RR, Olaso R, Hoffmann P, Grove ML, Vardarajan BN, Hiltunen M, Nöthen MM, White CC, Hamilton-Nelson KL, Epelbaum J, Maier W, Choi SH, Beecham GW, Dulary C, Herms S, Smith AV, Funk CC, Derbois C, Forstner AJ, Ahmad S, Li H, Bacq D, Harold D, Satizabal CL, Valladares O, Squassina A, Thomas R, Brody JA, Qu L, Sánchez-Juan P, Morgan T, Wolters FJ, Zhao Y, Garcia FS, Denning N, Fornage M, Malamon J, Naranjo MC, Majounie E, Mosley TH, Dombroski B, Wallon D, Lupton MK, Dupuis J, Whitehead P, Fratiglioni L, Medway C, Jian X, Mukherjee S, Keller L, Brown K, Lin H, Cantwell LB, Panza F, McGuinness B, Moreno-Grau S, Burgess JD, Solfrizzi V, Proitsi P, Adams HH, Allen M, Seripa D, Pastor P, Cupples LA, Price ND, Hannequin D, Frank-García A, Levy D, Chakrabarty P, Caffarra P, Giegling I, Beiser AS, Giedraitis V, Hampel H, Garcia ME, Wang X, Lannfelt L, Mecocci P, Eiriksdottir G, Crane PK, Pasquier F, Boccardi V, Henández I, Barber RC, Scherer M, Tarraga L, Adams PM, Leber M, Chen Y, Albert MS, Riedel-Heller S, Emilsson V, Beekly D, Braae A, Schmidt R, Blacker D, Masullo C, Schmidt H, Doody RS, Spalletta G, Jr WT, Fairchild TJ, Bossù P, Lopez OL, Frosch MP, Sacchinelli E, Ghetti B, Yang Q, Huebinger RM, Jessen F, Li S, Kamboh MI, Morris J, Sotolongo-Grau O, Katz MJ, Corcoran C, Dunstan M, Braddel A, Thomas C, Meggy A, Marshall R, Gerrish A, Chapman J, Aguilar M, Taylor S, Hill M, Fairén MD, Hodges A, Vellas B, Soininen H, Kloszewska I, Daniilidou M, Uphill J, Patel Y, Hughes JT, Lord J, Turton J, Hartmann AM, Cecchetti R, Fenoglio C, Serpente M, Arcaro M, Caltagirone C, Orfei MD, Ciaramella A, Pichler S, Mayhaus M, Gu W, Lleó A, Fortea J, Blesa R, Barber IS, Brookes K, Cupidi C, Maletta RG, Carrell D, Sorbi S, Moebus S, Urbano M, Pilotto A, Kornhuber J, Bosco P, Todd S, Craig D, Johnston J, Gill M, Lawlor B, Lynch A, Fox NC, Hardy J, ARUK Consortium, Albin RL, Apostolova LG, Arnold SE, Asthana S, Atwood CS, Baldwin CT, Barnes LL, Barral S, Beach TG, Becker JT, Bigio EH, Bird TD, Boeve BF, Bowen JD, Boxer A, Burke JR, Burns JM, Buxbaum JD, Cairns NJ, Cao C, Carlson CS, Carlsson CM, Carney RM, Carrasquillo MM, Carroll SL, Diaz CC, Chui HC, Clark DG, Cribbs DH, Crocco EA, DeCarli C, Dick M, Duara R, Evans DA, Faber KM, Fallon KB, Fardo DW, Farlow MR, Ferris S, Foroud TM, Galasko DR, Gearing M, Geschwind DH, Gilbert JR, Graff-Radford NR, Green RC, Growdon JH, Hamilton RL, Harrell LE, Honig LS, Huentelman MJ, Hulette CM, Hyman BT, Jarvik GP, Abner E, Jin LW, Jun G, Karydas A, Kaye JA, Kim R, Kowall NW, Kramer JH, LaFerla FM, Lah JJ, Leverenz JB, Levey AI, Li G, Lieberman AP, Lunetta KL, Lyketsos CG, Marson DC, Martiniuk F, Mash DC, Masliah E, McCormick WC, McCurry SM, McDavid AN, McKee AC, Mesulam M, Miller BL, Miller CA, Miller JW, Morris JC, Murrell JR, Myers AJ, O'Bryant S, Olichney JM, Pankratz VS, Parisi JE, Paulson HL, Perry W, Peskind E, Pierce A, Poon WW, Potter H, Quinn JF, Raj A, Raskind M, Reisberg B, Reitz C, Ringman JM, Roberson ED, Rogaeva E, Rosen HJ, Rosenberg RN, Sager MA, Saykin AJ, Schneider JA, Schneider LS, Seeley WW, Smith AG, Sonnen JA, Spina S, Stern RA, Swerdlow RH, Tanzi RE, Thornton-Wells TA, Trojanowski JQ, Troncoso JC, Van Deerlin VM, Van Eldik LJ, Vinters HV, Vonsattel JP, Weintraub S, Welsh-Bohmer KA, Wilhelmsen KC, Williamson J, Wingo TS, Woltjer RL, Wright CB, Yu CE, Yu L, Garzia F, Golamaully F, Septier G, Engelborghs S, Vandenberghe R, De Deyn PP, Fernadez CM, Benito YA, Thonberg H, Forsell C, Lilius L, Kinhult-Stählbom A, Kilander L, Brundin R, Concari L, Helisalmi S, Koivisto AM, Haapasalo A, Dermecourt V, Fievet N, Hanon O, Dufouil C, Brice A, Ritchie K, Dubois B, Himali JJ, Keene CD, Tschanz J, Fitzpatrick AL, Kukull WA, Norton M, Aspelund T, Larson EB, Munger R, Rotter JI, Lipton RB, Bullido MJ, Hofman A, Montine TJ, Coto E, Boerwinkle E, Petersen RC, Alvarez V, Rivadeneira F, Reiman EM, Gallo M, O'Donnell CJ, Reisch JS, Bruni AC, Royall DR, Dichgans M, Sano M, Galimberti D, St George-Hyslop P, Scarpini E, Tsuang DW, Mancuso M, Bonuccelli U, Winslow AR, Daniele A, Wu CK, GERAD/PERADES, CHARGE, ADGC, EADI, Peters O, Nacmias B, Riemenschneider M, Heun R, Brayne C, Rubinsztein DC, Bras J, Guerreiro R, Al-Chalabi A, Shaw CE, Collinge J, Mann D, Tsolaki M, Clarimón J, Sussams R, Lovestone S, O'Donovan MC, Owen MJ, Behrens TW, Mead S, Goate AM, Uitterlinden AG, Holmes C, Cruchaga C, Ingelsson M, Bennett DA, Powell J, Golde TE, Graff C, De Jager PL, Morgan K, Ertekin-Taner N, Combarros O, Psaty BM, Passmore P, Younkin SG, Berr C, Gudnason V, Rujescu D, Dickson DW, Dartigues JF, DeStefano AL, Ortega-Cubero S, Hakonarson H, Campion D, Boada M, Kauwe JK, Farrer LA, Van Broeckhoven C, Ikram MA, Jones L, Haines JL, Tzourio C, Launer LJ, Escott-Price V, Mayeux R, Deleuze JF, Amin N, Holmans PA, Pericak-Vance MA, Amouyel P, van Duijn CM, Ramirez A, Wang LS, Lambert JC, Seshadri S, Williams J, Schellenberg GD. Rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 implicate microglial-mediated innate immunity in Alzheimer's disease. Nat Genet. 2017 Sep;49(9):1373-1384. Epub 2017 Jul 17 PubMed.

Primary Papers

  1. van der Lee SJ, Conway OJ, Jansen I, Carrasquillo MM, Kleineidam L, van den Akker E, Hernández I, van Eijk KR, Stringa N, Chen JA, Zettergren A, Andlauer TF, Diez-Fairen M, Simon-Sanchez J, Lleó A, Zetterberg H, Nygaard M, Blauwendraat C, Savage JE, Mengel-From J, Moreno-Grau S, Wagner M, Fortea J, Keogh MJ, Blennow K, Skoog I, Friese MA, Pletnikova O, Zulaica M, Lage C, de Rojas I, Riedel-Heller S, Illán-Gala I, Wei W, Jeune B, Orellana A, Then Bergh F, Wang X, Hulsman M, Beker N, Tesi N, Morris CM, Indakoetxea B, Collij LE, Scherer M, Morenas-Rodríguez E, Ironside JW, van Berckel BN, Alcolea D, Wiendl H, Strickland SL, Pastor P, Rodríguez Rodríguez E, DESGESCO (Dementia Genetics Spanish Consortium), EADB (Alzheimer Disease European DNA biobank), EADB (Alzheimer Disease European DNA biobank), IFGC (International FTD-Genomics Consortium), IPDGC (The International Parkinson Disease Genomics Consortium), IPDGC (The International Parkinson Disease Genomics Consortium), RiMod-FTD (Risk and Modifying factors in Fronto-Temporal Dementia), Netherlands Brain Bank (NBB), Boeve BF, Petersen RC, Ferman TJ, van Gerpen JA, Reinders MJ, Uitti RJ, Tárraga L, Maier W, Dols-Icardo O, Kawalia A, Dalmasso MC, Boada M, Zettl UK, van Schoor NM, Beekman M, Allen M, Masliah E, de Munain AL, Pantelyat A, Wszolek ZK, Ross OA, Dickson DW, Graff-Radford NR, Knopman D, Rademakers R, Lemstra AW, Pijnenburg YA, Scheltens P, Gasser T, Chinnery PF, Hemmer B, Huisman MA, Troncoso J, Moreno F, Nohr EA, Sørensen TI, Heutink P, Sánchez-Juan P, Posthuma D, GIFT (Genetic Investigation in Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease) Study Group, Clarimón J, Christensen K, Ertekin-Taner N, Scholz SW, Ramirez A, Ruiz A, Slagboom E, van der Flier WM, Holstege H. A nonsynonymous mutation in PLCG2 reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, and increases the likelihood of longevity. Acta Neuropathol. 2019 Aug;138(2):237-250. Epub 2019 May 27 PubMed. Correction.

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