Tiffany N. Sirmans (United States of America)
Mayo Clinic
Neuroscience
Tiffany Sirmans is a graduate student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology track in the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Sirmans will focus on studying tau binding proteins (such as SERPINA5) and their role in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In 2020, Sirmans received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a minor in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Georgia. Sirmans researched the allosteric nature of UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH) during her undergraduate studies. Specifically, her studies focused on the thermodynamic coupling between the allosteric and orthosteric sites. While studying UGDH, Sirmans learned techniques such as protein crystallization, x-ray diffraction, steady state kinetics, and protein purification.

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 Conference Calendar

NEUROPATHOLOGIC EVALUATION OF SERPINA5-TAU PROTEIN INTERACTION IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND PRIMARY TAUOPATHIES

Session Name
1750 - COINCIDENT NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE, AMYLOID, TAU , TDP-43 PATHOLOGY (ID 192)
Session Type
SYMPOSIUM
Date
Sat, 19.03.2022
Session Time
05:15 PM - 07:15 PM
Room
ONSITE: 114
Lecture Time
05:45 PM - 06:00 PM
Presenter

Abstract

Aims

We recently discovered a novel tau binding partner, SERPINA5, to be upregulated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and co-localize with corticolimbic tau distribution. As tau pathology is also observed in primary tauopathies, we hypothesized that SERPINA5 burden would mirror tau burden in these diseases. Thus, we sought to define the relationship between SERPINA5 and tau in primary tauopathies and compare this relationship to AD.

Methods

Immunohistochemistry was performed on the hippocampus or cingulate in 4 cohorts (n=6 per disease group): 1) AD, 2) 3R+4R primary age-related tauopathy, 3) 4R tauopathies (progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, argyrophilic grains disease), and 4) 3R tauopathy (Pick’s disease). Burden analyses for SERPINA5 and a phospho-tau marker (AT8) were performed on digitized whole slide images.

Results

Visual interpretation of SERPINA5 immunostaining identified both neuronal and glial inclusions that are commonly AT8-positive in primary tauopathies. There were exceptions to this pattern such as SERPINA5-positive Pick bodies being rarely observed. However, some pathologic structures like ballooned neurons were preferentially stained by SERPINA5. Quantitative analyses confirmed this observation with AT8 and SERPINA5 burden correlating in both the cingulate (R2=0.834, p<0.0001, Figure 1a) and hippocampal CA1 (R2=0.926, p<0.0001, Figure 1d). Group comparisons revealed greater AT8 and SERPINA5 burden in AD compared to primary tauopathies in both the cingulate (Figure 1b-c) and hippocampus (Figure 1e-f) (p<0.0001).

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Conclusions

SERPINA5 immunostaining patterns in primary tauopathies reflect tau immunostaining patterns. Our data suggests the SERPINA5-tau interaction may not be specific for AD, which may implicate the role of SERPINA5 more broadly across tauopathies.

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