The TNFR1 antagonist Atrosimab reduces neuronal loss, glial activation and memory deficits in an acute mouse model of neurodegeneration

Natalia Ortí-Casañ*, Ate S. Boerema, Karina Köpke, Amber Ebskamp, Jan Keijser, Yuequ Zhang, Tingting Chen, Amalia M. Dolga, Kerensa Broersen, Roman Fischer, Klaus Pfizenmaier, Roland E. Kontermann, Ulrich L.M. Eisel*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
44 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and its key role in modulating immune responses has been widely recognized as a therapeutic target for inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Even though inhibition of TNF-α is beneficial for the treatment of certain inflammatory diseases, total neutralization of TNF-α largely failed in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. TNF-α exerts distinct functions depending on interaction with its two TNF receptors, whereby TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1) is associated with neuroinflammation and apoptosis and TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2) with neuroprotection and immune regulation. Here, we investigated the effect of administering the TNFR1-specific antagonist Atrosimab, as strategy to block TNFR1 signaling while maintaining TNFR2 signaling unaltered, in an acute mouse model for neurodegeneration. In this model, a NMDA-induced lesion that mimics various hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases, such as memory loss and cell death, was created in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis and Atrosimab or control protein was administered centrally. We showed that Atrosimab attenuated cognitive impairments and reduced neuroinflammation and neuronal cell death. Our results demonstrate that Atrosimab is effective in ameliorating disease symptoms in an acute neurodegenerative mouse model. Altogether, our study indicates that Atrosimab may be a promising candidate for the development of a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10622
Number of pages13
JournalScientific reports
Volume13
Issue number1
Early online date11 Jun 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023

Keywords

  • Neuroimmunology
  • Neurological disorders
  • Pharmaceutics
  • Tumour-necrosis factors

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