Liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2 elevation contributes to age-associated cognitive decline

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Abstract

Elderly individuals frequently report cognitive decline, while various studies indicate hippocampal functional declines with advancing age. Hippocampal function is influenced by ghrelin through hippocampus-expressed growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR). Liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2 (LEAP2) is an endogenous GHSR antagonist that attenuates ghrelin signaling. Here, we measured plasma ghrelin and LEAP2 levels in a cohort of cognitively normal individuals older than 60 and found that LEAP2 increased with age while ghrelin (also referred to in literature as “acyl-ghrelin”) marginally declined. In this cohort, plasma LEAP2/ghrelin molar ratios were inversely associated with Mini-Mental State Examination scores. Studies in mice showed an age-dependent inverse relationship between plasma LEAP2/ghrelin molar ratio and hippocampal lesions. In aged mice, restoration of the LEAP2/ghrelin balance to youth-associated levels with lentiviral shRNA Leap2 downregulation improved cognitive performance and mitigated various age-related hippocampal deficiencies such as CA1 region synaptic loss, declines in neurogenesis, and neuroinflammation. Our data collectively suggest that LEAP2/ghrelin molar ratio elevation may adversely affect hippocampal function and, consequently, cognitive performance; thus, it may serve as a biomarker of age-related cognitive decline. Moreover, targeting LEAP2 and ghrelin in a manner that lowers the plasma LEAP2/ghrelin molar ratio could benefit cognitive performance in elderly individuals for rejuvenation of memory.

Authors

Jing Tian, Lan Guo, Tienju Wang, Kun Jia, Russell H. Swerdlow, Jeffrey M. Zigman, Heng Du