The accumulation
and propagation of hyperphosphorylated tau (p-Tau)
is a neuropathological hallmark occurring with neurodegeneration of
Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Extracellular vesicles, exosomes,
have been shown to initiate tau propagation in the brain. Notably,
exosomes from human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) neurons expressing
the AD familial A246E mutant form of presenilin 1 (mPS1) are capable
of inducing tau deposits in the mouse brain after in vivo injection. To gain insights into the exosome proteome cargo that
participates in propagating tau pathology, this study conducted proteomic
analysis of exosomes produced by human iPSC neurons expressing A246E
mPS1. Significantly, mPS1 altered the profile of exosome cargo proteins
to result in (1) proteins present only in mPS1 exosomes and not in
controls, (2) the absence of proteins in the mPS1 exosomes which were
present only in controls, and (3) shared proteins which were upregulated
or downregulated in the mPS1 exosomes compared to controls. These
results show that mPS1 dysregulates the proteome cargo of exosomes
to result in the acquisition of proteins involved in the extracellular
matrix and protease functions, deletion of proteins involved in RNA
and protein translation systems along with proteasome and related
functions, combined with the upregulation and downregulation of shared
proteins, including the upregulation of amyloid precursor protein.
Notably, mPS1 neuron-derived exosomes displayed altered profiles of
protein phosphatases and kinases involved in regulating the status
of p-tau. The dysregulation of exosome cargo proteins by mPS1 may
be associated with the ability of mPS1 neuron-derived exosomes to
propagate tau pathology.