Lithium as a Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease: The Systems Pharmacology Perspective

Article type: Review Article

Authors: Hampel, Harald^{a; *} | Lista, Simone^{a; b; c} | Mango, Dalila^d | Nisticò, Robert^{d; e} | Perry, George^f | Avila, Jesus^{g; h} | Hernandez, Felix^{g; h} | Geerts, Hugoⁱ | Vergallo, Andrea^{a; b; c; *} | Alzheimer Precision Medicine Initiative (APMI)^{1; 2}

Collaborators: AFSHAR, Mohammad | AGUILAR, Lisi Flores | AKMAN-ANDERSON, Leyla | ARENAS, Joaquín | AVILA, Jesus | BABILONI, Claudio | BALDACCI, Filippo | BATRLA, Richard | BENDA, Norbert | BLACK, Keith L. | BOKDE, Arun L.W. | BONUCCELLI, Ubaldo | BROICH, Karl | CACCIOLA, Francesco | CARACI, Filippo | CASTRILLO†, Juan | CAVEDO, Enrica | CERAVOLO, Roberto | CHIESA, Patrizia A. | CORVOL, Jean-Christophe | CUELLO, Augusto Claudio | CUMMINGS, Jeffrey L. | DEPYPERE, Herman | DUBOIS, Bruno | DUGGENTO, Andrea | EMANUELE, Enzo | ESCOTT-PRICE, Valentina | FEDEROFF, Howard | FERRETTI, Maria Teresa | FIANDACA, Massimo | FRANK, Richard A. | GARACI, Francesco | GEERTS, Hugo | GIORGI, Filippo S. | GOETZL, Edward J. | GRAZIANI, Manuela | HABERKAMP, Marion | HABERT, Marie-Odile | HAMPEL, Harald | HERHOLZ, Karl | HERNANDEZ, Felix | KAPOGIANNIS, Dimitrios | KARRAN, Eric | KIDDLE, Steven J. | KIM, Seung H. | KORONYO, Yosef | KORONYO-HAMAOUI, Maya | LANGEVIN, Todd | LEHÉRICY, Stéphane | LUCÍA, Alejandro | LISTA, Simone | LORENCEAU, Jean | MANGO, Dalila | MAPSTONE, Mark | NERI, Christian | NISTICÓ, Robert | O’BRYANT, Sid E. | PALERMO, Giovanni | PERRY, George | RITCHIE, Craig | ROSSI, Simone | SAIDI, Amira | SANTARNECCHI, Emiliano | SCHNEIDER, Lon S. | SPORNS, Olaf | TOSCHI, Nicola | VERDOONER, Steven R. | VERGALLO, Andrea | VILLAIN, Nicolas | WELIKOVITCH, Lindsay A. | WOODCOCK, Janet | YOUNESI, Erfan

Affiliations: (Paris) | (Montréal) | (Sacramento) | (Madrid) | (Madrid) | (Rome) | (Pisa) | (Rotkreuz) | (Bonn) | (Los Angeles) | (Dublin) | (Pisa) | (Bonn) | (Siena) | (Catania) | (Derio) | (Paris) | (Pisa) | (Paris) | (Paris) | (Montréal) | (Las Vegas) | (Gent) | (Paris) | (Rome) | (Robbio) | (Cardiff) | (Irvine) | (Zürich) | (Irvine) | (Malvern) | (Rome) | (Berwyn) | (Pisa) | (San Francisco) | (Roma) | (Bonn) | (Paris) | (Paris) | (Manchester) | (Madrid) | (Baltimore) | (Cambridge) | (Cambridge) | (Seoul) | (Los Angeles) | (Los Angeles) | (Minneapolis-Saint Paul) | (Paris) | (Madrid) | (Paris) | (Paris) | (Rome) | (Irvine) | (Paris) | (Rome) | (Fort Worth) | (Pisa) | (San Antonio) | (Edinburgh) | (Siena) | (Rome) | (Siena) | (Los Angeles) | (Bloomington) | (Rome) | (Sacramento) | (Paris) | (Paris) | (Montréal) | (Silver Spring) | (Esch-sur-Alzette) | [a] Sorbonne University, GRC n° 21, Alzheimer Precision Medicine (APM), AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Boulevard de l’hôpital, F-75013, Paris, France | [b] Brain & Spine Institute (ICM), INSERM U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Boulevard de l’hôpital, F-75013, Paris, France | [c] Institute of Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease (IM2A), Department of Neurology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Boulevard de l’hôpital, F-75013, Paris, France | [d] Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, European Brain Research Institute, Rita Levi-Montalcini Foundation, Rome, Italy | [e] Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy | [f] College of Sciences, One UTSA Circle, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA | [g] Centro de Biologia Molecular “Severo Ochoa”, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones, Cientificas, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, C/ Nicolas Cabrera, 1. Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain | [h] Networking Research Center on Neurodegenerative, Diseases (CIBERNED), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain | [i] In silico Biosciences, Computational Neuropharmacology, Berwyn, PA, USA | (Paris) | (Montréal) | (Sacramento) | (Madrid) | (Madrid) | (Rome) | (Pisa) | (Rotkreuz) | (Bonn) | (Los Angeles) | (Dublin) | (Pisa) | (Bonn) | (Siena) | (Catania) | (Derio) | (Paris) | (Pisa) | (Paris) | (Paris) | (Montréal) | (Las Vegas) | (Gent) | (Paris) | (Rome) | (Robbio) | (Cardiff) | (Irvine) | (Zürich) | (Irvine) | (Malvern) | (Rome) | (Berwyn) | (Pisa) | (San Francisco) | (Roma) | (Bonn) | (Paris) | (Paris) | (Manchester) | (Madrid) | (Baltimore) | (Cambridge) | (Cambridge) | (Seoul) | (Los Angeles) | (Los Angeles) | (Minneapolis-Saint Paul) | (Paris) | (Madrid) | (Paris) | (Paris) | (Rome) | (Irvine) | (Paris) | (Rome) | (Fort Worth) | (Pisa) | (San Antonio) | (Edinburgh) | (Siena) | (Rome) | (Siena) | (Los Angeles) | (Bloomington) | (Rome) | (Sacramento) | (Paris) | (Paris) | (Montréal) | (Silver Spring) | (Esch-sur-Alzette)

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Andrea Vergallo, MD & Harald Hampel, MD, PhD, AXA Research Fund & Sorbonne University Chair, Sorbonne University, Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease (IM2A), Brain & Spine Institute (ICM), François Lhermitte Building, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, 47 Boulevard de l’hôpital, 75651 Paris CEDEX 13, France. E-mail: andrea.vergallo@icm-institute.org (A. Vergallo), harald.hampel@med.uni-muenchen.de (H. Hampel).

Note: [1] Sorbonne University Clinical Research Group (GRC n°21), “Alzheimer Precision Medicine (APM)”, Établissements Publics á caractère Scientifique et Technologique (E.P.S.T.)

Note: [2] Alzheimer Precision Medicine Initiative (APMI), https://www.apmiscience.com/

Abstract:  Systems pharmacology is a novel framework for drug research that models traditional and innovative pharmacological parameters and provides the overall efficacy and safety profile of a drug across body systems and complex, non-linear, molecular interactions. Lithium chloride, a pharmacological compound approved for the therapy of psychiatric disorders, represents a poorly explored compound for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Lithium has been shown to reduce downstream effects associated with the aberrant overactivation of certain molecular pathways, such as glycogen synthase kinase 3 subunit β (GSK3-β)-related pathways, involved in AD-related pathophysiology. It seems that overactivation and overexpression of GSK3-β lead to an impairment of long-term potentiation and amyloid-β induced neurotoxicity that can be normalized using lithium. Moreover, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated that lithium’s GSK3-β inhibitory effect prevents tau phosphorylation in mouse models of tauopathies. Clinical data have been inconclusive, partly due to methodological limitations. The lack of studies exploring the dynamics of protein misfolding in AD and investigating the specific tau-isoforms appearing prior to the accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles calls for new and optimized clinical trials. Advanced computer modeling based on a formal implementation of quantitative parameters and basic enzymatic insights into a mechanism-based model would present a good start to tackle these non-linear interactions. This innovative approach will pave the way for developing “molecularly” biomarker-guided targeted therapies, i.e., treatments specifically adapted (“tailored”) to the individual, consistently with the primary objectives and key conceptual points of precision medicine and precision pharmacology.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, GSK3, lithium, neurotoxicity, precision medicine, post-translational modification, systems pharmacology, tau

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-190197

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 615-629, 2019