Astrocytic AEG-1 drives neuroinflammation and enhances seizure susceptibility

Astrocyte-elevated gene-1 (AEG-1), also known as metadherin (MTDH) has emerged as a potent oncogene expressed in cancers. An increasing body of evidence indicates AEG-1 plays a pivotal role in various brain pathophysiological processes. Abnormal expression of AEG-1 in astrocytes has been correlated...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yuzhou Chen, Yunbo Yu, Jinhao Kou, Honggang Qi, Canyu Zhang, Feiyu Wang, Lijie Zhou, Xuemei Liang, Kang Xu, Cong Zhang, Aifeng Zhang, Xiufang Liu, Chenchen Zhang, Guangming Gan, Jie Sun, Xinjian Zhu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-08-01
Series:Neurobiology of Disease
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969996125001731
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Astrocyte-elevated gene-1 (AEG-1), also known as metadherin (MTDH) has emerged as a potent oncogene expressed in cancers. An increasing body of evidence indicates AEG-1 plays a pivotal role in various brain pathophysiological processes. Abnormal expression of AEG-1 in astrocytes has been correlated with inflammatory response, suggesting a possible role of AEG-1 in the pathogenesis of inflammatory encephalopathy. Here, we analyzed single-cell RNA sequencing data to explore the heterogeneity of astrocyte subpopulations in a mouse model induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and investigated the effect of astrocytic AEG-1 on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory response and seizure susceptibility in mice, as well as in an in vitro astrocyte culture model. Our single-cell RNA sequencing analysis reveals that AEG-1-expressing astrocyte subpopulation is associated with inflammatory responses. LPS-induced inflammatory response is accompanied by increased AEG-1 expression in astrocytes. Depletion of astrocytic AEG-1, however, suppressed LPS-induced neuroinflammation and high seizure susceptibility both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, we find that AEG-1 induces neuroinflammatory cytokine expression and enhances seizure susceptibility, which is dependent on NF-κB signaling pathway. These data identify an important role of astrocytic AEG-1 in LPS-induced neuroinflammation and high seizure susceptibility, demonstrating that AEG-1 mediates downstream neuroinflammatory and epileptic effect via NF-κB signaling pathway.
ISSN:1095-953X