Short- and long-term neurocognitive dysfunction is common among critically ill patients who develop pneumonia, but the reasons behind this dysfunction are poorly understood. The dysfunction can present as impaired learning and memory, or as anxiety, depression and even post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Our recent work demonstrates that bacteria causes a tau protein found within the lung to become dysfunctional; it becomes cytotoxic to the lung and the brain,” said Troy Stevens, Ph.D., director of the USA Center for Lung Biology. “Dysfunctional tau moves from the lung through the circulation to the brain, where it impairs the physiological processes responsible for learning and memory.”
Stevens, who also is professor and chair of physiology and cell biology at the USA College of Medicine, said their studies suggest that cytotoxic variants of tau represent a novel therapeutic target during lung infection.
“Effectively removing the cytotoxic tau from the lung, the circulation and the brain may help the lung, brain and other organs recover from infection; and it may improve patient health in the aftermath of their illness,” he said.
Further, severely ill patients may be placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to support their heart and/or lungs. “In this study, we found cytotoxic forms of tau in the ECMO oxygenators, illustrating how the tau circulates throughout the body in infected patients who are critically ill,” Stevens said.
Lead investigators of the study, which recently was published in The FASEB Journal, were Ron Balczon, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology; Ji Young Lee, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology and cell biology; and Mike T. Lin, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and cell biology.
Supporting authors from USA were Phoibe Renema, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow; Sarah Voth, Ph.D., recent graduate; Chun Zhou, research associate; Anna Koloteva, research technician; Michael Francis, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology and cell biology; Jessica Bell, research technologist; Chung-sik Choi, research associate; and Stevens.
The USA Center for Lung Biology comprises more than 40 faculty members and 25 postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and graduate students representing both basic and clinical science departments, all interested in aspects of lung biology.
The FASEB Journal, published in cooperation with the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, is an international journal covering transdisciplinary research in all fields of biology.
View the full article: “Pneumonia initiates a tauopathy.”
