Redox regulation of neuroinflammatory pathways contributes to damage in Alzheimer’s disease brain

Abstract

Aberrant activation of innate immune signaling is known to contribute to neuroinflammation in age-related neurological disorders, but the mechanisms underlying this activation remain unclear. Here, we discovered that protein S-nitrosylation, a redox-based posttranslational modification, regulates the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) protein in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Using a combination of redox chemical biology and mass spectrometry, we identified S-nitrosylation at cysteine 148 as a critical modification facilitating STING oligomerization and triggering excessive type I interferon signaling in a causal fashion. This modification was observed in human AD postmortem brain tissue, in human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived innate immune cells exposed to AD-related protein aggregates, and in a transgenic AD mouse model. Our findings reveal a novel molecular link between nitrosative stress and dysregulated innate immunity that drives neuroinflammation and synaptic loss in AD. Targeting this redox-sensitive cysteine presents a promising therapeutic strategy to modulate neuroinflammation and potentially slow disease progression.