The interactome of tau phosphorylated at T217 in Alzheimer’s disease human brain tissue

Hyperphosphorylated tau (pTau) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain tissue is a complex mix of multiple tau species that are variably phosphorylated. The emerging studies suggest that phosphorylation of specific residues may alter the role of tau. The role of specific pTau species can be explored through protein interactome studies. The aim of this study was to analyse the interactome of tau phosphorylated at T217 (pT217), which biomarker studies suggest is one of the earliest accumulating tau species in AD. pT217 interactors were identified in fresh-frozen human brain tissue from 10 cases of advanced AD using affinity purification-mass spectrometry. The cases included a balanced cohort of APOE ε3/ε3 and ε4/ε4 genotypes (n = 5 each) to explore how apolipoprotein E altered phosphorylated tau interactions. The results were compared to our previous interactome dataset that profiled the interactors of PHF1-enriched tau to determine if individual pTau species have different interactomes. 23 proteins were identified as bona fide pT217 interactors, including known pTau interactor SQSTM1. pT217 enriched tau was phosphorylated at fewer residues compared to PHF1-enriched tau, suggesting an earlier stage of pathology development. Notable pT217 interactors included five subunits of the CTLH E3 ubiquitin ligase (WDR26, ARMC8, GID8, RANBP9, MAEA), which has not previously been linked to AD. In APOE ε3/ε3 cases pT217 significantly interacted with 46 proteins compared to 28 in APOE ε4/ε4 cases, but these proteins were significantly overlapped. CTLH E3 ubiquitin ligase subunits significantly interacted with phosphorylated tau in both APOE genotypes. pT217 interactions with SQSTM1, WDR26 and RANBP9 were validated using co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescent microscopy of post-mortem human brain tissue, which showed colocalisation of both protein interactors with tau pathology. Our results report the interactome of pT217 in human Alzheimer’s disease brain tissue for the first time and highlight the CTLH E3 ubiquitin ligase complex as a significant novel interactor of pT217 tau.