Reversion of Alzheimer’s disease signatures

Chemical Checker (CC) is a resource that provides processed, harmonized and integrated bioactivity data on 800,000 small molecules. In the CC, bioactivity data are expressed in a vector format, which naturally extends the notion of chemical similarity between compounds to similarities between bioactivity signatures of different kinds. We experimentally validate that CC signatures can be used to reverse and mimic biological signatures of disease models and genetic perturbations. We developed cellular models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by introducing familial AD (fAD) mutations into SH-SY5Y cells. Using CRISPR/Cas9-induced homology-directed repair, we obtained clones harboring the fAD PSEN1-M146V or the APP-V717F mutations. Three compounds (noscapine - 10 uM, palbociclib - 0.4 uM and AG-494 - 10uM) reverted fAD signatures. We confirmed that genes up-regulated in SH-SY5Y fAD mutants were indeed downregulated upon treatment with the drugs, and vice versa. Moreover, the three drug treatments significantly reverted a subset of genes strongly linked to AD, including the recovery of the expression levels of GRIN2D, a glutamate receptor involved in synaptic transmission and BIN1, a gene involved in synaptic vesicle endocytosis and strongly associated with AD risk. Affymetrix PrimeView arrays were used to analyze the whole-genome expression profile of wild-type or mutated SH-SY5Y cells treated with vehicle (DMSO) or the indicated drugs. Three independent experiments were performed.