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Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factor APOE4 Exerts Dimorphic Effects on Female Bone.

Overview

  1. Buck Institute for Research on Aging Novato California USA
  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery University of California San Francisco California USA
  3. Department of Anatomy University of California San Francisco California USA
  4. Bakar Aging Research Institute University of California San Francisco California USA
  5. Intramural Research Program National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases NIH Bethesda Maryland USA
Journal: Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany), volume 13, issue 28, article e23511
Dates: received 18 November 2025; accepted 27 February 2026; published online 13 April 2026; in print May 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1002/advs.202523511 · PMID 41972397 · PMCID PMC13185828 · OpenAlex W4415320686
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only
Categories: genetics / omics (modality), human (organism), mouse (organism), Alzheimer's / dementia (population), clinical / translational (subfield)
Methods: Statistics, Machine learning, fMRI & imaging, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions
Keywords: aging, Alzheimer's disease, apolipoprotein e, bone, osteocytes
MeSH: Alzheimer Disease*, Apolipoprotein E4*, Bone and Bones*, Animals, Disease Models, Animal, Female, Hippocampus, Humans, Male, Mice, Mice, Transgenic, Osteocytes, Proteomics, Risk Factors (* major topic)
Topic: Bone health and osteoporosis research (Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Medicine), according to OpenAlex
Funding: NIH; National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (P30AR075055); National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (R01DE019284‐14S1‐Alzheimer’s, Disease Supplement: R01DE01928‐11A1); U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Aging (U.S. National Institute on Aging) (R01AG067740, R01AG077770, P01AG066591, S10OD028654, T32AG000266)
Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 140 references in the paper

Abstract

Individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are at an increased risk of bone fracture, while osteoporosis in women is one of the earliest predictors of AD. Yet the mechanisms linking cognitive decline and skeletal deterioration remain poorly defined. Proteomic analysis of cortical bone from aged 21‐month‐old mice revealed strong enrichment of neurodegeneration‐associated proteins, including apolipoprotein E (Apoe) and amyloid precursor protein. Apoe localized specifically to osteocytes, with expression in aged female bone nearly twice that of young 4‐month‐old male bone. Because human APOE alleles confer different age‐related AD risks, we examined their roles in bone using humanized APOE2, APOE3, and APOE4 knock‐in mice and analyzed bone and hippocampus from the same animals. APOE4 produced marked sex‐specific effects on the bone transcriptome and proteome compared with APOE2 or APOE3. Strikingly, APOE4‐associated proteomic disruptions were stronger in female bone than in the hippocampus. Functionally, APOE4 caused bone fragility in females without altering cortical structure. These deficits stemmed from impaired osteocyte perilacunocanalicular remodeling. Our findings identify APOE4 as a molecular driver of early osteocyte dysfunction and reduced bone quality, disproportionately affecting females. These findings highlight osteocytes as potential targets for early diagnosis of age‐related cognitive impairment and treatment for bone fragility, in females.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

Datasets cited

Data Availability

RNAseq data generated from mouse cortical bone enriched in osteocytes are available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under BioProject accession number PRJNA1314782. Raw data and complete MS data sets were uploaded to the Mass Spectrometry Interactive Virtual Environment (MassIVE) repository, developed by the Center for Computational Mass Spectrometry at the University of California San Diego, and can be downloaded using the following link: ftp:// ‐ftp.ucsd.edu (MassIVE ID number: MSV000099018; Proteome Xchange ID: PXD068037)

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available. RNAseq: available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under BioProject accession number PRJNA1314782 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA1314782). Raw data and compelte MS data sets for proteomics are available in the Mass Spectrometry Interactive Virtual Environment (MassIVE) repository, developed by the Center for Computational Mass Spectrometry at the University of California San Diego at ftp:// ‐ftp.ucsd.edu (ftp://) (MassIVE ID number MSV000099018 (https://massive.ucsd.edu/ProteoSAFe/dataset.jsp?task=c08a2e7328034b63b2857a7b777f8cff); Proteome Xchange ID: PXD068037 (https://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/cgi/GetDataset?ID=PXD068037))

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 29 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 16 authors, 5 keywords, 14 MeSH terms, 4 funders, 139 references.

Cite

This paper

Schurman, C. A., Kaur, G., Kaya, S., Bons, J., Aguirre, C. G., Liu, Q., King, C. D., Wilson, K. A., Baker, H. L., Hady, M., Luna, N. M., Bieri, G., Villeda, S. A., Ellerby, L. M., Schilling, B., & Alliston, T. (2026). Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factor APOE4 Exerts Dimorphic Effects on Female Bone. Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany), 13(28), e23511. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202523511

BibTeX

@article{schurman2026alzheimer,
author = {Schurman, Charles A. and Kaur, Gurcharan and Kaya, Serra and Bons, Joanna and Aguirre, Carlos Galicia and Liu, Qi and King, Christina D. and Wilson, Kenneth A. and Baker, Harrison L. and Hady, Mikayla and Luna, Nadja Maldonado and Bieri, Gregor and Villeda, Saul A. and Ellerby, Lisa M. and Schilling, Birgit and Alliston, Tamara},
title = {{Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factor APOE4 Exerts Dimorphic Effects on Female Bone}},
journal = {Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)},
year = {2026},
month = apr,
volume = {13},
number = {28},
pages = {e23511},
publisher = {Wiley},
issn = {2198-3844},
doi = {10.1002/advs.202523511},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202523511},
pmid = {41972397},
pmcid = {PMC13185828}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Schurman, Charles A.
AU - Kaur, Gurcharan
AU - Kaya, Serra
AU - Bons, Joanna
AU - Aguirre, Carlos Galicia
AU - Liu, Qi
AU - King, Christina D.
AU - Wilson, Kenneth A.
AU - Baker, Harrison L.
AU - Hady, Mikayla
AU - Luna, Nadja Maldonado
AU - Bieri, Gregor
AU - Villeda, Saul A.
AU - Ellerby, Lisa M.
AU - Schilling, Birgit
AU - Alliston, Tamara
TI - Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factor APOE4 Exerts Dimorphic Effects on Female Bone
T2 - Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
J2 - Adv Sci (Weinh)
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/04/13
VL - 13
IS - 28
SP - e23511
SN - 2198-3844
PB - Wiley
DO - 10.1002/advs.202523511
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202523511
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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"container-title": "Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)",
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