Fig. 5

Moesin is a hub protein of an AD-associated proteomic module with increased expression in the human AD brain. a Msn was identified as a hub of a microglial-enriched protein module identified by weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of proteomic data from controls, asymptomatic AD, and AD human post-mortem brain (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) [40]. The top 100 proteins by module eigenprotein correlation value (kME) in the M4 module are shown. The size of each circle indicates the relative kME. Red circles indicate known microglia-enriched proteins identified in the current proteomic analysis. b Normalized relative Msn protein abundance in controls (N = 91), AsymAD (N = 98), and AD cases (N = 231) human post-mortem brains. Protein abundance data obtained from a published proteomic dataset [40]. One-way ANOVA, Tukey post hoc analysis: ***p < 0.001. c. Normalized Msn mRNA expression in controls (N = 157) and AD (N = 308) human post-mortem brains (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). RNA expression data obtained from a published dataset [41]. Unpaired t-test: ***p < 0.001. d Scatterplots displaying correlation between Msn protein abundance in human post-mortem brain and cognitive function (MMSE, mini-mental status examination score, higher scores represent better cognitive function) of control (N = 26), AsymAD (N = 28), and AD (N = 83) cases, amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaque burden (CERAD, Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s disease Aβ plaque score, higher scores represent greater plaque burden) in control (N = 91), AsymAD (N = 98), and AD (N = 230) cases, and tau tangle extent (Braak, tau neurofibrillary tangle staging score, higher scores represent greater extent of tangle burden) in control (N = 91), AsymAD (N = 98), and AD (N = 230) cases. Correlation coefficient (R) and significance of the association are shown. e Representative immunohistochemical images of control (N = 10) and AD (N = 10) post-mortem human brains (frontal cortex) stained with Msn. The inset, indicated by arrowhead, displays a high magnification of the Msn positive cells with ramified microglial morphology in control brain and activated microglial morphology in AD brain. Scale bar = 40 μm. f Representative immunofluorescence images of human AD brain (frontal cortex) showing Msn (red) and Aβ (green). Scale bar = 50 μm