Molecular neurobiologyJan 29, 2024

Mitochondrial DNA triggers immune response linked to brain inflammation and thinking problems in type 2 diabetes and fat-related brain damage

Alzheimers & Treatments Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 4, 2026

Abstract

Type-1 interferon response is associated with significant changes in the diabetic brain, including decreased synaptic proteins and increased inflammatory markers.

T2DM was induced in mice through a high-fat diet and streptozotocin injection, leading to metabolic and lipotoxic stress.
Mitochondrial impairment caused leakage of mitochondrial DNA into the cytoplasm, activating the cGAS signaling pathway.
The hippocampus and cortex in diabetic mice showed decreased levels of synaptophysin and PSD-95, indicating synaptic dysfunction.
Increased expression of cGAS, p-STING, p-STAT1, and IFN-β was observed in the diabetic brain compared to normal controls.
A selective STING inhibitor, C-176, reduced the expression of inflammatory markers and alleviated the Type-1 interferon response.
Type-1 interferon response may contribute to neuroglia imbalance, potentially affecting cognitive function in T2DM.

Simplified

Type-1 IFN (interferon)-associated innate immune response is increasingly getting attention in neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes (T2DM). However, its significance in T2DM/lipotoxicity-induced neuroglia changes and cognitive impairment is missing. The present study aims to evaluate the involvement of cGAS (cyclic GMP-AMP synthase)-STING (stimulator of interferon gene), IRF3 (interferon regulatory factor-3), TBK (TANK binding kinase)-mediated Type-1 IFN response in the diabetic brain, and lipotoxicity (palmitate-bovine serum albumin conjugate/PA-BSA)-induced changes in cells (neuro2a and BV2). T2DM was induced in C57/BL6 mice by feeding on a high-fat diet (HFD, 60% Kcal) for 16 weeks and injecting a single dose of streptozotocin (100 mg/kg, i.p) in the 12th week. Plasma biochemical parameter analysis, neurobehavioral assessment, protein expression, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction study were carried out to decipher the hypothesis. T2DM-associated metabolic and lipotoxic stress led to mitochondrial impairment causing leakage of mtDNA to the cytoplasm further commencing cGAS activation and its downstream signaling. The diseased hippocampus and cortex showed decreased expression of synaptophysin (p < 0.01) and PSD-95 (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) with increased expression of cGAS (p < 0.001), p-STING (p < 0.001), p-STAT1 (signal transducer and activator of transcription) (p < 0.01), and IFN-β (p < 0.001) compared to normal control. The IFN-β/p-STAT1-mediated microglia activation was executed employing a conditioned media approach. C-176, a selective STING inhibitor, alleviated cGAS/p-STING/IFN-β expression and proinflammatory microglia/M1-associated markers (CD16 expression, CXCL10, TNF-α, IL-1β mRNA fold change) in the diabetic brain. The present study suggests Type-1IFN response may result in neuroglia dyshomeostasis affecting normal brain function. Alleviating STING signaling has the potential to protect T2DM-associated central ailment.

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Mitochondrial DNA triggers immune response linked to brain inflammation and thinking problems in type 2 diabetes and fat-related brain damage

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