David Michael Holtzman, MD

The Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor of Neurology and head of the Department of Neurology, Washington University, St. Louis
Charlotte and Paul Hagemann Professor of Neurology and Molecular Biology and Pharmacology
Associate Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Member of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders

In addition to his laboratory, administrative and teaching duties, Dr. Holtzman is involved in clinical and research activities at the Washington University Memory and Aging Project and the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Dr. Holtzman has carried out ground-breaking studies of molecules involved in beta-amyloid (Aβ) metabolism (such as apoE) and the initiation of Alzheimer's pathology and the role of vascular factors such as amyloid angiopathy in the disease. He also has contributed greatly to our understanding of how anti-amyloid antibodies affect Alzheimer's pathology and how Aβ is cleared from the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients.

Funded Research

Project Description	Researchers	Funding
Effect of Bexarotene on Abeta in APP Tg Mice Expressing ApoE3 and ApoE4 The goal of this project is to determine the effects of bexarotene on both Abeta and ApoE metabolism in the presence of human Abeta and human ApoE isoforms (any of two or more functionally similar proteins that have a similar but different amino acid sequence) because it is relevant to potential effects of similar drugs in humans.	David Michael Holtzman, MD Gary Landreth, Ph.D.	2011 $100,000
Mechanisms of Retinoid X Receptor-Mediated Abeta Clearance in Alzheimers' Disease The goal of this project is to investigate the mechanisms through which RXRs (retinoid x nuclear receptor) promote amyloid clearance from the brain.	Gary Landreth, Ph.D. David Michael Holtzman, MD	2011 $100,000
Anti-APOE Antibodies In this project, the researchers hypothesize that targeting apoE, a component of amyloid plaques, can result in less Aβ aggregation in the brain and decreased Aβ-related pathology and that this treatment will have fewer side effects than the use of anti-Aβ antibodies. The project will test this hypothesis in this proposal in the context of human apoE isoforms.	David Michael Holtzman, MD	2010 $100,000
Development of Tau Microdialysis as a Method to Study Tau Metabolism, Pathophysiology and Response to Treatment The hypothesis of this proposal is that a method can be developed to measure tau levels in the extracellular space of the brain (interstitial fluid–ISF) and that assessment of ISF tau in both normal mice as well as a variety of animal models that develop AD pathology will provide new insights into tau metabolism and the relationship between Aβ and tau in AD. If this method development is successful, it has a chance to tell us more about the pathophysiology of AD as well as a provide a novel way to screen for new AD treatments.	David Michael Holtzman, MD	2009 $100,000
Core Facility for Abeta Microdialysis Drug Discovery Platform In collaboration with an anonymous funder, Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is supporting development of a facility to measure the concentration of Amyloid-beta in real time in the brain of living, behaving mouse models that develop features of AD. The model enables screening for drugs that lower Amyloid-beta directly in the brain in relatively high throughput.	David Michael Holtzman, MD	2007 - 2009 $278,238
Defining the Effects of Physiological Synaptic Activity on Abeta Levels: Implications for AD The objective of this proposal is to determine the effect of physiological alterations in neuronal activity on ISF Aβ levels in vivo. Such information may provide important information as to how to potentially regulate the probability of whether or not Aβ will or will not ultimately aggregate in the brain and initiate the process we know of as AD. We will utilize in vivo microdialysis with concurrent electrophysiological recordings to determine how physiological changes in neuronal activity dynamically affects ISF Aβ.	David Michael Holtzman, MD	2008 $100,000

Selected Publications

These published papers resulted from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund support.

Brody DL, Magnoni S, Schwetye KE, Spinner ML, Esparza TJ, Stocchetti N, Zipfel GJ, Holtzman DM , "Amyloid-beta dynamics correlate with neurological status in the injured human brain" , Science , 321(5893) , Aug 29, 2008 , 1221-4

Brody DL, Holtzman DM , "Active and Passive Immunotherapy for Neurodegenerative Disorders" , Annu Rev Neurosci. , 31 , July 2008 , 175–193

Cirrito JR, Kang J, Lee J, Stewart FR, Verges D, Silverio LM, Bu G, Mennerick S, Holtzman DM. , "Endocytosis is required for synaptic activity-dependent release of amyloid-beta in vivo." , Neuron , 58(1) , April 10, 2008 , 42-51

Kang JE, Cirrito JR, Dong H, Csernansky JG, Holtzman DM , "Acute stress increases interstitial fluid amyloid-β via corticotropin-releasing factor and neuronal activity" , Neurology , Vol. 75/no. 7 , June 2007 , 595-602

Cure Alzheimer's Fund: Targeting Breakthrough Research