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WNT/β-catenin Pathway: a Possible Link Between Hypertension and Alzheimer’s Disease

  • Hypertension and the Brain (I Nasrallah, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Recent research has shown that older people with high blood pressure (BP), or hypertension, are more likely to have biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Essential hypertension represents the most common cardiovascular disease worldwide and is thought to be responsible for about 13% of all deaths. People with essential hypertension who regularly take prescribed BP medications are half as likely to develop AD as those who do not take them. What then is the connection?

Recent Findings

We know that high BP can damage small blood vessels in the brain, affecting those parts that are responsible for memory and thinking. However, the link between AD and hypertension remains unclear. Recent advances in the field of molecular and cellular biology have revealed a downregulation of the canonical WNT/β-catenin pathway in both hypertension and AD. In AD, the glutamate transport function is decreased, a decrease that is associated with a loss of synapse and neuronal death. β-catenin signaling appears to act as a major regulator of glutamate transporters (EAAT and GS) expression and can be harnessed to remove excess glutamate in AD.

Summary

This review focuses on the possible link between hypertension and AD through the decreased WNT/β-catenin which interacts with the glutamatergic pathway.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology - Data - Biostatistics, Delegation of Clinical Research and Innovation, Foch Hospital, Suresnes, France

    Alexandre Vallée

  2. Neuroimaging Department, Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital, UVSQ Paris-Saclay University, Paris, France

    Jean-Noël Vallée

  3. Laboratory of Mathematics and Applications (LMA), UMR CNRS 7348, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France

    Jean-Noël Vallée

  4. Centre de Recherche Clinique, Grand Hôpital de l’Est Francilien (GHEF), Meaux, France

    Yves Lecarpentier

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  1. Alexandre Vallée
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  2. Jean-Noël Vallée
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  3. Yves Lecarpentier
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Vallée, A., Vallée, JN. & Lecarpentier, Y. WNT/β-catenin Pathway: a Possible Link Between Hypertension and Alzheimer’s Disease. Curr Hypertens Rep 24, 465–475 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-022-01209-1

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