Nerve pathology of microangiopathy and thromboinflammation in hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis.

OBJECTIVE: Despite amyloid deposition as a hallmark of hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTRv) with polyneuropathy, this pathology could not completely account for nerve degeneration. ATTRv patients frequently have vasomotor symptoms, but microangiopathy hypothesis in ATTRv was not systemically clarified.

METHODS: This study examined the vascular pathology of sural nerves in ATTRv patients with transthyretin (TTR) mutation of p.Ala117Ser (TTR-A97S), focusing on morphometry and patterns of molecular expression in relation to nerve degeneration. We further applied human microvascular endothelial cell (HMEC-1) culture to examine the direct effect of TTR-A97S protein on endothelial cells.

RESULTS: In ATTRv nerves, there was characteristic microangiopathy compared to controls: increased vessel wall thickness and decreased luminal area; both were correlated with the reduction of myelinated fiber density. Among the components of vascular wall, the area of collagen IV in ATTRv nerves was larger than that of controls. This finding was validated in a cell model of HMEC-1 culture in which the expression of collagen IV was upregulated after exposure to TTR-A97S. Apoptosis contributed to the endothelial cell degeneration of microvasculatures in ATTRv endoneurium. ATTRv showed prothrombotic status with intravascular fibrin deposition, which was correlated with (1) increased tissue factor and coagulation factor XIIIA and (2) reduced tissue plasminogen activator. This cascade led to intravascular thrombin deposition, which was colocalized with upregulated p-selectin and thrombomodulin, accompanied by complement deposition and macrophages infiltration, indicating thromboinflammation in ATTRv.

INTERPRETATION: Microangiopathy with thromboinflammation is characteristic of advanced-stage ATTRv nerves, which provides an add-on mechanism and therapeutic target for nerve degeneration.