22R-Hydroxycholesterol protects neuronal cells from beta-amyloid-induced cytotoxicity by binding to beta-amyloid peptide

22R-hydroxycholesterol, a steroid intermediate in the pathway of pregnenolone formation from cholesterol, was found at lower levels in Alzheimer's disease (AD) hippocampus and frontal cortex tissue specimens compared to age-matched controls. beta-Amyloid (Abeta) peptide has been shown to be neurotoxic and its presence in brain has been linked to AD pathology. 22R-hydroxycholesterol was found to protect, in a dose-dependent manner, against Abeta-induced rat sympathetic nerve pheochromocytoma (PC12) and differentiated human Ntera2/D1 teratocarcinoma (NT2N) neuron cell death. Other steroids tested were either inactive or acted on rodent neurons only. The effect of 22R-hydroxycholesterol was found to be stereospecific because its enantiomer 22S-hydroxycholesterol failed to protect the neurons from Abeta-induced cell death. Moreover, the effect of 22R-hydroxycholesterol was specific for Abeta-induced cell death because it did not protect against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity. The neuroprotective effect of 22R-hydroxycholesterol was seen when using Abeta1-42 but not the Abeta25-35 peptide. To investigate the mechanism of action of 22R-hydroxycholesterol we examined the direct binding of this steroid to Abeta using a novel cholesterol-protein binding blot assay. Using this method the direct specific binding, under native conditions, of 22R-hydroxycholesterol to Abeta1-42 and Abeta17-40, but not Abeta25-35, was observed. These data suggest that 22R-hydroxycholesterol binds to Abeta and the formed 22R-hydroxycholesterol/Abeta complex is not toxic to rodent and human neurons. We propose that 22R-hydroxycholesterol offers a new means of neuroprotection against Abeta toxicity by inactivating the peptide.