Rapid progress in deciphering the biological mechanism of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has arisen from the application of molecular and cell biology to this complex disorder of the limbic and association cortices. In turn, new insights into fundamental aspects of protein biology have resulted from research on the disease. This beneficial interplay between basic and applied cell biology is well illustrated by advances in understanding the genotype-to-phenotype relationships of familial Alzheimer's disease. All four genes definitively linked to inherited forms of the disease to date have been shown to increase the production and/or deposition of amyloid β-protein in the brain. In particular, evidence that the presenilin proteins, mutations in which cause the most aggressive form of inherited AD, lead to altered intramembranous cleavage of the β-amyloid precursor protein by the protease called γ-secretase has spurred progress toward novel therapeutics. The finding that presenilin itself may be the long-sought γ-...

Alzheimer's Disease: Genes, Proteins, and Therapy

Cerebral deposition of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) is an early and critical feature of Alzheimer's disease. Abeta generation depends on proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by two unknown proteases: beta-secretase and gamma-secretase. These proteases are prime therapeutic targets. A transmembrane aspartic protease with all the known characteristics of beta-secretase was cloned and characterized. Overexpression of this protease, termed BACE (for beta-site APP-cleaving enzyme) increased the amount of beta-secretase cleavage products, and these were cleaved exactly and only at known beta-secretase positions. Antisense inhibition of endogenous BACE messenger RNA decreased the amount of beta-secretase cleavage products, and purified BACE protein cleaved APP-derived substrates with the same sequence specificity as beta-secretase. Finally, the expression pattern and subcellular localization of BACE were consistent with that expected for beta-secretase. Future development of BACE inhibitors may prove beneficial for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

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Beta-secretase cleavage of Alzheimer's amyloid precursor protein by the transmembrane aspartic protease BACE.

https://www.unsv.com/upload/2011/12/20/733309-260748385437.pdf

Pathological roles of MAPK signaling pathways in human diseases

The amyloid cascade hypothesis, which posits that the deposition of the amyloid-β peptide in the brain is a central event in Alzheimer's disease pathology, has dominated research for the past twenty years. Several therapeutics that were purported to reduce amyloid-β production or aggregation have failed in Phase III clinical testing, and many others are in various stages of development. Therefore, it is timely to review the science underpinning the amyloid cascade hypothesis, consider what type of clinical trials will constitute a valid test of this hypothesis and explore whether amyloid-β-directed therapeutics will provide the medicines that are urgently needed by society for treating this devastating disease.

The amyloid cascade hypothesis for Alzheimer's disease: an appraisal for the development of therapeutics.

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) generates amyloid β (Aβ) peptide, which is thought to be causal for the pathology and subsequent cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease Cleavage by β-secretase at the amino terminus of the Aβ peptide sequence, between residues 671 and 672 of APP, leads to the generation and extracellular release of β-cleaved soluble APP1, and a corresponding cell-associated carboxy-terminal fragment Cleavage of the C-terminal fragment by γ-secretase(s) leads to the formation of Aβ The pathogenic mutation K670M671 → N670L671 at the β-secretase cleavage site in APP2, which was discovered in a Swedish family with familial Alzheimer's disease, leads to increased β-secretase cleavage of the mutant substrate3 Here we describe a membrane-bound enzyme activity that cleaves full-length APP at the β-secretase cleavage site, and find it to be the predominant β-cleavage activity in human brain We have purified this enzyme activity to homogeneity from human brain using a new substrate analogue inhibitor of the enzyme activity, and show that the purified enzyme has all the properties predicted for β-secretase Cloning and expression of the enzyme reveals that human brain β-secretase is a new membrane-bound aspartic proteinase

Susanna Suomensaari

Papers

Purification and cloning of amyloid precursor protein beta-secretase from human brain.

Cell-type and Amyloid Precursor Protein-type Specific Inhibition of Aβ Release by Bafilomycin A1, a Selective Inhibitor of Vacuolar ATPases

Retention of the Alzheimer's Amyloid Precursor Fragment C99 in the Endoplasmic Reticulum Prevents Formation of Amyloid β-Peptide