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Reports that simvastatin reduces levels of Alzheimer's disease Beta-amyloid peptides ABeta42 and ABeta40 in vitro and in vivo. Effect of cholesterol depletion on ABeta secretion; Familial AD mutation; Reduction of Abeta production in the absence of CDX by statins; Simvastatin's reduction of ABeta levels in vivo.

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein by beta-secretase generates C99, which subsequently is cleaved by gamma-secretase, yielding the amyloid beta peptide (A beta). This gamma-cleavage occurs within the transmembrane domain (TMD) of C99 and is similar to the intramembrane cleavage of Notch. However, Notch and C99 differ in their site of intramembrane cleavage. The main gamma-cleavage of C99 occurs in the middle of the TMD, whereas the cleavage of Notch occurs close to the C-terminal end of the TMD, making it unclear whether both are cleaved by the same protease. To investigate whether gamma-cleavage always occurs in the middle of the TMD of C99 or may also occur at the end of the TMD, we generated C99-mutants with an altered length of the TMD and analyzed their gamma-cleavage in COS7 cells. The C terminus of A beta and thus the site of gamma-cleavage were determined by using monoclonal antibodies and mass spectrometry. Compared with C99-wild type (wt), most mutants with an altered length of the TMD changed the cleavage site of gamma-secretase, whereas control mutants with mutations outside the TMD did not. Thus, the length of the whole TMD is a major determinant for the cleavage site of gamma-secretase. Moreover, the C99-mutants were not only cleaved at one site but at two sites within their TMD. One cleavage site was located around the middle of the TMD, regardless of its actual length. An additional cleavage occurred within the N-terminal half of their TMD and thus at the opposite side of the Notch cleavage site.

Recent epidemiological studies show a strong reduction in the incidence of Alzheimer's disease in patients treated with cholesterol-lowering statins. Moreover, elevated Abeta42 levels and the varepsilon4 allele of the lipid-carrier apolipoprotein E are regarded as risk factors for sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease. Here we demonstrate that the widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs simvastatin and lovastatin reduce intracellular and extracellular levels of Abeta42 and Abeta40 peptides in primary cultures of hippocampal neurons and mixed cortical neurons. Likewise, guinea pigs treated with high doses of simvastatin showed a strong and reversible reduction of cerebral Abeta42 and Abeta40 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid and brain homogenate. These results suggest that lipids are playing an important role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Lowered levels of Abeta42 may provide the mechanism for the observed reduced incidence of dementia in statin-treated patients and may open up avenues for therapeutic interventions.

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein by beta-secretase yields A4CT (C99), which is cleaved further by the as yet unknown gamma-secretase, yielding the beta-amyloid (Abeta) peptide with 40 (Abeta40) or 42 residues (Abeta42). Because the position of gamma-secretase cleavage is crucial for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, we individually replaced all membrane-domain residues of A4CT outside the Abeta domain with phenylalanine, stably transfected the constructs in COS7 cells, and determined the effect of these mutations on the cleavage specificity of gamma-secretase (Abeta42/Abeta40 ratio). Compared with wild-type A4CT, mutations at Val-44, Ile-47, and Val-50 led to decreased Abeta42/Abeta40 ratios, whereas mutations at Thr-43, Ile-45, Val-46, Leu-49, and Met-51 led to increased Abeta42/Abeta40 ratios. A massive effect was observed for I45F (34-fold increase) making this construct important for the generation of animal models for Alzheimer's disease. Unlike the other mutations, A4CT-V44F was processed mainly to Abeta38, as determined by mass spectrometry. Our data provide a detailed model for the active site of gamma-secretase: gamma-secretase interacts with A4CT by binding to one side of the alpha-helical transmembrane domain of A4CT. Mutations in the transmembrane domain of A4CT interfere with the interaction between gamma-secretase and A4CT and, thus, alter the cleavage specificity of gamma-secretase.

The importance of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) became apparent through the identification of distinct mutations in the APP gene, causing early onset familial AD with the accumulation of a 4-kDa peptide fragment (betaA4) in amyloid plaques and vascular deposits. However, the physiological role of APP is still unclear. In this work, Drosophila melanogaster is used as a model system to analyze the function of APP by expressing wild-type and various mutant forms of human APP in fly tissue culture cells as well as in transgenic fly lines. After expression of full-length APP forms, secretion of APP but not of betaA4 was observed in both systems. By using SPA4CT, a short APP form in which the signal peptide was fused directly to the betaA4 region, transmembrane domain, and cytoplasmic tail, we observed betaA4 release in flies and fly-tissue culture cells. Consequently, we showed a gamma-secretase activity in flies. Interestingly, transgenic flies expressing full-length forms of APP have a blistered-wing phenotype. As the wing is composed of interacting dorsal and ventral epithelial cell layers, this phenotype suggests that human APP expression interferes with cell adhesion/signaling pathways in Drosophila, independently of betaA4 generation.

The amyloid precursor protein (APP) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. During intracellular transport APP undergoes a series of proteolytic cleavages that lead to the release either of an amyloidogenic fragment called beta-amyloid (Abeta) or of a nonamyloidogenic secreted form consisting of the ectodomain of APP (APPsec). It is Abeta that accumulates in the brain lesions that are thought to cause the disease. By reducing the cellular cholesterol level of living hippocampal neurons by 70% with lovastatin and methyl-beta-cyclodextrin, we show that the formation of Abeta is completely inhibited while the generation of APPsec is unperturbed. This inhibition of Abeta formation is accompanied by increased solubility in the detergent Triton X-100 and is fully reversible by the readdition of cholesterol to previously depleted cells. Our results show that cholesterol is required for Abeta formation to occur and imply a link between cholesterol, Abeta, and Alzheimer's disease.

Cerebral plaques containing beta-amyloid (beta A4) represent an invariant pathological feature of Alzheimer disease (AD). beta A4 is proteolytically generated from its parent molecule, amyloid precursor protein (APP). In non-neuronal cells beta A4 has been shown to be secreted via a pH-sensitive and endocytosis-dependent pathway, and this process, when occurring in the brain, is considered to play an important role in AD. In neurons the mechanisms of beta A4 production are not known. Here we have analyzed these mechanisms by expressing human APP and its mutant versions in hippocampal neurons using the Semliki forest virus system. We show that these cells initially generate two pools of beta A4, an extracellular and an intracellular, and only the extracellular pool is produced via a pH-sensitive and endocytosis-dependent pathway. Thus, hippocampal neurons are able to utilize an alternate pathway to produce intracellular beta A4. We also show that a common feature of two types of APP mutations ("Swedish" and "London") implicated in early-onset AD is their increased production of C-terminally elongated beta A4 (beta 42), both intra- and extracellularly. Since neurons are the only cells that produce substantial levels of intracellular beta A4 and also the main victims in AD, these findings may provide an important link between beta A4 and neurodegeneration.

The amino-acid sequence of lac repressor from Escherichia coli has been determined. The sequence contains 347 residues in the subunit single peptide chain. It shows no similarities with the sequences of histones or the known part of beta-galactosidase.