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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the accumulation of neurotoxic amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides consisting of 39-43 amino acids, proteolytically derived fragments of the amyloid-β protein precursor (AβPP), and the accumulation of the hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau. Inhibiting Aβ production may reduce neurodegeneration and cognitive dysfunction associated with AD. We have previously used an AβPP-firefly luciferase enzyme complementation assay to conduct a high throughput screen of a compound library for inhibitors of AβPP dimerization, and identified a compound that reduces Aβ levels. In the present study, we have identified an analog, compound Y10, which also reduced Aβ. Initial kinase profiling assays identified the receptor tyrosine kinase cKit as a putative Y10 target. To elucidate the precise mechanism involved, AβPP phosphorylation was examined by IP-western blotting. We found that Y10 inhibits cKit phosphorylation and increases AβPP phosphorylation mainly on tyrosine residue Y743, according to AβPP751 numbering. A known cKit inhibitor and siRNA specific to cKit were also found to increase AβPP phosphorylation and lower Aβ levels. We also investigated a cKit downstream signaling molecule, the Shp2 phosphatase, and found that known Shp2 inhibitors and siRNA specific to Shp2 also increase AβPP phosphorylation, suggesting that the cKit signaling pathway is also involved in AβPP phosphorylation and Aβ production. We further found that inhibitors of both cKit and Shp2 enhance AβPP surface localization. Thus, regulation of AβPP phosphorylation by small molecules should be considered as a novel therapeutic intervention for AD.

Amyloidogenic processing of the amyloid-β protein precursor (AβPP) produces amyloid-β peptides (Aβ), the major constituent of amyloid plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Experimental evidence suggests that increased dimerization of AβPP increases Aβ while decreased dimerization of AβPP decreases Aβ production. If true, developing tools for detecting AβPP-AβPP interactions to understand AβPP processing leading to Aβ production would be important. Here, we developed the method of β-galactosidase (β-gal) enzyme fragment complementation as a means to detect AβPP-AβPP interactions. Inactive β-gal fragments are independently tagged to the C-terminal ends of monomeric AβPPs, and will come together to form a functional enzyme upon AβPP-AβPP interactions. Successful detection of β-gal activity has been used to qualitatively visualize and quantify the amount of AβPP dimers or higher oligomers. This method can be used to enhance our understanding of the biological processes dependent upon AβPP-AβPP interactions.

The amyloid precursor protein is a ubiquitously expressed transmembrane protein that has been long implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease but its normal biological function has remained elusive despite extensive effort. We have previously reported the identification of Notch2 as an amyloid precursor protein interacting protein in E18 rat neurons. Here, we sought to reveal the physiologic consequences of this interaction. We report a functional relationship between amyloid precursor protein and Notch1, which does not affect Delta ligand binding. First, we observed interactions between the amyloid precursor protein and Notch in mouse embryonic stem cells lacking both presenilin 1 and presenilin 2, the active proteolytic components of the gamma-secretase complex, suggesting that these two transmembrane proteins can interact in the absence of presenilin. Next, we demonstrated that the amyloid precursor protein affects Notch signaling by using Notch-dependent luciferase assays in two cell lines, the human embryonic kidney 293 and the monkey kidney, COS7. We found that the amyloid precursor protein exerts opposing effects on Notch signaling in human embryonic kidney 293 vs. COS7 cells. Finally, we show that more Notch Intracellular Domain is found in the nucleus in the presence of exogenous amyloid precursor protein or its intracellular domain, suggesting the mechanism by which the amyloid precursor protein affects Notch signaling in certain cells. Our results provide evidence of potentially important communications between the amyloid precursor protein and Notch.

We previously demonstrated that the amyloid precursor protein (APP) interacts with Notch receptors. Here, we confirmed the APP/Notch1 endogenous interaction in embryonic day 17 rat brain tissue, suggesting the interaction was not as a result of over-expression artifacts. To investigate potential homodimeric and heterodimeric interactions of APP and Notch2 (N2), we have visualized the subcellular localization of the APP/N2 complexes formed in living cells using bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) analysis. BiFC was accomplished by fusing the N-terminal fragment or the C-terminal fragment of yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) to APP, N2, and a C-terminally truncated form of N2. When expressed in COS-7 cells, these tagged proteins alone did not produce a fluorescent signal. The tagged APP homodimer produced a weak fluorescent signal, while neither full-length N2, nor a truncated N2 alone, produced a visible signal, suggesting that N2 receptors do not form homodimers. The strongest fluorescent signal was obtained with co-expression of the C-terminal fragment of YFP fused to APP and the N-terminal fragment of YFP fused to the truncated form of N2. This heterodimer localized to plasma membrane, endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi and other compartments. The results were confirmed and quantified by flow cytometry. The BiFC method of specifically visualizing APP/Notch interactions can be applied to study APP and Notch signaling during development, aging and neurodegeneration.

The amyloid precursor protein (APP) must fulfill important roles based on its sequence conservation from fly to human. Although multiple functions for APP have been proposed, the best-known role for this protein is as the precursor of Abeta peptide, a neurotoxic 39-43-amino acid peptide crucial to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. To investigate additional roles for APP with an eye toward understanding the molecular basis of the pleiotropic effects ascribed to APP, we isolated proteins that interacted with the plasma membrane isoform of APP. We employed a membrane-impermeable crosslinker to immobilize proteins binding to transmembrane APP in human embryonic kidney (HEK)293 cells expressing APP751 (HEK275) or rat embryonic day 18 primary neurons infected with a virus expressing APP. Notch2 was identified as a potential APP binding partner based on mass spectrometry analysis of APP complexes immunopurified from neurons. To confirm the interaction between Notch2 and APP, we carried out immunoprecipitation studies in HEK275 cells transiently expressing full-length Notch2 using Notch2 antibodies. The results indicated that APP and Notch2 interact in mammalian cells, and confirmed our initial findings. Interestingly, Notch1 also coimmunoprecipitated with APP, suggesting that APP and Notch family members may engage in intermolecular cross talk to modulate cell function. Finally, cotransfection of APP/CFP and Notch2/YFP into COS cells revealed that these two proteins colocalize on the plasma membrane. Intracellularly, however, although some APP and Notch molecules colocalize, others reside in distinct locations. The discovery of proteins that interact with APP may aid in the identification of new functions for APP., ((c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)