Specific transcellular binding between membrane proteins crucial to Alzheimer disease.
Molecular genetic studies of families suffering from genetic forms of early onset Alzheimer disease (AD) have identified three genes and their protein products as being crucially involved in the etiology of AD. The three proteins are all integral membrane proteins. One of them is beta-APP, the precursor of the beta-amyloid found in the characteristic neuritic plaques present in the brains of AD patients. The other two, S182 and STM2, are homologous in amino acid sequence to one another but are unrelated to beta-APP. It is shown here, using cultured cells transfected for each of these proteins, that beta-APP binds specifically and transcellularly to either S182 or STM2. We propose that this transcellular binding may not only be important in normal neuronal physiology and development but may be directly involved in the process of formation of beta-amyloid from beta-APP.
Department of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla 92093, USA.
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D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D002460:Cell Line; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D008533:Megakaryocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D053764:Presenilin-1; D053766:Presenilin-2; D012995:Solubility; D014162:Transfection
D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C508853:PSEN1 protein, human; C508861:PSEN2 protein, human; D053764:Presenilin-1; D053766:Presenilin-2; C095101:Psen2 protein, mouse