title: Wild-type and mutated nicastrins do not display aminopeptidase M- and B-like activities.
abstract: Nicastrin is a recently discovered protein interacting with presenilins and the beta-amyloid precursor protein, the proteins playing key roles in Alzheimer's disease and which, when mutated, appear responsible for early-onset familial forms of Alzheimer's disease. Nicastrin was reported to modulate beta-amyloid production, a phenotype affected differently by missense mutations or deletions of a conserved hydrophilic domain. In addition to such a function, nicastrin was recently suggested to possess putative catalytic activity based on its sequence homology with enzymes of the aminopeptidase family. We set up stably transfected human HEK293 cells expressing either wild-type or mutated nicastrins and we show that these proteins do not exhibit aminopeptidase M- and B-like activities.
authors.affiliation: IPMC du CNRS, UMR6097, 660 route des Lucioles, 06560 Valbonne, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fergani
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: St  George-Hyslop
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Checler
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000201:enzymology; D000626:Aminopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases; D018826:CD13 Antigens / Q000378:metabolism*; D002460:Cell Line; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D009154:Mutation; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; C413604:nicastrin protein; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases; D000626:Aminopeptidases; D018826:CD13 Antigens; C019721:aminopeptidase B