title: gamma-Secretase inhibitors as molecular probes of presenilin function.
abstract: Mutations in the presenilins cause Alzheimer's disease (AD) and alter gamma-secretase activity to increase the production of the 42-residue amyloid-beta peptide (Abeta) found disproportionally in the cerebral plaques that characterize the disease. The serpentine presenilins are required for transmembrane cleavage of both the amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP) and the Notch receptor by y-secretase, and presenilins are biochemically associated with the protease. Inhibitors of gamma-secretase have provided critical clues to the function of presenilins. Pharmacological profiling suggested that gamma-secretase is an aspartyl protease, leading to the identification of two conserved aspartates important to presenilin's role in proteolysis. Conversion of transition-state analogue inhibitors of gamma-secretase to affinity reagents resulted in specific tagging of the heterodimeric form of presenilins, strongly suggesting that the active site of gamma-secretase lies at the interface of the presenilin heterodimer. Heterodimeric presenilin appears to be the catalytic portion of a multi-protein gamma-secretase complex.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mwolfe@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wolfe
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000201:enzymology*; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D053764:Presenilin-1
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C508853:PSEN1 protein, human; D053764:Presenilin-1; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases; D010450:Endopeptidases; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases; C509280:BACE1 protein, human