Phosphorylation of amyloid precursor carboxy-terminal fragments enhances their processing by a gamma-secretase-dependent mechanism

Neurobiol Dis. 2005 Nov;20(2):625-37. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2005.05.004. Epub 2005 Jun 3.

Abstract

In Alzheimer's disease, the complex catabolism of amyloid precursor protein (APP) leads to the production of amyloid-beta (Abeta) peptide, the major component of amyloid deposits. APP is cleaved by beta- and alpha-secretases to generate APP carboxy-terminal fragments (CTFs). Abeta peptide and amyloid intracellular domain are resulting from the cleavage of APP-CTFs by the gamma-secretase. In the present study, we hypothesize that post-translational modification of APP-CTFs could modulate their processing by the gamma-secretase. Inhibition of the gamma-secretase was shown to increase the total amount of APP-CTFs. Moreover, we showed that this increase was more marked among the phosphorylated variants and directly related to the activity of the gamma-secretase, as shown by kinetics analyses. Phosphorylated CTFs were shown to associate to presenilin 1, a major protein of the gamma-secretase complex. The phosphorylation of CTFs at the threonine 668 resulting of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase activation was shown to enhance their degradation by the gamma-secretase. Altogether, our results demonstrated that phosphorylated CTFs can be the substrates of the gamma-secretase and that an increase in the phosphorylation of APP-CTFs facilitates their processing by gamma-secretase.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism*
  • Alzheimer Disease / physiopathology
  • Amino Acid Sequence / physiology
  • Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / biosynthesis
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / chemistry
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Brain / physiopathology
  • Endopeptidases / metabolism*
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / metabolism
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism*
  • Phosphorylation
  • Presenilin-1
  • Protein Processing, Post-Translational / physiology
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary / physiology
  • Rabbits
  • Threonine / metabolism
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Membrane Proteins
  • PSEN1 protein, human
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Presenilin-1
  • Threonine
  • JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases
  • Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases
  • Endopeptidases
  • Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases
  • BACE1 protein, human