Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31754. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031754. Epub 2012 Feb 21.
There is increasing evidence of molecular and cellular links between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and prion diseases. The cellular prion protein, PrP(C), modulates the post-translational processing of the AD amyloid precursor protein (APP), through its inhibition of the β-secretase BACE1, and oligomers of amyloid-β bind to PrP(C) which may mediate amyloid-β neurotoxicity. In addition, the APP intracellular domain (AICD), which acts as a transcriptional regulator, has been reported to control the expression of PrP(C). Through the use of transgenic mice, cell culture models and manipulation of APP expression and processing, this study aimed to clarify the role of AICD in regulating PrP(C). Over-expression of the three major isoforms of human APP (APP(695), APP(751) and APP(770)) in cultured neuronal and non-neuronal cells had no effect on the level of endogenous PrP(C). Furthermore, analysis of brain tissue from transgenic mice over-expressing either wild type or familial AD associated mutant human APP revealed unaltered PrP(C) levels. Knockdown of endogenous APP expression in cells by siRNA or inhibition of γ-secretase activity also had no effect on PrP(C) levels. Overall, we did not detect any significant difference in the expression of PrP(C) in any of the cell or animal-based paradigms considered, indicating that the control of cellular PrP(C) levels by AICD is not as straightforward as previously suggested.
越来越多的证据表明阿尔茨海默病(AD)和朊病毒病之间存在分子和细胞联系。细胞朊蛋白 PrP(C) 通过抑制β-分泌酶 BACE1 来调节 AD 淀粉样前体蛋白 (APP) 的翻译后加工,而淀粉样β寡聚物与 PrP(C) 结合,可能介导淀粉样β神经毒性。此外,作为转录调节剂的 APP 细胞内结构域 (AICD) 已被报道控制 PrP(C) 的表达。通过使用转基因小鼠、细胞培养模型和 APP 表达和处理的操作,本研究旨在阐明 AICD 在调节 PrP(C) 中的作用。在培养的神经元和非神经元细胞中过表达三种主要的人 APP(APP(695)、APP(751)和 APP(770))同工型对内源性 PrP(C) 水平没有影响。此外,对过表达野生型或家族性 AD 相关突变人 APP 的转基因小鼠脑组织的分析显示 PrP(C) 水平未改变。siRNA 下调细胞内源性 APP 表达或抑制 γ-分泌酶活性也对 PrP(C) 水平没有影响。总体而言,我们在考虑的任何细胞或动物模型中都没有检测到 PrP(C) 表达有任何显著差异,这表明 AICD 对细胞 PrP(C) 水平的控制并不像以前所建议的那样直接。