Paschkowsky Sandra, Hamzé Mehdi, Oestereich Felix, Munter Lisa Marie
From the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and.
From the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3G 0B1, Canada.
J Biol Chem. 2016 Oct 14;291(42):21903-21912. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M116.753582. Epub 2016 Aug 25.
The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is an ubiquitously expressed cell surface protein and a key molecule in the etiology of Alzheimer disease. Amyloidogenic processing of APP through secretases leads to the generation of toxic amyloid β (Aβ) peptides, which are regarded as the molecular cause of the disease. We report here an alternative processing pathway of APP through the mammalian intramembrane rhomboid protease RHBDL4. RHBDL4 efficiently cleaves APP inside the cell, thus bypassing APP from amyloidogenic processing, leading to reduced Aβ levels. RHBDL4 cleaves APP multiple times in the ectodomain, resulting in several N- and C-terminal fragments that are not further degraded by classical APP secretases. Knockdown of endogenous RHBDL4 results in decreased levels of C-terminal fragments derived from endogenous APP. Similarly, we found the APP family members APLP1 and APLP2 to be substrates of RHBDL4. We conclude that RHBDL4-mediated APP processing provides insight into APP and rhomboid physiology and qualifies for further investigations to elaborate its impact on Alzheimer disease pathology.
淀粉样前体蛋白(APP)是一种在全身广泛表达的细胞表面蛋白,也是阿尔茨海默病病因学中的关键分子。APP通过分泌酶进行淀粉样生成加工会导致产生有毒的淀粉样β(Aβ)肽,这些肽被认为是该疾病的分子病因。我们在此报告APP通过哺乳动物膜内菱形蛋白酶RHBDL4的另一种加工途径。RHBDL4在细胞内有效切割APP,从而使APP绕过淀粉样生成加工,导致Aβ水平降低。RHBDL4在外显子域多次切割APP,产生几个N端和C端片段,这些片段不会被经典的APP分泌酶进一步降解。敲低内源性RHBDL4会导致源自内源性APP的C端片段水平降低。同样,我们发现APP家族成员APLP1和APLP2也是RHBDL4的底物。我们得出结论,RHBDL4介导的APP加工为APP和菱形蛋白酶生理学提供了见解,有资格进行进一步研究以阐明其对阿尔茨海默病病理学的影响。