Proteolytic processing of human amyloid beta protein precursor in insect cells. Major carboxyl-terminal fragment is identical to its human counterpart.

The predominant component of amyloid plaques of Alzheimer's disease is the amyloid beta protein (A beta), a 39-42-amino-acid peptide derived by proteolysis of a family of precursors known as amyloid precursor proteins (APP). In mammalian brain and in cultured mammalian cells, the release of APP amino-terminal fragments into the extracellular medium occurs by a proteolytic cleavage within the A beta domain, thereby precluding amyloidogenesis. Infection of Sf9 insect cells with baculovirus vectors containing APP cDNAs results in high levels of APP expression. The concomitant release of amino-terminal fragments of APP and the production of carboxyl-terminal, cell-associated cleavage products are observed. Here we demonstrate by direct protein microsequencing that the proteolytic processing of APP in the Sf9 cells generates a prominent carboxyl-terminal species that is identical to that produced in human cells, suggesting that the major pathway for proteolytic processing of APP is conserved among metazoans.