α-Secretase processing of the Alzheimer amyloid-β precursor protein and its homolog APLP2

The amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) has been widely studied due to its role in Alzheimer´s disease (AD). When APP is sequentially cleaved by β- and γ-secretase, amyloid-β (Aβ) is formed. Aβ is prone to aggregate and is toxic to neurons. However, the main processing pathway for APP involves initial cleavage at the α-site, within the Aβ region, instead generating a neuroprotective soluble fragment, sAPPα. APP is a member of a protein family, also including the proteins APLP1 and APLP2, which are processed in a similar way as APP. In addition, K/O studies in mice have shown that the three proteins have overlapping functions where APLP2 play a key physiological role. The aim of this thesis was to study mechanisms underlying the α-secretase processing of APP and APLP2. We have used the human neuroblastoma cell-line SH-SY5Y as a model system and stimulated α-secretase processing with insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) or retinoic acid (RA). Our results show that the stimulated α-site cleavage of APP and APLP2 is regulated by different signaling pathways and that the cleavage is mediated by different enzymes. APP was shown to be cleaved by ADAM10 in a PI3K-dependent manner, whereas APLP2 was cleaved by TACE in a PKC-dependent manner. We further show that protein levels and maturation of ADAM10 and TACE is increased in response to RA, mediated by a PI3K- or PKC-dependent signaling pathway, respectively. Another focus of our research has been O-GlcNAcylation, a dynamic post-translational modification regulated by the enzymes O-GlcNAc transferase and O-GlcNAcase (OGA). We show that decreased OGA activity stimulates sAPPα secretion, without affecting APLP2 processing. We further show that ADAM10 is O-GlcNAcylated. Lastly, we show that APP can be manipulated to be cleaved in a similar way as APLP2 during IGF-1 stimulation by substituting the E1 domain in APP with the E1 domain in APLP2. Together our results show distinct α-site processing mechanisms of APP and APLP2.