Cleavage of Amyloid β Peptide During Constitutive Processing of Its Precursor
Abstract
The amyloid β peptidc (AβP) is a small fragment of the much larger, broadly distributed amyloid precursor protein (APP). Abundant AβP deposition in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease suggests that altered APP processing may represent a key pathogenic event. Direct protein structural analyses showed that constitutive processing in human embryonic kidney 293 cells cleaves APP in the interior of the AβP, thus preventing AβP deposition. A deficiency of this processing event may ultimately prove to be the etiological event in Alzheimer's disease that gives rise to senile plaque formation.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- June 1990
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.2111583
- Bibcode:
- 1990Sci...248.1122E