The role of proteolysis in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is characterised by the progressive deposition of the 4 kDa beta-amyloid peptide (A beta) in extracellular senile plaques in the brain. A beta is derived by proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by various proteinases termed secretases. alpha-Secretase is inhibited by hydroxamate-based zinc metalloproteinase inhibitors such as batimastat with I50 values in the low micromolar range, and displays many properties in common with the secretase that releases angiotensin converting enzyme. A cell impermeant biotinylated derivative of one such inhibitor completely blocked the release of APP from the surface of neuronal cells, indicating that alpha-secretase cleaves APP at the cell-surface. A range of hydroxamate-based compounds have been used to distinguish between alpha-secretase and tumour necrosis factor-alpha convertase, a member of the ADAMs (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase-like) family of zinc metalloproteinases. Recent data suggests that the presenilins may be aspartyl proteinases with the specificity of gamma-secretase. Although APP and the presenilins are present in detergent-insoluble, cholesterol- and glycosphingolipid-rich lipid rafts, they do not behave as typical lipid raft proteins, and thus it is unclear whether these membrane domains are the sites for proteolytic processing of APP.