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Updated: Jan 30, 2026

Purification and Aggregation of the Amyloid Precursor Protein Intracellular Domain
Published on: August 28, 2012
Soluble Amyloid Precursor Protein α: Friend or Foe?
Nicola J Corbett1, Nigel M Hooper2
1Division of Neuroscience & Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
None:
The "amyloidogenic" proteolytic processing of the cell surface amyloid precursor protein (APP) produces amyloid-β, which causes a range of detrimental effects in the neuron, such as synaptic loss, and plays a key role in Alzheimer's disease. In contrast, "non-amyloidogenic" proteolytic processing, which involves the cleavage of APP by α-secretase, produces soluble amyloid precursor protein α (sAPPα) and is the most predominant proteolytic processing of APP in the healthy brain. Current research suggests that sAPPα plays a role in synaptic growth and plasticity, but whether this role is protective or detrimental is age-dependent. This review looks at the effects of increasing sAPPα during three time-points in life (in development, young adult, ageing/neurodegeneration) when synaptic plasticity plays an important role.
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