Proteasome-mediated effects on amyloid precursor protein processing at the gamma-secretase site.

Abeta (beta-amyloid) peptides are found aggregated in the cortical amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease neuropathology. Inhibition of the proteasome alters the amount of Abeta produced from APP (amyloid precursor protein) by various cell lines in vitro. Proteasome activity is altered during aging, a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. In the present study, a human neuroblastoma cell line expressing the C-terminal 100 residues of APP (SH-SY5Y-SPA4CT) was used to determine the effect of proteasome inhibition, by lactacystin and Bz-LLL-COCHO (benzoyl-Leu-Leu-Leu-glyoxal), on APP processing at the gamma-secretase site. Proteasome inhibition caused a significant increase in Abeta peptide levels in medium conditioned by SH-SY5Y-SPA4CT cells, and was also associated with increased cell death. APP is a substrate of the apoptosis-associated caspase 3 protease, and we therefore investigated whether the increased Abeta levels could reflect caspase activation. We report that caspase activation was not required for proteasome-inhibitor-mediated effects on APP (SPA4CT) processing. Cleavage of Ac-DEVD-AMC (N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin), a caspase substrate, was reduced following exposure of SH-SY5Y-SPA4CT cells to lactacystin, and co-treatment of cells with lactacystin and a caspase inhibitor [Z-DEVD-FMK (benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-DL-Asp-fluoromethylketone)] resulted in higher Abeta levels in medium, augmenting those seen with lactacystin alone. This study indicated that proteasome inhibition could increase APP processing specifically at the gamma-secretase site, and increase release of Abeta, in the absence of caspase activation. This indicates that the decline in proteasome function associated with aging would contribute to increased Abeta levels.

Presenilin expression during induced differentiation of the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line.

Human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells stably transfected with both wild-type and exon-9 deleted (deltaE9) presenilin constructs were used to study the role of the presenilin proteins during differentiation. Cells transfected with either wild-type or deltaE9 PS1, of which the latter abolishes normal endoproteolytic cleavage of the protein, showed no obvious differences in their ability to differentiate to a neuronal-like phenotype upon treatment with retinoic acid (RA). A defined pattern of PS1 expression was observed during differentiation with both RA and the phorbol ester TPA. Full-length PS1 was shown to increase dramatically within 5-24 h of RA treatment. TPA gave an earlier and longer lasting increase in full-length PS1 levels. The intracellular distribution pattern of PS1 was markedly altered following RA treatment. Within 24h PS1 was highly up-regulated throughout the cell body around the nucleus. Between 2 and 4 weeks PS1 staining appeared punctate and also localised to the nucleus. Increases in PS1 expression upon treatment with RA and TPA were blocked by treatment with cycloheximide, indicating a role of de-novo protein synthesis in this effect. PS2 expression remained unchanged during differentiation. Levels of full-length PS1 were also seen to increase during neurogenesis and neuronal differentiation in the forebrain of first trimester human foetuses between 6.5 and 11 weeks. These combined observations support the idea that PS1 is involved in neuronal differentiation by a mechanism likely independent of endoproteolysis of the protein.