Maturation and processing of the amyloid precursor protein is regulated by the potassium/sodium hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel 2 (HCN2).

The toxic amyloid ß-peptide (Aß) is a key player in Alzheimer Disease (AD) pathogenesis and selective inhibition of the production of this peptide is sought for. Aß is produced by the sequential cleavage of the Aß precursor protein (APP) by ß-secretase (to yield APP-C-terminal fragment ß (APP-CTFß) and soluble APPß (sAPPß)) and γ-secretase (to yield Aß). We reasoned that proteins that associate with γ-secretase are likely to regulate Aß production and to be targets of pharmaceutical interventions and therefore performed a pull-down assay to screen for such proteins in rat brain. Interestingly, one of the purified proteins was potassium/sodium hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel 2 (HCN2), which has been shown to be involved in epilepsy. We found that silencing of HCN2 resulted in decreased secreted Aß levels. To further investigate the mechanism behind this reduction, we also determined the levels of full-length APP, sAPP and APP-CTF species after silencing of HCN2. A marked reduction in sAPP and APP-CTF, as well as glycosylated APP levels was detected. Decreased Aß, sAPP and APP-CTF levels were also detected after treatment with the HCN2 inhibitor ZD7288. These results indicate that the effect on Aß levels after HCN2 silencing or inhibition is due to altered APP maturation or processing by ß-secretase rather than a direct effect on γ-secretase. However, HCN2 and γ-secretase were found to be in close proximity, as evident by proximity ligation assay and immunoprecipitation. In summary, our results indicate that silencing or inhibition of HCN2 affects APP processing and thereby could serve as a potential treatment strategy.

Human brain proteins showing neuron-specific interactions with γ-secretase.

The transmembrane protease complex γ-secretase is a key enzyme in Alzheimer disease pathogenesis as it liberates the neurotoxic amyloid ß-peptide (Aß); however, the mechanism of regulation of its activity in various cell types and subcellular compartments is largely unknown. Several γ-secretase inhibitors have been developed, but none have been released due to side-effects that appear to arise from reduced processing of Notch, one of many γ-secretase substrates. Hence, it is desirable to specifically inhibit Aß production. In our previous studies, we have identified several γ-secretase-associated proteins (GSAPs) from brain, which affect Aß production without having any major effects on Notch processing. In the present study using detergent-resistant membranes prepared from brain, we have identified four GSAPs that affect Aß production to a greater extent than Notch processing. We evaluated the interaction between GSAPs and γ-secretase in various cell types and their mRNA expression in various human organs. Using an in situ proximity ligation assay, we demonstrated that many GSAPs showed considerably greater interaction with γ-secretase in neurons than in human embryonic kidney cells stably over-expressing APP, and showed that several GSAPs are highly expressed in human brain. This study underscores the importance of studying protein-protein interactions in relevant cell types, and suggests that reducing Aß production by interfering with brain- or neuron-specific γ-secretase/GSAP interactions may reduce the risk of unwanted side-effects associated with treatment of Alzheimer disease.