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Brief Communication

Nature Genetics 39, 1437–1439 (1 December 2007) | doi:10.1038/ng.2007.23

Cystatin C modulates cerebral |[beta]|-amyloidosis

Stephan A Kaeser , Martin C Herzig , Janaky Coomaraswamy , Ellen Kilger , Maj-Linda Selenica , David T Winkler , Matthias Staufenbiel , Efrat Levy , Anders Grubb & Mathias Jucker

The CST3 Thr25 allele of CST3, which encodes cystatin C, leads to reduced cystatin C secretion and conveys susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease. Here we show that overexpression of human cystatin C in brains of APP-transgenic mice reduces cerebral amyloid-β deposition and that cystatin C binds amyloid-β and inhibits its fibril formation.