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Nature Medicine 14, 723 - 730 (2008)
Published online: 29 June 2008 | doi:10.1038/nm1784

Expression of a noncoding RNA is elevated in Alzheimer's disease and drives rapid feed-forward regulation of bold beta-secretase

Mohammad Ali Faghihi1,2, Farzaneh Modarresi1, Ahmad M Khalil1, Douglas E Wood3, Barbara G Sahagan3, Todd E Morgan4, Caleb E Finch4, Georges St. Laurent III5,6, Paul J Kenny7 & Claes Wahlestedt1


Recent efforts have revealed that numerous protein-coding messenger RNAs have natural antisense transcript partners, most of which seem to be noncoding RNAs. Here we identify a conserved noncoding antisense transcript for beta-secretase-1 (BACE1), a crucial enzyme in Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology. The BACE1-antisense transcript (BACE1-AS) regulates BACE1 mRNA and subsequently BACE1 protein expression in vitro and in vivo. Upon exposure to various cell stressors including amyloid-beta 1–42 (Abeta 1–42), expression of BACE1-AS becomes elevated, increasing BACE1 mRNA stability and generating additional Abeta 1–42 through a post-transcriptional feed-forward mechanism. BACE1-AS concentrations were elevated in subjects with Alzheimer's disease and in amyloid precursor protein transgenic mice. These data show that BACE1 mRNA expression is under the control of a regulatory noncoding RNA that may drive Alzheimer's disease–associated pathophysiology. In summary, we report that a long noncoding RNA is directly implicated in the increased abundance of Abeta 1–42 in Alzheimer's disease.


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