Cleaveage of amyloid precursor protein by β- and γ- secretases is known to yield the peptide amyloid-β, which is suggested to be cytotoxic and has been associated with a number of neurdegenerative diseases. New findings suggest that caspases can also cleave APP to yield other peptides that initiate cell death by unknown mechanisms (pages 397–404 ).
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Lu, D.C. et al. A second cytotoxic proteolytic peptide derived from β-amyloid precursor protein. Nature Med 6, 397– 404 (2000).
Horoupian, D.S. et al. Dementia and motor neuron disease: morphometric, biochemical, and Golgi studies. Ann. Neurol 16, 305– 313 (1984).
Sica, R.E., Pereyra, S. & Mangone, C.A. Loss of motor units in Alzheimer's disease. Electromyogr. Clin. Neurophysiol 38, 475– 479 (1998).
Stefanis, L., Burke, R.E. & Greene, L.A. Apoptosis in neurodegenerative disorders. Current Op. in Neurol 10, 299–305 (1997).
Brookmeyer, R., Gray, S. & Kawas, C. Projections of Alzheimer's disease in the United States and the public health impact of delaying disease onset. Am. J. Public Health 88, 1337–1342 (1998).
Nicholson, D.W. Caspase structure, proteolytic substrates and function during apoptotic cell death. Cell Death and Diff 6, 1028– 1042 (1999).
Barnes, N.Y., Li, L., Yoshikawa, K., Schwartz, L.M., Oppenheim, R.W. & Milligan, C.E. Increased production of amyloid precursor protein provides a substrate for caspase-3 in dying motoneurons. J. Neurosci 18, 5869–5880 (1998).
Yankner, B.A., Duffy, L.K. & Kirschner, D.A. Neurotrophic and neurotoxic effects of Amyloid b protein: Reversal by Tachykinin neuropeptides. Science 250, 279–282 (1990).
Selkoe, D.J. Translating cell biology into therapeutic advances in Alzheimer's Disease . Nature 399, 23–31 (1999).
LeBlanc, A., Liu, H., Goodyer, C., Bergeron, C. & Hammond, J. Caspase-6 role in apoptosis of human neurons, amyloidogenesis, and Alzheimer's disease. J. Biol. Chem 274, 23426–23436 (1999).
Pellegrini, L., Passer, B.J., Tabaton, M., Ganjei, J.K. & D'Adamio L. Alternative, non-secretase processing of Alzheimer's beta-amyloid precursor protein during apoptosis by caspase-6 and -8. J. Biol. Chem 274, 21011– 21016 (1999).
Gervais, F.G. et al. Involvement of caspases in proteolytic cleavage of Alzheimer's amyloid-beta precursor protein and amyloidogenic A beta peptide formation . Cell 97, 395–406 (1999).
Weidemann, A. et al. Proteolytic processing of the Alzheimer's disease amyloid precursor protein within its cytoplasmic domain by caspase-like proteases . J. Biol. Chem. 274, 5823– 5829 (1999).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Milligan, C. Caspase cleavage of APP results in a cytotoxic proteolytic peptide. Nat Med 6, 385–386 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/74644
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/74644
This article is cited by
-
The amyloid-β precursor protein: integrating structure with biological function
The EMBO Journal (2005)