ABSTRACT
To elucidate the roles of the APP intracellular domain (AICD) in the development of Alzheimer's disease, a yeast two-hybrid system was used to screen for AICD-interacting proteins. Our result revealed that FKBP12, an immunophilin with a peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase) activity, may interact with AICD. This interaction was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation studies. FKBP12 has been shown to be expressed at a higher level in areas of pathology of patients with neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, Pin1, a member of another PPIase family, has been suggested to be involved in the amyloidogenic APP processing and Abeta production. The interaction between FKBP12 and AICD might hint at a possible role FKBP12 plays, probably in a fashion similar to Pin1, in the amyloidogenesis of APP. We also found that the interaction was interfered, in a dose-dependent manner, by FK506, whose neuroprotective effect has been suggested to be correlated with its PPIase inhibitory activity.
Subject(s)
Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor/chemistry , Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor/metabolism , Tacrolimus Binding Protein 1A/metabolism , Binding Sites , Humans , Immunoprecipitation , Protein Structure, Tertiary , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/analysis , Tacrolimus Binding Protein 1A/genetics , Two-Hybrid System TechniquesABSTRACT
Amyloid beta (Abeta) is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is derived from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by two sequential proteolytic cleavages, which also generate the APP intracellular domain (AICD). The precise cellular function(s) of AICD still remain obscure. To elucidate the roles of AICD in the development of AD, a yeast two-hybrid system was used to screen a human brain cDNA library for proteins interacting directly with AICD. One of the potential AICD-interacting proteins identified from our screening result is a lipid raft-associated protein, flotillin-1. The interaction was confirmed by glutathione S-transferase pull-down and coimmunoprecipitation studies. Since lipid raft has been suggested to play an important role in signal transduction as well as the pathogenic development of neurodegenerative diseases, it is proposed that flotillin-1 may recruit APP to lipid rafts and therefore participate in the localization and processing of APP.
