Cellular basis of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of neurodegenerative disease. A characteristic feature of the disease is the presence of amyloid-ß (Aß) which either in its soluble oligomeric form or in the plaque-associated form is causally linked to neurodegeneration. Aß peptide is liberated from the membrane-spanning -amyloid precursor protein by sequential proteolytic processing employing ß- and γ-secretases. All these proteins involved in the production of Aß peptide are membrane associated and hence, membrane trafficking and cellular compartmentalization play important roles. In this review, we summarize the key cellular events that lead to the progression of AD.