Regulation of amyloid-β production by the prion protein

Alzheimer disease (AD) is characterized by the amyloidogenic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), culminating in the accumulation of amyloid-beta peptides in the brain. The enzymatic action of the beta-secretase, BACE1 is the rate-limiting step in this amyloidogenic processing of APP. BACE1 cleavage of wild-type APP (APP(WT)) is inhibited by the cellular prion protein (PrPC). Our recent study has revealed the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind this observation by showing that PrPC directly interacts with the pro-domain of BACE1 in the trans-Golgi network (TGN), decreasing the amount of BACE1 at the cell surface and in endosomes where it cleaves APP(WT), while increasing BACE1 in the TGN where it preferentially cleaves APP with the Swedish mutation (APP(Swe)). PrPC deletion in transgenic mice expressing the Swedish and Indiana familial mutations (APP(Swe, Ind)) failed to affect amyloid-beta accumulation, which is explained by the differential subcellular sites of action of BACE1 toward APP(WT) and APP(Swe). This, together with our observation that PrPC is reduced in sporadic but not familial AD brain, suggests that PrPC plays a key protective role against sporadic AD. It also highlights the need for an APP(WT) transgenic mouse model to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying sporadic AD.