Affiliations: [a] Department of Medicine and Health Sciences “V. Tiberio”, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy
| [b] Clinical Pathology Laboratory, ASL Taranto, Italy
| [c] Department of Internal Medicine and Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Research, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
| [d] Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
| [e] IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Prof. Mariano Intrieri, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences “V. Tiberio”, University of Molise, Via F. De Sanctis, 86100 Campobasso, Italy. Tel.: +39 0874404863; E-mail: intrieri@unimol.it.
Abstract: Certain proteases are involved in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their erroneous control may contribute to the pathology onset and progression. In this study we evaluated the cerebral expression of eight proteases, involved in both AβPP processing and extracellular matrix remodeling. Among these proteases, ADAM10, ADAMTS1, Cathepsin D, and Meprin β show a significantly higher mRNAs expression in sporadic AD subjects versus controls, while ADAMTS1, Cathepsin D, and Meprin β show an increment also at the protein level. These data indicate that transcriptional events affecting brain proteases are activated in AD patients, suggesting a link between proteolysis and AD.
Keywords: ADAMTS1, α-secretase, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, Cathepsin D, Meprin β, RT-PCR, western blot
