Affiliations: [a] Department of Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA | [b] Department of Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA | [c] Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA | [d] Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, New York, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Efrat Levy, Center for Dementia Research, Nathan Kline Institute, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA. Tel.: +1 845 398 5540; Fax: +1 845 398 5422; E-mail: elevy@nki.rfmh.org.
Abstract: Amyloid protein deposited in cerebral vessel walls and diffuse plaques of patients with hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis, Dutch type (HCHWA-D), is similar to the 40–42 residues amyloid β (Aβ) in vessel walls and senile plaques in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), Down's syndrome, and familial and sporadic cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). In 1990 we sequenced the amyloid β-protein precursor (AβPP) gene from HCHWA-D patients revealing a single mutation that results in an amino acid substitution, Aβ E22Q. Subsequent identification of additional mutations in the AβPP gene in familial AD (FAD) pedigrees revealed that whereas substitutions in the middle of Aβ, residues Aβ21-23, are predominantly vasculotropic, those found amino- or carboxyl-terminal to the Aβ sequence within AβPP enhance amyloid parenchymal plaque deposition. Studies of transfected cells showed that substitutions amino- or carboxyl-terminal to Aβ lead to either greater Aβ production or to enhanced secretion of the more hydrophobic thus more fibrillogenic Aβ1-42. Substitutions in the center of Aβ facilitate rapid aggregation and fibrillization, slower clearance across the blood-brain barrier and perivascular drainage to the systemic circulation, possibly higher resistance to proteolysis, and enhanced toxicity towards endothelial and smooth muscle cells. However, most AD patients have no genetic defects in AβPP, indicating that other factors may alter Aβ production, conformation, and/or clearance initiating the disease process.
