Production of the Alzheimer's β-amyloid peptide by C6 glioma cells

• Published in: FEBS letters 1993-12, Vol.336 (2), p.275-278
• Main Authors: Morato, Esperanza, Mayor, Federico
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor - biosynthesis; Animals; Aß, β-amyloid peptide; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Western; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Glial cell; Glioma; Humans; Medical sciences; Neuroglia - metabolism; Neurology; Peptide Fragments - biosynthesis; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Rats; SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; Tumor Cells, Cultured; β-Amyloid peptide; βAPP, β-amyloid precursor protein
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-5793(93)80819-G

The β-amyloid peptide (Aß) is a 4 kDa proteolytic fragment derived from the β-amyloid precursor protein (βAPP) which is deposited as amyloid fibrils in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. βAPP processing was investigated in C6 glioma cells using several affinity-purified anti-peptide antibodies raised against different domains of the protein. Both direct immunoblot analysis of C6 glioma conditioned medium and metabolic labeling of cells followed by immunoprecipitation of extracellular medium with specific antibodies revealed that these glial cells normally produce and release a soluble 4 kDa peptide which co-migrates with synthetic Aß (1–40) and is specifically recognized by antibodies raised against N- or C-terminal domains of the β-amyloid peptide. Our results further suggest that glial cells may prove a major source of β-amyloid production in the nervous tissue.