Measurement of altered AβPP isoform expression in frontal cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease by absolute quantification real-time PCR.

Enzymatic cleavage of amyloid-β protein precursor (AβPP) produces amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides which form the insoluble cortical plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD). AβPP is post-transcriptionally processed into three major isoforms with differential cellular and tissue expression patterns. Changes in AβPP isoform expression may be indicative of disease pathogenesis in AD, but accurately measuring AβPP gene isoforms has been difficult to standardize, reproduce, and interpret.