WNT signaling pathways play an important role in both development and disease. By analyzing the signaling capabilities of commercially available WNT3a preparations towards the PI3K/AKT/GSK3 signaling pathway, we discovered unexpected inconsistencies from lot to lot of recombinant WNT3a. We provide evidence that: (1) The ability to trigger AKT/GSK3 signaling varies dramatically between different lots of WNT3a, without any variation in their ability to activate the canonical WNT/β-catenin signaling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFalpha-Secretase cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) is of great interest because it prevents the formation of the Alzheimer-linked amyloid-beta peptide. APP belongs to a conserved gene family including the two paralogues APP-like protein (APLP) 1 and 2. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) stimulates the shedding of all three proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
January 2008
Retinoic acid stimulates alpha-secretase processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and decreases beta-secretase cleavage that leads to amyloid-beta formation. Here, we investigated the effect of retinoic acid on the two putative alpha-secretases, the disintegrin metalloproteinases ADAM10 and TACE, and the beta-site cleaving enzyme BACE1, in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Western blot analysis showed that exposure to retinoic acid resulted in significantly increased levels of ADAM10 and TACE, suggesting that regulation of alpha-secretases causes the effects on APP processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mammalian amyloid precursor protein (APP) protein family consists of the APP and the amyloid precursor-like proteins 1 and 2 (APLP1 and APLP2). The neurotoxic amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) originates from APP, which is the only member of this protein family implicated in Alzheimer disease. However, the three homologous proteins have been proposed to be processed in similar ways and to have essential and overlapping functions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe amyloid precursor protein (APP) belongs to a conserved gene family, also including the amyloid precursor-like proteins, APLP1 and APLP2. We have previously shown that all members of the APP protein family are up-regulated upon retinoic acid (RA)-induced neuronal differentiation of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Here, we demonstrate that RA also affects the processing of APLP2 and APP, as shown by increased shedding of both sAPLP2 and sAPPalpha, as well as elevated levels of the APP intracellular domains (AICDs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmyloid precursor protein (APP) belongs to a conserved gene family, also including the amyloid precursor-like proteins, APLP1 and APLP2. The function of these three proteins is not yet fully understood. One of the proposed roles of APP is to promote neurite outgrowth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe amyloid precursor protein (APP) and its proteolytic cleavage products, the amyloid beta peptides, have been implicated as a cause of Alzheimer's disease. Peptide nucleic acids (PNA), the DNA mimics, have been shown to block the expression of specific proteins at both transcriptional and translational levels. Generally, the cellular uptake of PNA is low.
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