Suppression of Alzheimer amyloid precursor protein (APP) expression by exogenous APP mRNA.

To establish a cell line expressing enhanced levels of beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP), we constructed plasmid DNAs expressing beta-APP-751 mRNA and transfected them into COS-1 cells. Using a modified version of the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction which is RNA sensitive to study the beta-APP iso-RNAs, we have made the unexpected observation that enhanced expression of beta-APP-751 mRNA resulted in a significant reduction of beta-APP-770 and -695 mRNA levels. Suppression of beta-APP-770 and -695 was also observed in cells expressing truncated and chimeric beta-App-751 mRNAs. Similar observations were made in P19 cells expressing a chimeric beta-APP-751 mRNA where endogenous beta-APP-751 mRNA levels also were decreased. Also, suppression of beta-APP-770 and -751 mRNAs was observed in human kidney cells expressing exogenous beta-APP-695 mRNA.