Gene Expression of Beta-Amyloid Precursor Protein

베타-아밀로이드 단백질 유전자 발현 연구

Lowered immune function in the senile dementia patients may be related to the abnormal metabolism of amyloid precursor protein(APP). To investigate the passibility of an abnormal metabolism of APP in lymphocytes and the possible role of APP in the activation of lymphocytes in senile dementia patients, immunohistochemical study of rat spleen and fluorescence activated cell sorter analysis(FACS) of human lymphocytes with the specific antigen far each lymphocyte and double fluorescent marker with antibody to APP were performed. After stimulating lymphocyte with phytohemagglutinin(PHA), APP mRNA and protein were extracted and quantitfied and the influence of ${\beta}$-amyloid protein($A{\beta}$) specific antibody on lymphocyte division was investigated. In spleen, the majority of cells showing $A{\beta}$ immunoreactivity was found in the T-sell dependent zone. FACS indicated that around 90% $CD_4(+)$ T-cells and 60% of $CD_8(+)$ T-sell were immunoreactive to $A{\beta}$ specific antibody(mAb 4G8). Northern blot analysis shows that lymphocyte APP mRNA was gradually increased to reach a maximum at 3 days after activation with lectin mitogen PHA. However, the $A{\beta}$ immunoreactivity an cell surface remained constant during stimulation with PHA, indicating that the release of APP(secreted farm of APP) might be increased. A very large increase in soluble APP secretion was observed in T-lymphocyte upon activation, but only law levels in the resting stale. Immunoblot was carried out an the protein obtained from cell lysate after stimulating lymphocyte by applying PHA to the cultured lymphocyte, and the result was that $A{\beta}$ band of immature farm under 116 KDa marker decreased as the duration of culture was increased after PHA stimulation. The monoclonal $A{\beta}$ specific(4G8) and polyclonal APP antibodies did not inhibit the [$^3H$]-thymidine uptake of mitogen-treated lymphocytes significantly, suggesting that mitogenesis can not be inhibited by specific $A{\beta}$ and polyclonal APP antibody. These results suggest that APP is expressed in T-cell and might be closely associated with the function of T-cells.