The incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia is greatly increased following cerebral ischemia and stroke in which hypoxic conditions occur in affected brain areas. ␤-Amyloid peptide (A␤), which is derived from the ␤-amyloid precursor protein (APP) by sequential proteolytic cleavages from ␤-secretase (BACE1) and presenilin-1 (PS1)/␥-secretase, is widely believed to trigger a cascade of pathological events culminating in AD and vascular dementia. However, a direct molecular link between hypoxic insults and APP processing has yet to be established. Here, we demonstrate that acute hypoxia increases the expression and the enzymatic activity of BACE1 by up-regulating the level of BACE1 mRNA, resulting in increases in the APP C-terminal fragment-␤ (␤CTF) and A␤. Hypoxia has no effect on the level of PS1, APP, and tumor necrosis factor-␣-converting enzyme (TACE, an enzyme known to cleave APP at the ␣-secretase cleavage site). Sequence analysis, mutagenesis, and gel shift studies revealed binding of HIF-1 to the BACE1 promoter. Overexpression of HIF-1␣ increases BACE1 mRNA and protein level, whereas down-regulation of HIF-1␣ reduced the level of BACE1. Hypoxic treatment fails to further potentiate the stimulatory effect of HIF-1␣ overexpression on BACE1 expression, suggesting that hypoxic induction of BACE1 expression is primarily mediated by HIF-1␣. Finally, we observed significant reduction in BACE1 protein levels in the hippocampus and the cortex of HIF-1␣ conditional knock-out mice. Our results demonstrate an important role for hypoxia/HIF-1␣ in modulating the amyloidogenic processing of APP and provide a molecular mechanism for increased incidence of AD following cerebral ischemic and stroke injuries.An important pathologic feature of Alzheimer disease (AD) 4 is formation of extracellular senile plaques in the brain, whose major components are small peptides called ␤-amyloid (A␤) derived from ␤-amyloid precursor protein (APP). APP is sequentially cleaved first by the ␤-secretase (␤-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme, BACE) and then by the ␥-secretase complex (including presenilin, nicastrin, APH-1, and PEN-2) to generate the heterogeneous A␤ species, mostly A␤40 but also the more deleterious A␤42. Alternatively, APP can be cleaved by ␣-secretase within the A␤ domain to generate non-amyloidogenic soluble APP␣ (sAPP␣) (1-3). The exact ␣-secretase is not known, but a disintegrin and metalloprotease domain 10 (ADAM10) and TNF-␣-converting enzyme (TACE) are two likely candidates (4, 5). It is widely believed that A␤ overproduction directly or indirectly initiates a cascade of neurodegenerative steps resulting in formation of senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and neuronal loss, which characterize AD (6). Hence analysis of cellular regulation affecting A␤ generation, including identification of factors regulating the level/ activity of APP cleavage enzymes, should provide invaluable information for AD therapeutic intervention.BACE is a membrane-bound aspartic protease whose activity is t...

Epidemiological, clinical and experimental evidence suggests a link between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Insulin modulates metabolism of ␤-amyloid precursor protein (APP) in neurons, decreasing the intracellular accumulation of ␤-amyloid (A␤) peptides, which are pivotal in AD pathogenesis. The present study investigates whether the widely prescribed insulin-sensitizing drug, metformin (Glucophage R ), affects APP metabolism and A␤ generation in various cell models. We demonstrate that metformin, at doses that lead to activation of the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), significantly increases the generation of both intracellular and extracellular A␤ species. Furthermore, the effect of metformin on A␤ generation is mediated by transcriptional up-regulation of ␤-secretase (BACE1), which results in an elevated protein level and increased enzymatic activity. Unlike insulin, metformin exerts no effect on A␤ degradation. In addition, we found that glucose deprivation and various tyrphostins, known inhibitors of insulin-like growth factors/insulin receptor tyrosine kinases, do not modulate the effect of metformin on A␤. Finally, inhibition of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) by the pharmacological inhibitor Compound C largely suppresses metformin's effect on A␤ generation and BACE1 transcription, suggesting an AMPK-dependent mechanism. Although insulin and metformin display opposing effects on A␤ generation, in combined use, metformin enhances insulin's effect in reducing A␤ levels. Our findings suggest a potentially harmful consequence of this widely prescribed antidiabetic drug when used as a monotherapy in elderly diabetic patients. A lzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder, with aging, genetic, and environmental factors contributing to its development and progression. AD is not only characterized by pathological deposition of A␤ peptides and neurofibrillary tangles but is also associated with microgliamediated inflammation and dysregulated lipid homeostasis and glucose metabolism. Amyloid peptides are derived from sequential proteolytic cleavages of full-length amyloid precursor protein (APP) by ␤-secretase (BACE1) and ␥-secretase. Full-length APP can undergo alternative processing by ␣-secretase, releasing a soluble fragment (sAPP␣) extracellularly, which precludes A␤ formation. Compelling evidence indicates that A␤, especially the oligomers, are toxic to neurons; excessive generation and accumulation of A␤ peptides in neurons is believed to initiate the pathological cascade in AD (1-3).Epidemiological studies strongly suggest that metabolic defects correlate with the functional alterations associated with aging of the brain and with AD pathogenesis (4-11). The vast majority of AD cases are late onset and sporadic in origin with aging being the most profound risk factor. Insulin signaling is known to be involved in the process of brain aging (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Insulin dysfunction/resistance in diabetes mellitus (DM) is not only a common syndrome ...

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Summary Classic cardio-metabolic risk factors such as hypertension, stroke, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia all increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. We found increased transcription of β-secretase/BACE1, the rate-limiting enzyme for Aβ generation, in eNOS deficient mouse brains and after feeding mice a high fat high cholesterol diet. Up- or down-regulation of PGC-1α reciprocally regulated BACE1 in vitro and in vivo. Modest fasting in mice reduced BACE1 transcription in the brains which was accompanied by elevated PGC-1 expression and activity. Moreover, the suppressive effect of PGC-1 was dependent on activated PPARγ likely via SIRT1-mediated deacetylation in a ligand-independent manner. The BACE1 promoter contains multiple PPAR/RXR sites and direct interactions among SIRT1-PPARγ-PGC-1 at these sites were enhanced with fasting. The novel interference on the BACE1 gene identified here represents a unique non-canonical mechanism of PPARγ-PGC-1 in transcriptional repression in neurons in response to metabolic signals which may involve recruitment of a corepressor NCoR.

The catalytic promiscuity of the novel benzophenone C-glycosyltransferase, MiCGT, which is involved in the biosynthesis of mangiferin from Mangifera indica, was explored. MiCGT exhibited a robust capability to regio- and stereospecific C-glycosylation of 35 structurally diverse druglike scaffolds and simple phenolics with UDP-glucose, and also formed O- and N-glycosides. Moreover, MiCGT was able to generate C-xylosides with UDP-xylose. The OGT-reversibility of MiCGT was also exploited to generate C-glucosides with simple sugar donor. Three aryl-C-glycosides exhibited potent SGLT2 inhibitory activities with IC50  values of 2.6×, 7.6×, and 7.6×10(-7)  M, respectively. These findings demonstrate for the first time the significant potential of an enzymatic approach to diversification through C-glycosidation of bioactive natural and unnatural products in drug discovery.

BackgroundIt is well established that both cerebral hypoperfusion/stroke and type 2 diabetes are risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, the molecular link between ischemia/hypoxia and amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing has begun to be established. However, the role of the key common denominator, namely nitric oxide (NO), in AD is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated redox regulation of BACE1, the rate-limiting enzyme responsible for the β-cleavage of APP to Aβ peptides.ResultsHerein, we studied events such as S-nitrosylation, a covalent modification of cysteine residues by NO, and H2O2-mediated oxidation. We found that NO and H2O2 differentially modulate BACE1 expression and enzymatic activity: NO at low concentrations (<100 nM) suppresses BACE1 transcription as well as its enzymatic activity while at higher levels (0.1-100 μM) NO induces S-nitrosylation of BACE1 which inactivates the enzyme without altering its expression. Moreover, the suppressive effect on BACE1 transcription is mediated by the NO/cGMP-PKG signaling, likely through activated PGC-1α. H2O2 (1-10 μM) induces BACE1 expression via transcriptional activation, resulting in increased enzymatic activity. The differential effects of NO and H2O2 on BACE1 expression and activity are also reflected in their opposing effects on Aβ generation in cultured neurons in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found that BACE1 is highly S-nitrosylated in normal aging brains while S-nitrosylation is markedly reduced in AD brains.ConclusionThis study demonstrates for the first time that BACE1 is highly modified by NO via multiple mechanisms: low and high levels of NO suppress BACE1 via transcriptional and post translational regulation, in contrast with the upregulation of BACE1 by H2O2-mediated oxidation. These novel NO-mediated regulatory mechanisms likely protect BACE1 from being further oxidized by excessive oxidative stress, as from H2O2 and peroxynitrite which are known to upregulate BACE1 and activate the enzyme, resulting in excessive cleavage of APP and Aβ generation; they likely represent the crucial house-keeping mechanism for BACE1 expression/activation under physiological conditions.

The proteolytic cleavage of Alzheimer beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) and signaling receptor Notch is mediated by the PS/gamma-secretase complex, which consists of presenilins, nicastrin, APH-1, and PEN-2. Although the four components are known to coordinately regulate each other at the protein level, information regarding their transcription regulation is scarce. Here we characterized the 5'-flanking region of the human APH-1A gene and identified a 271-bp fragment containing the transcription initiation site for the promoter activity. Sequence analysis, mutagenesis, and gel shift studies revealed a binding of AP4 and HIF-1 to the promoter, which affects the promoter activity. Activation of HIF-1 by short-term NiCl2 treatments (a condition of chemical hypoxia) dramatically increased APH-1A mRNA and protein expression, accompanied by increased secretion of Abeta and decreased APP CTFs formation, indicative of an increase in gamma-secretase activity. NiCl2 treatments had little effect on APP and the other three components of the gamma-secretase complex. The cellular concentration of Notch intracellular domain (NICD) was also increased by the hypoxic treatment. Our results demonstrate that APH-1A expression and the gamma-secretase mediated Abeta and Notch NICD generation are regulated by HIF-1, and the specific control of APH-1A expression may imply physiological functions uniquely assigned to APH-1A.

Prenylflavonoids are valuable natural products that are widely distributed in plants. They often possess divergent biological properties, including phytoestrogenic, anti‐bacterial, anti‐tumor, and anti‐diabetic activities. The reaction catalyzed by prenyltransferases represents a Friedel–Crafts alkylation of the flavonoid skeleton in the biosynthesis of natural prenylflavonoids and often contributes to the structural diversity and biological activity of these compounds. However, only a few plant flavonoid prenyltransferases have been identified thus far, and these prenyltransferases exhibit strict substrate specificity and low catalytic efficiency. In this article, a flavonoid prenyltransferase from Sophora flavescens, SfFPT, has been identified that displays high catalytic efficiency with high regiospecificity acting on C‐8 of structurally different types of flavonoid (i.e., flavanone, flavone, flavanonol, and dihydrochalcone, etc.). Furthermore, SfPFT exhibits strict stereospecificity for levorotatory flavanones to produce (2S)‐prenylflavanones. This study is the first to demonstrate the substrate promiscuity and stereospecificity of a plant flavonoid prenyltransferase in vitro. Given its substrate promiscuity and high catalytic efficiency, SfFPT can be used as an environmentally friendly and efficient biological catalyst for the regio‐ and stereospecific prenylation of flavonoids to produce bioactive compounds for potential therapeutic applications.