The Effects of Extracellular Serum Concentration on APP Processing in Npc1-Deficient APP-Overexpressing N2a Cells

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is cleaved by a set of proteases including α-/β-/γ- and recently identified η-secretases, generating C-terminal fragments (CTFs) of varying lengths and amyloid β (Aβ) peptides, which are considered to play a pivotal role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Cellular cholesterol content/distribution can regulate the production/clearance of APP metabolites and hence modify AD pathology. To determine the functional relation between endosomal-lysosomal (EL) cholesterol sequestration and APP metabolism, we used our recently developed mouse N2a-ANPC cells that overexpress Swedish mutant human APP in the absence of cholesterol-trafficking Niemann-Pick type C1 (Npc1) protein. Here, we report that neither increased levels nor EL cholesterol sequestration altered APP holoprotein levels but caused the intracellular accumulation of APP α-/β-/η-CTFs and Aβ 1–40/42 peptides. The levels of APP-cleaved products increased as a function of extracellular serum concentration in N2a-ANPC cells, which are more vulnerable to death than the control cells. Additionally, we show that pH of the lysosomal vesicles in N2a-ANPC cells shifted to a less acidic range with increasing serum concentrations, thus making them less efficient functionally. Interestingly, the addition of cholesterol to the culture media not only increased the levels of cellular cholesterol and APP-cleaved products but also rendered the cells more vulnerable to toxicity. Collectively, our results suggest that extracellular cholesterol concentration in serum under conditions of Npc1 deficiency can influence intracellular cholesterol content/distribution and lysosomal efficacy, triggering the accumulation of toxic APP-cleaved products, eventually leading to cell death.