Physical Interaction of ApoE with Amyloid Precursor Protein Independent of the Amyloid Aβ Region in Vitro

Variation at the APOE gene locus has been shown to affect the risk for Alzheimer's disease. To gain deeper insight into the postulated apoE-mediated amyloid formation, we have characterized the three common apoE isoforms (apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4) regarding their binding to amyloid precursor protein (APP). We employed the yeast two-hybrid system and co-immunoprecipitation experiments in cell culture supernatants of COS-1 cells, ectopically expressing apoE isoforms and APP751 holoprotein or a COOH-terminal Aβ deletion mutant protein, designated APPtrunc. We found that all three apoE isoforms were able to bind APP751holoprotein in an Aβ-independent fashion. The interacting domains could be mapped to the NH2 termini of APP (amino acids 1–207) and apoE (amino acids 1–191). As a functional consequence of this novel APP751 ectodomain-mediated apoE binding, the secretion of soluble APP751 is differentially affected by distinct apoE isoforms in vitro, suggesting a new “chaperon-like” mechanism by which apoE isoforms may modulate APP metabolism and consequently the risk for Alzheimer's disease.