Complex formation of APP with GABA<sub>B</sub> receptors links axonal trafficking to amyloidogenic processing.

Dinamarca, Margarita C; Raveh, Adi; Schneider, Andy; Fritzius, Thorsten; Früh, Simon; Rem, Pascal D; Stawarski, Michal; Lalanne, Txomin et al. · Nat Commun · 2019

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

GABA<sub>B</sub> receptors (GBRs) are key regulators of synaptic release but little is known about trafficking mechanisms that control their presynaptic abundance. We now show that sequence-related epitopes in APP, AJAP-1 and PIANP bind with nanomolar affinities to the N-terminal sushi-domain of presynaptic GBRs. Of the three interacting proteins, selectively the genetic loss of APP impaired GBR-mediated presynaptic inhibition and axonal GBR expression. Proteomic and functional analyses revealed that APP associates with JIP and calsyntenin proteins that link the APP/GBR complex in cargo vesicles to the axonal trafficking motor. Complex formation with GBRs stabilizes APP at the cell surface and reduces proteolysis of APP to Aβ, a component of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease patients. Thus, APP/GBR complex formation links presynaptic GBR trafficking to Aβ formation. Our findings support that dysfunctional axonal trafficking and reduced GBR expression in Alzheimer's disease increases Aβ formation.

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