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Steroids as ?-secretase modulators.

ABSTRACT: Aggregation and accumulation of A?42 play an initiating role in Alzheimer's disease (AD); thus, selective lowering of A?42 by ?-secretase modulators (GSMs) remains a promising approach to AD therapy. Based on evidence suggesting that steroids may influence A? production, we screened 170 steroids at 10 ?M for effects on A?42 secreted from human APP-overexpressing Chinese hamster ovary cells. Many acidic steroids lowered A?42, whereas many nonacidic steroids actually raised A?42. Studies on the more potent compounds showed that A?42-lowering steroids were bonafide GSMs and A?42-raising steroids were inverse GSMs. The most potent steroid GSM identified was 5?-cholanic acid (EC50=5.7 ?M; its endogenous analog lithocholic acid was virtually equipotent), and the most potent inverse GSM identified was 4-androsten-3-one-17?-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (EC50=6.25 ?M). In addition, we found that both estrogen and progesterone are weak inverse GSMs with further complex effects on APP processing. These data suggest that certain endogenous steroids may have the potential to act as GSMs and add to the evidence that cholesterol, cholesterol metabolites, and other steroids may play a role in modulating A? production and thus risk for AD. They also indicate that acidic steroids might serve as potential therapeutic leads for drug optimization/development.

SUBMITTER: Jung JI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3752532 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Steroids as γ-secretase modulators.

Jung Joo In JI Ladd Thomas B TB Kukar Thomas T Price Ashleigh R AR Moore Brenda D BD Koo Edward H EH Golde Todd E TE Felsenstein Kevin M KM

FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 20130528 9

Aggregation and accumulation of Aβ42 play an initiating role in Alzheimer's disease (AD); thus, selective lowering of Aβ42 by γ-secretase modulators (GSMs) remains a promising approach to AD therapy. Based on evidence suggesting that steroids may influence Aβ production, we screened 170 steroids at 10 μM for effects on Aβ42 secreted from human APP-overexpressing Chinese hamster ovary cells. Many acidic steroids lowered Aβ42, whereas many nonacidic steroids actually raised Aβ42. Studies on the mo ...[more]

PMID: 23716494

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Project description:BACKGROUND:γ-Secretase is a multiprotein protease that cleaves amyloid protein precursor (APP) and other type I transmembrane proteins. It has two catalytic subunits, presenilins 1 and 2 (PS1 and 2). In our previous report, we observed subtle differences in PS1- and PS2-mediated cleavages of select substrates and slightly different potencies of PS1 versus PS2 inhibition for select γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs) on various substrates. In this study, we investigated whether γ-secretase modulators (GSMs) and inverse γ-secretase modulators (iGSMs) modulate γ-secretase processivity using multiple different substrates. We next used HEK 293T cell lines in which PSEN1 or PSEN2 was selectively knocked out to investigate processivity and response to GSMs and iGSMs. METHODS:For cell-free γ-secretase cleavage assay, recombinant substrates were incubated with CHAPSO-solubilized CHO or HEK 293T cell membrane with GSMs or iGSMs in suitable buffer. For cell-based assay, cDNA encoding substrates were transfected into HEK 293T cells. Cells were then treated with GSMs or iGSMs, and conditioned media were collected. Aβ and Aβ-like peptide production from cell-free and cell-based assay were measured by ELISA and mass spectrometry. RESULT:These studies demonstrated that GSMs are highly selective for effects on APP, whereas iGSMs have a more promiscuous effect on many substrates. Surprisingly, iGSMs actually appear to act as like GSIs on select substrates. The data with PSEN1 or PSEN2 knocked out HEK 293T reveal that PS1 has higher processivity and response to GSMs than PS2, but PS2 has higher response to iGSM. CONCLUSION:Collectively, these data indicate that GSMs are likely to have limited target-based toxicity. In addition, they show that iGSMs may act as substrate-selective GSIs providing a potential new route to identify leads for substrate-selective inhibitors of certain γ-secretase-mediated signaling events. With growing concerns that long-term β-secretase inhibitor is limited by target-based toxicities, such data supports continued development of GSMs as AD prophylactics.

Project description:?-Secretase is an aspartyl intramembranal protease composed of presenilin, Nicastrin, Aph1, and Pen2 with 19 transmembrane domains. ?-Secretase cleaves the amyloid precursor proteins (APP) to release A? peptides that likely play a causative role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In addition, ?-secretase cleaves Notch and other type I membrane proteins. ?-Secretase inhibitors (GSIs) have been developed and used for clinical studies. However, clinical trials have shown adverse effects of GSIs that are potentially linked with nondiscriminatory inhibition of Notch signaling, overall APP processing, and other substrate cleavages. Therefore, these findings call for the development of disease-modifying agents that target ?-secretase activity to lower levels of A?42 production without blocking the overall processing of ?-secretase substrates. ?-Secretase modulators (GSMs) originally derived from nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) display such characteristics and are the focus of this review. However, first-generation GSMs have limited potential because of the low potency and undesired neuropharmacokinetic properties. This generation of GSMs has been suggested to interact with the APP substrate, ?-secretase, or both. To improve the potency and brain availability, second-generation GSMs, including NSAID-derived carboxylic acid and non-NSAID-derived heterocyclic chemotypes, as well as natural product-derived GSMs have been developed. Animal studies of this generation of GSMs have shown encouraging preclinical profiles. Moreover, using potent GSM photoaffinity probes, multiple studies unambiguously have showed that both carboxylic acid and heterocyclic GSMs specifically target presenilin, the catalytic subunit of ?-secretase. In addition, two types of GSMs have distinct binding sites within the ?-secretase complex and exhibit different A? profiles. GSMs induce a conformational change of ?-secretase to achieve modulation. Various models are proposed and discussed. Despite the progress of GSM research, many outstanding issues remain to be investigated to achieve the ultimate goal of developing GSMs as effective AD therapies.

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Steroids as ?-secretase modulators.

Publications

Steroids as γ-secretase modulators.

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