Method of Inducing Cleavage of Amyloid Precursor Protein to Form a Novel Fragment

A method for screening for a compound that cleaves amyloid precursor protein to generate an approximately 17 kilodalton fragment of amyloid precursor protein, said method comprising:

• (a) exposing cells that produce amyloid precursor protein or fragments thereof to a test compound, and
• (b) detecting the amount of the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment,
• wherein the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment, includes the carboxyterminal amino acid sequence of amyloid precursor protein and amyloid-beta amino acid sequence, and
• wherein an increase in the amount of the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment in cells exposed to the compound, relative to the amount of the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment in cells that are not exposed to the compound, indicates that the compound induces cleavage of amyloid precursor protein to generate the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment.

A method for screening for a compound that cleaves amyloid precursor protein to generate an approximately 17 kilodalton fragment of APP, the method comprising:

• (a) exposing cells that produce amyloid precursor protein or fragments thereof to a test compound, and
• (b) detecting the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment,
• wherein the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment includes the carboxy-terminal amino acid sequence of amyloid precursor protein and amyloid-beta amino acid sequence, and
• wherein the presence of the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment of cells exposed to the compound, relative to the absence of the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment in cells that are not exposed to the compound, indicates that the compound induces cleavage of amyloid precursor protein to generate the approximately 17 kilodalton fragment.