Down's syndrome: up-regulation of beta-amyloid protein precursor and tau mRNAs and their defective coordination - PubMed (original) (raw)

Comparative Study

Down's syndrome: up-regulation of beta-amyloid protein precursor and tau mRNAs and their defective coordination

F Oyama et al. J Neurochem. 1994 Mar.

Abstract

Almost all patients > 40 years of age with Down's syndrome (DS) develop the pathology characteristic of Alzheimer's disease: abundant beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. We have investigated the gene expression of beta-amyloid protein precursor (APP) and tau in DS and age-matched control brains and found that levels of both mRNAs were significantly elevated in DS. Such up-regulation was not observed in two other neuronal proteins. A correlation between total APP and tau mRNA levels was also found in DS brain but distinct from the pattern observed in normal brain. Although a proportionality existed between APP-695 mRNA and three-repeat tau mRNA in DS, the proportionality between APP-751 mRNA and four-repeat tau mRNA, which is normally present, was not observed. Thus, DS brains are primarily characterized by the up-regulation of tau mRNA as well as APP mRNA and disruption of the coordinate expression between APP-751 and four-repeat tau.

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