EXPRESSION OF BETA-AMYLOID PROTEIN-PRECURSOR MESSENGER-RNAS - RECOGNITION OF A NOVEL ALTERNATIVELY SPLICED FORM AND QUANTITATION IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE USING PCR

We have analyzed alternatively spliced β amyloid protein precursor (βAPP) mRNAs by using the polymerase chain reaction to amplify OAPP cDNAs produced by reverse transcription. With this approach the three previously characterized (βAPP mRNAs (βAPP695, βAPP751, and (βAPP770) are readily detected and compared in RNA samples extracted from specimens as small as a single cryostat section. We show that the results obtained with this method are not affected by partial RNA degradation and use it to identify a novel alternatively spliced βAPP714 mRNA that is present at low abundance in each of the many human brain regions, peripheral tissues, and cell lines that we have examined; demonstrate that nonneuronal cells in the adult human brain and meninges produce appreciable (βAPPb695, βAPP751 and βAPP770 mRNA; and identify changes in (βAPP gene expression in the AD brain and meninges that may contribute to amyloid deposition. © 1990.