Degradation of amyloid β peptide by neprilysin expressed from Borna disease virus vector

Abstract

Accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ40 and Aβ42) in the brain is a characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Because neprilysin (NEP) is a major Aβ-degrading enzyme, NEP delivery in the brain is a promising gene therapy for AD. Borna disease virus (BoDV) vector enables long-term transduction of foreign genes in the central nerve system. Here, we evaluated the proteolytic ability of NEP transduced by the BoDV vector and found that the amounts of Aβ40 and Aβ42 significantly decreased, which suggests that NEP expressed from the BoDV vector is functional to degrade Aβ.