Intracellular metalloprotease activity controls intraneuronal Aβ aggregation and limits secretion of Aβviaexosomes

Accumulating evidence suggests that the abnormal aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide in Alzheimer's disease (AD) begins intraneuronally, within vesicles of the endosomal-lysosomal pathway where Aβ is both generated and degraded. Metalloproteases, including endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE)-1 and -2, reside within these vesicles and normally limit the accumulation of intraneuronally produced Aβ. In this study, we determined whether disruption of Aβ catabolism could trigger Aβ aggregation within neurons and increase the amount of Aβ associated with exosomes, small extracellular vesicles derived from endosomal multivesicular bodies. Using cultured cell lines, primary neurons, and organotypic brain slices from an AD mouse model, we found that pharmacological inhibition of the ECE family of metalloproteases increased intracellular and extracellular Aβ levels and promoted the intracellular formation of Aβ oligomers, a process that did not require internalization of secreted Aβ. In vivo, the accumulation of intraneuronal Aβ aggregates was accompanied by increased levels of both extracellular and exosome-associated Aβ, including oligomeric species. Neuronal exosomes were found to contain both ECE-1 and -2 activities, suggesting that multivesicular bodies are intracellular sites of Aβ degradation by these enzymes. ECE dysfunction could lead to the accumulation of intraneuronal Aβ aggregates and their subsequent release into the extracellular space via exosomes.—Pacheco-Quinto, J., Clausen, D., Pérez-González, R., Peng, H., Meszaros, A., Eckman, C. B., Levy, E., Eckman, E. A. Intracellular metalloprotease activity controls intraneuronal Aβ aggregation and limits secretion of Aβ via exosomes. FASEB J. 33, 3758–3771 (2019). www.fasebj.org