Advancement in Analytical Techniques for Determining the Activity of β-Site Amyloid Precursor Protein Cleaving Enzyme 1

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. The pathogenesis is still not fully clear. One of the main histopathological manifestations is senile plaques formed by beta-amyloid (A beta) accumulation. A beta is generated from the sequential proteolysis of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by beta-secretase [i.e. beta-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1)] and gamma-secretase, with a rate-limiting step controlled by BACE1 activity. Therefore, inhibiting BACE1 activity has become a potential therapeutic strategy for AD. The development of reliable detection methods for BACE1 activity plays an important role in early diagnosis of AD and evaluation of the therapeutic effect of new drugs for AD. This article has reviewed the recent advances in BACE1 activity detection techniques. The challenges of applying these analysis techniques to early clinical diagnosis of AD and development trends of the detection techniques have been prospected.

Automated summary

This article reviews the recent advances in BACE1 activity detection techniques and discusses the challenges of applying these techniques to early diagnosis of AD and the future development trends.