Curcumin derivative GT863 inhibits amyloid-beta production via inhibition of protein N-glycosylation

Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Aβ production, aggregation, and clearance are thought to be important therapeutic targets for AD. Curcumin has been known to have an anti-amyloidogenic effect on AD. In the present study, we performed screening analysis using a curcumin derivative library with the aim of finding derivatives effective in suppressing Aβ production with improved bioavailability of curcumin using CHO cells that stably express human amyloid-β precursor protein and using human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. We found that the curcumin derivative GT863/PE859, which has been shown to have an inhibitory effect on Aβ and tau aggregation in vivo, was more effective than curcumin itself in reducing Aβ secretion. We further found that GT863 inhibited neither β-nor γ-secretase activity, but did suppress γ-secretase-mediated cleavage in a substrate-dependent manner. We further found that GT863 suppressed N-linked glycosylation, including that of the γ-secretase subunit nicastrin. We also found that mannosidase inhibitors that block the mannose trimming step of N-glycosylation suppressed Aβ production in a similar fashion, as was observed as a result of treatment with GT863. Collectively, these results suggest that GT863 downregulates N-glycosylation, resulting in suppression of Aβ production without affecting secretase activity.