Protein / target
Amyloid-beta precursor protein
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Serine-type endopeptidase inhibitor
Strongest disease association
Alzheimer's disease type 1
Therapeutic position
Established drug target
Research activity
Actively researched
Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.
Protein profile
Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.
Function overview
Functions as a cell surface receptor and performs physiological functions on the surface of neurons relevant to neurite growth, neuronal adhesion and axonogenesis.
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Functions as a cell surface receptor and performs physiological functions on the surface of neurons relevant to neurite growth, neuronal adhesion and axonogenesis. Interaction between APP molecules on neighboring cells promotes synaptogenesis (PubMed:25122912). Involved in cell mobility and transcription regulation through protein-protein interactions. Can promote transcription activation through binding to APBB1-KAT5 and inhibits Notch signaling through interaction with Numb. Couples to apoptosis-inducing pathways such as those mediated by G(o) and JIP. Inhibits G(o) alpha ATPase activity (By similarity). Acts as a kinesin I membrane receptor, mediating the axonal transport of beta-secretase and presenilin 1 (By similarity). By acting as a kinesin I membrane receptor, plays a role in axonal anterograde transport of cargo towards synapses in axons (PubMed:17062754, PubMed:23011729). Involved in copper homeostasis/oxidative stress through copper ion reduction. In vitro, copper-metallated APP induces neuronal death directly or is potentiated through Cu(2+)-mediated low-density lipoprotein oxidation. Can regulate neurite outgrowth through binding to components of the extracellular matrix such as heparin and collagen I and IV. The splice isoforms that contain the BPTI domain possess protease inhibitor activity. Induces a AGER-dependent pathway that involves activation of p38 MAPK, resulting in internalization of amyloid-beta peptide and leading to mitochondrial dysfunction in cultured cortical neurons. Provides Cu(2+) ions for GPC1 which are required for release of nitric oxide (NO) and subsequent degradation of the heparan sulfate chains on GPC1
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (128)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Camyloid-beta complex
- Castrocyte projection
- Caxon
- Ccell surface
- Cclathrin-coated pit
- Ccytoplasm
- Ccytosol
- Cdendrite
- Cdendritic shaft
- Cdendritic spine
- Cearly endosome
- Cearly endosome membrane
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Excitatory neurotransmission
- ·modulation of excitatory postsynaptic potential
Growth-factor signalling
- ·response to insulin-like growth factor stimulus
Cell proliferation & survival
- ·negative regulation of cell population proliferation
Cell migration
- ·positive regulation of T cell migration
Cell-cycle regulation
- ·positive regulation of mitotic cell cycle
Lipid & lipoprotein metabolism
- ·Functions as a cell surface receptor and performs physiological functions on the surface…
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Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.
Interaction neighbourhood
Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.
Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.
Approved medicines with mapped indications
Approved therapies targeting this protein, grouped by what they are approved to treat — the disease-first view of the medicines below. Relationships come from the canonical approved-indication graph (ChEMBL phase-4), the same source as the drug cards.
Approved indications from ChEMBL (phase-4), via the canonical drug→disease graph.
Drugs targeting this protein
How approved and investigational drugs engage this protein — mechanism and action type, direct vs complex targeting, and how broadly each acts across other targets. A drug-first view (the section above groups the approved ones disease-first); direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.
Amyloid-beta A4 protein inhibitor
Indicated for Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia
Amyloid-beta A4 protein binding agent
Indicated for Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia
Amyloid-beta A4 protein disrupting agent
Indicated for Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia
ChEMBL mechanism, action type, target identity and approved indications. Open Targets clinical status.
Translational evidence
Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.
Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene APP
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene APPthat encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.
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The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the per-type scores above show the calculation.
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Drug development
13 compounds recorded · 3 approved · 10 in clinical development
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Open Targets known-drugs universe. Drug name and highest clinical stage only — the disease relationship is NOT read from this slice (it carries trial-context noise); approved indications come from the canonical graph above.
Tractability
Small molecules — Strong
Antibodies — Strong
Protein degraders — Emerging
Other modalities — Strong
View underlying tractability evidence (13)Hide
Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.
Clinical trials
Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein. Ranked by active status, then clinical phase and recency, and spread across the targeting drugs.
View all trials (26)Hide
ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.
What's happening now
Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 3 drugs that target this protein, plus publications where such a drug is a genuine subject. Every item is reached indirectly through the drug, not the protein itself; incidental mentions (a paper that merely measures a drug) and press items are excluded.
- Indication expanded
Indication expansion: LECANEMAB-IRMB (BLA761375)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Kisunla (EMA)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: LECANEMAB-IRMB (BLA761375)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Leqembi (EMA)
- New publicationRecent advances in Alzheimer's disease: Mechanisms, clinical trials and new drug development strategies.
- New publicationLecanemab in Early Alzheimer's Disease.
- New publicationTwo Randomized Phase 3 Studies of Aducanumab in Early Alzheimer's Disease.
Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.
Research activity
Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.
Most cited
Recent
Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.