DNA polymerase-β is expressed early in neurons of Alzheimer's disease brain and is loaded into DNA replication forks in neurons challenged with β-amyloid

Cultured neurons exposed to synthetic beta-amyloid (A beta) fragments reenter the cell cycle and initiate a pathway of DNA replication that involves the repair enzyme DNA polymerase-beta (DNA pol-beta) before undergoing apoptotic death. In this study, by performing coimmunoprecipitation experiments on cross-linked nucleoprotein fragments from A beta-treated neurons, we demonstrate that DNA pol-beta coimmunoprecipitates with cell division cycle 45 (Cdc45) and with DNA primase in short nucleoprotein fragments. This indicates that DNA pol-beta is loaded into neuronal DNA replication forks after A beta treatment. In response to A beta the canonical DNA-synthesizing enzyme-DNA pol-delta also was loaded into neuronal replication forks, but at later times than DNA pol-beta. Methoxyamine, an inhibitor of the apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease that allows for the recruitment of DNA pol-beta during the process of base excision repair (BER), failed to affect coimmunoprecipitation between DNA pol-beta and Cdc45, indicating that DNA pol-beta loading to the replication forks is independent of DNA breaks. However, methoxyamine reduced DNA replication and ensuing apoptosis in neurons exposed to A beta, suggesting that an efficient BER process allows DNA replication to proceed up to the threshold for death. These data demonstrate that DNA pol-beta is an essential component of the DNA replication machinery in A beta-treated neurons and additionally support the hypothesis of a close association of cell cycle events with neuronal death in Alzheimer's disease ( AD). Accordingly, by investigating the neuronal expression of DNA pol-beta, along with phosphorylated retinoblastoma protein and neurofibrillary changes in AD brain, we show an early involvement of DNA pol-beta in the pathogenesis of AD.