Gene silencing analyses against amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene family by RNA interference

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) and amyloid precursor-like proteins 1 and 2 (APLP1 and APLP2) are members of a large gene family. Although APP is known to be the source of the β-amyloid peptides involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease, the normal functions of APP, APLP1 and APLP2 in cells are poorly understood. In this study, we carried out gene silencing analysis by means of RNA interference with synthetic small interfering RNA duplexes targeting the App, Aplp1 and Aplp2 genes in Neuro2a (N2a) cells, a mouse neuroblastoma cell line. The results demonstrated that cell viability and neurite outgrowth of N2a cells undergoing knockdown of Aplp1 were significantly reduced, compared with N2a cells undergoing knockdown of either App or Aplp2.