Specificity of amyloid precursor-like protein 2 interactions with MHC class I molecules

The ubiquitously expressed amyloid precursor-like protein 2 (APLP2) has been previously found to regulate cell surface expression of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecule K^d and bind strongly to K^d. In the study reported here, we demonstrated that APLP2 binds, in varied degrees, to several other mouse MHC class I allotypes and that the ability of APLP2 to affect cell surface expression of an MHC class I molecule is not limited to K^d. L^d, like K^d, was found associated with APLP2 in the Golgi, but K^d was also associated with APLP2 within intracellular vesicular structures. We also investigated the effect of β₂m on APLP2/MHC interaction and found that human β₂m transfection increased the association of APLP2 with mouse MHC class I molecules, likely by affecting H2 class I heavy chain conformation. APLP2 was demonstrated to bind specifically to the conformation of L^d having folded outer domains, consistent with our previous results with K ^d and indicating APLP2 interacts with the α1α2 region on each of these H2 class I molecules. Furthermore, we observed that binding to APLP2 involved the MHC α3/transmembrane/cytoplasmic region, suggesting that conserved as well as polymorphic regions of the H2 class I molecule may participate in interaction with APLP2. In summary, we demonstrated that APLP2's binding, co-localization pattern, and functional impact vary among H2 class I molecules and that APLP2/MHC association is influenced by multiple domains of the MHC class I heavy chain and by β₂m's effects on the conformation of the heavy chain.