The protein interaction domain of the neuronal protein X11 binds to the YENPTY motif within the cytoplasmic domain of -amyloid precursor protein (APP). Amyloid- protein (A), the major constituent of the amyloid deposited in brain of Alzheimer's disease patients, is generated by proteolytic processing of APP, which occurs in part following APP internalization. Because the YENPTY motif has a role in the internalization of APP, the effect of X11 binding on APP processing was studied in mouse neuroblastoma N2a, human embryonic kidney 293, monkey kidney COS-1, and human glial U251 cell lines transfected with wild type or mutated APP cDNAs. Secretion of soluble APP via ␣-secretase activity increased significantly in cells transfected with APP variants containing mutations that impair interaction with X11 when compared with cells transfected with wild type cDNA. Cotransfection of APP and X11 caused retention of cellular APP, decreased secretion of sAPP␣, and decreased A secretion. Thus, APP interaction with the protein interaction domain of X11 stabilizes cellular APP and thereby participates in the regulation of APP processing pathways.Amyloid- protein (A), 1 deposited in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), Down's syndrome, and sporadic and hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy and in the brain of elderly individuals is a proteolytic peptide of a larger -amyloid precursor protein (APP). A has been reported to have heterogeneous carboxyl termini, and A 1-40 and A 1-42 appear to be the major species in the parenchymal deposition. A is found in normal cerebrospinal fluid and in conditioned media from various tissue culture cell lines (1-3), suggesting that it is produced and secreted constitutively. Alternative processing pathways of APP have been described. Cleavage at position 597 of APP 695 by a -secretase results in the generation of A. Alternatively, processing by an ␣-secretase between positions 612 and 613 of APP 695 (positions 16 and 17 of A) precludes the release of intact A (4, 5). Both pathways result in the release of amino-terminal soluble APP, sAPP and sAPP␣, into the extracellular compartment. The carboxyl-terminal processing products may undergo an additional cleavage by a protease displaying a ␥-secretase activity leading to the formation of A or P3.␣-Secretase processing of APP occurs in a late compartment of the constitutive secretory pathway (6, 7), probably in a late trans-Golgi compartment (8, 9). However, APP can elude the intracellular cleavage and reach the cell surface as a full-length mature product, and ␣-secretase activity may occur also at the plasma membrane in several cell systems (10, 11). Immunolabeling of cell surface APP in living cells demonstrated that cell surface APP is either rapidly released or internalized via clathrin-coated vesicles, such that the duration at the cell surface is very short (10,12,13). Whereas most A is produced by a -secretase at the cell surface (14, 15), via the endosomal/ lysosomal pathway, a sma...