["One of the signatures of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of aggregated amyloid protein, Abeta, in the brain. Abeta arises from cleavage of the Amyloid Precursor protein by beta and gamma secretases, which present attractive candidates for therapeutic targeting. Two beta-secretase candidates, ASP-1 and ASP-2, were identified as aspartic proteases, both of which cleave the amyloid precursor at the beta-site. These are produced as immature transmembrane proteins containing a pro-segment.", 'ASP-2 expressed in HEK293-cells cleaved the Swedish mutant amyloid precursor at different beta-sites at different pHs in vitro. Recent reports show that furin cleaves the pro-peptide of ASP-2, whereas ASP-1 undergoes auto-catalysis. We show that purified recombinant ASP-2 cleaves its own pro-peptide at ph 5 but not pH 8.5 as seen by mass spectrometry, electrophoresis and N-terminal sequencing.'] Are pro-domain removal in ASP-2 and the cleavage of the amyloid precursor influenced by pH?