Andrew S Yoo^1,∥ , Isaac Cheng^1,∥ , Sungkwon Chung², Tallessyn Z Grenfell¹, Hanmi Lee², Eunju Pack-Chung¹, Melissa Handler³, Jie Shen³, Weiming Xia³, Giuseppina Tesco¹, Aleister J Saunders¹, Kai Ding³, Matthew P Frosch³, Rudolph E Tanzi¹ and Tae-Wan Kim^{1, §, *} 

¹ Genetics and Aging Research Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA
² Department of Physiology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 440-746, South Korea,
³ Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA

Corresponding author: Tae-Wan Kim

Abstract
We studied a novel function of the presenilins (PS1 and PS2) in governing capacitative calcium entry (CCE), a refilling mechanism for depleted intracellular calcium stores. Abrogation of functional PS1, by either knocking out PS1 or expressing inactive PS1, markedly potentiated CCE, suggesting a role for PS1 in the modulation of CCE. In contrast, familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD)linked mutant PS1 or PS2 significantly attenuated CCE and store depletionactivated currents. While inhibition of CCE selectively increased the amyloidogenic amyloid β peptide (Aβ42), increased accumulation of the peptide had no effect on CCE. Thus, reduced CCE is most likely an early cellular event leading to increased Aβ42 generation associated with FAD mutant presenilins. Our data indicate that the CCE pathway is a novel therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.