Alpha-soluble NSF attachment protein

Alpha-soluble NSF attachment protein (SNAP-alpha), encoded by NAPA, is a 295-amino acid protein involved in vesicular transport. It is required for transport between the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus and, together with GNA12, promotes CDH5 localization to the plasma membrane (UniProt: P54920).

SNAP-alpha functions in fundamental secretory pathways essential for neuronal and non-neuronal cells. No specific disease associations are documented in UniProt curated records.

In Alzheimer's disease, SNAP-alpha shows ambiguous regulation across subcellular fractions in post-mortem AD brain compared to age-matched controls (Chaparral AD proteomics). The mean log2 fold-change is 0.0374, indicating minimal overall change; however, the direction varies by fraction, precluding assignment of a clear up- or down-regulation signature in AD pathology.