Once the notch extracellular domain interacts with a ligand, an ADAM-family metalloprotease called ADAM10, cleaves the notch protein just outside the membrane. This releases the extracellular portion of notch (NECD), which continues to interact with the ligand. The ligand plus the notch extracellular domain is then endocytosed by the ligand-expressing cell. There may be signaling effects in the ligand-expressing cell after endocytosis; this part of notch signaling is a topic of active research. After this first cleavage, an enzyme called γ-secretase (which is implicated in Alzheimer's disease) cleaves the remaining part of the notch protein just inside the inner leaflet of the cell membrane of the notch-expressing cell. This releases the intracellular domain of the notch protein (NICD), which then moves to the nucleus, where it can regulate gene expression by activating the transcription factor CSL. It was originally thought that these CSL proteins suppressed Notch target transcription. However, further research showed that, when the intracellular domain binds to the complex, it switches from a repressor to an activator of transcription. Other proteins also participate in the intracellular portion of the notch signaling cascade.