An Aβ42 variant that inhibits intra- and extracellular amyloid aggregation and enhances cell viability

2018 ◽  
Vol 475 (19) ◽  
pp. 3087-3103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ofek Oren ◽  
Victor Banerjee ◽  
Ran Taube ◽  
Niv Papo

Aggregation and accumulation of the 42-residue amyloid β peptide (Aβ42) in the extracellular matrix and within neuronal cells is considered a major cause of neuronal cell cytotoxicity and death in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Therefore, molecules that bind to Aβ42 and prevent its aggregation are therapeutically promising as AD treatment. Here, we show that a non-self-aggregating Aβ42 variant carrying two surface mutations, F19S and L34P (Aβ42DM), inhibits wild-type Aβ42 aggregation and significantly reduces Aβ42-mediated cell cytotoxicity. In addition, Aβ42DM inhibits the uptake and internalization of extracellularly added pre-formed Aβ42 aggregates into cells. This was the case in both neuronal and non-neuronal cells co-expressing Aβ42 and Aβ42DM or following pre-treatment of cells with extracellular soluble forms of the two peptides, even at high Aβ42 to Aβ42DM molar ratios. In cells, Aβ42DM associates with Aβ42, while in vitro, the two soluble recombinant peptides exhibit nano-molar binding affinity. Importantly, Aβ42DM potently suppresses Aβ42 amyloid aggregation in vitro, as demonstrated by thioflavin T fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy for detecting amyloid fibrils. Overall, we present a new approach for inhibiting Aβ42 fibril formation both within and outside cells. Accordingly, Aβ42DM should be evaluated in vivo for potential use as a therapeutic lead for treating AD.

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 531-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Szwajgier ◽  
Ewa Baranowska-Wojcik ◽  
Kamila Borowiec

Numerous authors have provided evidence regarding the beneficial effects of phenolic acids and their derivatives against Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this review, the role of phenolic acids as inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is discussed, including the structure-activity relationship. In addition, the inhibitory effect of phenolic acids on the formation of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) fibrils is presented. We also cover the in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo studies concerning the prevention and treatment of the cognitive enhancement.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (20) ◽  
pp. 6120
Author(s):  
Danielle M. Williams ◽  
David C. Thorn ◽  
Christopher M. Dobson ◽  
Sarah Meehan ◽  
Sophie E. Jackson ◽  
...  

14-3-3 proteins are abundant, intramolecular proteins that play a pivotal role in cellular signal transduction by interacting with phosphorylated ligands. In addition, they are molecular chaperones that prevent protein unfolding and aggregation under cellular stress conditions in a similar manner to the unrelated small heat-shock proteins. In vivo, amyloid β (Aβ) and α-synuclein (α-syn) form amyloid fibrils in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, respectively, a process that is intimately linked to the diseases’ progression. The 14-3-3ζ isoform potently inhibited in vitro fibril formation of the 40-amino acid form of Aβ (Aβ40) but had little effect on α-syn aggregation. Solution-phase NMR spectroscopy of 15N-labeled Aβ40 and A53T α-syn determined that unlabeled 14-3-3ζ interacted preferentially with hydrophobic regions of Aβ40 (L11-H21 and G29-V40) and α-syn (V3-K10 and V40-K60). In both proteins, these regions adopt β-strands within the core of the amyloid fibrils prepared in vitro as well as those isolated from the inclusions of diseased individuals. The interaction with 14-3-3ζ is transient and occurs at the early stages of the fibrillar aggregation pathway to maintain the native, monomeric, and unfolded structure of Aβ40 and α-syn. The N-terminal regions of α-syn interacting with 14-3-3ζ correspond with those that interact with other molecular chaperones as monitored by in-cell NMR spectroscopy.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 1101-1106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Szutowicz ◽  
Hanna Bielarczyk ◽  
Anna Ronowska ◽  
Sylwia Gul-Hinc ◽  
Joanna Klimaszewska-Łata ◽  
...  

Intramitochondrial decarboxylation of glucose-derived pyruvate by PDHC (pyruvate dehydrogenase complex) is a principal source of acetyl-CoA, for mitochondrial energy production and cytoplasmic synthetic pathways in all types of brain cells. The inhibition of PDHC, ACO (aconitase) and KDHC (ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex) activities by neurodegenerative signals such as aluminium, zinc, amyloid β-peptide, excess nitric oxide (NO) or thiamine pyrophosphate deficits resulted in much deeper losses of viability, acetyl-CoA and ATP in differentiated cholinergic neuronal cells than in non-differentiated cholinergic, and cultured microglial or astroglial cell lines. In addition, in cholinergic cells, such conditions caused inhibition of ACh (acetylcholine) synthesis and its quantal release. Furthermore, cholinergic neuronal cells appeared to be resistant to high concentrations of LPS (lipopolysaccharide). In contrast, in microglial cells, low levels of LPS caused severalfold activation of NO, IL-6 (interleukin 6) and TNFα (tumour necrosis factor α) synthesis/release, accompanied by inhibition of PDHC, KDHC and ACO activities, and suppression of acetyl-CoA, but relatively small losses in their ATP contents and viability parameters. Compounds that protected these enzymes against inhibitory effects of neurotoxins alleviated acetyl-CoA and ATP deficits, thereby maintaining neuronal cell viability. These data indicate that preferential susceptibility of cholinergic neurons to neurodegenerative insults may result from competition for acetyl-CoA between mitochondrial energy-producing and cytoplasmic ACh-synthesizing pathways. Such a hypothesis is supported by the existence of highly significant correlations between mitochondrial/cytoplasmic acetyl-CoA levels and cell viability/transmitter functions respectively.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (15) ◽  
pp. e2025847118
Author(s):  
Dorit Trudler ◽  
Kristopher L. Nazor ◽  
Yvonne S. Eisele ◽  
Titas Grabauskas ◽  
Nima Dolatabadi ◽  
...  

Parkinson’s disease is characterized by accumulation of α-synuclein (αSyn). Release of oligomeric/fibrillar αSyn from damaged neurons may potentiate neuronal death in part via microglial activation. Heretofore, it remained unknown if oligomeric/fibrillar αSyn could activate the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor (NLR) family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in human microglia and whether anti-αSyn antibodies could prevent this effect. Here, we show that αSyn activates the NLRP3 inflammasome in human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived microglia (hiMG) via dual stimulation involving Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) engagement and mitochondrial damage. In vitro, hiMG can be activated by mutant (A53T) αSyn secreted from hiPSC-derived A9-dopaminergic neurons. Surprisingly, αSyn–antibody complexes enhanced rather than suppressed inflammasome-mediated interleukin-1β (IL-1β) secretion, indicating these complexes are neuroinflammatory in a human context. A further increase in inflammation was observed with addition of oligomerized amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) and its cognate antibody. In vivo, engraftment of hiMG with αSyn in humanized mouse brain resulted in caspase-1 activation and neurotoxicity, which was exacerbated by αSyn antibody. These findings may have important implications for antibody therapies aimed at depleting misfolded/aggregated proteins from the human brain, as they may paradoxically trigger inflammation in human microglia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Shahazul Islam ◽  
Cristina Quispe ◽  
Rajib Hossain ◽  
Muhammad Torequl Islam ◽  
Ahmed Al-Harrasi ◽  
...  

Quercetin (QUR) is a natural bioactive flavonoid that has been lately very studied for its beneficial properties in many pathologies. Its neuroprotective effects have been demonstrated in many in vitro studies, as well as in vivo animal experiments and human trials. QUR protects the organism against neurotoxic chemicals and also can prevent the evolution and development of neuronal injury and neurodegeneration. The present work aimed to summarize the literature about the neuroprotective effect of QUR using known database sources. Besides, this review focuses on the assessment of the potential utilization of QUR as a complementary or alternative medicine for preventing and treating neurodegenerative diseases. An up-to-date search was conducted in PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar for published work dealing with the neuroprotective effects of QUR against neurotoxic chemicals or in neuronal injury, and in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Findings suggest that QUR possess neuropharmacological protective effects in neurodegenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Amyloid β peptide, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In summary, this review emphasizes the neuroprotective effects of QUR and its advantages in being used in complementary medicine for the prevention and treatment o of different neurodegenerative diseases.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jialong Qi ◽  
Tao Wang ◽  
Zhidong Zhang ◽  
Zongsheng Yin ◽  
Yiming Liu ◽  
...  

Study design: Spinal cord injury (SCI) rat model and cell model were established for in vivo and in vitro experiments. Functional assays were utilized to explore the role of the circRNAs derived from catenin beta 1 (mmu_circ_0001859, circ-Ctnnb1 herein) in regulating neuronal cell viability and apoptosis. Bioinformatics analysis and mechanism experiments were conducted to assess the underlying molecular mechanism of circ-Ctnnb1. Objective: We aimed to probe into the biological function of circ-Ctnnb1 in neuronal cells of SCI. Methods: The rat model of SCI and hypoxia-induced cell model were constructed to examine circ-Ctnnb1 expression in SCI through quantitative reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) score was utilized for evaluating the neurological function. Terminal-deoxynucleoitidyl Transferase Mediated Nick End labeling (TUNEL) assays were performed to assess the apoptosis of neuronal cells. RNase R and Actinomycin D (ActD) were used to treat cells to evaluate the stability of circ-Ctnnb1. Results: Circ-Ctnnb1 was highly expressed in SCI rat models and hypoxia-induced neuronal cells, and its deletion elevated the apoptosis rate of hypoxia-induced neuronal cells. Furthermore, circ-Ctnnb1 activated the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway via sponging mircoRNA-205-5p (miR-205-5p) to up-regulate Ctnnb1 and Wnt family member 2B (Wnt2b). Conclusion: Circ-Ctnnb1 promotes SCI through regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling via modulating the miR-205-5p/Ctnnb1/Wnt2b axis.


Biomolecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Barton ◽  
D. Sebastian Arias ◽  
Chamani Niyangoda ◽  
Gustavo Borjas ◽  
Nathan Le ◽  
...  

Assembly of amyloid fibrils and small globular oligomers is associated with a significant number of human disorders that include Alzheimer’s disease, senile systemic amyloidosis, and type II diabetes. Recent findings implicate small amyloid oligomers as the dominant aggregate species mediating the toxic effects in these disorders. However, validation of this hypothesis has been hampered by the dearth of experimental techniques to detect, quantify, and discriminate oligomeric intermediates from late-stage fibrils, in vitro and in vivo. We have shown that the onset of significant oligomer formation is associated with a transition in thioflavin T kinetics from sigmoidal to biphasic kinetics. Here we showed that this transition can be exploited for screening fluorophores for preferential responses to oligomer over fibril formation. This assay identified crystal violet as a strongly selective oligomer-indicator dye for lysozyme. Simultaneous recordings of amyloid kinetics with thioflavin T and crystal violet enabled us to separate the combined signals into their underlying oligomeric and fibrillar components. We provided further evidence that this screening assay could be extended to amyloid-β peptides under physiological conditions. Identification of oligomer-selective dyes not only holds the promise of biomedical applications but provides new approaches for unraveling the mechanisms underlying oligomer versus fibril formation in amyloid assembly.


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