Alzheimer’s plaques

Sequence-selective binding of peptides and small proteins is of considerable interest. We saw that some cyclodextrin dimers could selectively doubly bind peptides in water with appropriately placed hydrophobic side chains. This built on our earlier collaborative work on the selective binding of peptides by simple cydodextrin. We then showed that we could break up a protein dimer and a protein tetramer with appropriate cydodextrin dimers in water, since such protein aggregation ordinarily involved hydrophobic side chains that our dimers could bind to. In perhaps the most striking example, our cydodextrin dimers and trimers were able to inhibit the protein aggregation involved in the formation of Alzheimer s plaques. ... 

General trends in radiopharmaceutical research emphasize the use of small peptides. These molecules, of which the agents mentioned for thrombosis localization are an example, exhibit rapid and specific binding, and rapid blood clearance, two important parameters for a successflil radiopharmaceutical. Peptides are readily labeled with Tc and lend themselves to formulation as lyophilized kits that can be rapidly and rehably reconstituted. Possible targets for these molecules are quite varied, ranging from atherosclerotic plaque to P-amyloid (for Alzheimer s disease), to a variety of somatic receptors the populations of which are increased or decreased in disease. 

According to the amyloid hypothesis, the A 3 peptide plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer s disease [1]. Major forms of A 3 produced encompass 38, 40 or 42 residues. A 342 is more prone to aggregation than A 340 and in animal models an increased A[342/ A (340 ratio results in amyloid plaque pathology even when total A 3 levels are reduced [4]. The generation of A 3 is a normal process and A 3 is present in the brains and body fluids of humans throughout life. Neuronal... 

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is the precursor of (3-amyloid, the main component of senile plaques found in the brain of Alzheimer patients. The production of (3-amyloid from APP to the cells from abnormal proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein. Enzymes involved in this cleavage may be suitable targets for the therapy of Alzheimer s disease. 

Just like in coiled-coils, p-sheet secondary structure (Fig. 2) is ubiquitous in natural examples and in proteins and biomaterials. Alzheimer s disease is characterized by fibrillar amyloid plaques in the cerebral parenchyma. The insoluble amyloid fibrils are predominantly formed upon conformational switching of the 42 amino acid... 

Xia M, Qin S, McNamara M, Mackay C, Hyman BT (1997) lnterleukin-8 receptor B immunore-activity in brain and neuritic plaques of Alzheimer s disease. Am J Pathol 150 1267-1274 Xia MQ, Bacskai BJ, Knowles RB, Qin SX, Hyman BT (2000) Expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR3 on neurons and the elevated expression of its ligand IP-10 in reactive astrocytes in vitro ERKl/2 activation and role in Alzheimer s disease. J Neuroimmunol 108 227-235 Xia MQ, Qin SX, Wu LJ, Mackay CR, Hyman BT (1998) Immunohistochemical study of the beta-chemokine receptors CCR3 and CCR5 and their Ugands in normal and Alzheimer s disease brains. Am J Pathol 153 31-37... 

Figure 18.1 Typical tangle (T) and plaque (P) as visualised by silver impregnation in the cerebral cortex of a case of Alzheimer s disease. The extracellular plaque (10-50 pm diameter) consists of a central core of amyloid surrounded by glial processes and a number of neurites in a ring formation. The intracellular cytoplasmic tangle is composed of helical filaments in a paired format. (Reproduced with permission of Academic Press from Wischik and Crowther 1986)...

Figure 18.2 Production of senile plaque (S/A4 amyloid protein. Amyloid fS4 protein (/S/A4) is part of a 695, 751 or 770 amino-acid amyloid precursor protein APP. This is a transmembrane protein which is normally cleared within the fi/A4 amino acid sequence to give short 40 amino-acid soluble derivatives. It seems that under some circumstances as in Alzheimer s disease, APP is cleared either side of the fi/A4 sequence to release the 42/43 amino acid P/A4 which aggregates into the amyloid fibrils of a senile plaque (a). (See also Fig. 18.5.) Some factors, e.g. gene mutation, must stimulate this abnormal clearage leading to the deposition of P/A4 amyloid protein as plaques and tangles and the death of neurons (b)...

Evidence for a neuroimmunological involvement in Alzheimer s disease is accumulating. Activation of the complement cascade by beta amyloid (Rogers et al., 1992), the recruitment, proliferation and activation of microglia in intimate juxtaposition to the senile plaques (Davis et al., 1992), and the increased synthesis of microglia-derived pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (Griffin et al., 1989) is indicative of a chronic inflam-... 

Landsberg, J.P., McDonald, B. and Watt, F. (1992). Absence of aluminium in neuritic plaque cores in Alzheimer s disease. Nature 360, 65-68. 

Lue, L.-F. and Rr rs, J. (1992). Full complement activation fails in difiuse plaques of the Alzheimer s disease cerebellum. Dementia 3, 308-313. 

BACE-1 (p-secretase) is one of the enzymes involved in breaking down APP to produce Ap (amyloid p-peptide, Ap40>42), the protein that eventually oligomerizes to form Ap plaques, the hallmark of Alzheimer s disease (AD). Thus an agent that... 

Neuritic (senile) plaques Microscopic lesions composed of fragmented axon terminals and dendrites surrounding a core of amyloid seen in the cerebral cortex in Alzheimer s disease. 

Alzheimer s disease Neocortex, hippocampus (J Peptide 4R, 3R tau Diffuse and senile plaques,... 

A universal postmortem hallmark of Alzheimer s disease (AD) is the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain. These plaques are mainly composed of a 39 to 42 amino acid peptide, referred to as A0 peptide, that is excised from a precursor protein, amyloid precursor protein (APP), by the sequential action of two proteases (Olsen et al., 2001). The first of the two cleavages of APP occurs at a site within the APP protein that is termed the P-site, and BACE has been clearly determined to be the enzyme responsible for this cleavage event. A small portion of the AD patient... 

Amyloid protein A 42-amino acid protein found in the core of the microscopic senile plaques in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer s disease, p-amyloid protein is synthesised from the much larger amyloid precursor protein (APP). 

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