Evidence for Inhibition of Lysozyme Amyloid Fibrillization by Peptide Fragments from Human Lysozyme: A Combined Spectroscopy, Microscopy, and Docking Study

Biomacromolecules. 2016 Jun 13;17(6):1998-2009. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.6b00165. Epub 2016 May 3.

Abstract

Degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and prion diseases, as well as type II diabetes, have a pathogenesis associated with protein misfolding, which routes with amyloid formation. Recent strategies for designing small-molecule and polypeptide antiamyloid inhibitors are mainly based on mature fibril structures containing cross β-sheet structures. In the present study, we have tackled the hypothesis that the rational design of antiamyloid agents that can target native proteins might offer advantageous prospect to design effective therapeutics. Lysozyme amyloid fibrillization was treated with three different peptide fragments derived from lysozyme protein sequence R(107)-R(115). Using low-resolution spectroscopic, high-resolution NMR, and STD NMR-restrained docking methods such as HADDOCK, we have found that these peptide fragments have the capability to affect lysozyme fibril formation. The present study implicates the prospect that these peptides can also be tested against other amyloid-prone proteins to develop novel therapeutic agents.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amyloid / chemistry*
  • Amyloid / ultrastructure
  • Circular Dichroism
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Muramidase / chemistry*
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular
  • Peptide Fragments / genetics
  • Peptide Fragments / isolation & purification
  • Peptide Fragments / pharmacology*
  • Point Mutation
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Muramidase