Feasibility of β-sheet breaker peptide-H102 treatment for Alzheimer's disease based on β-amyloid hypothesis

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 5;9(11):e112052. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112052. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

β-amyloid hypothesis is the predominant hypothesis in the study of pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. This hypothesis claims that aggregation and neurotoxic effects of amyloid β (Aβ) is the common pathway in a variety of etiological factors for Alzheimer's disease. Aβ peptide derives from amyloid precursor protein (APP). β-sheet breaker peptides can directly prevent and reverse protein misfolding and aggregation in conformational disorders. Based on the stereochemical structure of Aβ1-42 and aggregation character, we had designed a series of β-sheet breaker peptides in our previous work and screened out a 10-residue peptide β-sheet breaker peptide, H102. We evaluated the effects of H102 on expression of P-tau, several associated proteins, inflammatory factors and apoptosis factors, and examined the cognitive ability of APP transgenic mice by behavioral test. This study aims to validate the β-amyloid hypothesis and provide an experimental evidence for the feasibility of H102 treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease* / drug therapy
  • Alzheimer Disease* / genetics
  • Alzheimer Disease* / metabolism
  • Alzheimer Disease* / pathology
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor* / biosynthesis
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor* / genetics
  • Animals
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Models, Biological*
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Peptides / genetics
  • Peptides / pharmacology*
  • Protein Structure, Secondary

Substances

  • APP protein, human
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
  • Peptides

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Major New Drug Creation of China (2009ZX09103-029) and the Science and Technology Research Foundation of Tianjin, China (09ZCKFSH00100). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.