Inhibition of familial cerebral amyloid angiopathy mutant amyloid beta-protein fibril assembly by myelin basic protein

J Biol Chem. 2007 Mar 30;282(13):9952-9961. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M603494200. Epub 2007 Jan 26.

Abstract

Deposition of fibrillar amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) in the brain is a prominent pathological feature of Alzheimer disease and related disorders, including familial forms of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Mutant forms of Abeta, including Dutch- and Iowa-type Abeta, which are responsible for familial CAA, deposit primarily as fibrillar amyloid along the cerebral vasculature and are either absent or present only as diffuse non-fibrillar plaques in the brain parenchyma. Despite the lack of parenchymal fibril formation in vivo, these CAA mutant Abeta peptides exhibit a markedly increased rate and extent of fibril formation in vitro compared with wild-type Abeta. Based on these conflicting observations, we sought to determine whether brain parenchymal factors that selectively interact with and modulate CAA mutant Abeta fibril assembly exist. Using a combination of immunoaffinity chromatography and mass spectrometry, we identified myelin basic protein (MBP) as a prominent brain parenchymal factor that preferentially binds to CAA mutant Abeta compared with wild-type Abeta. Surface plasmon resonance measurements confirmed that MBP bound more tightly to Dutch/Iowa CAA double mutant Abeta than to wild-type Abeta. Using a combination of biochemical and ultrastructural techniques, we found that MBP inhibited the fibril assembly of CAA mutant Abeta. Together, these findings suggest a possible role for MBP in regulating parenchymal fibrillar Abeta deposition in familial CAA.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amyloid / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Amyloid / biosynthesis
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / genetics
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Familial / genetics
  • Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Familial / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Myelin Basic Protein / physiology*

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Myelin Basic Protein