Single chain variable fragment against aβ expressed in baculovirus inhibits abeta fibril elongation and promotes its disaggregation

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 28;10(4):e0124736. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124736. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of age-related dementia, and the most urgent problem is that it is currently incurable. Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide is believed to play a major role in the pathogenesis of AD. We previously reported that an Aβ N-terminal amino acid targeting monoclonal antibody (MAb), A8, inhibits Aβ fibril formation and has potential as an immunotherapy for AD based on a mouse model. To further study the underlying mechanisms, we tested our hypothesis that the single chain fragment variable (scFv) without the Fc fragment is capable of regulating either Aβ aggregation or disaggregation in vitro. Here, a model of cell-free Aβ "on-pathway" aggregation was established and identified using PCR, Western blot, ELISA, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thioflavin T (ThT) binding analyses. His-tagged A8 scFvs was cloned and solubly expressed in baculovirus. Our data demonstrated that the Ni-NTA agarose affinity-purified A8 scFv inhibited the forward reaction of "on-pathway" aggregation and Aβ fibril maturation. The effect of A8 scFv on Aβ fibrillogenesis was markedly more significant when administered at the start of the Aβ folding reaction. Furthermore, the results also showed that pre-formed Aβ fibrils could be disaggregated via incubation with purified A8 scFv, which suggested that A8 scFv is involved in the reverse reaction of Aβ aggregation. Therefore, A8 scFv was capable of both inhibiting fibrillogenesis and disaggregating matured fibrils. Our present study provides valuable insight into the regulators of ultrastructural dynamics of cell-free "on-pathway" Aβ aggregation and will assist in the development of therapeutic strategies for AD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / ultrastructure
  • Animals
  • Baculoviridae / metabolism*
  • Cell Line
  • Cell-Free System
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Aggregation, Pathological / metabolism*
  • Single-Chain Antibodies / immunology*
  • Single-Chain Antibodies / isolation & purification

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Single-Chain Antibodies

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (http://www.nsfc.gov.cn) (81100809 and 81271417) and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (http://www.bjnsf.org/) (7152090) to YZ. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.