Uncovering the Binding and Specificity of β-Wrapins for Amyloid-β and α-Synuclein

J Phys Chem B. 2016 Dec 22;120(50):12781-12794. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b08485. Epub 2016 Dec 9.

Abstract

Amyloidogenic proteins amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) and α-synuclein (α-syn) self-assemble into fibrillar amyloid deposits, senile plaques and Lewy bodies, pathological features of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, respectively. Interestingly, a portion of Alzheimer's disease cases also exhibit aggregation of α-syn into Lewy bodies, and growing evidence also suggests that Aβ and α-syn oligomers are toxic. Therefore, the simultaneous inhibition through sequestration of the two amyloidogenic proteins may constitute a promising therapeutic strategy. Recently discovered β-wrapin proteins pave the way toward this direction as they can inhibit the aggregation and toxicity of both Aβ and α-syn. Here, we used computational methods, primarily molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations, to shed light into the key interaction-based commonalities leading to the dual binding properties of β-wrapins for both amyloidogenic proteins, to identify which interactions potentially act as switches diminishing β-wrapins' binding activity for Aβ/α-syn, and to examine the binding properties of the current most potent β-wrapin for Aβ. Our analysis provides insights into the distinct role of the key determinants leading to β-wrapin binding to Aβ and α-syn, and suggests that the Aβ 18VFFAED23 and α-syn 38LYVGSK43 are key domains determining the binding specificity of a β-wrapin. Our findings can potentially lead to the discovery of novel therapeutics for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amyloid / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Amyloid / chemistry
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry
  • Antibodies / chemistry*
  • Antibody Specificity
  • Binding Sites
  • Humans
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation, alpha-Helical
  • Protein Conformation, beta-Strand
  • Protein Engineering
  • Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs
  • Protein Multimerization
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Solutions
  • Thermodynamics
  • alpha-Synuclein / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • alpha-Synuclein / chemistry

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Antibodies
  • Solutions
  • alpha-Synuclein