Fundamentals of cross-seeding of amyloid proteins: an introduction

J Mater Chem B. 2019 Dec 14;7(46):7267-7282. doi: 10.1039/c9tb01871a. Epub 2019 Oct 24.

Abstract

Misfolded protein aggregates formed by the same (homologous) or different (heterologous/cross) sequences are the pathological hallmarks of many protein misfolding diseases (PMDs) including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Different from homologous-amyloid aggregation that is solely associated with a specific PMD, cross-amyloid aggregation (i.e. cross-seeding) of different amyloid proteins is more fundamentally and biologically important for understanding and untangling not only the pathological process of each PMD, but also a potential molecular cross-talk between different PMDs. However, the cross-amyloid aggregation is still a subject poorly explored and little is known about its sequence/structure-dependent aggregation mechanisms, as compared to the widely studied homo-amyloid aggregation. Here, we review the most recent and important findings of amyloid cross-seeding behaviors from in vitro, in vivo, and in silico studies. Some typical cross-seeding phenomena between Aβ/hIAPP, Aβ/tau, Aβ/α-synuclein, and tau/α-synuclein are selected and presented, and the underlying specific or general cross-seeding mechanisms are also discussed to better reveal their sequence-structure-property relationships. The potential use of the cross-seeding concept to design amyloid inhibitors is also proposed. Finally, we offer some personal perspectives on current major challenges and future research directions in this less-studied yet important field, and hopefully this work will stimulate more research to explore all possible fundamental and practical aspects of amyloid cross-seeding.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry
  • Amyloidogenic Proteins / chemistry*
  • Animals
  • Computer Simulation
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Parkinson Disease / metabolism*
  • Prion Proteins / chemistry
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Folding
  • Protein Isoforms
  • tau Proteins / chemistry

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Amyloidogenic Proteins
  • Prion Proteins
  • Protein Isoforms
  • tau Proteins