Dataset Information

Abundant pyroglutamate-modified ABri and ADan peptides in extracellular and vascular amyloid deposits in familial British and Danish dementias.

ABSTRACT: Familial British and familial Danish dementia (FDD) are progressive neurodegenerative disorders characterized by cerebral deposition of the amyloidogenic peptides ABri and ADan, respectively. These amyloid peptides start with an N-terminal glutamate residue, which can be posttranslationally converted into a pyroglutamate (pGlu) modified form, a mechanism which has been extensively described to be relevant for amyloid-beta (A?) peptides in Alzheimer's disease. Like pGlu-A? peptides, pGlu-ABri peptides have an increased aggregation propensity and show higher toxicity on human neuroblastoma cells as their nonmodified counterparts. We have generated novel N-terminal specific antibodies detecting the pGlu-modified forms of ABri and ADan peptides. With these antibodies we were able to identify abundant extracellular amyloid plaques, vascular, and parenchymal deposits in human familial British dementia and FDD brain tissue, and in a mouse model for FDD. Double-stainings using C-terminal specific antibodies in human samples revealed that highly aggregated pGlu-ABri and pGlu-ADan peptides are mainly present in plaque cores and central vascular deposits, leading to the assumption that these peptides have seeding properties. Furthermore, in an FDD-mouse model ADan peptides were detected in presynaptic terminals of the hippocampus where they might contribute to impaired synaptic transmission. These similarities of ABri and ADan to A? in Alzheimer's disease suggest that the posttranslational pGlu-modification of amyloid peptides might represent a general pathological mechanism leading to increased aggregation and toxicity in these forms of degenerative dementias.

SUBMITTER: Saul A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3570712 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Abundant pyroglutamate-modified ABri and ADan peptides in extracellular and vascular amyloid deposits in familial British and Danish dementias.

Saul Anika A Lashley Tammaryn T Revesz Tamas T Holton Janice J Ghiso Jorge A JA Coomaraswamy Janaky J Wirths Oliver O

Neurobiology of aging 20121220 5

Familial British and familial Danish dementia (FDD) are progressive neurodegenerative disorders characterized by cerebral deposition of the amyloidogenic peptides ABri and ADan, respectively. These amyloid peptides start with an N-terminal glutamate residue, which can be posttranslationally converted into a pyroglutamate (pGlu) modified form, a mechanism which has been extensively described to be relevant for amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides in Alzheimer's disease. Like pGlu-Aβ peptides, pGlu-ABri pep ...[more]

PMID: 23261769

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Project description:Familial British and Familial Danish dementias (FBD and FDD, respectively) are associated with mutations in the BRI2 gene. Processing of the mutated BRI2 protein leads to the accumulation in the brain of the 34-mer amyloid Bri (ABri) and amyloid Dan (ADan) peptides, accompanied by neurofibrillary tangles. Recently, transgenic mice successfully reproduced different aspects of FDD, while modeling of FBD in vivo has been more difficult. In this work we have modeled FBD and FDD in Drosophila and tested the hypothesis that ABri and ADan are differentially neurotoxic.By using site-directed insertion, we generated transgenic lines carrying ABri, ADan, Bri2-23 (the normal product of wild-type BRI2 processing) and amyloid-? (A?) 1-42 as a well-characterized neurotoxic peptide, alone or with a His-tag. Therefore, we avoided random insertion effects and were able to compare levels of accumulation accurately. Peptides were expressed with the GAL4-Upstream Activating Sequence (UAS) system using specific drivers. Despite low levels of expression, toxicity in the eye was characterized by mild disorganization of ommatidia and amyloid peptides accumulation. The highest toxicity was seen for ADan, followed by A?42 and ABri. Pan-neuronal expression in the CNS revealed an age-dependent toxicity of amyloid peptides as determined by the ability of flies to climb in a geotaxis paradigm when compared to Bri2-23. This effect was stronger for ADan, detected at 7 days post-eclosion, and followed by ABri and A?42, whose toxicity became evident after 15 and 21 days, respectively. Histological analysis showed mild vacuolization and thioflavine-S-negative deposits of amyloid peptides. In contrast, the over-expression of amyloid peptides in the specific subset of lateral neurons that control circadian locomotor activity showed no toxicity.Our results support the differential neurotoxicity of ADan and ABri in the Drosophila eye and CNS at low expression levels. Such differences may be partially attributed to rates of aggregation and accumulation. In the CNS, both peptides appear to be more neurotoxic than wild-type A?42. These Drosophila models will allow a systematic and unambiguous comparison of differences and similarities in the mechanisms of toxicity of diverse amyloid peptides associated with dementia.

Project description:Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in the elderly and is characterized by memory loss and cognitive decline. Pathological hallmark of AD brains are intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and extracellular amyloid plaques. The major component of these plaques is the highly heterogeneous amyloid-? (A?) peptide, varying in length and modification. In recent years pyroglutamate-modified amyloid-? (pEA?) peptides have increasingly moved into the focus since they have been described to be the predominant species of all N-terminally truncated A?. Compared to unmodified A?, pEA? is known to show increased hydrophobicity, higher toxicity, faster aggregation and ?-sheet stabilization and is more resistant to degradation. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a particularly powerful method to investigate the conformations of pEA? isoforms in solution and to study peptide/ligand interactions for drug development. However, biophysical characterization of pEA? and comparison to its non-modified variant has so far been seriously hampered by the lack of highly pure recombinant and isotope-enriched protein. Here we present, to our knowledge, for the first time a reproducible protocol for the production of pEA? from a recombinant precursor expressed in E. coli in natural isotope abundance as well as in uniformly [U-15N]- or [U-13C, 15N]-labeled form, with yields of up to 15 mg/l E. coli culture broth. The chemical state of the purified protein was evaluated by RP-HPLC and formation of pyroglutamate was verified by mass spectroscopy. The recombinant pyroglutamate-modified A? peptides showed characteristic sigmoidal aggregation kinetics as monitored by thioflavin-T assays. The quality and quantity of produced pEA?40 and pEA?42 allowed us to perform heteronuclear multidimensional NMR spectroscopy in solution and to sequence-specifically assign the backbone resonances under near-physiological conditions. Our results suggest that the presented method will be useful in obtaining cost-effective high-quality recombinant pEA?40 and pEA?42 for further physiological and biochemical studies.

Dataset Information

Abundant pyroglutamate-modified ABri and ADan peptides in extracellular and vascular amyloid deposits in familial British and Danish dementias.

Publications

Abundant pyroglutamate-modified ABri and ADan peptides in extracellular and vascular amyloid deposits in familial British and Danish dementias.

Similar Datasets

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