Amyloid : the international journal of experimental and clinical investigation : the official journal of the International Society of Amyloidosis
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Inflammation is a key pathological hallmark of several neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP). Among all inflammatory cytokines associated with FAP, IL-1β, in particular, has been implicated in playing a key pathogenic role. In the present study, we sought to investigate whether blocking IL-1β signaling provides disease-modifying benefits in an FAP mouse model. ⋯ The present work highlights the relevance of the IL-1 signaling pathway in the pathophysiology of FAP. Our results bring to light the importance of non-amyloid targets in the therapeutic strategies for this disorder. Thus, we propose the use of Anakinra as a potential therapeutic agent for TTR-related amyloidosis.
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Age-related cataract formation is marked by the progressive aggregation of lens proteins. The formation of protein aggregates in the aging lens has been shown to correlate with the progressive accumulation of a range of post-translational crystallin modifications, including oxidation, deamidation, racemization, methylation, acetylation, N- and C-terminal truncations and low molecular weight (LMW) crystallin fragments. We found that an αA-crystallin-derived peptide, αA66-80 (1.8 kDa), is a prominent LMW peptide concentrated in water-insoluble fractions of the aging lens. ⋯ We found that proline replacement of any residue in the sequence FVIFLDV, which corresponds to residues 71-77, led to an absence of both fibril formation and α-crystallin aggregation. The apparently critical role of 71-77 residues in αA66-80 explains their significance in the self-assembly processes of the peptide and further provide insights into the mechanism of peptide-induced aggregation. Our findings may have applications in the design of peptide aggregation inhibitors.
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Protein and peptide drugs administered subcutaneously, such as insulin can be amyloidogenic and result in localized amyloid deposits at the sites of medication injections. These iatrogenic amyloidoses typically present as a localized subcutaneous nodule or skin reaction at the site of administration, and often pose diagnostic challenges. ⋯ Mass spectrometry-based amyloid sub-typing allows for accurate amyloid diagnosis with resultant therapeutic and prognostic implications. This insight into the amyloid proteome in drug-induced amyloidosis may help further understand pathogenesis of amyloid fibril formation.
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Familial Amyloidosis of Finnish type (FAF) is a rare type of autosomal dominant hereditary amyloidosis associated with genetic variants of gelsolin. Three amyloidogenic mutations have previously been reported characteristically presenting with ophthalmologic abnormalities, progressive cranial neuropathy and cutis laxa. We report a novel gelsolin variant in a 62-year-old man with nephrotic range proteinuria of 13.2 grams/day as the only presenting symptom. ⋯ Four of 13 asymptomatic family members were found to be heterozygous for the p. N211K mutation, three of whom had proteinuria of varying degree including one who proceeded to renal biopsy and was confirmed to have renal amyloidosis. Follow-up of these cases might give us more insight into pathogenicity and potential treatment strategy of this atypical presentation of gelsolin amyloidosis.
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Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is a genetic disease caused by a point mutation in the TTR gene that causes the liver to produce an unstable TTR protein. The most effective treatment has been liver transplantation in order to replace the variant TTR producing liver with one that produces only wild-type TTR. ATTR amyloidosis patients' livers are reused for liver sick patients, i.e. the Domino procedure. However, recent findings have demonstrated that ATTR amyloidosis can develop in the recipients within 7-8 years. The aim of this study was to elucidate how the genetic profile of the liver is affected by the disease, and how amyloid deposits affect target tissue. ⋯ ATTR amyloid patients' gene expression profile of the main source organ, the liver, differed markedly from that of the controls, whereas the target organs' gene expression profiles were not markedly altered in the ATTR amyloid patients compared to those of the controls. An impaired ER/protein folding pathway might suggest ER overload due to mutated TTR protein.