Protein misfolding and formation of β-sheet-rich amyloid fibrils or aggregates is related to cellular toxicity and decay in various human disorders including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Recently, we demonstrated that the polyphenol (-)-epi-gallocatechine gallate (EGCG) inhibits α-synuclein and amyloid-β fibrillogenesis. It associates with natively unfolded polypeptides and promotes the self-assembly of unstructured oligomers of a new type. Whether EGCG disassembles preformed amyloid fibrils, however, remained unclear. Here, we show that EGCG has the ability to convert large, mature α-synuclein and amyloid-β fibrils into smaller, amorphous protein aggregates that are nontoxic to mammalian cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that the compound directly binds to β-sheetrich aggregates and mediates the conformational change without their disassembly into monomers or small diffusible oligomers. These findings suggest that EGCG is a potent remodeling agent of mature amyloid fibrils.Alzheimer | Parkinson | catechine | misfolding | oligomer P revious studies have shown that the polyphenol (-)-epi-gallocatechine gallate (EGCG), found in large amounts in green tea, has antiamyloidogenic properties and modulates the misfolding of disease proteins and prions (1-5). EGCG directly binds to unfolded polypeptide chains and inhibits β-sheet formation, an early event in the amyloid formation cascade (6). In the presence of EGCG, the assembly of a new type of unstructured, SDSstable, nontoxic oligomer was observed, instead of the expected formation of β-sheet-rich aggregates. This suggested that the compound redirects aggregation prone polypeptides into offpathway protein assemblies (6), as has since been confirmed for other flavonoids (7).These findings raise the question of whether EGCG might also be able to disassemble preformed, β-sheet-rich structures as well as earlier intermediates of fibrillogenesis. Other small molecules such as curcumin or short β-sheet breaker peptides were described to have this ability; however, their mechanism of action has not been elucidated (8,9). In the present study, we examined the ability of EGCG to alter the structure of mature amyloid fibrils with biochemical and biophysical as well as cell-based assays. Results and DiscussionTo study the effect of EGCG on preformed amyloid aggregates, we first produced α-synuclein (αS) fibrils by incubating natively unfolded monomers (100 μM) at 37°C for 7 d in phosphate buffer. Then aggregates were characterized by EM, atomic force microscopy (AFM), Thioflavin T (ThT) binding assays, and CD spectroscopy (Fig. S1). We observed that the in vitro generated αS aggregates have a β-sheet structure and a fibrillar morphology. Moreover, they efficiently bind the dye ThT, supporting previously published results (10).Next, we added an equimolar concentration of EGCG to the fibrils (50 μM αS monomer equivalent). The effect of the compound was monitored by time-resolved EM and AFM. We found that EGCG very efficiently remodels the ordered, fibrillar morphology ...

Several lines of evidence indicate that pre-fibrillar assemblies of amyloid- (A)polypeptides

The formation of amyloid fibrils is a common biochemical characteristic that occurs in Alzheimer's disease and several other amyloidoses. The unifying structural feature of amyloid fibrils is their specific type of ␤-sheet conformation that differentiates these fibrils from the products of normal protein folding reactions. Here we describe the generation of an antibody domain, termed B10, that recognizes an amyloid-specific and conformationally defined epitope. This antibody domain was selected by phage-display from a recombinant library of camelid antibody domains. Surface plasmon resonance, immunoblots, and immunohistochemistry show that this antibody domain distinguishes A␤ amyloid fibrils from disaggregated A␤ peptide as well as from specific A␤ oligomers. The antibody domain possesses functional activity in preventing the formation of mature amyloid fibrils by stabilizing A␤ protofibrils. These data suggest possible applications of B10 in the detection of amyloid fibrils or in the modulation of their formation.neurodegeneration ͉ prion ͉ protein folding

The formation of extracellular amyloid plaques is a common patho-biochemical event underlying several debilitating human conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Considerable evidence implies that AD damage arises primarily from small oligomeric amyloid forms of Aβ peptide, but the precise mechanism of pathogenicity remains to be established. Using a cell culture system that reproducibly leads to the formation of Alzheimer’s Aβ amyloid plaques, we show here that the formation of a single amyloid plaque represents a template-dependent process that critically involves the presence of endocytosis- or phagocytosis-competent cells. Internalized Aβ peptide becomes sorted to multivesicular bodies where fibrils grow out, thus penetrating the vesicular membrane. Upon plaque formation, cells undergo cell death and intracellular amyloid structures become released into the extracellular space. These data imply a mechanism where the pathogenic activity of Aβ is attributed, at least in part, to intracellular aggregates.

Development of myelin-forming oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system is dependent on at least two members of the Sox family of high-mobility-group-containing transcription factors. Sox9 is involved in oligodendrocyte specification, whereas Sox10 is required for terminal differentiation. We show that oligodendrocytes in the spinal cord additionally express the highly related Sox8. In Sox8-deficient mice, oligodendrocyte development proceeded normally until birth. However, terminal differentiation of oligodendrocytes was transiently delayed at early postnatal times. Sox8-deficient mice thus exhibited a similar, but less severe phenotype than did Sox10-deficient mice. Terminal oligodendrocyte differentiation was dramatically delayed in Sox8-deficient mice with only a single functional Sox10 allele hinting at redundancy between both Sox proteins. This redundancy was also evident from the fact that Sox8 bound to naturally occurring Sox10 response elements, was able to form DNA-dependent heterodimers with Sox10 and activated Sox10-specific oligodendrocytic target genes in a manner similar to Sox10. However, Sox8 expression levels were significantly lower than those for Sox10. Resulting differences in protein amounts might be a main reason for the weaker impact of Sox8 on oligodendrocyte development and for unidirectional compensation of the Sox8 loss by Sox10.