We have previously shown that a subpopulation of naturally occurring human IgGs were cross-reactive against conformational epitopes on pathologic aggregates of A, a peptide that forms amyloid fibrils in the brains of patients with Alzheimer disease, inhibited amyloid fibril growth, and dissociated amyloid in vivo. Here, we describe similar anti-amyloidogenic activity that is a general property of free human Ig ␥ heavy chains. A ␥ 1 heavy chain, F1, had nanomolar binding to an amyloid fibril-related conformational epitope on synthetic oligomers and fibrils as well as on amyloidladen tissue sections. F1 did not bind to native A monomers, further indicating the conformational nature of its binding site. The inherent anti-amyloidogenic activity of Ig ␥ heavy chains was demonstrated by nanomolar amyloid fibril and oligomer binding by polyclonal and monoclonal human heavy chains that were isolated from inert or weakly reactive antibodies. Most importantly, the F1 heavy chain prevented in vitro fibril growth and reduced in vivo soluble A oligomer-induced impairment of rodent hippocampal long term potentiation, a cellular mechanism of learning and memory. These findings demonstrate that free human Ig ␥ heavy chains comprise a novel class of molecules for developing potential therapeutics for Alzheimer disease and other amyloid disorders. Moreover, establishing the molecular basis for heavy chain-amyloidogenic conformer interactions should advance understanding on the types of interactions that these pathologic assemblies have with biological molecules.
Alzheimer disease (AD)3 is approaching global epidemic proportions and is the most common of over 25 incurable protein misfolding diseases that are termed the amyloidoses (1, 2). A hallmark of the disease is deposition of amyloid fibril-containing neuritic plaques that are formed by abnormal processing of -amyloid protein (A), a proteolyzed transmembrane 39 -43 fragment of amyloid precursor protein (3). Diverse experimental studies support a central pathogenic role for aggregated A, which in the brain initiates a cascade of events that ultimately lead to neuronal dysfunction and death (4 -6). The most neurotoxic A species are low molecular weight oligomers (5), which include noncovalently linked species (7-9) and dityrosine cross-linked -amyloid protein species (CAPS) (10).Active vaccination with A or passive administration of anti-A antibodies has shown promise in transgenic AD animal models and in some AD patients by inducing neuritic plaque clearance, neutralizing neurotoxic soluble A oligomers, and/or improving cognitive functioning (6,8,(11)(12)(13). Immunotherapy has generally targeted linear sequence epitopes on A (13). However, antibodies that do not distinguish between pathologic A conformers and the monomeric peptide may have adverse effects because the native peptide has been implicated in normal lipid and cholesterol homeostasis (14). Of potentially greater use are antibodies that cross-react with conformational epitopes on pathogenic aggregated A...