About this deal
Tang, Y., Zhang, D., Gong, X. & Zheng, J. Repurposing of intestinal defensins as multi-target, dual-function amyloid inhibitors via cross-seeding. Chem. Sci. 13, 7143–7156 (2022). Kollmer, M. et al. Electron tomography reveals the fibril structure and lipid interactions in amyloid deposits. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 5604–5609 (2016).
Agarwal, A., Arora, L., Rai, S. K., Avni, A. & Mukhopadhyay, S. Spatiotemporal modulations in heterotypic condensates of prion and α-synuclein control phase transitions and amyloid conversion. Nat. Commun. 13, 1154 (2022).
Non-invasive protein therapies
Gallardo, R. et al. Fibril structures of diabetes-related amylin variants reveal a basis for surface-templated assembly. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 27, 1048–1056 (2020).
Tobore, T.O. Oxidative/Nitroxidative Stress and Multiple Sclerosis. J. Mol. Neurosci. 2021, 71, 506–514. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] [ PubMed] Dewar, D.; Underhill, S.M.; Goldberg, M.P. Oligodendrocytes and Ischemic Brain Injury. J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab. 2003, 23, 263–274. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef][ Green Version] Agerschou, E. D. et al. An engineered monomer binding-protein for α-synuclein efficiently inhibits the proliferation of amyloid fibrils. eLife https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.46112 (2019). PKU is an inborn error of metabolism caused by a mutation in the gene encoding the phenylalanine hydroxylase enzyme that converts the essential amino acid phenylalanine (Phe) into tyrosine. Without a functional version of this enzyme, Phe builds up to toxic levels, causing neurological damage in the brain that leads to intellectual disability, seizures, and cognitive and behavioral disabilities. As Phe is present in almost all dietary protein, the estimated 50,000 PKU patients in the developed world must adhere to a strict, lifelong, low-Phe diet consisting of designated medical foods and nutritional supplements. However, as their caloric requirements increase with age, many patients are unable to continue adhering to PKU diets.
The technology
Morris, R. J. et al. Mechanistic and environmental control of the prevalence and lifetime of amyloid oligomers. Nat. Commun. 4, 1891 (2013). Lövestam, S. et al. Assembly of recombinant tau into filaments identical to those of Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. eLife 11, e76494 (2022).