New Hypothesis Posited for Amyloid Disease

A U.S. study suggests degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type 2 diabetes might share common molecular level structural features.

The findings by David Eisenberg and colleagues at the University of California-Los Angeles suggest an atomic-level hypothesis for those conditions.

It’s already known amyloid diseases share certain similarities, since in each disease a different protein folds abnormally. That yields clumps known as amyloid fibrils. But the fibril aggregates are always remarkably similar.

Eisenberg’s study identified 30 short fibril-forming peptides taken from a large range of amyloid diseases and solved the atomic structure of 13 of them. The findings reveal one common feature: the steric zipper that glues together pairs of interwoven amino acids called beta-sheets.

The researchers said their study might help to explain why amyloid fibrils from different diseases are so strong, despite the fact that they are formed from different proteins. It might also lead to new therapies for the illnesses.

The study is presented online in the journal Nature.