Self-assembly of amyloid beta into fibrillar plaques is characteristic of Alzheimer's disease and oligomers of this peptide are believed to be involved in neurodegeneration. Natural organic dyes, such as congo red and curcumin, bind tightly to amyloid beta and, at higher concentrations, block its self-assembly. The ability of these molecules to prevent amyloid accumulation has generated interest in understanding which of their structural features contribute to inhibitory potency. In general, amyloid beta ligands tend to be flat, planar molecules with substituted aromatic end groups; however, a comprehensive structure-activity study has not been reported. To better understand these ligands, we surveyed the effect of three prominent features on inhibition of amyloid aggregation: the presence of two aromatic end groups, the substitution pattern of these aromatics, and the length and flexibility of the linker region. We found that modification of any one of the modules has profound effects on activity. Further, we report that the optimal length of the linker lies within a surprisingly narrow regime (6-19 A). These results offer insight into the key chemical features required for inhibiting amyloid beta aggregation. In turn, these findings help define the nature of the docking site for small molecules on the amyloid beta surface.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the deposition of amyloids in the brain. One prominent form of amyloid is composed of repeating units of the amyloid-b (Ab) peptide. Over the past decade, it has become clear that these Ab amyloids are not homogeneous; rather, they are composed of a series of structures varying in their overall size and shape and the number of Ab peptides they contain. Recent theories suggest that these different amyloid conformations may play distinct roles in disease, although their relative contributions are still being discovered. Here, we review how chemical probes, such as Congo red, thioflavin T and their derivatives, have been powerful tools for the better understanding of amyloid structure and function. Moreover, we discuss how design and deployment of conformationally selective probes might be used to test emerging models of AD.
Curli are functional amyloids produced by enteric bacteria. The major curli fiber subunit, CsgA, self-assembles into an amyloid fiber in vitro. The minor curli subunit protein, CsgB, is required for CsgA polymerization on the cell surface. Both CsgA and CsgB are composed of five predicted β–strand-loop-β–strand-loop repeating units that feature conserved glutamine and asparagine residues. Because of this structural homology, we proposed that CsgB might form an amyloid template that initiates CsgA polymerization on the cell surface. To test this model, we purified wild-type CsgB, and found that it self-assembled into amyloid fibers in vitro. Preformed CsgB fibers seeded CsgA polymerization as did soluble CsgB added to the surface of cells secreting soluble CsgA. To define the molecular basis of CsgB nucleation, we generated a series of mutants that removed each of the five repeating units. Each of these CsgB deletion mutants was capable of self-assembly in vitro. In vivo, membrane-localized mutants lacking the 1st, 2nd or 3rd repeating units were able to convert CsgA into fibers. However, mutants missing either the 4th or 5th repeating units were unable to complement a csgB mutant. These mutant proteins were not localized to the outer membrane, but were instead secreted into the extracellular milieu. Synthetic CsgB peptides corresponding to repeating units 1, 2 and 4 self assembled into ordered amyloid polymers, while peptides corresponding to repeating units 3 and 5 did not, suggesting that there are redundant amyloidogenic domains in CsgB. Our results suggest a model where the rapid conversion of CsgB from unstructured protein to a β-sheet-rich amyloid template anchored to the cell surface is mediated by the C-terminal repeating units.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the self-assembly of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides. Recent models implicate some of the earliest Aβ oligomers, such as trimers and tetramers, in disease. However, the roles of these structures remain uncertain, in part, because selective probes of their formation are not available. Towards that goal, we generated bivalent versions of the known Aβ ligand, the pentapeptide KLVFF. We found that compounds containing sufficiently long linkers (~19 to 24 Å) recognized primarily Aβ trimers and tetramers, with little binding to either monomer or higher order structures. These compounds might be useful probes for early Aβ oligomers.
Plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) is a member of the serine protease inhibitor (serpin) family. Excessive PAI-1 activity is associated with human disease, making it an attractive pharmaceutical target. However, like other serpins, PAI-1 has a labile structure, making it a difficult target for the development of small molecule inhibitors, and to date, there are no US Food and Drug Administration-approved small molecule inactivators of any serpins. Here we describe the mechanistic and structural characterization of a high affinity inactivator of PAI-1. This molecule binds to PAI-1 reversibly and acts through an allosteric mechanism that inhibits PAI-1 binding to proteases and to its cofactor vitronectin. The binding site is identified by X-ray crystallography and mutagenesis as a pocket at the interface of β-sheets B and C and α-helix H. A similar pocket is present on other serpins, suggesting that this site could be a common target in this structurally conserved protein family.fibrinolysis | thrombolysis | fibrosis | cancer P lasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) is a serine protease inhibitor (serpin) implicated in numerous pathological processes, including coronary heart disease, chronic fibrotic and inflammatory diseases, and tumor invasion and metastasis (1-6). These associations have made PAI-1 an attractive pharmaceutical target. However, despite extensive studies, only a few small molecule inhibitors have been identified thus far (7-16), and the majority of these are poor pharmaceutical candidates as they have relatively low affinity for PAI-1 and are unable to inactivate PAI-1 bound to its plasma cofactor vitronectin.PAI-1 is the most potent physiologic inhibitor of tissue-type and urokinase-type plasminogen activators (tPA and uPA, respectively) (17). Like other serpins, PAI-1 has a solvent-exposed, reactive center loop (RCL) that contains an amino acid sequence that confers protease target specificity. The serpin inhibitory mechanism is a multistep process of coordinated conformational changes that are necessary to trap a target protease (18). The first step is the formation of a noncovalent Michaelis complex, followed by the initial steps of a typical serine protease catalytic attack leading to the covalent acyl-enzyme complex (19). However, before the protease can dissociate from the serpin, a dramatic conformational change occurs [termed the stressed to relaxed (S to R) transition], in which the cleaved RCL inserts into the central β-sheet A, translocating the covalently-bound protease 70 Å to the base of β-sheet A (20). This conformational change results in distortion of the protease active site (21,22) and thereby prevents the deacylation reaction, inactivating the protease. Should this conformational change be interrupted, the protease can complete its cleavage of the serpin RCL, remaining active and leaving the serpin in a cleaved, inactive, loop-inserted state (23).PAI-1 is unique among serpins in that it readily autoinactivates into a so-called latent form, where the PAI-1 ...
Aggregated amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide is implicated in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. In vitro and in vivo, these aggregates are found in a variety of morphologies, including globular oligomers and linear fibrils, which possess distinct biological activities. However, known chemical probes, including the dyes thioflavin T and Congo Red, appear to lack selectivity for specific amyloid structures. To identify molecules that might differentiate between these architectures, we employed a fluorescence-based interaction assay to screen a collection of 68 known Aβ ligands against preformed oligomers and fibrils. In these studies, we found that the fluorescence of five indole-based compounds was selectively quenched (~15%) in the presence of oligomers, but remained unchanged after addition of fibrils. These results suggest that indoles might be complementary to existing chemical probes for studying amyloid formation in vitro.
In Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders, proteins accumulate into ordered aggregates, called amyloids. Recent evidence suggests that these structures include both large, insoluble fibrils and smaller, prefibrillar structures, such as dimers, oligomers, and protofibrils. Recently, focus has shifted to the prefibrillar aggregates because they are highly neurotoxic and their levels appear to correlate with cognitive impairment. Thus, there is interest in finding methods for specifically quantifying these structures. One of the classic ways of detecting amyloid formation is through the fluorescence of the benzothiazole dye, thioflavin T (ThT). This reagent has been a “workhorse” of the amyloid field because it is robust and inexpensive. However, one of its limitations is that it does not distinguish between prefibrillar and fibrillar aggregates. We screened a library of 37 indoles for those that selectively change fluorescence in the presence of prefibrillar amyloid-β(Aβ). From this process, we selected the most promising example, tryptophanol (TROL), to use in a quantitative “thioflavin-like” assay. Using this probe in combination with electron microscopy, we found that prefibrils are largely depleted during Aβ aggregation in vitro but that they remain present after the apparent saturation of the ThT signal. These results suggest that a combination of TROL and ThT provides greater insight into the process of amyloid formation by Aβ. In addition, we found that TROL also recognizes other amyloid-prone proteins, including ataxin-3, amylin, and CsgA. Thus, this assay might be an inexpensive spectroscopic method for quantifying amyloid prefibrils in vitro.
Edited by John M. DenuPlasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) is a serine protease inhibitor (serpin) implicated in numerous pathological processes, including coronary heart disease, arterial and venous thrombosis, and chronic fibrotic diseases. These associations have made PAI-1 an attractive pharmaceutical target. However, the complexity of the serpin inhibitory mechanism, the inherent metastability of serpins, and the high-affinity association of PAI-1 with vitronectin in vivo have made it difficult to identify pharmacologically effective small-molecule inhibitors. Moreover, the majority of current small-molecule PAI-1 inhibitors are poor pharmaceutical candidates. To this end and to find leads that can be efficiently applied to in vivo settings, we developed a dual-reporter highthroughput screen (HTS) that reduced the rate of nonspecific and promiscuous hits and identified leads that inhibit human PAI-1 in the high-protein environments present in vivo. Using this system, we screened >152,000 pure compounds and 27,000 natural product extracts (NPEs), reducing the apparent hit rate by almost 10-fold compared with previous screening approaches. Furthermore, screening in a high-protein environment permitted the identification of compounds that retained activity in both ex vivo plasma and in vivo. Following lead identification, subsequent medicinal chemistry and structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies identified a lead clinical candidate, MDI-2268, having excellent pharmacokinetics, potent activity against vitronectinbound PAI-1 in vivo, and efficacy in a murine model of venous thrombosis. This rigorous HTS approach eliminates promiscuous candidate leads, significantly accelerates the process of identifying PAI-1 inhibitors that can be rapidly deployed in vivo, and has enabled identification of a potent lead compound.
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