| 1. |
- Falsig, Jeppe, et al.
(författare)
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Chemical and biophysical insights into the propagation of prion strains
- 2008
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Ingår i: HFSP JOURNAL. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1955-2068. ; 2:6, s. 332-341
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are lethal infectious neurodegenerative diseases. TSEs are caused by prions, infectious agents lacking informational nucleic acids, and possibly identical with higher-order aggregates of the cellular glycolipoprotein PrPC. Prion strains are derived from TSE isolates that, even after inoculation into genetically identical hosts, cause disease with distinct patterns of protein aggregate deposition, incubation times, morphology of the characteristic brain damage, and cellular tropism. Most of these traits are relatively stable across serial passages. Here we review current techniques for studying prion strain differences in vivo and in cells, and discuss the strain phenomena in the general context of the knowledge gained from modeling prion fibril growth in vitro and in simple organisms.
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| 2. |
- Herrmann, Uli S., et al.
(författare)
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Structure-based drug design identifies polythiophenes as antiprion compounds
- 2015
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Ingår i: Science Translational Medicine. - : AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE. - 1946-6234 .- 1946-6242. ; 7:299, s. 299ra123-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prions cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathies for which no treatment exists. Prions consist of PrPSc, a misfolded and aggregated form of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). We explore the antiprion properties of luminescent conjugated polythiophenes (LCPs) that bind and stabilize ordered protein aggregates. By administering a library of structurally diverse LCPs to the brains of prion-infected mice via osmotic minipumps, we found that antiprion activity required a minimum of five thiophene rings bearing regularly spaced carboxyl side groups. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance analyses and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that anionic side chains interacted with complementary, regularly spaced cationic amyloid residues of model prions. These findings allowed us to extract structural rules governing the interaction between LCPs and protein aggregates, which we then used to design a new set of LCPs with optimized binding. The new set of LCPs showed robust prophylactic and therapeutic potency in prion-infected mice, with the lead compound extending survival by greater than80% and showing activity against both mouse and hamster prions as well as efficacy upon intraperitoneal administration into mice. These results demonstrate the feasibility of targeted chemical design of compounds that may be useful for treating diseases of aberrant protein aggregation such as prion disease.
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| 3. |
- Keller, Annika, et al.
(författare)
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Mutations in the gene encoding PDGF-B cause brain calcifications in humans and mice
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 45:9, s. 1077-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Calcifications in the basal ganglia are a common incidental finding and are sometimes inherited as an autosomal dominant trait ( idiopathic basal ganglia calcification (IBGC)). Recently, mutations in the PDGFRB gene coding for the platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGF-R beta) were linked to IBGC. Here we identify six families of different ancestry with nonsense and missense mutations in the gene encoding PDGF-B, the main ligand for PDGF-R beta. We also show that mice carrying hypomorphic Pdgfb alleles develop brain calcifications that show age-related expansion. The occurrence of these calcium depositions depends on the loss of endothelial PDGF-B and correlates with the degree of pericyte and blood-brain barrier deficiency. Thus, our data present a clear link between Pdgfb mutations and brain calcifications in mice, as well as between PDGFB mutations and IBGC in humans.
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| 4. |
- Kirschenbaum, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
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Whole-brain microscopy reveals distinct temporal and spatial efficacy of anti-A beta therapies
- 2023
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Ingår i: EMBO Molecular Medicine. - : WILEY. - 1757-4676 .- 1757-4684. ; 15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many efforts targeting amyloid-beta (A beta) plaques for the treatment of Alzheimers Disease thus far have resulted in failures during clinical trials. Regional and temporal heterogeneity of efficacy and dependence on plaque maturity may have contributed to these disappointing outcomes. In this study, we mapped the regional and temporal specificity of various anti-A beta treatments through high-resolution light-sheet imaging of electrophoretically cleared brains. We assessed the effect on amyloid plaque formation and growth in Thy1-APP/PS1 mice subjected to beta-secretase inhibitors, polythiophenes, or anti-A beta antibodies. Each treatment showed unique spatiotemporal A beta clearance, with polythiophenes emerging as a potent anti-A beta compound. Furthermore, aligning with a spatial-transcriptomic atlas revealed transcripts that correlate with the efficacy of each A beta therapy. As observed in this study, there is a striking dependence of specific treatments on the location and maturity of A beta plaques. This may also contribute to the clinical trial failures of A beta-therapies, suggesting that combinatorial regimens may be significantly more effective in clearing amyloid deposition.
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| 5. |
- Margalith, Ilan, et al.
(författare)
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Polythiophenes Inhibit Prion Propagation by Stabilizing Prion Protein (PrP) Aggregates
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Biological Chemistry. - : American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. - 0021-9258 .- 1083-351X. ; 287:23, s. 18872-18887
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Luminescent conjugated polymers (LCPs) interact with ordered protein aggregates and sensitively detect amyloids of many different proteins, suggesting that they may possess antiprion properties. Here, we show that a variety of anionic, cationic, and zwitterionic LCPs reduced the infectivity of prion-containing brain homogenates and of prion-infected cerebellar organotypic cultured slices and decreased the amount of scrapie isoform of PrPC (PrPSc) oligomers that could be captured in an avidity assay. Paradoxically, treatment enhanced the resistance of PrPSc to proteolysis, triggered the compaction, and enhanced the resistance to proteolysis of recombinant mouse PrP(23-231) fibers. These results suggest that LCPs act as antiprion agents by transitioning PrP aggregates into structures with reduced frangibility. Moreover, ELISA on cerebellar organotypic cultured slices and in vitro conversion assays with mouse PrP(23-231) indicated that poly(thiophene-3-acetic acid) may additionally interfere with the generation of PrPSc by stabilizing the conformation of PrPC or of a transition intermediate. Therefore, LCPs represent a novel class of antiprion agents whose mode of action appears to rely on hyperstabilization, rather than destabilization, of PrPSc deposits.
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| 6. |
- Meisl, Georg, et al.
(författare)
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Scaling behaviour and rate-determining steps in filamentous self-assembly
- 2017
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Ingår i: Chemical Science. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2041-6520 .- 2041-6539. ; 8:10, s. 7087-7097
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The formation of filaments from naturally occurring protein molecules is a process at the core of a range of functional and aberrant biological phenomena, such as the assembly of the cytoskeleton or the appearance of aggregates in Alzheimer's disease. The macroscopic behaviour associated with such processes is remarkably diverse, ranging from simple nucleated growth to highly cooperative processes with a well-defined lagtime. Thus, conventionally, different molecular mechanisms have been used to explain the self-assembly of different proteins. Here we show that this range of behaviour can be quantitatively captured by a single unifying Petri net that describes filamentous growth in terms of aggregate number and aggregate mass concentrations. By considering general features associated with a particular network connectivity, we are able to establish directly the rate-determining steps of the overall aggregation reaction from the system's scaling behaviour. We illustrate the power of this framework on a range of different experimental and simulated aggregating systems. The approach is general and will be applicable to any future extensions of the reaction network of filamentous self-assembly.
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| 7. |
- Ni, Ruiqing, et al.
(författare)
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Multiscale optical and optoacoustic imaging of amyloid-beta deposits in mice
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature Biomedical Engineering. - : NATURE PORTFOLIO. - 2157-846X. ; 6, s. 1031-1044
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large-field multifocal illumination fluorescence microscopy and panoramic volumetric multispectral optoacoustic tomography can be combined to longitudinally assess amyloid-beta deposits in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimers disease. Deposits of amyloid-beta (A beta) in the brains of rodents can be analysed by invasive intravital microscopy on a submillimetre scale, or via whole-brain images from modalities lacking the resolution or molecular specificity to accurately characterize A beta pathologies. Here we show that large-field multifocal illumination fluorescence microscopy and panoramic volumetric multispectral optoacoustic tomography can be combined to longitudinally assess A beta deposits in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimers disease. We used fluorescent A beta-targeted probes (the luminescent conjugated oligothiophene HS-169 and the oxazine-derivative AOI987) to transcranially detect A beta deposits in the cortex of APP/PS1 and arcA beta mice with single-plaque resolution (8 mu m) and across the whole brain (including the hippocampus and the thalamus, which are inaccessible by conventional intravital microscopy) at sub-150 mu m resolutions. Two-photon microscopy, light-sheet microscopy and immunohistochemistry of brain-tissue sections confirmed the specificity and regional distributions of the deposits. High-resolution multiscale optical and optoacoustic imaging of A beta deposits across the entire brain in rodents thus facilitates the in vivo study of A beta accumulation by brain region and by animal age and strain.
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| 8. |
- Nilsson, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Structural typing of systemic amyloidoses by luminescent-conjugated polymer spectroscopy.
- 2010
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Ingår i: The American journal of pathology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1525-2191 .- 0002-9440. ; 176:2, s. 563-574
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Most systemic amyloidoses are progressive and lethal, and their therapy depends on the identification of the offending proteins. Here we report that luminescent-conjugated thiophene polymers (LCP) sensitively detect amyloid deposits. The heterodisperse polythiophene acetic acid derivatives, polythiophene acetic acid (PTAA) and trimeric PTAA, emitted yellow-red fluorescence on binding to amyloid deposits, whereas chemically homogeneous pentameric formic thiophene acetic acid emitted green-yellow fluorescence. The geometry of LCPs modulates the spectral composition of the emitted light, thereby reporting ligand-induced steric changes. Accordingly, a screen of PTAA-stained amyloid deposits in histological tissue arrays revealed striking spectral differences between specimens. Blinded cluster assignments of spectral profiles of tissue samples from 108 tissue samples derived from 96 patients identified three nonoverlapping classes, which were found to match AA, AL, and ATTR immunotyping. We conclude that LCP spectroscopy is a sensitive and powerful tool for identifying and characterizing amyloid deposits.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Ries, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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Superresolution Imaging of Amyloid Fibrils with Binding-Activated Probes
- 2013
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Ingår i: ACS Chemical Neuroscience. - : American Chemical Society. - 1948-7193. ; 4:7, s. 1057-1061
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Protein misfolding into amyloid-like aggregates underlies many neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, insights into the structure and function of these amyloids will provide valuable information on the pathological mechanisms involved and aid in the design of improved drugs for treating amyloid-based disorders. However, determining the structure of endogenous amyloids at high resolution has been difficult. Here we employ binding-activated localization microscopy (BALM) to acquire superresolution images of alpha-synuclein amyloid fibrils with unprecedented optical resolution. We propose that BALM imaging can be extended to study the structure of other amyloids, for differential diagnosis of amyloid-related diseases and for discovery of drugs that perturb amyloid structure for therapy.
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