| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Garcia-Closas, Montserrat, et al.
(författare)
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Heterogeneity of breast cancer associations with five susceptibility loci by clinical and pathological characteristics
- 2008
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Ingår i: PLoS genetics. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7404. ; 4:4, s. e1000054-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A three-stage genome-wide association study recently identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in five loci (fibroblast growth receptor 2 (FGFR2), trinucleotide repeat containing 9 (TNRC9), mitogen-activated protein kinase 3 K1 (MAP3K1), 8q24, and lymphocyte-specific protein 1 (LSP1)) associated with breast cancer risk. We investigated whether the associations between these SNPs and breast cancer risk varied by clinically important tumor characteristics in up to 23,039 invasive breast cancer cases and 26,273 controls from 20 studies. We also evaluated their influence on overall survival in 13,527 cases from 13 studies. All participants were of European or Asian origin. rs2981582 in FGFR2 was more strongly related to ER-positive (per-allele OR (95%CI) = 1.31 (1.27-1.36)) than ER-negative (1.08 (1.03-1.14)) disease (P for heterogeneity = 10(-13)). This SNP was also more strongly related to PR-positive, low grade and node positive tumors (P = 10(-5), 10(-8), 0.013, respectively). The association for rs13281615 in 8q24 was stronger for ER-positive, PR-positive, and low grade tumors (P = 0.001, 0.011 and 10(-4), respectively). The differences in the associations between SNPs in FGFR2 and 8q24 and risk by ER and grade remained significant after permutation adjustment for multiple comparisons and after adjustment for other tumor characteristics. Three SNPs (rs2981582, rs3803662, and rs889312) showed weak but significant associations with ER-negative disease, the strongest association being for rs3803662 in TNRC9 (1.14 (1.09-1.21)). rs13281615 in 8q24 was associated with an improvement in survival after diagnosis (per-allele HR = 0.90 (0.83-0.97). The association was attenuated and non-significant after adjusting for known prognostic factors. Our findings show that common genetic variants influence the pathological subtype of breast cancer and provide further support for the hypothesis that ER-positive and ER-negative disease are biologically distinct. Understanding the etiologic heterogeneity of breast cancer may ultimately result in improvements in prevention, early detection, and treatment.
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| 3. |
- Cox, Angela, et al.
(författare)
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A common coding variant in CASP8 is associated with breast cancer risk
- 2007
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 39:3, s. 352-358
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) has been established to conduct combined case-control analyses with augmented statistical power to try to confirm putative genetic associations with breast cancer. We genotyped nine SNPs for which there was some prior evidence of an association with breast cancer: CASP8 D302H (rs1045485), IGFBP3 -202 C --> A (rs2854744), SOD2 V16A (rs1799725), TGFB1 L10P (rs1982073), ATM S49C (rs1800054), ADH1B 3' UTR A --> G (rs1042026), CDKN1A S31R (rs1801270), ICAM5 V301I (rs1056538) and NUMA1 A794G (rs3750913). We included data from 9-15 studies, comprising 11,391-18,290 cases and 14,753-22,670 controls. We found evidence of an association with breast cancer for CASP8 D302H (with odds ratios (OR) of 0.89 (95% confidence interval (c.i.): 0.85-0.94) and 0.74 (95% c.i.: 0.62-0.87) for heterozygotes and rare homozygotes, respectively, compared with common homozygotes; P(trend) = 1.1 x 10(-7)) and weaker evidence for TGFB1 L10P (OR = 1.07 (95% c.i.: 1.02-1.13) and 1.16 (95% c.i.: 1.08-1.25), respectively; P(trend) = 2.8 x 10(-5)). These results demonstrate that common breast cancer susceptibility alleles with small effects on risk can be identified, given sufficiently powerful studies.
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| 4. |
- Aguilar-Calvo, Patricia, et al.
(författare)
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Neuronal Ndst1 depletion accelerates prion protein clearance and slows neurodegeneration in prion infection
- 2023
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Ingår i: PLoS Pathogens. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1553-7366 .- 1553-7374. ; 19:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Select prion diseases are characterized by widespread cerebral plaque-like deposits of amyloid fibrils enriched in heparan sulfate (HS), a major extracellular matrix component. HS facilitates fibril formation in vitro, yet how HS impacts fibrillar plaque growth within the brain is unclear. Here we found that prion-bound HS chains are highly sulfated, and that the sulfation is essential for accelerating prion conversion in vitro. Using conditional knockout mice to deplete the HS sulfation enzyme, Ndst1 (N-deacetylase / N-sulfotransferase), from neurons or astrocytes, we then investigated how reducing HS sulfation impacts survival and prion aggregate distribution during a prion infection. Neuronal Ndst1-depleted mice survived longer and showed fewer and smaller parenchymal plaques, shorter fibrils, and increased vascular amyloid, consistent with enhanced aggregate transit toward perivascular drainage channels. The prolonged survival was strain-dependent, only affecting mice infected with extracellular, plaque-forming, but not membrane bound, prions. Live PET imaging revealed rapid clearance of recombinant prion protein monomers into the CSF of mice expressing unsulfated HS, further suggesting that HS sulfate groups hinder transit of extracellular prion protein monomers. Our results directly show how a host cofactor slows the spread of prion protein through the extracellular space and identify an enzyme to target to facilitate aggregate clearance. Prions cause a rapidly progressive neurologic disease and death with no curative treatment available. Prion aggregates accumulate exponentially in the brain of affected individuals triggering neuronal loss and neuroinflammation, yet the molecules that facilitate prion protein aggregation are largely unknown. We have found that prions in the brain preferentially bind to a highly sulfated endogenous polysaccharide, known as heparan sulfate (HS). Here we use genetically modified mice that express poorly sulfated, neuron-derived HS, and infect mice with different prions strains. We find that mice infected with a plaque-forming prion strain show a prolonged survival and fewer plaques compared to controls. We also found that recombinant prion protein was efficiently transported within the interstitial fluid of mice having poorly sulfated HS, suggesting more efficient clearance from the brain. Our study provides insight into how HS retains prion aggregates in the brain to accelerate disease and indicates a specific HS biosynthetic enzyme to target to enhance protein clearance.
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| 5. |
- Bett, Cyrus, et al.
(författare)
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Defining the Conformational Features of Anchorless, Poorly Neuroinvasive Prions
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLoS Pathogens. - : Public Library of Science. - 1553-7366 .- 1553-7374. ; 9:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Infectious prions cause diverse clinical signs and form an extraordinary range of structures, from amorphous aggregates to fibrils. How the conformation of a prion dictates the disease phenotype remains unclear. Mice expressing GPI-anchorless or GPI-anchored prion protein exposed to the same infectious prion develop fibrillar or nonfibrillar aggregates, respectively, and show a striking divergence in the disease pathogenesis. To better understand how a prion's physical properties govern the pathogenesis, infectious anchorless prions were passaged in mice expressing anchorless prion protein and the resulting prions were biochemically characterized. Serial passage of anchorless prions led to a significant decrease in the incubation period to terminal disease and altered the biochemical properties, consistent with a transmission barrier effect. After an intraperitoneal exposure, anchorless prions were only weakly neuroinvasive, as prion plaques rarely occurred in the brain yet were abundant in extracerebral sites such as heart and adipose tissue. Anchorless prions consistently showed very high stability in chaotropes or when heated in SDS, and were highly resistant to enzyme digestion. Consistent with the results in mice, anchorless prions from a human patient were also highly stable in chaotropes. These findings reveal that anchorless prions consist of fibrillar and highly stable conformers. The additional finding from our group and others that both anchorless and anchored prion fibrils are poorly neuroinvasive strengthens the hypothesis that a fibrillar prion structure impedes efficient CNS invasion.
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| 6. |
- Klingstedt, Therése, et al.
(författare)
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The structural basis for optimal performance of oligothiophene based fluorescent amyloid ligands : Conformational flexibility is essential for spectral assignment of a diversity of protein aggregates
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Protein misfolding diseases are characterized by deposition of protein aggregates and optical ligands for molecular characterization of these disease-associated structures are important for understanding their potential role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes (LCOs) have proven useful for optical identification of a broader subset of disease-associated protein aggregates than conventional ligands, such as Thioflavin T (ThT) and Congo red. Herein, the molecular requirements for achieving LCOs able to detect non-thioflavinophilic Aβ aggregates or non-congophilic prion aggregates, as well as spectrally discriminate Aβ and tau aggregates, were investigated. An anionic pentameric LCO was subjected to chemical engineering by i) replacing thiophene units with selenophene or phenylene moieties or ii) alternating the anionic substituents along the thiophene backbone. In addition, two asymmetric tetrameric ligands were generated. Overall, the results from this study identified conformational freedom and extended conjugation of the conjugated backbone as crucial determinants for obtaining superior thiophene-based optical ligands for sensitive detection and spectral assignment of diseaseassociated protein aggregates.
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| 7. |
- Klingstedt, Therése, et al.
(författare)
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The Structural Basis for Optimal Performance of Oligothiophene-Based Fluorescent Amyloid Ligands : Conformational Flexibility is Essential for Spectral Assignment of a Diversity of Protein Aggregates
- 2013
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Ingår i: Chemistry - A European Journal. - : Wiley-VCH Verlag. - 0947-6539 .- 1521-3765. ; 19:31, s. 10179-10192
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Protein misfolding diseases are characterized by deposition of protein aggregates, and optical ligands for molecular characterization of these disease-associated structures are important for understanding their potential role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes (LCOs) have proven useful for optical identification of a broader subset of disease-associated protein aggregates than conventional ligands, such as thioflavin T and Congo red. Herein, the molecular requirements for achieving LCOs able to detect nonthioflavinophilic Aβ aggregates or non-congophilic prion aggregates, as well as spectrally discriminate Aβ and tau aggregates, were investigated. An anionic pentameric LCO was subjected to chemical engineering by: 1) replacing thiophene units with selenophene or phenylene moieties, or 2) alternating the anionic substituents along the thiophene backbone. In addition, two asymmetric tetrameric ligands were generated. Overall, the results from this study identified conformational freedom and extended conjugation of the conjugated backbone as crucial determinants for obtaining superior thiophene-based optical ligands for sensitive detection and spectral assignment of disease-associated protein aggregates.
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| 8. |
- Aguilar-Calvo, Patricia, et al.
(författare)
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Generation of novel neuroinvasive prions following intravenous challenge
- 2018
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Ingår i: Brain Pathology. - : WILEY. - 1015-6305 .- 1750-3639. ; 28:6, s. 999-1011
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prions typically spread into the central nervous system (CNS), likely via peripheral nerves. Yet prion conformers differ in their capacity to penetrate the CNS; certain fibrillar prions replicate persistently in lymphoid tissues with no CNS entry, leading to chronic silent carriers. Subclinical carriers of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) prions in the United Kingdom have been estimated at 1:2000, and vCJD prions have been transmitted through blood transfusion, however, the circulating prion conformers that neuroinvade remain unclear. Here we investigate how prion conformation impacts brain entry of transfused prions by challenging mice intravenously to subfibrillar and fibrillar strains. We show that most strains infiltrated the brain and caused terminal disease, however, the fibrillar prions showed reduced CNS entry in a strain-dependent manner. Strikingly, the highly fibrillar mCWD prion strain replicated in the spleen and emerged in the brain as a novel strain, indicating that a new neuroinvasive prion had been generated from a previously non-neuroinvasive strain. The new strain showed altered plaque morphology, brain regions targeted and biochemical properties and these properties were maintained upon intracerebral passage. Intracerebral passage of prion-infected spleen re-created the new strain. Splenic prions resembled the new strain biochemically and intracerebral passage of prion-infected spleen re-created the new strain, collectively suggesting splenic prion replication as a potential source. Taken together, these results indicate that intravenous exposure to prion-contaminated blood or blood products may generate novel neuroinvasive prion conformers and disease phenotypes, potentially arising from prion replication in non-neural tissues or from conformer selection.
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| 9. |
- Aguilar-Calvo, Patricia, et al.
(författare)
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Post-translational modifications in PrP expand the conformational diversity of prions in vivo
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2045-2322. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Misfolded prion protein aggregates (PrPSc) show remarkable structural diversity and are associated with highly variable disease phenotypes. Similarly, other proteins, including amyloid-beta, tau, alpha-synuclein, and serum amyloid A, misfold into distinct conformers linked to different clinical diseases through poorly understood mechanisms. Here we use mice expressing glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)anchorless prion protein, PrPC, together with hydrogen-deuterium exchange coupled with mass spectrometry (HXMS) and a battery of biochemical and biophysical tools to investigate how posttranslational modifications impact the aggregated prion protein properties and disease phenotype. Four GPI-anchorless prion strains caused a nearly identical clinical and pathological disease phenotype, yet maintained their structural diversity in the anchorless state. HXMS studies revealed that GPIanchorless PrPSc is characterized by substantially higher protection against hydrogen/deuterium exchange in the C-terminal region near the N-glycan sites, suggesting this region had become more ordered in the anchorless state. For one strain, passage of GPI-anchorless prions into wild type mice led to the emergence of a novel strain with a unique biochemical and phenotypic signature. For the new strain, histidine hydrogen-deuterium mass spectrometry revealed altered packing arrangements of beta-sheets that encompass residues 139 and 186 of PrPSc. These findings show how variation in posttranslational modifications may explain the emergence of new protein conformations in vivo and also provide a basis for understanding how the misfolded protein structure impacts the disease.
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| 10. |
- Aguilar-Calvo, Patricia, et al.
(författare)
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Shortening heparan sulfate chains prolongs survival and reduces parenchymal plaques in prion disease caused by mobile, ADAM10-cleaved prions
- 2020
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Ingår i: Acta Neuropathologica. - : SPRINGER. - 0001-6322 .- 1432-0533. ; 139:3, s. 527-546
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cofactors are essential for driving recombinant prion protein into pathogenic conformers. Polyanions promote prion aggregation in vitro, yet the cofactors that modulate prion assembly in vivo remain largely unknown. Here we report that the endogenous glycosaminoglycan, heparan sulfate (HS), impacts prion propagation kinetics and deposition sites in the brain. Exostosin-1 haploinsufficient (Ext1(+/-)) mice, which produce short HS chains, show a prolonged survival and a redistribution of plaques from the parenchyma to vessels when infected with fibrillar prions, and a modest delay when infected with subfibrillar prions. Notably, the fibrillar, plaque-forming prions are composed of ADAM10-cleaved prion protein lacking a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor, indicating that these prions are mobile and assemble extracellularly. By analyzing the prion-bound HS using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), we identified the disaccharide signature of HS differentially bound to fibrillar compared to subfibrillar prions, and found approximately 20-fold more HS bound to the fibrils. Finally, LC-MS of prion-bound HS from human patients with familial and sporadic prion disease also showed distinct HS signatures and higher HS levels associated with fibrillar prions. This study provides the first in vivo evidence of an endogenous cofactor that accelerates prion disease progression and enhances parenchymal deposition of ADAM10-cleaved, mobile prions.
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| 11. |
- Bett, Cyrus, et al.
(författare)
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Structure of the beta 2-alpha 2 loop and interspecies prion transmission
- 2012
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Ingår i: The FASEB Journal. - : Federation of American Society of Experimental Biology (FASEB). - 0892-6638 .- 1530-6860. ; 26:7, s. 2868-2876
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prions are misfolded, aggregated conformers of the prion protein that can be transmitted between species. The precise determinants of interspecies transmission remain unclear, although structural similarity between the infectious prion and host prion protein is required for efficient conversion to the misfolded conformer. The beta 2-alpha 2 loop region of endogenous prion protein, PrPC, has been implicated in barriers to prion transmission. We recently discovered that conversion was efficient when incoming and host prion proteins had similar beta 2-alpha 2 loop structures; however, the roles of primary vs. secondary structural homology could not be distinguished. Here we uncouple the effect of primary and secondary structural homology of the beta 2-alpha 2 loop on prion conversion. We inoculated prions from animals having a disordered or an ordered beta 2-alpha 2 loop into mice having a disordered loop or an ordered loop due to a single residue substitution (D167S). We found that prion conversion was driven by a homologous primary structure and occurred independently of a homologous secondary structure. Similarly, cell-free conversion using PrPC from mice with disordered or ordered loops and prions from 5 species correlated with primary but not secondary structural homology of the loop. Thus, our findings support a model in which efficient interspecies prion conversion is determined by small stretches of the primary sequence rather than the secondary structure of PrP.
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| 12. |
- Liu, He, et al.
(författare)
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Distinct conformers of amyloid beta accumulate in the neocortex of patients with rapidly progressive Alzheimers disease
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Biological Chemistry. - : Elsevier. - 0021-9258 .- 1083-351X. ; 297:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amyloid beta (A beta) deposition in the neocortex is a major hallmark of Alzheimers disease (AD), but the extent of deposition does not readily explain phenotypic diversity and rate of disease progression. The prion strain-like model of disease heterogeneity suggests the existence of different conformers of A beta. We explored this paradigm using conformation-dependent immunoassay (CDI) for A beta and conformation-sensitive luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes (LCOs) in AD cases with variable progression rates. Mapping the A beta conformations in the frontal, occipital, and temporal regions in 20 AD patients with CDI revealed extensive interindividual and anatomical diversity in the structural organization of A beta with the most significant differences in the temporal cortex of rapidly progressive AD. The fluorescence emission spectra collected in situ from A beta plaques in the same regions demonstrated considerable diversity of spectral characteristics of two LCOs-quatroformylthiophene acetic acid and heptaformylthiophene acetic acid. Heptaformylthiophene acetic acid detected a wider range of A beta deposits, and both LCOs revealed distinct spectral attributes of diffuse and cored plaques in the temporal cortex of rapidly and slowly progressive AD and less frequent and discernible differences in the frontal and occipital cortex. These and CDI findings indicate a major conformational diversity of A beta accumulating in the neocortex, with the most notable differences in temporal cortex of cases with shorter disease duration, and implicate distinct A beta conformers (strains) in the rapid progression of AD.
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| 13. |
- Magnusson, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Multimodal fluorescene microscopy of prion strain specific PrP deposits stained by thiophene-bassed amyloid ligands
- 2014
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Ingår i: Prion. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1933-6896 .- 1933-690X. ; 8:4, s. 319-329
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The disease-associated prion protein (PrP) forms aggregates which vary in structural conformation yet share identical primary sequence. These variations in PrP conformation are believed to manifest in prion strains exhibiting distinctly different periods of disease incubation as well as regionally specific aggregate deposition within the brain. The anionic luminescent conjugated polythiophene (LCP), polythiophene acetic acid (PTAA) has previously been used to distinguish PrP deposits associated with distinct mouse adapted strains via distinct fluorescence emission profiles from the dye. Here we employed PTAA and 3 structurally related chemically defined luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes (LCOs) to stain brain tissue sections from mice inoculated with 2 distinct prion strains. Our results showed that in addition to emission spectra, excitation, and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) can fruitfully be assessed for optical distinction of PrP deposits associated with distinct prion strains. Our findings support the theory that alterations in LCP/LCO fluorescence are due to distinct conformational restriction of the thiophene backbone upon interaction with PrP aggregates associated with distinct prion strains. We foresee that LCP and LCO staining in combination with multimodal fluorescence microscopy might aid in detecting structural differences among discrete protein aggregates and in linking protein conformational features with disease phenotypes for a variety of neurodegenerative proteinopathies.
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| 14. |
- Nilsson, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Prion Strain Interactions Are Highly Selective
- 2010
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Ingår i: JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE. - : Society for Neuroscience. - 0270-6474. ; 30:36, s. 12094-12102
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Various misfolded and aggregated neuronal proteins commonly coexist in neurodegenerative disease, but whether the proteins coaggregate and alter the disease pathogenesis is unclear. Here we used mixtures of distinct prion strains, which are believed to differ in conformation, to test the hypothesis that two different aggregates interact and change the disease in vivo. We tracked two prion strains in mice histopathologically and biochemically, as well as by spectral analysis of plaque-bound PTAA (polythiophene acetic acid), a conformation-sensitive fluorescent amyloid ligand. We found that prion strains interacted in a highly selective and strain-specific manner, with (1) no interaction, (2) hybrid plaque formation, or (3) blockage of one strain by a second (interference). The hybrid plaques were maintained on additional passage in vivo and each strain seemed to maintain its original conformational properties, suggesting that one strain served only as a scaffold for aggregation of the second strain. These findings not only further our understanding of prion strain interactions but also directly demonstrate interactions that may occur in other protein aggregate mixtures.
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| 15. |
- Sevillano, Alejandro M., et al.
(författare)
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Prion protein glycans reduce intracerebral fibril formation and spongiosis in prion disease
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Investigation. - : AMER SOC CLINICAL INVESTIGATION INC. - 0021-9738 .- 1558-8238. ; 130:3, s. 1350-1362
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) are common among proteins that aggregate in neurodegenerative disease, yet how PTMs impact the aggregate conformation and disease progression remains unclear. By engineering knockin mice expressing prion protein (PrP) lacking 2 N-linked glycans (Prnp(1)(80Q)(/196Q)), we provide evidence that glycans reduce spongiform degeneration and hinder plaque formation in prion disease.Prnp(1)(80Q)(/196Q )mice challenged with 2 subfibrillar, non-plaque-forming prion strains instead developed plaques highly enriched in ADAM10-cleaved PrP and heparan sulfate (HS). Intriguingly, a third strain composed of intact, glycophosphatidylinositol-anchored (GPI-anchored) PrP was relatively unchanged, forming diffuse, HS-deficient deposits in both the Prnp(1)(80Q/196Q) and WT mice, underscoring the pivotal role of the GPI-anchor in driving the aggregate conformation and disease phenotype. Finally, knockin mice expressing triglycosylated PrP (Prnp(187N)) challenged with a plaque-forming prion strain showed a phenotype reversal, with a striking disease acceleration and switch from plaques to predominantly diffuse, subfibrillar deposits. Our findings suggest that the dominance of subfibrillar aggregates in prion disease is due to the replication of GPI-anchored prions, with fibrillar plaques forming from poorly glycosylated, GPI-anchorless prions that interact with extracellular HS. These studies provide insight into how PTMs impact PrP interactions with polyanionic cofactors, and highlight PTMs as a major force driving the prion disease phenotype.
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| 16. |
- Sigurdson, Christina J., et al.
(författare)
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A molecular switch controls interspeciesprion disease transmission in mice
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Investigation. - : American Society for Clinical Investigation. - 0021-9738 .- 1558-8238. ; 120, s. 2590-2599
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are lethal neurodegenerative disorders that present with aggregated forms of the cellular prion protein (PrPC), which are known as PrPSc. Prions from different species vary considerably in their transmissibility to xenogeneic hosts. The variable transmission barriers depend on sequence differences between incoming PrPSc and host PrPC and additionally, on strain-dependent conformational properties of PrPSc. The β2-α2 loop region within PrPC varies substantially between species, with its structure being influenced by the residue types in the 2 amino acid sequence positions 170 (most commonly S or N) and 174 (N or T). In this study, we inoculated prions from 5 different species into transgenic mice expressing either disordered-loop or rigid-loop PrPC variants. Similar β2-α2 loop structures correlated with efficient transmission, whereas dissimilar loops correlated with strong transmission barriers. We then classified literature data on cross-species transmission according to the 170S/N polymorphism. Transmission barriers were generally low between species with the same amino acid residue in position 170 and high between those with different residues. These findings point to a triggering role of the local β2-α2 loop structure for prion transmissibility between different species.
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| 17. |
- Sigurdson, Christina J, et al.
(författare)
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De novo generation of a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy by mouse transgenesis.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 106:1, s. 304-309
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Most transmissible spongiform encephalopathies arise either spontaneously or by infection. Mutations of PRNP, which encodes the prion protein, PrP, segregate with phenotypically similar diseases. Here we report that moderate overexpression in transgenic mice of mPrP(170N,174T), a mouse PrP with two point mutations that subtly affect the structure of its globular domain, causes a fully penetrant lethal spongiform encephalopathy with cerebral PrP plaques. This genetic disease was reproduced with 100% attack rate by intracerebral inoculation of brain homogenate to tga20 mice overexpressing WT PrP, and from the latter to WT mice, but not to PrP-deficient mice. Upon successive transmissions, the incubation periods decreased and PrP became more protease-resistant, indicating the presence of a strain barrier that was gradually overcome by repeated passaging. This shows that expression of a subtly altered prion protein, with known 3D structure, efficiently generates a prion disease.
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| 18. |
- Sigurdson, Christina J, et al.
(författare)
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Spongiform Encephalopathy in Transgenic Mice Expressing a Point Mutation in the beta 2-alpha 2 Loop of the Prion Protein
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Neuroscience. - : Society for Neuroscience. - 0270-6474 .- 1529-2401. ; 31:39, s. 13840-13847
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are fatal neurodegenerative diseases attributed to misfolding of the cellular prion protein, PrP(C), into a beta-sheet-rich, aggregated isoform, PrP(Sc). We previously found that expression of mouse PrP with the two amino acid substitutions S170N and N174T, which result in high structural order of the beta 2-alpha 2 loop in the NMR structure at pH 4.5 and 20 C, caused transmissible de novo prion disease in transgenic mice. Here we report that expression of mouse PrP with the single-residue substitution D167S, which also results in a structurally well ordered beta 2-alpha 2 loop at 20 degrees C, elicits spontaneous PrP aggregation in vivo. Transgenic mice expressing PrP(D167S) developed a progressive encephalopathy characterized by abundant PrP plaque formation, spongiform change, and gliosis. These results add to the evidence that the beta 2-alpha 2 loop has an important role in intermolecular interactions, including that it may be a key determinant of prion protein aggregation.
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| 19. |
- Sigurdson, Christina J., et al.
(författare)
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Tracking protein aggregate interactions
- 2011
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Ingår i: PRION. - : Landes Bioscience. - 1933-6896 .- 1933-690X. ; 5:2, s. 52-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amyloid fibrils share a structural motif consisting of highly ordered beta-sheets aligned perpendicular to the fibril axis.(1,2) At each fibril end, beta-sheets provide a template for recruiting and converting monomers.(3) Different amyloid fibrils often co-occur in the same individual, yet whether a protein aggregate aids or inhibits the assembly of a heterologous protein is unclear. In prion disease, diverse prion aggregate structures, known as strains, are thought to be the basis of disparate disease phenotypes in the same species expressing identical prion protein sequences.(4-7) Here we explore the interactions reported to occur when two distinct prion strains occur together in the central nervous system.
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| 20. |
- Åslund, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Novel Pentameric Thiophene Derivatives for in Vitro and in Vivo Optical Imaging of a Plethora of Protein Aggregates in Cerebral Amyloidoses
- 2009
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Ingår i: ACS CHEMICAL BIOLOGY. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1554-8929 .- 1554-8937. ; 4:8, s. 673-684
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Molecular probes for selective Identification of protein aggregates are important to advance our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis underlying cerebral amyloidoses. Here we report the chemical design of pentameric thiophene derivatives, denoted luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes (LCOs), which could be used for real-time visualization of cerebral protein aggregates in transgenic mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases by multiphoton microscopy. One of the LCOs, p-FTAA, could be utilized for ex vivo spectral assignment of distinct prion deposits from two, mouse-adapted prion strains. p-FTAA also revealed a transient soluble pre-fibrillar non-thioflavinophilic A beta-assemblies during in vitro fibrillation of A beta peptides. In brain tissue samples, A beta deposits and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) were readily identified by a strong fluorescence from p-FTAA and the LCO staining showed complete co-localliation with conventional antibodies (6E10 and AT8). In addition, a patchy islet-like staining of individual A beta plaque was unveiled by the anti-oligomer A11 antibody during co-staining with p-FTAA. The major hallmarks of Alzheimers disease, namely, A beta aggregates versus NFTs, could also be distinguished because of distinct emission spectra from p-FTAA. Overall, we demonstrate that LCOs can be utilized as powerful practical research tools for studying protein aggregation diseases and facilitate the study of amyloid origin, evolution and maturation, A beta-tau interactions, and pathogenesis both ex vivo and in vivo.
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