Evaluation of the fluorescent amyloid ligand h-FTAA in human tissues with systemic and localized amyloid

• Rapid and accurate detection of amyloid deposits in routine surgical pathology settings are of great importance. The use of fluorescence microscopy in combination with appropriate amyloid specific dyes is very promising in this regard. Most systemic amyloidosis are progressive and lethal. Disease specific therapy depends on the identification of the offending proteins. Here we report that a luminescent conjugated oligothiophene, h-FTAA, rapidly and with high sensitivity and selectivity detects amyloid deposits in verified clinical samples from systemic amyloidosis patients with AA, AL, and ATTR types; as well as in tissues laden with localized amyloidosis of AANF, AIAPP and ASem1 type. The probe h-FTAA emitted yellow red fluorescence on binding to amyloid deposits, whereas no apparent staining was observed in surrounding tissue. Screening of 114 amyloid containing tissues derived from §07 verified (Congo red birefringence and immunohistochemistry) amyloidosis patients revealed complete correlation between h-FTAA and Congo red fluorescence. We conclude that h-FTAA is a fluorescent hypersensitive, rapid and powerful tool for identifying amyloid deposits in tissue sections. H-FTAA staining can be utilized as a rapid complementary technique for accurate detection of amyloid in routine surgical pathology settings. It was also revealed that within 5 of 15 age matched Congo red negative control samples h-FTAA detects microdeposits of amyloid-like protein aggregates in liver and kidney. The results emphasize the potential of the dye for detection of prodromal amyloidosis as well as for discovery of novel amyloid-like protein aggregates in humans.

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences (hsv//eng)

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