Protein folding and disease Flashcards
What 2 types of aggregation can occur?
1) . Protein is already folded in a native state and requires an unfolding event to a higher energy level to a partially folded state and from this goes downhill to form a stable aggregate e.g. lysozyme, transthyretin, light chain
2) . Aggregation occurs from intrinsically disordered proteins which are high on the energy landscape and do not fold to the native state e.g. huntingtons, AD and PD
2 categories of protein folding diseases
Loss of function, gain of toxic function or both
What are the two environments where proteins can fold?
The cytoplasm or the secretory pathway
What are amyloid fibrils
Beta strands which run perpendicular to the fiber long axis called a cross-beta structure.
Any protein can form these under the right conditions due to the NH peptide bond so the structure is always the same irrespective of the precursor.
Always 10nm in diameter, long, straight and unbranched, can visualize by EM. Occur by nucleated growth. Diffract x-ray beam and get two bands - 4.7A and 10A (to do with the structure). They bond congo red dye.
Amyloid is very heterogeneous as the protofilaments can differ in number and twist.
What are the 3 classes of different diseases
1) . Improper trafficking
2) . Toxic conformer
3) . Degradation
Describe the structure of lysozyme
Mixed alpha and beta protein with the active site between the alpha domain and the beta domain
Does lysozyme form a cross-beta structure?
Yes
What are the two mutations in lysozyme known to cause amyloid?
I56T and D67H - discovered from patients
Where is the I56T mutation in the structure of lysozyme?
I56T is in the beta-sheet domain sitting at the bottom in the junction between the alpha and beta in the active site cleft
Where is the D67H mutation in the structure of lysozyme?
In the beta-sheet domain at the top
Do the I56T and D76H mutants have the same structure as the wild-type? And what does this tell us?
Yes - tells us it is not a folding disease so must be a disease of unfolding
Are the I56T and D76H mutants as stable as the WT lysozyme?
No - they are destabilised compared to the WT however they are still stable at 37oC so this is not biologically relevant.
Are the I56T and the D76H mutants more aggregation prone than the WT lysozyme?
Yes - this was measured by light scattering
Does the reduction in stability of the I56T and the D76H mutants explain why they form amyloid fibrils?
No - other mutants were just as unstable however these did not form amyloid fibrils therefore it is not all about thermostability
What did the HX experiments show in the WT and lysozyme mutants?
The mutant HX profiles were different - the beta-sheet domain exchanges D for H all at the same time so shows there is transient unfolding of the entire beta-sheet domain.
So the native state is in dynamic equilibrium with a partially unfolded state where the b sheet domain is unfolded but the alpha helix domain is folded. This partial unfolding is critical for the formation of the AFs as the beta sheets NH’s start to H-bond intermolecularly which is the nucleation event.
How should we target lysozyme amyloid disease?
Stabilize the native state to prevent partial unfolding
What molecule did they use to stabilize the lysozyme native state?
Found a nanobody (heavy chain only) which binds the active site of lysozyme which stabilized it. It decrease the rate of aggregation in vivo and EM showed almost no amyloid presence. They retested the HX and the rate of exchange was slower in the presence of the camelid.
What is the similarity between lysozyme and transthyretin?
They both unfold from a native state
Is TTR a loss of function or gain of toxic function disease?
Gain of toxic function
What does TTR destroy?
Post-mitotic tissue
Where is TTR made and where does it deposit?
Made in the liver but deposits in either the heart causing myopathy or the nerve systems causing neurological problems
What are the 2 types of TTR amyloidosis classes?
1) . Senile systematic amyloidosis (SSA) - cardiomyopathy, WT TTR and occurs i older years >60 years old where 15% of people above 80 years old are effected
2) . Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) - peripheral neuropathy and cardiomyopathy, mutant TTR and WT TTR, heterozygotes with hybrid tetramers (get mutant and WT coassembly), 15-60 years old as it is variant dependent.
Where is TTR found? and what does it do?
In the plasma and is retinol binding protein carrier
Is TTR beta sheet or alpha helix rich?
beta sheet rich
Oligerisation state of TTR?
Homotetramer
Does TTR bind thyroxine?
Yes but this is not its main function
Which protein carries thyroxine?
Thyroxine-binding protein - has a much higher affinity than TTR
Where does thyroxine bind TTR?
In the 2-fold axis of symmetry between the 2 dimers of TTR with negative cooperativity
How does TTR form amyloidosis?
1) . Tetramer dissociates into native-like monomers
2) . Monomers then misfold
3) . Misfolded monomers form a cross-beta structure
Native monomer cannot form cross-beta without misfolding first so this is the rate limiting step
Which axis does the tetramer dissociate from?
2-fold axis where Thyroxine binds is the weak axis
How was TTR targetted to prevent disease? and what is the benefit of this?
Stabilising the tetramer to prevent dissociation into monomers than therefore misfolding and amyloid formation.
Benefit is that you do not need to know that the toxic species is as you are preventing all of them
What was the evidence that stabilizing the TTR tetramer prevented the disease? and how did Jeff Jelly prove this?
In Portugal there was a family which had the V30M mutation which meant they should have got FAP however they were heterozygous for the T119M mutant too which is a protective mutation.
Jeff Kelly tagged each mutant and looked at amyloid formation of the different ratios - see diagram - where homo T119M had the least and homo V30M had the most fibrils. In terms of kinetics homo-T119M has a higher barrier than homo-WT showing it has slower amyloid formation and by stabilizing the tetramer.
Did Jeff Kelly look at TS analogues?
No as this is hard to do
How did Jeff Kelly test if one or two binding sites were needed?
TTR contains no cysteines therefore he introduced one near the 2-fold axis and attached Thyroxine by different linker lengths so he had a uniform population of 0, 1 or 2 ligands bound. Showed 1 ligand was enough to prevent aggregation and this meant that he didn’t have to deal with the negative cooperativity.
Describe how Jeff Kelly designed TTR small molecules to stabilise TTR
Already knew Thyroxine binds therefore want an analogue which binds tightly to TTR and binds selectively to TTR in the plasma.
Split the design into 3 partsX, Y and Z where he optimised each part and switched them together. Used information from the crystal structure to help design and then screened a range looking at the efficacy score and rate of amyloid formation. Took some forward and looked at selectivity in the blood plasma where if it still bound 1:1 it was binding specifically to TTR. The molecule they took forward was called Tafamidis and they solved the crystal structure in complex with this.
How well does Tafamidis work in patients
Looked at nerve function and after 18 months everyone got the drug as no other treatment (liver transplant) and everyone showed improvement.
Saw improvements in small and large nerve fiber function, body mass index and lower extremity neurological exams.
Are there other drugs to target TTR?
Not on the market but are siRNA phase 1 drug targeting TTR gene and an antisense agent also targeting TTR in phase 1.
What is the proteostasis network?
It is a compilation of integrated biological pathways that influence the proteosome and its function from birth to death. Includes protein synthesis, folding, trafficking and degradation to maintain the proteosome (~600 genes). Everything is in balance so everything can happen at the right time.
The network is highly conserved across organisms from yeast to man where the only thing which is different is the amount of TRPs increase as the complexity increases (repeat involved in protein:protein interactions). Lots of different molecular chaperones and regulators work together to maintain the quality of the proteosome.
What do chaperones do?
Help the protein fold both the 1st time and through thermal kicks Also can interact with misfolded proteins and target for degradation
Is Gaucher’s a genetic disease?
Yes
Name a lysosomal storage disease
Gaucher’s