Nucleobindin 1 binds to multiple types of pre-fibrillar amyloid and inhibits fibrillization

Sci Rep. 2017 Feb 21:7:42880. doi: 10.1038/srep42880.

Abstract

During amyloid fibril formation, amyloidogenic polypeptides misfold and self assemble into soluble pre-fibrillar aggregates, i.e., protofibrils, which elongate and mature into insoluble fibrillar aggregates. An emerging class of chaperones, chaperone-like amyloid binding proteins (CLABPs), has been shown to interfere with aggregation of particular misfolded amyloid peptides or proteins. We have discovered that the calcium-binding protein nuclebindin-1 (NUCB1) is a novel CLABP. We show that NUCB1 inhibits aggregation of islet-amyloid polypeptide associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus, a-synuclein associated with Parkinson's disease, transthyretin V30M mutant associated with familial amyloid polyneuropathy, and Aβ42 associated with Alzheimer's disease by stabilizing their respective protofibril intermediates. Kinetic studies employing the modeling software AmyloFit show that NUCB1 affects both primary nucleation and secondary nucleation. We hypothesize that NUCB1 binds to the common cross-β-sheet structure of protofibril aggregates to "cap" and stabilize soluble macromolecular complexes. Transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were employed to characterize the size, shape and volume distribution of multiple sources of NUCB1-capped protofibrils. Interestingly, NUCB1 prevents Aβ42 protofibril toxicity in a cellular assay. NUCB1-stabilized amyloid protofibrils could be used as immunogens to prepare conformation-specific antibodies and as novel tools to develop screens for anti-protofibril diagnostics and therapeutics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid / chemistry
  • Amyloid / metabolism*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism*
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins / chemistry
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / chemistry
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / metabolism
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / pathology
  • Humans
  • Islet Amyloid Polypeptide / chemistry
  • Islet Amyloid Polypeptide / metabolism*
  • Kinetics
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / chemistry
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism*
  • Nucleobindins
  • Parkinson Disease / metabolism
  • Parkinson Disease / pathology
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism*
  • Prealbumin / chemistry
  • Prealbumin / metabolism*
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • alpha-Synuclein / chemistry
  • alpha-Synuclein / metabolism*

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Islet Amyloid Polypeptide
  • NUCB1 protein, human
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Nucleobindins
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Prealbumin
  • alpha-Synuclein
  • amyloid beta-protein (1-42)
  • amyloid prealbumin