Journal
FEBS LETTERS
Volume 498, Issue 2-3, Pages 201-203Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1016/S0014-5793(01)02480-2
Keywords
transthyretin; amyloid; familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy; thyroxine; iododoxorubicin
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Over 70 transthyretin (TTR) mutations have been associated with hereditary amyloidoses, which are all autosomal dominant disorders with adult age of onset. TTR is the main constituent of amyloid that deposits preferentially in peripheral nerve giving rise to familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP), or in the heart leading to familial amyloid cardiomyopathy. Since the beginning of this decade the central question of these types of amyloidoses has been why TTR is an amyloidogenic protein with clinically heterogeneous pathogenic consequences. As a result of amino acid substitutions, conformational changes occur in the molecule, leading to weaker subunit interactions of the tetrameric structure as revealed by X-ray studies of some amyloidogenic mutants. Modified soluble tetramers exposing cryptic epitopes seem to circulate in FAP patients as evidenced by antibody probes recognizing specifically TTR amyloid fibrils, but what triggers dissociation into monomeric and oligomeric intermediates of amyloid fibrils is largely unknown. Avoiding tetramer dissociation and disrupting amyloid fibrils are possible avenues of therapeutic intervention based on current molecular knowledge of TTR amyloidogenesis and fibril structure. (C) 2001 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B,V, Ail rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available