From corpora amylacea to wasteosomes: History and perspectives

Corpora amylacea (CA) have been described in several human organs and have been associated with ageing and several pathological conditions. Although they were first discovered two centuries ago, their function and sig-nificance have not yet been identified. Here, we provide a chronological summary of the findings on CA in various organs and identify their similarities. After collecting and integrating these findings, we propose to consider CA as waste containers created by specific cells, which sequester waste products and foreign products, and assemble them within a glycan structure. The containers are then secreted into the external medium or interstitial spaces, in this latter case subsequently being phagocytosed by macrophages. This proposal explains, among others, why CA are so varied in content, why only some of them contain fibrillary amyloid proteins, why all of them contain glycan structures, why some of them contain neo-epitopes and are phagocytosed, and why they can be intracellular or extracellular structures. Lastly, in order to avoid the ambiguity of the term amyloid (which can indicate starch-like structures but also insoluble fibrillary proteins), we propose renaming CA as wasteosomes, emphasising the waste products they entrap rather than their misleading amyloid properties.

Automated summary

The article summarizes research findings on CA in human organs and proposes that CA may function as waste containers created by specific cells to sequester waste and foreign products in glycan structures, which are then secreted and phagocytosed. The proposal aims to explain the varied content of CA, the presence of fibrillary amyloid proteins in some but not all CA, and the intracellular or extracellular nature of CA structures. It also suggests renaming CA as "wasteosomes" to emphasize their role in trapping waste rather than their misleading amyloid properties.