Laboratory of Structural Dynamics, Stability and Folding of Proteins, Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Science, Tikhoretsky ave. 4, St. Petersburg 194064, Russia.
Department of Molecular Genetics, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Pavlov str. 12, St. Petersburg 197376, Russia.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Sep 14;19(9):2762. doi: 10.3390/ijms19092762.
The persistence of high concentrations of beta-2-microglobulin (β2M) in the blood of patients with acute renal failure leads to the development of the dialysis-related amyloidosis. This disease manifests in the deposition of amyloid fibrils formed from the various forms of β2M in the tissues and biological fluids of patients. In this paper, the amyloid fibrils formed from the full-length β2M (β2m) and its variants that lack the 6 and 10 N-terminal amino acids of the protein polypeptide chain (ΔN6β2m and ΔN10β2m, respectively) were probed by using the fluorescent dye thioflavin T (ThT). For this aim, the tested solutions were prepared via the equilibrium microdialysis approach. Spectroscopic analysis of the obtained samples allowed us to detect one binding mode (type) of ThT interaction with all the studied variants of β2M amyloid fibrils with affinity ~10⁴ M. This interaction can be explained by the dye molecules incorporation into the grooves that were formed by the amino acids side chains of amyloid protofibrils along the long axis of the fibrils. The decrease in the affinity and stoichiometry of the dye interaction with β2M fibrils, as well as in the fluorescence quantum yield and lifetime of the bound dye upon the shortening of the protein amino acid sequence were shown. The observed differences in the ThT-β2M fibrils binding parameters and characteristics of the bound dye allowed to prove not only the difference of the ΔN10β2m fibrils from other β2M fibrils (that can be detected visually, for example, by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), but also the differences between β2m and ΔN6β2m fibrils (that can not be unequivocally confirmed by other approaches). These results prove an essential role of N-terminal amino acids of the protein in the formation of the β2M amyloid fibrils. Information about amyloidogenic protein sequences can be claimed in the development of ways to inhibit β2M fibrillogenesis for the treatment of dialysis-related amyloidosis.
血液中β2-微球蛋白(β2M)浓度持续升高会导致急性肾衰竭患者发生透析相关性淀粉样变。这种疾病表现为患者组织和生物液中由各种形式的β2M 组成的淀粉样纤维的沉积。在本文中,使用荧光染料硫黄素 T(ThT)研究了全长β2M(β2m)及其缺失蛋白多肽链 6 和 10 个 N 端氨基酸的变体(分别为 ΔN6β2m 和 ΔN10β2m)形成的淀粉样纤维。为此,通过平衡微透析方法制备了测试溶液。对获得的样品进行光谱分析,发现所有研究的β2M 淀粉样纤维变体与 ThT 存在一种结合模式(类型),亲和力约为 10⁴ M。这种相互作用可以用染料分子插入由淀粉样原纤维的氨基酸侧链沿纤维长轴形成的凹槽来解释。随着蛋白氨基酸序列的缩短,β2M 纤维与染料的亲和力和计量比降低,结合染料的荧光量子产率和寿命也降低。观察到 ThT-β2M 纤维结合参数的差异以及结合染料的特征,不仅证明了 ΔN10β2m 纤维与其他 β2M 纤维(例如,可以通过透射电子显微镜(TEM)等方法直观地检测到)的差异,还证明了 β2m 和 ΔN6β2m 纤维之间的差异(不能通过其他方法明确确认)。这些结果证明了蛋白质 N 端氨基酸在β2M 淀粉样纤维形成中的重要作用。在开发抑制β2M 纤维形成的方法治疗透析相关性淀粉样变时,可以利用有关淀粉样蛋白序列的信息。