Institute of Biophysics, National Research Council (IBF-CNR), c/o Department of Biosciences, University of Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Department of Pharmaceutical Science, "A. Marchesini" General and Organic Chemistry Section, University of Milano, Via Venezian 21, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Nov 12;23(22):13973. doi: 10.3390/ijms232213973.
Gelsolin amyloidosis (AGel) is characterized by multiple systemic and ophthalmic features resulting from pathological tissue deposition of the gelsolin (GSN) protein. To date, no cure is available for the treatment of any form of AGel. More than ten single-point substitutions in the gene are responsible for the occurrence of the disease and, among them, D187N/Y is the most widespread variant. These substitutions undergo an aberrant proteolytic cascade, producing aggregation-prone peptides of 5 and 8 kDa, containing the Gelsolin Amyloidogenic Core, spanning residues 182-192 (GAC). Following a structure-based approach, we designed and synthesized three novel sequence-specific peptidomimetics (LB-5, LB-6, and LB-7) built on a piperidine-pyrrolidine unnatural amino acid. LB-5 and LB-6, but not LB-7, efficiently inhibit the aggregation of the GAC amyloidogenic peptides at sub-stoichiometric concentrations. These peptidomimetics resulted also effective in vivo, in a -based assay, in counteracting the proteotoxicity of aggregated GAC. These data pave the way to a novel pharmacological strategy against AGel and also validate a toolbox exploitable in other amyloidogenic diseases.
凝胶蛋白淀粉样变性病(AGel)的特征是由凝胶蛋白(GSN)蛋白病理性组织沉积引起的多种全身和眼部特征。迄今为止,尚无治愈任何形式的 AGel 的方法。 该基因中的十多个单点取代负责疾病的发生,其中 D187N/Y 是最广泛的变体。这些取代经历异常的蛋白水解级联反应,产生易于聚集的 5 和 8 kDa 肽,包含 182-192 残基(GAC)的凝胶蛋白淀粉样核心。基于结构的方法,我们设计并合成了三种基于哌啶-吡咯烷非天然氨基酸的新型序列特异性肽模拟物(LB-5、LB-6 和 LB-7)。LB-5 和 LB-6 但不是 LB-7 在亚化学计量浓度下有效地抑制 GAC 淀粉样肽的聚集。这些肽模拟物在基于 的体内测定中也有效,可对抗聚集 GAC 的蛋白毒性。这些数据为针对 AGel 的新型药物治疗策略铺平了道路,并验证了可在其他淀粉样变性疾病中利用的工具包。