Apolipoprotein E and amyloidogenesis.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F C Prelli.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Isolated amyloid fibrils from three cases of systemic senile amyloidosis (SSA) contained subunit proteins with molecular masses of 14 (10-20%), 10-12 (60-80%), and 5-6 kD (5-10%) when fractionated under reducing and dissociating conditions. This grouping was identical to that seen in SKO, a case of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) studied earlier. Amino acid sequencing confirmed that SSA subunit proteins were in fact prealbumin (transthyretin). Complete sequence analysis of one SSA preparation revealed the presence of a new variant Pa (TTr) molecule with a single amino acid substitution of isoleucine for valine at position 122. Further studies used an antiserum specific for SKO IV, a subunit protein of SKO previously shown to correspond to carboxy-terminal 78 residues (positions 49-127) of (TTr). Anti-SKO IV reacted with SSA in tissue at equivalent dilutions to anti-Pa (TTr) and with the 10-12-kD fraction of SSA on Western blots; reactivity was blocked by SKO IV, but not by Pa (TTr). SSA is a form of systemic amyloidosis caused by tissue deposition of Pa (TTr) and its fragments, with shared conformational or subunit antigenicity to at least one form of FAP. Identification of a new variant Pa (TTr) molecule in one case suggests further that SSA may be a genetically determined disease expressed late in life.
Systemic amyloidosis with a predilection for bone and synovium may complicate the course of patients on long-term hemodialysis. This form of amyloidosis can be typed as distinct from other amyloid diseases by using small tissue samples obtained by bone biopsy and at postmortem. Immunoblot analysis of two-dimensional gels of partially solubilized amyloid fibrils established that tissue deposits are composed of monomers, dimers, and higher polymers of beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m) and that amyloid P component was also present. Anti-beta 2m antiserum recognized fibrils, as shown by immunoelectron microscopy. Purified monomer isolated from dissociated fibrils yielded peptides corresponding to the entire known sequence of beta 2m. Virtually all serum beta 2m, as well as that present in tissue fluid bathing amyloid fibrils, was monomeric. Hemodialysis-related amyloidosis is an example of a deposition disease occurring in hemodialysis patients. We have shown conclusively that, in this amyloid disease, polymerization of an intact normal serum protein to a fibrillar configuration may occur without proteolysis. We propose the designation A beta 2m for this form of amyloid fibril subunit protein.
Curvilinear fibrils with the tinctorial properties of amyloid were isolated from a patient with bone and joint involvement complicating chronic dialysis for renal disease. Subunit fractions of 24,000 and 12,000 mol wt were identified after gel filtration under dissociating conditions, the latter containing a significant amount of a dimer of the former. This was confirmed by Edman degradation of each fraction, which yielded the amino terminal sequence of normal human beta-2 microglobulin (B2M) to residues 20 and 30, respectively. The size of the subunit protein (12,000 mol wt) and the amino acid composition make it likely that intact B2M is a major constituent of the fibrils. B2M is thus another example of a low molecular weight serum protein, with a prominent beta-pleated sheet structure, that may adopt the fibrillar configuration of amyloid in certain pathologic states.