Ball-and-stick model of the structure of AP407, one of the synthetic alpha sheet peptides designed by the research team to inhibit toxic oligomers of amyloid beta.Shea et al., PNAS, 2019
Researchers have developed synthetic peptides that target and inhibit the small, toxic protein aggregates that are thought to trigger Alzheimer’s disease. Neurons in the human brain make a protein called amyloid beta. Such proteins on their own, called monomers of amyloid beta, perform important tasks for neurons. But in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid beta monomers have abandoned their jobs and joined together. First, they form oligomers – small clumps of up to a dozen proteins – then longer strands and finally large deposits called plaques...
Read More
Recent Comments