title: Gelsolin-related amyloidosis. Identification of the amyloid protein in Finnish hereditary amyloidosis as a fragment of variant gelsolin.
abstract: The Finnish type of familial amyloidosis is a systemic disease characterized by progressive cranial neuropathy, corneal lattice dystrophy, and distal sensimotor neuropathy. Amyloid fibrils were isolated from the kidney and heart of a patient with Finnish amyloidosis. After solubilization, the amyloid proteins were fractionated by gel filtration and purified by reverse-phase HPLC. Complete amino acid sequence analyses show that the two amyloid components obtained are fragments of gelsolin, an actin-modulating protein occurring in plasma and the cytoskeleton. The larger component represents residues 173-243 and the minor component residues 173-225, respectively, of mature gelsolin. When compared with the predicted primary structure of human gelsolin a single amino acid substitution is present in amyloid: at position 15 of the amyloid proteins an asparagine is found instead of an aspartic acid residue at the corresponding position (187) in gelsolin. Antibodies to a dodecapeptide of the amyloidogenic region of gelsolin specifically stain the tissue amyloid deposits in Finnish hereditary amyloidosis. The results show that the amyloid subunit protein in Finnish hereditary amyloidosis represents a new type of amyloid that is derived from an actin filament-binding region of a variant gelsolin molecule by limited proteolysis.
authors.affiliation: Fourth Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Maury
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005387:Finland / Q000208:ethnology; D018260:Gelsolin; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009154:Mutation; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D018260:Gelsolin; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments