title: Elucidating amyloid beta-protein folding and assembly: A multidisciplinary approach.
abstract: Oligomeric, neurotoxic amyloid protein assemblies are thought to be causative agents in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Development of oligomer-specific therapeutic agents requires a mechanistic understanding of the oligomerization process. This is a daunting task because amyloidogenic protein oligomers often are metastable and comprise structurally heterogeneous populations in equilibrium with monomers and fibrils. A single methodological approach cannot elucidate the entire protein assembly process. An integrated multidisciplinary program is required. We discuss here the synergistic application of in hydro, in vacuo, and in silico methods to the study of the amyloid beta-protein, the key pathogenetic agent in Alzheimer's disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, Brain Research Institute, and Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. dteplow@ucla.edu
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Teplow
authors.forename: Noel D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Lazo
authors.forename: Gal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bitan
authors.forename: Summer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wyttenbach
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Bowers
authors.forename: Andrij
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baumketner
authors.forename: Joan-Emma
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Shea
authors.forename: Brigita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Urbanc
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borreguero
authors.forename: H Eugene
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Stanley
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides