title: Prefibrillar huntingtin oligomers isolated from HD brain potently seed amyloid formation.
abstract: Many neurodegenerative diseases are associated with deposits of aggregated protein in the brain. The molecular pathways through which soluble proteins misfold to form amyloids and large protein aggregates often include diverse oligomeric species, only some of which progress to the amyloid state. Here we show that prefibrillar huntingtin (HTT) oligomers, isolated from Huntington's disease (HD) affected human brain samples or mouse models, stimulate polyglutamine amyloid formation. Fibrillar HTT oligomers have been shown to be unstable under denaturing conditions and appear not to lead to amyloid formation. Here we show that prefibrillar HTT oligomers are remarkably stable and are potent seeds of polyglutamine amyloid formation. Therefore, our findings help to dissect the complex molecular pathway of HTT misfolding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Olga A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Morozova
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Sharad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA. Electronic address: colby@udel.edu.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Colby
mesh_terms: D000682:Amyloid / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000818:Animals; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000682:Amyloid; D001704:Biopolymers; C086055:HTT protein, human; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
keywords: Amyloid; Huntington’s disease; Neurodegeneration; Oligomer; Polyglutamine; Protein misfolding