Synthetic Peptide Can Inhibit Toxicity, Aggregation of Protein in Alzheimer's Disease

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences details synthetic peptides designed to inhibit amyloid beta aggregation at the early and most toxic stage when oligomers form, reports Medical Xpress . The synthetic alpha sheet's blocking activity inhibited amyloid beta-triggered toxicity in human neural cells grown in culture and suppressed amyloid beta oligomers in two laboratory animal models for Alzheimer's. These study results add credibility to the hypothesis that amyloid beta oligomers — rather than plaques — are the toxic agents underpinning Alzheimer's, and suggests synthetic alpha sheets could form the foundation of therapeutics to clear toxic oligomers in humans. "What we've shown here is that we can design and build synthetic alpha sheets with complementary structures to inhibit aggregation and toxicity of amyloid beta, while leaving the biologically active monomers intact," notes University of Washington Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute Professor Valerie Daggett.