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Structure and Function of Alzheimer’s Amyloid βeta Proteins from Monomer to Fibrils: A Mini Review

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, that affects millions of people worldwide. According to the widely accepted amyloid cascade hypothesis, misfolding and aggregation of Aβ peptides is the principal cause of Alzheimer’s disease. In the present mini-review, we have discussed the different structures of Aβ protein from monomer to fibrils and their arrangement in different symmetries. We have highlighted the critical amino acid residue that plays a crucial role in the early stage misfolding of Aβ monomers, Aβ fibrils arrangement in different symmetries, the elongation process and Aβ protein interaction with the membrane. We have further discussed the antibodies that are currently in clinical trial phase III for Alzheimer’s disease.

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Acknowledgements

N.A. would like to thank College of Health Sciences, UKZN, South Africa for providing Honorary Research Fellow position, and We would like to thank Centre of High performance (CHPC), Cape Town, South Africa for computational resources. We want to thank Prof. Thirumala Govender for proofreading support and Charlotte Ramadhin for proofreading the manuscript.

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  1. College of Health Sciences, Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, Durban, 4000, South Africa

    Nikhil Agrawal & Adam A. Skelton

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZD, UK

    Adam A. Skelton

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  1. Nikhil Agrawal
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  2. Adam A. Skelton
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Correspondence to Nikhil Agrawal or Adam A. Skelton.

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Agrawal, N., Skelton, A.A. Structure and Function of Alzheimer’s Amyloid βeta Proteins from Monomer to Fibrils: A Mini Review. Protein J 38, 425–434 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10930-019-09854-3

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