Protein misfolding and aggregation: Mechanism, factors and detection

Curious Results in the Prospective Binding Interactions of the Food Additive Tartrazine with β-Lactoglobulin

The detailed characterizations of the binding interactions between food additive tartrazine (TZ) and β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) have been investigated through spectroscopic techniques combined with a molecular modeling study. A series of analyses, such as hyperchromic change in the UV-visible spectra, temperature-dependent quenching constant, time-resolved fluorescence, and Rayleigh scattering measurements, show that quenching of β-LG proceeds by a static quenching mechanism. TZ specifically binds with β-LG in a stoichiometry ratio of 1:1, and the observed binding constants (10⁴, K) are 7.64, 9.13, 9.72, and 10.79 at 293, 298, 303, and 308 K, respectively. However, the curious results of binding constants (K) with temperature, encountered in the static quenching, have been well explained on the basis of Le Chatelier's principle. Thermodynamic data and pH-dependent studies along with the surface hydrophobicity binding displacement assay reveal that the durable mode of binding is chiefly entropy-driven, revealing noteworthy interactions of such ionic molecules with the hydrophobic part of β-LG. The modulation of protein conformation has been investigated through steady-state absorption spectroscopy, synchronous emission spectroscopy, circular dichroism, and dynamic light scattering studies. TZ acts as a potential inhibitor in fibrillogenesis. Furthermore, the molecular docking study offers accurate insights about the binding of TZ with β-LG, in consistence with the experimental results. This study would be helpful in pharmaceutical, food, and industrial engineering chemistry research.

Combustion and friction-derived nanoparticles and industrial-sourced nanoparticles: The culprit of Alzheimer and Parkinson's diseases

Redox-active, strongly magnetic, combustion and friction-derived nanoparticles (CFDNPs) are abundant in particulate matter air pollution. Urban children and young adults with Alzheimer disease Continuum have higher numbers of brain CFDNPs versus clean air controls. CFDNPs surface charge, dynamic magnetic susceptibility, iron content and redox activity contribute to ROS generation, neurovascular unit (NVU), mitochondria, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) damage, and are catalysts for protein misfolding, aggregation and fibrillation. CFDNPs respond to external magnetic fields and are involved in cell damage by agglomeration/clustering, magnetic rotation and/or hyperthermia. This review focus in the interaction of CFDNPs, nanomedicine and industrial NPs with biological systems and the impact of portals of entry, particle sizes, surface charge, biomolecular corona, biodistribution, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular toxicity, anterograde and retrograde axonal transport, brain dysfunction and pathology. NPs toxicity information come from researchers synthetizing particles and improving their performance for drug delivery, drug targeting, magnetic resonance imaging and heat mediators for cancer therapy. Critical information includes how these NPs overcome all barriers, the NPs protein corona changes as they cross the NVU and the complexity of NPs interaction with soluble proteins and key organelles. Oxidative, ER and mitochondrial stress, and a faulty complex protein quality control are at the core of Alzheimer and Parkinson's diseases and NPs mechanisms of action and toxicity are strong candidates for early development and progression of both fatal diseases. Nanoparticle exposure regardless of sources carries a high risk for the developing brain homeostasis and ought to be included in the AD and PD research framework.

Cytotoxic species in amyloid-associated diseases: Oligomers or mature fibrils

Amyloid diseases especially, Alzheimer's disease (AD), is characterized by an imbalance between the production and clearance of amyloid-β (Aβ) species. Amyloidogenic proteins or peptides can transform structurally from monomers into β-stranded fibrils via multiple oligomeric states. Among various amyloid species, structured oligomers are proposed to be more toxic than fibrils; however, the identification of amyloid oligomers has been challenging due to their heterogeneous and metastable nature. Multiple techniques have recently helped in better understanding of oligomer's assembly details and structural properties. Moreover, some progress on elucidating the mechanisms of oligomer-triggered toxicity has been made. Based on the collection of current findings, there is growing consensus that control of toxic amyloid oligomers could be a valid approach to regulate amyloid-associated toxicity, which could advance development of new diagnostics and therapeutics for amyloid-related diseases. In this review, we have described the recent scenario of amyloid diseases with a great deal of information about the recent understanding of oligomers' assembly, structural properties, and toxicity. Also comprehensive details have been provided to differentiate the degree of toxicity associated with prefibrillar aggregates.

Antibiotic hypersensitivity in MRSA induced by special protein aggregates

Emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is a major global concern. According to WHO, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a threatening pathogen resistant to a wide spectrum of antibiotics. Herein, to overcome drug resistance in MRSA, we successfully integrated traditional antibacterial methods but with a novel trick that included use of hen egg-white lysozyme's special aggregates generated by fibrillization. The minimum inhibitory concentration of oxacillin (Ox) for MRSA declined from 600 μM to <20 μM when using aggregates. Scanning and transition electron micrographs showed completely disrupted cells when treated with aggregated protein/Ox (20 μM). The assisting role of aggregates to induce antibiotic hypersensitivity was continuous and stable, but sub-inhibitory antibiotic concentration (20 μM) was required again after 8 h. Investigations regarding mechanism of antibiotic hypersensitivity revealed that aggregates were oligomers but not mature fibrils. Furthermore, reactive oxygen species levels rose significantly after treating bacteria with aggregated protein/Ox. Study of resistance mechanisms indicated that in response to wall structure alterations, mecA expression dropped significantly in the presence of aggregated protein/Ox (20 μM) relative to Ox (20 μM). This observation can be a breakthrough in finding alternatives where antibiotic dosage can be significantly reduced, thereby preventing emergence of new multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Protein misfolding, aggregation and mechanism of amyloid cytotoxicity: An overview and therapeutic strategies to inhibit aggregation

Protein and peptides are converted from their soluble forms into highly ordered fibrillar aggregates under various conditions inside the cell. Such transitions confer diverse neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease Prion's disease, Parkinson's disease, polyQ and share abnormal folding of potentially cytotoxic protein species linked with degeneration and death of precise neuronal populations. Presently, major advances are made to understand and get detailed insight into the structural basis and mechanism of amyloid formation, cytotoxicity and therapeutic approaches to combat them. Here we highlight classifies and summarizes the detailed overview of protein misfolding and aggregation at their molecular level including the factors that promote protein aggregation under in vivo and in vitro conditions. In addition, we describe the recent technologies that aid the characterization of amyloid aggregates along with several models that might be responsible for amyloid induced cytotoxicity to cells. Overview on the inhibition of amyloidosis by targeting different small molecules (both natural and synthetic origin) have been also discussed, that provides important approaches to identify novel targets and develop specific therapeutic strategies to combat protein aggregation related neurodegenerative diseases.

Stabilizing proteins to prevent conformational changes required for amyloid fibril formation

Amyloid fibrillation is associated with several human maladies, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's diseases, prions, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and type 2 diabetes diseases. Gaining insights into the mechanism of amyloid fibril formation and exploring novel approaches to fibrillation inhibition are crucial for preventing amyloid diseases. Here, we hypothesized that ligands capable of stabilizing the native state of query proteins might prevent protein unfolding, which, in turn, may reduce the propensity of proteins to form amyloid fibrils. We demonstrated the efficient inhibition of amyloid formation of the human serum albumin (HSA) (up to 85%) and human insulin (up to 80%) by a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, ibuprofen (IBFN). IBFN significantly increases the conformational stability of both HSA and insulin, as confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Moreover, increasing concentration of IBFN boosts its amyloid inhibitory propensity in a linear fashion by influencing the nucleation phase as assayed by thioflavin T fluorescence, transmission electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering. Furthermore, circular dichroism analysis supported the DSC results, showing that IBFN binds to the native state of proteins and almost completely prevents their tendency to lose secondary and tertiary structures. Cell toxicity assay confirms that species formed in the presence of IBFN are less toxic to neuronal cells (SH-SY5Y). These results demonstrate the feasibility of using a small molecule to stabilize the native state of proteins, thereby preventing the amyloidogenic conformational changes, which appear to be the common link in several human amyloid diseases.

Therapeutic Fc fusion protein misfolding: A three-phasic cultivation experimental design

Cell culture process optimization is a critical solution to most of the challenges faced by the pharmaceutical manufacturing. One of the major problems encountered in large-scale production of therapeutic proteins is misfolded protein production. The accumulation of misfolded therapeutic proteins is an immunogenic signal and a risk factor for immunogenicity of the final product. The aim of this study was the statistical optimization of three-phasic temperature shift and timing for enhanced production of correctly folded Fc-fusion protein. The effect of culture temperatures were investigated using the biphasic culture system. Box-Behnken design was then used to compute temperature and time of shifting optimum. Response surface methodology revealed that maximum production with low level of misfolded protein was achieved at two-step temperature shift from 37°C to 30°C during the late logarithmic phase and 30°C to 28°C in the mid-stationary phase. The optimized condition gave the best results of 1860 mg L-1 protein titer with 24.5% misfolding level. The validation experiments were carried out under optimal conditions with three replicates and the protein misfolding level was decreased by two times while productivity increased by ~ 1.3-fold. Large-scale production in 250 L bioreactor under the optimum conditions was also verified the effectiveness and the accuracy of the model. The results showed that by utilizing two-step temperature shift, productivity and the quality of target protein have been improved simultaneously. This model could be successfully applied to other products.

Trehalose mediated stabilisation of cellobiase aggregates from the filamentous fungus Penicillium chrysogenum

Extracellular fungal cellobiases develop large stable aggregates by reversible concentration driven interaction. In-vitro addition of trehalose resulted in bigger cellobiase assemblies with increased stability against heat and dilution induced dissociation. In presence of 0.1 M trehalose, the size of aggregates increased from 344 nm to 494 nm. The increase in size was also observed in zymography of cellobiase. Activation energy of the trehalose stabilised enzyme (Ea = 220.9 kJ/mol) as compared to control (Ea = 257.734 kJ/mol), suggested enhanced thermostability and also showed increased resistance to chaotropes. Purified cellobiase was found to contain 196.27 μg of sugar/μg of protein. It was proposed that presence of glycan on protein's surface impedes and delays trehalose docking. Consequently, self-association of cellobiase preceded coating by trehalose leading to stabilisation of bigger cellobiase aggregates. In unison with the hypothesis, ribosylated BSA failed to get compacted by trehalose and developed into bigger aggregates with average size increasing from 210 nm to 328 nm. Wheat Germ Lectin, in presence of trehalose, showed higher molecular weight assemblies in DLS, native-PAGE and fluorescence anisotropy. This is the first report of cross-linking independent stabilisation of purified fungal glycosidases providing important insights towards understanding the aggregation and stability of glycated proteins.

Amyloid Oligomers, Protofibrils and Fibrils

Amyloid diseases are of major concern all over the world due to a number of factors including: (i) aging population, (ii) increasing life span and (iii) lack of effective pharmacotherapy options. The past decade has seen intense research in discovering disease-modifying multi-targeting small molecules as therapeutic options. In recent years, targeting the amyloid cascade has emerged as an attractive strategy to discover novel neurotherapeutics. Formation of amyloid species, with different degrees of solubility and neurotoxicity is associated with the gradual decline in cognition leading to dementia/cell dysfunction. Here, in this chapter, we have described the recent scenario of amyloid diseases with a great deal of information about the structural features of oligomers, protofibrils and fibrils. Also, comprehensive details have been provided to differentiate the degree of toxicity associated with prefibrillar aggregates. Moreover, a review of the technologies that aid characterisation of oligomer, protofibrils and fibrils as well as various inhibition strategies to overcome protein fibrillation are also discussed.

Effects of nanobubbles on peptide self-assembly

It is believed that the aggregation of amyloid proteins or peptides is promoted by the presence of an air-water interface, and substantial evidence suggests that the characteristics of the air-water interface play critical roles in foam-induced protein aggregation during foam fractionation. However, the effects of the air-water interface on the self-assembly of amyloid-like peptides have not yet been elucidated clearly at the nanometer scale. In this work, air nanobubbles produced in water solution were employed for studying interfacial effects on the self-assembly of a model amyloid peptide termed P11. An atomic force microscopy study showed that the air nanobubbles induced the formation of peptide fibrils with a 9-13 nm helix structure in the P11 solution. Thioflavin T fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopic analysis indicated that the nanobubbles induced the change of the peptide conformation to a β-sheet structure. Based on these observations, we have proposed a mechanism to explain how the nanobubbles affect the self-assembly of the P11 peptide at the nanometer scale. Since air nanobubbles are present in water solutions in addition to an air-water interface in normal experiments in vitro, our results indicate that nanobubbles must be taken into account to achieve a complete understanding of protein aggregation events.

Influence of the ionic strength on the amyloid fibrillogenesis of hen egg white lysozyme

The study investigates the role of the electrostatic interactions in the fibrillation of the hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL). In order to achieve this aim the influence of the cations Na⁺, Mg²⁺ and Al³⁺ on the amyloid fibril formation and amorphous aggregation was tested. The amyloids are formed in the solution without added salt but the Thioflavin T fluorescence gives the false-negative result. In these conditions, the HEWL fibrils are long and curvy. If the ionic strength of the solution is sufficiently high, the formed amyloids are shorter and fragmented. Our study shows that the addition of the aluminium salt promotes protein fibrillation. The amorphous aggregation dominates in the high concentration of electrolyte. The in vitro amyloid fibril formation seems to be regulated by universal mechanisms. The theories implemented in the polymer science or for colloidal solutions give the qualitative description of the aggregation phenomena. However, the specific interactions and the additional effects (e.g. fibril fragmentation) modulate the amyloidogenesis.

Silica nanoparticles induce conformational changes of tau protein and oxidative stress and apoptosis in neuroblastoma cell line

The adverse effects of SiO₂ NPs on the biological systems like nervous system have not been well explored. This study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of SiO₂ NPs on the nervous system in vitro. Therefore, human tau protein and neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y) were used as targets. In this study we examined the side effects of SiO₂ NPs on tau protein structure using several techniques including CD, ANS fluorescence, UV-vis (360 nm), Congo red absorbance, TEM, and molecular dynamic. Also, the cytotoxicity effects of SiO₂ NPs against SH-SY5Y cell line were evaluated using MTT, ROS and apoptotic assays. Spectroscopic and molecular dynamic investigations indicated that natively unfolded structure of tau in the presence of SiO₂ NPs experienced a partially folded and amorphous aggregated structure. Cellular assay demonstrated that SiO₂ NPs exerted cytotoxic effect on SH-SY5Y cells through ROS accumulation and induction of apoptosis. Overall, these findings proved that SiO₂ NPs could induce adverse effects on tau structure and SH-SY5Y cell integrity. Moreover, further studies are required to elucidate the molecular mechanism of SiO₂ NPs-induced side effects in vivo.

Elucidating the Inhibitory Potential of Designed Peptides Against Amyloid Fibrillation and Amyloid Associated Cytotoxicity

Inhibition of fibrillation process and disaggregation of mature fibrils using small peptide are the promising remedial strategies to combat neurodegenerative diseases. However, designing peptide-based drugs to target β-sheet-rich amyloid has been a major challenge. The current work describes, for the first time, the amyloid inhibitory potential of the two short peptides (selected on the basis of predisposition of their amino acid residues toward β-sheet formation) using combination of biophysical, imaging methods, and docking approaches. Results showed that peptides employed different mechanisms to inhibit the amyloid fibrillation. Furthermore, they were also effective in blocking the amyloid fibrillation pathway. In contrary to the insulin fibrillar mesh, significantly less fibrillar species appeared in the presence of peptides, as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Circular dichroism analysis indicated that although peptides did not stabilize the native state of insulin, they inhibited amyloid aggregation by reducing the formation of β-sheet rich structures. Hemolytic assay revealed the non-hemolytic nature of the species formed when insulin was co-incubated with the peptides. Therefore, despite the inherent potential to form β-sheet structure, these peptides inhibited the amyloid formation and potentially can be used as therapeutics for the treatment of amyloid-related diseases.

Multicomponent peptide assemblies

Self-assembled peptide nanostructures have been increasingly exploited as functional materials for applications in biomedicine and energy. The emergent properties of these nanomaterials determine the applications for which they can be exploited. It has recently been appreciated that nanomaterials composed of multicomponent coassembled peptides often display unique emergent properties that have the potential to dramatically expand the functional utility of peptide-based materials. This review presents recent efforts in the development of multicomponent peptide assemblies. The discussion includes multicomponent assemblies derived from short low molecular weight peptides, peptide amphiphiles, coiled coil peptides, collagen, and β-sheet peptides. The design, structure, emergent properties, and applications for these multicomponent assemblies are presented in order to illustrate the potential of these formulations as sophisticated next-generation bio-inspired materials.

Chaperone-like effect of ceftriaxone on HEWL aggregation: A spectroscopic and computational study

BACKGROUND

Lysozyme is a widely distributed enzyme present in a variety of tissue and body fluids. Human and hen egg white lysozyme are used as validated model to study protein folding and stability and to understand protein misfolding and aggregation. We recently found that ceftriaxone, a β-lactam antibiotic able to overcome the blood-brain barrier, successfully eliminated the cellular toxic effects of misfolded proteins as Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and α-synuclein. To further understand the anti-amyloidogenic properties of ceftriaxone, we studied its activity towards lysozyme aggregation with the aim to investigate a possible chaperone-like activity of this molecule.

METHODS

Here we present the results obtained from fluorescence and synchrotron radiation circular dichroism spectroscopies and from molecular docking and molecular dynamics about the lysozyme-ceftriaxone interaction at neutral and acidic pH values.

RESULTS

We found that ceftriaxone exhibits comparable affinity constants to lysozyme in both experimental pH conditions and that its addition enhanced lysozyme stability reducing its aggregation propensity in acidic conditions. Computational methods allowed the identification of the putative binding site of ceftriaxone, thus rationalizing the spectroscopic results.

CONCLUSIONS

Spectroscopy data and molecular dynamics indicated a protective effect of ceftriaxone on pathological aggregation phenomena suggesting a chaperone-like effect of this molecule on protein folding. General significance These results, in addition to our previous studies on α-synuclein and GFAP, confirm the property of ceftriaxone to inhibit the pathological protein aggregation of lysozyme also by a chaperone-like mechanism, extending the potential therapeutic application of this molecule to some forms of human hereditary systemic amyloidosis.

Capreomycin inhibits the initiation of amyloid fibrillation and suppresses amyloid induced cell toxicity

Protein aggregation and amyloid fibrillation are responsible for several serious pathological conditions (like type II diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases etc.) and protein drugs ineffectiveness. Therefore, a molecule that can inhibit the amyloid fibrillation and potentially clear amyloid fibrils is of great therapeutic value. In this manuscript, we investigated the antiamyloidogenic, fibril disaggregating, as well as cell protective effect of an anti-tuberculosis drug, Capreomycin (CN). Aggregation kinetics data, as monitored by ThT fluorescence, inferred that CN retards the insulin amyloid fibrillation by primarily targeting the fibril elongation step with little effect on lag time. Increasing the dose of CN boosted its inhibitory potency. Strikingly, CN arrested the growth of fibrils when added during the elongation phase, and disaggregated mature insulin fibrils. Our Circular Dichroism (CD) results showed that, although CN is not able to maintain the alpha helical structure of protein during fibrillation, reduces the formation of beta sheet rich structure. Furthermore, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Transmission Electronic Microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed that CN treated samples exhibited different size distribution and morphology, respectively. In addition, molecular docking results revealed that CN interacts with insulin through hydrophobic interactions as well as hydrogen bonding, and the Hemolytic assay confirmed the non-hemolytic activity of CN on human RBCs. For future research, this study may assist in the rational designing of molecules against amyloid formation.

Andrographolide inhibits human serum albumin fibril formations through site-specific molecular interactions

Protein misfolding and fibrillation are the fundamental traits in degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinsonism, and diabetes mellitus. Bioactives such as flavonoids and terpenoids from plant sources are known to express protective effects against an array of diseases including diabetes, Alzheimer's and obesity. Andrographolide (AG), a labdane diterpenoid is prescribed widely in the Indian and Chinese health care systems for classical efficacy against a number of degenerative diseases. This work presents an in depth study on the effects of AG on protein fibrillating pathophysiology. Thioflavin T fluorescence spectroscopy and DLS results indicated concentration dependent inhibition of human serum albumin (HSA) fibrillation. The results were confirmed by electron microscopy studies. HSA fibril formations were markedly reduced in the presence of AG. Fluorescence studies and UV-Vis experiments confirmed further that AG molecularly interacts with HSA at site. In silico molecular docking studies revealed hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions with HSA in the native state. Thus AG interacts with HSA, stabilizes the native protein structure and inhibits fibrillation. The results demonstrated that the compound possesses anti-amyloidogenic properties and can be promising against some human degenerative diseases.

Andrographolide inhibited HSA protein fibrillation through site specific interactions.

Molecular cloning, prokaryotic expression, purification, structural studies and functional implications of Heat Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70) from Rutilus frisii kutum

A novel Hsp70 chaperone from Rutilus frisii kutum was identified, cloned, expressed, purified and its functional characteristics revealed. The 3D structure of Hsp70 from Rutilus kutum was constructed using the crystal structure of E. coli Hsp70 as the template, with 47% sequence identity. The in vitro ATPase activity assay after 60min, ATP hydrolysis of purified recombinant Hsp70 (8μM) was improved by binding to denatured thermally luciferase (3μM) about 2.5-fold compared with that of Hsp70 alone. Based on the results, it was found that the purified Hsp70 chaperone was able to considerably suppress heat-induced aggregation of luciferase by binding to DnaJ co-chaperone (5μM) more than 70% after 10min at 42°C. In addition, Hsp70 DnaJ complex improved the refolding of heat-shocked luciferase nearly 40% after 60min at 25°C. It was concluded that Hsp70 protein from Rutilus frisii kutum has the critical role in preventing heat-induced aggregation of luciferase and refolding of heat-denatured luciferase was strictly dependent on the activity of Hsp70, thus, this protein can potentially be used for improving the functional properties of luciferase in various applications.

Concentration dependent switch in the kinetic pathway of lysozyme fibrillation: Spectroscopic and microscopic analysis

Formation of amyloid fibrils is found to be a general tendency of many proteins. Investigating the kinetic mechanisms and structural features of the intermediates and the final fibrillar state is essential to understand their role in amyloid diseases. Lysozyme, a notable model protein for amyloidogenic studies, readily formed fibrils in vitro at neutral pH in the presence of urea. It, however, showed two different kinetic pathways under varying urea concentrations when probed with thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence. In 2M urea, lysozyme followed a nucleation-dependent fibril formation pathway which was not altered by varying the protein concentration from 2mg/ml to 8mg/ml. In 4M urea, the protein exhibited concentration dependent change in the mechanism. At lower protein concentrations, lysozyme formed fibrils without any detectable nuclei (nucleation-independent polymerization pathway). When the concentration of the protein was increased above 3mg/ml, the protein followed nucleation-dependent polymerization pathway as observed in the case of 2M urea condition. This was further verified using microscopic images of the fibrils. The kinetic parameters such as lag time, elongation rate, and fibrillation half-time, which were derived from ThT fluorescence changes, showed linear dependency against the initial protein concentration suggested that under the nucleation-dependent pathway conditions, the protein followed primary-nucleation mechanism without any significant secondary nucleation events. The results also suggested that the differences in the initial protein conformation might alter the mechanism of fibrillation; however, at the higher protein concentrations lysozyme shifted to nucleation-dependent pathway.

A review on protein misfolding, aggregation and strategies to prevent related ailments

This review aims to highlight the fundamental mechanism of protein misfolding leading to protein aggregation and associated diseases. It also aims to anticipate novel therapeutic strategies with which to prevent or treat these highly debilitating conditions linked to these pathologies. The failure of a protein to correctly fold de novo or to remain correctly folded can have profound consequences on a living system especially when the cellular quality control processes fail to eliminate the rogue proteins. The core cause of over 20 different human diseases which have now been designated as 'conformational diseases' including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease (HD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) etc. A comprehensive study on protein misfolding, aggregation, and the outcomes of the effects of cytotoxic aggregates will lead to understand the aggregation-mediated cell toxicity and serves as a foundation for future research in development of promising therapies and drugs. This review has also shed light on the mechanism of protein misfolding which leads to its aggregation and hence the neurodegeneration. From these considerations, one could also envisage the possibility that protein aggregation may be exploited by nature to perform specific physiological functions in differing biological contexts.

Comparative binding study of anti-tuberculosis drug pyrazinamide with serum albumins

The interaction of anti-tuberculosis drug pyrazinamide (PYZ) with serum albumins (HSA and BSA) has been studied using spectroscopic and molecular docking approaches.