Hudson SA, Ecroyd H, Dehle FC, Musgrave IF, Carver JA. (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) maintains kappa-casein in its pre-fibrillar state without redirecting its aggregation pathway.
J Mol Biol 2009;
392:689-700. [PMID:
19616561 DOI:
10.1016/j.jmb.2009.07.031]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2009] [Revised: 07/07/2009] [Accepted: 07/09/2009] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
The polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has recently attracted much research interest in the field of protein-misfolding diseases because of its potent anti-amyloid activity against amyloid-beta, alpha-synuclein and huntingtin, the amyloid-fibril-forming proteins involved in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, respectively. EGCG redirects the aggregation of these polypeptides to a disordered off-folding pathway that results in the formation of non-toxic amorphous aggregates. Whether this anti-fibril activity is specific to these disease-related target proteins or is more generic remains to be established. In addition, the mechanism by which EGCG exerts its effects, as with all anti-amyloidogenic polyphenols, remains unclear. To address these aspects, we have investigated the ability of EGCG to inhibit amyloidogenesis of the generic model fibril-forming protein RCMkappa-CN (reduced and carboxymethylated kappa-casein) and thereby protect pheochromocytoma-12 cells from RCMkappa-CN amyloid-induced toxicity. We found that EGCG potently inhibits in vitro fibril formation by RCMkappa-CN [the IC(50) for 50 microM RCMkappa-CN is 13+/-1 microM]. Biophysical studies reveal that EGCG prevents RCMkappa-CN fibril formation by stabilising RCMkappa-CN in its native-like state rather than by redirecting its aggregation to the disordered, amorphous aggregation pathway. Thus, while it appears that EGCG is a generic inhibitor of amyloid-fibril formation, the mechanism by which it achieves this inhibition is specific to the target fibril-forming polypeptide. It is proposed that EGCG is directed to the amyloidogenic sheet-turn-sheet motif of monomeric RCMkappa-CN with high affinity by strong non-specific hydrophobic associations. Additional non-covalent pi-pi stacking interactions between the polyphenolic and aromatic residues common to the amyloidogenic sequence are also implicated.
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