Stoichiometry of Heavy Metal Binding to Peptides Involved in Alzheimer’s Disease: Mass Spectrometric Evidence

Influence of cadmium ion on denaturation kinetics of hen egg white-lysozyme under thermal and acidic conditions

To study the influence of Cd(II) ions on denaturation kinetics of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) under thermal and acidic conditions, spontaneous Raman spectroscopy in conjunction with Thioflavin-T fluorescence, AFM imaging, far-UV circular dichroism spectroscopy, and transmittance assays was conducted. Four distinctive Raman spectral markers for protein tertiary and secondary structures were recorded to follow the kinetics of conformational transformation. Through comparing variations of these markers in the presence or absence of Cd(II) ions, Cd(II) ions show an ability to efficiently accelerate the disruption of tertiary structure, and meanwhile, to promote the direct formation of organized β-sheets from the uncoiling of α-helices by skipping intermediate random coils. More significantly, with the action of Cd(II) ions, the initially resulting oligomers with disordered structures tend to assemble into aggregates with random structures like gels more than amyloid fibrils, along with a so-called "off-pathway" denaturation pathway. Our results advance the in-depth understanding of corresponding ion-specific effects.

Mass spectrometric studies of the variety of beta-amyloid proteoforms in Alzheimer's disease

This review covers the results of the application of mass spectrometric (MS) techniques to study the diversity of beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptides in human samples. Since Aβ is an important hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is a socially significant neurodegenerative disorder of the elderly worldwide, analysis of its endogenous variations is of particular importance for elucidating the pathogenesis of AD, predicting increased risks of the disease onset, and developing effective therapy. MS approaches have no alternative for the study of complex samples, including a wide variety of Aβ proteoforms, differing in length and modifications. Approaches based on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight and liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization tandem MS are most common in Aβ studies. However, Aβ forms with isomerized and/or racemized Asp and Ser residues require the use of special methods for separation and extra sensitive and selective methods for detection. Overall, this review summarizes current knowledge of Aβ species found in human brain, cerebrospinal fluid, and blood plasma; focuses on application of different MS approaches for Aβ studies; and considers the potential of MS techniques for further studies of Aβ-peptides.

Copper-Binding Peptides Attenuate Microglia Inflammation through Suppression of NF-kB Pathway

SCOPE

Activation of microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, has been related to the etiology and progression of neurodegenerative diseases; thus, finding novel approaches to suppress the neuroinflammatory process is of utmost relevance.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The anti-inflammatory activity of whey Cu-, Fe-, and Zn-binding peptides and their possible underlying mechanism of action were evaluated in microglia. Whey metal-binding peptides decreased nitric oxide production and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) at mRNA and protein levels by stimulated BV-2 microglia in comparison to the control with no peptide treatment. The hydrophobicity, specific sequences, and possible synergistic effects seem to play a role. Cu-binding peptides (Cu-bp) presented anti-inflammatory activity both in BV-2 and primary microglia cultures. These peptides exert their action by suppressing nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) pathway since nuclear translocation of NF-kB p65 is decreased by roughly 30% upon Cu-bp treatment. Specific sequences identified in Cu-bp showed high affinity to bind NF-kB p65 by molecular docking (up to -8.8 kcal mol-1 ), corroborating the immunofluorescence studies.

CONCLUSION

Cu-bp represent food-derived peptides that may be useful for neuroprotective purposes. Chelation of copper excess in the CNS and the bioavailability of such peptides, as well as their behavior in in vivo models, deserve further research for future applications.

Tau/Aβ chimera peptides: A Thioflavin-T and MALDI-TOF study of Aβ amyloidosis in the presence of Cu(II) or Zn(II) ions and total lipid brain extract (TLBE) vesicles

Currently, Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative condition, with limited therapeutic options. Several factors, like Amyloid β (Aβ) aggregation, tau protein hyperphosphorylation, bio-metals dyshomeostasis and oxidative stress contribute to AD pathogenesis. These pathogenic processes might occur in the aqueous phase but also on neuronal membranes. Thus, investigating the connection between Aβ and biomembranes, becomes important for unveiling the molecular mechanism underlying Aβ amyloidosis as a critical event in AD pathology. In this work, the interaction of two peptides, made up with hybrid sequences from Tau protein 9-16 (EVMEDHAG) or 26-33 (QGGYTMHQ) N-terminal domain and Aβ_16-20 (KLVFF) hydrophobic region, with full length Aβ40 or Aβ42 peptides is reported. The studied "chimera" peptides Ac-EVMEDHAGKLVFF-NH₂ (τ_9-16-KL) and Ac-QGGYTMHQKLVFF-NH₂ (τ_26-33-KL) are endowed with Aβ recognition and metal ion interaction capabilities provided by the tau or Aβ sequences, respectively. These peptides were characterized in previous study along with their metal dependent interaction and amyloidogenesis, either in the presence or absence of metal ion and artificial membranes made up with Total Lipid Brain Extract (TLBE) components, (Sciacca et al., 2020). In the present paper, the ability of the two peptides to inhibit Aβ aggregation is studied using composite experimental conditions including aqueous solution, the presence of metal ions (Cu or Zn), the presence of lipid vesicles mimicking neuronal membranes as well as the co-presence of metals and TLBE artificial membranes. We used Thioflavine-T (ThT) fluorescence or MALDI-TOF spectrometry analysis of Aβ limited proteolysis to respectively monitor the Aβ aggregation kinetic or validation of the Aβ interacting regions. We demonstrate that τ_9-16-KL and τ_26-33-KL peptides differently affect Aβ aggregation kinetics, with the tau sequence playing a crucial role. The results are discussed in terms of chimera's peptides hydrophobicity and electrostatic driven interactions at the aqueous/membrane interface.

Isolation and Sequencing of Cu-, Fe-, and Zn-Binding Whey Peptides for Potential Neuroprotective Applications as Multitargeted Compounds

This study aims to isolate metal-binding peptides and synthesize promising amino acid sequences to potentially act as neuroprotective compounds in the future, targeting different mechanisms. Fractions of whey metal-binding peptides (Cu, Fe, and Zn) isolated by immobilized metal affinity chromatography showed different amino acid profiles according to the metal. The Cu-binding peptides presented roughly twofold increase in the in vitro antioxidant, as assessed by oxygen radical absorbance capacity and anticholinesterase activities over the hydrolysate. This is probably because of the higher concentration of aromatic and basic residues, the latter being crucial for binding to the anionic sites of acetylcholinesterase. Six peptide sequences were synthesized based on the metal-binding sites, molecular mass, hydrophobicity, and bioactivity probability. Among the synthetic peptides, the VF dipeptide stood out both for its in vitro antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities. This peptide, as well as the fraction of Cu-binding peptides, should be further studied because it may act through different mechanisms related to neurodegenerative diseases, in addition to the chelation of the excess of metals in the central nervous system.

Aluminium Binding to Modified Amyloid-β Peptides: Implications for Alzheimer's Disease

Aluminium (Al) is clearly neurotoxic and considerable evidence exists that Al may play a role in the aetiology or pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Nevertheless, the link between AD pathology and Al is still open to debate. Therefore, we investigated here the interaction of aluminium ions with two Aβ peptide fragments and their analogues. First, we synthesised by the Fmoc/tBu solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) strategy using an automated peptide synthesiser two new peptides starting from the Aβ_(1–16) native peptide fragment. For this purpose, the three histidine residues (H⁶, H¹³, and H¹⁴) of the Aβ_(1–16) peptide were replaced by three alanine and three serine residues to form the modified peptides Aβ_(1–16)A₃^6,13,14 and Aβ_(1–16)S₃^6,13,14 (primary structures: H-¹DAEFRADSGYEVAAQK¹⁶-NH₂ and H-¹DAEFRSDSGYEVSSQK¹⁶-NH₂). In addition, the Aβ_(9–16) peptide fragment (H-⁹GYEVHHQK¹⁶-NH₂) and its glycine analogues, namely Aβ_(9–16)G₁¹⁰, (H-⁹GGEVHHQK¹⁶-NH₂), Aβ_(9–16)G₂^13,14 (H-⁹GYEVGGQK¹⁶-NH₂), and Aβ_(9–16)G₃^10,13,14 (H-⁹GGEVGGQK¹⁶-NH₂), were manually synthesised in order to study Al binding to more specific amino acid residues. Both the peptides and the corresponding complexes with aluminium were comparatively investigated by mass spectrometry (MS), circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Al–peptide molecular ions and Al-fragment ions were unambiguously identified in the MS and MS/MS spectra. AFM images showed dramatic changes in the film morphology of peptides upon Al binding. Our findings from the investigation of N-terminal 1-16 and even 9-16 normal and modified sequences of Aβ peptides suggest that they have the capability to be involved in aluminium ion binding associated with AD.