Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Cholesterol Effects on the Interaction of hIAPP with Lipid Bilayer

Concentration-Dependent Effects of Cholesterol on the Dimerization of Amyloid-β Peptides in Lipid Bilayers

Membrane disruption mediated by the accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) on cell membranes is central to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Cholesterol, an important component of membranes, is well-recognized as a risk factor in AD. It can affect the aggregation and pore formation of Aβ on membranes whereas the specific effects are rather complex, particularly regarding the non-linear response to cholesterol concentrations. Yet, the mechanistic understanding of the role of cholesterol in Aβ-membrane interactions remains incomplete. Herein, we employed microsecond-scale molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the effects of cholesterol on Aβ dimerization in a lipid bilayer containing different molar ratios of cholesterol (0, 20, and 40 mol %). Cholesterol reduces the time required for the formation of stable dimers and exerts dual effects on Aβ-membrane interactions. First, cholesterol promotes the extraction of the C-terminal region from the membrane to water. Consequently, at the ratios of 0 and 20 mol %, peptides are anchored at the membrane-water interface, but they are repelled to water at a ratio of 40 mol % with high structural flexibility. Second, cholesterol weakens Aβ-membrane interactions, thereby enhancing inter-peptide interactions. The former is favorable for dimerization while the latter is not. The balance between two factors eventually leads to a non-monotonic effect on the degree of dimerization, whereby the number of inter-peptide contacts is the largest at a cholesterol ratio of 20 mol %. These results provide atomistic insights into the regulation mechanism of Aβ42 aggregation by cholesterol and help to understand the pathological link between cholesterol and AD.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the Tau R3-R4 Domain Monomer in the Bulk Solution and at the Surface of a Lipid Bilayer Model

The aggregation of the tau protein plays a significant role in Alzheimer's disease, and the tau R3-R4 domain spanning residues 306-378 was shown to form the amyloid fibril core of a full-length tau. The conformations of the tau R3-R4 monomer in the bulk solution and at the surface of membranes are unknown. In this study, we address these questions by means of atomistic molecular dynamics. The simulations in the bulk solution show a very heterogeneous ensemble of conformations with low β and helical contents. The tau R3-R4 monomer has the propensity to form transient β-hairpins within the R3 repeat and between the R3 and R4 repeats and parallel β-sheets spanning the R3 and R4 repeats. The simulations also show that the surface of the membrane does not induce β-sheet insertion and leads to an ensemble of structures very different from those in the bulk solution. They also reveal the dynamical properties of the membrane-bound state of the tau R3-R4 monomer, enabling insertion of the residues 306-318 and 376-378.

Structural Dissection of the First Events Following Membrane Binding of the Islet Amyloid Polypeptide

The islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) is the main constituent of the amyloid fibrils found in the pancreas of type 2 diabetes patients. The aggregation of IAPP is known to cause cell death, where the cell membrane plays a dual role: being a catalyst of IAPP aggregation and being the target of IAPP toxicity. Using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and molecular dynamics simulations we investigate the very first molecular steps following IAPP binding to a lipid membrane. In particular, we assess the combined effects of the charge state of amino-acid residue 18 and the IAPP-membrane interactions on the structures of monomeric and aggregated IAPP. Distinct IAPP-membrane interaction modes for the various IAPP variants are revealed. Membrane binding causes IAPP to fold into an amphipathic α-helix, which in the case of H18K-, and H18R-IAPP readily moves beyond the headgroup region. For all IAPP variants but H18E-IAPP, the membrane-bound helix is an intermediate on the way to amyloid aggregation, while H18E-IAPP remains in a stable helical conformation. The fibrillar aggregates of wild-type IAPP and H18K-IAPP are dominated by an antiparallel β-sheet conformation, while H18R- and H18A-IAPP exhibit both antiparallel and parallel β-sheets as well as amorphous aggregates. Our results emphasize the decisive role of residue 18 for the structure and membrane interaction of IAPP. This residue is thus a good therapeutic target for destabilizing membrane-bound IAPP fibrils to inhibit their toxic actions.

Ultrathin 2D Titanium Carbide MXene (Ti3 C2 Tx ) Nanoflakes Activate WNT/HIF-1α-Mediated Metabolism Reprogramming for Periodontal Regeneration

Periodontal defect regeneration in severe periodontitis relies on the differentiation and proliferation of periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs). Recently, an emerging 2D nanomaterial, MXene (Ti₃ C₂ T_x ), has gained more and more attention due to the extensive antibacterial and anticancer activity, while its potential biomedical application on tissue regeneration remains unclear. Through a combination of experimental and multiscale simulation schemes, Ti₃ C₂ T_x has exhibited satisfactory biocompatibility and induced distinguish osteogenic differentiation of human PDLCs (hPDLCs), with upregulated osteogenesis-related genes. Ti₃ C₂ T_x manages to activate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by enhancing the Wnt-Frizzled complex binding, thus stabilizing HIF-1α and altering metabolic reprogramming into glycolysis. In vivo, hPDLCs pretreated by Ti₃ C₂ T_x display excellent performance in new bone formation and osteoclast inhibition with enhanced RUNX2, HIF-1α, and β-catenin in an experimental rat model of periodontal fenestration defects, indicating that this material has high efficiency of periodontal regeneration promotion. It is demonstrated in this work that Ti₃ C₂ T_x has highly efficient therapeutic effects in osteogenic differentiation and periodontal defect repairment.

Antimicrobial α-defensins as multi-target inhibitors against amyloid formation and microbial infection

Amyloid aggregation and microbial infection are considered as pathological risk factors for developing amyloid diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), type II diabetes (T2D), Parkinson's disease (PD), and medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Due to the multifactorial nature of amyloid diseases, single-target drugs and treatments have mostly failed to inhibit amyloid aggregation and microbial infection simultaneously, thus leading to marginal benefits for amyloid inhibition and medical treatments. Herein, we proposed and demonstrated a new "anti-amyloid and antimicrobial hypothesis" to discover two host-defense antimicrobial peptides of α-defensins containing β-rich structures (human neutrophil peptide of HNP-1 and rabbit neutrophil peptide of NP-3A), which have demonstrated multi-target, sequence-independent functions to (i) prevent the aggregation and misfolding of different amyloid proteins of amyloid-β (Aβ, associated with AD), human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP, associated with T2D), and human calcitonin (hCT, associated with MTC) at sub-stoichiometric concentrations, (ii) reduce amyloid-induced cell toxicity, and (iii) retain their original antimicrobial activity upon the formation of complexes with amyloid peptides. Further structural analysis showed that the sequence-independent amyloid inhibition function of α-defensins mainly stems from their cross-interactions with amyloid proteins via β-structure interactions. The discovery of antimicrobial peptides containing β-structures to inhibit both microbial infection and amyloid aggregation greatly expands the new therapeutic potential of antimicrobial peptides as multi-target amyloid inhibitors for better understanding pathological causes and treatments of amyloid diseases.

Interplay between human islet amyloid polypeptide aggregates and micro-heterogeneous membranes

Human islet amyloid polypeptides (hIAPP) aggregate into amyloid deposits in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans, contributing to the loss of β-cells of patients with type 2 diabetes. Despite extensive studies of membrane disruption associated with hIAPP aggregates, the molecular details regarding the complex interplay between hIAPP aggregates and raft-containing membranes are still very limited. Using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the impact of hIAPP aggregate insertion on lipid segregation. We have found that the domain separation of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) is enhanced upon hIAPP membrane permeabilization in the absence of cholesterol, while within our simulation timescale, we cannot provide definitive evidence regarding the impact of hIAPP insertion on domain segregation in the ternary mixture (DOPC/DPPC/cholesterol). When the lipid domains are perturbed, their restoration occurs rapidly and spontaneously in the presence of hIAPP aggregates. hIAPP insertion affects membrane thickness in its immediate surroundings. On average, hIAPP causes the fluidity of lipids to increase and even cholesterol shows enhanced diffusivity. The acyl chain packing of the lipids near hIAPP is disrupted as compared to that further away from it. Cholesterol not only modulates membrane mobility and ordering but also hIAPP aggregates' structure and relative orientation to the membrane. Our investigations on the interaction between hIAPP aggregates and raft-containing membranes could lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms of amyloid cytotoxicity.

Effects of cholesterol on chlorzoxazone translocation across POPC bilayer

Cholesterol plays a crucial role in modulating the physicochemical properties of membranes, thus influencing the membrane transport of drugs. In this paper, the effects caused by cholesterol on the membrane transport of chlorzoxazone (CZX), a centrally acting muscle relaxant drug, were probed through molecular dynamics simulations. POPC was selected as the model lipid, and three different cholesterol concentrations (0%, 20%, and 50% CHOL) were considered. The outcomes reveal that the area per lipid of POPC decreases and the order parameter increases with enhanced concentration of CHOL. CZX prefers to localize at the interface between the headgroup region and the hydrophobic tail region of POPC, and the main energy barrier occurs in the hydrophobic region. The impact of CHOL on the free energy profile is correlated with concentration: low concentration facilitates CZX permeation, while high concentration hinders CZX permeation. Our findings coincide with experimental results, enhancing the mechanism understanding of how drug molecules are transported through membranes in the presence of CHOL. • The effects caused by cholesterol (CHOL) on the membrane transport of chlorzoxazone (CZX) were studied. • Low CHOL concentration facilitates CZX permeation, while high concentration hinders CZX permeation. • Our findings improve the mechanism understanding of CHOL effects on CZX translocation across membrane.

Repurposing a Cardiovascular Disease Drug of Cloridarol as hIAPP Inhibitor

Accumulating evidence have shown a strong pathological correlation between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Type II diabetes (T2D), both of which share many common risk factors (e.g., hyperglycemia, hypertension, hypercoagulability, and dyslipidemia) and mutually contribute to each other. Driven by such strong CVD-T2D correlation and marginal benefits from drug development for T2D, here we proposed to repurpose a CVD drug of cloridarol as human islet amyloid peptide (hIAPP) inhibitor against its abnormal misfolding and aggregation, which is considered as a common and critical pathological event in T2D. To this end, we investigated the inhibition activity of cloridarol on the aggregation and toxicity of hIAPP_1-37 using combined experimental and computational approaches. Collective experimental data from ThT, AFM, and CD demonstrated the inhibition ability of cloridarol to prevent hIAPP aggregation from its monomeric and oligomeric states, leading to the overall reduction of hIAPP fibrils up to 57% at optimal conditions. MTT and LDH cell assays also showed that cloridarol can also effectively increase cell viability by 15% and decrease cell apoptosis by 28%, confirming its protection of islet β-cells from hIAPP-induced cell toxicity. Furthermore, comparative molecular dynamics simulations revealed that cloridarol was preferentially bound to the C-terminal β-sheet region of hIAPP oligomers through a combination of hydrophobic interactions, π-π stacking, and hydrogen bonding. Such multiple site bindings allowed cloridarol to disturb hIAPP structures, reduce β-sheet content, and block the lateral association pathway of hIAPP aggregates, thus explaining experimental findings. Different from other single-target hIAPP inhibitors, cloridarol is unique in that it works as both a CVD drug and hIAPP inhibitor, which can be used as a viable structural template (especially for benzofuran) for the further development of cloridarol-based or benzofuran-based inhibitors of amyloid proteins.