Inhibiting Aggregation of β-Amyloid by Folded and Unfolded Forms of Fimbrial Protein of Gram-Negative Bacteria

Title: Inhibiting Aggregation of β-Amyloid by Folded and Unfolded Forms of Fimbrial Protein of Gram-Negative Bacteria Authors: Yamamoto, Keisuke; Oyaizu, Misa; Takahashi, Tsuyoshi; Watanabe, Yoshihito; Shoji, Osami Abstract: Inhibition self-assembly of β-amyloid (Aβ) is considered to be a strategy that can be potentially useful to develop treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have discovered that a protein unit that is found in the fimbriae of Gram-negative bacteria, which has a vacant site for a β-sheet strand, prevents Aβ oligomerization effectively. Moreover, we found that a soluble but denatured form of this protein shows even higher potency. Our results also demonstrate the applicability of denatured proteins as pharmaceutical material.