Protein Misfolding Diseases

An increasingly aging population will add to the number of individuals suffering from amyloid. Protein Misfolding Diseases provides a systematic overview of the current and emerging therapies for these types of protein misfolding diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Mad Cow. The book emphasizes therapeutics in an amyloid disease context to help students, faculty, scientific researchers, and doctors working with protein misfolding diseases bridge the gap between basic science and pharmaceutical applications to protein misfolding disease.

Research focused on protein folding, misfolding, and aggregation is leading to major advances across biochemistry and medicine. The elucidation of a folding code is proving to be of extreme importance in the postgenomic era, where a number of orphan genes have been identified for which no clear function has yet been established. This research is starting to shed light on the molecular and biochemical basis of a number of neurodegenerative diseases of dramatic impact. Protein Misfolding in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies addresses key issues concerning protein misfolding and aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases. Building on recent developments, including the recognition of protein misfolding as both a marker and a causal agent, the text presents the work of those who are actively pursuing more effective treatments, as well as preventative measures, and a possible cure. These include the use of molecular chaperones to control misfolding and novel pharmaceuticals, as well as the potential role of various inhibitors and NSAIDS. A Comprehensive Multifaceted Examination of the Complex Causal Agents Implicated in Protein Misfolding Divided into five sections, this groundbreaking text provides up-to-date accounts for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalitis. It also explores the highly likelihood that multiple factors, including oxidative stress, play a role in these complex diseases.

Protein Misfolding, Volume 118, covers the wide spectrum of diseases and disorders that are attributed to protein misfolding, including degenerative and neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, renal, glaucoma, cancer, cystic fibrosis, Gaucher's disease, and many others. Specific chapters cover Mass spectrometric approaches for profiling protein folding and stability, Biomembranes, a key player in protein misfolding, how Genetic and environmental factors interact to disrupt proteostasis and trigger protein misfolding diseases, Formation of oligomers and large amorphous aggregates by intrinsically disordered proteins, Protein misfolding in ER stress with applications to cardiovascular and renal disease, and much more. Integrates methods for studying protein misfolding, factors that trigger this process and its role in a wide spectrum of diseases and disorders Contains timely chapters written by well-renowned authorities in their field Provides data that is well supported by a number of high quality illustrations, figures and tables, and targets a very wide audience of specialists, researchers and students

This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.

For decades it has been known that structured conformations are important for the proper functioning of most cellular proteins. However, appreciation that protein folding to the functional conformations as well as the structural maintenance of protein molecules are very complex processes has only emerged during the last ten years. The intimate interplay uncovered by this scientific development led us to realize that perturbations of the protein folding process and disturbances of conformational maintenance are major disease mechanisms. This development has given rise to the concept of conformational diseases and the broader signature of protein folding diseases, comprising diseases in which mutations or environmental stresses may result in a partial misfolding that leads then to alternative conformations capable of disturbing cellular processes. This may happen by self-association (aggregation), as in prion and Alzheimer’s diseases, or by incorporation of alternatively folded subunits into structural entities, as in collagen diseases. Another possibility is that folding to the native structure is impaired or abolished, resulting in decreased stea- state levels of the correctly folded protein, as is observed in cystic fibrosis and 1-antitrypsin deficiency, as well as in many enzyme deficiencies. In addition, deficiencies of proteins that are engaged in assisting and supervising protein folding (protein quality control) may impair the folding of many other proteins, resulting in pathological phenotypes. Examples of this are the spastic paraplegia attributable to mutations in mitochondrial protease/chaperone complexes.

Bio-Nanoimaging: Protein Misfolding & Aggregation provides a unique introduction to both novel and established nanoimaging techniques for visualization and characterization of misfolded and aggregated protein species. The book is divided into three sections covering: - Nanotechnology and nanoimaging technology, including cryoelectron microscopy of beta(2)-microglobulin, studying amyloidogensis by FRET; and scanning tunneling microscopy of protein deposits - Polymorphisms of protein misfolded and aggregated species, including fibrillar polymorphism, amyloid-like protofibrils, and insulin oligomers - Polymorphisms of misfolding and aggregation processes, including multiple pathways of lysozyme aggregation, misfolded intermediate of a PDZ domain, and micelle formation by human islet amyloid polypeptide Protein misfolding and aggregation is a fast-growing frontier in molecular medicine and protein chemistry. Related disorders include cataracts, arthritis, cystic fibrosis, late-onset diabetes mellitus, and numerous neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Nanoimaging technology has proved crucial in understanding protein-misfolding pathologies and in potential drug design aimed at the inhibition or reversal of protein aggregation. Using these technologies, researchers can monitor the aggregation process, visualize protein aggregates and analyze their properties. Provides practical examples of nanoimaging research from leading molecular biology, cell biology, protein chemistry, biotechnology, genetics, and pharmaceutical labs Includes over 200 color images to illustrate the power of various nanoimaging technologies Focuses on nanoimaging techniques applied to protein misfolding and aggregation in molecular medicine

This volume is a new edition of the most authoritative book on Prion Biology, first published in 1999 and edited by the Nobel Prize-winning founder of the field. This expanded edition has been completely updated, and includes chapters on therapeutics, and diagnostic methods and approaches.

The role of metal ions in protein folding and structure is a critical topic to a range of scientists in numerous fields, particularly those working in structural biology and bioinorganic chemistry, those studying protein folding and disease, and those involved in the molecular and cellular aspects of metals in biological systems. Protein Folding and Metal Ions: Mechanisms, Biology and Disease presents the contributions of a cadre of international experts who offer a comprehensive exploration of this timely subject at the forefront of current research. Divided into four sections, this volume: Provides case study examples of protein folding and stability studies in particular systems or proteins that comprise different metal ions of co-factors Reviews the proteins that shuttle metal ions in the cell to a particular target metalloprotein Illustrates how metal binding can be connected to pathological protein conformations in unrelated diseases, from cancer to protein deposition disorders such as Parkinson’s disease Addresses protein redesign of metal-containing proteins by computational methods, folding simulation studies, and work on model peptides — dissecting the relative energetic contribution of metals sites to protein folding and stability Together, the 13 chapters in this text cogently describe the state of the science today, illuminate current challenges, propose future possibilities, and encourage further study in this area that offers much promise especially with regard to novel approaches to the treatment of some of the most challenging and tragic diseases.