Bacterial enzymes effectively digest Alzheimer's β-amyloid peptide.

Bacterial enzymes effectively digest Alzheimer's β-amyloid peptide. Brain Res Bull. 2014 Sep 25; Authors: Danilova YV, Shagimardanova EI, Margulis AB, Toymenceva AA, Balaban NP, Rudakova NL, Rizvanov AA, Sharipova MR, Palotás A Abstract Aggregated β-amyloid peptides play key roles in the development of Alzheimer's disease, and recent evidence suggests that microbial particles, among others, can facilitate their polymerization. Bacterial enzymes, however, have been proved to be beneficial in degrading pathological fibrillar structures in clinical settings, such as strepto-kinases in resolving blood-clots. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of bacterial substances to effectively hydrolyze β-amyloid peptides. Degrading products of several proteinases from Bacillus pumilus were evaluated using MALDI-TOF mass-spectrometry, and their toxicity was assessed in vitro using cell-culture assays and morphological studies. These enzymes have proved to be non-toxic and were demonstrated to cleave through the functional domains of β-amyloid peptide. By yielding inactive fragments, proteinases of Bacillus pumilus may be used as candidate anti-amyloid agents. PMID: 25262575 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Brain Research Bulletin - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Brain Res Bull Source Type: research