Mp. Sebastiao et al., The molecular interaction of 4 '-iodo-4 '-deoxydoxorubicin with Leu-55Pro transthyretin 'amyloid-like' oligomer leading to disaggregation, BIOCHEM J, 351, 2000, pp. 273-279
The crystal structure of the amyloidogenic Leu-55Pro transthyretin (TTR) va
riant has revealed an oligomer structure that may represent a putative amyl
oid protofibril [Sebastiao, Saraiva and Damas (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 24
715-24722]. Here we report biochemical evidence that corroborates the isola
tion of an intermediate structure, an 'amyloid-like' oligomer, which is mos
t probably present in the biochemical pathway that leads to amyloid deposit
ion and that was isolated by the crystallization of the Leu-55Pro TTR varia
nt. 4'-Iodo-4'-deoxydoxorubicin (IDOX) is a compound that interacts with am
yloid fibrils of various compositions and it has been reported to reduce th
e amyloid load in immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis [Merlini, Ascari,
Amboldi, Bellotti, Arbustini, Perfetti, Ferrari, Zorzoli, Marinone, Garini
et al. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92, 2959-2963]. In this work, w
e observed that the monoclinic Leu-55Pro TTR crystals, soaked with IDOX, un
dergo rapid dissociation. Moreover, under the same conditions, the orthorho
mbic wild-type TTR crystals are quite stable. This is explained by the diff
erent TTR conformations isolated upon crystallization of the two proteins;
while the Leu-55Pro TTR exhibits the necessary conformation for IDOX bindin
g, the same structure is not present in the crystallized wild-type protein.
A theoretical model concerning the interaction of Leu-55Pro TTR with IDOX,
which is consistent with the dissociation of the amyloid-like oligomer, is
presented. In this model the IDOX iodine atom is buried in a pocket locate
d between the two beta-sheets of the Leu-55Pro TTR monomer with the IDOX ar
omatic-moiety long axis nearly perpendicular to the direction of the beta-s
heets.