Autoimmune Responses to Soluble Aggregates of Amyloidogenic Proteins Involved in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Overlapping Aggregation Prone and Autoimmunogenic regions.

ABSTRACT: Why do patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases generate autoantibodies that selectively bind soluble aggregates of amyloidogenic proteins? Presently, molecular basis of interactions between the soluble aggregates and human immune system is unknown. By analyzing sequences of experimentally validated T-cell autoimmune epitopes, aggregating peptides, amyloidogenic proteins and randomly generated peptides, here we report overlapping regions that likely drive aggregation as well as generate autoantibodies against the aggregates. Sequence features, that make short peptides susceptible to aggregation, increase their incidence in human T-cell autoimmune epitopes by 4-6 times. Many epitopes are predicted to be significantly aggregation prone (aggregation propensities ≥10%) and the ones c

SUBMITTER: Kumar S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4770294 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature