Amplification of distinct α-synuclein fibril conformers through protein misfolding cyclic amplification

A method to copy fibrous protein structures associated with neurodegenerative diseases could aid diagnosis and basic research. Specific protein molecules fold and aggregate to form deposits known as amyloid fibrils in brain cells in conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Studying these misfolded proteins in patients' brains or animal models has been hampered by difficulties in obtaining adequate supplies. Seung-Jae Lee and colleagues at Seoul National University, with co-workers elsewhere in Korea and in the USA, have developed a way to use a small sample of one such protein as a “seed” that can be amplified into larger quantities of protein molecules with the same disease-linked folding pattern as the seed. They demonstrated their method using a protein found in patients with Parkinson's disease. Application to other diseases could also be explored.