College
College of Engineering and Polymer Science
Date of Last Revision
2023-05-05 05:25:10
Major
Chemical Engineering
Honors Course
4200 497-001/002
Number of Credits
3
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Date of Expected Graduation
Spring 2022
Abstract
Amyloid aggregation and microbial infection have been identified as the two main pathological risk factors that can result in amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), type II diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. These two risk factors have been well studied separately, however only targeting one of these risk factors has shown to not be successful in preclinical trials since amyloid diseases are multifactorial. In this study, a new approach has been proposed to determine the effects of an antimicrobial and anti-amyloid aggregation approach by looking at the inhibition abilities of a heterocomplex of human α-defensin 6 (HD-6), whose secondary structure is rich in β-sheets, with beta amyloid (Aβ, associated with AD). Experimental results from thioflavin T assays, circular dichroism spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and cell and bacteria assays demonstrate that HD-6 could (1) prevent the aggregation and misfolding of amyloid peptides, (2) reduce cell toxicity due to amyloid peptides, and (3) retain its antimicrobial function after forming these heterocomplexes. Therefore, this study provides a new approach of repurposing an antimicrobial peptide as an amyloid inhibitor by blocking two interlinked pathological pathways and thus taking advantage of the dual functions of antimicrobial peptides to combat both amyloid aggregation and microbial infection.
Research Sponsor
Jie Zheng
First Reader
Bi-min Zhang Newby
Second Reader
Lu-Kwang Ju
Honors Faculty Advisor
Bi-min Zhang Newby
Recommended Citation
Plaster, Eleanor, "Repurposing human α-defensin 6, an antimicrobial peptide, as a beta amyloid inhibitor" (2022). Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. 1514.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/1514