Highly Potent Peptide Therapeutics To Prevent Protein Aggregation in Huntington’s Disease

• Published in: ACS medicinal chemistry letters Vol. 14; no. 12; pp. 1821 - 1826
• Main Authors: Khan, Anooshay, Özçelik, Cemile Elif, Begli, Ozge, Oguz, Oguzhan, Kesici, Mehmet Seçkin, Kasırga, Talip Serkan, Özçubukcu, Salih, Yuca, Esra, Seker, Urartu Ozgur Safak
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 14.12.2023
• Subjects: Huntington’s Disease; Peptide-based drug therapy; Htt aggregation; Inhibition; Huntingtin
• ISSN: 1948-5875; 1948-5875
• DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.3c00415

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder resulting from a significant amplification of CAG repeats in exon 1 of the Huntingtin (Htt) gene. More than 36 CAG repeats result in the formation of a mutant Htt (mHtt) protein. These amino-terminal mHtt fragments lead to the formation of misfolded proteins, which then form aggregates in the relevant brain regions. Therapies that can delay the progression of the disease are imperative to halting the course of the disease. Peptide-based drug therapies provide such a platform. Inhibitory peptides were screened against monomeric units of both wild type (Htt­(Q25)) and mHtt fragments, Htt­(Q46) and Htt­(Q103). Fibril kinetics was studied by utilizing the Thioflavin T (ThT) assay. Atomic force microscopy was also used to study the influence of the peptides on fibril formation. These experiments demonstrate that the chosen peptides suppress the formation of fibrils in mHtt proteins and can provide a therapeutic lead for further optimization and development.