Beta Amyloid - Disease Associations

Disease Associations

Aβ is the main component of amyloid plaques (deposits found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease). Similar plaques appear in some variants of Lewy body dementia and in inclusion body myositis (a muscle disease), while Aβ can also form the aggregates that coat cerebral blood vessels in cerebral amyloid angiopathy. The plaques are composed of a tangle of regularly ordered fibrillar aggregates called amyloid fibers, a protein fold shared by other peptides such as the prions associated with protein misfolding diseases. Recent research suggests that soluble oligomeric forms of the peptide may be causative agents in the development of Alzheimer's disease. A number of genetic, cell biology, biochemical and animal studies support the concept that Aβ plays a central role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

Brain Aβ is elevated in patients with sporadic Alzheimer’s disease. Aβ is the main constituent of brain parenchymal and vascular amyloid, it contributes to cerebrovascular lesions and is neurotoxic. It is unresolved how Aβ accumulates in the central nervous system and subsequently initiates the disease of cells. Significant efforts have been focused on the mechanisms responsible for Aβ production, including the proteolytic enzymes alpha- and β-secretases which generate Aβ from its precursor protein, APP (amyloid precursor protein). Aβ circulates in plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain interstitial fluid (ISF) mainly as soluble Aβ40 Senile plaques contain both Aβ40 and Aβ42, while vascular amyloid is predominantly the shorter Aβ40. Several sequences of Aβ were found in both lesions. Generation of Aβ in the CNS may take place in the neuronal axonal membranes after APP-mediated axonal transport of β-secretase and presenilin-1.