In Search of an Identity for Amyloid Plaques

Tien-Phat V Huynh; David M Holtzman

doi:10.1016/j.tins.2018.06.002

In Search of an Identity for Amyloid Plaques

Trends Neurosci. 2018 Aug;41(8):483-486. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2018.06.002.

Authors

Tien-Phat V Huynh¹, David M Holtzman²

Affiliations

¹ Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
² Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. Electronic address: holtzman@wustl.edu.

PMID: 30053949
DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2018.06.002

Abstract

In 1984, biochemists George Glenner and Caine Wong, in search of 'a unique amyloid fibril precursor protein in the serum' of Alzheimer disease (AD) patients, successfully isolated and sequenced the first 24 amino acids of a 'cerebrovascular amyloid fibril protein β' that we now know as the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide. This landmark paper laid the foundation for extensive research in the following decades that ultimately established the role of β-amyloidosis as a player in the pathogenesis of AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease; amyloid plaques; amyloid precursor protein; amyloid-β.