Structural highlights
Disease
[LYSC_HUMAN] Defects in LYZ are a cause of amyloidosis type 8 (AMYL8) [MIM:105200]; also known as systemic non-neuropathic amyloidosis or Ostertag-type amyloidosis. AMYL8 is a hereditary generalized amyloidosis due to deposition of apolipoprotein A1, fibrinogen and lysozyme amyloids. Viscera are particularly affected. There is no involvement of the nervous system. Clinical features include renal amyloidosis resulting in nephrotic syndrome, arterial hypertension, hepatosplenomegaly, cholestasis, petechial skin rash.[1]
Function
[LYSC_HUMAN] Lysozymes have primarily a bacteriolytic function; those in tissues and body fluids are associated with the monocyte-macrophage system and enhance the activity of immunoagents.
Evolutionary Conservation
Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf.
Publication Abstract from PubMed
Amyloid diseases are characterized by an aberrant assembly of a specific protein or protein fragment into fibrils and plaques that are deposited in various organs and tissues, often with serious pathological consequences. Non-neuropathic systemic amyloidosis is associated with single point mutations in the gene coding for human lysozyme. Here we report that a single-domain fragment of a camelid antibody raised against wild-type human lysozyme inhibits the in vitro aggregation of its amyloidogenic variant, D67H. Our structural studies reveal that the epitope includes neither the site of mutation nor most residues in the region of the protein structure that is destabilized by the mutation. Instead, the binding of the antibody fragment achieves its effect by restoring the structural cooperativity characteristic of the wild-type protein. This appears to occur at least in part through the transmission of long-range conformational effects to the interface between the two structural domains of the protein. Thus, reducing the ability of an amyloidogenic protein to form partly unfolded species can be an effective method of preventing its aggregation, suggesting approaches to the rational design of therapeutic agents directed against protein deposition diseases.
A camelid antibody fragment inhibits the formation of amyloid fibrils by human lysozyme.,Dumoulin M, Last AM, Desmyter A, Decanniere K, Canet D, Larsson G, Spencer A, Archer DB, Sasse J, Muyldermans S, Wyns L, Redfield C, Matagne A, Robinson CV, Dobson CM Nature. 2003 Aug 14;424(6950):783-8. PMID:12917687[2]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
References
- ↑ Pepys MB, Hawkins PN, Booth DR, Vigushin DM, Tennent GA, Soutar AK, Totty N, Nguyen O, Blake CC, Terry CJ, et al.. Human lysozyme gene mutations cause hereditary systemic amyloidosis. Nature. 1993 Apr 8;362(6420):553-7. PMID:8464497 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/362553a0
- ↑ Dumoulin M, Last AM, Desmyter A, Decanniere K, Canet D, Larsson G, Spencer A, Archer DB, Sasse J, Muyldermans S, Wyns L, Redfield C, Matagne A, Robinson CV, Dobson CM. A camelid antibody fragment inhibits the formation of amyloid fibrils by human lysozyme. Nature. 2003 Aug 14;424(6950):783-8. PMID:12917687 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature01870
