Kinetic parameters of alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay correlate with cognitive impairment in patients with Lewy body disorders.

The alpha-synuclein (aSyn) seed amplification assay (SAA) can identify aSyn aggregates as indicator for Lewy body pathology in biomaterials of living patients and help in diagnosing Parkinson´s disease and dementia syndromes. Our objective was to confirm that qualitative results of aSyn SAA are reproducible across laboratories and to determine whether quantitative findings correlate with patient clinical characteristics. Therefore cerebrospinal fluid samples were re-analysed by aSyn SAA in a second laboratory with four technical replicates for each sample. Kinetic parameters derived from each aggregation curve were summarized and correlated with patient characteristics. We found that qualitative findings were identical between the two laboratories for 54 of 55 patient samples. The number of positive replicates for each sample also showed good agreement between laboratories. Moreover, specific kinetic parameters of the SAA showed a strong correlation with clinical parameters, notably with cognitive performance evaluated by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. We concluded that SAA findings are highly reproducible across laboratories following the same protocol. SAA reports not only the presence of Lewy pathology but is also associated with clinical characteristics. Thus, aSyn SAA can potentially be used for patient stratification and determining the target engagement of aSyn targeting treatments.

Methionine-associated peptide α-amidation is directed both to the N- and the C-terminal amino acids.

Peptide-bound methionine may transfer oxidative damage from the thioether side chain to the peptide backbone, catalyzing decomposition in general and α-amidation in particular. In the present study, we focused on the reactivity and reaction pathways of peptides. We synthesized model peptides comprising methionine or not and investigated their overall tendency towards decomposition and formation of specific products under conditions mimicking the cooking process at 100°C in buffered solution (pH 6.0) in the presence of redox-active substances such as transition metal ions and reductones. Peptides containing methionine were more susceptible to α-amidation under all oxidative conditions, and the products of N-terminus-directed α-amidation were quantified. Exemplarily, after incubation in the presence of cupric sulfate, about 2.0 mol-% of the overall decomposition of Z-glycylmethionylglycine accounted for the formation of Z-glycinamide, whereas it was below 0.1 mol-% for Z-glycylalanylglycine. Surprisingly and different from previous observations, C-terminus-directed α-amidation was observed for the first time. From Z-glycylmethionylglycine, the respective products were formed in higher amounts than the N-terminus-directed α-amidation product Z-glycinamide under all applied oxidation conditions. The preference of electron transfer from the amino nitrogen bound in the peptide bond directed to the C-terminus may be ascribed to a sterically less demanding hexagonal 3-electron-2-center intermediate during methionine-catalyzed α-amidation.

Studies on the synthesis and stability of α-ketoacyl peptides.

Oxidative stress, an excess of reactive oxygen species (ROS), may lead to oxidative post-translational modifications of proteins resulting in the cleavage of the peptide backbone, known as α-amidation, and formation of fragments such as peptide amides and α-ketoacyl peptides (α-KaP). In this study, we first compared different approaches for the synthesis of different model α-KaP and then investigated their stability compared to the corresponding unmodified peptides. The stability of peptides was studied at room temperature or at temperatures relevant for food processing (100 °C for cooking and 150 °C as a simulation of roasting) in water, in 1% (m/v) acetic acid or as the dry substance (to simulate the thermal treatment of dehydration processes) by HPLC analysis. Oxidation of peptides by 2,5-di-tert-butyl-1,4-benzoquinone (DTBBQ) proved to be the most suited method for synthesis of α-KaPs. The acyl side chain of the carbonyl-terminal α-keto acid has a crucial impact on the stability of α-KaPs. This carbonyl group has a catalytic effect on the hydrolysis of the neighboring peptide bond, leading to the release of α-keto acids. Unmodified peptides were significantly more stable than the corresponding α-KaPs. The possibility of further degradation reactions was shown by the formation of Schiff bases from glyoxylic or pyruvic acids with glycine and proven through detection of transamination products and Strecker aldehydes of α-keto acids by HPLC-MS/MS. We propose here a mechanism for the decomposition of α-ketoacyl peptides.