Zinc stabilization of prefibrillar oligomers of human islet amyloid polypeptide

• DOI: 10.1039/c3cc40383a
• Publication Date: 2013-03-06T14:31:00Z
• Authors: Jeffrey R. Brender; Janarthanan Krish...; Grazia M. L. Messina; Aniruddha Deb; Subramanian Vivek...; Carmelo La Rosa; James E. Penner-Hahn; Ayyalusamy Ramamo...
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Zinc; 03 medical and health sciences; X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy; Humans; Microscopy, Atomic Force; Islet Amyloid Polypeptide

The aggregation of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) has been linked to beta-cell death in type II diabetes. Zinc present in secretory granules has been shown to affect this aggregation. A combination of EXAFS, NMR, and AFM experiments shows that the influence of zinc is most likely due to the stabilization of prefibrillar aggregates of hIAPP.