Structure Optimization of the Toxic Conformation Model of Amyloid β42 by Intramolecular Disulfide Bond Formation

Amyloid β (Aβ) oligomers play a critical role in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. Recently, we reported that a conformation-restricted Aβ42 with an intramolecular disulfide bond through cysteine residues at positions 17/28 formed stable oligomers with potent cytotoxicity. To further optimize this compound as a toxic conformer model, we synthesized three analogues with a combination of cysteine and homocysteine at positions 17/28. The analogues with Cys-Cys, Cys-homoCys, or homoCys-Cys, but not the homoCys-homoCys analogue, exhibited potent cytotoxicity against SH-SY5Y and THP-1 cells even at 10 nM. In contrast, the cytotoxicity of conformation-restricted analogues at positions 16/29 or 18/27 was significantly weaker than that of wild-type Aβ42. Furthermore, thioflavin-T assay, non-denaturing gel electrophoresis, and morphological studies suggested that the majority of these conformation-restricted analogues exists in an oligomeric state in cell culture medium, indicating that the toxic conformation of Aβ42, rather than the oligomeric state, is essential to induce cytotoxicity.