The inhibitory effects of Escherichia coli maltose binding protein on β-amyloid aggregation and cytotoxicity

• At sub-stoichiometric MBP/Aβ42 ratios, MBP inhibits Aβ42 fibrillogenesis.
• The inhibitory effects of MBP involve the sequestration of Aβ42 as Aβ42-MBP complexes.
• Aβ42-MBP complex formation inhibits ongoing nucleation.
• Aβ42 fibrillogenesis inhibition by MBP suppresses Aβ42 cytotoxicity.

The aggregation of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide from its monomeric to its fibrillar form importantly contributes to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Here, we investigated the effects of Escherichia coli maltose binding protein (MBP), which has been previously used as a fusion protein, on Aβ42 fibrillization, in order to improve understanding of the self-assembly process and the cytotoxic mechanism of Aβ42. MBP, at a sub-stoichiometric ratio with respect to Aβ42, was found to have chaperone-like inhibitory effects on β-sheet fibril formation, due to the accumulation of Aβ42 aggregates by sequestration of active Aβ42 species as Aβ42-MBP complexes. Furthermore, MBP increased the lag time of Aβ42 polymerization, decreased the growth rate of fibril extension, and suppressed Aβ42 mediated toxicity in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. It appears that MBP decreases the active concentration of Aβ42 by sequestering it as Aβ42-MBP complex, and that this sequestration suppresses ongoing nucleation and retards the growth rate of Aβ42 species required for fibril formation. We speculate that inhibition of the growth rate of potent Aβ42 species by MBP suppresses Aβ42-mediated toxicity in SH-SY5Y cells.