Familial mutations in fibrinogen Aα (FGA) chain identified in renal amyloidosis increase in vitro amyloidogenicity of FGA fragment.

Amyloidoses are clinical disorders where deposition of β-sheet rich, misfolded protein aggregates called amyloid occurs in vital organs like brain, kidney, liver or heart etc. Aggregation of several proteins such as immunoglobulin light chain, fibrinogen Aα chain (FGA) and lysozyme have been found to be associated with renal amyloidosis. Fibrinogen amyloidosis (AFib) is predominantly familial and is associated with the deposition of mutant FGA amyloid, primarily in kidneys. Over ten substitution and frame-shift mutations in FGA have been identified from AFib patients. Whether wild-type FGA is also involved in AFib is yet unknown. The affected tissues from AFib patients usually show ∼10 kDA peptide from C-terminal 80 amino acid residues of mutant FGA. Notably, this region also encompasses all known disease-related mutations. Whether these point mutations increase the amyloidogenicity of FGA leading to disease progression, have not been studied yet. Here, we have investigated the role of two disease-related mutations in affecting amyloidogenic propensity of an FGA(496-581) fragment. We found that at physiological pH, the wild-type FGA(496-581) fragment remains monomeric, whereas its E540V mutant forms amyloid-like fibrils as observed by AFM. Also, FGA(496-581) harbouring another familial mutation, R554L, converts in vitro into globular, β-sheet rich aggregates, showing amyloid-like properties. These findings suggest that familial mutations in FGA may have role in renal amyloidosis via enhanced amyloid formation.