Method for screening for agents preventing aggregation of potentially amyloidogenic proteins

摘要

The present invention describes a method for identifying compounds capable of preventing the aggregation of potentially amyloidogenic proteins. The invention encompasses (1) missing the protein of interest with the compound to be assayed (b) gradually increasing the temperature (c) detecting the appearance of amyloid fibres by turbidimetric measurements, and/or by visual inspection of the mixture, and/or by determining its protein content after spinning down the aggregated protein. Proteins that may be employed are polyglutaminated proteins containing a sequence of consecutive glutamines who length is suitable to promote heat-induced amyloid fibre formation. Preferably, the sequence length will be 32 reisudes or more; more preferably, the protein will be an ataxin-3 variant.