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news.Researchers have created for the first time a three-dimensional image of apolipoprotein E, a protein long associated with cardiovascular disease and more recently with Alzheimer's disease.
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A complete understanding of the protein’s functioning will be a key factor for development of future therapeutic interventions, according to the researchers.
The work focuses on apoE4, one of three specific forms of apolipoprotein E, commonly known as apoE. The breakthrough has already answered long-standing questions about the configuration of apoE4 in its active, or native, state.
Using the technique known as x-ray crystallography, scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) have created the highest-resolution x-ray structure of a lipoprotein particle to date.
“This is the first successful use of x-ray crystallography to reveal the structure of a protein bound to lipids,” explains senior author Dr Karl Weisgraber, a senior investigator at both GICD and the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND). “It’s crucial to understand this molecule, since it plays such a pivotal role in both cardiovascular and neurological disease.”