Mammalian Functional Amyloid - The Functional Fold: Amyloid Structures in Nature - page 147

Chapter 9

Mammalian Functional Amyloid

Douglas M. Fowler, a Atanas V. Koulov, b Jeffery W. Kelly, c and
William E. Balch b
a

Department of Genome Sciences , University of Washington , Seattle , Washington , USA

b

Department of Cell Biology and the Institute for Childhood and Neglected Diseases and

c

Department of Chemistry and the Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology , the Scripps

Research Institute , La Jolla , California , USA

[e-mail]

Previous chapters in this topic have discussed the discovery and
characterization of functional amyloid in a wide range of lower
organisms. Functional amyloid in humans is of particular interest
because of the links between amyloid formation and disease (see
Chapter 1). Amyloid formation is a core feature of a large number
of human diseases that involve a striking diversity of tissues and
physiological processes. Despite decades of effort, no effective
treatment exists for amyloid diseases. Understanding the regulatory
mechanisms employed to enable the use of amyloid for function,
particularly in humans, could illuminate potential therapeutic
approaches to amyloid disease. Presently, Functional amyloid is
thought to play a role in two processes in humans: haemostasis and
melanin synthesis. This chapter will elucidate what is known about
the role and regulation of these functional amyloids in the human
body.

*Note added in press. An additional form of functional human amyloid has recently
been reported; Natural Storage of Peptide Hormones, S. K. Maji et al ., Science , 2009.