Studies

Clusterin (apolipoprotein J), a conserved glycoprotein abundant in blood and cerebrospinal fluid, functions as a molecular chaperone and apolipoprotein. Dysregulation of clusterin is linked to late-onset Alzheimer disease. Despite its prominent role in extracellular proteostasis, the mechanism of clusterin function remained unclear. Here, we present crystal structures of human clusterin, revealing a discontinuous three-domain architecture. Structure-based mutational analysis demonstrated that two ...

Amyloid-like aggregates of the microtubule-associated protein Tau are associated with several neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease. The existence of cellular machinery for the removal of such aggregates has remained unclear, as specialized disaggregase chaperones are thought to be absent in mammalian cells. Here we show in cell culture and in neurons that the hexameric ATPase valosin-containing protein (VCP) is recruited to ubiquitylated Tau fibrils, resulting in their efficient ...