This presentation will discuss the development and evaluation of a novel family of fluorescent probes that exhibit enhanced fluorescent properties when bound to amyloid targets.  Amyloids are aggregated forms of proteins or peptides that are associated with many neurodegenerative and systemic diseases. Their accumulation often precedes clinical symptoms by years (and possibly decades), making them a potentially valuable target for diagnosis and monitoring progression of disease.  Fluorescent amyloid-targeting probes have proven to be useful tools for biophysical characterization of amyloids in their native environment, and have more recently shown promise for aiding in ante-mortem detection of amyloid accumulation in living humans. Here, we show that environmentally-sensitive fluorescent probes can be used to discriminate amyloids with different protein composition and disease origin by exploiting small differences in the hydrophobic properties of the amyloids.  We will also present some recent studies that evaluate the use of these probes for identification of diseased patients through inspection of amyloid content in readily accessible human biofluids.  Finally, we will present some recent attempts to translate these probes as in vivo imaging agents for detection of amyloid accumulation in mouse models for amyloid-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

Fluorescence detection of amyloids

2019 Spring National Meeting

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