Cardiomyopathy is a group of primary diseases of the heart muscle. Early on there may be few or no symptoms. As the disease worsens, shortness of breath, feeling tired, and swelling of the legs may occur, due to the onset of heart failure. An irregular heart beat and fainting may occur. Those affected are at an increased risk of sudden cardiac death.
Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which abnormal proteins, known as amyloid fibrils, build up in tissue. There are several non-specific and vague signs and symptoms associated with amyloidosis. These include fatigue, peripheral edema, weight loss, shortness of breath, palpitations, and feeling faint with standing. In AL amyloidosis, specific indicators can include enlargement of the tongue and periorbital purpura. In wild-type ATTR amyloidosis, non-cardiac symptoms include: bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, lumbar spinal stenosis, biceps tendon rupture, small fiber neuropathy, and autonomic dysfunction.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a condition in which muscle tissues of the heart become thickened without an obvious cause. The parts of the heart most commonly affected are the interventricular septum and the ventricles. This results in the heart being less able to pump blood effectively and also may cause electrical conduction problems. Specifically, within the bundle branches that conduct impulses through the interventricular septum and into the Purkinje fibers, as these are responsible for the depolarization of contractile cells of both ventricles.
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood effectively. Symptoms vary from none to feeling tired, leg swelling, and shortness of breath. It may also result in chest pain or fainting. Complications can include heart failure, heart valve disease, or an irregular heartbeat.
Transthyretin (TTR or TBPA) is a transport protein in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid that transports the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4) and retinol to the liver. This is how transthyretin gained its name: transports thyroxine and retinol. The liver secretes TTR into the blood, and the choroid plexus secretes TTR into the cerebrospinal fluid.
Amyloid beta denotes peptides of 36–43 amino acids that are the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. The peptides derive from the amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP), which is cleaved by beta secretase and gamma secretase to yield Aβ in a cholesterol-dependent process and substrate presentation. Aβ molecules can aggregate to form flexible soluble oligomers which may exist in several forms. It is now believed that certain misfolded oligomers can induce other Aβ molecules to also take the misfolded oligomeric form, leading to a chain reaction akin to a prion infection. The oligomers are toxic to nerve cells. The other protein implicated in Alzheimer's disease, tau protein, also forms such prion-like misfolded oligomers, and there is some evidence that misfolded Aβ can induce tau to misfold.
Molecular tweezers, and molecular clips, are host molecules with open cavities capable of binding guest molecules. The open cavity of the molecular tweezers may bind guests using non-covalent bonding, which includes hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, π–π interactions, and/or electrostatic effects. These complexes are a subset of macrocyclic molecular receptors and their structure is that the two "arms" that bind the guest molecule between them are only connected at one end leading to a certain flexibility of these receptor molecules.
Restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) is a form of cardiomyopathy in which the walls of the heart are rigid. Thus the heart is restricted from stretching and filling with blood properly. It is the least common of the three original subtypes of cardiomyopathy: hypertrophic, dilated, and restrictive.
Diflunisal is a salicylic acid derivative with analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity. It was developed by Merck Sharp & Dohme in 1971, as MK647, after showing promise in a research project studying more potent chemical analogs of aspirin. It was first sold under the brand name Dolobid, marketed by Merck & Co., but generic versions are now widely available. It is classed as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and is available in 250 mg and 500 mg tablets.
Familial amyloid polyneuropathy, also called transthyretin-related hereditary amyloidosis, transthyretin amyloidosis abbreviated also as ATTR, or Corino de Andrade's disease, is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease. It is a form of amyloidosis, and was first identified and described by Portuguese neurologist Mário Corino da Costa Andrade, in 1952. FAP is distinct from senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA), which is not inherited, and which was determined to be the primary cause of death for 70% of supercentenarians who have been autopsied. FAP can be ameliorated by liver transplantation.
Cardiac amyloidosis is a subcategory of amyloidosis where there is depositing of the protein amyloid in the cardiac muscle and surrounding tissues. Amyloid, a misfolded and insoluble protein, can become a deposit in the heart's atria, valves, or ventricles. These deposits can cause thickening of different sections of the heart, leading to decreased cardiac function. The overall decrease in cardiac function leads to a plethora of symptoms. This multisystem disease was often misdiagnosed, with a corrected analysis only during autopsy. Advancements of technologies have increased earlier accuracy of diagnosis. Cardiac amyloidosis has multiple sub-types including light chain, familial, and senile. One of the most studied types is light chain cardiac amyloidosis. Prognosis depends on the extent of the deposits in the body and the type of amyloidosis. New treatment methods are actively being researched in regards to the treatment of heart failure and specific cardiac amyloidosis problems.
In medicine, proteinopathy, or proteopathy, protein conformational disorder, or protein misfolding disease, is a class of diseases in which certain proteins become structurally abnormal, and thereby disrupt the function of cells, tissues and organs of the body. Often the proteins fail to fold into their normal configuration; in this misfolded state, the proteins can become toxic in some way or they can lose their normal function. The proteinopathies include such diseases as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and other prion diseases, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyloidosis, multiple system atrophy, and a wide range of other disorders. The term proteopathy was first proposed in 2000 by Lary Walker and Harry LeVine.
Jeffery W. Kelly is an American businessman and chemist who is on the faculty of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.
The familial amyloid neuropathies are a rare group of autosomal dominant diseases wherein the autonomic nervous system and/or other nerves are compromised by protein aggregation and/or amyloid fibril formation.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens, and is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation, mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. Although the speed of progression can vary, the typical life expectancy following diagnosis is three to nine years.
Tafamidis, sold under the brand names Vyndaqel and Vyndamax, is a medication used to delay disease progression in adults with certain forms of transthyretin amyloidosis. It can be used to treat both hereditary forms, familial amyloid cardiomyopathy and familial amyloid polyneuropathy, as well as wild-type transthyretin amyloidosis, which formerly was called senile systemic amyloidosis. It works by stabilizing the quaternary structure of the protein transthyretin. In people with transthyretin amyloidosis, transthyretin falls apart and forms clumps called (amyloid) that harm tissues including nerves and the heart.
Amyloid cardiomyopathy is a condition resulting in the death of part of the myocardium. It is associated with the systemic production and release of many amyloidogenic proteins, especially immunoglobulin light chain or transthyretin (TTR). It can be characterized by the extracellular deposition of amyloids, foldable proteins that stick together to build fibrils in the heart. The amyloid can be seen under polarized light in congo red stained biopsy.
Familial amyloid cardiomyopathy (FAC), or transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) results from the aggregation and deposition of mutant and wild-type transthyretin (TTR) protein in the heart. TTR is usually circulated as a homo-tetramer—a protein made up of four identical subunits—however, in FAC populations, TTR dissociates from this typical form and misassembles into amyloid fibrils which are insoluble and resistant to degradation. Due to this resistance to degradation, when amyloid fibrils accumulate in the heart's walls, specifically the left ventricle, rigidity prevents the heart from properly relaxing and refilling with blood: this is called diastolic dysfunction which can ultimately lead to heart failure.
Wild-type transthyretin amyloid (WTTA), also known as senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA), is a disease that typically affects the heart and tendons of elderly people. It is caused by the accumulation of a wild-type protein called transthyretin. This is in contrast to a related condition called transthyretin-related hereditary amyloidosis where a genetically mutated transthyretin protein tends to deposit much earlier than in WTTA due to abnormal conformation and bioprocessing. It belongs to a group of diseases called amyloidosis, chronic progressive conditions linked to abnormal deposition of normal or abnormal proteins, because these proteins are misshapen and cannot be properly degraded and eliminated by the cell metabolism.
Vutrisiran, previously known as (ALN-TTRSC02), sold under the brand name Amvuttra, is a medication used for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis in adults. It is a double stranded small interfering RNA (siRNA) that interferes with the expression of the transthyretin (TTR) gene. Transthyretin is a serum protein made in the liver whose major function is transport of vitamin A and thyroxine. Rare mutations in the transthyretin gene result in accumulation of large amyloid deposits of misfolded transthyretin molecules most prominently in peripheral nerves and the heart. Patients with hATTR typically present with polyneuropathy or autonomic dysfunction followed by cardiomyopathy which, if untreated, is fatal within 5 to 10 years.
