[Amylin under examination. Fibrillogenic polypeptide of pancreatic amyloid]

In patients or animals affected by 2 type diabetes mellitus (diabetes mellitus type 2, DM2, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM) or pancreatic tumor disease e.g., insulinoma, some pathological deposits, called amyloid, are observed among cells of islets of Langerhans. Among other constituents, pancreatic deposits consist of an insoluble, fibrillar form of peptide neurohormone termed amylin, produced by pancreatic beta cells. It is thought that formation of fibrillar deposits of misfolded and aggregated peptide is highly toxic to beta cells and leads to cell dysfunction, cell loss, pancreas destruction and progress of the disease. This relatively small, 37-amino acid peptide constitutes a serious scientific, research and to some extent a medical problem. This article presents amylin as a fibrillating molecule which participates in formation of amyloid deposits in human and animal pancreas, Langerhans islets as a microenvironment of pancreatic amyloid formation, occurrence of amylin and amyloid in animals and humans, and physico-chemical requirements to meet to name amylin deposit as amyloid.