A role for destabilizing amino acid replacements in light-chain amyloidosis

Light-chain (L-chain) amyloidosis is characterized by deposition of fibrillar aggregates composed of the N-terminal L-chain variable region (VL) domain of an immunoglobulin, generally in individuals overproducing a monoclonal L chain. In addition to proteolytic fragmentation and high protein concentration, particular amino acid substitutions may also contribute to the tendency of an L chain to aggregate in L-chain amyloidosis, although evidence in support of this has been limited and difficult to interpret. In this paper we identify particular amino acid replacements at specific positions in the VL domain that are occupied at frequencies significantly higher in those L chains associated with amyloidosis. Analysis of the structural model for the VL domain of the Bence-Jones protein REI suggests that these positions play important roles in maintaining domain structure and stability. Using an Escherichia coli expression system, we prepared single-point mutants of REI VL incorporating amyloid-associated amino acid replacements that are both rare and located at structurally important positions. These mutants support ordered aggregate formation in an in vitro L-chain fibril formation model in which wild-type REI VL remains soluble. Moreover, the ability of these sequences to aggregate in vitro correlates well with the extent to which domain stability is decreased in denaturant-induced unfolding. The results are consistent with a mechanism for the disease process in which the VL domain, either before or after proteolytic cleavage from the L-chain constant region domain, unfolds by virtue of one or more destabilizing amino acid replacements to generate an aggregation-prone nonnative state.