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Light chain (AL) amyloidosis is a fatal disease where monoclonal immunoglobulin light chains deposit as insoluble amyloid fibrils. For many years it has been considered that AL amyloid deposits are formed primarily by the variable domain, while its constant domain has been considered not to be amyloidogenic. However recent studies identify full length (FL) light chains as part of the amyloid deposits. In this report, we compare the stabilities and amyloidogenic properties of two light chains, an amyloid-associated protein AL-09 FL, and its germline protein κ I O18/O8 FL (IGKV 1-33). We demonstrate that the thermal unfolding for both proteins is irreversible and scan rate dependent, with similar stability parameters compared to their VL counterparts. In addition, the constant domain seems to modulate their amyloidogenic properties and affect the morphology of the amyloid fibrils. These results allow us to understand the role of the kappa constant domain in AL amyloidosis., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The relevance of the C-terminal α helix of the PDZ3 domain of PSD95 in its unfolding process has been explored by achieving the thermodynamic characterization of a construct where the sequence of the nine residues corresponding to such motif has been deleted. Calorimetric traces at neutral pH require the application of a three-state model displaying three different equilibrium processes in which the intermediate state self-associates upon heating, being stable and populated in a wide temperature range. Temperature scans followed by circular dichroism, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering support the presence of such oligomeric-partially folded species. This study reveals that the deletion of the α3-helix sequence results in a more complex description of the domain unfolding., (© 2013.)